SB Nation - Matt Holt

Loss of Jaivorio Burkes Deals Blow to Husker Offensive Line - Linebacker Matt Holt to Sit Out 2009

Jon Johnston — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 11:00:25 -0000

More photos » by Donna McWilliam - AP

Nebraska football coach Bo Pelini is shown during Big 12 Media Day in Irving, Texas, Monday, July 27, 2009. Pelini announced that tackle Jaivorio Burkes was no longer with the Husker football team. (AP Photo/Donna McWilliam)

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Bo Pelini announced at Big 12 media days that Jaivorio Burkes was no longer with the Husker football team. It wasn't news as much as a confirmation of what was already suspected - that Burkes medical condition would keep him from playing this year. There was hope that things would work out for the best, but it just wasn't to be.

Unfortunately, the news leaves the Huskers looking for a right tackle, as Burkes had proved himself to be more of an adequate replacement for Lydon Murtha. Burkes' departure puts Marcel Jones in position to be the starting right tackle.

Right guard remains unsettled - in the spring, Jacob Hickman had moved to the right guard position with walk-on Mike Caputo playing well enough to take over center due to Hickman's move. Hickman stated that he'd start fall at the center position, meaning Ricky Henry must step up into the right guard spot. I wouldn't be surprised to see Hickman back at guard with Caputo starting at center.

As it stands now, the starting line would look like:

Left Tackle - Mike Smith
Left Guard - Keith Williams
Center - Jacob Hickman/Mike Caputo
Right Guard - Jacob Hickman/Ricky Henry
Right Tackle - Marcel Jones

Those would appear to be Barney Cotton's best five players at this point. Obviously more linemen are needed to provide time in rotation and to provide depth should there be more injuries. With a 12-game regular season, injuries are to be expected.

Fall practice will find the Cotton searching for the players who are going to step up and fill in the rotation. Ricky Henry needs to prove himself capable of playing a guard position, while DJ Jones can provide time at either guard or tackle. Derek Meyer, a transfer from Kansas State could fill in nicely here, and an added bonus would be Andy Christensen's return. Redshirt freshman Brandon Thompson should see more playing time should he get his act together in the fall.

It was also announced that linebacker Matt Holt would sit 2009 out and take a redshirt year due to a shoulder injury. Given the number of players vying for playing time at linebacker this isn't earth-shattering news, unless, of course, you're Matt Holt. Holt played well in 2008, getting a start against Texas Tech when he had a career-high nine tackles. Unfortunately, he was injured against Kansas and missed the rest of the 2008 season.

Mizzou Links, 7-28-09

Bill C. — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 10:41:01 -0000

With Big 12 media days going on, we've got a boatload of Big 12 links...but first, the Missouri ones.

PowerMizzou continues its ongoing Most Valuable Tigers series with No. 6, Dan Hoch.

Missouri's highest-ranked recruit, Nick Demien of Timberland (#61 on the Rivals 100), is looking to end his recruitment soon. Oregon and Wisconsin have a small chance, while his leaders are Missouri and Oklahoma. Unlike others, I'm pretty confident with this one. I'll say it's 60% Missouri, 30% Oklahoma, 5% Oregon, and 5% Wisconsin. Now watch him pick Wisconsin.

(Meanwhile, an even bigger-time recruit, top WR Kyle Prater, has apparently eliminated Mizzou from his list of favorites. Not at all surprising, though it would have been fun to get a visit from him.

Aaaaaand that's about it, Mizzou-wise. To the Big 12 links!

First up, a link from ACCsports.com (via Backing the Pack) that has, well, an interesting blurb:

Another intriguing possibility was raised in a question by ACCSports.com Media Watch columnist Brett Friedlander. Brett noted that the Sports Business Journal has reported that there have been discussions of a joint network between the ACC and either the Big 12 or the Pac-10.

Understandably this made Swofford a bit uncomfortable, what with some of the current rights holders in the room at the time. He first took steps to address that aspect.

"Our most primary discussions are with our current rights holders, as they should be," he said.

Swofford did say that, hypothetically speaking, if those talks broke down, other options would be on the table.

