• Video: Mitch Sherman and Jon Nyatawa break down the Holiday Bowl in the season's final edition of the Big Red Today show:

SAN DIEGO — Clarity can emerge from the cloudiest moments.

Like Sept. 21, two days after Nebraska suffered a 16-15 loss at Virginia Tech as deflating as any in recent Husker history.

The Huskers arrived at a crossroads that Monday afternoon, and they responded with two hours of practice remembered by many as the most spirited in years at Nebraska.

Never mind the consecutive losses a month later. They represent a blip, a few steps back among the many forward this season for the long-term prognosis of NU football. As the Huskers face Arizona tonight at 7 in the Holiday Bowl, a 10th victory hangs in the balance — potential validation to the claims of progress amid turbulence this season.

“I think we're a better football team now than we were when the football season started,” coach Bo Pelini said on the eve of Nebraska's season finale at Qualcomm Stadium.

That's the simple answer. Black and white, as Pelini likes to say. Look deeper, and you'll see that movement in a positive direction this year involves many days like Sept. 21.

The consistency contributes to a big-picture outlook.

“There hasn't been a lot of up and down,” defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said. “For the most part, we've been steady — not just game to game, but day to day. Regardless of a couple painful losses and a couple big wins, when Monday came around, we always went right back to work.”

The result? A program growing up again before our eyes; the return of a long-forgotten swagger, if ever so slight, in this second year under Bo Pelini.

It's not the mid-'90s, when Nebraska won by showing up. But you see the changes when Ndamukong Suh hurls Colt McCoy to the ground and when the big defensive tackle struts through Times Square en route to the Heisman Trophy presentation.

When the Huskers rise in the national rankings after a loss, as they did this month in the wake of a 13-12 defeat to Texas, that's a sign of respect. It's a sign that national relevance is coming back.

“You have to earn respect,” Bo Pelini said. “Our guys understand that.

“But I know this: We're at a point in our program where, going forward, we feel that we can beat anybody in the country. I can say it wasn't like that 18 months ago.”

Eighteen months ago, before Pelini coached his first game back at Nebraska, the Huskers floundered off course. If now at the end of his second year, they've rediscovered the right path, well, that's a major accomplishment.

“I think we put Nebraska back on the map,” senior linebacker Phillip Dillard said. “We're trying to get respect. But we have to continue to go out there and earn it.

“These coaches instill focus in us. Regardless of what happens, we're going to practice the same way. If we win by 100 or lose by 100, we're going to play the same way.”

It's the legacy the Nebraska seniors will leave.

“They can take satisfaction and a sense of pride in knowing what they did for this program,” Bo Pelini said.

Suh, the face of the Huskers' return to the national stage, points to the losses as much as the wins as evidence of a resurgence. The nature of those one-point defeats to Virginia Tech and Texas, he said, will enable Nebraska to win the close games next year and beyond.

“When the young guys on this team are put back in those situations,” Suh said, “they'll know how to respond to it. They know what they shouldn't do, what they should do.”

So what's the next natural step?

“We want to win a Big 12 championship next year,” Bo Pelini said.

Others don't see it so cut and dry.

“I don't know that there is a next, definable step,” Carl Pelini said. “As the preparation moves forward, we still want the even keel.”

But “instead of being here,” he said, raising his left hand from his chest to above his head, “we want to be here.”

“We're detail-oriented,” Carl Pelini said, “and our guys are getting it. What you're looking for is those guys to not have one or two mistakes every game. I know it's a level we can reach.”

According to Suh, tonight could mark another small step.

“You have to look at the majority of our season to see how much we've grown,” Suh said.

Pelini is unbeaten in two bowl games as head coach at Nebraska. Now, in a delicate period of rebirth, is not the time to step in the wrong direction.

“Coach Bo talks all the time about the process,” secondary coach Marvin Sanders said. “Sooner or later, there's got to be some tangible evidence of that progress. (A 10th win) can show that what we're talking about is real. That's how important this game is to us.”

Contact the writer:

402-444-1031, mitch.sherman@owh.com