Almost 24 hours after Nebraska effectively used its three running backs in a 45-35 win over Kansas, I was watched the rebuttal to NU’s approach.



It came in the form of the Minnesota Vikings’ Adrian Peterson, carrying his team to a 28-27 win over Green Bay. Did you catch it? Hope so. Thirty carries, 192 yards, a dramatic, 29-yard fourth-quarter touchdown that included a stiff arm at the goal line - when a man damn near kills himself to win a game, hopefully a football fan would pay attention.



Peterson, in short, was a beast: Angry, relentless, quick to the hole. What’s cooler in team sports than watching a great back paint a 60-minute masterpiece? Even when Peterson was stoned on a fourth down and he fumbled the ball, it was dramatic. If the musical embodiment of a quarterback’s two-minute would be The Rite of Spring, then Peterson’s day-long battle belongs to Lux Aeterna.



Watching it, you wondered: Why not Nebraska? And, yes, I’m aware that NU – and no other team, for that matter – has Adrian Peterson. Still, if you really want a guy to get the hot hand and wear down a foe, don’t you have to get him warmed up in the first place?




Then the New York Giants provided the flip side of the coin.




The Giants employ an “earth, wind and fire” trio of backs: Brandon Jacobs, Derrick Ward and Ahmad Bradshaw. They have roles. They’re good at them. And defenses have to prepare for all of them. And New York’s running game is just as good – if not quite as poetic - as Minnesota’s.




We’re not saying NU mirrors the Giants, although Castille is a big body like Jacobs. But, since the Texas Tech game, NU has shuffled its backs effectively. The production has been there, too; in the last five games, the running backs have averaged 157 rushing yards and 224 total yards. Out of that, Helu is the leading rusher and Lucky is the leading receiver, but Castille’s not out in the cold.




“The advantage of playing all the guys? One, they know they’re gonna play,” Nebraska running backs coach Tim Beck said. “So they constantly try to improve their game. It helps team chemistry and team morale when those guys know their hard work doesn’t go unnoticed. It’s a long season. At some point, you need them. You need them all.




Beck’s a good sport. He’s answered this question again and again throughout the year, never once asking to be vindicated, even if the evidence tilts toward his and offensive coordinator Shawn Watson’s approach. He does wonder why receivers, tight ends and offensive linemen can rotate without their position coaches having to receive constant questions.




“Nobody says anything about that,” Beck said.




True. But none of those positions are iconic as running back. Take Peterson’s game on Sunday. How many receivers - ever – have made that kind of impact in one game? Quick – tell me the last 200-yard receiving performance you saw in college football. Now tell me if you remember Darren McFadden’s one-man show against LSU in 2007. Heck, I still remember the game where Ohio State’s Keith Byars lost his shoe and kept running against Illinois.




It’s the romance of it.




“He’s also the best player in football,” Beck said of Peterson. “At any level. If we had the best player in football at any level, we’d want him to get as many carries as he can.”




At Nebraska, well, it isn’t quite like that. In any given game, Beck said, he wants to see which back best attacks a defense, or, in Lucky’s case, who’s best in pass protection. Helu’s been a liability in that arena at times, which would explain games like Baylor, when the Huskers had to pass more, and, as a result, turned away from the sophomore.




But the advantage to NU’s system, Beck said, is that all three running backs are learning – on the field, in some circumstances – every aspect of the role. Castille might be the big, short-yardage back, but he’s still standing next to Joe Ganz in the shotgun, taking option pitches, catching swing passes. Helu is still going to get his chances to pass block.




“The rocket back, the tailback, or I-back or fullback, they all know it,” Beck said. “If we ever need them, we can get in unique sets. The gameplan calls for that.”




It’s a key selling point for the Huskers on the recruiting trail. NU’s still in the game for a couple big-name backs, including Rex Burkhead from Plano, Texas and Al-Terek McBurse from Winter Springs, Fla.




“Guys realize if they come in here and do what we ask them to do and they practice hard and perform and get better, they will have their chance to show their stuff and play,” Beck said. “That’s got to be appealing to some guys. Some guys don’t get that opportunity. Some guys have to wait three years for that chance.”




Give Beck, Watson this much: At Nebraska, the waiting period is about three series.

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