Interesting concept. If it goes beyond football, an ACC/Big 12 Network would have an interesting impact during basketball season and could lead to better exposure for Big 12 basketball (or not)...

Nebraska: Beyond the Box Score Preseason Defensive Preview

Bill C. — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:00:11 -0000

Yesterday: The Offense

Before we get to the defense, an aside.

I'm in an interesting position here. Nebraska is absolutely in the North's top tier of teams (as has been covered previously, there appears to be a rather large "proven talent" divide between KU/NU/MU and KSU/ISU/CU), and if they can win in Lawrence or Columbia (or maybe even if they can't), they can take the North. As you'll read below, the defense should be incrementally better while the offense could be incrementally worse, and while there are few true stars (Ndamukong Suh, Roy Helu, maybe Mike McNeill or a defensive end), there is decent experience at RB, DL, and DB. And Bo Pelini certainly acquitted himself relatively well in year #1.

As I've mentioned previously, my problem comes with expectations and with the casual nature that national-level analysts continue to just assume that Nebraska is now "back" despite little evidence to support that. Since making the national title game in 2001, Nebraska has gone just 28-28 in conference with a point differential of -68. As means of comparison, here are the North standings in that time frame:

Big 12 North Standings, 2002-08
Team	Record	Pt. Diff
Missouri	29-27	+235
Nebraska	28-28	-68
Colorado	27-29	-104
Kansas State	25-31	+189
Kansas	22-34	-297
Iowa State	15-41	-718

(Yes, that's right--ONE North team is over .500 combined in the last seven seasons--barely--and the North is, as a whole, 44 games under .500 in that span. Granted, Iowa State is responsible for 26 of those games, but...well...Baylor and their 10-46 record still reside in the South, and the division has still managed to be 44 games over .500. Yikes.)

Anyway, the frustration here lies in the fact that, every year we get to hear about Nebraska being "back" and Colorado being a "sleeper," and yet Missouri, who has been a smidge better than both of them over a 7-year (not just 2-year) span, is pronounced dead at the first possible moment. Just odd. But the good news is, as always, this is the offseason. The real season will give us all the answers we're arguing about or getting annoyed about at the moment.

/aside

Anyhoo, time to talk defense.

Nebraska pulled off an interesting feat in 2008. While winning six of seven games to end the season, they gave up 29.1 points per game in that span (23.7 in the wins), and yet the basis for most of their North title predictions this offseason come from how good the defense is going to be. They gave up 35 points to Virginia Tech, who had the #79 offense in the country (according to S&P+). They gave up 52 to Missouri and 62 to Oklahoma...37 to Texas Tech (not bad, actually)...35 to Kansas...28 to Kansas State...an egregious 31 to Colorado (S&P+ rank: 114th)...and yet the defense is going to carry them to the North title? Never mind how disrespectful that is for Kansas (and to a lesser extent, Missouri) fans to hear...how disrespectful is that to Joe Ganz? Nate Swift? Roy Helu Jr.? These were the guys who, along with Ndamukong Suh's big plays, carried the Huskers to a strong 2008 finish.

Now, before I go any further, make no mistake: the Nebraska defense has probably the best shot at being the North's best D in the fall. The point is, it's not going to be so good that they will get by Kansas and Missouri (both on the road) simply on the heels of the dominant Blackshirts. They're not going to be that dominant. In going for only their second North title since Eric Crouch was running the show, the onus will be on not only Zac Lee and an unproven receiving corps, but also a decent-not-great defense, which alternates between experienced guys with low ceilings and inexperienced, highly-touted players. Maybe Bo Pelini will push all the right buttons, but we shouldn't assume it will happen.

