Gone are the days of Nebraska running over every team in its path, embarrassing teams along the way. Nebraska’s offense, however, has been able to reclaim some of that mystique.

The Cornhusker offense is averaging 420 yards and 33 points a game this season. Despite scoring like it did in the ‘90s, Nebraska has changed from a power I rushing offense to a passing offense, following the national trend.

“They have gone to a more controlled passing game, but they will throw the ball deep,” defensive coordinator Wayne Bolt said. “They will go up and take their shots, but they get the ball in the flat, they get the ball to their backs, and those little three- and four-yard gains end up second and six, you know, second and five.”

That transition to an air attack leaves the offense somewhat vulnerable to a patient defense, coach Gene Chizik said.

“When you do throw the ball, like a lot of people in this league, if you make them drive the field consistently, then you have a chance for them to have an error in there somewhere,” Chizik said. “That’s your shot. You’ve got to make them make a mistake. The problem in this league is that all the quarterbacks are phenomenal, and they’ve got such a good grip on these offenses right now that a lot of them don’t make a lot of mistakes.”

The man who makes the passing offense work for the Cornhusker is senior quarterback Joe Ganz. Ganz is No. 15 in the country with a 152.8 quarterback rating and twelfth in passing yards per game, with 273.17. He has also rushed for 111 yards and two touchdowns.

“He can get out of the pocket very fast, he is very mobile and his arm is very strong,” junior cornerback Kennard Banks said.

Ganz is coming off a good game against No. 7 Texas Tech in which he threw for 349 yards and two touchdowns. He also engineered a drive in which he was 7 for 7 for 80 yards and a touchdown to tie the game, sending it into overtime.

Once in overtime, however, Ganz threw an interception on the second play, sealing Nebraska’s third straight loss.

Nebraska coach Bo Pelini doesn’t expect any hangover from that last play to carry over to this weekend.

“He’ll bounce back,” Pelini said in Nebraska’s weekly press conference. “The guy is a stud, so he’ll be fine.”

The Cornhuskers are not a one-man offense, however. They have a talented group of receivers led by senior Nate Swift with 374 receiving yards this season.

“They’re just smart,” Ganz said in a press conference. “We’re always on the same page together, which makes me feel real comfortable. They know exactly what routes to run or when to convert it to a different route due to a certain coverage look. We grew up in the program together. We have that bond that goes beyond the football field. We just feel comfortable with each other, especially when it gets down to crunch time or it’s a tough situation.”

Another key to Nebraska’s success is an offensive line that rivals what Bolt called Nebraska’s line of “the old days.”

“They are big, and physical and athletic, and so they come off the football and do a great job of protecting the passer,” Bolt said.

The Cyclones will have to counter with physical play from their own line.

“They got a lot of big guys up front, the tackles and the inside guys,” defensive end Rashawn Parker said. “We just have to turn up our level of play and bring it to them as well, so it’s going to be a physical game.”

One potential weakness for the Nebraska offensive line is penalties. The Cornhuskers racked up eight penalties for 55 yards in their first road game against the Red Raiders last weekend.

“We have been struggling with flags the last couple games,” senior offensive guard Matt Slauson said in a press conference. “It’s really frustrating because our goal for the Texas Tech game was to play clean. We came out and it really didn’t happen.”

It has been such a problem that the coaching staff has devoted time to it in practice.

“We’ve built in a punishment system for it [penalties],” Slauson said. “We have to do conditioning yesterday. We have to run a half gasser for every penalty in the game. Now we’re also doing it for practice. If coach sees us hold during practice or someone jumps offside, you’ll have up-downs to do or pushups.”

In order for Iowa State to control the Nebraska offense, the Cyclones will have to stick to their game plan.

“I think we’ve got to get pressure on them,” Bolt said. “I think we have to stop the run first, like always, we’ve got to stop the run first and get them in known passing yardage, and be able to bring some heat and play some zone and give them a good mixture and disguise our coverage.”