Nebraska coach fends off criticism

Nebraska finds itself coming into Ames Saturday to face Iowa State in the rare position of being the underdog after a big loss to Penn State two weeks ago. Husker Coach Frank Solich says the off week allowed his team to get healthy and work on their mistakes. Solich says they’ll need to perform well against a Cyclone team that’s on the upsurge. He says you can see the Cyclones getting better and playing with more and more confidence as the season progresses.Solich says his players see the rankings and point spread favoring I-S-U, but he says that won’t be enough motivation to push them to a victory.He says they know I-S-U is playing with a lot of confidence, and it’s going to take more than some bulletin board material to beat them. Solich spent more time on Monday’s Big Twelve conference call talking about the concerns surrounding his team’s recent losses than he did about the upcoming game. He says his team has to block out the negative talk from fans and the media.Solich says the last think his team can do is to buy into having people who don’t know the football team making decisions for them. Solich is confident his team will block out the distractions.Solich says they’ll go out and play the game at a very high level and be ready to go Saturday. Iowa State is 4-1 overall and 1-0 in the Big 12. Nebraska is 3-1 and this is their first Big 12 game.