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Players credit Bo for being a leader
BY MITCH SHERMAN
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
LINCOLN — College football players, believe it or not, get bored. Distracted. Priorities waver.
"The season gets tougher," Nebraska receiver Nate Swift said. "Classes get tougher. It all kind of wears on you."
Injuries hurt more after two full months of practice. Goals disappear and seasons can fizzle in October. Bill Callahan lost 11 of 18 October games at NU.
This year, the Huskers are 1-2 in the season's midway month. But there's something different about October around Memorial Stadium.
Nebraska played its best games of the season, arguably, the past two weeks on the road against Texas Tech and Iowa State. When the opportunity arrived front and center for the Huskers to splinter after a five-touchdown loss to Missouri, they moved in the opposite direction.
It came together, apparently. But why?
"It all depends on the leadership," quarterback Joe Ganz said Tuesday as Nebraska prepared for its return home on Saturday against Baylor. "As seniors, we weren't going to let it happen again. We were sick of it. We were sick of how it felt.
"Guys have responded well, and they've bought in. We're starting to understand the process, and we're on to better things."
NU coaches see fewer breakdowns in execution and fewer penalties. The Huskers were flagged a season-low four times last week in their 35-7 win over ISU.
When the going got tough, NU got tougher.
"Last year, we were calling guys out here and there," Swift said. "When you do that, the team kind of splits into two. Blame is thrown. Nothing like that is happening this season. The attitude has totally changed."
Bo Pelini deserves credit, according to guard Matt Slauson.
The senior said Nebraska's head coach is "like a dad to us."
"He's a guy that motivates you to work hard," Slauson said. "He teaches you life lessons. And he truly cares about you. We all see that.
"I thought that stopped in high school. I thought as soon as you get to college, that's when it starts to be a business — you're just a number, pretty much a side of beef. You're used and abused, and you're done. Now, it's all heart. It's all love."
Pelini turned a bit philosophical on Tuesday during his weekly press conference. The first-year Nebraska coach talked for nearly 10 minutes straight about confidence and mental toughness and focus and messages and all of its involvement in this apparent turnaround.
"It's been said a lot of times: Success is a choice," Pelini said. "You make that choice every time you wake up in the morning. What are you going to get out of that day? I think more often than not, we're making the right choice, because I see us getting better."
Pelini made it clear that he believes the Huskers are far from a finished product. Notice the still-missing Blackshirt practice jerseys from practice.
Compared with a few weeks back, though, the difference is significant.
"It wasn't an effort thing," Pelini said, "but the light wasn't coming on consistently. We were losing our focus in practice at times. Our attention to detail was not there on a consistent basis. That's still the case at times."
Pelini refused to alter his message to the team during NU's three-game skid.
Through wins and losses, the coach said, he remains "extremely black and white."
"You get out of kids what you ask for," he said.
In the end, Pelini said, the path to improvement involves hard and smart work and discipline.
Behind it all is competitiveness, another trait on the rise among the Huskers, Pelini said.
"I don't care whether it's in the weight room, you're competing every single time you do something," Pelini said. "You're not just doing it to kill time. You have to compete every time you walk out there. Otherwise, somebody else out there is working harder than you are."
Results, typically, follow.
"As a coach, you get excited to walk out there every day on the practice field," Pelini said. "I think that's happening with the players, too, because they see themselves getting better. You'll see that the product on the field will just consistently get better if they stay with that."
BY MITCH SHERMAN
WORLD-HERALD BUREAU
LINCOLN — College football players, believe it or not, get bored. Distracted. Priorities waver.
"The season gets tougher," Nebraska receiver Nate Swift said. "Classes get tougher. It all kind of wears on you."
Injuries hurt more after two full months of practice. Goals disappear and seasons can fizzle in October. Bill Callahan lost 11 of 18 October games at NU.
This year, the Huskers are 1-2 in the season's midway month. But there's something different about October around Memorial Stadium.
Nebraska played its best games of the season, arguably, the past two weeks on the road against Texas Tech and Iowa State. When the opportunity arrived front and center for the Huskers to splinter after a five-touchdown loss to Missouri, they moved in the opposite direction.
It came together, apparently. But why?
"It all depends on the leadership," quarterback Joe Ganz said Tuesday as Nebraska prepared for its return home on Saturday against Baylor. "As seniors, we weren't going to let it happen again. We were sick of it. We were sick of how it felt.
"Guys have responded well, and they've bought in. We're starting to understand the process, and we're on to better things."
NU coaches see fewer breakdowns in execution and fewer penalties. The Huskers were flagged a season-low four times last week in their 35-7 win over ISU.
When the going got tough, NU got tougher.
"Last year, we were calling guys out here and there," Swift said. "When you do that, the team kind of splits into two. Blame is thrown. Nothing like that is happening this season. The attitude has totally changed."
Bo Pelini deserves credit, according to guard Matt Slauson.
The senior said Nebraska's head coach is "like a dad to us."
"He's a guy that motivates you to work hard," Slauson said. "He teaches you life lessons. And he truly cares about you. We all see that.
"I thought that stopped in high school. I thought as soon as you get to college, that's when it starts to be a business — you're just a number, pretty much a side of beef. You're used and abused, and you're done. Now, it's all heart. It's all love."
Pelini turned a bit philosophical on Tuesday during his weekly press conference. The first-year Nebraska coach talked for nearly 10 minutes straight about confidence and mental toughness and focus and messages and all of its involvement in this apparent turnaround.
"It's been said a lot of times: Success is a choice," Pelini said. "You make that choice every time you wake up in the morning. What are you going to get out of that day? I think more often than not, we're making the right choice, because I see us getting better."
Pelini made it clear that he believes the Huskers are far from a finished product. Notice the still-missing Blackshirt practice jerseys from practice.
Compared with a few weeks back, though, the difference is significant.
"It wasn't an effort thing," Pelini said, "but the light wasn't coming on consistently. We were losing our focus in practice at times. Our attention to detail was not there on a consistent basis. That's still the case at times."
Pelini refused to alter his message to the team during NU's three-game skid.
Through wins and losses, the coach said, he remains "extremely black and white."
"You get out of kids what you ask for," he said.
In the end, Pelini said, the path to improvement involves hard and smart work and discipline.
Behind it all is competitiveness, another trait on the rise among the Huskers, Pelini said.
"I don't care whether it's in the weight room, you're competing every single time you do something," Pelini said. "You're not just doing it to kill time. You have to compete every time you walk out there. Otherwise, somebody else out there is working harder than you are."
Results, typically, follow.
"As a coach, you get excited to walk out there every day on the practice field," Pelini said. "I think that's happening with the players, too, because they see themselves getting better. You'll see that the product on the field will just consistently get better if they stay with that."
