Let the Second Guessing Begin
Husker fans will no doubt take issue with the fact that Nebraska only threw 17 passes in its 28-10 defeat at the hands of USC. Surely, with only a meager 2 yard rushing average the Huskers could have thrown more, especially when they averaged about 6 yards per passing attempt.
Of course, that assumes a couple of things. First, that the Huskers would have continued to average six yards per pass and that they would not have turned the ball over if they'd passed more. It would also ignore the lessons of the USC-Arkansas contest where the Razorbacks threw 32 passes and watched the Trojans turn three interceptions into 21 points. The Trojans have been extremely opportunistic in 2006, turning every turnover into points. The Huskers survived two near turnovers on pass plays. First, an apparent Taylor fumble was returned for a touchdown. Thankfully, Taylor was ruled down. Later, a Trojan penalty spared Taylor a fumble in the red zone, also on a play that was designed as a pass.
The fact is, Callahan was using his offense to play defense. By running the ball more than 30 times, the Huskers limited the Trojans to 10 possessions (versus 13 that they had versus Arkansas). Considering that the Trojans scored 14 points in their last 3 possessions against the Razorbacks, it doesn't seem to be an altogether bad strategy. It's not like the Huskers were having a lot of success containing the Trojan receivers.
Callahan's playbook seemed very much like the one that Bill Parcells used to defeat the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV. Parcells used the run to shorten the game (even though his team trailed by as much as 12-3 in the contest) and pulled out a close game at the end. When the Huskers closed the gap to 21-10 early in the fourth quarter, things probably felt almost according to plan. That the Huskers failed to score on their ensuing possession or stop the Trojans from rolling up 144 yards on their last two time-consuming drives was unfortunate, but certainly was not part of the Husker game plan either.
Yes, Callahan will take a lot of criticism for his decision to stubbornly stick to the run game (something he's been accused of abandoning too quickly in the past) against USC. But not from me.
The Huskers had some chances in the game, but simply failed to capitalize. Both Cortney Grixby and Andre Jones had a chance to make interceptions deep in USC territory that might have gone for touchdowns. If Marlon Lucky had secured the football better, the Trojans might have had one fewer touchdown. If a Husker had fallen on the fumble that Stewart Bradley forced, the Huskers might have had another scoring opportunity. Instead, the Trojans picked it up and ran for a first down.
On 4th and 9 on a key second half drive, Maurice Purify nearly pulled in a completion to keep that drive alive. There were also some other dropped passes at other points in the game too. Sure, “what if� sounds like an excuse. But the same goes for saying “what if� Callahan had called more passing plays.
The Huskers can be encouraged by the play of their front seven on defense, their special teams, and that the offensive line kept Zac Taylor alive to fight another day. As we've known for a few weeks now, the Huskers have a weakness in the secondary and on Saturday they faced a team that was perfectly suited to exploiting that weakness.
The Huskers had better not feel sorry for themselves. Self-pity is the lowest of human emotions. First, it's a selfish one (“woe is ME, poor ME�), and second it is a useless one because it keeps you looking backward instead of forward.
The Huskers need to get angry about the opportunities they wasted and show some determination to correct the errors and get better. The Troy game coming up is no freebie. They went four quarters against both Florida State and Georgia Tech on the road. Time to get back to work or else the second guessing will really start.
Chicago, IL
9/18/2006
Well put Steve. The only other thing I would highlight is the successful fake punt in the first half.
That was a gutsy call. Certainly the coaches knew that we needed a big play early to swing the momentum our way and weren’t afraid to go for it. That is an obvious sign that we were playing to win. (As if that should even be in doubt.)
9/18/2006
Fine - running the ball was the strategy. Fine. But then - WHERE WAS CODY GLENN? USC is fast and big. Why did not Glen play much? I think we question everything because we wanted to be back on top in the limelight - but it is painfully obvious that we are just not ready. USC has the personell that makes this offense work, and we dont have the recievers or DB’s to pull it off yet - but it has only been two recruiting seasons for Coach.
Some quotes from the LA Papers courtesy of “Daubs”
“As the game ended, Ryan Kalil crumpled to the ground on one knee. The USC center was joined by the rest of the starting offensive line, oblivious to the outcome and in a state of exhaustion.
“We were tired,” offensive tackle Kyle Williams said. “It was run after run out there at the end. They were some big boys, bigger than what we usually face.”
Judging from the players’ expressions, it was hard to tell No. 4 USC comfortably disposed of No. 19 Nebraska 28-10 in front of 92,000 at the Coliseum on Saturday night.
“Some teams submit and give up against us,” Kalil said. “They were physical and they play their hardest. That was a pretty rough game.”
Things could be a lot worse than an 18-point victory over one of the best-known programs in the country, but there wasn’t much high-fiving among USC players afterward. Or coaches.”
9/18/2006
Spiff,
The USC linebackers are BIG. There may have been some thought the Huskers needed speed over size since they were not going to move the pile against such a big opponent.
