Nebraska Football Notebook

Practice report

LINCOLN -- The Nebraska football team finished preparations Thursday for its first road game of the season with a two-hour workout in Memorial Stadium. The Huskers will travel Friday to Lubbock, Texas, where they will meet the No. 7 Texas Tech Red Raiders Saturday at 2 p.m. on FSN.

Head Coach Bo Pelini said the team responded with a great week of practice following Saturday's disappointing 52-17 loss to Missouri.

"I think they're understanding the game plan," Pelini said. "They came back with a good focus and now we've got to take it to the game."

Pelini said he isn't worried about the how the Huskers will respond on the field Saturday.

"I have confidence that they know what's expected of them," Pelini said. "Whether it's on the road or at home, it comes down to playing between the lines and executing and doing what you have to do."

The Huskers ramped up crowd noise at practice this week, Pelini said, to prepare for the hostile environment the Huskers will enter in Lubbock.

"That's one of the good things about playing in conferences like this," Pelini said. "You get a lot of great atmospheres. It'll be a lot of fun for the team to go out there and it creates a great challenge. I told them you've got to take an us-against-the-world mentality when you go on the road. That's what we're going to do."



Going with Ganz

Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson says he didn't give much thought to resting quarterback Joe Ganz as Nebraska trailed by 42 points Saturday throughout the fourth quarter against Missouri.

More to the point, Watson didn't consider using reserves Patrick Witt or Zac Lee.

"Absolutely, you keep (Ganz) in because you're still working on things," Watson said, "and he still needs to work on things. We need to get better. That's evident."

NU possessed the football twice in the fourth quarter, punting once before it drove 70 yards to score a touchdown on Ganz's 20-yard throw to Menelik Holt as time expired.

"We've got a lot of things that can get better," Watson said. "We've got Joe in because we need to do that as a unit. We've got a long season still ahead of us."



A revamped plan?

Nebraska coach Bo Pelini has said he regretted the Huskers' defensive game plan against Missouri and already taken the blame. Senior defensive end Zach Potter said Pelini told the team he tried to get "too cute" and advanced for how far along NU players were with the system.

So what's in store as the Huskers travel to Texas Tech, which features an offense just as scary and dangerous as Missouri?

"We're going to go back to the basics, what we did a million times through camp and spring ball and try to get after it,'' NU defensive end Clayton Sievers said. "Bring four down linemen, see if we can get a pass rush and spread out the DBs and see what we can do.''



Broncos bounce back

Western Michigan might have started the season with a 47-24 loss at Nebraska, but the Broncos have rattled off five straight wins ever since. They also join AP No. 25 Ball State as the only 3-0 teams in Mid-American Conference play.

Western Michigan travels this week to play Turner Gill and Buffalo (2-3, 1-1 MAC). The Broncos and Ball State, which almost upset the Huskers last season in Lincoln, don't play until Nov. 25.

Among other Nebraska non-conference opponents, San Jose State is 3-2, New Mexico State 2-2 and Virginia Tech 5-1. The Hokies have won five straight and sit No. 18 in both polls.



Glenn is gimpy

Nebraska linebacker Cody Glenn remains hobbled by a leg injury suffered last week against Missouri. Glenn practiced Wednesday, but coach Bo Pelini described the senior as "gimpy."

"He's not there yet," Pelini said. "It's kind of a day-to-day thing."

Glenn leads the Huskers with 35 tackles through five games. The former I-back did not practice early in the week.

With NU set to leave Friday for Lubbock, Texas, and face No. 7-ranked Texas Tech Saturday at 2 p.m., linebackers coach Mike Ekeler is confident Glenn will be able to contribute.

"He should be OK," Ekeler said. "He's getting better each and every day."

In Glenn's absence, Pelini said the Huskers would "have a number of different options."



Getting a wake-up call

Defensive coordinator Carl Pelini called Saturday's loss to Missouri a wake-up call for the Husker coaches, forcing them to take an in-depth look at their vision for this Nebraska team.

Pelini said the staff and the players evaluated the season's progress, wanting to make sure that the Huskers were developing into the team everyone originally envisioned. Numerous questions were posed, Pelini said.

"What do we want to be known for? What are the philosophies and characteristics that we want to establish? What areas are we still doing that? And in what areas do we still need to get back on track?"

Pelini talked a little about the Missouri defensive game plan, one that turned out to be too complicated for the players to handle. It was a good plan, but only if executed properly, Pelini said.

"At the end of the day, it doesn't really matter what we know as coaches," he said. "It's what the players know on Saturday. And maybe we asked a little bit too much of them."



--Independent News Services