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The Huskers aren’t just tweaking their attack plan every week, they’re overhauling it.

Plays that seem like indicators of an offensive philosophy in one game are nonexistent as soon as the opponent changes. Players who show glimpses of developing into reliable contributors one week are often buried deep within the stat sheet their next time out.

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TEXAS TECH AT NEBRASKA
• When: 2:30 p.m. Saturday
• Where: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln
• Records: TTU 4-2, 1-1 Big 12; NU 4-1, 1-0
• TV: ABC
• Radio: 1110 AM KFAB

ESPN was in town. Sports Illustrated. A phone interview with the Wall Street Journal.

The Wall Street Journal?

“I didn’t even know they had a sports section,” Suh said as he traveled from one commitment to another Tuesday, his availability aided by the cancellation of his 12:30 p.m. class.

Everybody wants a piece of the Nebraska defensive tackle right now.

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When the Nebraska sophomore makes plays, like his first-quarter sack against Missouri last week, people usually react the way ESPN play-by-play man Chris Fowler did.

“That was Jared Crick,” Fowler said, “the other talented defensive tackle for the Huskers.”

Such is life next to a defensive lineman who is hearing his name being thrown around in Heisman talks.

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It was a rare exchange between coach and player, one that junior Dejon Gomes didn’t expect.

“He said that I had a really good week of practice and that I’d probably get in a lot more,” Gomes said.

Sanders didn’t necessarily reveal any personnel secrets with his somewhat vague acknowledgment of Gomes’ progress. But Sanders did deviate a bit from a pattern that has developed since this staff took over.

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TEXAS TECH AT NEBRASKA
• When: 2:30 p.m. Saturday
• Where: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln
• Records: TT 4-2, 1-1 Big 12; NU 4-1, 1-0
• TV: ABC
• Radio: 1110 AM KFAB

Burkhead suffered the injury Monday in practice. Pelini gave no other specifics.

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Lidge watched from the bullpen as the Colorado Rockies scores three runs in the bottom of the 8th inning to take a 4-2 lead. The crowd was happy, loud and not quite as a cold, as the Rockies trailed 2-1 in the best-of-five series.

But then the Phillies answered with three runs of their own in the top of the 9th inning, with Ryan Howard driving in the game-tying runs and scoring the go-ahead run.

After a struggle early in the bottom of the 9th inning, the Phillies brought in Lidge. He is 0-8 this season, with 11 blown saves.

On Sunday, he walked two batters but retired the other three he faced, and earned the save.

On Monday night, two walks would have tied up the game. But Lidge returned to his 2008 form, faced one batter and struck him out on five pitches.

The storyline itself is a home run, but the results are much different.

– Zachary Baehr

Last year in the wake of losses to Missouri, Texas Tech and Oklahoma, NU showed up strong. Three weeks ago after a heartbreaking loss at Virginia Tech, the Huskers rebounded with a fury.

But how will a Bo Pelini-coached team respond to a big win?

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Helu grabbed at his right shoulder after the play and wore ice on it as he left Columbia, leading to speculation about his condition.

Coach Bo Pelini reiterated after practice that Helu was “fine” and had no issues with the shoulder.

Paul frustrated with punt returns

Niles Paul said he was frustrated last week after coaches removed him from punt-return duty following the team’s problems fielding the football. Paul fumbled one punt and recovered it. His miscommunication with Rex Burkhead on another return allowed a ball to fall to the turf. It hit Mathew May and was recovered by Missouri.

Assistant coach John Papuchis made the call to place Burkhead alone on returns.

“I trust in (Papuchis),” Paul said, “and he felt Rex would get the job done better than I would.”

Papuchis later told Paul that he didn’t want special teams to affect his play as a receiver.

“He wanted me to focus on making something happen for the offense,” Paul said.

On cue, the junior caught a pair of touchdown passes in the fourth quarter.

Burkhead, too, struggled with punts. Paul said the weather played a large role, as did the left-footed kicks of Missouri punter Jake Harry.

“It was hard to field that thing,” Paul said. “As soon as we thought we had it, it was gone. I remember one, I was running and I thought it was going to my right and it just curved back in to my left. The conditions were terrible.”

