Sunday Review: Purdue

Have you ever been so worried after a 37 point win?  Despite the dominant defensive performance, there are plenty of concerns heading into the bye week.

It all starts up front.  All-American G Spencer Long went down with a knee injury in the first quarter and for the rest of the game, the Huskers struggled to move the ball with anything resembling consistency.  After the game, Coach Pelini couldn't put our worst fears to rest, saying only that he would wait for the medical staff to make a full evaluation before commenting on the injury.  The tone of his voice wasn't comforting.  Then he mentioned the impending MRI, and the collective hearts of Husker nation sank under the depressing reality of another all-star senior getting his career cut short.

As if that weren't enough, freshman phenom Tommy Armstrong played so poorly that even the staunchest haters will be calling for Taylor Martinez to hurry back.  If you think about it, Armstrong actually did us all a favor, picking the best possible week to struggle and pop a hole in the burgeoning quarterback controversy.  With the bye next week and a perfectly placed road trip to Minnesota,  T-Magic can rest another week and then have a nice warm-up game to get back in the groove for a rugged November.

On with the review:

Offensive MVP: Ameer Abdullah, RB.  Another 126 yards, a TD and those astoundingly quick cutbacks.  The yards were harder to come by, but when his team needed him Abdullah made plays.

Defensive MVP: Randy Gregory, DE.  This one's a no-brainer.  If it weren't for the late Purdue TD, Gregory could have single-handedly outscored the Boilermakers with his third quarter safety.  Add another sack (and another that was negated by a penalty), and a fumble recovery and it adds up to the sort of game that we envisioned when he signed with NU out of junior college last winter.

Special Teams MVP: Sam Foltz, P.  Nothing too special from the freshman punter, but he did what he was asked and consistently put Purdue deep in their own territory the entire game.

Freshman MVP: DeAngelo Yancey WR Purdue.  Tip your hat to the kid, he played hard and was rewarded with a long TD to avoid the shutout.  5 catches for 146 yards and a TD.  The Huskers are likely in for a few more years of getting burned by this kid.

Assistant Coach MVP: Rick Kaczenski, DL.  Coach Kaz's boys (and I mean boys) continued to improve, taking a big step forward in West Lafayette.  The front four got the best pressure I've seen since Jared Crick was in the trenches, racking up 4 sacks, all from first year players.  Throw in LB Josh Banderas' sack, and you have promising development from the Husker youth.

5 Who Stood out:
*WR Quincy Enunwa.  We'll excuse the drop that would have bailed Nebraska out of a 3rd and 19, and the one that went through his hands on Armstrong's last pick because Enunwa was Nebraska's most consistent WR and made electrifying plays all afternoon.

*RB Imani Cross.  He's really good at closing out drives and getting those short TDs.  Really good.  Cross is also coming along as an every-down back too, making a few nice open field moves and geting yards in chunks.

*LB David Santos.  The Sophomore led the Huskers with five tackles and earned unsolicited praise from Bo after the game.  The early season benching lit a fire under Santos and he's come on strong the last two weeks.

*CB Mo Seisay.  He took over for Nebraska's best defensive player after Stanley Jean-Baptiste was ejected, and played solidly in relief getting a pass break-up and locking receivers down in the seocnd half.

*QB Ron Kellogg III.  The offense suffers from his lack of rushing ability, but there's a lot to be said for his accuracy, and arm strength.  RKIII didn't win the backup job yesterday, but he certainly closed the gap.

Key Stat:  1.3 yards per rush for the Boilermakers.  Two freshman QBs in this game, and both of them were mostly awful.  The biggest difference between the two?  Armstrong got a lot more help from his offensive line and running backs than Danny Etling did.

Play of the Game: Late in the second quarter Quincy Enunwa took a short pass and decided to do his best Barry Sanders impression, hurdling, spinning, and straight up powering through the entire Boilermakers' secondary for a 35 yard gain.  I can pretty much guarantee that Bo would like to go back in time and redshirt Enunwa back in 2009.  As it is, Enunwa is building a fantastic case to be Nebraska's first wide receiver drafted in the first two rounds since Irving Fryar.

Play We Want Back: I lost count of how many deep passes thrown by both QBs went just a liiiitle bit too far for their wide receivers to get under.  It's a game of inches, and with a few more inches under a couple throws, Tommy Armstrong's stat line looks much better than 6 of 18 for 43 yards and 3 INTs.

Blown Call: I'm going to sound like a homer when I say that SJB's hit wasn't targeting, but dangit, He's a 6'3" corner screaming downfield to tackle a 5'9" running back in the flat.  When you watch the play in slow motion of course it looks like SJB dropped his head, but when you think about the situation, it's the only thing that made sense for him to do: he had to get low and make a good tackle because there was nothing but green for the RB if he had missed.  That's the maddening part of the new rule.  Harvey Jackson made essentially the same play on Purdue's next drive, but because TE Justin Sinz is 7 inches taller, Jackson's helmet bounced harmlessly off of his shoulder.

I'm all for player safety, but rules that make it impossible to play defense aren't the way to do it.

Hit of the Game: When offensive line coach John Garrison said that Purdue's safeties were some of the hardest hitters in the Big Ten, I though it was lame coach speak.  Ask Cethan Carter, Terrell Newby, or Ameer Abdullah if they think the same thing after taking some serious shots yesterday.

