Nebraska Cornhuskers
2001 record: 11-2 (7-1)
Coach: Frank Solich (5th season, 42-9)
Starters returning: 5 offense, 6 defense, 2 kickers

Outlook: They added a white stripe under the arms on the Nebraska red home uniform jerseys, a simple move that merely messed with years of Cornhusker tradition and elicited gasps from NU faithful.

"It's just a stripe,'' running back Dahrran Diedrick said of the attention surrounding the change. "No symbolism, just time for a change."

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Change is not something taken easily in Nebraska -- the 'Huskers still run an I-back option attack in the salad days of spread offenses -- but a new-look jersey has nothing on the new-look NU offense. Without Eric Crouch running the attack for the first time since 1997, the 'Huskers will rely more on halfback Dahrran Diedrick and a defense that is strong at end but must replace its top four tacklers.

Cornerback DeJuan Groce gives the 'Huskers a solid building block for a depleted secondary that lost its other corner, Willie Amos, to a torn ACL in the spring. Rush ends Chris Kelsay and Demoine Adams make the defensive line one of the team's strengths.

The 'Huskers should continue their strong tradition of special teams, with kicker Josh Brown, punter Kyle Larson and return specialist Groce coming back.

Key game: The 'Huskers will be highlighting the Nov. 29 game against Colorado in Day-Glo Orange marker, but the Nov. 2 game against Texas may be the season-maker. UT is the only school to win in Lincoln during the six-year lifetime of the Big 12 (39 games) and is the only league school to have a winning record against the 'Huskers (3-1) during that span.

Keep an eye on: The Cornhuskers offensive line. NU has had eight offensive linemen earn all-America honors in the last 10 seasons and has at least one on the coaches All-Big 12 first team each year. This year the 'Huskers didn't even have a pick on the preseason All Big 12 team. That doesn't mean the 'Huskers won't be able to defend their back-to-back NCAA rushing titles, but they'll have to rebuild with only two returning starters and seven lettermen.

It's a good year if . . . Nebraska fans aren't sitting around getting misty-eyed about the good old days when Eric Crouch was quarterback. Jammal Lord played in six games mopping up for the Heisman Trophy winner but now he's on the spot. He's bigger (6-2, 210) than Crouch and has a similar ability to capitalize on broken plays. Nebraska won't need him to carry the offense, as Crouch did, but he'll need to take some heat off Diedrick, who led the Big 12 in rushing last season.

Mark Wangrin covers the Big 12 for the San Antonio Express-News.