Let's Break the Door Down!

Back to Back Top Ten Match Ups

Nebraska is coming off their first loss of the season, which is normally disappointing, but this week feels a little tougher than normal.  The Huskers played, considerably their hardest game of the season on the road against a foe that they have not had much success.  Wisconsin is built like an old Ford Pickup, one that has been rebuilt three or four times, had a new engine and clutch dropped in them, but keeps humming on the original transmission.  Nebraska had their opportunities to take that pickup apart, but they just didn’t have all the tools that they needed.

Heading into Madison, Nebraska was getting a big lift, David Knevel, Nick Gates, Tanner Farmer and Jordan Westerkamp all were supposed to be nearing better health.  It showed.  Nebraska’s offensive line had looked horrible the week before against Purdue, but against the Badgers, they held their pass pro in check.  Nebraska didn’t get so lucky in the run game, and then to add insult to injury, Tanner Farmer was been back like a pretzel and had to come back out of the game.  

The Huskers couldn’t really ever get the run game going, but sometimes it felt like they never were calling plays to be able to run to their strengths.  Where was the fly sweep to Alonzo Moore?  Where was the read option play to Terrell Newby?  What about more outside zone running?  And where was the Tommy Armstrong rushing attack that helped Nebraska upset Oregon earlier in the year?

It seemed as though it all wouldn’t matter.  On a special night that had a lot of energy, due to the Sam Foltz factor, Nebraska came back twice during the game and wound up tied at 17-17 at the end of the regulation.  We all know the Huskers ended up getting a couple of missed kicking gifts from Wisconsin but they were unable to capitalize.  I would have liked to see Nebraska try a rollout or a bootleg with Tommy on the second down play in overtime, but never the less the Huskers just couldn’t quite get it past the finish line.

I often sit and criticize the play calling when I watch a game.  I’m not like most people, I don’t do it out loud, but I find myself wondering what if a lot, especially after a loss.  You could say that last Saturday against Wisconsin I was especially critical.  Nebraska couldn’t run the ball all that well, and yet they kept plunging it into the middle.  I may be mistaken, but I don’t think the Huskers threw a pass on first down against Wisconsin.  It makes you wonder what the strategy was.  Maybe after Tommy Armstrong had 3 passes batted down at the line of scrimmage, the coaches wanted to stay out of passing unless they absolutely had too?

After reviewing the game, I remember that often times, being a play caller is probably one of the worst jobs in college football as you are constantly second guessed. I think it’s probably about as bad at Nebraska as any place because Nebraska fans know their offense and what great offenses look like.  Husker fans take a back seat to no one when it comes to second guessing a play caller.  Heck, I remember times watching the Huskers in 1995 that people in the stands wanted to get Damon Benning more involved or thought that the Huskers might be, “just a little more dominant, if Brook Berringer was throwing the football.”

The point I’m trying to make, probably poorly, is that while I felt like Nebraska should have tried some different things on offense, often times we don’t know what is going on down on the field that we don’t know about.  Maybe Corey Whitaker was unable to pull, or maybe Dylan Utter had to help more on the left side in, which allowed Wisconsin to crash down and blow up the run on certain plays.  Maybe Nebraska isn’t capable of doing the things that allowed it to be successful earlier in the season, simply because Gates, Knevel, Westerkamp and Devine Ozigbo are too beat up to be able to make those same plays.  Nebraska isn’t quite where they want to be depth wise.  That has shown a lot with this offensive line.  Cole Conrad is playing way more than probably anyone would have guessed at the beginning of the year, just like Sam Hahn is.  It’s possible against solid defenses (make no mistake, Wisconsin is a top 20 defense in the nation) Nebraska simply doesn’t have the horses right now to beat the top teams on their schedule.

Either way, we find out how good Nebraska is this weekend.  The Big Ten did Nebraska no favors scheduling back to back road games with Wisconsin and Ohio State, arguably the top two, at least top three teams in the conference.  There is no time to back down however.  Nebraska needs to try and set the tone against the Buckeyes.  The Huskers have been able to do it defensively so far this season.  To beat OSU, Tommy Armstrong has to play way above average.  I will watch with great interest to see if the play calling reflects the changes that we all want, or if the team simply needs more depth to be able to beat top ten teams.

Carriker Chronicles

ON WITH THE REWIND…

Our previous score prediction for Wisconsin game was Nebraska 19 – Wisconsin 17.  The actual score wound up 23 to 17 Badgers.  I thought we had them when we had the ball near the 50 with over a minute left, but the Huskers drive stalled and forced the game into overtime. Nebraska shouldn’t have to apologize for going toe to toe with a top ten team on the road, but it feels like the Huskers let one slip away that they could have had.  I think if Nebraska played at home, they beat the Badgers by 10 points.  Some bad officiating didn’t make Husker fans feel any better, but I could argue that the non-holding calls along with no pass interference being called may have evened the game out a bit for Nebraska.  Never the less, the Huskers control their own destiny if they want to win the Big Ten West, and that is all you can ask for.  

