LINCOLN — Coach Bo Pelini said “we'll see how that plays out'' and “I'm in no hurry to name a starter'' in response to questions Monday about the Nebraska quarterback situation.

Freshman Cody Green made his second straight start Saturday night against Oklahoma, but junior Zac Lee took over in the second quarter and finished the game. Neither was overly effective in the 10-3 win.

Pelini did hint at the likelihood that the Huskers start from scratch each week with evaluations.

“We've got to kind of go week to week,'' Pelini said. “We're going to do what we feel like we need to do to win each football game.

“It could be a combination of the two. It could be Zac, it could be Cody. That's something we're going to figure out as time goes on and we put in game plans.''

Pelini said he didn't believe pulling Green on Saturday night would affect his confidence. In fact, he said, the Husker staff decided to be a little protective in removing him.

“That was a crazy atmosphere,'' Pelini said. “I just felt an aura out there. That game was a little different. I wanted to protect him a little bit, and that's one of the reasons why we did what we did.

“It wasn't that we lacked confidence with Cody, but it's a long-term deal with him and we wanted to make sure we did the right thing by him.''

Holt, Gilleylen return to top offensive units

Wide receivers Menelik Holt and Curenski Gilleylen are on the way back.

Holt, a senior, and Gilleylen, a sophomore, returned to practice Monday with the top offensive units after they spent two weeks on the scout team.

“They're trying to get back in good graces,” receivers coach Ted Gilmore said after the Huskers completed a lighter-than-usual first practice of the week.

Holt and Gilleylen were benched after both contributed to the Huskers' eight-turnover performance Oct. 24 in a 9-7 loss to Iowa State.

“Hopefully, they learned from this and value every single rep,” Gilmore said. “Their attitude's been tremendous through it all. I'm really proud of them.”

Gilleylen ranks fourth on the team with 16 catches, and Holt is fifth with 15.

Gilmore said they must still work for playing time. Both receivers play the X position, at which redshirt freshman Khiry Cooper started against Baylor and Oklahoma.

Cooper struggled to match up physically against OU.

“He's got to get stronger,” Gilmore said. “He's still getting shocked by the defense, and he's fully aware of that.”

Several dinged players held out of practice

Nebraska shunned full pads and held out a number of banged-up regulars Monday as it returned to practice.

“We felt like it was the right thing to do,'' Pelini said. “The trade-off there is we say if we lighten the physicality of it we want fast tempo, and we got that today.''

Pelini said offensive linemen Jacob Hickman, Keith Williams and Marcel Jones all are fine. Cornerback Alfonzo Dennard practiced. Safety Larry Asante did not go, but Pelini said it's possible that Asante will return today.

The name of strength and conditioning coach James Dobson came up both during the Big 12 teleconference and after practice. The Husker defense held up against Oklahoma despite playing 87 plays on a warmer-than-usual November night.

“They're in phenomenal physical condition,'' Pelini said. “We had a number of guys that played a lot of snaps in that football game, and you wouldn't have known it.”

Long Sooner game can't slow Dillard

Nebraska senior linebacker Phillip Dillard said he couldn't have imagined playing 87 snaps in past years. Against OU, he instead was surprised to find gas left in the tank as he chased ball carriers in the fourth quarter.

“You're like, ‘I had more in me than I thought I do,' ” said Dillard, who made eight tackles and intercepted a pass.

It did, however, catch up to Dillard after midnight.

“When I got home and I was watching TV, I was like, ‘Man, I'm too tired to sleep,'” he said. “I was too exhausted to sleep. That was a long, hard-fought game.''

NU secondary coach shuttled nine DBs

Oklahoma's multiple-receiver formations and a few NU injuries forced the Husker secondary coach to use nine defensive backs in a tightly contested game.

Marvin Sanders didn't mind, though. Actually, if needed, he would have been perfectly comfortable inserting a 10th guy.

Nebraska operated out of its dime formation — playing four cornerbacks and two safeties — for nearly the entire game Saturday.

But the Huskers also needed safety P.J. Smith to log some minutes because of injuries to Matt O'Hanlon and Larry Asante. Anthony West had to replace Dennard late in the game after the sophomore cornerback's shoulder flared up.

Sanders said Lance Thorell subbed in for Eric Hagg briefly. And if someone else would have gone down, Austin Cassidy would have been a capable option too, Sanders said.

Nebraska has depth in the secondary, Sanders said. That has changed from a year ago, when the top defensive backs needed extra time during the week to learn the NU system and Sanders didn't have many opportunities to evaluate.

“I have confidence in those guys because of what they've done in practice, that I can put them in a game,” Sanders said.

Dennard's injury causes confusion

If Ndamukong Suh was acting injured late in the fourth quarter Saturday, the senior defensive tackle's next award nomination might be for something along the lines of an Emmy.

Suh fell abruptly, clutching his right thigh, as Oklahoma's offense prepared for a third down-and-5 on the NU 34-yard line with three minutes left.

Coincidentally, Suh's apparent leg cramp occurred just seconds after Dennard landed awkwardly on his previously injured left shoulder.

Dennard didn't want to come out. He said Monday that in the moment, he thought that he could have played through the pain. But Smith was already waving for trainers, causing a bit of confusion on the field.

Then Suh went down, and everything stopped.

So, was Suh acting? Sanders doesn't really know.

“That could have been,” he said. “I wasn't down there.

“I just saw Suh go down. If it (was acting), I want to say, ‘Thank you, Suh.' Because we got Alfonzo off the field. But what I heard was that he was cramping up a little bit.”

After Oklahoma's third-down run was stuffed for a 1-yard gain, Suh re-entered the game on the next play. Dennard finished the game on the sideline.

Fullback Legate draws praise

One offensive player busier than expected Saturday night was fullback Tyler Legate.

The redshirt freshman played 33 of 57 snaps, by far the Huskers' largest use of the fullback this season.

“I was real pleased with the day's work he put in,'' said NU assistant coach Tim Beck, who gave Legate credit for helping I-back Roy Helu gain 138 yards on 20 carries.

“You don't know when you're going to be called and asked to step up and pinch hit, so to speak. And last game it was him. He had to come out and perform, and he played really hard and really well.''

Extra points

The Big 12 on Monday announced a 6:45 p.m. kickoff for Kansas State-Nebraska on Nov. 21, with television coverage by either ESPN or ESPN2. It's possible the game at Memorial Stadium could decide the Big 12 North champion. ... K-State has returned some of its allotment of tickets for the Nov. 21 game. Those are available at the NU ticket office or Huskers.com and run $65 each. ... NU junior kicker Alex Henery has been named one of 20 semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award. ... Ron Franklin and Ed Cunningham will call a second straight Husker game when they handle the ABC regional telecast of Nebraska-Kansas on Saturday.

— Rich Kaipust, Jon Nyatawa and Mitch Sherman

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