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UNIQUE POST-GAME ANALYSIS

Jim Rose provides a weekly look at Nebraska athletics. Installments of Jim’s blog will appear on this page after each week’s gridiron contest.

SPORTS NIGHTLY AUDIO CONTEST

Fans, listen to Sports Nightly on the Pinnacle Sports Network, and you could get a chance to win tickets to watch the excitement of Nebraska football in person.

Each Monday, a special audio clip from the last Nebraska football game will be loaded here. Sports Nightly listeners will be asked to identify the clip on Wednesday night for a chance to win great prizes like football tickets and Nebraska Lottery merchandise.

Click here for Sports Nightly information. The program airs weeknights from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Central Time).

NU-TU: Sad but proud

I’m not usually one to place a lot of stock into the existential. Meaning, sometimes bad things happen to good people and there was nothing that person could about it. But in my advancing years, I’m beginning to see what Hall of Fame basketball coach Phil Jackson gets out of Zen. In a Zen-like world, we can easily transition from a negative experience to a very positive one by recognizing that the environment around each of us is fundamentally good and rewarding. That this isolated negative incident cannot overpower the ultimate positive in our existence.

We are, in a word, OK.

The we in this case is the Husker Nation.

Even after the heart wrenching loss to Texas in the Big 12 Title game, I think we are just as good as we’ve ever been.

Yessir, in the moments after that kick in the uprights, I wanted to grind Mack Brown, Colt McCoy, Jordan Shipley and that herd of Zebras into little Longhorn meatballs just like everybody else around here. But after a night to sleep on it and a few years to mellow out, it became clear to me that what we saw on Saturday night means so much more than even a win over those guys.

It signaled a return to the Zen that has been a 100+ year tradition of greatness.

It’s been a rough ten years since we last won one of these suckers. 1999. A Century ago. A Millennium ago. Blowout losses, crappy recruiting, shaky coaching, poor leadership, a fractured fan base, negative media. Along the way, we lost our mojo.

But Saturday night, we got it all back. Saturday night, we dominated one of the best offenses in the country, forced the winningest QB in NCAA history into one of his most average performances ever and save for a kickoff that went out of bounds, a personal foul penalty, poor execution on about five offensive plays and one official’s review of the game clock, Nebraska wins that game, sends the BCS into a United Nations fire drill and sets off a statewide street dance from Bellevue to Bridgeport.

Look at what we took from that game:

• The experience of seeing Nebraska take back its blue collar personality
• The image of a team playing with unwavering belief in each other and the system
• Fabulous defense
• A fiery coach erupting after it was over in defense of what his guys earned but had taken from them.

And for this fan, the memory of watching the single greatest individual performance in a lifetime. It’s arguable that Mr. Suh’s performance before this whole country that night might rank as the greatest ever.

So, be bummed for a little longer. But don’t hang around there. The Holiday Bowl will be a blast and then there’s next year!

It’s not how you start but how you finish and for that, we’re A-OK

Growing up on those hard scrabble streets of south Lincoln (OK, I lied about them being hard scrabble) I used to digest all of this stuff coaches say about their teams.

“Gotta take ‘em one at a time, boys.”

“The team that won’t lose, can’t lose.”

“We want to win just enough to keep the fans happy but not warrant an NCAA investigation.” (had to throw in one of my all time Devaney favorites there.)

Most of them are pretty trite and don’t actually mean anything except the one in the headline.

It’s true, in football, it’s not how you start but how you finish that makes a fine team, a fine player and the DNA of a program. Because sometimes at the finish, you’re team isn’t winning. It’s always 0-0 at the start but rarely at the end. And if there is an opus for the 2009 Husker football season, it’s that these guys have a funny way of never giving up. They have this knack for playing hard right to the end.

Bravo.

The Huskers this regular season finished 9-3. A pretty good record. Between 1993 and 1998, we went 60-3. So, we’re still a bit behind those lads but gaining. And that’s what matters most here.