SJB deserves credit for his suplex sack on Etling in the first quarter.  To pull that off without committing a penalty is smooth stuff.

I want to see more...
*Option.  Last week it was Abdullah who burned Illinois off a pitch, this week, Armstrong, with those fantastic fakes, gets a TD from four yards out.  The only other time the Big Red ran the play, freshman DT Evan Panfil blasted into the backfield and dropped Armstrong for a four yard loss.  Two option runs aren't enough.
*Spencer Long.  How good is Spencer Long?  Let's just say that Nebraska might have gone North of 400 yards rushing had they had the same success rushing the ball as they did on their first drive, when Long was in the game.
*Three-and-outs.  The Blackshirts started the game with three 3-and-outs and an interception in Purdue's first four drives.  Though they only managed one more three-and-out the rest of the game (not counting the safety that happened on 2nd down), the 14-0 lead the offense built would be all the points the Huskers would need.  Hopefully this game is a springboard for the rest of the season.
*Fourth down guts.  It's sort of ridiculous that it took four downs to move three yards at the end of the first quarter, but I love the decision to go for it on 4th down.  The offensive line (and Imani Cross) imposed their will on the Boiler's defense, and finished a 12 play drive with six points.
*Ron Burgundy Dodge commercials.  It's been a bad year for commercials, but Will Ferrell is single-handedly rescuing the advertising industry with his hilarious Durango commercials.

I want to see less...
*FUMBLES!!!!  I feel like I'm taking crazy pills watching this offense.  Jordan Westerkamp and Imani Cross are the latest offenders.  Westerkamp committed one of the most mind-numbing fumbles I've seen since Niles Paul's goal-line drop in '09; luckily he threw it out of bounds.  Cross earns my ire for failing to secure the ball all the way to the ground on a third quarter run near the goal line.  We didn't lose any this week, but that is small consolation with the schedule we have coming up.
*Missed opportunities.  The Big Red Offense's average starting field position was their 41 yard line.  Perhaps I'm being unrealistic, but I expect more than six TDs with only 59 yards to travel.  Armstrong's three interceptions definitely hurt, but the offense went three-and-out too many times and were a weak 11-21 on third down overall.
*DeAngelo Yancey.  The freshman from Atlanta made several nice plays all afternoon, not the least of which was the one-handed grab in double coverage while he was being interfered with.  And there was that little play right at the end of the game too.  That huge body and his speed is going to give us a few more headaches for the next two years at least.
*RB rotation.  I never thought I'd say that Ron Brown was rotating his running backs too much, but lo and behold, after three years of criticism of riding one back for too many carries, causing two heralded backs to transfer, Brown went too far the other way.  I swear, no back had more than three carries in a row yesterday, and on a day when Armstrong was struggling, I thought we should have seen at least 5-7 more carries from Abdullah.

Armchair coach: 
Yes, Josh Mitchell (who played an awful 4th quarter, committing two stupid penalties) got absolutely roasted by freshman wide receiver DeAngelo Yancey, but why in God's name did we squib that last kickoff and set the Boilermakers up at midfield?  Mauro Bondi has one of the best touchback percentages in the NCAA, and even if he didn't get the TB, our kickoff coverage has been excellent so far this year.  You might think I'm being a little bit greedy considering we won by 37 points but dangit I really wanted that shutout.

Jennifer's Take (my wife doesn't know much about football, but she still has opinions)
Jennifer took the kids to Roca Berry Farm yesterday, and missed the game.  She'll be back with her takes when the Huskers travel to Minnesota.

Opponent Watch:
*Indiana kept it close in the first half, but Sparty's offense blew it open in the third quarter to cruise to a 42-28 win.  Indiana's defense is so bad that it's hard to know for sure, but if that Spartan offense is for real, then they're unquestionably the favorite in the Legends division.

*#19 Northwestern really missed injured RB Venric Mark at Wisconsin.  The Wildcats couldn't move the ball on offense, and were run over on defense in a 35-6 loss.  Wisky coach Gary Andersen looks like the real deal.

*I didn't see much of #18 Michigan's loss at Penn State until the end of the first overtime when Michigan K Brendan Gibbons had his 40 yarder blocked.  What followed was the most intense three periods of overtime that I can imagine, complete with missed kicks, converted 4th and short and a controversial pass interference.  I was rooting for Penn State to pull off the upset, but I can't say that I am pleased with how the Legends division has performed so far.  It's anyone's division at this point.

*Wyoming nearly managed to blow a 21 point lead to New Mexico, but QB Brett Smith racked up 140 yards on the ground, scoring the deciding two TDs in the 4th quarter.  Wyoming is sitting at 4-2 and an eight or nine win season is within reach.

*Zach Zenner and South Dakota State got back on track, beating Western Illinois in a Missouri Valley Conference game.  Zenner racked up 133 yards and 2 TDs.  That's right, Western Illinois' defense did a better job of shutting down Zenner than the Blackshirts.

*#11 UCLA coasted to a 37-10 victory over Cal late last night.  Brett Hundley racked up 410 yards of passing with three TDs and no interceptions.  The Bruins travel to Stanford next week.


