Just blame Bo.

After No. 6 Nebraska’s closer-than-expected 17-3 win over South Dakota State on Saturday, coach Bo Pelini said he was at fault for his team’s poor showing.

“It was pretty much a team effort in being a bad football team today,” Pelini said. “That comes back squarely to the head coach.”

Saturday’s game was the third win this season to get negative reviews from Pelini.

After allowing 10 points against Western Kentucky, Pelini called his defense “an absolute embarrassment.”

The next week’s 38-17 victory over Idaho earned the offense what Pelini called a “you-know-what chewing.” A 56-21 thumping of Washington earned some praise from Pelini, but he said the game against the Jackrabbits left him “disappointed.”

“I always believe when you walk out there you’re going to get better or you’re going to get worse,” he said Saturday. “We got worse.”

But with the SDSU game coming only a week after the 4-0 Huskers easily dispatched Washington, Pelini said he still believes in his team.

“I’m not pushing the panic button because this is the same football team that went out to Washington last week and played pretty good football,” he said.

Before the game last week, Pelini said he would prefer to not schedule Division I FCS teams like the Jackrabbits. But afterward, he said the close game didn’t come as a result of Nebraska taking SDSU lightly.

“I thought our attention, our practices were good,” Pelini said. “They did a good job, don’t get me wrong.”

Sophomore wide receiver Tim Marlowe agreed, saying the tight game came from Jackrabbit execution and not Cornhusker complacency.

“We definitely prepared just as hard for this game as we did for any other,” he said. “But this team came out and really hit us in the mouth for a while.”

Sophomore quarterback Cody Green, however, said gaps in preparation were evident in Nebraska’s performance.

“We just weren’t prepared,” he said.

“I don’t think we came in there and had the same mindset we had against Washington. You hate to have that, but I think I could see it. We went out there thinking we were going to break a few runs. We couldn’t look at it like that. You have to let the game come to you.”

The lack of a rushing attack was one of many disappointments for the Huskers.

Entering Saturday, Nebraska ranked fourth nationally with an average of 344 rushing yards per game. But instead of having three 100-yard rushers like against Washington, the Huskers mustered only 205 yards the ground.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Taylor Martinez, who was benched in favor of Green in the second half, also failed to summon the breakaway speed and passing consistency that had earned him comparisons to Heisman Trophy winner Eric Crouch.

Martinez still led the team with 75 yards rushing, but lost a fumble and was 6-for-14 passing with two interceptions.

Pelini said he didn’t hesitate to pull Martinez from the game, but added that poor coaching contributed to his struggles.

“He had a tough game,” Pelini said. “I can promise you the guys around him didn’t do anything to make it any better, and we as coaches sure as heck didn’t do a good job of helping the guy.”

And with a week off before opening Big 12 Conference play against Kansas State on Oct. 7, Pelini said his team will need to focus on executing the plays that caused problems against SDSU. But he said he blame for Saturday belongs to him.

“It all comes down to our football team wasn’t ready to play for whatever reason,” he said. “That comes squarely back to the guy in charge. I take responsibility.”