Huskers football players growing more comfortable with systems

Learning a college-style defense can be like solving an intricate calculus problem.

Understanding a Bo Pelini-run defense can be harder still.

Nebraska is entering its third season with Pelini as head football coach, and the players are catching on.

"It's definitely starting to click," defensive end Pierre Allen said. "At first, it was kind of tough, because they brought a whole new scheme in, and it was completely different. It's completely better; it's a great new scheme. But it took some time learning it. It wasn't easy, but now, it's coming to all of us."

The Cornhusker defense has completely transformed during the first two years with Pelini in charge. NU led the nation in scoring defense last season, allowing only 10.4 points a game. Pelini helped LSU to a national championship in 2007 as its defensive coordinator. Coming to Nebraska, Pelini was well known for his defensive intelligence, and the players respected that.

"I think that if you look at any place where coach Bo has been, you see how their guys play defense," defensive back Austin Cassidy said. "It's not hard to get fired up for these guys. They're all over the place, they're excited, they're jacked. They're doing whatever they can to help you."

The offense has made similar strides in its understanding of the system. The Huskers showed a major offensive improvement in its bowl game, a 33-0 victory against Arizona. Nebraska still struggled to find an offensive rhythm for most of last season, unable to execute offensive coordinator Shawn Watson's system. Wide receiver Niles Paul said Watson has transformed the offense to a more college style system, which will allow Nebraska's playmakers to shine.

"(Watson) kind of dumbed down the system for us and made it easier for people like Brandon Kinnie, who haven't been in the system that long, to understand what he wants from us," Niles Paul said. "He simplified it for us. Now you see guys going out there, moving fast and making plays because that's all we needed."

Watson said the concepts of his offensive strategy have been easier to implement this fall because the Huskers' playmakers have been healthy. He said he sees a consistency on that side of the ball, which was hard to find last year.

"We know we didn't live up to everything that was expected last year," Kinnie said. "The whole corps feels like we have a lot to prove this year."

The offense will look to hold its own on the field in 2010, but it's still the Husker defense that is the staple to a successful Nebraska team. Three years deep with Pelini, that group is ready for a big year.

"We've been in it for three years" Allen said. "It was fairly new, because it was completely different from (previous head coach Bill) Callahan's scheme. We're familiar with it this year, and we're trying to master that."

dougburger@dailynebraskan.com