It wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t pretty, but the Huskers came away with a much needed victory today in Boulder.
It took a touchdown from special teams and another from The Blackshirts to win the game.
The Buffs had more first downs (20 to our 114); more yards passing (269 to our 73); and more total yards (403 to our 217). Thankfully Nebraska came away with more points.
Like all Nebraska fans I’m pleased with the win, but we’ll need to be notably better against Texas and again in our bowl game if we expect to win.
Today, the University of Colorado had a chance to send a message that it isn’t acceptable to go 2 – 18 on the road. It isn’t acceptable to lose to Toledo and Colorado State. It isn’t acceptable winning less games in year four than in year two or year three with a much easier schedule. The University had a chance to say we want to be successful in athletics and winning only 33% of your games is not successful just like doing your job 33% of the time for every other profession isn’t acceptable…
But the University said, poor us. We are too poor, we don’t have the facilities, we had the scandal. Translation: winning isn’t the priority.
I know the Buffs are down, but anything can happen when Nebraska and Colorado lineup to play football. I’m looking for a great game tomorrow from the Huskers (and the W), but it would be nice if Colorado pushes us hard in order to help ready us for what’s to come in Dallas (seared Longhorn).
The Blackshirts kept Oklahoma from the end zone a few weeks ago. Tonight they did it again against Kansas State at home, giving Coach Bo Pelini his first North Division title.
We now face Texas in the Big12 championship game in Dallas. Not many odds makers or pundits are going to give the Huskers a chance versus the ‘Horns, but that doesn’t matter. The Blackshirts will give us the chance we need.
In the meantime, there’s a trip to Boulder and some always-ornery buffalo to attend to.
According to Lincoln Journal Star’s Husker Extra, Husker running backs coach Tim Beck was high on optimism at Friday’s Big Red Breakfast.
A day before Nebraska and Kansas State settle the Big 12 North, Beck compared the upcoming game to a championship prize fight.
“You just got to come out swinging and keep swinging and keep swinging and keep swinging,” Beck said he told his players. “And you’re going to take some hits, but you can’t go down.”
We saw some good football played in Lawrence today. Niles Paul came to play. As did Roy Helu Jr. Our offensive line and Zac Lee also rose to the occasion. Hence, the W, on the road against a team that destroyed us on our last visit.
Matt Turner of HuskerVision will be graduating from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a degree in broadcast journalism next month. He’s been shooting, editing and producing for national broadcasts for four years, but last Saturday he got to see all his hard work on the big screens in Memorial Stadium before a critical game.
Turner says last week’s Tunnel Walk video was meant to play weeks earlier against Arkansas State, “but luckily, and fittingly, we couldn’t get it in until the OU game. There was something special in the air last night, and in my wildest dreams I would love to believe that my video had something to do with it but I think that the crowd would have been just as electric with it or not.”
“I woke up today with a flood of feedback. Last night was emotional for me. My second to last game at memorial stadium. The biggest win since I have been at the University. Seeing all the overwhelming support over my addition to last night makes it something that I won’t ever forget. This type of thing isn’t suppose to happen for nerds like myself… but I’ll accept the exception.”
Bo Pelini and Shawn Watson are in no hurry to name a starting QB for this Saturday’s game in Lawrence.
According to HuskerExtra.com, it could be Lee and it could be Green.
“We’ve got to go week to week and we’re going to do what we feel like we need to win each football game,” Pelini said. “It could be a combination of the two. It could be Zac. It could be Cody. It’s something we’re going to figure out as time goes on and we put in our game plans, and give us the best opportunity to win football games.”
Samuel McKewon of NE State Paper considers the situation:
Can Watson really try to run two different offenses? It hasn’t worked so far.
…watching the game tape again, Green’s setting seemed stuck on “overload” of all kinds – emotional, mental, physical – and the WCO is too precise, even when masquerading as a spread, to accommodate that state of being.
HuskerExtra also points out that the coaches wanted to protect Green from the Sooners last week. That’s a pretty clear indication that they see Zac Lee as the mentally tougher, and more seasoned player.
Given that we have three more regular season games and a North division championship to win, I think we’ll be seeing Zac Lee under center. As long as he comes in and throws touchdown passes–like the one he threw against Oklahoma–he’ll be on the right foot and the Huskers will be on their way to the Big 12 championship game.
In other news, Nebraska safety Matt O’Hanlon has been named the FWAA/Bronko Nagurski National Defensive Player of the Week, after his 3 interceptions and career-high 12 tackles (nine unassisted). It’s the third time this season a Blackshirt has been so recognized.
A defensive battle on both sides of the ball, but the key stat of the game – other than posting the Win – is that Nebraska managed only 180 yards of offense. The Blackshirts gave up 325 yards of offense, but kept the Huskers in the game with 5 interceptions.
This was an ugly win, but still a win. I’ll withhold a few issues about this offense until another day, but I will point out that if you take away Helu’s two long runs (of 63 and 25 yards), Nebraska would be sitting with just over 90 yards of total offense for the whole game.
Think about that, as we celebrate the win and realize that going 2-1 over the next three games puts the Huskers in the Big-12 Championship Game
I wish Huskers.com provided an embed option for their video offerings, but alas, they do not. I guess they want those extra clicks, just like every other online publisher that relies on ad revenue. So go ahead, click over there.
Are you back? Nice.
At the end of this segment, 18-year old Cody Green from Dayton, Texas says, “Fans are loyal…they know you as soon as you start to get recruited. Everybody knows you. It’s just a wonderful place.”
Green, who started his first game at Baylor last Saturday, will be facing a much scarier opponent tomorrow at 7:00 p.m. Central. Let’s hope he’s ready to make Memorial Stadium “a wonderful place” to be.
