11:27 p.m.: Chris Kelsay usually will take the bye week in the Buffalo Bills' schedule as an opportunity to return to Lincoln for a Nebraska football game. The former Husker defensive end saw NU-Oklahoma last fall and already is looking forward to NU-Texas next season.
But one return Kelsay might never forget came in 2007, when he witnessed one of the low points and times in Husker history as Nebraska fell behind Oklahoma State 38-0 by halftime and lost 45-14 at home.
“It was ridiculous,” he said. “It was embarrassing to watch.”
That's why Kelsay was among those Monday at the Bo Pelini Foundation Celebrity Golf Tournament praising the resurrection of Husker football under the third-year head coach. Pelini has led NU to 9-4 and 10-4 records since that collapse in 2007 that resulted in a 5-7 finish after six losses in the final seven games of the Bill Callahan era.
“It was tough to watch Nebraska football for a while,” said Kelsay, who lettered at NU from 1999 through 2002. “Then when they brought Bo in, I think they definitely got the man for the job. It's exciting to see what the team's doing and how they're responding to him and the coaching staff.”
Kelsay said he's witnessed a turnaround in players' fundamentals and technique, and just overall player development in general.
Former NU linebacker Barrett Ruud expected nothing less when Pelini returned. Ruud, now with Tampa Bay, played his junior season under Pelini when Pelini was hired to be Frank Solich's defensive coordinator in 2003.
However, the rise from No. 114 in scoring defense in 2007 all the way to No. 1 in 2009 still impressed Ruud.
“I guess I was surprised that it went all the way from whatever it was, 115 to No. 1,” he said.
Ruud also has taken note of the evolution.
The defensive line is totally different, he said. The coverage is more of a “match coverage” than the zone-oriented focus in 2003. Nebraska also didn't blitz nearly as much as it did back in 2003 before the influx of spread offenses. The Huskers played some nickel packages then but rarely any dime.
“It obviously shows that you can do a lot of different things,” Ruud said. “It's just a matter of getting people to buy into what you're doing.”
Copyright ©2012 Omaha World-Herald®. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, displayed or redistributed for any purpose without permission from the Omaha World-Herald.
RSS Feeds