Beck: Huskers to be in trouble if heads not right

LINCOLN, NEB. (AP) - Nebraska is still smarting from that 39-point loss to Wisconsin in the Big Ten championship game, and few people outside the state believe the No. 23 Cornhuskers are capable of beating sixth-ranked Georgia in the Capital One Bowl.

The challenge for Bo Pelini and his coaches between now and Jan. 1 is to make sure the players have moved on emotionally.

“If we have a hangover,” offensive coordinator Tim Beck said, “it’s going to get ugly.”

The Huskers (10-3) have begun preparing in earnest for the Bulldogs (11-2) after going through short workouts last week. The players will be dismissed for Christmas on Thursday. They’ll return to Lincoln next Wednesday and travel that afternoon to Orlando, Fla.

“I guess we treat this like the Rose Bowl game that we should have gone to, and I’m still frustrated about that,” quarterback Taylor Martinez said.

Beck described himself and the rest of the team as “shell-shocked” in the days following the 70-31 beating by the Badgers. Yet the mood was light after Tuesday’s practice. Players yukked it up with each other as they walked off the field, and defensive end Eric Martin clowned around with Martinez while the quarterback was speaking with reporters.

Martinez said he doesn’t think the meltdown against Wisconsin will carry over to the bowl.

Running back Ameer Abdullah lamented the lost opportunity.

“It hurt,” he said. “We worked so hard, with all the comeback victories, but you have to have short-term memory. The season isn’t over. We can’t drag that same attitude into the bowl game. We have to get our spirits back up and practice hard.”

Georgia is the highest-ranked bowl opponent since the Huskers took on top-ranked Miami in the Rose Bowl game that decided the 2001 national championship. The Huskers are 10-point underdogs.

The Bulldogs have a three-year starter in quarterback Aaron Murray, who ranks second nationally in pass efficiency, and the powerful freshman running-back combination of Todd Gurley and Keith Marshall.

The 6-foot-1, 218-pound Gurley leads all freshman rushers with 1,260 yards, and the 5-11, 216-pound Marshall has run for 723 yards.

Georgia allowed 10 or fewer points in five games and features the Southeastern Conference defensive player of the year in outside linebacker Jarvis Jones, who leads the Bulldogs with 12.5 sacks despite missing two games.

Asked what scares him about Georgia’s defense, Martinez said, “Nothing. They’re like any other Big Ten defense. Big Ten defenses are the best in the country, and we’re going up against a good Georgia defense. We have to look at it like that.”

Beck said the Bulldogs’ defense is “too big and too athletic” to compare with any in the Big Ten.

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