Sunday, November 3, 2013

Sunday Review: Northwestern

It's a game of inches.  That most cliche of football truisms proved itself true on innumerable plays yesterday.  Bo was right when he said in his postgame presser that the difference between a great defense and a poor one (of which we saw both yesterday) was very slim, apparently all it takes is a switch at MLB.

I can think of three plays yesterday where if you added an inch here or there,  Nebraska cruises to an easy victory: Stanley Jean-Baptiste's dropped pick six, Ameer Abdullah getting tackled by the turf on a wide open option play, and the 3rd and 6 on Northwestern's first drive where Kain Colter slipped through the hands of every Nebraska defensive linemen to scramble for nine yards, eventually leading to NW's first TD.   And of course there's one play where an inch or two would have won the game for the Wildcats.

So while some may pessimistically gripe about Nebraska needing a lucky tip to beat a 4-4 Northwestern team (a Northwestern team that could easily be 7-1 with a little better luck), those grumps should remember that cliches are cliches for a reason, and they should just enjoy the win.  

On with the review:

Offensive MVP: Jordan Westerkamp, WR.  The kid made a few nice catches in the first half to move the chains.  He did a nice job fielding punts (a skill Nebraska fans have learned not to take lightly).  Nothing he does the rest of his career is likely to trump his first TD catch though.  A lot of that was right place and right time, but credit the freshman for his sticky hands and nimble feet.  I expect mustaches to make quite a comeback around Lincoln.

Defensive MVP: Avery Moss DE.  Moss' ten yard sack was great.  His pick six was better.  In a game where someone needed to step up and make a play, Moss did exactly that.  Moss' basketball skills were on full display as he plucked a pass out of the air and sprinted home.

Special Teams MVP: Sam Foltz P.  Yes he had a shanked punt, and yes his other punts always seemed to bounce the wrong way, but it's hard to argue with his overall body of work: 35 yd average and 3 punts downed inside the 20.  He was a big part of Nebraska winning the field position battle in the second half.

Freshman MVP: This one also goes to Westerkamp.  If you make a once-in-a-lifetime play like that, you deserve two MVPs.

Assistant Coach MVP: Terry Joseph, DB coach.  Joseph's charges accounted for six of Nebraska's ten tackles for loss.  Josh Mitchell had a clutch pass breakup on a 4th quarter pass that would have been a first down inside Nebraska territory (beautifully covering two receivers on a play where Nebraska blitzed eight defenders).  And Ciante Evans had one of the best games of his career, leading the team with eight tackles including a sack of Kain Colter in which he literally held on to a thread of his jersey and got the big quarterback down. Nebraska's secondary held Northwestern to 8 of 21 passing for 81 yards, and were a big part of shutting down the Wildcats' run game after the first quarter.

5 Who Stood out:
*Quincy Enunwa WR.  His 23 yard catch between two DBs on that long third down in the first quarter was more like the Enunwa we've come to know the last three years.  His adjustment to the lob pass he caught for a TD shouldn't be underestimated.  Sure he dropped that last pass that would have set Pat Smith up for a long field goal try, but he was just setting the Wildcats up for the epic final play.

*Ameer Abdullah RB.  Forget about the 132 yards rushing and another 1000 yard season, Ameer's greatest contribution yesterday came on the pass plays that last drive.  Serving as the safety valve for Kellogg III, Abdullah caught three passes including a clutch 16 yard catch-and-stretch to convert on 4th and 15.  And when you go back and watch that final play for the 501st time, notice what number 8 is doing in the backfield to give RKIII the time to make that final heave.  

*Randy Gregory DE.  Gregory will haunt the dreams of Trevor Siemian for several nights after crushing the NW quarterback as he released the ball on Moss' pick six.  Gregory's not all the way there mentally as evidenced by his poor read on Treyvon Green's 4 yard TD on a zone read in the first quarter, but he's learning, as evidenced by his great read on the two yard TFL on Colter to force a field goal at the end of the game.

*Ciante Evans NB.  Eight tackles, one sack and four tackles for loss.  The senior played his heart out yesterday, making play after play and willing his defense to shut down the Wildcats.

*Josh Banderas MLB.  The freshman's roller coaster year continued yesterday with an upswing as he replaced Michael Rose at MLB, making three tackles including a nice solo tackle on Colter to force a punt.  Bando is an absolute beast physically and when he fully grasps the college game, he's bound to become the stud that he looks like.

Key Stat:  0 for 12.  NW didn't convert a third down after the first quarter.  That helped Nebraska in so many ways.

Play of the Game: Obviously the hail Mary TD pass.  That was pretty much a textbook example of how a Hail Mary is supposed to work.  I can't watch it enough times.