Defense

Overall Stats

S&P+: 108.9 (#41)
Success Rate+: 111.9 (#23)
PPP+: 105.7 (#53)

Standard Downs S&P+: 103.9 (#51)
Passing Downs S&P+: 114.0 (#31)

Redzone S&P+: 114.4 (#23)

Q1 S&P+: 95.5 (#75)
Q2 S&P+: 121.2 (#22)
Q3 S&P+: 82.7 (#105)
Q4 S&P+: 144.3 (#2)

1st Down S&P+: 96.8 (#71)
2nd Down S&P+: 120.6 (#17)
3rd Down S&P+: 115.9 (#32)

Rushing Stats

Rushing S&P+: 102.0 (#60)
Rushing SR+: 104.4 (#47)
Rushing PPP+: 98.9 (#65)

Standard Downs: 91.5 (#86)
Passing Downs: 138.5 (#15)

Redzone: 96.4 (#74)

Line Yards+: 103.4 (#48)

Passing Stats

Passing S&P+: 112.2 (#28)
Passing SR+: 118.0 (#10)
Passing PPP+: 107.1 (#50)

Standard Downs: 113.1 (#39)
Passing Downs: 105.4 (#51)

Redzone: 141.3 (#7)

Adj. Sack Rate: 8.6% (#9)

As a whole, Nebraska had a pretty efficient defense in 2008, but they struggled with the big play. Their success rates were quite solid, but their PPP+ numbers were lacking. They knew how to leverage an offense into bad situations (15th in Passing Downs Rushing), but they ended up occasionally letting teams off the hook (51st in Passing Downs Passing).

Other items of note:

Thanks in part to a very strong Adjusted Sack Rate, Nebraska's strength was in defending the pass. Again, they weren't tremendous from a PPP+ perspective, but their success rates were good. As I gather more data, it will be interesting to see which one is easier to improve with experience and better execution--success rates or PPP.
Strangely, as with their offense, their redzone rushing defense was awful, but their redzone pass defense was great. You figure it out; I can't.
While they did indeed have a strong sack rate, what's with the line yardage? It seems they were good at attacking and speed, but they couldn't avoid being pushed around (or, they attacked too much, and it was easy to use their leverage against them to create running lanes?).
Bad in Q1, good in Q2. Atrocious in Q3, outstanding in Q4. Again, you figure it out.
They were mediocre on first downs but quite strong on second downs...and decent-not-great on third downs. This coincides with what was mentioned above--they were good at making a bad offensive situation worse, but they let teams off the hook a bit.

Through all of this info, something else interesting emerges. For all the seemingly-justifiable hype generated by NU's D-line, it was the Huskers' worst-ranked unit in 2008. It was a decent #42, while the linebackers were #34 and the high-efficiency-too-many-big-plays secondary was #31 (at least partially because they played against so many great passing offenses, I assume). Kind of an identity crisis here.

But regardless of the rankings, it appears that the D-line and secondary could be better, while...honestly, I have no idea what to make of the LBs.

Defensive Line

Pierre Allen is overshadowed but solid.

2008 Unit Ranking: #42 in the nation (#4 in the Big 12)

Projected Depth Chart
DT Ndamukong Suh (6'4, 300, Sr.)
DE Pierre Allen (6'5, 265, Jr.)
DE Barry Turner (6'3, 265, Sr.)
DT Baker Steinkuhler (6'6, 295, RSFr.)
DT Terrence Moore (6'3, 285, So.)
DE Josh Williams (6'4, 245, RSFr.)
DE Cameron Meredith (6'4, 260, RSFr.)

While nobody is going to mistake this unit for that of Oklahoma, this is clearly the most proven defensive line in the Big 12 North, at least in terms of the pass rush. Ndamukong Suh has slowly morphed from inconsistent playmaker to every-down dominant (he led Nebraska in tackles last season, as a defensive tackle, and posted 19 TFLs and two huge pick sixes), while Baker Steinkuhler, if he can gain the form of a 5-star athlete quickly, could make teams pay for doubling Suh. Meanwhile, on the outside, Pierre Allen posted 10.0 TFLs of his own last year, and Barry Turner might be able to make some waves after following up a disappointing 2007 season (he was outstanding as a freshman and sophomore) with a 2008 broken leg that earned him a medical hardship.