Keeping an Eye on the Rest of the College Football World...
*Upset Saturday this week, let's start with the least surprising one.  Missing 4 of their 5 best playmakers, #7 Georgia welcomed #25 Missouri into Athens, and the Tigers slapped the Dawgs around for four quarters.  I told my buddy not to worry about the Tigers because of Gary Pinkel's penchant for not showing up in big games, but I'll eat my words and give the Tigers (one of my least favorite teams) their due.   That's a scary defensive line they have and a good offense.  #17 Florida limps into Colombia next week, and # 14 South Carolina the week after that.  If the Tigers win those games, then their November 30 tilt against #9 Texas A&M will be the new biggest game in school history.

*And the one that shocked everyone: #5 Stanford dropping a nail-biter at Utah.  The Cardinal's normally outstanding defense surrendered 414 yards and their offense lost two turnovers to give the Utes the upset.  Remember how I said I thought Stanford would be the team opposite the SEC Champ in the national championship game?  More words I have to eat.

*I can't explain it, but I had a feeling that Mack Brown might pull out a win in the Red River rivalry, because that's the sort of infuriating inconsistency that's defined the last 5 years of Texas football.  Is  the win enough to save his job?  Probably, but it shouldn't be. Texas is still trending down, and there's really no excuse for it.

*They didn't get the win, but credit Kansas State for being the first team to hold #15 Baylor to less than 60 points.  The Bears proved themselves capable of overcoming adversity after losing a comfortable lead in the third quarter, scoring two late TDs and getting defensive stops to ice the game.

*#3 Clemson almost got caught napping by a tough Boston College team, but the Tigers were able to get the win and set up the ACC's dream matchup with #6 Florida State next week.

*Another near upset that's going to get a lot less time on ESPN was #23 Northern Illinois' 27-20 squeaker versus Akron.  The last time we saw the Zips, they were three yards away from beating Michigan.  Yesterday, Terry Bowden's team was 55 yards away from tying the Huskies.  Read into that what you will.

*I watched #17 Florida get beat at #10 LSU, and I have to wonder why the Gators' are so insistent on talking smack, especially on offense.  The Gators are the very definition of offensive ineptitude, and their schedule doesn't get any easier with games at Missouri, Georgia, South Carolina, and Florida State still to go.

*#1 Alabama took a full quarter to get going at Kentucky, but when they did they couldn't be stopped, racking up 668 yards in a 48-7 win.  The Tide allowed only 170 yards to the Wildcats, and have to more tune-ups against Arkansas and Tennessee before LSU comes to visit.

*#2 Oregon took #16 Washington's best shots, but still managed to pull away in the second half for a comfortable 45-24 win in Seattle.  If the Ducks get by Stanford and UCLA, I'm not convinced that any SEC team can slow them down.  QB Marcus Mariota is Johnny Manziel-like with an uncanny ability to fit footballs in tight places on the run.  And he does alright running the football too.

*Ole Miss gave #9 Texas A&M a scare, but Johnny Football was just too much for the Rebels in the end and the Aggies iced the game with a field goal as time expired.  Johnny Manziel reminds me a lot of Taylor Martinez when he runs (read: he carries the ball like a loaf of bread) but he has laser-like precision when he throws that Martinez couldn't begin to duplicate.  I'm not saying that he won't be a great NFL quarteback, but if he gets picked up by the Jaguars and is forced to take a beating, I'm not sure his slender frame can handle it.

Last Thought
Pass me an icepack and a bottle of Motrin.  Grab some for Spencer Long too.

Yesterday was the sort of physical, hard hitting football that everyone expected going into the Big Ten. The game didn't feature the sort of physical torture of an SEC tilt, but there was plenty of pads popping and paint trading going on to satisfy the soul of old-school fans.  The Boilers are perhaps the worst team in the Big Ten, but they didn't lack for effort and nasty physical defense.  I suspect that they will be a much stiffer test next season, but there's plenty of other things to worry about until then.

Like toes and knees.  So many Husker dreams hinge on the health of their two captains, and if they're both back in time for a road trip to Minnesota, let's just say that the remaining schedule looks far less daunting today than it did Saturday morning.

Fan forecast: another bye week with much better games (Clemson-Florida State, Stanford-UCLA) and much better feelings than last time.

Sunday Review: Illinois

Once again, the Huskers gave us what we all expected coming into this year: great offense and a shaky defense capable of making timely stops.  If this is what we get for the remainder of the Big 10 slate, then things don't look nearly as apocalyptic as they did after the UCLA game.

Plenty of questions remain, and the program will have to batten down the hatches for a full-blown quarterback controversy over the coming weeks, but I think the Huskers took a big step forward in their Big 10 opener, nowhere more than on their much-maligned defense.

To sum up the game: Tommy Armstrong still looks like the second coming of Tommie Frazier, Ameer Abdullah looks even better, and the defense seems to be coming along.

On with the review:

Offensive MVP: Ameer Abdullah, RB.  225 yards and 2 TDs rushing and a clutch 15 yard reception tell you most of the story, but his reaction in the post-game finishes it.  Abdullah went out of his way to mention his line, receivers, and even the fullbacks for their outstanding blocking, essentially saying that his career game was simply the result of his teammates' hard work.  Great back, and great teammate.

