On Sloppiness

Slop. It's a nasty word, the stuff pig troughs are full of and ugly horse races are run on. You can call a team a lot of things but few things are as distasteful as sloppy and that's what the Huskers were last Saturday. Bo said it, you said it, the media said it.

But more galling might be the implication behind the label. If you're "sloppy" and hope to win you also need to be "lucky", perhaps the only word that outpaces sloppy when it comes to ugly descriptors. Nobody wants to be a "lucky team." At least sloppiness is earned.

As the year goes on the Huskers will be both sloppy and lucky at various times. That's just the ebb and flow of the season. Good luck predicting when either label will be applied. All you can hope for at the end of the season is that the ledger balances somewhat but both are inevitable.

You can win ugly. Teams do it all the time and Nebraska can do it in Seattle on Saturday. I'd prefer they not. This is the one non-conference game the Huskers will play this season that most football fans will take at absolute value. No disclaimers here. Go to Husky Stadium against Jake Locker and win, be it sloppy or lucky, and you've earned it.

But Washington is a bit of an enigma at this point. We know they have Locker and a big time receiver in Jermaine Kearse. We're told Husky Stadium is a tough place to play. We think they've got a pretty good coach who might finally bring an end to six straight losing seasons.

We also know that the Huskies offense can be a bit schizophrenic. For all the prolific games, Washington was still held below 300 yards of total offense four times last year. We know that, despite the reputation and 5-2 home record last season, the win against Syracuse on Saturday was the Huskies first home nonconference win against a BCS opponent in their last six tries. We know that there is youth up and down the two deep. Steve Sarkisian played 13 true freshman in the season opener, more first years than had ever seen the field in a season at Washington.

What we don't know is just how good Nebraska is or will have to be to come home with a win. I'm not too worried about Martinez in his first road start. Being able to run the football helps there. I'm confident our defensive backs can do a better job on Kearse though he's good enough to get his yards. The defensive line will find the going more difficult than they did against the big but young bunch of Vandals last week.

The hope is that Nebraska can validate their lofty ranking with an impressive win on Saturday. The reality might be closer to the Idaho game than most would like. Obviously the Huskers can't fumble the ball eight times, but the penalties aren't quite the scapegoat they're made out to be.

There's a public outcry every time a holding call stops a drive or a personal foul turns a touchdown opportunity into a long field goal try but the fact is good teams are generally penalized teams. In four out of the past five years the national champion has ranked in the Top 20 in total penalty yards. Nebraska went 2-1 last year in games were they received more than 10 penalties, beating Missouri and Oklahoma while losing to Texas Tech. Penalties are survivable unless you're too unlucky, there's that word again, with the timing.

This is the game we've been pointing to all season. Call it a litmus test if you want, I've never liked that analogy. Without Googling, tell me what a litmus test actually measures. Right, pH levels, acids and bases, but what's that have to do with football?

I prefer to call it a bite test game. More visceral but also more accessible. We have this slightly shiny lump of rock before us, now lets apply some pressure and see how close it is to gold.

I don't expect the Huskers to be polished and ready for market after this week's game, but, for what it's worth, I do think they'll still be on the market. Sloppy, lucky or otherwise, that's all that matters in college football.

NU 31 UW 21