Regardless, Paul said, the Huskers plan to correct the problem.

“We just came back in from catching wet balls outside,” he said. “That won’t happen again.”

Dark halftime for Huskers

You thought the fourth quarter was eventful Thursday at Missouri?

You should’ve been a receiver in the Husker locker room at halftime. First, they couldn’t see much because the campus power outage left the room pretty dark. That actually didn’t matter much, Curenski Gilleylen said, because he didn’t need to see much to hear coaches yelling.

Then receivers coach Ted Gilmore took away receivers’ gloves and hand warmers. Then he benched the starting wideouts for most of the third quarter.

Gilmore was disappointed in the receivers’ focus in the first half. But Gilmore saw the gloves as distractions — more of a cause than a deterrent for dropped passes.

“When I see guys leaving the huddle and running all the way up to the line of scrimmage and then taking their hands out of their (pockets), we’re not focused on what we need to be focused on,” Gilmore said. “I just asked them kindly to remove them.”

“My hands were freezing,” Niles Paul said.

But Paul, Gilleylen and Menelik Holt re-entered the fray after their backups struggled, too.

Paul had two touchdown catches, including a 56-yarder to put Nebraska on the scoreboard. His next catch — a 13-yard score in which he outjumped two defenders — was more impressive, though.

“The one in the end zone, he wasn’t open,” Gilmore said. “(Missouri) checked out, went to cover two and that young man went up and got the ball.”

Paul said he took motivation from his benching. It served as a “wake-up call.”

“I don’t think Niles likes standing next to me (on the sideline),” Gilmore said.

NU hadn’t practiced much in the rain, Gilmore said. In hindsight, would it have helped to have practiced outside on a few rainy days?

“If it’s raining outside and you have a practice field, am I going to risk slipping and getting someone hurt? No,” Gilmore said. “When you’re in those conditions, you’ve got to play. You’ve got to deal with it.”

Gilmore stands in for Watson

Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson left the practice field Monday without stopping for media interviews. Gilmore, however, answered questions about NU’s offensive struggles in the first three quarters.

On Nebraska’s last drive, partly in an effort to eat clock, the Huskers ran the ball eight straight times from power formations. Does Gilmore regret that the Huskers didn’t adopt that strategy sooner?

“No, I don’t. Early in the game, what we did was there, we just didn’t execute,” he said. “We wouldn’t be having these conversations if my guys caught the ball and Zac (Lee) threw the ball. It was there.”

At some point, does continuous poor execution prompt a change in game plan?

“It’s not so much you change strategy,” Gilmore said. “You (take) the people who are not executing, get them out. That’s what we did.”

Watson said after the game that he nearly removed Lee in favor of Cody Green but decided against it.

Mangieri’s tough night with long snaps

Thursday’s game was the worst long snapping performance he’d ever had, P.J. Mangieri said Monday. But the true freshman wouldn’t make any excuses about it.

Mangieri, a long snapper throughout his high school career in Peoria, Ill., said he shouldn’t have been so mistake-prone despite the rain.

Mangieri’s first two snaps forced punter Alex Henery to drift right before he booted the football. The third snap sailed high and resulted in a safety. That play caught the attention of Pelini, who gave Mangieri a stern lecture. ESPN’s cameras caught the entire rant.

It appears that Mangieri understood Pelini’s frustration, though.

“I just like to be perfect and anything other than perfect doesn’t please me,” he said.

Mangieri said he plans to work on snapping a wet football later this week in practice.

The game is set for an 11:30 a.m. CDT kickoff at Memorial Stadium.

The Nebraska-Iowa State game will mark the Huskers’ first appearance on FSN this season, although NU previously had three pay-per-view telecasts produced by FSN.

Nebraska’s game this week against Texas Tech will be televised regionally by ABC, beginning at 2:30 p.m. CDT. Nebraska’s Nov. 27 game at Colorado is also scheduled for a national telecast on ABC, beginning at 2:30 p.m.

Game times and television information for the remainder of Nebraska’s games will be announced six to 12 days in advance of kickoff time.