Week 5 Husker Report Card: Iowa State

If you are a glass half-full person, you see a 1-0 conference record and a defense that showed heart out there.  If you are a glass half-empty person, you see a Blackshirt defense that gave up 400 yards to one of the worst offenses in major conferences on a day where the Big XII North surprised the kingpins of the South.

So, no need from signatures for this week's report card.  We saw progress...

Offensive Line:  B-  Still not a lot of running room inside.
Running Backs:  D+  First quarter fumbles kept the Blackshirts on the field nearly the entire first quarter.  Take away the great blocks on Marlon Lucky's long touchdown run, and Lucky's day looked rather mediocre.
Quarterback:  B-  Sam Keller looks great in the 2 minute offense.  But Keller's first quarter interception was thrown into double coverage was a bad decision.  A senior quarterback also should know by now that with no timeouts and 15 seconds on the clock, you can't afford to take a sack or try to scramble.
Wide Receivers:  B  We saw a few drops, but some great catches as well.  Even Frantz Hardy made a nice grab.
Defensive Line:  C+  Was that pressure on the quarterback I saw?  Yes!!!
Linebackers:  B-  A few missed tackles, but the fire we remember from Corey McKeon was back.  And Bo Ruud saves the day with another interception return.
Secondary:  B-  Zack Bowman was burned several times yesterday.  Courtney Grixby was huge, contributing to three ISU turnovers.  Why didn't he play in the first quarter?
Special Teams:  B-  Courtney Grixby's kickoff returns got the Huskers back into the game.  Adi Kunalic's leg was very impressive in the gale.  But three special teams penalties hurt the Huskers badly.
Coaching:  B  Is that a worrisome sign that Nebraska felt the need to break out the "specials" yesterday?
Overall:  C+  It's a win.  But the road for the rest of the season gets a LOT more difficult from here on.

Elsewhere in College Football:

Kansas State:  A  The Eyes of Texas are upon you once again, Ron Prince.
Colorado:  A+  In September 2006, they lose at home to 1-AA Montana State.  In September 2007, they beat the defending conference champions.
Top 25:  C-  Yesterday was the day to be an underdog.  Even USC was in danger yesterday.
HuskerVision:  F  Just when you think they can't screw up the TunnelWalk any worse, they add even more stuff to the leadup.  The prelude still wasn't done and the team was already running onto the field.  Plus, the out-of-town scoreboard wasn't showing any conference scores, so the only people who knew about OU-CU and KSU-UT were fans with radios.