Pelini: First Game "Not Bad"

Coach Bo Pelini tells the Journal-Star that the Huskers game wasn't all that bad. Most of the problems were simple miscommunications or missed assignments that can be corrected. Effort wasn't a problem; he felt everybody played too hard. In fact, some of the mistakes might have been the result of playing too hard.

“It’s more of a discipline thing, getting our guys understanding, ‘We play team defense here and everybody has a responsibility and you have to have your eyes in a certain place,’” Pelini said. “You have to play your technique and fundamentals exactly right and fit within a defense. You can’t try to do too much. And at times, I think that’s what we had.”

And the inexperience in the secondary was a huge factor, when only Philip Dillard and Larry Asante had prior significant playing time. For as good as Cody Glenn played at times, he also made several mistakes. I remember one play where he overpursued a Bronco ball-carrier who juked Glenn out of his shoes and scampered for a nice gain. Glenn recognizes it too.

Pelini was pleased with the performance of the defensive line, who were significantly more relevent on Saturday night than most of 2007. Is that enough to warrant the awarding of Blackshirts? At halftime, I thought... maybe. But after the second half, probably not. In fact, I'm not sure I see much of a reason to issue Blackshirts for a few weeks.

Tom Shatel asked yesterday whether the Virginia Tech/Nebraska game would even be televised after the Hokies were upset on Saturday. My response is: why wouldn't it? ABC might not be as interested anymore, but I'd be absolutely shocked if it wasn't televised. According to the Big XII conference web site, Versus will carry a game at 11:30 am and FSN will carry a game at either 2:30 pm or 6 pm. It doesn't say whether ABC will carry a game, however. So what are the other games that day?

• Louisiana-Lafayette at Kansas State
• TCU at Oklahoma
• Army at Texas A&M
• Virginia Tech at Nebraska
• Colorado at Florida State

The Buffies game visit with Bobby Bowden doesn't count, since that's a road game and should be televised under the ACC television contract. Hokies/Huskers still looks like the best game of the day, with TCU/Oklahoma being the other game likely to be carried. So if I was prognasticating this game, I'd expect the Virginia Tech game to be either at 2:30 pm (on FSN or ABC) or at 6 pm (on FSN).

And because of this, I kind of expect the New Mexico State game to be an 11:30 am kickoff for pay-per-view because of the possibility of a night kickoff for Virginia Tech. That game will now be the season opener for New Mexico State, as Nicholls State cancelled their Thursday game against the Aggies because of Hurricane Gustav.