Anybody else tired?
Coming off one of the most draining weeks that Nebraska football has ever endured, the Blackshirts treated fans to one of the most tiring performances in recent memory. The Husker defense allowed 25 first downs and 465 yards to the FCS Jackrabbits, including 202 rushing yards to a thick running back by the name of Zach Zenner.
Fortunately, the offense that drew comparisons to the '83 Scoring Explosion in the preseason finally decided to show up. Moving up and down the field at will all game, the Husker offense, led by backup quarterbacks Tommy Armstrong and Ron Kellogg III, calmly answered everything their Jackrabbit counterparts threw at them, and started to pull away in the second quarter. Aside from a few penalties, and the omnipresent fumbles, there wasn't much to gripe about with the Husker O.
So Nebraska sits at 3-1 with a bye week before getting into the "JV" part of their Big Ten slate. There's plenty of questions to answer and kinks to fix, both on the field and off, but there's also abundant hope for the future. After the week Husker Nation just endured, it's impossible to say for sure what the Huskers will look like when Illinois rolls into town in two weeks, but suffice to say, there's not going to be any lack of intrigue.
On with the review:
Offensive MVP: Zach Zenner, RB South Dakota State. Yes the Husker offense had a great day, but when you average 9.6 yards per rush and finish with 223 total yards and 2 TDs, it doesn't matter if your team lost, you're an MVP in my book. Zenner's running style reminded me a lot of Rex Burkhead: up the field in a hurry and always falling forward for extra yards.
Defensive MVP: Stanley Jean Baptiste, CB. The senior had another pick (his 4th), a hit that jarred a completed pass out of the receiver's hands, and a 1-on-1 tackle just short of the sticks on 4th down. When the Blackshirts need a play, SJB is going to be the man this year. If only he could be more consistent.
Special Teams MVP: Kenny Bell, KR. Bell has done an outstanding job returning kicks this year, always a step or two from breaking a big one. Bell had returns of 34 and 29 yards yesterday and the Huskers first two possessions started on the right side of the 30 yard line.
Freshman MVP: Tommy Armstrong Jr, QB. This kid looked like the real deal yesterday. Granted the Jackrabbits' defense is never going to be confused for Michigan State, but Armstrong was precise passing, and authoritative running the ball, plus he was absolutely in control from the first snap. The future looks bright for this kid.
Assistant Coach MVP: Joe Ganz and Tim Beck, QBs. One of the hardest things in football is preparing a backup quarterback, and it's even harder to rotate two quarterbacks in the same game. Beck and Ganz did a fantastic job preparing Armstrong and Kellogg for action this week and got great looks from both guys. Each QB brings a different skill set to the table, but both of them showed themselves capable of running the show in a game in which the pressure was on to score on every drive. Both quarterbacks are better throwers than Martinez, especially when they need to get the ball farther than 15 yards, and if Martinez needs more than 2 weeks to heal that turf toe, I don't think too many Husker fans are worried.
Key Stat: After that disastrous 1st quarter, the Blackshirts managed to hold SDSU to 1-8 on third downs the rest of the game.
Play of the Game: There was so much to love about Nebraska's first TD. First of all, it was an option play. Second, Tommy Armstrong executed it beautifully, challenging the defender before pitching to Imani Cross. Finally, it had to be a huge confidence boost for a young quarterback who hadn't played any meaningful snaps yet. Gorgeous play.
Play We Want Back: Kenny Bell's dropped TD pass. That was honestly one of the most beautiful passes I have ever seen a Nebraska quarterback throw and it was unfortunate that Bell let it go after he hit the ground hard.
Blown Call: There must be something wrong about the technique that Nebraska's defensive linemen use to rush quarterbacks, because opposing offensive lineman almost never get called for their blatant holding. I don't remember the specific play, but Randy Gregory's jersey was almost torn off after rushing Austin Sumner on one play. Makes me go hmmmm...
Hit of the Game: If you stayed tuned to the 4th quarter, then you saw S Charles Jackson crush Trevor Wesley inside the 5 yard line on a late punt return and then a few plays later Jackson put a helmet on the ball on a pass play forcing a fumble. Why we don't see more of him?
I want to see more...
*Option football. When Taylor Martinez runs the option, I cringe. When Armstrong runs the option, especially on that first touchdown, tears well up in the corner of my eye from the sheer beauty of it all.
*Backups. They played early and often yesterday on both sides of the ball, and that's a good sign. Bo hasn't always been good about getting backups in the game.
*Imani Cross. Seriously, this kid is invincible. If you want a textbook example of a RB having the will to find the endzone regardless of bad blocking or defensive penetration, then look at Cross' second TD of the day.
*Who's that guy catching the ball? Sam Burtch caught another TD, Tyler Wullenwaber caught a TD, Alonzo Moore got his first catch as a Husker, Brandon Reilly, Jake Long, Cethan Carter and Jordan Westerkamp all got in on the action too. It's a good sign of the depth of our receiving corps when you have to dig your roster out nearly every play to see who just made a catch.
*Unstoppable offense. Sure, it was against an FCS team, but there's something to be said about scoring 50 points in three quarters without punting. This is the offense we all hoped we would see going into the year.
*Randy Gregory. That pick six was neat, and I like the way he was used as a hybrid linebacker. Did you see him plow over the offensive tackle on that play when Aaron Curry got a sack? If he can just get to the point where his dominance is an every down thing, he'll be scary.
*Terrell Newby's surprising power. His first TD as a Husker was memorable for the way he crawled on one arm for the last 5 yards to get across the goal line. You can't coach that kind of desire.
*QB pressure. The 5 sacks are pretty deceiving, Austin Sumner had way too much time to throw for most of the game and he repeatedly gashed the Blackshirts with short and long passes.
*Jack Hoffman. Yesterday was the first time I've seen that huge scar on his head, and it was the second time that tears shot into my eyes. There are so many things bigger than football, and Jack reminds me to be thankful for my two healthy kids. Hopefully he'll be sitting next to Ms. Nebraska at games for years to come.
I want to see less...
*Powderpuff defense. Counting the UCLA game, Nebraska allowed 55 points in a 4 quarter span. Credit the Blackshirts for tightening up following that goal-line stand at the end of the first quarter, but that number is ridiculous.
*Running backs running free. Zach Zenner averaged 10.9 yards per rush in the first half. 10.9 yard on 15 carries. And don't even get me started on the wide open swing passes. I have a hard time believing that Nebraska can't do better.
*Kenny Bell's dropsies. Bell dropped one of the most gorgeous passes a Nebraska quarterback has ever thrown in the first half, and fumbled after his 100th career reception in the second. Tough game for a tough kid. He'll have to bounce back because we'll need him ready for the Big Ten slate.
*Fumbles. Yikes. Week after week this keeps cropping up and with the exception of Ameer Abdullah, it's different guys fumbling every week. It needs to be a point of emphasis during the bye week.
*Zaire Anderson in coverage. Is there any way we can move this kid to defensive tackle? Anderson can tackle better than most of the Blackshirts, but he repeatedly gets lost when trying to cover receivers. With Nebraska's struggles in getting quarterback pressure, perhaps Anderson can be a permanent blitzer...
*Taylor Martinez on the sideline. I don't know if I've ever seen a more miserable looking human being than Martinez on the sideline yesterday. It was like seeing a yellow lab in a cage facing a lake full of ducks. So sad.
Armchair coach:
I'm becoming more and more convinced that Nebraska needs to radically alter their defensive approach. The 2-gap simply isn't working, and I'm dang tired of watching quarterbacks take 8 seconds to get rid of the balls.
Jennifer's Take (my wife doesn't know much about football, but she still has opinions)
"Who is this Sam kid that keeps catching touchdowns?"
Opponent Watch:
*Minnesota is 4-0 for the second straight year, cruising through a weak non-conference schedule. We'll see how good the Gophers are next week against Iowa.
*Speaking of the Hawkeyes, I'm grudgingly impressed with their 59-3 win over 0-4 Western Michigan, but I'd be surprised if they win more than three Big Ten games this year.
*Michigan State's Mark Dantonio is going to need a power washer to get all the egg off of his face this week. Aside from the thousand pass interference penalties whistled against his DBs, there was the head scratching decision to switch quarterbacks on the last possession of a 4 point game. Same old, same old from the Spartans.
*#18 Northwestern had its weakest game so far against Maine and still managed to win by a couple touchdowns.
*#15 Michigan was sleepwalking again, needing a late field goal to squeak out a win at 0-3 Connecticut. The Wolverine's inconsistency over the past 2 games is as striking as it's dominance in their first two.
*Penn State looked impressive in a 34-0 shutout of Kent State. It was important for the Nittany Lions to rebound after the loss to UCF last week.
*Purdue was helpless against Melvin Gordon and #24 Wisconsin, surrendering 3 TDs to the junior. I'm sure Husker fans can relate.
*#13 UCLA picked up where they left off last Saturday, rolling through New Mexico State 59-13.
*This week on the How-Good-Is-Wyoming tour: Brett Smith has 373 yards and 4 TDs as the Cowboys trample a tough Air Force squad 56-23.
Keeping an Eye on the Rest of the College Football World...
*What a dull week. No big upsets, no big games. Just boring. Next week will be better.
