What a difference a year makes when it comes to the Husker injury report.

By mid-season last year, the Huskers had seen so many key players suffer injuries that the weekly press release began listing the players and the games they were missing. This year the Huskers have dodged many of the injury arrows so far and those who have suffered injuries have been able to return to action quickly.

"(We've got) bumps and bruises." says Husker head coach Frank Solich. "We are banged up a little bit, but as of right now there is no one that I would say is definitely out of the (Iowa State) game."

Last Saturday against Missouri, Nebraska saw several players suffer troubling injuries that forced them to the sidelines or out of the game, including defensive tackle Loran Kaiser, linebacker Carlos Polk and split end Matt Davison. All three are expecting to play this Saturday, although coaches will keep an eye on them during practice during the week.

Kaiser's injury raised the most concern. The senior from Farwell, Neb. injured his left foot on the game's first series. He was in a good bit of pain and had X-Rays taken. The X-Rays turned out negative. Kaiser says he's confident he's be ready to play against Iowa State. "Yeah, I'll be out there on Saturday."

This is not the first time Kaiser has been sidelined with an ailment, only to bounce back quickly. The weekend before the team's season opener with San Jose State, Kaiser had to be hospitalized for an emergency appendectomy. He recovered in time to start in the game.

Davison suffered a deep left thigh bruise on a tackle late in the game. He missed Monday's practice but is ready to return. "I've been pretty fortunate since I've been here to stay away from injury." Davison said. "I was a little bit worried about that on Sunday because I was pretty sore and this being my last year I didn't want to miss a game."

Polk left the game in the first quarter with a sore left ankle but was able to return to the game.

The injury rumor mill hit high gear prior to the Missouri game when starting quarterback Eric Crouch sat out the first two practices of the week. Although the buzz had Crouch suffering from any number of injuries, his malady turned out to be nothing more than soreness. Crouch says it's nothing he hasn't learned to live with. "I feel fine. Of course I feel the same way after every game where I take a few hits."

The Huskers are missing some players to injury Nose tackle Ryon Bingham (foot), tight end Trevor Johnson (hamstring) and rush end Phil Peetz (knee) are all still sidelined and may miss as much as the rest of the season in some cases.