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Anna Mostek/Tribune
Nebraska's Mike McNeill (44) and Zac Lee (5) celebrate their team's win over Kansas State on Saturday in Lincoln.
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Todd Neeley
sports@hastingstribune.com
LINCOLN — Nebraska's Zac Lee was introduced to the pain of the Husker offense of old in the second quarter against Kansas State in Lincoln Saturday, running around right end and taking a helmet shot to the chin out of bounds to draw a personal foul.
Lee snapped back up, running back to the Husker huddle during a 57-yard scoring drive that gave NU a 10-3 lead on its way to a 17-3 win.
Welcome to black and blue — still not pretty, as Nebraska continued to have fits at times, but good enough to win the Big 12 North in 2009.
It's that kind of bruising, physical play that Bo Pelini was hoping for coming into 2009, and the same brand of football that the ilk of Eric Crouch, Tommie Frazier and Scott Frost embraced at the quarterback spot.
Well, say goodbye to the pocket-passer's safe tip-toe out of bounds in the Nebraska West Coast offense.
It's clearly the only way this Nebraska team has been able to turn the corner in the middle of a season that has seen NU struggle mightily on offense.
NU will get a shot to try its meat-grinder attack revisited against Texas in Arlington, Texas. At this point, that's really all that matters.
Having said that, this offense still shies away from running between the tackles — something Nebraska will need to have a shot against Texas.
In year two of the Bo Pelini era, a return to the Big 12 title game was much needed.
It really is step one for this program, step two would be to actually win the conference title and return to the BCS for the first time since the 2002 Rose Bowl.
Not bad for a unit once hurting for confidence after two straight home losses to Texas Tech and Iowa State.
It's not exactly the NU offense of old, but it's serviceable.
We saw a mix of the option, bootleg passes — and for you Husker purists — the long pass to the tight ends, and at times some formations included four, count 'em, four tight ends.
Will it be the right mix against that Texas defense?
Yes, but only if the Nebraska defense can get its second wind after that hard-fought win past Oklahoma two weeks ago.
We've seen in back-to-back weeks against Kansas and Kansas State that the Blackshirts aren’t as invincible as the Huskers need them to be, as offenses have found a way recently to contain Ndamukong Suh and Jared Crick.
That is a bit disconcerting heading into the final three games of the season, but then again, what team isn't spent in November.
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