Pelini looks for better practices as Missouri awaits

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By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star

Oh, sure, a 35-30 loss is going to sting a bit. Husker linebacker Cody Glenn called the end of Saturday night’s defeat to Virginia Tech “heartbreaking.” Running back Marlon Lucky shook his head and vowed that Nebraska was going to bring a hard edge when today’s practice rolled around.

“We have a lot of anger right now,” Lucky said. “This whole week is going to be physical.”

Physical is fine and good. Dwelling on Saturday’s setback is not — especially not this week with a top-five team and a Heisman candidate licking their chops.

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Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh (93) and coach Bo Pelini talk after both were flagged for 15 yard penalties. (William Lauer)

Nebraska's Ndamukong Suh (93) and coach Bo Pelini talk after both were flagged for 15 yard penalties. (William Lauer)

“We don’t get real high or low, whether it’s a win or a loss,” Husker head coach Bo Pelini said Sunday morning. “You can’t. We have to stay the course. I’m sure emotionally, (players are) going to be a little bit down, but we’re going to get them back.

“If we cry about what happened the other night, we’re going to lose sight of what we need to get done for this Saturday, and we got a good football team coming in here.”

Good and dangerous describes Missouri, which will come into Lincoln this Saturday for a nationally televised game ranked fourth in The Associated Press Poll and third in the USA Today coaches’ poll.

The Tigers rank second in the country in total offense (595.5 yards a game) and scoring offense (53.75 points a game). Quarterback Chase Daniel, perhaps the early leader in the Heisman race, is fourth in the country in total offense (371.5 yards a game).

Last year against Nebraska, Daniel racked up 401 total yards in a 41-6 Tigers romp that seemed to signal the beginning of the end for Husker coach Bill Callahan.

“They’re better offensively than probably any other teams we’ve played to this point,” Pelini said. “We have our work cut out for us.”

That especially seems the case after this past Saturday, when the Huskers allowed a Virginia Tech offense that came in ranked 112th in the country to put up 377 total yards and win the battle at the line of scrimmage.

“We’re not there yet and I knew we weren’t there yet, but I really thought we would have played better than we did (Saturday),” Pelini said. “I was disappointed in the way it was coached. I take responsibility for it.”

The first-year head coach said Nebraska did “some bonehead things.”

Effort? Not an issue. Execution? Big issue.

Nebraska showed some grit in battling back from a 28-10 second-half deficit to make it close, but Pelini said he’s not into moral victories.

“We lost the football game,” he said. “I told the team I was proud of the way we fought. I think the effort’s been there. It’s not an effort thing. But I’m not into that aspect of it. We need to win the football game and we need to play better in order to do it. I was proud of the way we kept fighting. Now I want to be proud of the way they focus and handle their responsibilities and play fundamentally and techniquewise.”

A running game would help, too. For the third time in four games, Nebraska didn’t muster much of anything in that category. NU ended up with just 55 yards on 25 carries, an average of 2.2 yards a carry.

NU’s running backs toted the ball just 15 times (Lucky with eight carries, Roy Helu Jr. with four, Quentin Castille with three).

“We need to have a more established running game,” Pelini said “I think if we’re able to do that, it’s going to help Joe (Ganz) out. … It takes 11 guys on every single play.”

Some Husker players mentioned last week that they hoped that Virginia Tech could serve as a “statement game” of sorts for an NU program trying to make its way back.

Pelini said all that pregame labeling doesn’t mean a thing. He just wants to see better practices first. He said his defense did not practice well on Wednesday before the Tech loss, and then the team had another inconsistent showing on Thursday.

“Talk is cheap. Talk is cheap. We can talk all we want about this, that, the other thing, making a statement or not making a statement,” he said. “You win the football game by what we do. We’re going to win by executing or not executing.

“We can’t concern ourselves with making a statement next Saturday. We’ve got to concern ourselves with making a statement Monday and practicing the way we need to practice.”

Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.