Nebraska will challenge a legit national title contender in the Big 12 Title game at Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium (known as Jerry Jone’s Cowboys’ Stadium). And the Huskers might lose to Texas. Will be expected to lose by most observers. Might win. Never know. That oblong football tends to take funny bounces. But you can expect our guys to finish that game better than they may start it. You can expect Mr. Suh to wreck their offensive line; and Mr. Dillard to track down Colt McCoy in the open field; and Mr. Amukamara to break up a few passes intended for All-American Jordan Shipley and Mr. Helu, Jr., and Mr. Burkhead to consistently get at least an extra three or four yards after Roderick Muckelroy hits them; and Mr. Henery drop a few more lob wedges inside the five yard line. Bo Pelini and Shawn Watson will have a better game plan for Mack Brown and Greg Davis than Mack Brown and Greg Davis will have for Bo Pelini and Shawn Watson. Carl Pelini’s defense with dramatically fewer NFL draftees in uniform will teach Will Muschamp’s parade of Parade All-Americans how to never give up, make big stops and keep their hopes of a win alive.

I won’t boldly predict a Husker win but I will boldly predict all of that will happen for each of the four quarters.

And after the game, whose fans will be prouder of their team? Which team will have earned respect?

If it’s us, we will have gotten used to it.

NU in the Big 12 Title Game—a nice ring to it

North Division Champs! Nicely done, fellas. Gotta admit that trek through Texas Tech and Iowa State made me wonder if we’d get there this year, but beating Bob Stoops and Bill Snyder in the same month made everybody in my section say Iowa who? Cyclone what?

This whole Big 12 North Division conquest was a nice ride through yesteryear. Remember the 90’s? We played in three of the first four Big 12 Title games and won two of them. Then went seven years before another and after the loss to Iowa State this year, was thinking it might be 2010 before we get back. But along came a stifling defense, a good running game and a punter who can throw lob wedges off of that foot to within a yard of the pin (goal line). Now, that’s Husker Football!

Suddenly, it was OK again to just be us. It was OK to not be flashy, or sparkly or to wear out the scoreboard lights. It was OK to knock some guys down, get four yards, make a few first downs, kick a field goal or bring Alex in to tip the field. Then let the Blackshirts, knock some teeth out, get a turnover and win the game. 17-3. Just like the stories dad and grandpa used to tell.

The Huskers of 2009 remind us about a given in college football these days: Winning isn’t automatic. The uniform doesn’t always have that much to do with it. Check out Florida State or Oklahoma (6-5 with a date at Stillwater this week), Michigan and our friends from South Bend. Too much parity and too many early defections to the NFL. Too many coaching changes and freshmen on varsity. With that kind of bizarro world in which we live on Fall Saturdays, the arrow swings back to coaching. Those who have the REALLY good ones, find ways to adjust and just go out and win. When you are loaded with talent, coaching can be very overrated (See Pete Carroll this year). But when you hit mud in the well, that’s when the great ones adjust, put the chess pieces in the right spots and find a way to out fox the guy across the field. Pelini has done that here this year. He out-foxed Stoops, Mangino and Snyder (three former National Coaches of the Year) in successive weeks. Pretty much did it to Beamer and certainly to Mr. Pinkel.

To me, there is only one other guy doing the same thing this year: Kirk Ferentz at Iowa. Can you tell the difference? I sure can.

We still have a road trip to Boulder and the wounded Buffs. If we mess around over there, turn it over, misfire on early scoring chances, they could pull off the stunner. Then to Jerry Jones’ wonder emporium in Dallas for the Longhorns. How will we do? Might win both. Might lose both.

But the Mojo is back and I like the guy behind our curtain.

BIG RED ROCKS THE JAYHAWKS WITH A BRUISING GROUND GAME

Now wait a minute! Hold on here! How am I supposed to know what kind of football team the Huskers have this fall if one week, we play better defense than the Pentagon and our offense looks like it’s playing with 10 guys; only to pull the switcheroo the next week with our defense more charitable than UNICEF while the Big Red O standing for Out-of-your-mind tough in the clutch?

Just when we’re sure the receiving corps couldn’t catch a cold, one by one they put up web-gem style catches on the road!

Who’s in charge here?

Yessir—-settle in for a finish to this college football season that should keep all bets in the house.

