Huskers Key in on Virginia Tech's Taylor

The Nebraska football team practiced in full pads inside the Hawks Championship Center for 2 ? hours on Tuesday afternoon. Among the things the Huskers were preparing for in their upcoming game against Virginia Tech was the Hokies’ sophomore quarterback Tyrod Taylor.<?xml:namespace prefix="o"?>

“A guy like him, he makes them go,” Defensive Coordinator Carl Pelini said. “They’ve got some good backs, they’ve got some good receivers and they’re good up front, so it’s not just him. But I tell our guys this ? you’ve just got to be aware of where he is at all times. You can’t forget about him or he’ll burn you. So you’ve got to really think about where he is and where he can expose you.”

At the same time, Pelini acknowledged that they can’t get too caught up in trying to contain Taylor and his running abilities.

“I don’t think you can be so afraid that you lose you’re aggression,” said Pelini. “You’ve still got to be aggressive.”

For the first time since their opening game against Western Michigan, the Huskers will face a more balanced and traditional offensive attack. In NU’s last two games, it saw predominantly spread offenses that forced the defense to play five and six defensive backs at a time. Pelini said that he is looking forward to getting back into his base defense.

“For me, as a coach, it’s going to be a good measuring stick,” Pelini said. “It’s been three weeks since we faced it and since we’ve played a lot of base. It’s going to be a good measuring stick for us to see how much we’ve improved since the Western Michigan game.”

Kickoff for Saturday’s game is set for 7 p.m. and will be shown regionally on ABC.