• Nebraska coach Bo Pelini answers questions after Thursday's practice:

LINCOLN — It must have been an unsettling sight for Texas Tech's quarterback as he picked himself off the turf in the middle of four all-too familiar faces celebrating at his expense.

Quarterback Steven Sheffield was sacked five times Saturday — this final one coming early in the fourth quarter when each of the Nebraska defensive linemen delivered his own hit on the backfield stop.

Sheffield, of course, got the last laugh, considering his team left Memorial Stadium with an impressive 31-10 rout.

But as he tended to all his aches and pains in the hours after the victory — Sheffield's injured foot reportedly could keep him out until November — he probably realized something that the NU coaches have known for some time.

Pierre Allen, Ndamukong Suh, Jared Crick and Barry Turner — the talented NU starters up front — can control the line of scrimmage and disrupt offenses by themselves. No blitzing needed.

And that's lifting an incredible burden off the back end of the Husker defense, one challenged weekly by the spread-you-out approach that most offenses use to attack.

“If you can get four-man pressure and involve seven guys in coverage, you've got a great advantage there,” defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said. “So that's our challenge to the defensive line every week.”

The impact of the front four was never more noticeable than on Saturday afternoon.

After calling two blitzes on the game's opening drive, Pelini sent extra defenders on just two other occasions the rest of the way.

Texas Tech ran 57 offensive plays. So on 53 of those, Nebraska had seven players in coverage, spread evenly across the field to account for the myriad of targets in Texas Tech's pass-first offense.

Meanwhile, the Husker linemen accounted for 4½ sacks, nine tackles for loss and all eight of Nebraska's quarterback hurries. All of that production, aside from one QB hurry from Suh, occurred without a blitz.

The starters up front never quit, either, even in the fourth quarter when the most relentless of defensive linemen are supposed to be getting tired. All four were there for that final sack.

Allen grabbed Sheffield's jersey from behind. Turner dove at his legs. Suh wrapped his giant arms around Sheffield's waist and Crick soared in and popped the 190-pound junior up high.

“We carry blitzes into every game,” Pelini said. “But if you're getting good pressure with the four-man rush, you're always better off playing coverage.”

Especially when opponents put four wide receivers on the field.

No discredit to the ability of Nebraska's defensive backs, but the more often they're matched up with athletically gifted pass-catchers, the more likely big plays will occur.

When Nebraska has to blitz to create pressure on a quarterback, the Huskers are losing pieces of their coverage unit. Plus, the remaining defensive backs are likely isolated in man-to-man matchups.

Too many situations like that can often favor the offense, according to secondary coach Marvin Sanders.

“When you're in there, and it's straight man-to-man and you're bringing blitzes, you have no help,” Sanders said. “And eventually a good athlete will break away.”

That's why an active defensive line is so important, Sanders said.

On the majority of passing plays, whether it's Allen, Suh, Crick or Turner, someone is typically pressuring the opposing quarterback within seconds.

So what Sanders tells his secondary is simple. Take away a quarterback's first option and there won't be enough time for him to find a second.

“That's kind of how it's been all year,” Sanders said. “To be fortunate to have four of the best D-linemen in college football helps a lot. It really does. If we cover long enough, we know they're going to get a sack.”

Contact the writer:

402-473-9585, jon.nyatawa@owh.com