Defensive MVP: Ciante Evans, CB/NB.  Evans didn't do much in coverage, but he shined as a blitzer, ending one Illini series inside the Nebraska 10 yard line, getting another TFL, and forcing a fumble after a big run.  On a young defense, it's about time the man with the most experience steps up.

Special Teams MVP: Nebraska's kickoff team.  Facing the best returner in college football, these Huskers answered the bell and shut V'Angelo Bentley all afternoon.  Nothing spectacular, but always solid.

Freshman MVP: Tommy Armstrong, QB.  There aren't any of the outlandish stats or the big plays that defined Taylor Martinez's freshman campaign (though his field-reversing option play was pretty nice), but there is that indescribable calm that fills the stadium when Tommy is at the helm.  We still have yet to see how he reacts to a big turnover in a tight game, or how he rallies the team when the Huskers are behind in the 4th quarter, but you get the sense that he might handle it better than most kids his age.

Assistant Coach MVP: John Garrison, OL coach. When your team racks up 335 rushing yards (219 of which came in the second half), you know that the offensive line is doing a lot of things right.  It's also worth mentioning that the Huskers haven't had a single false start in two games.

5 Who Stood out:
*Jason Ankrah.  Nebraska fans have rightly been hard on the senior so far this year, but he responded with one of the best games of his career yesterday.  Ankrah had a sack and a TFL and led the defensive line in a much improved effort.

*Quincy Enunwa.  Another TD and some timely grabs accompanied his always fantastic downfield blocking.  There's nothing flashy about Enunwa, but he's one of the Husker's most consistent and valuable performers.

*Sam Cotton.  There were more than a few grumbles when the youngest Cotton was the only Nebraska high school kid offered a scholarship in 2012, but Sam finally got the chance to show us why that was the case.  His downfield blocking was reminiscent of his big brother, and seeing him drag defenders for five extra yards on his lone reception was incredibly gratifying.

*Michael Rose.  Rose was flying around all afternoon yesterday.  He wasn't always in the right spot, but he made a few nice stops and led the team with11 tackles.  It seems the future is bright for the freshman.

*Avery Moss.  The young DE doesn't show up as much on the stat sheet, but he crashes the pocket better than any other defensive end currently on the roster.  If Nebraska's defense can survive this season, their future is bright in the front seven.

Key Stat:  11.2.  That's Abdullah's yards-per-carry average on 20 carries.  That's amazing.

Play of the Game: 
I just couldn't decide between:

The option run for a TD by Abdullah, which was a thing of beauty.  Good job by Tommy Armstrong stretching the play outside and making the accurate pitch to Abdullah while he was running at full speed. Abdullah did an outstanding job reading his blocks downfield and made an amazing cutback to take the ball into the endzone.  Maybe not a perfect play, but darn close.

And of course Kenny Bell's leaping one-handed grab for a TD was pure magic.  And it came at a good time with the Husker's offense seemingly stalling inside Illini territory.  It was a perfect statement play for Bell who had a rough game against SDST and hadn't done much up to that point against the Illini.

Play We Want Back: 
I don't like to question the Almighty Beck, but when you have 3rd and 11 at your own 3 yard line, that is not the time to make Imani Cross run laterally.  Terrell Newby or Abdullah maybe, but not Cross.  You gotta play to your player's strengths, and when you don't, you get bad plays like that safety.

Blown Call:  Pretty good game by the stripes overall but I'm seriously starting to wonder if our defensive line needs to work on some sort of flopping technique (as if they need one MORE thing to work one) in order to start getting some holding calls.  It's getting a little bit ridiculous, and it makes it that much harder to set the edge on those gashing perimeter runs that were killing us yesterday.

Hit of the Game: I almost threw something at the TV when Illinois WR Steve Hull caught that ball on 4th and 11, but praise Rex for CB Stanley Jean-Baptiste and his hard hitting prowess.  He's unquestionably been the Blackshirts' best playmaker this season.

I want to see more...
*Jack Hoffman.  ESPN reported late Friday night that little Jack is in full remission and his father is hopeful that it might be for good.  Jack will still have to get regular MRIs to monitor his tumor of course, but he's done with chemo and he will get a chance to be a little boy again.
*Tommy Armstrong.  Several of his throws went high yesterday, but we'll chalk that up to the wind.  What we can attribute to the young quarterback is a calm sense of control over this offense and the ability to move the football (with the exception of the 2nd quarter safety).  If I'm Bo Pelini, Taylor Martinez sits against a bad Purdue team and has 2 more weeks to heal before the all-important November stretch.
*The option.  Seemed like every time the Huskers ran those speed option plays, it went for big yards. There's no better way for a quarterback and an offensive coordinator to endear themselves to the Nebraska fans than running the plays that won those now mythical championships in the 90's.  Extra credit to Tommy Armstrong for the bags of ice on his shoulder in the post game news conference.  Some of my first Husker memories are of Scott Frost and those bags of ice on his shoulders after a game.  That's Saturday romance at its best.
*Soul crushing drives.  Nebraska took over with 3 minutes to go in the second quarter at their own 4 yard line with an opportunity to mount a long drive and take a four score lead into the second half and get the ball back.  Instead, the Huskers get conservative and Cross is tackled in the endzone for a safety.  A big return set the Illini up at midfield with the potential to steal the momentum going into the half.  Gregg Easterbrook often writes of the disaster that comes with being too conservative at the end of football games, and his rule held true yesterday.
*Jamal Turner.  Other than a pretty block to spring Abdullah for a few extra yards, Turner had a quiet day yesterday, and hasn't done much this season.  Theres's a tweaked hammy at issue, but hopefully he has a breakout game soon that gives him a boost for the rest of the season like his TD catch in the Northwestern game did last year.
*Blitzing.  Imagine that, a quarterback under pressure repeatedly makes hurried, inaccurate throws...

