High expectations offer motivation for Husker football team

It's been nine months since Nebraska's last-second loss to Texas in the Big 12 Championship game. But even now, wide receiver Brandon Kinnie takes that bitter memory with him wherever he goes. Literally.

 

Kinnie is one of several Huskers players sporting red bracelets stamped with "0:01" and "Finish," a constant reminder of the last-second field goal that allowed Texas to clinch the conference title and break the collective heart of Husker Nation.

 

And with that game still on his mother's DVR and playing frequently on ESPN networks, Kinnie said the wound remains unhealed.

 

"It still eats away at me a lot," said the junior from Kansas City, Mo. "It's good motivation. We've got a lot to prove this year."

 

Although Kinnie and company won't get a shot at revenge against the Longhorns until Texas visits Lincoln on Oct. 16, the road to proving that last year's close game was no fluke starts Saturday against Western Kentucky.

 

Defensive tackle Jared Crick said that his team is anxious to parlay the tight game against the Longhorns and the Holiday Bowl win against Arizona into a successful 2010.

 

"We've been motivated coming off the Big 12 Championship game and just keeping it rolling," he said.

 

Ranked ninth nationally, the outside expectations for the program have increased exponentially in coach Bo Pelini's three years at the helm. But defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said that preseason rankings don't affect the team's approach.

 

"Not a lot of talking, not a lot of yacking, not a lot of predictions. They're just here to go to work, and I think that's what I see," Carl Pelini said. "That's not very different from what I saw a year ago."

 

The defensive coordinator said that maintaining a workmanlike attitude has been key to the program's development.

 

"I think that's been our key to improvement," he said. "I don't see that changing a lot, and I hope it never changes."

 

Crick echoed his coach, saying that while preseason rankings are nice, he's not preoccupied with them.

 

"Just knowing that we're rated that high, it's heightened expectations," he said. "But we could care less. We know we have to go out and do our business on the field every single day."

 

But while expectations might be up on the outside, motivation is already plentiful inside the program. Just check Brandon Kinnie's wrist.

 

mitchsmith@dailynebraskan.com