Blackshirts Ready for Nittany Lions

LINCOLN - The Nebraska Cornhuskers continued to gear up for the matchup with Penn State Nittany Lions on Tuesday afternoon as they practiced for just over two hours in full pads. With the cold weather, the Huskers took advantage of the Hawks Championship Center along with practicing outside on the Ed and Joyanne Gass practice fields.

After practice, defensive coordinator Carl Pelini spoke to the media about the Blackshirts and Penn State. Pelini said that redshirt freshman Chase Rome practiced on Tuesday and that it's important to get him back in the defensive line rotation.

"We thought coming into this season we were really deep at defensive tackle and we were," Pelini said, "But we've lost four of our six. We were lucky we were deep, but that depth is gone. They battled their tails off, but you're playing guys like Justin Jackson, who's coming along, but we just moved him back from offense two weeks ago. Jay Guy, going into the year we probably didn't plan on using a whole lot. Again, they're working hard and battling, but just to have a guy like Chase's experience and his ability would really help us. He was out here today going a little bit and getting some reps. We're going to kind of play it day-by-day and see how he responds."

Pelini also spoke about Penn State's offense and said that he can see them trying to run the ball at Blackshirts.

 "I think that's probably their plan. And we got to have a plan to counteract that and try and keep guys fresh. Like I said, it'd help to get Chase back and have a little rotation going on inside, if not, Cam's going to have some snaps inside," Pelini said. "We'll have some ways to defend them and us different fonts and maybe move a little bit more than we typically do."

Pelini said that Penn State's offense, in terms of how they use their passing game and protection schemes is more similar to Michigan State's than Northwestern's, but that they are a very balanced offense.

With Penn State's balanced offensive attack, comes their leading rusher, Silas Redd who is averaging 5.2 yard per carry this season and Pelini said that the Blackshirts are going to have to fly to the football if they want to slow him down on Saturday.

"He's a really good player. He has quick feet and makes you miss in the open field," Pelini said. "He's one of those guys; he's just really patient in the hole. He'll tuck in there and you think he has nothing and he'll find a seam and squirt out for eight yards. He's just a really patient running back. He understands their blocking schemes and you can kind of see he's waiting for holes to develop and anticipating even before you see them on tape. He's going to be a handful that's for sure.

"He has that breakaway speed, but he also has some power too. I've seen him do both. I've seen him run by people and I've also seen him lower his shoulder on a DB and break tackles. We got to be ready to come and put a hat on him and get a lot of people flying to the football."

Nebraska will continue gearing up for Penn State as they practice again in Wednesday afternoon. The Huskers game in State College, Pa., will kick off at 11 a.m. and will be televised on ESPN.