Last Updated on September 1, 2009 10:16 pm by drew
Looking to continue his program’s return to national prominence, second-year coach Bo Pelini leads the No. 24 Huskers into Memorial Stadium on Saturday night when they host Florida Atlantic.
Oddsmakers from online sports book SBGGLOBAL have made
Under coaches Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne,
Pelini is determined get
"We’re not in the business of celebrating nine-win seasons at
"I believe we have enough resources, enough talent to compete with everybody on our schedule. I think we will be a better football team. How that plays into wins and losses, we’ll see that in December."
Pelini signaled he was serious about restoring
Castille was second on the team with 467 rushing yards in 2008. The move will likely lead to more playing time for freshman Rex Burkhead and sophomore Marcus Mendoza – who was recruited as a running back but moved to wide receiver – behind starter Roy Helu Jr.
"We can do all kinds of things with him, Rex and Roy,” offensive coordinator Shawn Watson said of
Junior Zac Lee will be charged with getting them the ball. The son of former NFL quarterback Bob Lee, the 22-year-old QB has thrown two passes in his college career.
While there might be questions about Lee’s ability to run the offense, Pelini’s defense could develop into one of the most formidable in the Big 12. A year after giving up 476.8 yards per game under Callahan – 112th in the Football Bowl Subdivision –
Senior nose tackle Ndamukong Suh had a team-best 76 tackles and 7.5 sacks to earn first-team All-Big 12 honors in 2008.
"I think (the players are) starting to feel the momentum that we had at the end of last year,” Pelini said. "I think they’re starting to understand what they can become as a football team and where this football program needs to be headed. They also know there’s a lot of work in front of us to get where we want to be.”
That first step comes against a Florida Atlantic team led by a coach familiar to
Howard Schnellenberger, who guided
Schnellenberger led Florida Atlantic to a 7-6 record in 2008 and a 24-21 win over
Rusty Smith earned MVP honors in that game after going 20 of 35 for 306 yards and two touchdowns. The fifth-year senior is the Sun Belt Conference’s all-time leading passer with 8,198 yards.
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Posted: 9/1/09 10:16PM ET