NU Prepares For Fierce Sooner Pass Rush

LINCOLN ? The Nebraska football team concluded the full-scale phase of its game-week practice schedule Thursday with a two-hour workout inside Memorial Stadium.

Head Coach Bill Callahan remarked on the play of his offensive line, particularly the left side, following practice. He said the unit needs to show improvement, as Oklahoma will bring a talented group of pass rushers to Lincoln Saturday.

"I think (the linemen) challenged themselves (this week)," Callahan said. "They see the challenge on film. (Defensive end C.J.) Ah You is an outstanding pass rusher for Oklahoma, and (defensive end Calvin) Thibodeaux is an outstanding pass rusher. They have great speed, good versatility and a wide range of moves and rushes that they can give you problems with. We have to work hard on that.

"We have to work on the spin move, that’s pretty obvious," Callahan added. "We got hit with the spin move quite a bit at Missouri, and we’ll see it again this week. We’ve worked hard on it, and our ability to adjust to it will be important when we get into the third-down-and-long situations."

Callahan once again spoke of his awareness of the tradition surrounding the Oklahoma-Nebraska matchup. The coaching staff tried to reinforce the matter to the Huskers this week by showing video highlight clips of past OU-NU games on Memorial Stadium’s HuskerVision screens throughout practices, he said.

"We had plenty of highlights on earlier today, and showed the players a lot of great plays from the past from this series," Callahan said. "I think our players are well-educated on this series. I think they have a great understanding and respect for what this series represents and what this matchup represents."

Asked whether the highlight pass from senior safety Mike Stuntz to former quarterback Eric Crouch that helped the Huskers win the last meeting between the two teams in 2001 in Lincoln made the highlights package, Callahan responded: "It sure did, it made the top 10. The kids were very supportive of Mike when he came on (the highlight reel)."

The Huskers will hold a light walkthrough at Memorial Stadium Friday afternoon. Kickoff for Saturday’s game is scheduled for 11 a.m. and will be televised on a split-national basis by ABC.