*If you've never seen Georgia Tech's offense play football, you need to get your life together. Especially for a Nebraska fan whose first football memories were of Tommie Frazier and Ahman Green, watching the Yellow Jacket's flexbone triple-option offense grind a defense down in the 4th quarter in the rain like they did against North Carolina in a 28-20 win was absolutely beautiful. Inside dives, outside pitches, and the triple option plays are nearly impossible to defend for four quarters, and just when the defense is at the breaking point, BAM! playaction pass. Gorgeous.
*#9 Georgia held off a surprisingly game North Texas team in a sloppy win. Not surprisingly, Georgia fans are panicking and calling for Mark Richt's head. Sounds familiar...
*Frank Beamer is the latest coach to stay in coaching too long. Don't get me wrong, Beamer is a future Hall of Famer and a coach whom I respect as much as any still in the game, but his teams seemed to get consistently worse the past 5 years or so, and after a 2-1 start and an ugly overtime win versus Marshall, it might be best for the Hokies' administration to start getting a succession plan in place. Beamer deserves to go out on his own terms, but it might be time for the Virginia Tech administration to 'encourage' him to retire.
*#4 Ohio State's defense rebounded from an awful performance at Cal with a nice shutout of Florida A&M. The Rattlers had 80 total yards, while the Buckeyes ran 80 plays. The schedule gets much harder next week against #24 Wisconsin.
*Both #1 Alabama and #10 Texas A&M looked worn out in easy, but lackluster wins against Colorado State and SMU, respectively. That's the hangover effect in full view.
*Mack Brown gets a temporary reprieve for his 31-21 win over Kansas State last night. That's his first win over the Wildcats in the last six tries. He needs to beat #14 Oklahoma in two weeks to have even the slightest chance of saving his job.
*Remember about a year ago when Dana Holgorsen, Geno Smith, and West Virginia were the hottest team in the country? They just lost 37-0 to Maryland on the road yesterday.
*#5 Stanford is my favorite for the title game opposite the SEC champion. The Cardinal play nasty defense and knock 'em dead offense as evidenced by their 39-7 third quarter lead over #23 Arizona State. The Cardinal have yet to play 4 solid quarters, but when they put it all together, they're going to be hard to beat.
Last Thought
So with 4 games in the books, we're just about where we thought we'd
be with this Husker team: young and athletic defense that has
frustrating lapses, but gets bailed out by an explosive and efficient
offense.
Except who could have foreseen all of the
other junk? Too much ink has already been spilled over all the drama
that went on in Husker Nation last week, but suffice to say that the
schedule could not be more fortuitous for this frustrating Huskers team. The bye week comes at a perfect time. It gives the team a chance to heal up, drill fundamentals, and barring any more surprise audio recordings, re-focus on the still-attainable goal of winning a Big Ten title.
Fan forecast: tornado-force winds as millions of Husker fans use the bye week to take some deep breaths and relax.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Sunday, September 15, 2013
Sunday Review: UCLA
Is this the worst loss of Bo Pelini's tenure? If you're talking sheer stats, then no, not by a long shot. But if you think about all of the build-up to this game, the fast start and yet another epic defensive collapse on National TV, then I'd argue that this one is right up there with the Big Ten Championship beat down.
Where was the explosive veteran offense that was supposed to be the safety net for the young and inexperienced defense?
It takes a special kind of ineptitude to give up 28 points in a single quarter, but the Husker lack-of-Defense keeps looking for new lows to fall to. I've been on the fence about Pelini all summer, but now it's clear to me: he's lost his defensive genius card and he needs to do something drastic to get it back. If that means shaking up his staff, then that's what needs to be done. Quickly.
Of course the season isn't over, and of course all of our goals are still in front of us. There's 9 games left, most which are very winnable, but it's all starting to get a tiring. Nebraska took another step toward irrelevance yesterday and nothing less than a Big 10 championship can salvage this season now.
On with the review:
Offensive MVP: Brett Hundley, QB, UCLA. After shaking off some early rust, the sophomore put on a show, sticking in the pocket when he needed, scrambling when he had to, and picking the Husker defense apart for the last 37 minutes of the game.
Defensive MVP: Anthony Barr, LB UCLA. 11 tackles, 2 TFLs, and 3 forced fumbles for the senior. He was in Taylor Martinez's grill all day, and led the charge in shutting down the Husker's ground attack.
Special Teams MVP: Sam Foltz, P. It was a rough day for the freshman punter trying to kick into the wind, but he did a good job for the most part. Sadly, he was the Husker's most consistent weapon.
Freshman MVP: Myles Jack, LB UCLA. The young LB only made 5 tackles, but he was a beast in coverage, getting one breakup and effectively shutting down the middle of the field for the Bruins.
Assistant Coach MVP: Lou Spanos, UCLA Defensive Coordinator. After getting chewed up for much of the first half, Spanos pressed the right buttons and shut down the Nebraska offense, just as the Bruins offense started rolling. Not many coordinators have stonewalled Tim Beck like that.
Key Stat: 3-14 on third downs. If you're looking for a reason the game started to turn in the second quarter, then look no further than the Husker's abysmal third down percentage.
Play of the Game: Taylor Martinez's 28 yard TD pass to Kenny Bell was the most beautiful play of the day for the Huskers. Unfortunately, it was also the last beautiful moment for the Big Red.
Play We Want Back: Hundley's 3rd and 12 conversion before the half. Instead of a punt and almost 2 minutes for Taylor Martinez to extend the Husker's three score lead, Avery Moss' missed tackle allowed Hundley to get the first down and UCLA gets their first TD of the day and the momentum that carried them to the easy win.
Blown Call: Corey Cooper's roughing the passer penalty pretty much summarizes everything I hate about all these new "protecting the player" rules. Nothing about the tap that Cooper gave Hundley was flagrant or egregious, but nowadays, if it can be called it will be. Credit Hundley for the nice flop though.
Hit of the Game: Sam Foltz's touchdown saving tackle before the half only delayed the inevitable, but it was a nice play by the freshman punter.
I want to see more...
*Alternate uniforms. I like the once-a-year, alternate uniform rhythm. This year's version is far superior to the red pajamas from last year; my only issue was with the prison-style numbering. All in all, I think once a year is perfect and I'd like to see it continue.
*SJB. After the first quarter interception, I don't remember seeing Stanley Jean-Baptiste the rest of the game. That's not good.
*Running game. Probably the biggest worry about the Husker offense right now centers around the lack of run game we saw yesterday. 128 total yards is kinda pathetic and it really cost us.
*Quincy Enunwa. Coming into the year the senior had 3 career TD catches. Three games into 2013, the big-bodied WR has 5 already. The UCLA defenders got away with a lot of holding on Enunwa in the second half, basically taking him out of the game.
*Soul killing drives (by our offense). It's nice to get the ball with a short field, but there's something purely awesome about an offense taking the ball 90-plus yards in 6-plus minutes for a score, like the Huskers did in the first quarter. Unfortunately we couldn't duplicate that success the rest of the afternoon.
*Jordan Westerkamp's mustache. I've been disappointed by the freshman's lack of touches through three games, but there's nothing disappointing about that 'stache.
*Kenny Bell's moves. When you combine Bell's speed with his ability to make dudes miss in the open field and run guys over for an extra yard, that's a scary WR for the other team to match up with. Too bad the Bruins took him out of the game in the second half.
*T-Magic. Martinez's inability to do anything on the ground this year has been a big concern for me. Chris Spielman beat it to death, and he's right: Nebraska's offense isn't complete if Martinez can't make the big plays with his legs, and he just can't do it this year.
I want to see less...
*Dropped passes. Bell and Enunwa dropped catchable balls on the very first drive. Tyler Wullenwaber dropped a first down catch late in the third. With all of the other issues we had yesterday, why did this suddenly have to be one of them?
*Un-Fielded punts. It's not the biggest issue on this Husker team, but if you ask me, it's the most irritating. Seriously, high school teams do a better job fielding punts than these Huskers.
*Missed tackles. There were a few in the first half, but after the Bruins got going in the second half, it seemed like the Husker defense was missing at least one tackle on every play. Why are freshmen Josh Banderas and Nathan Gerry the best tacklers on this team?
*Inconsistent pressure. Randy Gregory and Co. made life hard on Hundley in the first 25 minutes or so, but after that third down scramble, they tried too hard to keep him in the pocket, to the detriment of the defensive backs. It was sickening to see Hundley take 8 seconds to throw without needing to move his feet.
*Blown leads. Remember when Nebraska was ahead 21-3 in the second quarter? Inexcusable.
*3 and Outs. After Bell's TD, the Huskers had 10 possessions, five 3-and-outs, and zero points. Remember when Tim Beck's offense was going to be unstoppable this year?
*Open receivers. This goes back to the pressure issue. When Hundley had 8 seconds to find a receiver, we ended up with plays like the 28 yard bomb to Shaquelle Evans where the one step he had on Josh Mitchell was 2 steps too many.
*Rolling over. After UCLA took the lead, you could see the wind come completely out of the Husker team. That's on the coaches and that's unacceptable. I felt like I needed a shower after watching that third quarter.
*Balls on the ground. This one is getting pretty old. Nebraska is lucky that of their 600 fumbles yesterday, they only lost 1.
*Penalties. Too many personal fouls, and they all came as the game was slipping away.
