LINCOLN — Well, 1 for 2 is better than 0 for 2.
Nebraska entered this football season with an objective to improve over last year in turnover margin and penalties, among other areas. It ranked 107th nationally last year in turnover margin and 98th in penalty yardage per game.
On Saturday in the season opener, the Huskers forced three turnovers and lost one in a 49-3 defeat of Florida Atlantic.
“That's huge,” coach Bo Pelini said Monday. “It's a big emphasis we had, and something we need to keep going.”
But the penalty situation didn't please him. The Huskers were flagged nine times for 86 yards — above their per-game average of 7.2 penalties for 61.5 yards a year ago. Among the flags were 15-yard personal fouls called on Jared Crick, Niles Paul and Eric Martin.
Pelini described it as a “constant problem.”
“Last year, I thought we had too many penalties,” the second-year coach said. “It carries over. You practice the way you're going to play. When those things creep up in practice and you're sloppy, it's just about being focused and having attention to detail.”
Williams, Young back at practice
No. 1 left guard Keith Williams and reserve tight end Dreu Young returned to practice Monday after both players missed the season opener with injuries.
Pelini said Williams “did fine.” He sat out three of four practices last week before dressing Saturday. Young was not in uniform.
Walk-on program making impact
Crunching some numbers from Saturday night, courtesy of Jeff Jamrog, NU's assistant athletic director for football:
• Of the 68 players Nebraska used, 31 played in a game for the first time. That included five true freshmen — receiver Antonio Bell, I-back Rex Burkhead, quarterback Cody Green, linebacker Eric Martin and long snapper P.J. Mangieri.
• Of those 31, 11 were walk-ons, including 10 from the 2008 signing class. Mangieri was the only true freshman walk-on to play.
• Of the 68 overall, 21 were players that either are walk-ons or entered the program as walk-ons.
Ekler expects spotless performance
Barbie Ekeler asked her husband a few nights before the NU season opener if he was nervous. A legitimate question considering assistant coach Mike Ekeler was about to start two redshirt freshmen at linebacker against Florida Atlantic.
“I said, ‘Naw, I know exactly what they're going to do. They're going to be perfect,' ” Ekeler said. “So I was shocked that they weren't perfect.”
Ekeler's expectation was in line with Pelini's general philosophy, no matter the position. So Sean Fisher and Will Compton were going to have a hard time pleasing their coaches.
— Rick Kaipust and Mitch Sherman
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