Monday Morning Musings on Week One
Thanksgiving is a great holiday for those who love football (and gorging), but Labor Day is quickly becoming a close second with five straight days of college football after a long period of fasting. Even a game like Tulsa and East Carolina delivered in a big way. And the Texas Tech-SMU game probably didn't make the best first impression for Tommy Tuberville on Red Raider fans. He can be glad he's not Turner Gill though, who gets this year's Dan Hawkins trophy for most disappointing coaching debut. Houston Nutt wins the Lloyd Carr version of the trophy for least excusable loss by an incumbent coach, after Ole Miss lost to Jacksonville State. But first, some more on the Huskers defensive effort Saturday night.
More Defending of the D
Perhaps enough has been said already about why Nebraska's defense wasn't as bad as Bo Pelini made it sound. There were thirteen Western Kentucky drives and only three that you could take any real issue with. The other 10 totaled 93 yards and ended in punts or a turnover. Of the three "bad drives", one was essentially one long run that ended in a fumble. On good defenses, when one player makes a mistake another erases it. That's what happened on that play. Some get worked up that it was "almost a touchdown", whereas I see a defender making a great play to erase a mistake, the kind we've seen Gomes make against BCS conference teams.
The other drive people take issue is the 11-play 67-yard drive that ended in a field goal. I've said it before in this space, red zone defense is still defense. Yes, you don't want to see your opponent go two-thirds of the field. But if they do, can you keep them outside of the end zone? The defense at least passed that test on that drive. It should also be noted that drive came after Nebraska went up 28 points, so a little let-up was probably inevitable.
Finally, there's the drive that was bad by any standard. Western Kentucky went 80 yards for a touchdown after Nebraska went ahead 35-3. You wonder what would have happened if Rickey Thenarse hadn't made a dumb 15-yard penalty. Those things have a habit of biting you in the behind. Ask Larry Asante. Instead of facing 3rd and 2 at their own 28, they get first and ten at the 43.
The macro issue that concerned some people was a bit harder to ignore. Why wasn't the defensive line more dominant? Stick a pin that one, because the Huskers will get a major test against Idaho this Saturday.
Is Kansas State "Back"?
The win over UCLA certainly gets your attention. The Wildcats now look like a team that will be 4-0 when Nebraska comes to town. Defensively, the game plan is simple. Stop Daniel Thomas. He accounted for 249 of K-State's 377 yards against the Bruins. Those are Heisman numbers. It makes you wonder if NU ought to try a 5-2 alignment for the game.
How Bad Will it Get at Kansas?
Losing to North Dakota State was a huge ouch. Playing Georgia Tech will be worse. The road trip to Southern Miss is not real easy. You now wonder if the home game against New Mexico State might be the only chance to avoid a winless season. Not a great way to start the Turner Gill era for the Jayhawks.
Is Mizzou Worse, Illinois Better, or Both?
Last season the Illini thought they had a Heisman candidate at quarterback and lost on a neutral field to Missouri 37-9. This year, Missouri escaped with a 23-13 win after trailing 13-3. So is this a sign the Tigers aren't what they were a year ago, that Illinois is better, or both?
Oklahoma and Texas Don't Dominate
The Sooners and Longhorns didn't blow anyone away with their debuts against Utah State and Rice. OU could at least say they were looking ahead. What's the Longhorns' excuse?
Cowboys Roll Cougars
If Daniel Thomas isn't a Heisman candidate, maybe you can blame Kendall Hunter. His 257 yards rushing and four touchdowns against woeful Washington State brought national attention. Oklahoma State was equally potent through the air as Brandon Weeden threw three touchdown passes to Justin Blackmon, who also scored on a blocked punt return.
9/6/2010
After rewatching the game, I’m more concerned about a running back slipping outside pass coverage twice for big yards. One led directly to the touchdown. Both times the big back was wide open. Blown coverage for sure. Gotta have that fixed before Idaho comes to town. Vandals don’t appear to be a big run threat so I expect the D line to pin their ears back. Should be a good challenge for our pass coverage. GBR!
9/7/2010
It isn’t so much the defensive performance statistically—it’s the fact that it came against Western Kentucky. I think that team will break its losing streak this year, but they are not a good team by any stretch of the imagination. They aren’t even close to mediocre.
I think most people expect that we’ll have a couple of “bad” drives agaisnt our defense when we play Idaho—but this wasn’t Idaho.
9/7/2010
Two new starters on the D Line and two rookies at LB. We are going to see some growing pains w/ this defense. On a positive note, we have a lot of athleticism at LB, both Whaley and David were impressive. Yet, it sound like they both were making some mistakes that put the defense in bad position.
9/7/2010
“this years Dan Hawkins trophy” should be:
“this year’s Dan Hawkins trophy”.
“Brandon Weeden through three touchdown passes” should be:
“Brandon Weeden threw three touchdown passes”.
9/7/2010
Mizzou’s trouble will be running the ball. Their QB was quite good in the 2nd half though.
9/7/2010
Thanks Patrick…no, really…thanks.
(yeeeah)
9/7/2010
Patrick, nice job on the proof reading. Find something to do with your time…... What the f…
9/7/2010
Wrong Way Joe,
I think Patrick was just trying to help.
9/7/2010
Missouri didn’t look good vs Illinois… and I think it is safe to say that Ron Zook nearly out-coached someone for the first time in his career.
Gabbert is a legit NFL prospect… and his tools are really impressive.
Those won’t do him much good when laying on his back against NU.
9/7/2010
Well wrong way joe, grammar and spelling is important. There is no excuse for lazy writing if you are a professional writer.
9/7/2010
I for one am not to concerned after the Huskers first game. There are some things Husker Fans need to consider from some of the sloppy playing against WKU on Saturday evening:
1. It was the first game. No team, no matter how good they are have it all together during the first game.
2. A couple of new guys playing defense for the first time made some critical mistakes. Bo will make sure that they will grow up fast .
3. The Husker offense could of scored 60 plus points in this game. Once the Huskers got up 21 they went away from the running game to operate out of some other sets that included more passing just to see how Taylor and Cody would do in the passing game.
4. I believe the Blackshirt’s intensity let up in the 3 quarter because the Huskers were up by 30 points and it is hard to stay intense when you are thumping a below average opponent. I realize that should not be an excuse but they human, well at least to certain degree!
You will see this Husker team impove as the season goes on. I remember in 1997 the Husker defense did not play so well against Central Florida in Lincoln and almost got beat. The next week they went up to play a very good and highly rated Washington Team. If you remember, that day the Husker defense and offense kicked Huskie butt and they went on to win a National Championship!
Lets hope that history will repeat itself this year! GBR!!
9/7/2010
Patrick: I’m with you. If he can’t figure out grammar why the hell should I care to read his article? His job is to write! He should do it well.
9/8/2010
Grammar Nazis can piss off, everyone knows what he meant so either,
A. You are trying to make yourself look more intelligent, by pointing out flaws in others.
or
B. You really are super anal and must interject on all spelling , grammar, or punctuation mishaps.
Talk about the subject at hand, or are you having trouble keeping up? FFS in every comment section there has to be replies like this. Go count matchsticks or something.