Lincoln, Neb. – Nebraska Head Coach Bo Pelini said the Huskers “had a good week of practice” after Thursday’s 45-minute walkthrough at the Hawks Championship Center.

“We got a lot done here today,” Pelini said. “We cleaned up some of the things we went through earlier in the week. We knew that (Purdue) had two weeks to prepare. We threw a lot at our guys and our challenge is to make sure across the board we understand our game plan and we execute.”

Pelini also praised his interior defensive linemen, especially sophomore Maliek Collins, whom Pelini compared to two-time All-American Glenn Dorsey (LSU, 2006-07).

“Maliek Collins reminds me of a player I coached at LSU big time,” Pelini said. “And that’s high praise, because Glenn Dorsey was a heckuva player. Maliek reminds me a lot of Dorsey, except he’s bigger.”

Pelini added that he expects Purdue’s defense to throw a lot at Nebraska’s offense.

“It’s been interesting to watch their evolution,” Pelini said. “They gave us a lot of really unusual looks. This year, they’ve had a number of different looks, a little bit like a flavor of the week type of defense as far as what we’ve seen from these guys. How they decide to come out and play us – your guess is as good as mine to a certain extent. We have to be ready to adjust to what they do. I think our guys understand the plan and what we are doing, and we’ve given them a lot of different looks throughout the week to prepare them.”

On the injury front, Pelini said that he anticipates tight end Cethan Carter to be back after the bye week, which begins following Saturday’s matchup against Purdue. Pelini added that linebacker Marcus Newby and place kicker Mauro Bondi will not be available for Saturday.

The Huskers host Purdue on Saturday at Memorial Stadium at 2:30 p.m. The game will be televised to a regional audience on ABC, and will be available to others on ESPN2 and ESPN3.