Nebraska Football: Bo Pelini Won't Push Panic Button After 'Rabbits Thump Ego

Bo Pelini won't push the panic button, and neither should you, Husker Nation.

Sure, there is plenty to take away from the South Dakota State Game, most of it bad.

The game was supposed to be a sweet-as-sugar tune-up before Big 12 Conference play began. It was supposed to be an affirmation that the Huskers' 56-21 annihilation of Jake Locker and the Washington Huskies in one of college football's loudest venues was no mere aberration.

Instead, it was a mudpie-ugly "victory" in the form 17-3 win over a winless FCS team that left many of the Husker faithful with a sour taste in their mouths and a swarm of question marks swirling above their heads.

The South Dakota State Game was intended to be a joyous celebration. Besides the fact it was the Huskers' annual Homecoming game, it marked the bestowment of the vaunted Blackshirts on the Nebraska defensive starters and was certain to be a milestone of sorts, as the Huskers hadn't completed a perfect non-conference schedule since 2005.

As a follow-up to the Washington game, it was viewed by many as anticlimactic. Indeed, many Nebraskans found the season-opener of the UFL's Omaha Nighthawks to be more intriguing.

Yet, on a evening that held so much promise, it almost ended in a disastrous manner equal to the magnitude of September 1, 2007, the day that the Appalachian State Mountaineers strode into Ann Arbor and sent a tremor throughout the landscape of collegiate sports with a 34-32 stunner against the fifth-ranked Michigan Wolverines.

Because, unbeknownst to all of the 85,500-plus in attendance (save for a very vocal throng of Jackrabbits' fans, roughly 2,000 strong), SDSU coach John Stieglemeier had brought his team to play—and play hard. They weren't there to become the latest round in a long line of cannon fodder for the Big Red artillery, collect their check for enduring a lop-sided loss at the hands of the Huskers and then meekly cross the border back to the rugged beauty of their home state.

The Jackrabbits had come to win.

Enough time has elapsed that a blow-by-blow account of the game is unnecessary, but from the kickoff, to the Huskers' first snap (which Taylor Martinez fumbled), to the final minutes of the fourth quarter, South Dakota State (many of their players native Nebraskans themselves) played with a fire in their belly and a confidence in their ability that left not only the Nebraska fans, but the NU players and coaches standing around with their mouths agape.

In a way, it was reminiscent of the Iowa State game last year in which the Huskers did everything in their power to lose 9-7, yet almost won regardless.

However, the Huskers were fortunate enough to survive the contest against SDSU and escape the embarrassment for taking such an opponent so lightly.

Or did they?

In regards to the former question, Pelini made it clear after the game that he was embarrassed once again by a Husker team that seemed to gel both offensively and defensively just one week prior in Seattle.

Whether or not the Huskers learn from their lesson in humility remains to be seen. Whether their recovery is even an option is just another question in a long line of questions that arose on Saturday.

However, columnists, analysts, the Husker hopeful and the Husker haters all seem to agree on one point: Though the Jackrabbits failed to achieve their ultimate goal, they seemingly provided opposing coaches with a blueprint on how to defend against Taylor Martinez.

Stack the box, assign a couple of players to spy on Martinez, and force him to beat them with his arm.

So, can T-Magic still bewitch opposing defenses with his wizardry?

Nebraska's coaches and Martinez's teammates still believe so.

Besides the fact that the Huskers have a bye on Saturday to work out the kinks, Watson and Pelini chalked up a measure of Martinez's myriad mistakes to his youth and inexperience. He is, after all, a redshirt-freshman quarterback.

There is also the question of just how much we've seen of the Huskers' offensive capability and multiplicity.

In other words, what has Watson left in the tank offensively?

Did we really expect Nebraska to delve deep into its playbook against the likes of Western Kentucky, Idaho, South Dakota State and a Washington Huskies team far removed from its days in the national spotlight?

Or is that just wishful thinking?

And while we're on the subject of granting wishes, many among Husker Nation are wishing for a reemergence by the Nebraska defensive line.

There have been the inevitable grumblings about how the loss of a particular All-Universe player has severely hampered the play of the Husker D-line. However, this is a new season, and while we might like to reminisce from time to time, we can't live in the past every day.

Nevertheless, the Nebraska rushing defense has surrendered 155 yards to Bobby Rainey of WKU, 112 yards to Kyle Minnett of SDSU, and 175 yards to the Huskies' running-back-by committee attack (though Locker being effectively removed from Heisman contention helped obscure that inconvenient truth).

With KSU's Daniel Thomas looming on the prairie horizon (Thomas was the nation's second-leading rusher before the Wildcats' lackluster come-from-behind win against Central Florida—a game in which he was held to a pedestrian 76 yards), there is cause for concern. Lavonte David and Rickey Thenarse can't pick up the slack every game.

Therefore, it is imperative that the Huskers' defensive line rise to the challenge against KSU and Thomas.

But hey, stranger things have happened. Just last season, NU's pulled-off a remarkable, rain-soaked rally against Mizzou on a miserable Thursday night game.

So, the players know that they played a terrible game on Saturday, as do the coaches. There's no need to harp on the negatives (we fans do enough of that by ourselves). Besides, there's still time to buckle down and get things straightened out.

If the notoriously volatile Pelini can keep his calm and use this clunker of a game as a lesson instead of a weapon, we can too.