Memorial Stadium, Lincoln — Nebraska didn't need it Saturday night, not with a season-high 55 points.

It didn't need to put its final nonconference football game in the hands of its defense. It produced points on five straight possessions at the start against Louisiana-Lafayette and never had to worry about scoring anything more.

But what if? What if the Husker offense didn't have it? What if NU had to win a game with defense?

Are the Huskers better equipped to win a game with their defense as they get deeper into Bo Pelini's time as head coach?

Nebraska senior center Jacob Hickman said yes Saturday night after watching the Huskers hold ULL to 222 total yards and force three turnovers in the 55-0 win, and seeing it come on the heels of the defense almost pulling it off the week before at Virginia Tech.

“It's huge,'' Hickman said. “You feel like a burden's lifted off you. I've been around where if we felt if we didn't score on every drive, we might not win the game. That's really not kind of the way it's supposed to work.

“Now with this defense, with what the staff's got them doing, we can sputter on a drive and be like, ‘All right, we'll be right back out here after a three-and-out.' It's a great feeling to have as an offensive guy.''

It must be noted that Louisiana-Lafayette did not possess the kind of offense NU will see with Big 12 opponents such as Missouri, Texas Tech or Oklahoma. The Ragin' Cajuns looked the part of an overmatched Sun Belt Conference team showing the scars of playing a third straight BCS team.

And Pelini has seen no perfection in the defensive performances of the past two games.

“We've made progress, but we're nowhere near where I believed we'd be,'' he said. “We're getting there. Like I said, we're in the right galaxy now and last year we were three solar systems away. We got a lot more to do.''

But Nebraska perhaps took another step toward recovering from the defensive debacles of 2007 and the every-once-in-a-while breakdowns of 2008, posting its first shutout since a 56-0 win over Troy in 2006.

The Huskers regularly kept ULL pinned on its side of the field before a Memorial Stadium-record 86,304. It sent the 300th consecutive sellout crowd home believing it might be able to expect this more often.

The only concerns came from injuries to defensive backs Larry Asante (left ankle), Rickey Thenarse (right knee) and Prince Amukamara (left ankle), but only Thenarse is expected to miss any significant amount of time with the Huskers off until going to Missouri on Oct. 8.

Asked what needs to improve between now and then, NU defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said: “Everything. We're going to be a lot better when we face Missouri than we were tonight, because we're going to keep practicing hard and keep coaching them hard.''

Nebraska forced Louisiana-Lafayette into three turnovers after causing none at Virginia Tech, which Bo Pelini called “unacceptable.''

The Huskers turned two into 14 points, including a 74-yard interception return by Asante. Between the turnovers, defensive stops and some punt returns the NU offense was regularly left with short fields.

In addition to two recovered fumbles, the Huskers also knocked the ball free from the Ragin' Cajuns two other times in what was a point of emphasis through the week.

“They came out Monday and Tuesday and had the best practices we had been through since we've been here,'' said Marvin Sanders, the NU secondary coach.

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