• Video Below: See coach Bo Pelini as well as players Taylor Martinez, Rex Burkhead and Ben Cotton at the postgame press conference

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LINCOLN — Most college football coaches use their weekly press conference as an outlet for staying on message, for propping up the program's confidence and easing any concerns fans may have.

Bo Pelini didn't mind getting serious on Monday. When reporters pressed him on why Nebraska struggled to knock off Fresno State in a 42-29 comeback win, Pelini pressed back.

His 18-minute session featured a handful of nuggets of cold reality. Bo's not happy.

"We did not execute. We didn't execute, we didn't play well and anything else is an excuse," he said. "Plain and simple. We didn't play well. It had a lot to do with us, and that will get fixed. We know how to fix that."

Among the biggest surprises of NU's unusually soft defensive performance, he said, was one of the sources of the problem.

"It was our veterans that didn't play well, guys that have been around here," Pelini said. "Hopefully it should be a wake-up call for us."

Pelini admitted Monday he could've predicted some problems by how his players practiced last week. And then he unleashed this message on having such an eye-opening performance:

"I think every now and then you've got to get smacked in the face and get a wake-up call because people are telling you how good you are. Sometimes you need a reality check. In this world, you get humbled in a hurry. We got humbled last week. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter what people say you are or what you're supposed to be. You've got to put it out there, you've got to do it between the white lines. I don't care who you are, a projected All-American or a first-year guy. You've got to go out there and you've got to play. That's what makes this game great. You're only as good as your last snap. Hopefully our guys learn that."

Pelini was then asked if he thought his defense was missing its usual attitude and aggression.

"Did I think we played with an edge Saturday night? No. I don't think we played with any edge," he said. "It's pretty obvious with my tone, I think."

Pelini declined to give weight to one explanation for the struggles — that Fresno State brought different looks NU hadn't prepared for, such as its rollout passing schemes.

"I don't buy into that. We did not execute," Pelini said. "We didn't execute, we didn't play well and anything else is an excuse. Plain and simple. We didn't play well. It had a lot to do with us, and that will get fixed. We know how to fix that."

And Bo knows about your displeasure, Husker fans, and your uneasiness following Fresno State. He's not happy either. But he doesn't care about your perceptions of the team.

"There's consternation around here if you don't win 50-0 every week. That's just part of the deal. I look at the reality of where we are and where we need to go to get better and get wins. That's all I focus my efforts on.

"If I start worrying about what the public thinks, I'll end up in a rubber room probably."

And he doesn't care if 2-0 doesn't feel like 2-0 should. He doesn't project how the first two games should go. This isn't a finished product, and he didn't think it would be.

But bottom line, the Blackshirts weren't good enough on Saturday.

"I don't think we handled anything well defensively," he said. "We didn't play well."

As for Alfonzo Dennard's injury status, Bo offered up a curt "we'll see."

Dennard won't practice Monday evening, but Pelini continues to say his top cornerback's recovery is ahead of schedule.

"I don't know how many weeks it is now. I think he was probably a six- to eight-week guy, and I think it's been about five. That's a ballpark. He's close."

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• Video: NU coach BoPelini at the Monday press conference:



• Video: NU's Taylor Martinez at the Monday press conference:



• Video: NU's Rex Burkhead at the Monday press conference:



• Video: NU's Ben Cotton at the Monday press conference:

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