I want to see less...
*Missed tackles.  The Blackshirts did an OK job yesterday, but there were several plays in which the  Nebraska defenders either lost the handle on the ball carrier, whiffed completely, or mystifyingly got turned around as CB Jonathan Rose did late in the 3rd quarter.
*Fumbles.  Fortunately Nebraska didn't lose any yesterday, but Abdullah and Newby seemingly lost the ball every time they went out of bounds or after they hit the ground, and the law of averages (and past experiences) states that eventually, those balls will come out at less opportune times and be recovered by the other team.  Something different needs to happen in practice.
*Free running RBs.  Illini RB Josh Ferguson repeatedly gashed the Blackshirts around the edges, averaging 6 yards per carry.  Add to that his 82 yards receiving and there's plenty of teaching points for these Huskers this week.
*Miscommunication and substitution errors on defense.  I counted 4 substitution penalties and even late in the game, you got the feeling that the Blackshirts were really discombobulated between snaps.  That falls on the coaches, and it's something that needs to get fixed before Northwestern comes to town.
*Missed XPs.  With an ongoing competition at kicker, the last thing you wanna do as a place kicker is miss an extra point, wind or no wind.  Which is exactly what both kickers managed to do yesterday.
*Catches out of the backfield.  Nathan Scheelhaase continually burned the Husker linebackers with swings to his RBs, notably on a 4th and 5 conversion in the 3rd quarter.
*Ron Kellogg III.  I hate to even write this because of all that RKIII has done for the program as a backup, but there's a reason that Armstrong is starting in front of him. When Kellogg III was on the field yesterday, the offense just seemed stale because he wasn't a running threat.  I love the kid and his selfless attitude, but his greatest contributions come on the sideline and the attempts to get him in the game yesterday seemed forced and didn't amount to anything.
*Boring 4th quarters.  Sure the game was sort of out of reach, but neither team showed even a whiff of urgency to close out the game yesterday.  That was disappointing.
*NASCAR.  Seriously ESPN?  NASCAR at 3:30 on an October Saturday afternoon?

Armchair coach: 
I wanna talk a little more about the safety, because it was a classic example of Tim Beck outsmarting himself:

With Ameer Abdullah averaging 9 yards per carry around the edges, Beck decided that it was a good time to put Cross in the game to bang it inside.  I can understand that conservative philosophy down near our own goal line-I don't agree with it, but I can understand it- what I don't understand is that mystifying decision to run Cross around the left edge of the offense on third and 11.  Granted, Cross made a poor decision not getting upfield faster, but that wasn't a good play call by any stretch of the imagination.

The Huskers can get away with that against teams like Illinois, but that sort of blunder will cost us against Michigan.

Jennifer's Take (my wife doesn't know much about football, but she still has opinions)
"I think that Martinez's turf toe might be the best thing to happen to Nebraska this year."

Opponent Watch:
*Penn State was granted a reprieve from their Draconian scholarship reductions a few weeks ago, but that isn't going to help them this year.   They have some nice pieces, but there isn't enough depth to put together a full game against a decent team, as evidenced by their 44-24 loss to Indiana, the first loss to the Hoosiers in program history.

*I was one of those predicting a 10-3 score from the Iowa-Michigan State game, but the Spartans actually managed a bit of offense and beat the Hawkeyes by a sound 26-13 score.  If Sparty can keep that progress going, they're a real threat in the Legends.

*Minnesota kept it tight early, but #19 Michigan pulled away in the second half and cruised to a 42-13 win.  It still looks like the best way to beat the Wolverines is to make Devin Gardner throw the ball.

*#12 UCLA survived a 34-27 scare at Utah while you slept Thursday night.  The Bruins are good enough to beat every team in the PAC 12, but they're not good enough to sleepwalk against any of them.

*Southern Miss squandered their best opportunity to win their first game in 17 tries, taking on one of the worst teams in the NCAA in Florida International and losing 24-23.  Turnovers continue to kill the Golden Eagles as they gave the Panthers a pair of fumbles and a couple interceptions in the loss. Southern Miss has lost 19 turnovers in 5 games.

*South Dakota State lost to Southern Illinois 27-24.  Yet another FCS team managed to hold SDST RB Zac Zenner to less than 4 yards per carry...

*#4 Ohio State benefited from some *ahem* generous officiating to eke out a 40-30 win (with the last six coming on the Wildcat's botched final play) at #16 Northwestern.  The Big Ten is officially on notice: if you want to beat the Buckeyes, don't leave the game in the hands of the officials.

