Improved Suh makes impact for NU
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By BRIAN CHRISTOPHERSON / Lincoln Journal Star
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Carl Pelini remembers this spring when he mentioned that he expected the defensive line to perhaps be the strength of this Nebraska football team.
He assumes there was laughter from others about that statement. Perhaps his assumption is accurate.
After all, this was a returning front four that had been much maligned — part of a Husker defense in 2007 that was worse from a statistical standpoint than any in NU history.
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But after Thursday’s 26-21 Gator Bowl win against Clemson, a satisfying season of progress in the books, the Husker defensive coordinator seemed a wise prognosticator.
His prediction had come true. And one of his defensive linemen in particular, Ndamukong Suh, seemed to have developed by season’s end into a man among boys.
Suh was so good against Clemson — eight tackles (four for loss), two sacks, a blocked field goal — that it couldn’t help but increase the chatter on whether the junior nose tackle had elevated his play to such a level that he’d consider leaving early for the NFL Draft.
The 300-pound Suh left a little wiggle room after the game, but said “my mind-set right now is that I’m 99 percent coming back to school.”
Pelini said after the game he just wants Suh to do what’s best for him.
“I’m not going to worry about it. I’d love to have him back and I think he will,” Pelini said. “And I think in the end, probably just in terms of his future and his career, that’s probably the right decision.
“But if he explores it and it turns out it’s not the best thing for him (to stay), he’s a great kid, I love him. I want to do what is best for Suh.”
Suh was hardly the lone dominant force on the Husker defensive line against Clemson. Ty Steinkuhler proved a major pest to the Tigers, along with defensive end Zach Potter. Those are two seniors that the Pelini brothers will greatly miss.
“They’re the hardest-working group I think I’ve ever coached,” Carl Pelini said of this Husker defensive line. “They never complain. And I work them hard. They go to work from the start of practice to the end. There is no downtime for them.”
Clemson had a patchwork offensive line and started two freshmen on the right side. Nebraska coaches thought the Huskers might expose some flaws in the Tigers’ line and they did.
Tiger coach Dabo Swinney was the first to admit it, saying the Husker defensive line “dominated us.”
And Suh? Yeah, you could say Swinney noticed the whipping he was handing out.
“That No. 93 is heck of a player, an NFL player,” Swinney said. “They did a great job creating pressure with just their front four and they won the matchups. That’s what this game is about.”
Nebraska limited the Tigers to just 210 total yards and only 4 rushing. The Huskers yielded just one scoring drive longer than 13 yards and made life a literal pain for Clemson quarterback Cullen Harper, sacking him five times.
That gave Nebraska 35 sacks for the season and 19 in the last four games. It’s rather amazing, considering the Huskers had only 13 sacks all last year.
Bo Pelini said Clemson tried to double Suh early, and Steinkuhler made the Tigers pay. So then Clemson started paying more attention to Steinkuhler and Suh took over.
“They played their tails off. It was one of the best games two interior tackles have had in my career,” Carl Pelini said. “They were just all over the place, making plays down the field on screens. They did it all.”
Nebraska won nine games this year with a rather inexperienced back seven, but as Bo Pelini said after the game, “When you’re good up front, it covers up a lot.”
Suh wasn’t surprised by the success. He’s been having it all year. He finished the season with 76 tackles, becoming the first defensive lineman to lead NU in tackles since 1973. He also had 7½ sacks and 19 tackles for loss.
He had two interception returns for touchdowns, stiff-arming a Colorado quarterback to the ground on one of them. To top it all off, he even got to play some fullback, scoring a touchdown against Kansas.
To make the big play, to hear the crowd chant “Suuuuuuuuh,” that just became something he anticipated.
“I expect that from myself every day, day-in and day-out,” Suh said. “I play hard in practice and make plays in practice, because that turns into what you do on the field.”
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
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