Play We Want Back:  RKIII's interception in the first quarter.  Poor throw from Kellogg, and a poor play call by Tim Beck.  Two plays later, NW is up 21-7 and who knows what kind of impact that had on the game.

Blown Call:  The holding call on Mike Moudy that negated a first down run by Abdullah inside the NW 30 yard line was pretty silly.  Yes, Moudy had a handful of jersey, but it was hardly more egregious than the 30 holding calls they missed on both teams all game long.

And honestly, the holding call on NW's 2nd and 20 in the 4th quarter should have been offsetting penalties because Randy Gregory pretty clearly shoved his hands up in the NW tackle's nose while he was being held.  Nebraska declined the penalty so no harm, no foul.

Hit of the Game: Randy Gregory made one of the best plays of his young career by tackling Kain Colter for a two yard loss on third down to force NW's last field goal.  His ability to cling to Colter and get him to the ground turned out to be one of the game's most important plays.

I want to see more...
*Zone read/option plays.  Sure, Armstrong isn't as likely to take it to the house, but his consistent 8 yards per carry are better than the boom or bust style of a healthy Taylor Martinez, much better than the "fall into the fetal position and fumble" style of a hurt Taylor Martinez.  Having a quarterback healthy enough to be a legitimate rushing threat is an unmistakeable boost to this offense.
*Starting with a bang.  Yesterday marked the 5th game in a row that Nebraska scored on their first possession.  Obviously, that doesn't necessarily translate to continued success the rest of the game, but it says something positive for Tim Beck's game planning.
*Blitzing.  We've had this discussion before.  Nebraska started bringing more pressure on Northwestern's third drive and was rewarded with a three and out.  The Huskers managed several more three and outs the rest of the game, didn't allow a third down conversion after halftime and finished with 10 TFLs or sacks.
*K.I.S.S.  In the Army we use the acronym "Keep It Simple Stupid" to remind our leaders (usually lieutenants) that complexity doesn't necessarily equal success.  Tim Beck's offense usually ground to a halt when he tried to do anything more than feed Ameer Abdullah or let Tommy Armstrong loose in the running game.
*Takeaways.  Other than Avery Moss' beautiful pick six, Nebraska didn't get any takeaways yesterday.  When your own offense throws four INTs, you need to do something to get the ball back.
*Stanley Jean-Baptitste.  The senior was Nebraska's best playmaker until he got ejected from the Purdue game.  Since that game, he hasn't really made any game changing plays.  SJB dropped a sure pick six yesterday, and though he had some nice tackles, it was Josh Mitchell making plays in the passing game.
*Ndamukong Suh.  Suh was in town during the biggest recruiting weekend of the year.  Coincidence?  Doubt it.  

I want to see less...
*Missed tackles.  Kain Colter is a good athlete, but he made the Nebraska defense look ridiculous on an early 3rd and 6.  Defensive linemen grasped air, linebackers got run over and defensive backs slipped off ball carriers the entire first quarter.  Terrible.  Thank God the Blackshirts figured it out quickly.
*Interceptions.  With the exception of the tipped ball on Tommy Armstrong's second INT, the interceptions thrown yesterday went straight to Wildcat defenders as if they were the intended receivers. Were the QBs forcing plays, or do they just have no idea how to read a zone?
*Defensive confusion.  Nebraska was forced to call a timeout on Northwestern's first drive because they couldn't get lined up properly.  Northwestern wasn't doing a whole lot with motion or formations either, so I really don't understand why, in week 10, the Blackshirts can't even get lined up.  Things went much smoother when Banderas took over.
*Three and outs.  After storming down the field on their first possession, the Husker offense stalled with three and out after Northwestern answered, forcing the tired defense back onto the field.  The offense went three-and out several more times as the game devolved into a defensive slugfest.
*John Deere Gators.  I don't ever remember seeing a game where the Gator came on the field twice in the whole game, let alone the first quarter.  Lots of injuries yesterday, but with the exception of Will Richards, Bo didn't seem too worried about getting all those guys back.
*2:30 kickoffs.  I know that they're probably the best kickoff time as far as recruiting goes, but dangit I like grilling on Saturdays and the 2:30 games always climax at dinnertime. Trying to watch a grill full of country style ribs AND an epic comeback by a 5th year walk-on quarterback is difficult.  It worked out alright though:


Armchair coach: I don't like the way Tim Beck called passing plays in the second half.  With beneficial field position most of the second half, and playing from a tie from the third quarter on, Beck did his young quarterback no favors by calling passes at strange times (why does he insist on calling pass plays on first dow??!!), and not giving him any of the option passes that worked well in the first half.  

Jennifer's Take (my wife doesn't know much about football, but she still has opinions)
"You can grow a mustache if it looks like Jordan Westerkamp's."

Done.

