Huskers Wrap Up Preparations for Wildcats

Lincoln ? The Nebraska football team wrapped up preparations for Saturday’s game against Kansas State with an hour and 45-minute workout in sweats inside Memorial Stadium Thursday afternoon.

Nebraska Coach Frank Solich believes that the No. 18/15 (AP/Coaches) Huskers, who are 8-2 overall and 4-2 in the Big 12 entering Saturday’s ABC televised game are in a good mindset heading into the showdown with the No. 25 Wildcats.

"It has been a good week all around," Solich said. "Their work ethic and attitude have been good all week. The temperatures will be good for football and it should be an excellent weekend along those lines. It is two very good football teams getting together and should be a great match-up."

One major advantage the Huskers will have is being inside the confines of Memorial Stadium, where the Huskers are 6-0 this season and 101-5 over the last 16 seasons. The Huskers will be bidding for 10th undefeated home record in the last 12 years and have defeated Kansas State in each of their last 17 trips into Memorial Stadium.

"I can’t put a number on it, but certainly there is one," Solich said on the Huskers’ home field advantage. "I don’t know how much, but a lot depends on how well you play when you step on the field. It’s obvious that when you get a crowd that is generated, ready to go and fired up, you get a ball club that is ready to play."

Solich announced that Jerrell Pippens (Philadelphia, Pa.) has been named as the Huskers’ special teams captain this week. It is the third time that Pippens, who one 34 seniors who will play their final home game at Memorial Stadium, has earned the honor (also vs. OSU and Texas A&M). Pippens made his first career start against Kansas last Saturday, and had a career-high 12 tackles, an interception and had a blocked field goal nullified because of a penalty.

"He’s done a great deal week in and week out to help this team from the special team standpoint, but he also played heavily as a defensive back against Kansas," Solich said. "We felt that he was very deserving of that honor."

Solich also received good news on Thursday, as offensive guard Jake Andersen returned to practice for the first time since Saturday’s game. Solich said the junior should be ready for Saturday and only ruled out junior wide receiver Ben Zajicek for Saturday’s contest.

"We think he’ll be ready to go," Solich said on Andersen. "He practiced today for the first time this week, but he knows the offense. He’s had a lot of reps (all season).He’ll be ready to play at this point, but we also have Brandon Koch, who could play either guard spot for us."

The Huskers will conduct their walkthrough at 3:30 p.m. while Coach Solich will address the media before the workout. Kansas State is scheduled to leave Manhattan at 2:30 p.m. and will workout upon arrival. The Wildcats’ walk-though is closed and there is no coach availability.