They were great at attacking in 2008, but it was possible to push them around a bit. Bo Pelini's defense has the reputation for attacking and blitzing a lot, but the strength of the attack is limited if you struggle against the run. Derrick Washington put up 139 yards and two touchdowns against them, Tech's Baron Batch went for 97 yards on just 10 carries, and Robert Griffin posted 121 yards. In all, NU's rush defense (#60) wasn't terrible, but it certainly wasn't great. Clearly that will need to improve considerably if Nebraska is to assume a spot in the Top 25 as they are now predicted to do.

Outside of Suh, Allen, and Turner, the defensive line is thin and inexperienced, but, well, that won't matter if the starters don't get hurt. Suh is clearly a force (though he has yet to make serious noise against Missouri, knock on wood), and Allen and Turner could make for a strong pair of rush ends.

Linebackers

Missouri fans probably know the name of Will Compton pretty well already.

2008 Unit Ranking: #34 in the nation (#6 in the Big 12)

Projected Depth Chart
Phillip Dillard (6'1, 240, Sr.)
Blake Lawrence (6'3, 220, Jr.)
Will Compton (6'2, 220, RSFr.)
Sean Fisher (6'6, 230, RSFr.)
Mathew May (6'1, 210, So.)
Matt Holt (6'0, 200, So.)

So...what do you actually do with this unit? You've got 27th-year senior Phil Dillard, who has made 75 tackles in two years and almost no plays. You've got former 4-star stud Blake Lawrence, who has made 23 tackles in 15 games his first two seasons and made exactly one big play: an interception in 2008. You've got new 4-star stud Will Compton, whose biggest contribution thus far in his career was to assistant coach Mike Ekeler's arm but is expected to tear things up sooner than later...and then you've got a bunch of other youngsters. In limited action, Mathew May locked down a nice TFL, forced fumble, and fumble recovery, so he may hold some potential. Same with Matt Holt, who made 14 tackles in nine games (and one start).

It's unclear how much potential this relatively young unit of LBs has, and how quickly they can be expected to fulfill said potential. Clearly, the Huskers have a lot of hope in Compton, but...well, he's not any more highly-touted than Lawrence was, and Lawrence hasn't done anything of note yet. There's something to be said for the fact that the Husker D is now in its second year under Pelini, and knowledge of the scheme and higher levels of intuition will make things better. And there's also this: the Huskers had a respectable, 34th-ranked LB corps in 2008 despite the fact that there really wasn't a big-time playmaker among Dillard, Lawrence, and departed seniors Cody Glenn and Tyler Wortman. Pelini clearly knows LBs, and even if none of these guys are All-Conference caliber, this unit at least won't be a liability.

Secondary

Larry Asante...starting safety (I have nothing in particular to say about him...he's solid)

2008 Unit Ranking: #31 in the nation (#8 in the Big 12)

Projected Depth Chart
S Larry Asante (6'1, 215, Sr.)
CB Anthony West (6'0, 205, Jr.)
S Matt O'Hanlon (5'11, 200, Sr.)
CB Prince Amukamara (6'1, 200, Jr.)
S Ricky Thenarse (6'0, 205, Sr.)
CB Alfonzo Dennard (5'10, 190, So.)
CB Anthony Blue (5'10, 185, So.)
S Eric Hagg (6'2, 205, Jr.)

The secondary is as experienced as the LB corps is inexperienced, but there doesn't appear to be as much upside. Again, they gave up a few too many big plays, but I guess that is to be expected against the offenses they faced. They posted good success rate numbers, and that helped the pass defense a decent amount. Safeties Larry Asante, Matt O'Hanlon, and Ricky Thenarse are veterans, and that's never a bad thing for your last line of defense. But they also combined for only 10 TFLs and 3 INTs. Thenarse seemed to be the biggest offender in terms of giving up the big play (at least in games I watched), but he was most capable of making some plays himself.

Meanwhile, the cornerback position seems to have more potential overall--Anthony West ended up having himself a solid sophomore season, breaking up nine passes and picking two more off. (As means of comparison, Castine Bridges had seven pass breakups from the CB position, Carl Gettis six and Kevin Rutland five.) Prince Amukamara showed some potential as well. In all, NU's secondary was their highest-ranked unit in 2008, and gauging experience levels (and strength of schedule), you can expect those numbers to be maintained in 2009.

