Kansas University hasn’t defeated Nebraska in a football game since 1968, and the Jayhawks will be underdogs again when the teams meet at 2:30 p.m. today at Memorial Stadium.

“Kansas isn’t like Kansas of old,” Nebraska linebacker Barrett Ruud said. “They are a good team now. You can’t overlook them now.”

No. 19 Nebraska (7-2 overall, 3-2 Big 12) can’t afford to overlook any opponent. The Cornhuskers are tied for the Big 12 North lead with Kansas State (7-3, 3-2), which they play next Saturday at Lincoln, Neb.

Nebraska wraps up the regular season with another tough game Nov. 28 at Colorado (3-6, 1-4). The Huskers are 0-2 in Big 12 road games heading into today’s game against the Jayhawks (5-4, 2-3).

“We just have to go out and play,” linebacker Demorrio Williams said. “We will get to the Big 12 (Championship), but we can’t think about the wrong things now. Our main concern is to think about Kansas right now.”

Nebraska is coming off a 31-7 loss last Saturday at Texas. UT finished with 484 yards, including 353 on the ground.

“We let the whole team down,” cornerback Fabian Washington said of the defense. “We let the coaches down and ourselves down. … We will come out and show this weekend what we really are.”

Coach Frank Solich is counting on it. The coaches took away the black shirts the Husker defense typically wears during practices early this week to send that unit a message.

“Coach made a point that it’s not just a jersey you wear in practice, it’s supposed to represent how you play and how you perform every week,” Ruud said. “We didn’t perform well at all in Saturday’s game, so we don’t deserve to wear them. I think it was the right move to make.”

Nebraska did intercept three UT passes, marking the sixth straight game NU has had at least two picks and the ninth straight game the Cornhuskers have forced at least two turnovers.

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The Huskers lead the country in turnover margin at plus-17. They rank fourth in scoring defense (13.6 points per game), fifth in pass defense (152.2 yards per game) and seventh in total defense (278.1).

Those numbers made the lopsided loss to Texas (7-2, 4-1) that much more difficult for the Huskers to take.

“It was just a disappointing game in general,” Ruud said. “We practiced real well last week. We just didn’t play real well at all. The defense had a lot of mental mistakes as well as physical mistakes. We missed quite a few tackles. Even as bad as we played it was still pretty much a ball game until about halfway through the fourth. It was discouraging, but not something we lost confidence over.”

Nebraska’s defense also struggled on the road Oct. 11 in a 41-24 loss at Missouri. Today the Huskers will face KU freshman quarterback Adam Barmann, who stepped in for injured senior Bill Whittemore and passed for 294 yards and four touchdowns last Saturday at Texas A&M in his college debut.

“I watched the A&M game today,” Ruud said. “He looked like a good player. I know the quarterback they lost was a good player and a leader for them. This guy looked like a little bit more of an athlete.”

Nebraska counters with Jammal Lord, who has passed for 791 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 628 yards and nine TDs.

The Huskers — who were limited to 53 rushing yards on 40 carries and 175 yards total offense at UT — will try to bounce back against a struggling KU defense.

“That is not Nebraska football,” offensive lineman Jake Andersen said. “We want to come out and establish the running game.”