Week 11 Husker Report Card: Kansas State

In the first half of Saturday's game anyway, the Blackshirts were bad.  Second half, maybe not.  A little lack of motivation, and a lot better play from Kansas State's backup quarterback made the second half a little more competitive.  Combine that with an interception and kickoff return both returned for a touchdown, and you've got a score that masked the domination on both sides of the ball.

Offensive Line:  A  When you consider the injuries to Lydon Murtha and now Javario Burkes, the 310 yards rushing, and only one sack allowed, that was a fine performance yesterday.

Running Backs:  A  Solid performance by all.  If you shelled out the $29.95 for the pay-per-view, did you hear Quentin Castille blast into KSU cornerback Otis Johnson?  Owww!  Helu had 2 touchdowns, and even Marcus Mendoza got into the act as well.

Wide Receivers:  B+  Another solid performance, though they weren't needed to do as much yesterday.  Mike McNeill is quietly becoming a very productive weapon.

Quarterback:  B+  Want more evidence that Husker football is getting back to evidence?  The Huskers score 56 points on K-State, rush for 310 yards, and the leading rusher is the starting quarterback.  Only downgrade is the 1st quarter interception, which was thrown well behind Nate Swift and picked off.  Can't get an A after that.  Still another solid game from Joe Ganz.

Defensive Line:  A  Suh and Potter spent so much time in Kansas State's backfield yesterday, they'll have to file a Kansas state tax return next spring.

Linebackers:  A  After Blake Lawrence left the game with a concussion, Nebraska was left with walk-ons Tyler Wortman, Colton Koehler, and Matthew May to finish the game at linebacker.  Kansas State still was held to 247 yards.

Secondary:  B  Josh Freeman didn't (couldn't?) test these guys much, and they generally held up pretty well.  Even on that 64 yard 2nd quarter bomb, Anthony West wasn't so much out of position as much as the ball was nearly perfectly placed.

Overall:  B+  I almost gave an A-, but the bottom line is they gave up 28 points.  Yeah, they dominated the statistics, but the score was a lot closer than than the game indicated.

Amy & Greg Sharpe:  A+  Congratulations to the Husker play-by-play announcer and his wife on the birth of their daughter.  Amy went into labor just in the morning, and Sharpe left Manhattan 45 minutes before kickoff and made it back to Lincoln in time.  Sounds like Lane Grindle did a fine job as the emergency play-by-play announcer.

Elsewhere in College Football

Schedulers:  F  What a ho-hum week of college football.

Florida:  A+  Nobody...and I mean NOBODY... wants to play the Gators right now.

Baylor:  A  Baylor led Texas A&M 41-7 at the end of the third quarter.  If Bill Byrne isn't feeling some heat for his coaching hires, something's not right down deep in the heart of Texas.

LSU, first three quarters:  F  Oh my goodness.  Trailing Troy 31-3 at home?

LSU, fourth quarter:  A++++  OH MY GOODNESS!  30 points in the fourth quarter?

LSU fans:  F  Hope some of you at least listened to your team's incredible fourth quarter comeback on the radio as you drove home last night.  Tiger Stadium looked strangely vacant last night, when it probably should have triggered the seismographs again.