2008 Woodie Awards
Nebraska comes to Lubbock in search of redemption
Alex Ybarra
Issue date: 10/10/08 Section: Sports
The Nebraska Cornhuskers are searching for answers at the wrong time.
Coming off two losses to Virginia Tech and Missouri, first-year coach Bo Pelini is not surprised that his team is experiencing some growing pains five weeks into the season.
And those pains could worsen when Nebraska plays the second best offense in the nation in No. 7 Texas Tech at 2 p.m. Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium.
Pelini took the blame for a 52-17 loss to Missouri last week, the worst home loss in 53 years, in which the Tigers repeatedly marched down field en route to more than 200 yards rushing and passing. He said he did not have his team prepared and he may have tried too hard to make something happen.
"I think we're still trying to find out some about our personnel and what is best for this group as far as giving our guys the best opportunity to have success," he said during his weekly press conference Tuesday. "Some of that is personnel oriented, some of that is philosophical. You can't always try to pound a square peg into a round hole. You've got to evaluate, look at your personnel and what they do best and put them in positions to have success. You have to adjust as you go along. That's offensively, defensively and special teams."
Nebraska's last two games against Tech (5-0, 1-0 Big 12) have been historic losses. In 2004, Nebraska came to Lubbock and had seven turnovers in its worst loss in school history, 70-10. A year later in 2005, the Red Raiders won 34-31 in Lincoln, Neb., during the Cornhuskers' homecoming week, which marked Nebraska's first homecoming loss since 1968.
Nebraska (3-2, 0-1 in Big 12 Conference play) allows 376.2 yards per game, which is 82nd in the nation, and struggled to move the ball against Missouri. Unable to stop Chase Daniel and the Tigers high-powered spread offense, Nebraska's 14 penalties amounted to 101 yards.
On top of that, the Cornhuskers run game has disappeared, partly because of the Virginia Tech and Missouri defenses.
Coming off two losses to Virginia Tech and Missouri, first-year coach Bo Pelini is not surprised that his team is experiencing some growing pains five weeks into the season.
And those pains could worsen when Nebraska plays the second best offense in the nation in No. 7 Texas Tech at 2 p.m. Saturday at Jones AT&T Stadium.
Pelini took the blame for a 52-17 loss to Missouri last week, the worst home loss in 53 years, in which the Tigers repeatedly marched down field en route to more than 200 yards rushing and passing. He said he did not have his team prepared and he may have tried too hard to make something happen.
"I think we're still trying to find out some about our personnel and what is best for this group as far as giving our guys the best opportunity to have success," he said during his weekly press conference Tuesday. "Some of that is personnel oriented, some of that is philosophical. You can't always try to pound a square peg into a round hole. You've got to evaluate, look at your personnel and what they do best and put them in positions to have success. You have to adjust as you go along. That's offensively, defensively and special teams."
Nebraska's last two games against Tech (5-0, 1-0 Big 12) have been historic losses. In 2004, Nebraska came to Lubbock and had seven turnovers in its worst loss in school history, 70-10. A year later in 2005, the Red Raiders won 34-31 in Lincoln, Neb., during the Cornhuskers' homecoming week, which marked Nebraska's first homecoming loss since 1968.
Nebraska (3-2, 0-1 in Big 12 Conference play) allows 376.2 yards per game, which is 82nd in the nation, and struggled to move the ball against Missouri. Unable to stop Chase Daniel and the Tigers high-powered spread offense, Nebraska's 14 penalties amounted to 101 yards.
On top of that, the Cornhuskers run game has disappeared, partly because of the Virginia Tech and Missouri defenses.
Disclaimer:
Opinions expressed here are not necessarily those of The Daily Toreador, the department of Student Media or Texas Tech University. Student editors have the authority to make all online content decisions without censorship or advance approval and are solely responsible for the content of this Web site. None of the opinions expressed on this page are previewed by any university official. Any postings, SPAM or otherwise, considered by the editorial staff to be campaign endorsements for political candidates other than opinions of users attached to articles pertaining to election issues will be deleted immediately.
View the online policy here.
To report questionable content, send an email to dtonlineeditor@gmail.com
Be the first to comment on this story