Final: Nebraska 37 - Colorado 14
Nebraska put together 4 quarters of consistency and char-broiled the Buffaloes 37-14.
The Huskers dug into their bag of tricks today and pulled out some winners. A fake fieldgoal attempt from an offset line that went for a 29 yard touchdown pass from Joe Ganz to Barry Turner. A fake hard count on 4th down that saw Taylor walking to sidelines looking like he was going to call timeout only to see a direct snap to Tierre Green who rushed for the 1st down.
All-in-all, I think Nebraska put together their finest four quarters of football all season. Colorado had two drives for scores in the game, both of which seemed to exploit the Blackshirts. With Mell Holiday’s 49 yard touchdown rush in the third, it looked like Nebraska was ready to step into their 2nd half meltdown mode, but they regained their composure and took it to visibly tiring Buffs.
Brandon Jackson had his number called early and often, putting up 150 yards on the ground on 34 carries. Zac Taylor finished his final game in Lincoln going 19 of 28 for 249 yards.
Kenny Wilson put the nail in the coffin with less than a minute to go on a 7 yard, tackle breaking scamper into the endzone. Bill Callahan received the Gatorade dunk.
The Huskers are eagerly awaiting the winner of Bedlam, the in-state rivalry game between Oklahoma and Oklahoma State. If the Sooners win, Nebraska takes them on next Saturday in the Big 12 Championship game from Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
November 25th, 2006 at 9:20 pm
Is it just me or does anyone else feel a little embarrassed having to use every trick play in the book to beat a 2-9 CU team? CU hung in there way too long in this game. The outcome was in doubt clear up into the 4th quarter. A win is a win I guess. However, in the past, it never was that way. Not sure why everyone gets so excited when we escape a disaster to a team whop scrapes together 2 wins for the entire season. NU husker football sure has changed and it’s fans too.
November 25th, 2006 at 9:43 pm
I don’t think they won the game on the trick plays, I think they were being used to rub CU’s face in it a little bit. Entertainment value in a game that techincally didn’t mean anything.
As for the outcome in doubt until the 4th quarter. Midway through the 3rd, The Buffs were on the sideline with hands on their hips sucking wind. They couldn’t have mounted a comeback if they wanted to.
Fundamentaly, Nebraska fell down in a couple of areas - say run containment, tackling - but the rest of the D was solid all day. Colorado wasn’t going anywhere as long as the Husker’s weren’t making mistakes.
The offense was solid most of the game. A couple dropped passes here and there, and few instances of not reading the D prior to the snap, but all in all, by the 4th quarter, I saw a team that knew they had the game in the bag and went into cruise control.
Bring on the Sooners!
November 26th, 2006 at 5:58 pm
Almost everyone saw NU benefit from 2 botched officials call, the face mask against CU that never happened and a late off setting pass interference against CU that was never there. Throw in the 4 ‘trick’ or ‘gadget’ plays and, the fact that early in the FOURTH quarter NU was holding on to only a 21 to 14 lead, I just don’t understand your comments. All of this against a 2-9 team !!! Well, when you want to believe in something bad enough, you see what you want to see. Just remember, there are many folks out there bleeding red who choose to not be so blind.
November 26th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
You both make good points. We could have played much better, for sure. The fact that Colorado was in this game at all is a unnerving. At the same time, a win is a win and we did pull away big time, so the point about our superior conditioning is well made.
I think we all know much more from the squad will be needed this Saturday against Oklahoma.