Suh says offense not to blame

Two weeks ago, Ndamukong Suh was answering questions about his rogue Heisman campaign and was receiving a ton of national press. Now, the Heisman talk is over, and he's answering questions about Nebraska's first loss to Iowa State at home since 1977.

What a difference two weeks can make.

For his part, Suh didn't press the panic button. In a calm voice, he addressed the polarizing nature of college football.

"You just have to roll with the punches," Suh said. "You never know what's going to happen, but you have to learn how to deal with it."

No one in Memorial Stadium expected Nebraska to turn the ball over eight times, but the defense repeatedly shut down Iowa State all over the field. The Cyclones finished with 239 offensive yards, making it two weeks in a row that Nebraska held a team to less than 300 yards and lost. Last week, the Husker defense shut down the prolific Texas Tech offense, but still fell 31-10.

Suh refused to blame the offense for the loss.

"It's tough because we expect a lot out of them," Suh said. "We know what they can do, as they did in the previous four games we've played at the beginning of the season."

The Cornhuskers' play on defense caught the eye of Iowa State head coach Paul Rhoads. He said it was unbelievable that his team only won 9-7 despite forcing eight turnovers.

"Anybody else that had that kind of turnover advantage would've won by 30 or 40 points," Rhoads said. "Credit Nebraska. They've got an unbelievable defensive football team and the coaching staff that got them to hang around."

Suh said he didn't care that he and his teammates only gave up nine points. It is the defensive breakdown that allowed ISU's lone touchdown that haunts the group.

"We don't give that touchdown up, it's a different ball game," Suh said.

Junior corner Eric Hagg was the Husker defensive back that got turned around on Jake William's 47-yard touchdown catch.

He said he was caught looking the wrong direction.

"I should have turned into the guy, and I didn't," Hagg said. "I just was trying to look for the ball, but got to make the play next time."

Hagg said that despite the touchdown, his confidence in himself and his defensive teammates grew.

"Our defense is playing really well," Hagg said. "Playing with the defense is fun, and I have confidence in all the players."

Suh said the team met its expectations after giving up the touchdown.

"It's something we have to deal with, and we obviously came back from it and didn't allow them to score and move forward," Suh said.

He did add that meeting expectations isn't enough for this team. Suh was upset the defense wasn't able to pick up the offense and give them more chances to score.

"We forced a fumble, unfortunately didn't recover," Suh said. "It is things like that we have to do. Put them in positions where they ultimately have no other choice but to score."

Nebraska's special teams rose to the challenge twice, first blocking an extra point and later blocking a field goal in the fourth quarter, which led to a 40-yard return by linebacker Sean Fisher.

Suh described the play as being in the right place at the right time. He said the Huskers' interior push helps provide opportunities for blocked kicks.

It still wasn't enough to get Nebraska a win, and that is the only statistic Suh cares about – not his eight tackles, sack or two blocked kicks.