Special Teams

2008 Unit Ranking: #106 Net Punting, #21 Punt Returns, #48 Kickoff Returns

Projected Starters
K Alex Henery (6'2, 175, Jr.) - 56-57 PAT, 18-21 FGs
P Alex Henery (6'2, 175, Jr.)
KR Niles Paul (6'1, 215, Jr.) - 41 Returns, 23.6 Avg, 1 TD
PR Niles Paul (6'1, 215, Jr.) - 8 Returns, 10.0 Avg

Nebraska special teams in 2009 were pretty hit-or-miss. Alex Henery was an outstanding kicker--it's hard to overstate how clutch it is to beat a main rival (Colorado) with a 57-yard field goal with two minutes remaining. In all, he made 18 of 21 FGs, and he has by far the most proven leg in the Big 12 North. He will also likely be trusted to assume punting duties in 2009--NU was pretty weak here last year, and while it's never a given that a good kicker will be a good punter, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt here.

On the returns side of things, it looks right now as if Niles Paul will be the man. He was solid in kickoff returns, scoring a clutch return touchdown in the fourth quarter against San Jose State, right after SJSU had closed NU's lead to 14-12. Take that return out of the equation, and he still averaged 22.1 yards per return, which would have been better than average. Nate Swift was the main man in punt returns last year, but Paul returned a handful and did fine with them.

Really, if punting isn't a liability, the special teams unit could be a major asset for Nebraska in close games, particularly in terms of kicking. Henery really is a stud.

Summary

Iffy offense, solid defense, solid special teams. In a division without a breakaway favorite, Nebraska has as good a chance as anybody of coming away the winner (though playing in both Lawrence and Columbia won't help their cause).

We'll take a look at projections on Friday, but for now we'll just summarize by saying that while NU's defense could be solid, I think they're at least a year away from having rock-solid personnel at linebacker, but they'll be taking a step backwards on the defensive line and in the secondary next year. It might take a little while for all the pieces to truly come together for Pelini's defense, but he's got a good defensive mind obviously, and because of that and decent personnel, they'll certainly be in the title hunt this year. I'm just not giving them anything yet.

---

Projections on Friday.

2009 Nebraska Football Spring Preview: Linebackers A Plenty!

Jon Johnston — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 11:00:11 -0000

Last year Bo Pelini walked into his first spring practice wondering where his linebacking unit was. He finally located them standing behind a post, difficult to locate because they were so thin (insert collective groan).

Bo Pelini started his first season with one returning starter, Phillip Dillard, at linebacker. Tyler Wortman had played in 2008 due to injuries to Bo Ruud and Lance Brandenburgh, but that was the extent of the experience. The depth chart looked so bad going into spring practice that Cody Glenn switched positions from running back to linebacker.

This year the linebacker position is so loaded that Latravis Washington switched to quarterback, leaving no less than 12 players to vie for playing time at three positions. What a difference a year makes - this year you couldn’t throw a rock at the Husker football team without hitting a linebacker.

Can Phillip Dillard work his way back into a starting middle linebacker role?
Photo by Dennis Hubbard.

The switch for Glenn appeared to work out well as at times he played like a man possessed, while at others he made silly mistakes. Even though an unfortunate suspension ended his season after nine games, Glenn ended up fifth in total tackles with 51. He had six tackles for loss, four pass break-ups and a forced fumble.

Phillard Dillard played in nine games, but suffered an ankle injury against Baylor and missed the remaining fives games. He finished the season with 38 tackles and a half sack. Colton Koehler started the season a relative unknown, but played in seven games and eventually replaced Dillard as the starter. Koehler got his first career start in the Gator Bowl and finished the season with 16 tackles, including eight against Kansas State and a safety against Baylor.

Matt Holt was another surprise, earning his first career start against Texas Tech. He played in nine games, finishing with a total of 14 tackles, including eight against Texas Tech. He suffered an injury during the Kansas game and missed the rest of the season due to should surgery.

