LINCOLN - Nebraska's quarterback saga is kind of like a Midwestern winter. Stick around for 10 minutes, and it'll change.
The Jammal Lord bandwagon took a sharp gallop toward the tunnel late Saturday, as well-wishers shouted "Good job, buddy!" and reporter types checked out the status of his legs. A couple thousand pay-per-view customers gasped during Saturday's NU-Iowa State telecast when it was announced that Lord, who sat the whole second half, may have a slight leg injury.
Wasn't this the guy they were booing a couple of weeks ago?
By the end of Saturday's 28-0 win over the Cyclones, two things became clear - that Lord will need every bit of rest he can get for these final four games and true freshman Joe Dailey is still, well, a freshman.
Dailey saw the most extensive action of any backup quarterback at Nebraska in at least three years, and his inexperience showed as the Huskers failed to score in the final 21/2 quarters. Lord, whom Coach Frank Solich said has been banged up for three or four games, sat and rested for next week's game at Texas.
When asked if Lord incurred any new injuries that would've kept him out Saturday, Solich said no. He also said Lord was in better shape than he was against Troy State, Missouri and Texas A&M.;
"That just goes to show you the kind of courage and how tough of a competitor he is," Solich said. "You cannot drag him off the field."
The fans couldn't wait to get Dailey on the field. Like every other game since Dailey burned his redshirt, the crowd gave the kid a warm ovation when he entered the game with 7:35 left in the first half. Solich drew criticism last week from pundits who pondered if they wasted a redshirt year on Dailey, who played sparingly in the first six games.
That changed Saturday. Dailey was chased, smashed, and threw just four passes. One of them was intercepted. NU Quarterbacks Coach Turner Gill's initial reaction was that Dailey showed hesitation in his running and throwing.
Solich said Dailey's practices over the past couple of weeks have been less than stellar.
That comment, Dailey said, probably stemmed from some of the mistakes he was making during the week.
"If you're the No. 2 guy, you shouldn't be making mistakes like that," Dailey said. "I put that on my shoulders."
Dailey graded his performance a "C." Lord was a little less harsh and said his backup played well.
Dailey probably won't see nearly as much time next week at Texas. Though Lord was seen riding a stationary bike on the sidelines, he said he felt "99.4 percent" healthy.
And that's good news for Dailey.
"It's rough out there, man," Dailey said. "Today I got hit more than I've ever gotten hit two, three years in high school.
"I'll be there. Just give me the rest of this year to get back at it and I promise you, next year I'll be back where I need to be."
