In the wake of the most important Nebraska road win in nearly three years, offensive line coach Barney Cotton recognized something more ancient in the Huskers.

Cotton, a second-year offensive line coach, played for NU from 1975 to 1978 and later served as a graduate assistant under Tom Osborne. He and veteran assistant Ron Brown saw this week in the Huskers, according to Cotton, a trait often displayed by teams of decades past.

“It was a very subdued meeting room,” Cotton said this morning at the Big Red Breakfast. “It reminded us of back in the day, with Coach Osborne, when they'd win a game and weren't very happy with a victory.

“Our guys were excited to beat Missouri on the road, but they were really disappointed, offensively, with how they played. It was nice to see that.

“We seem to have a bunch of players who want to hold themselves to a very high standard. It's nice to have a bunch of guys who want to atone after a victory and not after a loss.”

Nebraska beat Missouri 27-12 on Oct. 8, scoring four touchdowns in the fourth quarter. The Huskers host Texas Tech Saturday at 2:30 p.m.

Rest assured, Cotton said, they're not satisfied after last week.

“I'm not so sure we haven't had our best practices of the year so far,” Cotton told a packed room of approximately 300 at Omaha's Holiday Inn Central. “It was a fun week to coach.”

Looking back to Mizzou, Cotton said the Huskers were intent to correct a problem from the Virginia Tech game when they took possession last week with 5:24 to play, leading 20-12.

“We just told our players, ‘Hey, guys, we're going to get big,'” Cotton said. “We put four tight ends in the game and said, ‘We're not throwing. We're going to run these two plays over and over again.' They just kind of seemed like, ‘Well, why didn't we do that at the beginning?'”

Starting at its own 32-yard line, NU rushed for gains of 4, 4, 2, 8, 1, 3, 41 and 5 to score the game-clinching touchdown. The drive ate 4:28 off the clock and accounted for 68 of the Huskers' 105 rushing yards.

Three weeks earlier against the Hokies, Nebraska failed to get a first down in a similar situation — ahead 15-10 with 2:07 to play. It punted to Tech and lost the game on an 88-yard touchdown drive.

“I thought our team showed an awful lot of character,” Cotton said. “That's what we've been building for, to go out and close a game like that and make a statement.”

Also of note from Cotton's appearance in Omaha:

• The coach said Nebraska's locker room at Missouri went dark during a pre-game power outage and stayed that way all night. Portable lights were installed at halftime, but it made for an unusual situation during the post-game shower. “An interesting finish to a very interesting night,” Cotton said.

• Cotton didn't sound too impressed with himself or Jacob Hickman after the senior center fired a shotgun snap wide of quarterback Zac Lee for a turnover on the second play of the third quarter. “That made me feel pretty good,” said the coach, sarcastically, “that my halftime rousing speech inspired us to a bad snap.”

• Junior Ricky Henry leads the Huskers in pancake blocks, a statistic Cotton keeps in the tradition started by longtime former O-line coach Milt Tenopir. Henry had 18 knockdowns against Virginia Tech.

Cotton described the first-year starting right guard as “a missile.” The coach compared Henry's intensity to former Husker Richie Incognito.

Henry and star defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh have patched up their relationship after it grew ugly because of their brawls in preseason camp. Cotton said Henry and Suh would not talk to each other in August but that they walked off the practice field together recently.

“It was an absolute war,” Cotton said. “They didn't like each other. I mean, really, really did not like each other. But throughout all that there has, kind of, become a mutual respect between those two. Suh, I'm sure, has become a better player by playing against a guy with that relentless attitude.”

• Cotton said the coaches remain confident in true freshman P.J. Mangieri, who had a rough night of long snapping against Missouri. One bad snap resulted in a safety. Punter Alex Henery and holder Brett Maher bailed him out on other plays.

“He's a true freshman, but it's unacceptable to have a bad snap, especially when you're backed up (near the goal line),” Cotton said. “When you have one job to do, you want to be 100 percent at that job.”

• Hickman and tackle D.J. Jones were among the sick Huskers last week. Several players, including I-back Roy Helu, stayed home while the team traveled. They flew on the day of the game to Columbia. Cotton said he thought Hickman may have to share snaps with backup Mike Caputo, but it didn't happen.

“You feel bad before the game,” Cotton said. “You feel bad after the game. But during the game, you're a football player and you go do your job.”

• An injury may force Nebraska to play true freshman Jeremiah Sirles, who has practiced well as the Huskers' fourth offensive tackle behind Marcel Jones, Mike Smith and D.J. Jones. “He's ready to play in the Big 12 right now,” Cotton said.

Among the other reserves, Cotton said he expects sophomore Caputo of Millard North to win the starting center job next year.

Redshirt freshman Brandon Thompson has moved from tackle to guard and is the top backup to Henry. Senior Derek Meyer, behind Keith Williams at left guard, did not play against Missouri. Cotton described true freshman Jess Coffey as “a monster.” Coffey has grown since he arrived in Lincoln, Cotton said, to perhaps 6-foot-8.

The coach also described redshirt freshman Seung Hoon Choi as an important scout-team player. Choi, from South Korea, played in high school at Lincoln Christian as an exchange student. At the request of coach Bo Pelini, Choi postponed surgery last fall to keep practicing until the final week of the regular season. He missed the Gator Bowl trip, though, to fly home to see his parents on a long-planned trip.

Contact the writer:

402-473-9587, mitch.sherman@owh.com

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