Keeping an Eye on the Rest of the College Football World...
*I watched the 4th quarter of the Iowa State-Texas game the other night, and even though Iowa State had some questionable calls go against them, they weren't egregious.  Texas may be a shell of what they once were, but they're still going to get the benefit of the doubt with refs in the Big 12.  What should be of greater note was the way the Cyclones, with their undersized and much slower athletes, whipped the Longhorns on both sides of the ball.  I can't think of any reason Mack Brown should be on the sideline next season.

*Spoke too soon on Virginia Tech.  I thought the Hokies were in for rough season after that OT scare against Marshall, but they've rebounded nicely with relatively easy wins against a good Georgia Tech team and a decent North Carolina squad.

*#3 Clemson is quietly dominating opponents and staying out of the spotlight after their season opening win against Georgia.  There's a potential trap game against Boston college next week and then a mammoth test against Florida State the week after.

*Put #25 Maryland firmly under that "pretender" label.  The Terrapins surprised us all with that 4-0 start, but were quickly and soundly brought back to Earth at #8 Florida State, losing 63-0, which is the worst beating a ranked team has ever taken.  The Seminoles' sensational freshman QB Jameis Winston threw for almost 400 yards and 5 TDs to keep his Heisman campaign alive.

*I can't help but be impressed with #17 Baylor's third consecutive 70 point game against West Virginia.  The Bears racked up 864 total yards and for the fourth game in a row, they scored four TDs in the first quarter.

*On the topic of impressive offenses, #2 Oregon shook off a sluggish start to blast Colorado 57-16.  The Ducks scored three TDs in the last 5 minutes of the first quarter after Colorado had taken a 10-8 lead.

*When the Heisman voters are deciding which QB is going to get the award this season, I hope they take into account everything that Georgia QB Aaron Murray has had to endure early this season.  No, I'm not talking about the three games against top 10 opponents in September.  At Tennessee, Murray was already missing his best RB and WR, then lost his second best RB and two more of his top 5 receivers through the course of the game, and still managed to put together a TD drive to force overtime and get the win.  Murray needs to keep winning, but through six weeks, he's got my vote.

*Speaking of the Georgia-Tennessee game, you feel for Tennessee RB Alton "Pig" Howard, whose fumble out of the endzone essentially gave the overtime win to the Bulldogs.  Of course one play doesn't win or lose a game, of course your teammates support you, and of course tomorrow will come, but dang.  Ya kinda blew it in the worst way possible dude.

*#5 Stanford got away with one against #15 Washington.  The Cardinal were outgained 489-279 by the Huskies but got a kickoff return TD and timely defensive stops to get the win.

Last Thought
So I'm on record saying that Taylor Martinez should sit against Purdue.  Let's face it: the Boilers are the worst team in the Big Ten, and they provide a perfect opportunity for Tommy Armstrong to cut his teeth on the road.  Nebraska gets another bye week and then a trip to Minnesota presents a perfect opportunity for Martinez to work out the kinks before Northwestern comes to town.

I still believe Nebraska is capable of winning every game left on the schedule, especially if the defense continues to improve, but proper management of the incredibly fortuitous midseason schedule is going to be the key.

Fan forecast: Wind-burnt cheeks heal up in time for a smile-inducing road trip to West Lafayette.

Sunday Review: South Dakota State

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 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.

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.

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.





Sunday Review: Georgia

You felt it, I know you did.  When Nebraska charged out of the gate in the second half and went up 31-23, you felt something big brewing; Nebraska was going to get the biggest win of Bo Pelini's career and erase the nightmare in Indy.  We were finally going shake the big game blues and restore the Big Ten's image against a team that was 5 seconds from playing for the national championship.  You could feel it.
But then, those same old Huskers came back.  Another long passing TD.  Another crucial turnover.  Another long passing TD.  More backbreaking penalties.  Another long passing TD.  And suddenly that feeling was replaced by the familiar hollow realization that these Huskers aren't there yet. 
The 2012 season will probably not be remembered for very long, except by those who played it, but if you're seeking a theme, it probably goes something like "More of the same."  Not the season that coaches, players, and especially fans were hoping for, but certainly not a waste.  10 wins, but no palpable sense of progress in the form of a title or marquee win.  The 2012 Huskers showed progress and potential, but bad losses in big games once again defined the team.  The excruciating offseason has begun in earnest, and hopes are high in 2013, but first let's give the final word on 2012, and the Capital One Bowl:

Offensive MVP: Georgia QB Aaron Murray.  Murray shook off two early interceptions to throw for 427 yards and 5 TDs, and 3 of those TDs were perfectly placed deep balls.  If you want to beat Nebraska's defense with the passing game, you have to throw the deep ball, and Murray put on a clinic, torching Bo's defense like no one has since Oklahoma's Sam Bradford in 2008. 

Defensive MVP: Georgia LB Alec Ogletree.  13 tackles, a sack, 3 TFLs and the all-important forced fumble and recovery that turned the tide against the Big Red.  Ogletree gets overshadowed by Jarvis Jenkins, but he's every bit the linebacker as the future top 10 draft pick. 

Special Teams MVP: K/P Brett Maher.  This is more of a default award, but credit Maher for his nice punts (minus the one that was blocked) and solid kickoff work.  Maher's missed 47 yard field goal didn't end up hurting us, but the points would have been nice at the time.

