Report Card: Northwestern Wildcats 28, Huskers 25
by Husker Mike on Nov 6, 2011 3:49 PM CST
in 2011 Nebraska Huskers Football
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PrintOnce again, we're left to figure out where things went wrong. Was it a hangover from a big victory the week before? Maybe, but I don't think that completely explains it. Was it another example of a Bo Pelini-coached team losing their annual hairball game? I don't see that trend; what was the game in 2008 that Nebraska should have won? Virginia Tech, it was an evenly matched game that Nebraska fell behind and then came back late. Missouri and Oklahoma were games where Nebraska was an underdog - and rightfully so. And Texas Tech should have been a mismatch, but Nebraska played very well and made it close.
So I dismiss the idea that Bo Pelini's teams always lose a game they shouldn't. That being said, many Nebraska losses now come in that category, because most people think Nebraska's on the cusp of being a contender again. But until Pelini and Nebraska can play more consistently, Nebraska will remain on the outside of that cusp. No, Nebraska's not back. Not when the Huskers keep losing games like this. It's not terminal either, unless fans lose patience. Remember all of the jokes about Tom Osborne and bowls? He figured that out in the end, and I have no reason not to believe Bo Pelini won't either.
Oh, and let's not forget to tip our hat off to Northwestern. They came in with a great scheme on defense and outplayed the Huskers on both sides of the ball. They won the game, and deserved the kudos. No, onto our self-flagelation; as always, your comments are welcome below.
QB: Bo Pelini called it a team loss, and that everybody played poorly. That's probably the right thing for the coach to say in the locker room, but deep down, I think everybody recognized that one player played lights-out yesterday. Taylor Martinez played a whale of a game. He ran hard, such as a 14 yard run in the fourth quarter where he broke four tackles. Despite a stiff wind, his throws were on target, completing 75% of his passes. Half of his incompletions were drops that probably either could have or should have been caught. He kept his poise all day long. But he couldn't win this game by himself. Grade: A
RB: We can speculate whether Rex Burkhead was dinged up or exhausted from his workload the week before. Personally, I think the blame goes elsewhere. Not his fault when he's getting hit behind the line of scrimmage. But that fumble at the goal line...ugh. Grade: B-
WR: A lot of good, and a little very bad. We saw buys get open and make nice catches (Kyler Reed, Ben Cotton, Brandon Kinnie). But we also saw drops. And Quincy Enunwa's fumble in the second kept the Huskers from completely taking hold of the game in the second quarter. Grade: B-
OL: Bo Pelini said that Nebraska "stunk" running the ball. And I won't disagree. Yoshi Hardrick and Andrew Rodriguez got benched to try and find somebody who could keep Northwestern's line out of the backfield. When you consider how many yards Northwestern had allowed on the ground prior to this week, there's no other grade possible: F.
DL: In the second quarter, I actually thought the front four was playing pretty well. But I also had to pause when #72 came in game. Who the hell is that? Fortunately, I had picked up one of those rosters, and realized it was offensive lineman Justin Jackson in an emergency role. As the game went on, the defensive line wore down and eventually they gave out. Baker Steinkuhler had a whale of a first half with a sack, a pass deflection that was intercepted, and nine tackles for the game. Eric Martin was a monster in that second quarter attacking Dan Persa...but it was all for naught in the second half. Anybody else noticed how often Nebraska plays four defensive ends at times? Cameron Meredith and I think Jason Ankrah moved inside, with Martin and Josh Williams remaining on the edge. The coaches show creativity, but it was by necessity. Grade: C+
LB: I wonder if the Pelini's are second-guessing playing so much dime coverage yesterday. Taking Will Compton out of the game made Nebraska more susceptible to the run, and the extra defensive back didn't seem to help the pass coverage much. Certainly having Compton nearby seems to help Lavonte David play better. David played OK, for the most part, but seemed to be out of position a lot. Grade: B-
Secondary: After playing really well against against Michigan State, the secondary played, well, horrible against Northwestern. Maybe the tone was set early on by that horrible pass interference call on Ciante Evans early on that resulted in the Wildcats' first touchdown. Jeremy Ebert was open all day, and superback Drake Dunsmore was a complete mismatch that Northwestern didn't exploit enough. Grade: F
Overall: D Nebraska had their chances to win this game, but didn't do enough.
Elsewhere in College Football
Alabama D What would Nick Saban do for a reliable field goal kicker now?
