LINCOLN, Neb.—Bo Pelini doesn’t want his players to talk about their 34-point loss to Oklahoma.
Pelini does want them to learn from it.
Minutes after Saturday’s 62-28 loss in Norman, Okla., Nebraska’s first-year head coach ordered players and assistant coaches to not discuss the game with the media.
“It’s a three-game season now. There’s nothing we can do about what happened at Oklahoma, and I don’t want them talking about it,” Pelini said.
The Cornhuskers (5-4, 2-3 Big 12) play two of their last three regular-season games at home, needing one win to become bowl eligible.
There should be no shortage of motivation this week. The opponent is Kansas (6-3, 3-2), which put a 76-39 beating on the Huskers in Lawrence last year.
“I think we’ll come back from this loss,” Pelini said. “I told our guys, ‘You can go two ways. You can either go downhill or you can take the adversity and learn from your experience and let it make you a better football team.’ ”
After solid wins against Iowa State and Baylor, the Huskers flopped in their latest meeting with an opponent ranked in the Top 10.
They found themselves in a 28-0 hole less than six minutes into the game after committing three of their four turnovers. It was 35-0 at the end of the first quarter.
Oklahoma had never scored more than 55 points in 83 previous meetings with Nebraska dating to 1912.
“I’ve never been quite a part of one (game) that’s started out that bad,” Pelini said. “It takes the wind out of your sails. It really does.”
The Sooners totaled 508 yards, with Sam Bradford throwing for 311. Pelini characterized the Huskers’ defensive effort as “lousy.”
One of Nebraska’s few highlights was the work of Roy Helu Jr., who ran for a career-high 157 yards and a touchdown. Helu didn’t enter the game, however, until the Sooners’ lead had grown to 42-7 in the second quarter.
Joe Ganz played his worst game, completing 14 of 26 passes for 206 yards. He threw for one TD and was intercepted twice.
The first pick came on the Huskers’ first play from scrimmage when OU’s Dominique Franks sniffed out a perimeter pass intended for Todd Peterson and ran it back 18 yards for a 14-0 lead.
“That kind of helped start the avalanche,” Pelini said, “and we couldn’t get it slowed down.”
Ganz started slowly the previous week against Baylor. Against a team the caliber of the Sooners, Ganz wasn’t afforded any margin of error.
“By no means when I say he was off, I’m not putting that game on Joe Ganz,” Pelini said. “Joe Ganz is a big reason why we’re sitting there at 5-4 instead of 2-7. Joe Ganz is a stud and he’s playing good football. He started off and he made a couple miscues to start the game and that’s going to happen sometimes.”
Pelini said he’s sure his players won’t give up on the rest of the season.
“I feel strongly that this team will respond the right way. I really do,” Pelini said. “One thing I can say is that we’re not a football team that points fingers at each other. We’re not a team that is divisive. I think it’s a group that is going to hang together through thick and thin.”
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