Lincoln – The Nebraska football team, fresh off winning its fourth Big 12 North Division championship, returned to the practice field Tuesday with a two-hour workout inside the Hawks Championship Center. The practice marked the first of three days of bye week workouts the Huskers will hold while preparing for the Nov. 24 matchup with Colorado.

“The guys were energized,” Offensive Coordinator Jay Norvell said. “We didn’t have pads on, so they really ran around. Coach (Bill Callahan) shortened practice, because he wanted low reps and high intensity, and we got a lot of intensity from the guys. It was good, crisp work today.”

Even though Nebraska does have a game for 10 more days, Norvell said the squad is utilizing its extra practice time wisely.

“We’re preparing this week. It’s just a different preparation. We started in on Colorado today. We talked to the players about them. We reviewed the game tape, started in on some of the base things and introduced them to Colorado. It’s a very important game for us. It’s a big rivalry. There are a lot of feelings on this game for our players, so we started that preparation, that focus today.

“We’re not stopping. We’re pushing on and working on the things that we need to work on. We come out here every day with the same focus and same energy. It starts with the coaching staff, so there’s no letdown. We have a lot of big goals that we want to accomplish, and we’re not close to having accomplished them yet. We’re just getting warmed up, and this is a big game for us.”

Norvell addressed the issue of the Huskers’ third-quarter offensive struggles this year, a period in which the unit has totaled only 42 points all season. NU has scored more than 100 points in each of the other three quarters.

“We just have to explode in that third quarter and execute better. It’s not really one thing. We haven’t run the ball effectively and we haven’t converted on third down, so it’s just a lot of little things we need to execute. We have to play with more energy when we come out in the third quarter and execute better.”

Despite Nebraska’s problems with the third quarter, the Husker offense appears to be a much advanced unit over the 2005 edition. Norvell cited an improved running game, among other factors, for the improvements on offense.

“I think we made a lot of improvement in our ability to run the football. I feel that we are a much better ball security team that we were last year. And we’re protecting the passer much better, and that’s directly related to our ability to run the football.”