Armchair coach: This one's pretty obvious. Calling a fake punt is fine, but why on Earth do you put the ball in the hands of a defensive lineman? Dumb call that really comes across as desperation.
Jennifer's Take (my wife doesn't know much about football, but she still has opinions)
"I hate watching games with your dad."
Everyone does. Nobody is harder on refs, players and coaches than my grumpy Old Man.
Opponent Watch:
*Michigan clearly suffered an emotional let-down from the Notre Dame game last week and it nearly cost them against Akron, coming 3 yards from their most embarrassing defeat since the RichRod days.
*Michigan State's offense is finally out-scoring their defense, and it looks like Sparty has finally found a QB in Connor Cook who threw for 3 TDs in the first half. Then again, they were playing Youngstown State, so...
*Minnesota struggled early against Western Illinois, before pulling away for a 29-12 win. Gopher's coach Jerry Kill was sent to the hospital after suffering another seizure, and it make you wonder how much longer he's going to be around.
*How good is Southern Miss? Not good enough to score more than 3 points against Arkansas. The Golden Eagles now have 12 turnovers in 3 games. Ouch.
*Purdue led #21 Notre Dame 10-7 at the half, but a 4th quarter collapse prevented the Boilermakers from pulling off the upset. If Purdue gets 5 wins this season they should consider themselves lucky.
*#17 Northwestern struggled early against Western Michigan, but managed to pull away in the second quarter for a 38-17 win. That game looks tougher every week.
*Illinois put up a good fight at #19 Washington. The Illini are much improved over last year's 1-11 debacle, and they might not be the easy win that many predicted going into the season.
*Penn State lost a somewhat surprising shootout to Central Florida. This is one of those games where the Nittany Lions' lack of depth hurt them. Not going to be any better for a few years.
*Iowa eked out a win over a bad Iowa State team. There's a little hope in Iowa City.
*Next stop on the How-Good-Is-Wyoming tour: a 35-7 beatdown of FCS Northern Colorado. The Cowboys didn't run away with this game until the 4th quarter, but they were never in serious trouble either.
Keeping an Eye on the Rest of the College Football World...
*Butch Jones is making an immediate impact at Tennessee. Even though his Vols didn't get the win at #2 Oregon, they weren't intimidated by the moment, stuffing the Duck's first two drives and taking an early 7-0 lead. How many teams in the last 5 years can say that? After a decade of decline, things are looking up for the Vols.
*Don't let the 34-20 final score fool you, #5 Stanford was in firm control for most of their game at Army. It's hard for those West Coast schools to come all the way across the country for an 12:00 kickoff (even UCLA took 20 minutes to get going). The Cardinal are a good looking team.
*#14 Oklahoma seems to have found a starting QB. The Belldozer threw for 413 yards and 4 TDs against Tulsa. That breeze you feel is a millions Sooner fans breathing a sigh of relief.
*Did you see the Boise State Broncos Friday night? For those vocal Husker fans with delusions of Chris Petersen wearing a Husker headset next season, there's plenty of ammunition just from that tilt with Air Force. When the Broncos have rough moments, like they did against the Falcons, they almost always fight back for the win. Let's reserve judgement until after they play the mighty Wyoming Cowboys though.
*Should #4 Ohio State worry about the 500 yards and 34 points they allowed to Cal last night? Cal's offense is such that they should be able to score on anyone, but the Buckeyes should worry more about the health of Braxton Miller who has now missed most of their last two games.
*Much was made of the fact that neither #20 Wisconsin or Arizona State had allowed a single point coming into their matchup last night, but it was the Sun Devils whose defense managed to win the war of attrition, holding the Badgers out of the endzone on a late two-point conversion to seal the win.
*I don't mean to toot my own horn (yes I do), but I totally called it with #6 Texas A&M. You don't give up almost 550 yards rushing to Sam Houston State and Rice, and then expect to beat Alabama. Until they get a defense that can stop a wet paper bag, all the Johnny Footballs in the world aren't going to make them much better than a 10-3 team. I expect LSU to do exactly the same thing Alabama did to the Aggies unless they have a midseason defensive renaissance.
Last Thought
I'm still not sure what to think about the loss yesterday. I hate the fact that Nebraska is only able to play one and a half good quarters of football in the third game of the year, but I'm still tempted to give the defense one last thread of slack on account of their youth.
One thing is painfully obvious though: something about Bo's defensive game plan needs to change. There's just too many wretched games to draw any other conclusion. The torch and pitchfork gang should hold off until the end of the year, but if Bo wants to live to see another spring camp, he needs to make moves now.
What moves? Heck, I don't know. I have opinions, but I'm not the one being paid $3 million per year to figure that out. I do believe that his defensive staff could use some fresh blood -someone from the Nick Saban coaching tree would be nice- perhaps someone in the box who can see what the current staff isn't seeing right now, and make the adjustments that nobody seems capable of making right now. Until that happens, it's going to be really tough to get back to 10 wins, and anything less than that plateau is going to make for some uncomfortable times in Lincoln.
Week 4 fan forecast: chemical dependency, and much needed rehab against South Dakota State.
Where was the explosive veteran offense that was supposed to be the safety net for the young and inexperienced defense?
It takes a special kind of ineptitude to give up 28 points in a single quarter, but the Husker lack-of-Defense keeps looking for new lows to fall to. I've been on the fence about Pelini all summer, but now it's clear to me: he's lost his defensive genius card and he needs to do something drastic to get it back. If that means shaking up his staff, then that's what needs to be done. Quickly.
Of course the season isn't over, and of course all of our goals are still in front of us. There's 9 games left, most which are very winnable, but it's all starting to get a tiring. Nebraska took another step toward irrelevance yesterday and nothing less than a Big 10 championship can salvage this season now.
On with the review:
Offensive MVP: Brett Hundley, QB, UCLA. After shaking off some early rust, the sophomore put on a show, sticking in the pocket when he needed, scrambling when he had to, and picking the Husker defense apart for the last 37 minutes of the game.
Defensive MVP: Anthony Barr, LB UCLA. 11 tackles, 2 TFLs, and 3 forced fumbles for the senior. He was in Taylor Martinez's grill all day, and led the charge in shutting down the Husker's ground attack.
Special Teams MVP: Sam Foltz, P. It was a rough day for the freshman punter trying to kick into the wind, but he did a good job for the most part. Sadly, he was the Husker's most consistent weapon.
Freshman MVP: Myles Jack, LB UCLA. The young LB only made 5 tackles, but he was a beast in coverage, getting one breakup and effectively shutting down the middle of the field for the Bruins.
Assistant Coach MVP: Lou Spanos, UCLA Defensive Coordinator. After getting chewed up for much of the first half, Spanos pressed the right buttons and shut down the Nebraska offense, just as the Bruins offense started rolling. Not many coordinators have stonewalled Tim Beck like that.
Key Stat: 3-14 on third downs. If you're looking for a reason the game started to turn in the second quarter, then look no further than the Husker's abysmal third down percentage.
Play of the Game: Taylor Martinez's 28 yard TD pass to Kenny Bell was the most beautiful play of the day for the Huskers. Unfortunately, it was also the last beautiful moment for the Big Red.
Play We Want Back: Hundley's 3rd and 12 conversion before the half. Instead of a punt and almost 2 minutes for Taylor Martinez to extend the Husker's three score lead, Avery Moss' missed tackle allowed Hundley to get the first down and UCLA gets their first TD of the day and the momentum that carried them to the easy win.
Blown Call: Corey Cooper's roughing the passer penalty pretty much summarizes everything I hate about all these new "protecting the player" rules. Nothing about the tap that Cooper gave Hundley was flagrant or egregious, but nowadays, if it can be called it will be. Credit Hundley for the nice flop though.
Hit of the Game: Sam Foltz's touchdown saving tackle before the half only delayed the inevitable, but it was a nice play by the freshman punter.
I want to see more...
*Alternate uniforms. I like the once-a-year, alternate uniform rhythm. This year's version is far superior to the red pajamas from last year; my only issue was with the prison-style numbering. All in all, I think once a year is perfect and I'd like to see it continue.
*SJB. After the first quarter interception, I don't remember seeing Stanley Jean-Baptiste the rest of the game. That's not good.
*Running game. Probably the biggest worry about the Husker offense right now centers around the lack of run game we saw yesterday. 128 total yards is kinda pathetic and it really cost us.
*Quincy Enunwa. Coming into the year the senior had 3 career TD catches. Three games into 2013, the big-bodied WR has 5 already. The UCLA defenders got away with a lot of holding on Enunwa in the second half, basically taking him out of the game.
*Soul killing drives (by our offense). It's nice to get the ball with a short field, but there's something purely awesome about an offense taking the ball 90-plus yards in 6-plus minutes for a score, like the Huskers did in the first quarter. Unfortunately we couldn't duplicate that success the rest of the afternoon.
*Jordan Westerkamp's mustache. I've been disappointed by the freshman's lack of touches through three games, but there's nothing disappointing about that 'stache.
*Kenny Bell's moves. When you combine Bell's speed with his ability to make dudes miss in the open field and run guys over for an extra yard, that's a scary WR for the other team to match up with. Too bad the Bruins took him out of the game in the second half.