9/18/2006
Say you are down 14 to 3 2:30 left on the clock just before half time. you have managed to keep it close and now your Senior Captian is at quarterback. The same one who has been successful at the 2 minute drill every game this year. What do you do? Yes you run because you don’t want to give their team the ball. You get a first down. Now there is only one minute on the clock and you have one time out. Now what should you do? I have to say that I don’t get it.
9/18/2006
Omar,
Against superior talent (I’m assuming you’ll concede that USC had superior talent), you need deception to win. A pass in that situation is exactly what they’d expect. The Trojan DB’s were covering the receivers well and the pass rush was on Taylor so fast he often couldn’t set his feet to get a pass off.
So let’s imagine the Huskers hurry it up and even complete a couple of passes on first down and don’t burn much clock. Odds are, they’d get to a point where they are put in second and long and before you know it they are punting to USC with time left on the clock OR worse committing a turnover. Again, if the plan is to use the offense as defense, the plan worked. I think if the Huskers had been at midfield, they might have been more aggressive but with 85 yards to go against a defense that had been stopping them for 27+ minutes. They played it safe and kept it at a more manageable 14-3.
Here’s what I’m asking everyone who questions Callahan: When the Huskers scored to make it 21-10 early in the fourth, didn’t you think the Huskers just might pull it out? If not, rewatch the fourth quarter of the Alamo Bowl because the Huskers came back from down 11 in that one with under 12 minutes in the game.
But that’s where everything fell apart. The defense gave up a long time-consuming TD drive, then the offense failed to move the ball, and the defense gave up another time-consuming drive. If the defense rises to the occasion on those two drives and the offense gets it done, you could well be looking at a Husker victory. Unfortunately, it just didn’t play out that way.
9/19/2006
Steve - First, thanks for your opinion as to why Nebraska didn’t go into the two minute drill prior to halftime. That is the biggest disappointment that I had from the game and yours is the first explanation that I have seen that really made sense.
Spaceman - Thanks for posting those quotes. I had not seen those before so it is good to hear that USC didn’t exactly view this game as a cakewalk.
Finally, my main issue is not with the gameplan or the effort or anything like that. I simply find it VERY disturbing that Nebraska fans would actually take the position that Nebraska coaches didn’t believe they could win this game and didn’t coach it to win. I would expect such things from so called “analysts” on ESPN or other such media outlets but not from Nebraska fans. Question the gameplan all you want but to doubt the integrity of the coaches is pretty shameful. The gameplan may or may not have been the best one (in hindsight of course) but I firmly believe that Bill Callahan and his staff firmly believed that it gave Nebraska the best chance to win after their hours and hours of film review. I don’t really question the loyalty of these fans but I really don’t think they have a very firm grasp on reality.
9/19/2006
Thanks Lothar.
To me, a lot of this criticism sounds very similar to what was said about Osborne during his bowl loss streak. He was too conservative and played not to lose.
When you think back to the 1995 Orange Bowl against Miami, imagine if Osborne had called the exact same plays in the fourth quarter but Miami was able to get the stops instead of wearing down and won 17-9. We’d have heard how Osborne was too conservative and that the only touchdown came on a pass from Berringer (i.e. he should have passed more). But since the Huskers executed those plays the game plan was brilliant. If the execution had been better (NU makes the INT’s, Lucky doesn’t fumble, we don’t see the dropped passes) Callahan may have been called brilliant. But since he didn’t, now he’s an idiot.
9/19/2006
I’m not a coach, have never claimed to be, and don’t ever intend to be one. I don’t have any problem at all with the play calling. The coaches do what they feel is best for the team. A lot would have had to happen for Nebraska to pull off the upset against the Trojans. We just are not at their level yet. USC had plenty of opportunities to make the score even worse than it was. The only thing I was hoping to see more of since we were running so much would be more play-action passes.
Let’s get behind this team. We have improved quite a bit over the last couple years. We still have some tough games ahead of us this year and the Huskers can still finish with an outstanding record if they play the way they are capable of playing.
9/19/2006
I’m a Trojan and my friends and I at the game were perplexed by Callahan’s play calling. This article did a good job of explaining the strategy behind the decision. I appreciate the insights.
That said, I think they should have given Taylor more opportunities to throw down the field. The run clearly was not working. All it did was make for second and longs while the clock continued to tick.
I think your team is much better than the gameplan showed.
On a side note, I met dozens of Nebraska fans and I want to share my sincere admiration for you and your program. I’ve heard you traveled well, but to see it was very impressive.
Good luck the rest of the season and see you next year in Lincoln.
9/19/2006
Great Analysis Steve!
If only your comments could reach every Husker fan… I was astonished at the sports radio shows and how fans were ready to throw Callahan off the bus (again). I agree with your feedback on the game! Great Job!
Time to flip the page and focus on Troy, because we all know they are focusing on us!
Go Big Red!