Beyond Dillard, Blake Lawrence has the most experience of this year’s linebackers. Lawrence played in ten games at the will spot and started two games including the Gator Bowl. He finished 2008 with 21 total tackles and had an interception against Clemson that lead to a Alex Henery field goal.

The talk before the start of spring practice was whether or not Dillard could fight off middle linebacker of the future Will Compton. After Mike Ekeler’s recent comments it appears that Dillard may have to worry about fighting Colton Koehler and Matthew May for playing time as well.

Redshirt freshmen Will Compton, Alonzo Whaley, and Sean Fisher are highly-touted newcomers expected to compete for a starting role. Compton is widely considered Nebraska’s middle linebacker of the future while Whaley and Fisher will compete for the outside linebacker roles.

Who are the projected starters? Right now, who cares? Pelini won’t make a depth chart for spring practice, and with this many linebackers vying for playing time there’s no reason why he should as the competition will continue well into fall. There will be a depth chart come fall and someone will be starting, but given that the Huskers first two games are against Sun Belt conference teams Florida Atlantic and Arkansas State expect a number of different linebackers to see playing time. This will give Compton, Whaley, or Fisher time to grow into starters without necessarily exposing the defense early in the season.

Nebraska started three linebackers only three times last season. Whether that is due to the Big 12’s shift to the spread offense or because of the 2008 depth issues is debatable. If the 2009 group, particularly the will and buck positions, can show enough speed they’ll see the field more than their 2008 counterparts.

Who Goes Where?

Brian Christopherson at Husker Extra was kind enough to lay out the position battles going into spring, also noting that this does not represent a depth chart.

At the WILL: Blake Lawrence, Alonzo Whaley, Matt Holt, Matthew May
At the MIKE: Colton Koehler, Phillip Dillard, Will Compton, Matthew May (he's swinging between MIKE and WILL)

At the BUCK: Sean Fisher, Micah Kreikemeier, Graham Stoddard, Blake Lawrence (swinging between the WILL and BUCK)

A look at the class breakdown:
Phillip Dillard - Sr
Colton Koehler - Sr

Thomas Grove - Jr
Blake Lawrence - Jr
LaTravis Washington - Jr - switched to quarterback

Mathew May - So
Matt Holt - So
Joseph Camarata - So
Austin Stafford - So - no longer with team

Sean Fisher - RFr
Tanner Foxhoven - RFr
Will Compton - RFr
Micah Kreikmeier - RFr
Matt Manninger - RFr
Alonzo Whaley - RFr
Graham Stoddard - RFr
Sam Meginnis - RFr

Freshman Recruits:

Robert Barry - Fr - Walk On
Colby Starkebaum - Fr - Walk On
Chris Williams - Fr - Scholarship
Devin Paulsen - Fr - Walk On
Eric Martin - Fr - Scholarship

Keys to the Game: Oklahoma

Blankman — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 10:00:07 -0000

…what? You want me to try to spin this? Oklahoma’s got so many ways to absolutely use and abuse our secondary it’s not even funny. Okay, I understand. It’s the interest of fairness, any given Saturday, etc. and, indeed, this team is not the same team, etc. etc. etc. Here is what has to happen for Nebraska to beat Oklahoma in Norman this Saturday:

1.) Perfect Football – This means no mistakes, no stupid penalties, no fumbles lost, no silly interceptions, no personal fouls, excellent blocking from whistle to whistle, gorgeous blitz calls, the light to come on for Larry Asante at safety and Matt Holt has the game of his life ala Brandon Rigoni.

2.) Divine Intervention – The Almighty looks down on the Sooners and for every time they have cheated (I said they, back off), for every time Sooner Magic has reared it’s ugly head, for every piggy bank Barry Switzer smashed to pay off students, for everything and anything, God himself will look down upon each and every Sooner and he will say, “I SHALL SMITE THEM!”

3.) G-Virus Outbreak – The Nebraska locker room accidentally houses a vial of the experimental G-Virus currently being developed by the Umbrella Corporation which specializes in biochemical research. The Cornhuskers knock over said vial during the pre-game psych up and are instantly mutated into horrific beasts and manifestations of nature that make every Sooner need a jock change. Post-game clean up is required and pays well.