*T-Magic. Martinez's inability to do anything on the ground this year has been a big concern for me. Chris Spielman beat it to death, and he's right: Nebraska's offense isn't complete if Martinez can't make the big plays with his legs, and he just can't do it this year.
I want to see less...
*Dropped passes. Bell and Enunwa dropped catchable balls on the very first drive. Tyler Wullenwaber dropped a first down catch late in the third. With all of the other issues we had yesterday, why did this suddenly have to be one of them?
*Un-Fielded punts. It's not the biggest issue on this Husker team, but if you ask me, it's the most irritating. Seriously, high school teams do a better job fielding punts than these Huskers.
*Missed tackles. There were a few in the first half, but after the Bruins got going in the second half, it seemed like the Husker defense was missing at least one tackle on every play. Why are freshmen Josh Banderas and Nathan Gerry the best tacklers on this team?
*Inconsistent pressure. Randy Gregory and Co. made life hard on Hundley in the first 25 minutes or so, but after that third down scramble, they tried too hard to keep him in the pocket, to the detriment of the defensive backs. It was sickening to see Hundley take 8 seconds to throw without needing to move his feet.
*Blown leads. Remember when Nebraska was ahead 21-3 in the second quarter? Inexcusable.
*3 and Outs. After Bell's TD, the Huskers had 10 possessions, five 3-and-outs, and zero points. Remember when Tim Beck's offense was going to be unstoppable this year?
*Open receivers. This goes back to the pressure issue. When Hundley had 8 seconds to find a receiver, we ended up with plays like the 28 yard bomb to Shaquelle Evans where the one step he had on Josh Mitchell was 2 steps too many.
*Rolling over. After UCLA took the lead, you could see the wind come completely out of the Husker team. That's on the coaches and that's unacceptable. I felt like I needed a shower after watching that third quarter.
*Balls on the ground. This one is getting pretty old. Nebraska is lucky that of their 600 fumbles yesterday, they only lost 1.
*Penalties. Too many personal fouls, and they all came as the game was slipping away.
Armchair coach: This one's pretty obvious. Calling a fake punt is fine, but why on Earth do you put the ball in the hands of a defensive lineman? Dumb call that really comes across as desperation.
Jennifer's Take (my wife doesn't know much about football, but she still has opinions)
"I hate watching games with your dad."
Everyone does. Nobody is harder on refs, players and coaches than my grumpy Old Man.
Opponent Watch:
*Michigan clearly suffered an emotional let-down from the Notre Dame game last week and it nearly cost them against Akron, coming 3 yards from their most embarrassing defeat since the RichRod days.
*Michigan State's offense is finally out-scoring their defense, and it looks like Sparty has finally found a QB in Connor Cook who threw for 3 TDs in the first half. Then again, they were playing Youngstown State, so...
*Minnesota struggled early against Western Illinois, before pulling away for a 29-12 win. Gopher's coach Jerry Kill was sent to the hospital after suffering another seizure, and it make you wonder how much longer he's going to be around.
*How good is Southern Miss? Not good enough to score more than 3 points against Arkansas. The Golden Eagles now have 12 turnovers in 3 games. Ouch.
*Purdue led #21 Notre Dame 10-7 at the half, but a 4th quarter collapse prevented the Boilermakers from pulling off the upset. If Purdue gets 5 wins this season they should consider themselves lucky.
*#17 Northwestern struggled early against Western Michigan, but managed to pull away in the second quarter for a 38-17 win. That game looks tougher every week.
*Illinois put up a good fight at #19 Washington. The Illini are much improved over last year's 1-11 debacle, and they might not be the easy win that many predicted going into the season.
*Penn State lost a somewhat surprising shootout to Central Florida. This is one of those games where the Nittany Lions' lack of depth hurt them. Not going to be any better for a few years.
*Iowa eked out a win over a bad Iowa State team. There's a little hope in Iowa City.
*Next stop on the How-Good-Is-Wyoming tour: a 35-7 beatdown of FCS Northern Colorado. The Cowboys didn't run away with this game until the 4th quarter, but they were never in serious trouble either.
Keeping an Eye on the Rest of the College Football World...
*Butch Jones is making an immediate impact at Tennessee. Even though his Vols didn't get the win at #2 Oregon, they weren't intimidated by the moment, stuffing the Duck's first two drives and taking an early 7-0 lead. How many teams in the last 5 years can say that? After a decade of decline, things are looking up for the Vols.
*Don't let the 34-20 final score fool you, #5 Stanford was in firm control for most of their game at Army. It's hard for those West Coast schools to come all the way across the country for an 12:00 kickoff (even UCLA took 20 minutes to get going). The Cardinal are a good looking team.
*#14 Oklahoma seems to have found a starting QB. The Belldozer threw for 413 yards and 4 TDs against Tulsa. That breeze you feel is a millions Sooner fans breathing a sigh of relief.
*Did you see the Boise State Broncos Friday night? For those vocal Husker fans with delusions of Chris Petersen wearing a Husker headset next season, there's plenty of ammunition just from that tilt with Air Force. When the Broncos have rough moments, like they did against the Falcons, they almost always fight back for the win. Let's reserve judgement until after they play the mighty Wyoming Cowboys though.
*Should #4 Ohio State worry about the 500 yards and 34 points they allowed to Cal last night? Cal's offense is such that they should be able to score on anyone, but the Buckeyes should worry more about the health of Braxton Miller who has now missed most of their last two games.
*Much was made of the fact that neither #20 Wisconsin or Arizona State had allowed a single point coming into their matchup last night, but it was the Sun Devils whose defense managed to win the war of attrition, holding the Badgers out of the endzone on a late two-point conversion to seal the win.
*I don't mean to toot my own horn (yes I do), but I totally called it with #6 Texas A&M. You don't give up almost 550 yards rushing to Sam Houston State and Rice, and then expect to beat Alabama. Until they get a defense that can stop a wet paper bag, all the Johnny Footballs in the world aren't going to make them much better than a 10-3 team. I expect LSU to do exactly the same thing Alabama did to the Aggies unless they have a midseason defensive renaissance.
Last Thought
I'm still not sure what to think about the loss yesterday. I hate the fact that Nebraska is only able to play one and a half good quarters of football in the third game of the year, but I'm still tempted to give the defense one last thread of slack on account of their youth.
One thing is painfully obvious though: something about Bo's defensive game plan needs to change. There's just too many wretched games to draw any other conclusion. The torch and pitchfork gang should hold off until the end of the year, but if Bo wants to live to see another spring camp, he needs to make moves now.
What moves? Heck, I don't know. I have opinions, but I'm not the one being paid $3 million per year to figure that out. I do believe that his defensive staff could use some fresh blood -someone from the Nick Saban coaching tree would be nice- perhaps someone in the box who can see what the current staff isn't seeing right now, and make the adjustments that nobody seems capable of making right now. Until that happens, it's going to be really tough to get back to 10 wins, and anything less than that plateau is going to make for some uncomfortable times in Lincoln.
Week 4 fan forecast: chemical dependency, and much needed rehab against South Dakota State.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Sunday Review: Southern Miss
That was much better. Nebraska played the type of football we expected to see this season: unstoppable offense with an inconsistent, but athletic defense. There were plenty of mistakes made last night, as evidenced by several sideline shots of an unhappy Bo Pelini, but it didn't appear that the Huskers were sleep walking like they did last week.
The story of the night is the Husker secondary, which nabbed four picks, two of which were returned for TDs, and played much better in coverage against a fairly talented Southern Miss receiving corps.
The offense still looked a bit lackadaisical, although the Huskers opened up the playbook a little and threw down field more. That vanilla play calling is to be expected with a big game against UCLA looming next week, and it was helpful that the defense outscored Southern Miss all by themselves, preventing any need for a shootout.
On the whole, the young guns on defense took a nice step forward and Husker Nation was treated to the fun sort of blowout everyone expected last week.
On with the review:
Offensive MVP: Ameer Abdullah, RB. Abdullah had a nice game last night, piling up another 116 yards and scoring his first two TDs of the year. I wonder if Imani Cross' big game last week motivated Abdullah a little bit, because the junior ran like his life depended on it last night.
Defensive MVP: Ciante Evans, NB. Evans had 2 INTs and returned one for a TD. He also looked sharp in coverage and managed to get his secondary into the right position most of the night.
Special Teams MVP: Sam Foltz, P. Whatever Nebraska kids are doing to develop into such great punters and kickers, it needs to continue. Foltz's 60 yarder from his own endzone was gorgeous, but his last punt, a floating pooch that was downed inside USM's 5 yard line was something special. If Foltz keeps it up, he'll be next in the long line of NU punters in the NFL; it'll be nice to have him for 4 more years.
Freshman MVP: Greg McMullen, DE. This kid really showed up Saturday night, grabbing 4 tackles, 2 for loss, and forcing a fumble. With so much inexperience on the defensive line, the Huskers are going to need performances like that consistently from the young guns.
Assistant Coach MVP: Terry Joseph. 2 Pick-sixes, 4 INTs, and generally tight coverage all night made for a nice bounce back game for the Husker secondary. This is what we expected to see from the most experienced group on the Husker defense. Stanley Jean-Baptiste and Ciante Evans have looked impressive so far this season and if Joseph can get the safeties going in the right direction, the defense will continue to improve.
