’Huskers struggle to get past Texas

Associated Press

LINCOLN, Neb.

Three days later, Nebraska players and coaches were still trying to shake off a Texas-sized hangover from their loss to the Longhorns.

There’s not a lot of time to do it before the No. 14 Cornhuskers hit the road to play 17th-ranked and unbeaten Oklahoma State on Saturday.

Safety DeJon Gomes said he and his teammates had better forget the loss, even if the rest of the folks in this football-crazy state can’t.

“We have the weekend to think about it and dwell on it,” Gomes said. “Once preparing for Oklahoma State came into play, you just have to put it behind you. If you’re thinking about it during the week, you aren’t going to prepare well, and one loss could turn into two, could turn into three.”

Coach Bo Pelini said he counted 28 missed tackles to go with eight dropped passes, four of which would have gone for touchdowns.

The whiffs were especially maddening to Pelini, whose reputation is as a defensive specialist.

“Might be the worst tackling game I’ve ever been a part of,” he said.

The 28 missed tackles were by far the most this season, though Pelini said, “One’s too many in my book.”

“Some things you can’t really answer,” he said. “I’m searching for the answer, why that happened? It’s not an easy thing to put your finger on. Is it a lack of focus? I don’t know. Is it too much want-to? I don’t know what it is.”

Texas quarterback Garrett Gilbert bounced off a defender for a big first down early in the game, and he finished with 71 yards on 11 carries. Cody Johnson had 73 yards on 11 carries to lead the Longhorns, who finished with a season-high 209 rushing yards.

Nebraska defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said he calculated that missed tackles accounted for more than half the Texas rushing total.

“A lot of it was overzealous guys trying to make the big hit in open field,” he said. “A good tackle in the open field is just getting the guy down. You can’t always go for the big hit in an unrestricted space. Get your arms around the guy.”

Nebraska’s offensive problems landed squarely on the receivers, even though quarterback Taylor Martinez was benched in the third quarter — a decision Pelini second-guessed on Monday.

Zac Lee, who replaced Martinez, had sure TD passes dropped by Niles Paul and Brandon Kinnie. Paul also let a TD pass from Martinez slip through his hands, as did Rex Burkhead.

“I’m extremely frustrated with myself, just knowing I can make those catches,” Paul said. “You get to a game like that and it doesn’t happen, you have to look yourself in the mirror, man up and figure out how to fix it. All I can think is that I wasn’t looking the ball all the way in.”