BLACKSBURG, Va. — They are the kind of numbers that cry out to be changed, or at least be acknowledged.

• Twelve years since Nebraska last beat a Top 15 team in a true road game.

“Twelve years?'' I-back Roy Helu said. “That's a good fact.”

• Twenty straight losses against teams ranked higher than No. 20, dating to 2001.

“I don't really pay attention to any of that,'' offensive tackle Marcel Jones said. “I just try to focus on the next team and what we have to do to beat them.''

• Thirty games since NU last took down any Top 25 team, going back to a 28-27 win at Texas A&M in 2006.

“What's it been, one game in the last five years?'' safety Matt O'Hanlon said. “Something like that? Texas A&M when they were 24th?''

Nebraska actually has beaten five teams ranked between No. 20 and 25 since 2003, but the longer some of the other streaks and trends continue the longer the national perception lingers that the Huskers remain a shadow of their former selves.

That's why today's Nebraska-Virginia Tech game carries so much significance for the Huskers. NU is No. 19 in the Associated Press poll and No. 18 in the USA Today coaches ratings, with the Hokies at No. 13 and No. 14.

In the eyes of pundits, the game will reveal the Huskers as a Top 15 team or bounce them from the national radar.

Nebraska players sense an opportunity: “To be the type of team that we envision ourselves to be, we have to beat this team,'' Helu said. “And we have to beat them the way that we know we can.''

Nebraska coach Bo Pelini doesn't even want the subject brought up. He wouldn't even let reporters finish questions this week regarding implications or perceptions of an NU win or loss.

It's been a long time since NU lived up to pregame hype. Several times in recent seasons Nebraska fans have gotten themselves riled up for a big game only to be deflated.

So it begs the question: What makes this team believe it's better equipped to get over the hump?

According to NU players, some things they like are the defense being a year further along and communicating better; some established or developing play-makers on the defensive side with Ndamukong Suh, Pierre Allen, Prince Amukamara and Larry Asante; Helu playing at a high level at I-back; Pelini's toughness and play-to-win mentality; and the big arm and fast feet of Zac Lee at quarterback, although the junior will be making his first road start.

Plus, the Huskers (2-0) have started to prove they know how to win, carrying a six-game streak that goes back to last November.

“I wouldn't have come back if I didn't feel like this team has the pieces and the people to go out there and win those games,'' said Suh, a senior defensive tackle who flirted last winter with entering the NFL draft. “I didn't come back to be 9-4 again. I came back to be 14-0, and that's the plan. I feel like we have the guys on this team to go out there and do that.''

Suh said he thought NU had the team to break through last year, “but obviously that wasn't the case in certain situations because obviously we made mistakes.'' The Huskers went 0-4 against their four best opponents, including ugly losses to Missouri and Oklahoma.

“I feel that I know to this point what we can do,'' Suh said. “And one of those things that I feel we can do is go out there and win in Blacksburg.''

It would finally break some of those streaks of futility. The last time Nebraska beat a Top 15 team on the road was its 27-14 win at No. 2 Washington in 1997, which also was the last season the Huskers won a national championship.

Between 1991 and 2000, Nebraska went 8-2 in road games against teams in BCS conferences. The Huskers' only road wins against nonconference BCS teams since came in 2004 vs. Pittsburgh and 2007 vs. Wake Forest.

But NU linebacker Blake Lawrence said breaking streaks isn't what it's all about today.

“It's difficult to use that as motivation,'' Lawrence said. “We're just motivated by the opportunity to play a great team, no matter what their ranking is. We're motivated just by the challenges that we're going to face playing a team that's consistent and plays hard, and especially in their own stadium.''

To be fair, only so many of the big-game losses can be put on the tabs of current Huskers. Teams change. Coaching staffs change.

“Stuff like that, when I hear that, I just don't choose to dwell on it, because it has nothing to do with our team,'' Helu said. “I don't know anyone who would dwell on it. The worst thing we can do is to listen and to let past events affect the way we practice and go after this team.''

As far as this Husker team, playing its 16th game under Pelini, there is no true read just yet. NU has won two games, but they came against Sun Belt opponents that were .500 regular-season teams a year ago.

Virginia Tech won a BCS bowl last season and hit the 10-win mark for the fifth consecutive year — the kind of things Nebraska did routinely before some of these unflattering streaks began.

So there is some measurement that will come from three hours of football on the East Coast.

“You've definitely got to look at that as a where-we're-at kind of thing,'' NU center Jacob Hickman said. “It is really hard to tell where you're at in the whole scheme of things until you play a real big team like this.''

Hickman then cautions that it's only mid-September. The Big 12 schedule is still ahead.

“We've got to win a lot more than one game to be back,'' he said. “But, I mean, it's definitely a step in the right direction if we pull off a win here. It definitely would be going the way we want to go as a team.''

Contact the writer:

444-1042, rich.kaipust@owh.com

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