Freshman MVP: Georgia RB Todd Gurley.  The freshman was as good as advertised, racking up 127 yards and a TD on the ground, and complementing Murray's stellar passing.  The Blackshirts mostly shut Gurley down in the second half, but accounting for the freshman hurt the Big Red on several long play action passes.

Assistant Coach of the Game: Rick Kaczenski had the toughest job imaginable, coming off the Wisconsin disaster and going into this game against a huge Georgia offensive line without his best defensive linemen. Coach K's boys acquitted themselves well though, overall.  The pass rush left a lot to be desired, and the big boys whiffed on a couple run plays, but the defensive line was not the reason the Huskers lost this game.  I'm sympathetic to Coach K's plight this time, but with another year to work in Bo's system and a chance to recruit his own players, I expect a big improvement next year.   

Key Stat: 48 yards.  That was the average length of Georgia's 6 TD's, all but one through the air and none shorter than 24 yards.  Ouch.    

Play of the Game: Will Compton's 24 yard pick-six.  Not only was it simultaneously the best play of Compton's career and the worst of Murray's, but it also gave the Huskers a huge momentum boost, and a short-lived lead. 

Play We Want Back: With a tied game and a gassed Georgia defense, Nebraska drove from their own 14 yard line to the Georgia 40 yard line, and faced a 3rd and 1.  Easy, peasy, handoff to Ameer Abdullah for 2 yards and a first down.  Except Abdullah fumbled, and Jake Cotton, if he did in fact jump on the ball, didn't hold onto it and Georgia got the ball back long with the momentum and went on to score 14 unanswered points and hoisted the Capital One Bowl trophy while Nebraska was left with yet another heartbreaking loss.  It's hard to pin a game on one play, but this one sure hurt.

I want to see more...
*Taking advantage of breaks.  Nebraska received several breaks against Georgia, and the only one they really took advantage was Compton's pick-six.  After PJ Smith's interception, the Huskers went 3-and-out and had a punt blocked for a safety (that should have been a TD; another break).  Taylor Martinez worked his magic to escape pressure in the backfield, but missed a wide open Jamal Turner in the end zone, and Nebraska settled for a field goal.  After Ameer Abdullah's fateful fumble, the Bulldogs went 3-and-out, but the Husker's promptly did the same.  Once the fourth quarter hit, the Husker's luck dried up, and the Bulldogs made quick work of the beleaguered Blackshirts to put the game away.
*Rex Burkhead.  It just doesn't seem fair Rex, we hardly knew ye.  After missing most of the season with a knee injury, Rex rides off toward the NFL leaving a stellar, if unfulfilled career in his wake.
*Baker Steinkuhler.  Does Nebraska win if Stein plays?  Hard to say, but having the big rock in the middle wouldn't have hurt our chances.  Here's hoping he can find an NFL team that can use his talents.
*Kyler Reed.  The theme of Reed's career is under-utilization.  Credit Georgia's speed for taking away one of Nebraska's best weapons, but it didn't seem like Reed was part of the gameplan.   
*Batted balls.  Something needs to change in the coaching of Nebraska's DB's.  They couldn't locate the ball in the air, and thus were burned by Murray's precision deep throws.
*Pass blocking.  Especially from the tackles.  If I'm Barney Cotton, I would move Andrew Rodriguez back inside, as he is a constant liability with his penalties and poor pass blocking technique.  As for Jeremiah Sirles and Brent Qvale, they need a lot of technique work, as they struggled against elite pass rushers this season, and the young pups behind them need to be groomed.  Having Tyler Moore back wouldn't hurt, but unfortunately that ship has sailed.
  
I want to see less...
*Turnovers.  Two poorly thrown interceptions, albeit under duress, and a killer fumble.  Same story as it's been the whole season.  Tim Beck needs to hunker down and figure out how to make this turnover problem go away; it's the only thing holding his offense back from true greatness.
*Penalties.  They always crop up when they hurt us most.  Holding, false starts, and personal fouls bit us hard when we needed to come back in the fourth.
*Jarvis Jones.  The Georgia linebacker was as good as advertised, constantly in Martinez's face and ruining several plays in the backfield.  He figures to make a lot of money in April.
*Cameron Meredith at DT.  I love the kid's heart, but it just wasn't fair to put him in the middle against the mashers he faced the last two games.  I hope he gets his shot at the next level, and I hope we can find someone a lot bigger to plug in next season.  Cough, Vincent Valentine, cough, cough.
*Big plays.  Bo's defensive system is predicated on shutting down the big play, so it was discouraging to see Georgia gash us for 8.3 yards per play.  The big plays in the running game cast a shadow on the dramatic improvement the defense showed since the Big Ten title game.
*Dropped passes.  Quincy Enunwa on Nebraska's first drive and Ben Cotton in the fourth quarter both dropped first down catches, which is huge in a game in which Taylor Martinez didn't have enough time to throw perfect strikes.  The Huskers showed huge improvement catching passes this season overall, but those two dropped passes could have gone a long way towards a victory.
    
Armchair coach:
I understand why Bo called a blitz on 3rd and 12 with Georgia at their own 13 yard line in the fourth quarter, but I really wish he wouldn't have sent everyone, and I really, really wish safety Daimion Stafford hadn't cheated inside on the play.  The 87 yard TD was the nail in the coffin for the Husker defense and the final blown defensive assignment in a season full of them.