Cornhusker Memes Tees!

Quick Notes:

Nathan Gerry – All American.  Nebraska has had their share of great defensive backs, heck you could say in the last ten years, the one constant is the greatness of the team often times lined up in the defensive backfield.  Prince Amukumara, Dejon Gomes, Eric Hagg all played at a high level.  Nathan Gerry has played better than all of them in my opinion, at least this season.  Pro Football Focus has Gerry as the top rated statistical player at safety, in the country this year.  His game against Wisconsin showed why he should be getting All American mention, with two late picks and countless correct tackles and occupied blockers, Gerry was the defensive player of the week.

Kevin Maurice, forget about Valentine and Collins.  One of my favorite players the last few years, including when he was a recruit, was Maliek Collins.  I followed his high school career a little bit and had a strong feeling he was going to make a lot of noise at Nebraska.  I followed Kevin Maurice a little bit, but he has been one of the bigger recruiting wins from the Pelini era.  I think having coach John Parella has helped catapult Maurice into and all conference defensive tackle.  I shudder to think where the Huskers would be without Kevin.  He has played significant minutes all season and has probably been Nebraska’s best pass rusher.  He has been a star.

LockDown U Strikes Again.  Nebraska’s secondary just continues to make plays.  Over and over again, they are deflecting passes, making tackles on the perimeter and setting the tone for the defense.  Because of them, the defensive line has managed to make some coverage sacks and allowed the defense to tee off on passing downs.  Coach Mark Banker and Coach Brian Stewart really have them playing at a high level.

Wide Receivers Need More Touches.  Tommy Armstrong struggled mightily against Wisconsin and the play making abilities of the wide receivers showed it.  Nebraska has to make a better effort to get the talented corp of wideouts the ball more.  Either on flash screens or jet sweeps, or whatever it takes, they need more touches.

Tommy Armstrong is gun shy.  Tommy Armstrong has been running for his life a lot the last three weeks and he has started to regress when he throws the ball.  All that pressure has him throwing off his back foot more, making quicker decisions and making improper reads.  Tommy is never going to be Tom Brady in college, but he has to get back to at least 55% or better as a passer or Nebraska won’t beat anyone good.  Tommy must play well this game to beat Ohio State.  He is truly the difference maker that can give the Buckeyes fits.  

Cethan Carter is back!  Sam Cotton and Trey Foster have filled in admirably for Cethan Carter while he has been sitting with an elbow injury since the Illinois game.  Carter has been practicing all week and hopefully will play against Ohio State.  Cotton especially seems to have improved quite a bit this season, but Carter is still on another level.  Carter sets the tone in the run game more so than maybe any other player on the team not named Nick Gates.  If Carter is ready to go and can play at least 80 to 90 percent of what he is when fully healthy, you should see a large increase in Nebraska’s yards per rush attempt this week.

Defense.  Nebraska has played defense better this season. They have probably played better than anyone could have hoped.  They lead the Big Ten in interceptions, they have held all teams not named Oregon below 25 points and given the team more than enough chances to win every game.  For Nebraska to beat Ohio State this weekend, the defense must play their best game this season.  I honestly feel like this game will be their coming out party.  If that happens, the nation will get a big shock at what a Blackshirt is for the first time since Suh played in Lincoln.

Go CUBS Go!  Sorry, had to throw this in the blog.  The last month of baseball games has been a heart wrenching experience for this seasoned Cubs fan.  Love them or hate them, Cubs fans, at least long time Cubs fans, had resigned to the fact that the Cubs would never win the World Series.  I know I was just thrilled with them playing in the World Series.  Now that they finally have won, it’s a wonder that I never would have expected.  

In the last 18 months, we lost my dad, a cousin, Sam Foltz and gained a baby girl.  Our family has been through a lot of emotional roller coasters.  It made this win a little more heartfelt for me.  It’s crazy to think, my new baby girl has never lived a year that the Cubs didn’t win the World Series.  This after so many lived for so long without one. Sports are awesome, and if you read this blog, you already know that.  It really does bind a lot of us together.  Sometimes it’s the salve we need, at the most important times.  Now if Nebraska can beat the Buckeyes!

Score Prediction: Nebraska 27 – Ohio State 26

I’m not sure why, but I feel like Nebraska is better than anyone else thinks.  They have played up to their competition all season.  I think they will do that again this week in Columbus.  The Buckeyes have great athletes all over the field, but they seem to be lacking a little bit in the teamwork department.  The last two weeks, they were beat by a hungrier Penn State team and taken to the wire by a much improved Northwestern.  I realize the Huskers are 17 point underdogs, but that is just crazy in my eyes.  Nebraska has been beating down the door this season, now it’s time to break it down!  GBR!!