When approached about the outcome of the Nebraska-Washington matchup on the eve of the Holiday Bowl, my response was that Nebraska would win by 25 or lose. The latter proved to be true. Some random thoughts on tonights matchup:
-Was this a replay of the Texas game or was I hallucinating? Both teams proved that you don't need to complete passes to beat Nebraska. Jake Locker's offensive stats aren't going to blow anyones ears back, but like Texas QB Garrett Gilbert he made big runs to keep drives alive.
-The Nebraska offense has managed to make 4 of the last 5 defenses that they have played look like the Baltimore Ravens. Over the last two games, third down passing situations have resulted in a sack approximately 50% of the time.
-Wouldn't the occasional screen play or draw in these situations be more effective than running play action passes that a junior high defense wouldn't bite on.
-The Huskers are unable to score if they can't hit on a homerun play. Today's touchdown (yes there was only one) occurred on a 10 play drive- only the 4th 10+ play drive to result in a touchdown this year.
-Offensively, the Huskers are back where they ended the 2009 regular season. However, the party line at that time was that a depleted offensive line and QB with a busted up elbow led to concious limitation of the offense. The issues now seem to be more systemic.
-The offensive line play has become unacceptable. Whether it is drawing 2-3 false start penalties per game or failing to pass protect, change is needed.
-A subquestion is whether this group will be able to dictate the line of scrimmage against larger Big 10 defenses. Big 12 defenses tend to skew a bit lighter at the linebacker position due to the number of spread offenses in the conference.
-What is the psychological effect on the defense when it is clear that the offense is not there? I don't know that I could fully understand what it feels like to make a defensive stand only to watch your offense routinely go out and waste your efforts. With the intensity of the tackling or lack thereof by the Husker defense, it looked like they had reached their breaking point today.
-Most problematic, this is a team that failed to improve and actually worsened from the 2nd half of the Missouri game on October 30th through the end of the season.
-A goal for next year needs to be to develop leadership on the field. When the chips are down, I have failed to figure out who Nebraska's rock was this season. On the offensive side, Rex Burkhead would be the most likely candidate although he is only a sophomore. The defensive side is more complicated. The stars of the defense are the secondary. But as Broncos fans will attest to, when the best player on your defense is a shutdown corner, they rarely get an opportunity to make a big play to generate momentum swings. Corners like Prince Amukamura (NU) and Champ Bailey (Broncos) just don't get thrown at.
-I would pay a substantial amount of money to hear what Taylor Martinez is thinking for an entire game. His perpetual blank stare on the sidelines makes slack-jawed Jay Cutler look like Aristotle. I can understand why people respond to to Tim Tebow. Like a puppy, his blatant demonstrations of emotion make it easy to understand where his head is at. Taylor Martinez reminds me more of a house cat where you can't tell if he is feeling disinterest, disdain, etc.
-Too many competitors in this competitor but biggest difference between this game and the game in September- Inability to generate turnovers. Unlike Pelini's previous Husker teams, this defense generated stops but failed to get the big turnovers that are essential for a questionable offense.
-Ultimately, the blessing is that there is significant disappointment after a 9-4 season. There will be a large degree of Chicken Little-esque stories eminating from the Cornhusker state. How far things have come that this year will be viewed as abject failure by a significant percentage of Husker fans. Just to note this record matches Bill Callahan's best in 2006.
Most importantly, hope springs eternal. Even Cub fans think that next year will be better (recently recognized as a pathological diagnosis in the as yet unpublished DSM-V). The outcome of next season might be the hardest to handicap of any in Pelini's brief Nebraska career but I won't be booking a flight to Indianapolis for the Big 10 championship just yet.
What are your thoughts?
MTK
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