Visiting Bruins hope to vanquish an inconsistent Cornhusker defense
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Brett Hundley will be high on Nebraska’s list of players to stop on Saturday.
By Emilio Ronquillo
Sept. 13, 2013 1:38 p.m.
In mid-August, Nebraska football coach Bo Pelini took a hammer to a phone that went off during a team meeting. The phone’s owner walked out, with Pelini following the player out the door shortly afterward. Yelling and subsequent shoving sounds audible to the team ensued.
A handful of Cornhuskers stood from their seats in attempts to stop the apparent physical altercation when a projector screen spit out “GOT YA! WE’RE GOING TO A MOVIE TONIGHT” at the team. Players howled, collapsed to the floor and held hands over their mouths in response to the prank.
Pelini’s effective theatrics may well serve as a model for a Nebraska team that nearly lost on opening weekend after leading Wyoming by as many as 17 points in the second half. Two missed tackles gave way to Wyoming touchdown passes of 22 and 47 yards. Performance issues also plagued the team in last year’s six-point loss UCLA.
“At the end of the day, it comes down to execution. When you do create those one-on-one opportunities, you have to make plays. We didn’t do that very well a year ago. … We missed a lot of tackles (and that) added up to a lot of yards after first contact,” Pelini said during in a coach’s teleconference on Tuesday.
Nebraska’s defense, headed by all-conference senior cornerback Ciante Evans, seemed to fix its technique against big plays in last week’s 56-13 shellacking of Southern Mississippi. Pelini cited improved communication and adjustments as key factors in how his team stopped beating itself as it nearly had against Wyoming.
Pelini gave particular praise to redshirt sophomore Brett Hundley, a mobile quarterback capable of causing problems for defenses similar to those posed by Wyoming quarterback Brett Smith. Nebraska surrendered nearly 500 yards of offense to Smith in a 37-34 win, while Hundley ran for 63 yards and threw for another 274 in beating Nevada 58-20.
“(The Bruins) know what they want to do offensively … I think their QB has a good handle on how the offense works, how to make it work for them … and how to get the ball in the hands of his playmakers,” Pelini said.
The lone touchdown against Nevada by a UCLA wide receiver came on a low, back-shoulder throw from Hundley to a turning and falling Evans, who easily fended off a defender’s attempted jam to catch a ball that the defensive back could do little about.
UCLA figures to have much more on its mind than giving its full concentration to executing precise plays this Saturday, less than a week after the passing of wide receiver Nick Pasquale.
No. 16 UCLA travels to the territory of No. 23 Nebraska, a school that Mora ranked among college football’s “great programs of all time” during a teleconference on Tuesday.
Although the home team will sport Pasquale’s number 36 on its helmets, Mora, who praised the empathy demonstrated by the Nebraska program, acknowledged that his team will have to perform in hostile football conditions on a grand stage.
“I don’t know that we could find a more difficult situation. You combine what’s happened from an emotional standpoint to our team … and how it’s affected them … When the game starts, (the Cornhuskers) want to win … their fans are going to be cheering like crazy for them and we have to be able to handle that. We have to be able to stay poised. We have to be able to overcome adversity.”
Compiled by Emilio Ronquillo, Bruin Sports senior staff.