The offense is still shaky but it is a tough bunch.  Not a lot of polish, not a lot of playmakers but they are opportunistic and if given the chance, will draw blood.  Led by Shawn Watson, whose popularity resembles the Dow Jones Industrial Average, the Husker game plan (especially in the 4th quarter) was to play good defense against Todd Reesing, the superlative QB of KU. Ya see, if he’s standing next to the coach (for one, you can’t see him) he can’t make magic on the field which is exactly what he did to the puffy Blackshirts in quarters 2, 3 and 4.

Reesing looked like what he is—which is the best QB they’ve ever had down there. He picked apart the Husker D players and coaches with smart, accurate passes, great reads and key runs. He took a cheap shot from Larry Asante but bounced right back up. His O-Line failed him so he scrambled. His receivers dropped passes so he threw lighter, shorter ones to a different receiver until he found one that wouldn’t drop passes. Underneath that #5 on his chest is a giant S. I’m thinking of making a trip to KU’s grad ceremonies next spring just to ensure that he walks across that stage.

But it wasn’t enough to spoil NU’s run to the Big 12 Title game. With Bo barking at everybody from his assistants to his players to the chain gang, the Husker head coach threatened this team to a win. And I like that. In an era of political correctness and fear of hurting somebody’s feelings, Bo only cares about one thing when the ball is kicked off—-winning. By land or by sea; by hug or clinched fist, this guy has a personality that breeds success.

And that’s how you (re) build a tradition.

 

NU CLUBS OU

AH, NOW THAT’S MORE LIKE IT: NU CLUBS OU

In the salad days of Husker Football (the 90’s…OK the 70’s, 80’s), we used to measure our success by the number of ambulances the other team had to order to the visitor’s locker room at Memorial Stadium.

But then something unexplainable occurred. We started wearing flags on our belts during games.

Then Oklahoma came to town Saturday and left in two pieces. Feels great, huh?

The win over the Sooners was a perfect tonic for a football fan base that yearns for a gridiron way of life to return. Physical. Tough. Gritty. Bloody.

10-3, we literally BEAT them. It wasn’t pretty; but tough football isn’t pretty. The offense struggled; but OU has a pretty slick defense too. This edition of the Sooners doesn’t rival those of earlier this decade in talent and experience; but we’re still a ways from ‘93-’98 too. Alex Henery missed a field goal, but planted two punts inside the 10. Atta boy, Alex, give that defense a tipped field.

No, this win was about attitude. This win was about unity. This win was about accountability and personality.

Yessir, this win was about guys like Matt O’Hanlon. The 6th year walk on from Bellevue has willed himself to become a college football player. He’s smart and tough and in the Va Tech game, snake bit. He was the guy who goofed on the late, deep throw that beat us 50 days ago. But there he was Saturday night, chopping Sooner 5-stars in half like a combine in November and picking away three interceptions.

Yessir, this win was about guys like Phillip Dillard. The school boy phenom from Tulsa, who sneered at OU’s offer to come here. Got caught up in poor coaching and bad off the field habits, sunk on the depth chart and was all but forgotten. Not Saturday night. His triumphant return complete, Dillard made play after play on 3rd down to keep NU in it.

And it was about guys like Zac Lee. The baseball player-turned-football player-back up-turned starter-turned back up-turned relief pitcher, came in for jittery Cody Green and did fine. Lee was more about the front of the jersey Saturday night which is helpful. He showed maturity in respecting the quality of the OU defense but not attempting super-human feats that would have resulted in turnovers and likely a loss.

The win won’t signal a spot in the top ten (yet) but it does show how far we’ve come in turning this Ocean liner of a tradition back in the right direction.

Gotta run, I’m parked near the visitor’s entrance and an ambulance is trying to leave.

BAYLOR WIN JUST THAT: A WIN. BUT WE’LL TAKE IT.

We’ve won so much over the years in football around here, the fans have long since counted style points. It’s not just that the Huskers win it’s that they look like Miss America doing it. I’ve never had a big problem with it because frankly, the higher the expectations, the better your shot at greatness. Conversely, if one lowers expectations, you can expect lower than outstanding performance.

