Steven M. Sipple: Plenty to nitpick in Husker victory, but positive vibe in program trumps all | Football

Picture this: Defensive lineman Mick Stoltenberg, a passionate senior leader and captain for the Huskers, addressed the team in the locker room following the game. He talked about the importance of finishing the season the right way. He told the younger players they have exciting days ahead. He said it all with pride and gusto. Wide receiver Stanley Morgan, another passionate leader, was one of the first players to cheer Stoltenberg’s speech, according to first-year NU head coach Scott Frost.

Frost loves this stuff. You get the feeling he’s grown to genuinely love this team. It’s a group that’s been through hell together. Think back to Sept. 22, when Michigan shellacked Nebraska 56-10 and Frost said he was looking to see if his team would band together and keep fighting. Well, it’s banded together quite well, thank you.

Think back to Oct. 13. Yeah, that recently. After Nebraska fell in overtime at Northwestern, blowing a 10-point lead with 5:41 left in regulation, it felt in the moment like the Huskers might never win again. Yeah, that bad.

But Nebraska pushed through it all with its pride and dignity intact. The team never did stop throwing punches, as was the case last season. The vibe in the program seems excellent, particularly considering the Huskers are just 3-7 overall and 2-5 in the Big Ten.

So, you can go ahead and point to Illinois (4-6, 2-5) going 9-for-13 combined on third- and fourth-down conversions. That was indeed unsightly. You can point to AJ Bush running through a few too many arm tackles on his way to 187 yards on 25 attempts. Egad. You could even say Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez misfired a few too many times to open receivers. You could even wonder how a senior offensive lineman can pick up two holding calls in one series.

Yeah, a Nebraska fan can do a lot of nitpicking here. But that would be missing the point. This game was largely about the vibe you felt after it as you listened to Frost and various players. This game was largely about Nebraska showing in its actions what Frost has been saying about an improving culture in the program. Think about it. You wondered if NU might suffer a letdown following a five-point loss last week at Ohio State. A lot of energy went into that game. But, not a trace of letdown.

Nebraska’s offense came out firing against Illinois, rolling up 241 yards in the first quarter. The Huskers led 38-21 at halftime and pushed the advantage to 45-21 with 4:12 left in the third quarter and were never seriously threatened thereafter.

It all felt pretty predictable. Illinois’ potent run game got rolling, although Nebraska caught a break when Reggie Corbin left the game due to injury with 5:25 left in the first half. The Huskers’ defense remains vulnerable, obviously, but not as vulnerable as the Illini’s. You knew Martinez and company would take care of business as long as they showed up ready to play. They did. That says a lot about the team’s overall leadership.

“The young guys want to see the old guys succeed on the way out, and the old guys are excited about where the young guys are going to take this — that shows you what type of team it’s becoming,” Frost said.

It’s become the type of team that has a decent chance to close the season with wins against Michigan State at home and Iowa on the road. It’s become that way in part because leaders like Stoltenberg, Morgan, Jerald Foster and Luke Gifford kept the team from careening into the ditch.

“Obviously, as seniors, we haven’t accomplished what we wanted to accomplish when we got here,” Stoltenberg said. “We never were able to win the big one or do anything like that. But what we do hang our hats on is the fact we can leave an impact on these younger guys for years to come. We might not be the class that won the Big Ten, or did this and that, but we can be the class that kind of got the ball rolling, got the culture changed and started the momentum toward a more positive direction.

“Guys like me, Jerald, Stan, Giff and the rest of the seniors, that’s what we’re playing for right now, is for the rest of these guys.”

Sophomore corner Dicaprio Bootle appreciated what he heard in the locker room from big Mick.

“We’re just going to keep climbing,” Bootle said. “We’ve been playing some good football these last couple of weeks. Mick is a guy who’s really invested in this thing, who really puts his all into it. Every word he says is really heavy with me. He’s a great leader.

“We have two more games. We’ve got to close it out. We’ve got to finish it out strong.”

Nebraska has won three of its last four games and could end up winning five of its last six. Who would’ve predicted that? Then again, who would’ve predicted Stoltenberg, all 6-foot-5 and 315 pounds of him, high-pointing an interception in the final minute Saturday? Even with his bad left knee, his teammates mobbed him.

“I probably would’ve done the same thing,” he said. “They probably saw I was walking OK and took it as an invitation to go crazy.”

Yeah, go crazy, Husker fans. Save the nitpicking for another day and enjoy a program on the rise. I’m starting to think that’s what we’re seeing.