Opponent Watch:
*Penn State pulled off another OT victory over Illinois as the Nittany Lions' freshman QB Christian Hackenberg threw a TD and then Ryan Keiser picked off a Nathan Scheelhaase pass in the end zone in the extra period.  Penn State is not a great team, but they play hard and they play all the way to the final gun.

*Minnesota almost blew a 35-13 third quarter lead, but a 50 yard TD pass by Phillip Nelson with three minutes left lifted the Gophers to a 42-39 victory.  The Gophers are now at 7-2 with games against Penn State, Wisconsin, and at Michigan State remaining.  9-3?  A distinct possibility, but so is 7-5.

*#22 Michigan State allowed only 168 yards and two field goals in a 29-6 win over #21 Michigan.  The Spartans straight dominated the Wolverines in East Lansing and they're the clear Legends division favorite.

*Iowa kept it tight until the 4th quarter at home against #24 Wisconsin, but the Hawkeyes couldn't contain James White, allowing two TDs in the final period en route to a 28-9 loss.  The Badgers are one of the toughest teams in the Big Ten, and they essentially ended any outside chance Iowa had at winning the Legends.

*Hapless little Purdue got run over by #4 Ohio State 56-0 as the Buckeyes try to keep their BCS championship hopes alive by blowing out the teams they should blow out.

*Southern Miss "only" committed two turnovers but still got run over by Marshall 63-13.  The Golden Eagles have now lost 20 straight games, which is silly considering they went 11-2 just two seasons ago.

*#20 UCLA got back on track after two straight losses to #5 Stanford and #2 Oregon by beating Colorado 45-23.  Nothing shakes you out of a two game losing streak like a visit from the Buffaloes.

Keeping an Eye on the Rest of the College Football World...
*Georgia busted out to a 17-0 lead and held off Florida for a 23-20 win.  In my dreamy impossible fantasy world, Will Muschamp gets fired at Florida after going 6-6 and then Bo Pelini hires him to be his defensive coordinator.  Only a few issues with that scenario...

*#9 Missouri stomped a better-than-you'd-expect Tennessee team 36-3.  The Tigers have to beat Kentucky, Ole Miss and Texas A&M to win the SEC East with no help.  Seems doable.

*#25 Notre Dame needed a late TD to escape Navy at home.  The Fighting Irish might be one of the most hot-and-cold teams in the country and that's not going to help them down the stretch with games against Pitt, BYU and Stanford.

*#17 Northern Illinois and #16 Fresno State kept their BCS hopes alive with wins over UMass and Nevada respectively.  If it came down to both teams being unbeaten, who would get in?  I'd take the Huskies.  Their best win over Iowa trumps the Bulldogs' best win over Rutgers.

*Most overrated 2-loss team?  #12 Texas A&M in my book.  Anyone with a decent defense and an offense with a pulse has a chance to beat the Aggies.  UTEP, of course, isn't one of those teams, losing 57-7 last night, but I'd give Mississippi State, LSU and Missouri all at least .500 odds of beating the Aggies.

*#18 Oklahoma State further exposed #15 Texas Tech as pretenders.  The Cowboys played like the Big 12 favorites they used to be, racking up 281 rushing yards and forcing the Red Raiders into two turnovers in a 52-34 beat down.

*#3 Florida State stomped all over #7 Miami 41-14.  The Seminoles should move to #2 in the BCS this week, but an impressive win by Oregon over Stanford on Thursday will knock Florida State back down to #3.  With #4 Ohio State seemingly a lock to go 13-0, and #6 Baylor still facing the meat of its schedule, there's all sorts of potential for chaos come December 9th.  The BCS is not going to go quietly.

Last Thought

I don't think Spielberg could have scripted that any better.  A third-string, 5th year walk-on senior quarterback comes into the game with a little more than a minute left and leads the team down the field with no timeouts and heaves a miracle Hail Mary touchdown to a Catholic freshman wide receiver and saves his team's season?  Magic.  I'll let the shine wear off a little bit before I go pronouncing any final judgements, but I think it's safe to say that yesterday's game will reside in my top 5 Husker memories for quite a while.

Also, can we get a trophy for the Northwestern game?  The Wildcats have been, and will probably continue to be a thorn in the Husker's side, and while I don't anticipate any hatred coming up between the two teams (who could hate that lovable band of nerds and their classy head coach?), the series has all the other ingredients for a serious rivalry.

Anyways, enough about the Wildcats.  Nebraska has a big game with a beat-up Michigan team next Saturday in the Big House.  If the Huskers can scrape out a win, hold your horses folks, we got us a football season. The Huskers are likely to look pretty different next week depending on the latest twists in the ongoing quarterback drama and the expected return of Jake Long, Kenny Bell, and/or Jamal Turner.

Fan forecast: Catholic churches in Nebraska see a huge uptick in attendance.

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