NORMAN, Okla.- Not one Nebraska player or assistant coach talked about the Oklahoma game after the Sooners handled the Cornhuskers 62-28 in Norman Saturday night.
That was by design.
Nebraska Coach Bo Pelini restricted his players and coaches from comment after the loss and said he would be the only one who would comment about the game until practice resumed on Monday.
"I am the voice of this team," Pelini said. "I'm the voice, I was hired and I want our guys moving on the next game. There's nothing we can do about what happened at Oklahoma, and I don't want them talking about it."
And they won't be. Pelini alone addressed questions about what he called an "embarrassing" loss to Oklahoma Saturday night. He called the execution lousy and not good enough. He said the team was out-coached. Oklahoma is "a damn good football team," he said.
Essentially, there might not be much else to be said about the loss.
Heading into Saturday night's game, most players were talking about the importance of managing the clock and a little about the rivalry that has dimmed somewhat.
In the end, some of OU's win could be linked to clock management and an old rivalry.
Nebraska was the early loser in the time of possession battle considering Oklahoma was up 28-0 before Nebraska was able to hold onto the ball for more than two minutes.
The Huskers ended up winning the time of possession 30:42-29:18, but after seeing the final score, it's safe to say NU needed the ball in their hands for much longer.
As for a fading rivalry, Oklahoma logged its fourth-consecutive win over Nebraska and its third-straight win in Norman. The last time NU was able to pick up a win in the rivalry was in 2001 when NU Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch nabbed his famous catch to seal a 20-10 win over then-No. 2 OU.
Since 2001, Oklahoma has played in five Big 12 Championships and won four of them. As for Nebraska - they played in one and lost 21-7 to Oklahoma in 2006. With little competition compared to the classics of the rivalries past, it can be getting harder and some fans may be finding it harder to call NU-OU a rivalry.
The 2008 version of the rivalry lost its luster in the matter of a quarter as OU jumped out to an insurmountable 35-0 lead at the end of the first quarter. OU sophomore quarterback Sam Bradford said that lead can only be credited to the play of his defense.
"Our defense did a great job creating turnovers, and then taking one back to the house and giving us short fields," Bradford said. "When our defense does that, it makes our job a lot easier."
It was easy enough for Bradford and Co. that the Sooners were able to tally 508 yards of total offense against a Nebraska defense that seemed to be finding its stride over the previous weeks after holding Iowa State to just seven points and Baylor to 20.
Pelini said the players will talk with the media as the week continues, but it won't be about Oklahoma. It will be about Kansas and preparing for the last three games of the 2008 season. Pelini said he and the team obviously didn't like what they saw on the field Saturday night. He said what happened was far from what his game plan had hoped.
As Pelini and the Huskers aim forward, it's safe to say thoughts of the trip to Norman will be far from Pelini's mind, but thoughts of responding to it will be at the forefront.
"We did not respond well as a team to some of the adversity that we had, and we had some busts on defense," Pelini said. "We were not on the same page for whatever reason, whether we got big eyes when things did not go our way or didn't respond as well as I would have liked. We didn't make a play when the momentum was going against us, and you have to make a play."
spencerschubert@dailynebraskan.com
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