LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) -After allowing 28 points in four nonconference games, Nebraska’s defense will go into Big 12 play with confidence.
It won’t take long to find out whether it’s false or justified confidence.
Nebraska’s dominance, after all, has come against three overmatched opponents from the Sun Belt Conference.
None of that mattered to the players after Saturday night’s 55-0 win over Louisiana-Lafayette, a feel-good win following the previous week’s last-minute 16-15 loss at No. 6 Virginia Tech.
“We’re playing with a swagger now,” defensive end Pierre Allen said. “Last year we were trying to find our way around. Now we believe in our scheme. We believe in our coaches. We believe in each other.”
The 23rd-ranked Huskers (3-1), off until their Big 12 opener at Missouri on Oct. 8, are third in the nation behind Oklahoma and South Florida in scoring defense at 7.0 points a game. The 28 points are the fewest allowed by Nebraska through four games since 1990.
onal leaders in total defense, at 286 yards, and they have seven takeaways against three turnovers.
In the first four games a year ago they allowed 19.5 points, 355 yards and had one more turnover (7) than takeways (6).
Second-year coach Bo Pelini likes the statistical trend. But he also knows that his defense has seen nothing like it will encounter in coming games against high-powered offenses in Missouri, Texas Tech, Oklahoma and Kansas.
“We’ve made progress but we’re nowhere near where I believe we need to be,” he said. “We’re in the right galaxy now. Last year we were a few solar systems away. We’re playing well in some areas, we’re playing inconsistent in some other areas. We’ll find out. We have a lot of challenges ahead of us.”
Lafayette managed just 222 yards Saturday while becoming the first opponent shut out by Nebraska since 2006. The week before the Huskers gave up 278 yards to Virginia Tech, with 88 of those yards coming on the Hokies’ winning drive in the final 1:44.
“That was a great learning experience for our guys,” defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said. “It was such a sick thing. But in the end, our guys responded well.
“They were confident going into the Virginia Tech game. They didn’t lose confidence. If anything, they gained. They played great that day.”
The effort carried over to Saturday against Lafayette.
middle to weakside linebacker, recorded his second career sack and redshirt freshman defensive end Cameron Meredith his first.
Big 12 preseason defensive player of the year Ndamukong Suh broke up his sixth pass of the season, tying the school record for defensive tackles. He also had a tackle for loss for the 14th time in 15 games.
Safety Larry Asante picked off a pass and ran it back 74 yards for a touchdown, the first time a Nebraska defensive back returned an interception for a score since Fabian Washington did it in 2002.
And to think, it was less than a month ago that Bo Pelini was criticizing his defense for the way it played in the opener against Florida Atlantic.
Allen said he and his teammates took the head coach’s words to heart.
“That goes back to the first game and what coach said about us being soft,” Allen said. “We didn’t play physical. That’s not Nebraska football. Nebraska football is physical. That’s how we’re playing now.”
Carl Pelini said as good as the defense played against Lafayette, it can play better when the Huskers go against Blaine Gabbert and a Missouri offense averaging 453 yards and 37 points.
“Our players are locked in,” Carl Pelini said. “We’re going to be better when we face Missouri. Otherwise, I don’t deserve to get paid.”
Add A Comment