PECULIAR PLAY

The Bears approached the fourth down and 10 as if they planned to go for it from Nebraska's 40-yard line midway through the third quarter. But true freshman Nick Florence took a couple of steps back as he received the sideline signals. Then he pooch-punted the football 22 yards out of bounds at the NU 18-yard line. Meanwhile, Derek Epperson sat on the sideline. Epperson leads the Big 12 in punting average and has pinned seven kicks inside the 20.

WHAT WAS THAT?

On a second down play in the third quarter, true freshman Dontrayevous Robinson took off from his I-back spot as Cody Green stood motionless in the shotgun. Robinson appeared to be going out for a swing pass, but the ball wasn't snapped and nobody on the offense moved. So Robinson stopped. Nebraska promptly called a timeout. It wasn't the first sign of confusion on offense Saturday. But play clock issues aren't surprising, considering the inexperience.

NOTICED

Senior Menelik Holt and sophomore Curenski Gilleylen made the trip, but neither played. Both were demoted during the week of practice. Behind Paul, those two had the second- and third-most catches among Nebraska's wide receivers coming into Saturday. But apparently the NU staff wasn't kidding about its zero-tolerance demand for consistency. Holt and Gilleylen haven't been reliable lately, so the Huskers used Khiry Cooper and Brandon Kinnie instead.

RAVE REVIEW

How can you not love the way Eric Martin approaches his job on special teams? The true freshman simply lowers his shoulder and plows into people, not at all worried about the potential harm it could do to his own body. He blocked that punt because he pushed a Baylor blocker into the football. Martin's relentless on kickoffs, too. Those are often the most dangerous plays since players can collide at full speed. That doesn't seem to bother Martin, though.

— Jon Nyatawa

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