Edge and Expectations

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

Edge and Expectations

 

 

NEBRASKA FOOTBALL: Edge and Expectations

Commentary: Mental toughness key for NU in the next ten days

By Samuel McKewon

 

August 25, 2010

 

You can feel the edge.

 

That anxious, expectant restlessness is starting to dig its claws into the Nebraska football team. The 2010 season - the biggest in years, and the pivotal moment of this Bo Pelini era - can’t get here soon enough.

 

Kickoff is 10 days away. Seems like an eternity right now in Lincoln. The novelty of NU’s first-team offense and defense knocking themselves around in fall camp is wearing off. The novelty of camp, period, is wearing off.

 

It’s been a long, weird summer as it is. Big Ten. Beat Texas. The 100-degree heat. Media ban. The media itself appears to be shifting into silly season, reporting on tweets and chasing down message board innuendo because the main storylines are nearly exhausted. What’s next? Favorite cream cheese?

 

This interminable stretch run toward Western Kentucky will test Nebraska as much as it tantalizes.

 

The old Bo made a brief appearance Tuesday evening with reporters. That’s not particularly news. He’s been cranky each of the last three years around the time NU swells to the largest roster in college football this side of the three military academies. It takes a few days to get settled, organized and back into a routine. Probed for emotions - tell us how you feel, Bo - he didn’t betray many.

 

“I’m OK,” he said.

 

So what’s news? Nebraska embracing the expectation that, with a top ten ranking, a Big 12 Championship, BCS bowl berth and potential national title shot are within reach.

 

“The stakes are even higher,” guard Keith Williams said. “We went 10-4 last year. We want to go more than that. We want to win. And we want to do the best way we can.”

 

Oh, Bo’s still about the process. Sophomore linebacker Will Compton drilled that home Tuesday night so as not to confuse any reporters about the Huskers’ focus. Never that.

 

But Compton also said this: “We’re competing for a national title. The national champion doesn’t just go along each and every day and not put pressure on themselves and work hard. You’ve got to hold yourself up to a national championship standard if you want to compete for it.”

 

So, it’s at least on the table. It’s a talking point. Bo tends to blow off rankings, but he made a small point Saturday to say that, yes, being No. 8 in the Associated Press poll affords one some advantages.

 

“It’s pretty hard if you start way out of there to move up if you have aspirations of doing something special,” Pelini said.

 

The Huskers have their share of acolytes on ESPN. The NU/Texas game is on everybody’s radar. Bo’s already established a reputation of excellent defense, but the two otherworldly performances at the end of last year have him looking like a taciturn, creative svengali.

 

The spotlight is on. Nebraska isn’t going to sneak up on anyone. Bo can try to cultivate the underdog’s advantage. But the Huskers aren’t likely to be the underdog very often. It’s hard to have that shoulder chip when the national, regional and local media is busy patting your back.

 

Which is why I think you’ll see Bo push NU hard - not so much physically, but mentally - over the next 10 days to mold the Huskers’ confidence - and they have some - into a focused, angry machine that hopefully has a decent quarterback at the helm.

The season can NOT get here soon enough!

[GSG]

 

 

 

By the way, my favorite cream cheese is the blueberry one

[n.e.husker]

Only ten more days!

 

GBR

[NUance]

Bo’s already established a reputation of excellent defense, but the two otherworldly performances at the end of last year have him looking like a taciturn, creative svengali.

 

I never thought I would see the words "Pelini" and "taciturn" both in the same sentence.