Key Stat: 6.2 When your offense is averaging better than six yards per carry, you know you're in for a fun night. The Golden Eagles had a few nice plays on defense, but Ameer Abdullah and Co were impressive on the night.
Play of the Game: Stanley Jean-Baptiste's pick six. With all of the negativity swirling around the defense the past week, fans were on the edge of their seats for all the wrong reasons to start the game. On the third play of the game, SJB made a beautiful jump on Allan Bridgford's pass and it was a clean run into the endzone. Suddenly, everything was right with Husker football again.
Play We Want Back: That 41 yd TD pass to Rickey Bradley was the result of a blown coverage. After last week, those sort of plays are a worrisome occurrence.
Blown Call: It looks like "tackling too hard" is going to be a problem for Nebraska this season. Charles Jackson got hit with a questionable personal foul on a kick return in the third quarter that mystified everyone in the booth.
Hit of the Game: Josh Mitchell and Stanley Jean-Baptiste both had highlight TFL's in the flats, which if missed, would have resulted in big gains. That sort of high-level tackling from the corners is going to come in handy next weekend.
I want to see more...
*SJB. The light seems to have come on for the senior corner. SJB has been Nebraska's most consistent defender so far and if he continues to improve, the NFL will come calling.
*Shutting down the run. USM managed only 62 net yards rushing. That'll do.
*4th quarter fire from Coach K. Nebraska was up 49-13 in the 4th quarter but cameras caught DL coach Rick Kaczenski greeting his charges with fiery and enthusiastic zest as they trotted off the field.
*QB Pressure. Bridgford was only sacked once last night, but he got to know DE Randy Gregory pretty well. The Blackshirts look a lot better when opposing QBs don't have time to set their feet and throw the ball.
*Mike Moudy. The fact that the junior was playing in the first half means that the second and third team linemen are developing to the point where they can spell the 1's early in the game. That was the hallmark of the best offensive lines in the 90's and it's encouraging to see that depth finally returning.
*Kenny Bell. That dude just plays football. He knifed the Eagles with a 21 yard TD catch before halftime and he stole the momentum back after USM's second half TD with a 63 yard kickoff return. Add to that his edge blocking and tackles on special teams and Bell could well be Nebraska's most valuable player overall.
*T-Magic. Aside from some nice scrambles, there wasn't anything magical about Taylor Martinez running last night. Hopefully he's saving it up for UCLA.
*Backups. According to the official participation report everyone, including the waterboys, got into the game. Playing the last 25 minutes of a live game is indispensable for the youngsters, especially the linemen. Bo's been criticized in the past for leaving the starters in too long, but I think he did a good job last night.
*Skill position depth. Seven wide receivers or tight ends caught balls last night, and 5 different backs got carries. King Frazier and Graham Nabity looked good getting carries late, and redshirt freshman walk-on WR Sam Burtch caught a TD from Martinez. You can't buy that sort of depth (unless you're Ole Miss).
I want to see less...
*Busted coverage. There were a few missed throws by Bridgford that could have been big gains. The improved QB pressure made a difference, but tighter coverage is going to be a priority against UCLA.
*Penalties. A couple stupid ones in this game, most notably Gregory's roughing the passer; that was a completely ridiculous move on his part.
*Wasted Drives. Nebraska had three 3-and-outs last night. I'll give them a pass on the drive that started at the Nebraska 1 yard line, but I was pretty irritated at the slow start after halftime.
*Missed throws. You will never see anyone more wide open than Cethan Carter was on a playaction fake in the second quarter and Martinez just plain missed him. He knew it too; after the game all he could do was shake his head in the press conference.
*Turnovers. Terrell Newby is a stud, but he's a young stud. Young studs eventually learn that there's things they got away with in high school that won't cut it in college. Ball control is one of those things. Side note: Nebraska is +3 in turnovers for the first time in forever.
*Page not responding. Because Northwestern vs Syracuse was the game picked for my region, I was forced to go to BTN2GO which, of course, was down for most of the afternoon. Luckily, there are websites of questionable legality on which I was able to watch the first half.
Armchair coach: Why did it take until late in the third quarter to see Imani Cross? After the game he had last week, I would have expected Ron Brown to put Cross in early and often to compliment Abdullah's slashing style with a bit of blunt-force trauma.
Jennifer's Take (my wife doesn't know much about football, but she still has opinions)
"What take? I was working all day!"
Sucks to suck.
Opponent Watch...
*ESPN announcers joked that perhaps Michigan State DC Pat Narduzzi should take over as offensive coordinator as well. Not a bad idea. In a 21-6 win over South Florida, Narduzzi's DE Shilique Calhoun scored two TDs compared to the offense's one. That's the same South Florida team that gave up 53 to McNeese State (whatever that is) last week. Sparty's got some issues.
*Color me impressed by Illinois' fast start in that win against Cincy. Tim Beckman needs wins like that to keep his job.
*Both Iowa and Purdue struggled in wins over FCS teams. One of those teams will have a new coach next year if things don't improve.
*Penn State true freshman QB Christian Hackenberg shook off an early fumble returned for a TD and threw for 311 yards and a TD as Penn State rolled 45-7 against Eastern Michigan. Bill O'Brien is clearly building for the future with his young QB, who will be a senior when the Lions are eligible for the post-season again.
*Minnesota dominated another weak team on the road. The Gophers are nothing to sleep on, but they're not worth losing sleep over either-yet.
*#17 Michigan looked OK in a nice home win over #11 Notre Dame. Devin Gardner looked good-minus that disastrous 4th quarter pick six-but that pass defense needs to tighten up.
*#19 Northwestern had little trouble with Syracuse, winning 48-27. They're looking like a tougher out every week.
*Wyoming blasted Idaho 42-10, and the Cowboys were up 42-0 going into the 4th quarter. It's a good first step in proving last week wasn't a fluke.
Keeping an eye on the rest of the college football world...
*How good is former NU Tackle Tyler Moore? To my eyes, he was #12 Florida's best lineman against Miami, consistently locking down ends while pass blocking and driving guys off the screen in the run game. He got busted on at least 3 penalties though, so you know he's sticking to his Nebraska roots. Also, Florida has the same problem as Michigan State: a hideous offense that ruins great defensive performances.
*Miami, still under the cloud of an NCAA investigation, looks like they're ready for a serious run. Their next big test comes Oct. 5 against Georgia Tech, and avoiding Clemson during the regular season is a boon.
*Brett who? #21 Wisconsin stuck to the run game and strong defense to record their second consecutive shutout over Tennessee Tech. Gary Anderson gets his first true test against Arizona State next week, but he's made a strong first impression so far.
*Speaking of Brett Bielema, his Hogs had to sweat it out yesterday. They were down 21-17 going into the 4th quarter against Samford.
*400 yards and 4 TDs for Teddy Bridgewater and #8 Louisville against Eastern Kentucky. Bridgewater needs these sort of performances to keep his name at the top of the Heisman list, because he doesn't have many marquee games to showcase his considerable talent.
*#2 Oregon took less than two minutes to score their first TD against Virginia and they rolled to a win wearing their worst helmet yet.
*Braxton Miller missed most of #3 Ohio State's game against SDSU this week. Kenny Guiton might be the most experienced backup QB in the country, and he proved he can win if Miller is out for a long while.
*Contrary to what "Tyler in Atlanta" might think, #11 Georgia's season is not over. One of the ESPN announcers said on the broadcast that he would take Jadeveon Clowney over JJ Watt. He looks pretty silly, after Aaron Murray and Todd Gurley gashed the Gamecocks all afternoon.
*#7 Texas A&M has a great offense, but it might be time to start worrying about that D after they gave up 4 TDs to Sam Houston State.
*Who wants to be Mack Brown this week? Another baffling loss ruins another season before the end of September. OK, it's probably too early to say that for sure, but after all of the unjustified hype (including a certain World-Herald writer pegging them at #3 in his AP ballot), Texas must regroup quickly with Ole Miss and Kansas State coming to town the next two weeks.
*How about #22 Baylor's 781 yards of offense against Buffalo? Art Briles appears to have built a machine in Waco, starting his 3rd QB in 3 years with no dropoff. After Okahoma and Texas' struggles, the Bears might be the favorite in the Big 12.
*If you haven't seen Western Kentucky's 5 turnovers in 6 plays, get your life together and go to ESPN's college football page. It's awesome because it happened to Bobby Petrino.
*As much as I loved Mike Leach before, I love him oh-so-much more this morning after finding out that his Washington State team knocked off USC late last night. Surprisingly, the Cougs did it with defense, holding the Trojans to 54 passing yards and forcing 2 picks. Can't sleep on any team coached by Mike Leach.
*#5 Stanford was a little sloppy in their opener vs San Josed State, but if they can beat Oregon like they always inexplicably seem to do, I like the Cardinal to
Last Thought
Two games into 2013, we have two very different Nebraska teams. Which is the real Husker defense? Is the Nebraska offense the unstoppable juggernaut we expected in August? Is every other play going to be a disaster followed by a celebration?
With such a small sample size, it's impossible to say for sure, but one thing is certain: we'll have a better idea by 3 PM next Saturday. UCLA comes to town and it looks like a perfect storm of Bo Pelini's demons: ranked opponent, mobile QB, and a national TV audience. Will the young Nebraska defense rise to occasion, or is it going to be another soul crushing day to be a Husker fan? We'll see but I definitely feel better about it than I did last Sunday. We'll see how I feel next Sunday.
