Filed by Mitch Sherman 12:36 p.m.
Bo Pelini said today he believes the Huskers' one-point loss Saturday to Virginia Tech will help Nebraska in the approaching Big 12 season.
“You've been tested,” he said. “You've been in a tough environment. We know we're going to face that once we get into conference play, so I think we'll be a better football team because of it.”
Pelini, speaking a few minutes ago on the Big 12 teleconference, was asked not a single question about the Huskers' game this week against Louisiana-Lafayette. It was all about Virginia Tech and the aftermath.
That will be his challenge with the Huskers – to move everyone forward. He said they're doing it.
“It's pretty easy,” the second-year coach said. “We always talk here about going on to the next thing, refocusing. You can't control what happened. What happened last Saturday is over. It's over. We've moved on.”
Quarterback Zac Lee is healthy, according to Pelini, and prepared to practice when the Huskers begin physical work this afternoon in preparation for the Ragin' Cajuns.
Other topics addressed today by Pelini:
-- Asked if the Huskers chose to punt on fourth and 1 with less than two minutes to play from Tech 37 because of the strong play of their defense and confidence that NU could stop the Hokies from scoring a quick touchdown against a long field, Pelini agreed. “Yep," he said. "That's why I did it.”
-- The coach apparently disagreed with officials' decision not to review a Lee-to-Menelik Holt pass that was ruled incomplete in the third quarter. On a first-and-goal play from 21-yard line during the fateful sequence in which the Huskers moved 34 yards in the wrong direction after getting a first down at the Tech 3, Holt was ruled to have dropped the ball after coming down in the end zone.
Pelini said he asked an official if the play would be challenged.
“I'm under the assumption they're going to review scoring plays,” Pelini said. “I didn't have a good look at it, so I asked the guy. He told me he was clearly bobbling it, going out of bounds. That's why I didn't challenge it. I had no view. We didn't have a view upstairs. I would have been blind. I had no idea.”
A TV replay showed that the ball pop loose when Holt's upper body hit the ground out of bounds. The question is whether he had control.
“I think it's pretty obvious from watching the replay,” Pelini said.
Obvious that Holt caught the pass?
“Looks like he did,” Pelini said.
Regardless, that play and others should not have determined the outcome, the coach said.
“We had plenty of opportunities to put that game away,” Pelini said. “On both sides of the ball and on special teams, everybody contributed to us not finishing that game off.”
More coming from Pelini and the Huskers after practice tonight.
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