COLLEGE STATION, Texas — “I don’t point the finger. I point the thumb.”

It’s a line Bo Pelini declared to reporters after Nebraska’s blowout loss to Missouri in his first year as Nebraska’s head coach. It’s remained a handy motto since then, used frequently when the Cornhuskers find themselves in times of trouble.

More importantly, though, it’s a central belief in his coaching philosophy. Pelini preaches accountability as one of the building blocks of the culture he’s installed in the NU program.

That accountability took a backseat to anger for the furious Husker coach following Nebraska’s 9-6 loss at No. 18 Texas A&M on Saturday night.

Pelini didn’t utter any lines about his thumb during his four-minute postgame press conference on Saturday. Nope, this one wasn’t on him.

Instead, he said the game’s result was irrelevant. He said Taylor Martinez didn’t play well. He said his offense disappointed. He said his defense needed to hold A&M to 3 points.

He couldn’t say what he wanted to about the game’s refs for fear of a heavy Big 12 fine, but Pelini still managed to slip in a few not-so-subtle jabs.

“You guys can make your own deductions,” Pelini said. “All you’ve got to do is look at the numbers.”

He’s talking about the 16 penalties for 145 yards compared to A&M’s two for 10. Some of those calls were downright awful — like the roughing the passer call against Courtney Osborne that gave A&M new life on its final scoring drive — and many came in crucial moments.

Don’t make the mistake, though, of believing a few bad calls are the sole reason Nebraska lost.

This game came down to more than that.

It came down to the fact Nebraska’s offense gave away the ball twice and couldn’t reach the end zone against a below-average Aggies pass defense.

It came down to the fact Taylor Martinez injured his ankle again. When he can’t run, the Husker offense is harder to watch than the one that took the field in last year’s Big 12 title game.

It came down to the fact the Blackshirts didn’t force any turnovers and couldn’t stop running back Cyrus Gray on A&M’s three scoring drives.

These aren’t irrelevant problems.

Pelini barred his players from talking to reporters after the game, but a few still did so via Twitter.

Kicker Adi Kunalic took a veiled shot of his own when he vowed the Huskers will still win the Big 12 “even if ‘they’ try everything to stop us.”

It’s easy to vilify “they” for calling 16 penalties. It’s easy to spend the next few days dwelling on the ways in which “they” stole this game.

It’s harder to take responsibility, own your mistakes as a team and learn from them.

Pointing the thumb isn’t a pain-free process, but it’s one Pelini and his players need to deal with this week if they plan on clinching the Big 12 North with a win over a revived and motivated Colorado team.

Look at Nebraska’s 10 losses since Pelini took over and you’ll see a trend. NU averaged nine penalties a game in those losses and had double-digit penalty performances in four of them. More importantly, NU has out-penalized its victorious opponent eight times.

On Saturday, NU’s offense was penalized for three false starts, two holding calls, one intentional grounding call and an illegal formation. Those aren’t controversial. They’re just plain sloppy.

Pelini drew an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty early in the fourth quarter after a particularly vicious tirade against the refs. Though he was occasionally justified in his anger, his sideline tantrums only seemed to make a frustrating game worse for his players.

I won’t speculate on what Pelini said to Martinez during their far-from-friendly one-on-one chat on the sidelines. You don’t need a knack for reading lips to know he unleashed some fury on the redshirt freshman.

Perhaps Pelini was justified. Perhaps jabbing a finger in the quarterback’s chest was a mistake made in the heat of the moment.

In that hostile of an environment, though — a Kyle Field stadium packed with a school-record 90,079 rabid fans — there was no room for error.

There’s even less room for error this week. A win over Colorado sends the Huskers to Dallas. A loss makes them 9-3. The progress of this program hangs in the balance. How’s that for pressure?

“In the end, we still control our own destiny,” Pelini said. “If we take care of business next Friday, we’ll give ourselves a chance at the league championship.”

If the Huskers don’t, there won’t be any need for finger-pointing. They’ll have no one to blame but themselves.