The story of the night is the Husker secondary, which nabbed four picks, two of which were returned for TDs, and played much better in coverage against a fairly talented Southern Miss receiving corps.
The offense still looked a bit lackadaisical, although the Huskers opened up the playbook a little and threw down field more. That vanilla play calling is to be expected with a big game against UCLA looming next week, and it was helpful that the defense outscored Southern Miss all by themselves, preventing any need for a shootout.
On the whole, the young guns on defense took a nice step forward and Husker Nation was treated to the fun sort of blowout everyone expected last week.
On with the review:
Offensive MVP: Ameer Abdullah, RB. Abdullah had a nice game last night, piling up another 116 yards and scoring his first two TDs of the year. I wonder if Imani Cross' big game last week motivated Abdullah a little bit, because the junior ran like his life depended on it last night.
Defensive MVP: Ciante Evans, NB. Evans had 2 INTs and returned one for a TD. He also looked sharp in coverage and managed to get his secondary into the right position most of the night.
Special Teams MVP: Sam Foltz, P. Whatever Nebraska kids are doing to develop into such great punters and kickers, it needs to continue. Foltz's 60 yarder from his own endzone was gorgeous, but his last punt, a floating pooch that was downed inside USM's 5 yard line was something special. If Foltz keeps it up, he'll be next in the long line of NU punters in the NFL; it'll be nice to have him for 4 more years.
Freshman MVP: Greg McMullen, DE. This kid really showed up Saturday night, grabbing 4 tackles, 2 for loss, and forcing a fumble. With so much inexperience on the defensive line, the Huskers are going to need performances like that consistently from the young guns.
Assistant Coach MVP: Terry Joseph. 2 Pick-sixes, 4 INTs, and generally tight coverage all night made for a nice bounce back game for the Husker secondary. This is what we expected to see from the most experienced group on the Husker defense. Stanley Jean-Baptiste and Ciante Evans have looked impressive so far this season and if Joseph can get the safeties going in the right direction, the defense will continue to improve.
Key Stat: 6.2 When your offense is averaging better than six yards per carry, you know you're in for a fun night. The Golden Eagles had a few nice plays on defense, but Ameer Abdullah and Co were impressive on the night.
Play of the Game: Stanley Jean-Baptiste's pick six. With all of the negativity swirling around the defense the past week, fans were on the edge of their seats for all the wrong reasons to start the game. On the third play of the game, SJB made a beautiful jump on Allan Bridgford's pass and it was a clean run into the endzone. Suddenly, everything was right with Husker football again.
Play We Want Back: That 41 yd TD pass to Rickey Bradley was the result of a blown coverage. After last week, those sort of plays are a worrisome occurrence.
Blown Call: It looks like "tackling too hard" is going to be a problem for Nebraska this season. Charles Jackson got hit with a questionable personal foul on a kick return in the third quarter that mystified everyone in the booth.
Hit of the Game: Josh Mitchell and Stanley Jean-Baptiste both had highlight TFL's in the flats, which if missed, would have resulted in big gains. That sort of high-level tackling from the corners is going to come in handy next weekend.
I want to see more...
*SJB. The light seems to have come on for the senior corner. SJB has been Nebraska's most consistent defender so far and if he continues to improve, the NFL will come calling.
*Shutting down the run. USM managed only 62 net yards rushing. That'll do.
*4th quarter fire from Coach K. Nebraska was up 49-13 in the 4th quarter but cameras caught DL coach Rick Kaczenski greeting his charges with fiery and enthusiastic zest as they trotted off the field.
*QB Pressure. Bridgford was only sacked once last night, but he got to know DE Randy Gregory pretty well. The Blackshirts look a lot better when opposing QBs don't have time to set their feet and throw the ball.
*Mike Moudy. The fact that the junior was playing in the first half means that the second and third team linemen are developing to the point where they can spell the 1's early in the game. That was the hallmark of the best offensive lines in the 90's and it's encouraging to see that depth finally returning.
*Kenny Bell. That dude just plays football. He knifed the Eagles with a 21 yard TD catch before halftime and he stole the momentum back after USM's second half TD with a 63 yard kickoff return. Add to that his edge blocking and tackles on special teams and Bell could well be Nebraska's most valuable player overall.
*T-Magic. Aside from some nice scrambles, there wasn't anything magical about Taylor Martinez running last night. Hopefully he's saving it up for UCLA.
*Backups. According to the official participation report everyone, including the waterboys, got into the game. Playing the last 25 minutes of a live game is indispensable for the youngsters, especially the linemen. Bo's been criticized in the past for leaving the starters in too long, but I think he did a good job last night.
*Skill position depth. Seven wide receivers or tight ends caught balls last night, and 5 different backs got carries. King Frazier and Graham Nabity looked good getting carries late, and redshirt freshman walk-on WR Sam Burtch caught a TD from Martinez. You can't buy that sort of depth (unless you're Ole Miss).
I want to see less...
*Busted coverage. There were a few missed throws by Bridgford that could have been big gains. The improved QB pressure made a difference, but tighter coverage is going to be a priority against UCLA.
*Penalties. A couple stupid ones in this game, most notably Gregory's roughing the passer; that was a completely ridiculous move on his part.
*Wasted Drives. Nebraska had three 3-and-outs last night. I'll give them a pass on the drive that started at the Nebraska 1 yard line, but I was pretty irritated at the slow start after halftime.
*Missed throws. You will never see anyone more wide open than Cethan Carter was on a playaction fake in the second quarter and Martinez just plain missed him. He knew it too; after the game all he could do was shake his head in the press conference.
*Turnovers. Terrell Newby is a stud, but he's a young stud. Young studs eventually learn that there's things they got away with in high school that won't cut it in college. Ball control is one of those things. Side note: Nebraska is +3 in turnovers for the first time in forever.
*Page not responding. Because Northwestern vs Syracuse was the game picked for my region, I was forced to go to BTN2GO which, of course, was down for most of the afternoon. Luckily, there are websites of questionable legality on which I was able to watch the first half.
Armchair coach: Why did it take until late in the third quarter to see Imani Cross? After the game he had last week, I would have expected Ron Brown to put Cross in early and often to compliment Abdullah's slashing style with a bit of blunt-force trauma.
Jennifer's Take (my wife doesn't know much about football, but she still has opinions)
"What take? I was working all day!"
Sucks to suck.
Opponent Watch...
*ESPN announcers joked that perhaps Michigan State DC Pat Narduzzi should take over as offensive coordinator as well. Not a bad idea. In a 21-6 win over South Florida, Narduzzi's DE Shilique Calhoun scored two TDs compared to the offense's one. That's the same South Florida team that gave up 53 to McNeese State (whatever that is) last week. Sparty's got some issues.
*Color me impressed by Illinois' fast start in that win against Cincy. Tim Beckman needs wins like that to keep his job.
*Both Iowa and Purdue struggled in wins over FCS teams. One of those teams will have a new coach next year if things don't improve.
*Penn State true freshman QB Christian Hackenberg shook off an early fumble returned for a TD and threw for 311 yards and a TD as Penn State rolled 45-7 against Eastern Michigan. Bill O'Brien is clearly building for the future with his young QB, who will be a senior when the Lions are eligible for the post-season again.
*Minnesota dominated another weak team on the road. The Gophers are nothing to sleep on, but they're not worth losing sleep over either-yet.
*#17 Michigan looked OK in a nice home win over #11 Notre Dame. Devin Gardner looked good-minus that disastrous 4th quarter pick six-but that pass defense needs to tighten up.
*#19 Northwestern had little trouble with Syracuse, winning 48-27. They're looking like a tougher out every week.
*Wyoming blasted Idaho 42-10, and the Cowboys were up 42-0 going into the 4th quarter. It's a good first step in proving last week wasn't a fluke.
Keeping an eye on the rest of the college football world...
*How good is former NU Tackle Tyler Moore? To my eyes, he was #12 Florida's best lineman against Miami, consistently locking down ends while pass blocking and driving guys off the screen in the run game. He got busted on at least 3 penalties though, so you know he's sticking to his Nebraska roots. Also, Florida has the same problem as Michigan State: a hideous offense that ruins great defensive performances.
*Miami, still under the cloud of an NCAA investigation, looks like they're ready for a serious run. Their next big test comes Oct. 5 against Georgia Tech, and avoiding Clemson during the regular season is a boon.
*Brett who? #21 Wisconsin stuck to the run game and strong defense to record their second consecutive shutout over Tennessee Tech. Gary Anderson gets his first true test against Arizona State next week, but he's made a strong first impression so far.
*Speaking of Brett Bielema, his Hogs had to sweat it out yesterday. They were down 21-17 going into the 4th quarter against Samford.
*400 yards and 4 TDs for Teddy Bridgewater and #8 Louisville against Eastern Kentucky. Bridgewater needs these sort of performances to keep his name at the top of the Heisman list, because he doesn't have many marquee games to showcase his considerable talent.
*#2 Oregon took less than two minutes to score their first TD against Virginia and they rolled to a win wearing their worst helmet yet.
*Braxton Miller missed most of #3 Ohio State's game against SDSU this week. Kenny Guiton might be the most experienced backup QB in the country, and he proved he can win if Miller is out for a long while.
