Huskers hope growth shows against Mizzou

Embarrassing: That's what Bo Pelini called Nebraska's 52-17 loss to Missouri last season.

The second-year coach took the blame for the loss, saying he tried to do too much. Lack of execution was also a lead excuse.

A year later, the Cornhuskers are preparing for another showdown with the Tigers, but Pelini said last year's game offers little motivation for his focused football team. He said the emotion they use in a game derives from each player differently.

"The emotion part just happens," Pelini said. "Where they get that emotion, it's more on an individual basis. I've never had any sense of revenge (from last season's loss).

"It's about playing to your standards and having a pride about how you take the field. You have to play a certain way and make that a culture of how your team is."

NU players and coaches said the feel around this team is quite different from a year ago. Pelini said part of last year's loss had to do with his team simply just not being that good; the team was still trying to find its identity both offensively and defensively.

Defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh said the defense has figured a lot of that identity out since then, but even now, it's still being shaped.

"I just think we have a better feel for it," Suh said. "I think our game plan last year was good, we just didn't execute it. (Now) we can just play and not necessarily beat (Missouri) schematic wise."

Several players said the confidence the team was missing is there now, mostly because of the game plans week in and week out. In NU's three wins this season, each opposing team has said they didn't expect what hit them.

The Huskers haven't won in Columbia, Mo., since 2001 when they declawed the Tigers 36-3. Since then, NU hasn't come close, losing 41-24, 41-24 and 41-6 in the last three trips to Faurot Field. Both teams have changed dramatically since the last 41-point showing from the Tigers, allowing the Huskers to continue to downplay previous losses.

"I think we're focused on what we need to do, and I think the big thing is, if we go out and execute, then we'll be OK," NU quarterback Zac Lee said. "We have a great plan going into the game, so if we go out and execute like we should, then we'll be OK. It's another game in the Big 12 North. We're in a tough conference, so every week is a big week."

Husker center Jacob Hickman said that last season's loss isn't playing as much of a motivator because they let those kind of emotions get the best of them in that game. After the 41-6 Missouri win in 2007, Hickman and several other Huskers chose to use that as the leading motivating factor, and it came back to hurt them.

He said that sometimes they use that extra emotion against them, making them try too hard to make plays that could have been made in a simpler way.