Much positive to be found in VT loss

It's not the end of the world. Really.

No one could have expected that Nebraska return to national prominence less than a year after one of its worst seasons in school history-and if they did they were being foolish.

Nebraska's 35-30 loss to Virginia Tech on Saturday night is going to sting for awhile in Lincoln, as well as it should.

Bo Pelini is the right coach for the Huskers, and considering he's coaching nearly the same team that was led by former coach Bill Callahan last season, he's grading out pretty well.

It's safe to say that if Virginia Tech was up 28-10 halfway through the third quarter against NU last year, much of the bags would have been already packed up for NU. With Pelini, however, what was seen on that field in that same situation is something to be excited about.

Nebraska scratched and clawed their way back into the game and even after crucial penalties late in the fourth quarter, Nebraska still had a chance to beat VT. Before this season started, you would think easily over half of NU fans would have taken a 35-30 loss to the powerful Hokies.

There will always be those overly optimistic fans that think Nebraska will beat everyone they play, and who knows, give the new coach a little time and the team might reach that level of dominance again.

As for this season, it's not happening, but should all Husker fans rule out the chance of Nebraska knocking off someone they're not supposed to? Not completely. The road isn't getting any easier though.

Even Pelini can't disagree that the next two games are going to be even more difficult than last Saturday. The highly-ranked Missouri Tigers will be coming into Lincoln looking to make a statement.

Last year's statement turned out to be pretty resounding one for the Tigers when they clubbed the Huskers 41-6.

This year, Missouri is even better. Quarterback Chase Daniel has had two weeks to prepare for the Huskers, and you know he will be out to prove why he should win the Heisman trophy.

So one might think-where's the good in all this for NU?

Fact one: it's in Lincoln. Fact two: Nebraska now knows it can fight after losing a close and tough game. Fact three: Everything that went wrong for NU on Saturday can be fixed.

And if Pelini has anything to say about it, those things will be fixed. The first year coach was blatantly honest after the VT game, saying his team was beat.

He wasn't going to blame referees or any calls that didn't go his way. He flatly said the players didn't play well enough, and coaches didn't coach well enough.

It's cliché, but this team will learn from its mistakes. Pelini hasn't been shy about the fact that this team is not a finished product, and it is growing constantly. With each mistake comes a better football team in Lincoln, and that's how fans need to view the situation.

As fans left the stadium Saturday night, there were a few with tears in their eyes. There were some that would not talk, and there were some that were flat out upset.

That means Nebraska fans actually care again.

At the end of last season, many fans did give up on NU, but those fans and even more are back. NU may not be making a run for the national championship in 2008, but this might be one of the biggest growing years in NU history.

With growth comes success, and even though there is a blemish on the NU record, there's still a lot of football to be played in 2008.

SPENCERSCHUBERT@DAILYNEBRASKAN.COM