*Contrary to what "Tyler in Atlanta" might think, #11 Georgia's season is not over. One of the ESPN announcers said on the broadcast that he would take Jadeveon Clowney over JJ Watt. He looks pretty silly, after Aaron Murray and Todd Gurley gashed the Gamecocks all afternoon.
*#7 Texas A&M has a great offense, but it might be time to start worrying about that D after they gave up 4 TDs to Sam Houston State.
*Who wants to be Mack Brown this week? Another baffling loss ruins another season before the end of September. OK, it's probably too early to say that for sure, but after all of the unjustified hype (including a certain World-Herald writer pegging them at #3 in his AP ballot), Texas must regroup quickly with Ole Miss and Kansas State coming to town the next two weeks.
*How about #22 Baylor's 781 yards of offense against Buffalo? Art Briles appears to have built a machine in Waco, starting his 3rd QB in 3 years with no dropoff. After Okahoma and Texas' struggles, the Bears might be the favorite in the Big 12.
*If you haven't seen Western Kentucky's 5 turnovers in 6 plays, get your life together and go to ESPN's college football page. It's awesome because it happened to Bobby Petrino.
*As much as I loved Mike Leach before, I love him oh-so-much more this morning after finding out that his Washington State team knocked off USC late last night. Surprisingly, the Cougs did it with defense, holding the Trojans to 54 passing yards and forcing 2 picks. Can't sleep on any team coached by Mike Leach.
*#5 Stanford was a little sloppy in their opener vs San Josed State, but if they can beat Oregon like they always inexplicably seem to do, I like the Cardinal to
Last Thought
Two games into 2013, we have two very different Nebraska teams. Which is the real Husker defense? Is the Nebraska offense the unstoppable juggernaut we expected in August? Is every other play going to be a disaster followed by a celebration?
With such a small sample size, it's impossible to say for sure, but one thing is certain: we'll have a better idea by 3 PM next Saturday. UCLA comes to town and it looks like a perfect storm of Bo Pelini's demons: ranked opponent, mobile QB, and a national TV audience. Will the young Nebraska defense rise to occasion, or is it going to be another soul crushing day to be a Husker fan? We'll see but I definitely feel better about it than I did last Sunday. We'll see how I feel next Sunday.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Sunday Review: Wyoming
So yeah...that was weird. After another long off-season, one that saw anguish slowly dissipate and make way for extravagant hope and dreams of championship glory, the Huskers were rudely awakened by a motivated Wyoming team that was wholly unfazed by the record home crowd.
It's hard to compare games across the span of years, but this one reminded me a little bit of Ball State in 2007-a plucky mid-major team comes into Lincoln and runs up huge yards and points and pushes the Big Red to the brink before falling in defeat. Needless to say, another year like 2007 would be bad for the collective health of Husker Nation, so let's hope that it doesn't come to that.
Take heart Huskers fans, the youth and athleticism we were promised on defense still has 11 games to develop. The explosive and dazzling offense we saw last year is probably hidden in Tim Beck's play book, waiting to be unleashed on a visiting UCLA team in a few weeks. As bad as the 602 yards and 34 points look, this is only week 1 and well, it could hardly get worse, right? Right?
On with the review:
Offensive MVP: Dominic Rufran WR, Wyoming. QB Brett Smith deserves a nod, but Rufran's 11 catches for 120 yards stand out among all other receivers in the game. This dude was a major thorn in the Husker's side all night long.
Defensive MVP: Stanley Jean-Baptiste, CB. SJB gets the nod for causing a 14 point swing in the first half, picking off Smith at the goal line and returning the ball 42 yards to keep Nebraska out of a big hole early.
Special Teams MVP: Kenny Bell, KR. Returns of 35 and 37 yards were a huge boost to the Husker offense, and showed necessary improvement in an area of concern from last season.
Freshman MVP: Terrell Newby, RB. Newby validated every word of hype that's been swirling around the Californian since last winter. He has an impressive blend of speed and elusiveness, leaving several defenders grasping air to the tune of 5 yards per carry.
Assistant Coach of the Game: Ron Brown, RB coach. Brown's charges racked up 306 yards and 2 TDs on the ground last night, going around and through Wyoming defenders all night. Imani Cross showed us why touted freshman Adam Taylor is going to redshirt this year, showing off improved quickness and vision. Cross' development speaks to the high level of tutelage he's getting from Brown.
Key Stat: 1 for 8. Wyoming's third down failure is the reason the Lincoln is not in ashes right now.
Play of the Game: Driving down field to start the second half, Taylor Martinez handed off to Imani Cross on a zone play to the left. Cross showed his improved quickness and agility by cutting back right and bursting over the right edge of the offensive line to daylight. Of course there was a pesky safety there, but he wasn't ready for Cross' nifty double spin move and after regaining his balance, Cross glided into the endzone to give Nebraska a 10 point lead.
Raise your hand if you thought Cross was capable of a play like that.
Play We Want Back: Among the more disappointing developments of the game last night was how ordinary Taylor Martinez looked running the ball. Nowhere was that more apparent than his fumble on 4th and 1 in the fourth quarter. Instead of continuing a drive to ice the game, Martinez gave the Cowboys the ball and a shot of momentum.
Blown Call: In what universe was Randy Gregory's sack "roughing the passer"? That was absolutely the worst call in a game of bad ones.
Hit of the Game: I loved the violence with which Imani Cross plowed through the line on that 1 yard TD run. He could give the defense some lessons.
I want to see more...
*T-Magic. He had a few nice throws and some decent runs, but Martinez left us waiting for the sort of magic that should be readily available in his senior season.
*Motivation. From start to finish, the Huskers just didn't seem like they were really 'in' to the game. Hopefully this is an isolated occurrence.
*Wide receivers. Kenny Bell, Quincy Enunwa, and Jamal Turner were the only WRs to catch a ball last night. With all of the hoopla surrounding the depth and experience of our receiving corps, I would have expected a few more faces to be on that list.
*QB Pressure. Because of the penalty on Randy Gregory, Nebraska did not tally a single sack against Wyoming, and the few times they got pressure on Smith, he glided away with ease.
*Kenny Bell. 7 catches for 57 yards just isn't enough. I need more Fro.
*Rushing yards up the middle. Nebraska did a lot of damage on the edges, but often got stuffed when they tried to rush inside. Against an undersized defensive line like Wyoming's, that just doesn't make sense.
*Improved pass protection. The big uglies kept Martinez clean in the passing game. Granted, we're talking about Wyoming but it was still nice to see.
*Tommy Armstrong. I was really hoping this game would be over at halftime so we could see the heralded freshman. Martinez has taken every meaningful snap the past two years, so it might behoove Tim Beck to start getting Armstrong some first half snaps.
*FB traps. Georgia absolutely murdered Clemson a few times last night with this classic quick hitter. It would be nice to see what CJ Zimmerer and Andy Janovich could do.
I want to see less...
*Penalties. Holy crap, that was annoying. All over the field and at the worst times. That needs to be fixed right quick.
*Turnovers. Looking at you Mr. Martinez...
*Missed tackles. This one is starting to get pretty annoying.
*Missed extra points. What is that, the first one in 4 years? We're pretty spoiled.
*Whiffed sacks. Perhaps Brett Smith is just an ethereal, football-tossing hologram. That's one explanation for why the Huskers couldn't seem to keep their hands on him.
*Opponent passing yards. The Cowboys did plenty of work on the ground too, but Smith put on a clinic through the air. His throws on the run were absolutely spot-on.
Armchair coach: I didn't like the 4th and 1 play call. It was a long yard, and Ameer Abdullah and Co had been tearing the Cowboys up all night. I would have called on Imani Cross with an Andy Janovich escort.
Jennifer's Take (my wife doesn't know much about football, but she still has opinions)
"Man it sucks listening to a close game on the radio."
Welcome to my childhood.
Keeping an eye on the rest of the college football world...
*I had the "opportunity" to watch the Georgia-Clemson game on my buddy's TV while keeping an eye on the Nebraska game on my computer. It was an exciting game, but like many thought, Tajh Boyd and Sammy Watkins were just too much for a young Bulldog defense.
*If Bama wants to 3-peat, they can't rely on their special teams and defense to outscore their opponents every game.
*Urban Meyer earned even more scorn this week by going for 2 after his team's first two TDs. Against Buffalo. That little bit of sillyness aside, the Buckeyes then proceeded to step all over themselves in a sloppy 40-20 win.
*I don't care how good Johnny Manziel is, he is cementing himself as the biggest dirtbag in college sports. He must not understand how little things like attitude can mean a lot of money on Draft day.
*Michigan looked like the class of the Big 10 in week one, rolling to a 59-9 victory over Central Michigan. An interesting week 1 development.
*Washington thumped #19 Boise State 38-6 in a rematch of last season's Las Vegas Bowl. The loss was by far the worst one of Chris Peterson's career.
*#19 UCLA exploded in the second half to roll to a 58-20 win over Nevada. The Bruins were only up 17-13 at the half, but unlike Nebraska, they maintained their second half momentum to roll to an easy win.
*Biggest upset of the week goes to Eastern Washington. The FCS Eagles knocked off #25 Oregon State, becoming just the 3rd FCS team to beat a ranked BCS team. Eagles QB Vernon Adams had 518 total yards and 6 TDs in the 49-46 win.
