me-di-o-cre (mee-dee-oh-ker) adj. 1. neither very good nor very bad.

That's how the "Webster's NewWorld College Dictionary (Third Edition)" defines the word. That description might come in handy if you're following the work-in-progress Huskers during their matchup with Pittburgh today.

Would it be ironic, or what, if Nebraska lost to the Panthers to fall below .500 after three games in a season for the first time in 23 years?

Would losing a road game to a program that has been no better than lower-tier bowl material — even after being redirected by Steve Pederson — represent the Nebraska athletic director's dreaded gravitation toward mediocrity?

Should Nebraska really expect to win today after losing at home to a Southern Mississippi program that resides in the same upper middle-class neighborhood as Pittsburgh?

Absolutely. And yes, I realize there's a reasonable argument against the Huskers being any different than the Golden Eagles or Panthers.

But last week, Pittsburgh struggled to beat an Ohio team not to be confused with a Buckeye. This was an also-ran program from the Mid-American Conference that won seven of 28 games the previous three seasons.

No doubt, the Panthers will be a little more growly for the Huskers. But considering the manner in which Nebraska's defense has dictated the action (yes, even in last week's atrocity), Pittsburgh, with an offensive unit that featured nine new starters last week and was held to 219 yards, could be grasping for something like a reenactment of the Immaculate Reception.

Unless, of course, the X-factor in this game, Nebraska quarterback Joe Dailey, X-plodes again.

I've got a hunch Bill Callahan has enough organization, game-plan savviness and coddling skills to help steer Dailey's interception parade back from its wild course.

"It's not that I'm going to scale back," Callahan said. "I'm going to be smarter."

Ball security has always been the No. 1 goal of Callahan's much-talked-about West Coast offense. If that wouldn't have been the case, eight turnovers by Dailey (and 11 by NU as a team) in the first two games would have been enough to alter his thinking.

Of course, there's a tricky part to achieving a manageable number.

"You can't base your game plan on trying not to have turnovers," noted offensive guard Jake Andersen.

So even though Callahan can lay out an more user-friendly map, he still has to cross his fingers and hope that Dailey's decision-making eye will be as sharp as the result from him pulling the trigger on his target.

Nebraska fans, given fair warning long before Dailey threw his first pass that it takes a special breed of quarterback to run Callahan's offense, are now hoping the light suddenly clicks on for the sophomore.

Obviously, so does Callahan. But he might be just as much in the dark about whether that will happen as any one.

"It takes time," Callahan said following a long pause when asked about trends he might have seen from other quarterbacks learning his system. "They're all different … (but) he's one of the youngest quarterbacks we've had."

If that scares you, remember that Nebraska still rolled up 476 yards last week and ranks 11th nationally at over 525 yards.

Remember, too, that the Huskers aren't facing the Steelers today.

Since Pederson hired Walt Harris following five straight losing seasons by the Panthers, they went 6-6, 2-9 and 5-6 before breaking through with a 7-4 regular-season campaign in 2000 that ended with a loss to Iowa State in the Insight.com Bowl.

Harris has found the task of trying to reach the next level rather daunting.

In 2001, his Panthers went 7-5, including a win in the Tangerine Bowl. The next year, they were 9-4 with an Insight.com Bowl victory. Last year's team, which was ranked No. 10 in the preseason and featured Heisman Trophy runner-up Larry Fitzgerald and All-Big East Conference quarterback Rod Rutherford, lost four times in the regular season and then fell to Virginia in the Continental Tire Bowl.

If last week's result is a true barometer, the team Nebraska faces today would kill for a return visit to Charlotte come late December.

The Huskers? Yeah, it's fair to call them mediocre — and they may be for at least a couple more seasons. But if they exit Heinz Field today beaten by something more than just the remnants of Hurricane Ivan, imagine the storm they'll face back home.

Reach Curt McKeever at 473-7441 or cmckeever@journalstar.com.