Hit of the Game:
South Carolina DE Ja'Deveon Clowney's destruction of  Michigan RB Vincent Smith in the Outback Bowl was heard all the way from Tampa to Orlando, so I'm giving him the nod.  If you somehow haven't seen it, do yourself a favor. 

Jennifer's Take (my wife doesn't know much about football, but she still has opinions)
"They played really well, but I'm really sad they lost.  I still love Sexy Rexy."

Keeping an eye on the rest of the college football world...
*What the heck SEC?  If you'd have told me a month ago that LSU would lose to Clemson, and that Florida would get blown out by Louisville, I'd have told you you were crazy.  With another loss by Mississippi State, and close wins by Georgia and South Carolina, the SEC's image was definitely tarnished until Ole Miss and SEC-newby Texas A&M posted blowout wins.  Still, if Notre Dame upsets Alabama tomorrow night, the league's image of invincibility will be destroyed for a year.  Which would be nice.
*What about the Big Ten?  Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan all showed well in losses.  Northwestern had the best win over the SEC's Mississippi State, and Michigan State got a nice win over TCU.  Purdue got blasted by Oklahoma State, but everyone expected that to happen.  The league gained face nationally, even though they lost more games than they won.
*Never bet against Boise.  The Broncos won their 11th game with a stirring victory over Washington a few weeks ago.  That was the best bowl game I saw this season, but then again I didn't watch the Michigan-South Carolina thriller.
*Biggest surprise of the bowl season?  Easily Louisville's beat down of Florida.  Big East teams aren't supposed to do that to SEC teams.  Teddy Bridgewater put himself in the Heisman top 5 for next season, and OC Shawn Watson put himself back in the mix for some head coaching jobs next year. 
*Remember back in August when USC was going to walk through the PAC-12 and beat an SEC team for a National Championship?  They got walked over by Georgia Tech's triple-option attack, and it's going to be a long 9 months for Kiffin and Co.
*Former Nebraska head coach Frank Solich's Ohio Bobcats destroyed ULM and secured their third straight 9 win season.
*Former Nebraska QB Cody Green led Tulsa to 11 wins, a conference title, and a bowl win over Iowa State.  Good to see him having success, and it will be interesting to see if he can play his way into a draft pick next season.
*Speaking of former Huskers, former defensive coordinator Craig Bohl won his second consecutive FCS National Championship at North Dakota State.  
*UCLA got wiped out by Baylor, and now coach Jim Mora is receiving a lot of interest from the NFL.  Things might get interesting in LA the next few weeks.
*Unfortunately, the season ends tomorrow with that game you might have heard about.  9 months is a long time.

Beer of the Game
Agave Wheat by Breckenridge Brewing Co. Denver, CO




I love a well done wheat beer more than almost anything else in the world, and this offering from Breckenridge is a terrific hefeweizen.  The agave nectar is sorta exotic, but it's a nice change of pace from the citrus heavy world of wheat beers.  This beer is difficult to find, and pretty expensive, but if you come across it, it's definitely worth a buy. 

Best Commercial
I'm a big fan of the Allstate Mayhem commercials and I think this one is especially appropriate.  Nothing funnier than a streaker.

Best Fan Rant
I was in Lincoln for the holidays, but I had planned to exchange text message trash talk with my friend Joe who is as big a Georgia fan as I am a Nebraska fan.  Unfortunately, my phone died right before the game so I thought this idea was out the window until I plugged my phone in Tuesday evening and got 6 text messages at once.  The following are the text messages I received from Joe throughout the course of the game:

"Scoreboard."
"We suck.  All is lost."
"This is shameful.  The Braska [Joe's preferred name for The Cornhusker State] is playing with heart and UGA is just going through the motions."
"I hate UGA"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaand scoreboard."
"Who won?  I didn't catch the end." (Yes he did.  Joe is not a gracious winner or loser.)

Seems like Nebraska fans aren't the only ones who live and die a thousand times on gameday.

Last thought
I'm not into moral victories, but I would be lying to you if I thought that Nebraska would have played Georgia that closely.  Although Georgia's talent and speed advantages were clearly seen, Nebraska used a good game plan, and several lucky breaks to match the Bulldogs blow for blow.  Until the fumble.  But enough about that.  It's time to look toward 2013, and the incredible opportunity the Huskers have to make a run at a conference title, or more.
Even Bo was in a rare good mood after the game, and he is outwardly excited for next year's team, and (secretly I'm sure) the lighter schedule.  If the head man is happy, then he knows that all is not lost after his third straight bowl defeat.  Bo was right, Nebraska was a few plays away from knocking off a top 10 SEC team with what amounts to an NFL defense and one of the best offenses in the country.  No, not a moral victory, but certainly not the crushing defeat that the Big Ten Title game was.
2012, if it is remembered at all, will be remembered for the same wild swings in performance and momentum that characterized Bo's first 4 years.  The 10 wins were nice, but once again, the Huskers have very little to show for it.  The offense showed amazing progression, while the defense showed baffling regression.  Maybe 2013 is the year Bo can finally put it together.  It's 9 excruciating months until we find out.