4. Bizzaro World - The Oklahoma Sooners are kidnapped by Bizzaro Forces which have invaded Earth for approximately four hours. They don the uniforms of the Sooners but wear none of the equipment properly. They run when they should pass, pass when they should run and occasionally punt on first down. Essentially many would compare this to Frank Solich’s tenure at Nebraska except for the order in which the plays are called and lack of option carries.

In Summary: I’ll happily eat my plate of crow should Nebraska up and dethrone the Sooners, but I ain’t seein’ it happening. Still, tell me you wouldn’t pay to see any one of those four options happen.

Poll

Aside from perfect football, what other "key" would you pay to see?

Divine Intervention

47 votes

G-Virus Outbreak

15 votes

Bizzaro World

12 votes

74 votes | Poll has closed

Shooting Pointe Blank: Texas Tech

Blankman — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:08:04 -0000

Let me officially state for the record: …DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAMMMNNN… Do Texas teams just play hot potato with this “dangle the carrot” in front of Nebraska’s face or what? On the bright side, I was wrong, WAY wrong in how I thought things would go down. Yes, I fully admit it. I thought we were going to get torn apart like wheat through a thresher, but interestingly enough the Keys to the Game were oddly appropriate.

1.) K.I.S.S. – Shawn Watson did in fact keep it simple. Short little outs to let big-bodied, physical receivers make plays. Mixing up the pass with a well-blocked run game. Played Marlon Lucky well as both a runner and receiver let alone Mr. Helu and when it came to D? Well, things broke down admittedly but when you’re working against a team like Graham and Crabtree, you’re giving up yards.

That said there were some guys on the field who really stepped up due to injury (Tyler Wortman and Matt Holt are just two examples) and Nebraska ended up winning the fourth quarter 21-7. Going into overtime I had a feeling that it would probably at least go to two and honestly it’s a shame that it didn’t. That was a loss, but it was a damn fine game and as much as it sucks to be on the losing end it was exciting to watch and I hope the Raiders enjoyed the game itself as much as the win. Good on ya, boys and girls.

2.) Discipline – The key to the game that 41% of 71 voters felt was the most important…well it was the most important and may have very well cost Nebraska the game. Suh seems to have a slight issue with the personal foul bug now and again but if there’s a true agitator for me when it comes to penalties, it’s the offensive line. I know that they’re better than what we’ve been shown and I know they can be COACHED to not do what they’re doing. Forget that, though.

If they continue to give up penalties in games, how about a little bit of reinforcement in practice? Stair running, push ups, make them push your truck back and forth down the street, but do something, Coach Cotton, because you’re making a potentially very good line cost Nebraska some very large chunks of yardage.

3.) Belief – When “Crab” jolted for six, I thought “here we go again”, but NO! Just when it looked as if Missouri had switched uniforms and Jeremy Maclin had transferred immediately violating a number of NCAA rules Nebraska came back and fought hard going in 17-7 at the break. The thing is I truly believed that the game was winnable seeing what I saw. It’s obvious that they, too, felt this way. This was a team fired up, ready to go into a Top 10 team’s digs and kick them in the mouth before leaving and it turns out they almost did after scoring 21 points in the final quarter to take it to OT.

Problem was, like I said, I felt it was going to have to go into multiples for Nebraska to win because I didn’t think they could keep Tech out of the end zone at least the first time. I think NU could’ve won by three, but Joe made his most unfortunate throw of the entire game and it was game over, man.

In Summary: Sucks, but I’ll tell you what: If the team we all saw plays the way they did and continues to improve even Oklahoma looks beatable. Note Sooners I said “beatable” not “they will be beaten”, “we’re going to beat them”, “Boomer Sooner isn’t going to be played 50 times”, but beatable. Hey, plus side, Bob and Brent won’t have to pull punches!

Before the TRUE rivalry is renewed however, we tangle with the RetroClones in a road game that this NU team should win. It will probably be a dogfight and Arnaud needs to be careful because without Phillip Bates who just up and quit the team behind him, there’s a big hole if he goes down.
Good week, Huskers. Beat ISU.