Long way from home

kirkstej — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 19:33:49 -0000

Has anyone else been feeling like they have been punched in the stomach repeatedly for 4 weeks? I flew in from school in Ohio to go to the USC game, and the team I saw play that day is completely different than the one that lost to Oklahoma State last Saturday.

During that USC game, I was surprised at how the defense had given up so many holes for the USC running backs to run through. However, at the end of that game, I felt that Nebraska was just a couple of plays away from making that a much closer game. I left that game confident that Nebraska would win the Big 12 North. Something after that game happened. The defensive schemes are non-existent (and have been so for years now). During one game, Coz said that no adjustments were made at halftime because no adjustments were needed. Coz, I played high school football and even when we would win by 30 we would have halftime adjustments.

This Nebraska team has repeatedly let no-name quarterbacks look like Joe Montana. Each time I hear Jim Rose say that the other team is in shotgun or dropping back to pass, I think to myself, "How many yards this time?" Teams do what they want against Nebraska's defense, which is easy to do when you don't change it. It's like playing Madden on All-Pro. Once you figure out which plays work, you can run the same 3 or 4 plays and rack up 50 points no problem.

The scary part is, I thought this team had a chance. This team is broken because they are down on themselves and they don't have the leadership to rebound. After USC, I think the Ball St. game was a trap game or a hangover game, but I think the defense completely broke once they realized that they should have lost that game. Now the only game Nebraska will probably be favored in the remaining schedule is an underachieving A&M team that has a sour taste in its mouth after last year. 5-7 or 4-8 are a definite possibility.

SB Nation User Blog: kirkstej

Long way from home