Which brings us to the NU vs. Baylor game. Fact:  Nebraska won, 20-10. Fact:  It was a road win against a southern division opponent.  Fact:  Defense was pretty stingy. Fact:  Jared Crick may not be NS, but he’s in the picture. Fact:  Eric Martin who blocked that early punt might be a great one around here. Fact:  Cody Green got his first start at QB and he looked like it was his first start. Play one, great. Play two, not great. Fact:  We are down to the team manager at RB which, Fact, makes it extra hard to be Cody Green to say nothing of Shawn Watson.

If you know the difference between and football and a flower pot (and most Nebraskans do) you’re on top of the situation here. Nebraska is going to struggle on offense. End of story but not end of season. See, outside of the Sooners, we ain’t gonna play a great defense between now and December. So we can still win this sucker with a kicking game, a defense, and a conservative offense.

So, here’s the peanut gallery suggestion. Keep propping up the youngin at QB with a base attack that allows him to run the ball and throw short, ball control-style passes. Make the game simple for him. Let him rely on his athleticism and instincts to build confidence but more importantly, move the ball. Job 1 right now is to keep winning. We’ll polish the thing around bowl time.

CYCLONE GAME A WARNING FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON

OK, it’s not funny anymore. Let’s just stop this stuff right now. Let’s just stop this thing that has sufficiently dampened the hearts of Husker fans like a thunderstorm at an outdoor wedding. These last two games (and most of the Missouri game) is thoroughly, convincingly, demonstrably and painfully not us. Let me count the ways: fumbling, bumbling execution on offense; poor ball security by both backs and receivers, inconsistent blocking, penalties, poor on field leadership, shaky quarterbacking, an apparent lack of confidence.

Whew! It always feels better to purge one’s bilge.

Now, let’s start over.

The Huskers are still the favorites to win the Northern Division (big preseason goal). A 5-3 record is very, very doable. Maybe 6-2. But let’s not get wacky here. Why? The defense is the best one in the division. It will keep us in every game (even ones in which we give up 8 turnovers). If it weren’t for that group, Nebraska would be in trouble for even a bowl invite this year.

I still think this offense has enough (more than enough) talent to move the ball and score points. But it’s missing a spark. And to me, that spark is Cody Green. I believe the coaches when they say he “isn’t ready to play QB in all situations.” And I’ll acknowledge that the LAST thing this offense needs is more inconsistent QB play, but we need his feet on the field. We need his capacity to make plays. So lets find a spot for him on the field that gets him the ball in space. This will take some pressure off the running game and injured star Roy Helu, Jr. It will also help Lee gather some of his lost confidence. In a QB, that’s the ultimate intangible and you can’t win without it.

But before the execution improves, the mentality has to change. Collectively, the offense has to take the field with a mindset of knocking people down for 60 minutes. When we get that back, we’re fine.

I feel better…don’t you?

Lincoln Man Wins Audio Contest Grand Prize

Patrick Pella

Congratulations to Patrick Pella of Lincoln, who won the Grand Prize in the Big Red Bunch Sports Nightly Audio Contest. Pella received two tickets to the Nebraska vs. Baylor football game on October 31, a gift card for Ethanol-enriched fuel, and 100 $1 Go Nebraska Scratch tickets.

Sports Nightly listeners can still win prizes each week for the rest of the football season. Each Monday, visit the Sports Nightly Audio Contest page to listen to a special audio clip from the last Nebraska football game. Listeners will be asked to identify the clip during Sports Nightly on Wednesday night for a chance to win Nebraska Lottery merchandise.

Click here for Sports Nightly information. The program airs weeknights from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. (Central Time).

TECHSTERS RUSTLE UP A BIG DOWNER IN LINCOLN

Anybody catch the number of that truck?   You know, the one with the Texas license plates that rolled into town and stole our season?

That Tech game didn’t turn out so well, did it?

The 31-10 upset was disturbing on a number of levels (which we will address individually shortly) but most of all it dispelled some things that I among many Huskers had come to believe were “givens” with this football team.  Among them:

• The home field advantage was coming back in spades.  Maybe not 47 game win streak advantage but one where we play 10-15 points better at home than on the road.  That early 14-0 lead by the other guy wiped that one out.

• The Defense is BACK.  Those guys showed so much grit at Blacksburg and Columbia, I was sure the ghosts of ‘04-’07 were down the road.  Notsofast on that one.  Tech made some big first downs all day long.