*Wisconsin looked great in a 45-0 beat down of UMass.
*New coach Darrell Hazell's high-speed offense was largely ineffective in Purdue's 45-7 loss to Cincinnati.
*Penn State eked out a win over Syracuse with true freshman QB Christian Hackenberg. Hackenberg's numbers were modest, but he delivered a win in a tough spot.
*Iowa continued their futility with an embarrassing season opening loss to Northern Illinois.
*#22 Northwestern rolled to a 44-20 win at Cal. The Wildcats are very capable of winning the Legends division this season.
Last thought
The Huskers did nothing to dispel any anxiety over their youthful defense. Immediately after the bowl loss to Georgia, Bo did his best to sell us all on the talent he had coming back for this season, but it's clearly too early to say whether the defense is going to be enough to deliver a Big Ten championship. It's a long season, and it's too easy to write off the season after an opening stumble, but I'm far too optimistic for that. I really want to think the first game jitters got a lot of the younger guys and coupled with a conservative offensive performance, we ended up with that flame-out in the 4th quarter.
But Nebraska is 1-0 and by the end of November, this game will be an afterthought amidst the drama of the 2013 season. A weak Southern Miss team might be the best medicine.
It's hard to compare games across the span of years, but this one reminded me a little bit of Ball State in 2007-a plucky mid-major team comes into Lincoln and runs up huge yards and points and pushes the Big Red to the brink before falling in defeat. Needless to say, another year like 2007 would be bad for the collective health of Husker Nation, so let's hope that it doesn't come to that.
Take heart Huskers fans, the youth and athleticism we were promised on defense still has 11 games to develop. The explosive and dazzling offense we saw last year is probably hidden in Tim Beck's play book, waiting to be unleashed on a visiting UCLA team in a few weeks. As bad as the 602 yards and 34 points look, this is only week 1 and well, it could hardly get worse, right? Right?
On with the review:
Offensive MVP: Dominic Rufran WR, Wyoming. QB Brett Smith deserves a nod, but Rufran's 11 catches for 120 yards stand out among all other receivers in the game. This dude was a major thorn in the Husker's side all night long.
Defensive MVP: Stanley Jean-Baptiste, CB. SJB gets the nod for causing a 14 point swing in the first half, picking off Smith at the goal line and returning the ball 42 yards to keep Nebraska out of a big hole early.
Special Teams MVP: Kenny Bell, KR. Returns of 35 and 37 yards were a huge boost to the Husker offense, and showed necessary improvement in an area of concern from last season.
Freshman MVP: Terrell Newby, RB. Newby validated every word of hype that's been swirling around the Californian since last winter. He has an impressive blend of speed and elusiveness, leaving several defenders grasping air to the tune of 5 yards per carry.
Assistant Coach of the Game: Ron Brown, RB coach. Brown's charges racked up 306 yards and 2 TDs on the ground last night, going around and through Wyoming defenders all night. Imani Cross showed us why touted freshman Adam Taylor is going to redshirt this year, showing off improved quickness and vision. Cross' development speaks to the high level of tutelage he's getting from Brown.
Key Stat: 1 for 8. Wyoming's third down failure is the reason the Lincoln is not in ashes right now.
Play of the Game: Driving down field to start the second half, Taylor Martinez handed off to Imani Cross on a zone play to the left. Cross showed his improved quickness and agility by cutting back right and bursting over the right edge of the offensive line to daylight. Of course there was a pesky safety there, but he wasn't ready for Cross' nifty double spin move and after regaining his balance, Cross glided into the endzone to give Nebraska a 10 point lead.
Raise your hand if you thought Cross was capable of a play like that.
Play We Want Back: Among the more disappointing developments of the game last night was how ordinary Taylor Martinez looked running the ball. Nowhere was that more apparent than his fumble on 4th and 1 in the fourth quarter. Instead of continuing a drive to ice the game, Martinez gave the Cowboys the ball and a shot of momentum.
Blown Call: In what universe was Randy Gregory's sack "roughing the passer"? That was absolutely the worst call in a game of bad ones.
Hit of the Game: I loved the violence with which Imani Cross plowed through the line on that 1 yard TD run. He could give the defense some lessons.
I want to see more...
*T-Magic. He had a few nice throws and some decent runs, but Martinez left us waiting for the sort of magic that should be readily available in his senior season.
*Motivation. From start to finish, the Huskers just didn't seem like they were really 'in' to the game. Hopefully this is an isolated occurrence.
*Wide receivers. Kenny Bell, Quincy Enunwa, and Jamal Turner were the only WRs to catch a ball last night. With all of the hoopla surrounding the depth and experience of our receiving corps, I would have expected a few more faces to be on that list.
*QB Pressure. Because of the penalty on Randy Gregory, Nebraska did not tally a single sack against Wyoming, and the few times they got pressure on Smith, he glided away with ease.
*Kenny Bell. 7 catches for 57 yards just isn't enough. I need more Fro.
*Rushing yards up the middle. Nebraska did a lot of damage on the edges, but often got stuffed when they tried to rush inside. Against an undersized defensive line like Wyoming's, that just doesn't make sense.
*Improved pass protection. The big uglies kept Martinez clean in the passing game. Granted, we're talking about Wyoming but it was still nice to see.
*Tommy Armstrong. I was really hoping this game would be over at halftime so we could see the heralded freshman. Martinez has taken every meaningful snap the past two years, so it might behoove Tim Beck to start getting Armstrong some first half snaps.
*FB traps. Georgia absolutely murdered Clemson a few times last night with this classic quick hitter. It would be nice to see what CJ Zimmerer and Andy Janovich could do.
I want to see less...
*Penalties. Holy crap, that was annoying. All over the field and at the worst times. That needs to be fixed right quick.
*Turnovers. Looking at you Mr. Martinez...
*Missed tackles. This one is starting to get pretty annoying.
*Missed extra points. What is that, the first one in 4 years? We're pretty spoiled.
*Whiffed sacks. Perhaps Brett Smith is just an ethereal, football-tossing hologram. That's one explanation for why the Huskers couldn't seem to keep their hands on him.
*Opponent passing yards. The Cowboys did plenty of work on the ground too, but Smith put on a clinic through the air. His throws on the run were absolutely spot-on.
Armchair coach: I didn't like the 4th and 1 play call. It was a long yard, and Ameer Abdullah and Co had been tearing the Cowboys up all night. I would have called on Imani Cross with an Andy Janovich escort.
Jennifer's Take (my wife doesn't know much about football, but she still has opinions)
"Man it sucks listening to a close game on the radio."
Welcome to my childhood.
Keeping an eye on the rest of the college football world...
*I had the "opportunity" to watch the Georgia-Clemson game on my buddy's TV while keeping an eye on the Nebraska game on my computer. It was an exciting game, but like many thought, Tajh Boyd and Sammy Watkins were just too much for a young Bulldog defense.
*If Bama wants to 3-peat, they can't rely on their special teams and defense to outscore their opponents every game.
*Urban Meyer earned even more scorn this week by going for 2 after his team's first two TDs. Against Buffalo. That little bit of sillyness aside, the Buckeyes then proceeded to step all over themselves in a sloppy 40-20 win.
*I don't care how good Johnny Manziel is, he is cementing himself as the biggest dirtbag in college sports. He must not understand how little things like attitude can mean a lot of money on Draft day.
*Michigan looked like the class of the Big 10 in week one, rolling to a 59-9 victory over Central Michigan. An interesting week 1 development.
*Washington thumped #19 Boise State 38-6 in a rematch of last season's Las Vegas Bowl. The loss was by far the worst one of Chris Peterson's career.
*#19 UCLA exploded in the second half to roll to a 58-20 win over Nevada. The Bruins were only up 17-13 at the half, but unlike Nebraska, they maintained their second half momentum to roll to an easy win.
*Biggest upset of the week goes to Eastern Washington. The FCS Eagles knocked off #25 Oregon State, becoming just the 3rd FCS team to beat a ranked BCS team. Eagles QB Vernon Adams had 518 total yards and 6 TDs in the 49-46 win.
*Wisconsin looked great in a 45-0 beat down of UMass.
*New coach Darrell Hazell's high-speed offense was largely ineffective in Purdue's 45-7 loss to Cincinnati.
*Penn State eked out a win over Syracuse with true freshman QB Christian Hackenberg. Hackenberg's numbers were modest, but he delivered a win in a tough spot.
*Iowa continued their futility with an embarrassing season opening loss to Northern Illinois.
*#22 Northwestern rolled to a 44-20 win at Cal. The Wildcats are very capable of winning the Legends division this season.
Last thought
The Huskers did nothing to dispel any anxiety over their youthful defense. Immediately after the bowl loss to Georgia, Bo did his best to sell us all on the talent he had coming back for this season, but it's clearly too early to say whether the defense is going to be enough to deliver a Big Ten championship. It's a long season, and it's too easy to write off the season after an opening stumble, but I'm far too optimistic for that. I really want to think the first game jitters got a lot of the younger guys and coupled with a conservative offensive performance, we ended up with that flame-out in the 4th quarter.
But Nebraska is 1-0 and by the end of November, this game will be an afterthought amidst the drama of the 2013 season. A weak Southern Miss team might be the best medicine.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)