Here's a pregame rundown for Nebraska's third game of the season written in Army Op-Order format:
Situation:
Nebraska is 1-1 after losing to UCLA last week, but reading some news articles and message boards, you'd think we were 1-1000; giving up 653 yards of total offense to a good-not-great PAC-12 team will do that to a fan base. There's a lot of negativity in the program to go along with the adjustments that are being made on defense. I can't remember the last time I've seen this sort of bad feeling at Nebraska; 2007 maybe? Let's hope it doesn't come to that.
Luckily for the Huskers, the focus of the fans can be quickly shifted with a good win. The Huskers will be looking to do just that against the returning Sunbelt champs tomorrow.
Arkansas State is riding a wave of momentum from their come-from-behind win against Memphis, and while that's not all that impressive on the face of it, the way in which the Red Wolves came back kinda is. Arky State rolled up 619 total yards on the Tigers, and pulled away after trailing 28-27 going into the fourth quarter. Clearly this isn't a dominant team that demands respect, but Arkansas State, with a top-shelf offensive coordinator turned head coach, and a senior dual-threat, record-setting QB, is a good challenge for Nebraska, and certainly not a team the Huskers can afford to look past given the defensive struggles last week.
Mission:
Nebraska should have more than enough talent to beat Arkansas State, but this week it's not going to be enough just to win, Nebraska desperately needs a dominant performance, especially on defense, to restore the faith of its angst-ridden following.
Execution:
The Cornhuskers return to the friendly confines of Memorial Stadium to face a talented non-BCS opponent. Much has been made about Arky State's offensive prowess, but the fact remains: this is a Sunbelt team, and they do not belong on the same field as Nebraska.
To win this game, Nebraska may very well have to outscore Arky State in a shootout. The good news is that the Red Wolves are not particularly good on defense: Oregon scored 50 in the first half. Whether through the air or preferably, on the ground, the Nebraska offense can and should roll tomorrow. If the Red Wolves hold the Huskers to more than 2 or 3 drives without a score, I will be surprised. Hopefully, Taylor Martinez finds the groove he was in during the Southern Miss game and hits at least 76% of his passes. Actually I take that back, I hope that Nebraska finds it's groove on the ground and rolls up 300 yards and 5 or so TDs, with the passing game coming through as a nice complement. Tim Beck needs to call a smarter game than he did in the second half versus UCLA and if he does so, I don't anticipate any issues on the offensive side of the ball.
I wish I could say the same about the other side. The "Blackshirts" are hurting right now, and it will be interesting to see whether they become the dangerous wounded animal in a corner, or the slowly dying earthworm on the sidewalk. I think Bo Pelini has too much pride for the latter, but it's a dangerous offense he's faced with this week. Too much is made of the 530 yards and 34 points they scored on Oregon's second and third string defense, but the fact remains that the Red Wolves have a verifiable offensive genius in Gus Mahlzahn and a talented and experienced offense for him to play with. QB Ryan Aplin is about to break every offensive record that matters at Arkansas State, and he's yet another dual-threat QB for Pelini to worry about. RB David Oku is a legit BCS caliber RB, as evidenced by his signing with Tennessee before transferring to Arkanasas State. If these two get rolling, it's going to be a long afternoon. Hopefully all of the defensive shakeups bear fruit.
Hopefully the offense can run up and down the field on the Red Wolves and the defense can muster a dominant performance, or in absence of that, get enough stops to turn the tide to victory. There's no reason that the Huskers cannot win this game by at least 17 points. Brett Maher seems to have found a groove after a shaky start, so if it gets closer than that, the Huskers have a battle tested kicker who can win the game. After such a rough week though, lets hope it doesn't come to that.
Service and Support:
Once again, the biggest news on the injury front is whether Rex Burkhead plays. I'm among the crowd who thinks that Nebraska would have beat UCLA last week if Rex had played, but that's neither here nor there. All signs out of the Husker camp this week point to another week in street clothes on the sideline for Rex, but don't be surprised if he manages to bend the coach's ear and get a few drives. I know I said it last week, but for real this time: Nebraska shouldn't need Rex to win.
The other big news from this week is that former starting DT Chase Rome is no longer with the program, though the door is still open for his return. It seems that Rome was upset with redshirt freshman Kevin Williams stealing his playing time and he decided to quit rather than work harder. Many fans want to connect this latest defection with that of OT Tyler Moore, RB Aaron Green, and OG Ryan Klachko and point to a larger issue within Pelini's system. I disagree. Other than the ambiguous departure of Klachko, these defections seem on the surface to be instances of young men who wanted guarantees they weren't willing to work for; and since I don't have any information that would mak me believe anything different, I'm going to stick with the company line.
The news that mostly passed under the radar was the season ending ACL tear suffered by speedy WR Tyler Wullenwaber. WW seemed like he was on the verge of a breakthrough this season, and now he faces a long road back. Tough break for a Nebraska kid, but it also might provide an opportunity for highly touted true freshman Jordan Westerkamp to see the field, so...silver lining.
Other than Wullenwaber, the offense is using about the same pieces as last week and since there wasn't really anything too broken, I don't expect Beck and Co. to try and fix a whole lot.
On the other side of the ball, the Huskers are going to try all sorts of new things on defense. CB Mohammed Seisay should see his first game action, LB's Zaire Anderson and David Santos will get good looks at the WILL position, and the three freshmen Kevin Williams, Aaron Curry, and Avery Moss have been promised more snaps on the defensive line. Will the Huskers employ a more 3-4 look? Will the defensive ends muster more a a pass rush? Will the extra tackling drills pay off? Is the defense too complex for this team? In about 12 hours we'll find out.
Command and Signal:
Nothing really changes this week, but I'm not so sure that's such a good thing. I work with a rather scatterbrained doctor, and if I'm not constantly on top of him keeping him busy, he would have a difficult time getting his work done. In the same way, I think Nebraska needs to put someone upstairs with Beck to remind him that Nebraska has a big, powerful offensive line, better than serviceable RBs and WRs that can block better than some TEs. Somebody needs to remind Beck that the defense cannot afford to be on the field for 90+ plays and that pounding the rock is a great way to get the "Blackshirts" some rest. You don't want to mess with a coaching arrangement that has worked pretty well so far, but I wonder if Barney Cotton has the necessary fortitude to remind his boss that points scored on the ground are as good, or even better than those through the air.
Defensively, I wonder if it wouldn't be a good idea to move things around. I'm still amazed at how many times UCLA flipped a pass to a RB for 20+ yards. Somebody in the box was missing it. Does John Papuchis or Rick Kaczenski move for a better view? I doubt it, but adjustment is the theme of the week, so you never know.
Final thoguhts:
After one of the worst weeks I can remember in Huskerville, I'm glad that this game kicks off so early in the morning; it will be nice to rinse the taste of the UCLA game out of our collective mouths. I want to see Nebraska dominate the whole game and move on to what should be a glorified scrimmage against Idaho State. If it's close or if (God forbid) the Huskers drop another game, then the negativity we just came out of will be nothing compared to what's in store next week.
Pelini's teams usually play well after a loss, so I'm not worried, but after last week nobody can truly say that they feel at ease.
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