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Turner says last week’s Tunnel Walk video was meant to play weeks earlier against Arkansas State, “but luckily, and fittingly, we couldn’t get it in until the OU game. There was something special in the air last night, and in my wildest dreams I would love to believe that my video had something to do with it but I think that the crowd would have been just as electric with it or not.”

“I woke up today with a flood of feedback. Last night was emotional for me. My second to last game at memorial stadium. The biggest win since I have been at the University. Seeing all the overwhelming support over my addition to last night makes it something that I won’t ever forget. This type of thing isn’t suppose to happen for nerds like myself… but I’ll accept the exception.”

According to HuskerExtra.com, it could be Lee and it could be Green.

“We’ve got to go week to week and we’re going to do what we feel like we need to win each football game,” Pelini said. “It could be a combination of the two. It could be Zac. It could be Cody. It’s something we’re going to figure out as time goes on and we put in our game plans, and give us the best opportunity to win football games.”

Samuel McKewon of NE State Paper considers the situation:

Can Watson really try to run two different offenses? It hasn’t worked so far.

…watching the game tape again, Green’s setting seemed stuck on “overload” of all kinds – emotional, mental, physical – and the WCO is too precise, even when masquerading as a spread, to accommodate that state of being.

HuskerExtra also points out that the coaches wanted to protect Green from the Sooners last week. That’s a pretty clear indication that they see Zac Lee as the mentally tougher, and more seasoned player.

Given that we have three more regular season games and a North division championship to win, I think we’ll be seeing Zac Lee under center. As long as he comes in and throws touchdown passes–like the one he threw against Oklahoma–he’ll be on the right foot and the Huskers will be on their way to the Big 12 championship game.

In other news, Nebraska safety Matt O’Hanlon has been named the FWAA/Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week, after his 3 interceptions and career-high 12 tackles (nine unassisted). It’s the third time this season a Blackshirt has been so recognized.

This was an ugly win, but still a win. I’ll withhold a few issues about this offense until another day, but I will point out that if you take away Helu’s two long runs (of 63 and 25 yards), Nebraska would be sitting with just over 90 yards of total offense for the whole game.

Think about that, as we celebrate the win and realize that going 2-1 over the next three games puts the Huskers in the Big-12 Championship Game

Are you back? Nice.

At the end of this segment, 18-year old Cody Green from Dayton, Texas says, “Fans are loyal…they know you as soon as you start to get recruited. Everybody knows you. It’s just a wonderful place.”

Green, who started his first game at Baylor last Saturday, will be facing a much scarier opponent tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. Central. Let’s hope he’s ready to make Memorial Stadium “a wonderful place” to be.

Notably, Baylor outgained Nebraska in offensive yards 276-274. But the Blackshirts came to play as Jared Crick set a new Husker record for sacks.

The Nebraska offense continues to struggle and as I said last week, the problem isn’t the Husker quarterback, but rather Shawn Watson. This guy has continually proven he has no clue what he is doing with play calling. When Nebraska can’t even put together a time-killing drive to end the game, something is wrong. something bigger than one position on the field. Less than 15 plays in this game were called to move the ball in the middle of the field. I’m convinced the rest were designed to maximize the number of yards Nebraska can gain moving from sideline to sideline. There is no attack in what Shawn Watson calls. Nebraska had the opportunity to put their foot on Baylor’s throat to start the second half and sputtered.

If Nebraska Shawn Watson can’t find a way to get this offense to move the ball the Oklahoma game, 7 days from today, will be an absolute debacle that could send the rest of the season spiraling out of control.

It’s going to be a long night in the Red tonight. Nebraska squandered opportunity after opportunity due to turnovers. Four trips inside the 5 ended with turnovers, 2 other interceptions late in the game and 2 other fumbles. Yet the Husker defense kept Nebraska in the game.

Nebraska is now 4-3 on the season, 1-2 in the Big 12 and is clearly at a crossroad. The Offense is anemic at best. While today’s loss can’t be pinned on Zac Lee, it is clear that fundamentaly something is wrong with the gameplan. As Robert pointed out in the comments, SI.com’s Stewart Mandel said, “what a waste of an elite defense…what a joke on offense.”

Is Cody Green the future. I don’t know, but I think a future without Shawn Watson should be in the cards. In fact, I’ll say it now, Fire Shawn Watson. The West Coast Offense, even as the bastardized spread-with-west-coast-reads version Nebraska is currently running is too complicated for the college game. An offense that takes 3 years to learn and culminates with one – maybe two – years for a starting QB isn’t something can be run in a college game.

I shudder to think what will happen next year when Ndamakong Suh moves on, and there better be a plan in place to deal with the 2010 defense when it is weakened in the off-season. Do they play to make it up with offense?

If 2009 becomes a throwaway season for Nebraska, then perhaps it is time to bring Cody Green into the fold as starting QB, change the offense to work with the talent Nebraska has, and quit trying to stick square pegs into round holes.

By the numbers
Iowa State had 231 total yards of offense, 130 rushing, 101 passing. 5-18 on third down conversions. Nine punts and 8 penalties.

Nebraska had 355 total yards of offense, 114 rushing, 241 passing. 5-13 on third down conversions, 4 punts and 3 penalties.

-I’m working on the recap, but feel free to start your comments-

Head coach Bo Pelini preaches high standards. That’s good. He’s not satisfied with nine-win seasons. He asks for perfection because, in his words, “you get what you ask for.” He coaches a tenacious, active game in search of execution and mental toughness. And he’s good after a loss – better, maybe, than after a win.

The man was in his element this week. He’s got his team buying into an us-against-the-world mentality…Fans may perceive Pelini as angry. Not precisely. He’s trying to use a difficult loss – a stunning loss, really – as a rallying point to quickly reverse course.

Pelini doesn’t believe in a panic button. It doesn’t mean he isn’t pushing some other buttons.

It wasn’t a “stunning loss.” Texas Tech owns us. Period. That’s what’s stunning to me. In fact, it’s so stunning I’ve been in a foul mood all week (as far as football goes), angry even.

As I compose this, I’m listening to the radio feed of today’s game against Iowa State. Helu fumbles on his first carry and ISU recovers deep in our territory. WTF?

ISU 3 – NU 0 in the first. And the saga continues…

Go Big Red!