• The Husker “Swagger” is back.  That uniform means something.  That helmet means something.  That tunnel walk means something.  I think all of those institutions do, but maybe we’re not quite back with that one just yet.

• We learned again how to win.   That’s right, learning how to win.   In Husker lore, that means not taking a single victory (Mizzou) and popping corks over it.   That means not listening to the deafening roar of adulation that comes from fans and media around here.   It’s been quite a while since we’ve been in the BCS picture (circa 2001).  The Missouri game proved we’re close but the Tech game proved we’re not quite ready for that chair in college football’s inner circle.

So what do we know and what needs to happen here if we’re going to improve on the 9 wins of a year ago?

1. We gotta decide what we are on offense.  Do we run or do we throw? What’s our mojo?  Hard to believe we’re a running team when we kick a field goal from inside the other guy’s 10 yard line.   And part of this is that we’re thin at RB.  Helu’s iffy shoulder means he ain’t lugging it 30 times a game.  If we still had Castille and Burkhead you could rotate guys.  But leaning on your 4th team IB these days is no way to live in the Big 12 especially if your “pipeline” up front leaks.   They are not playing well.  They miss blocks.  They false start.  They hold.   And in the case of Ricky Henry, they don’t keep their cool.  They are not young guys.  They’ve been together 3-5 years.  Excuse time is over for the o-line.  Get consistent and physical.  And get there fast.
2. If were gonna throw for a living, then the QB and WR play must improve.  Zac needs to make better decisions with the ball and in the pocket.  He also needs to hit open guys.   Which also translates into the need for dramatically better WR play.  They need to run crisper routes, separate from the DB’s better, help out the QB by improvising on routes and CATCH THE BALL.
3. Per the passing game, it seems to me that we aren’t stretching the field well.  We seem to rarely throw vertically which condenses the field and makes coverages much easier for the other team.

This loss was a bummer.  Coming in, Tech was 11th in the Big 12 against the pass.  55th overall defensively in Division 1.  We were at home and the weather was fine.   Hmmmmmmm.

Truthfully, we just have not done well offensively in any of the games against non Sun Belt Conference teams.

Yes, we need balance in our attack.  But in most games, the other team is going to try and take something away from your offense and if they have any number of good athletes on defense, they will succeed.  We need to have a fall back plan each week.  We need to have something that all 11 guys on offense know will work if plan A fails.

HUSKERS SWAMP MIZZOU IN A FOURTH QUARTER ASSAULT

by Jim Rose

Well now, good thing you sucked down that 13oz Mountain Dew just after the third quarter. Otherwise, I’m not sure how many of us would have stuck around.

What am I saying? This is Nebraska we’re talking about. That fourth quarter in Columbia not only kept us awake, it may have raised a few Huskers taking a dirt nap.

Way to go, fellers. Nice win. You made us wait until the 4th act but it was worth it.

27-12…in the Big 12 North race? Advantage Red.

The offense stumbled and bumbled its way through the rain for 45 minutes hanging out with the less-than-special teams in Pelini’s doghouse. All the while, the defense was dominating the game. You might say the Mizzou offense was in the middle of a Suh-namie.

Yes my friends, we saw a changing of the guard in Missouri. “House of Spears” supplanted Richie Glover as the most dominant defensive lineman in Nebraska football history. His incredible combination of size, speed, athletic ability and motor takes him to the first chair of all time Huskesr d-line guys. Step aside, Brown, Glover. Jacobson, Harper, Dutton, Rother, Skow, Walker and the Peters. You have a new captain. He is a MAN named Suh.

He anchored an inspiring performance by the defense. Time and again, they stymied the Tigers with big plays, bone breaking tackles and deft coverage. They kept that Husker offense employed.

It takes a team. And eventually, Zac and the offense sparked. Took advantage of a couple of take-a-ways and scored three times in three minutes at the outset of the 4th quarter.

So, now lets hold serve against TT. And the eight days will give the special teams a chance to purge whatever virus got into them (flu maybe—Helu for sure, but the kicking guys just had an off day).

In the meantime, Bo….ready to pass out those black practice jerseys?