Oklahoma State/Kansas State: A+ for entertainment. The antithesis of the so-called "Game of the Century". Was that an earthquake or the scoreboard crashing? Either way, it registered 5.6 on the Richter scale...and freaked out ESPN's Kirk Herbstreit during a live interview as the press box shook.
Iowa State: D I believe that's called "playing down to your competition". When you are Iowa State, that's something you can almost never get away with.
B1G Contenders: D Go ahead and take your shots at Nebraska...but it would have been more embarrassing to lose to Indiana ... or (snicker) Minnesota.
ESPN/ABC: F Did you really pick Michigan/Illinois for the ABC broadcast over Nebraska/Penn State? C'mon man.
Penn State: -1,000,000,000 The Nittany Lions may have been idle, but the story about the disgusting things that former defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky allegedly did with teenage boys, and the response by Joe Paterno and the rest of the hierarchy of Penn State is absolutely deplorable. If this story holds up as the facts emerge, it's very likely that this could be Joe Paterno's last season...and if so, he'll go out with a very tarnished reputation.
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Sure the Minnnesota loss was embarassing,
but it’s debatable as to which loss is worse. Iowa rebounded by shutting down Denard for the third year in a row, while Husker Nation found out what it means to get Northwestern/d, and with trips to Happy Valley and Ann Arbor over the next two weeks, your boys might find themselves needing a win over Iowa just to finish at .500 in league play.
Watching the Cubs piss it away for 31 years.
Nice try, buddy
But a loss to Minnesota anywhere is so, so much worse than a loss to Northwestern at home.
by Cheeseandcorn on Nov 6, 2011 5:06 PM CST up reply actions
I agree that it was a bad loss. My point - which you read -
was that Iowa rebounded from that to shut down Denard for the 3rd straight year. I’m not sure how much Nebraska was favored by yesterday, but I can’t imagine it was anything less than 14 points. Nebraska (was) a top ten team playing an ISU-like team at home, and that ISU clone had lost 5 in a row. Spin it however you want, Nebraska embarrassed themselves yesterday.
Watching the Cubs piss it away for 31 years.
No one here's trying to spin anything other than you
Look at the grades we all gave the Huskers’ performance yesterday: 82% gave it a D or an F. Of course the Huskers’ loss was bad. But to say it’s even close to as bad as Iowa’s loss to Minnesota, let alone “debatable” is just absurd. The Gophers are 2-7. 2-7! They lost at home to New Mexico State and North Dakota State! Yes, your team beat Michigan at home. Have a cookie. But that doesn’t make your loss last week any less embarrassing, or the Huskers’ loss this week any more so.
Also: Northwestern destroyed Indiana last week, so they were not on a five-game losing streak. If you’re gonna troll, get your facts right.
by Cheeseandcorn on Nov 6, 2011 7:00 PM CST up reply actions
So a team overlooked another
Happens all the time. We will be fine against Michigan and PSU. You are happily ignoring the the Nebraska Oline was fine against a MSU D line better than either PSU and certainly Michigans.
Oh, and don’t be too impressed with shutting down Robinson since a mid level SEC team was able easily accomplish such a feat. Congrats Iowa, you have achieved Mississippi State level of ability.
I am going to put this out there…. Iowa fans are football stupid.
Google's homepage celebrates too much shit.
big 10 contenders
But Ohio state and Michigan state didn’t lose to Indiana and Minnesota…
The margins in the three games
Were 10, 7, and 3.
Against Indiana, Minnesota, and Northwestern respectively. It’s pretty safe to say that OSU, MSU, and NU all played poorly, and the two that got utterly inept opponents for their off-day were extremely fortunate.
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
Who is this NU you refer to?
Because from my seat, it looked like Northwestern played its best game all season this past Saturday….
The 'Who gets to be called NU' debate may be the single dumbest debate in college football
That being said, Chadnudj’s right. I think it was pretty well settled on Saturday that Northwestern is NU for the foreseeable future.
by Cheeseandcorn on Nov 7, 2011 9:19 AM CST up reply actions
For what it's worth...
…I agree that this is the dumbest debate ever. I could care less what people abbreviate Northwestern as, so long as we’re worth talking about (i.e. we’re not a disaster like Indiana).
Even jNWU has some charm, since it rankles the Hawkeyes so much that they keep losing to “just” Northwestern (albeit not this season).
I haven’t really called it NU anyway. I use NEB for us and NW for them.
Go Suns, Packers, Jays, and Huskers!
Read my thoughts on Creighton University athletics at Creightonian.com
I also edit things at Ridiculous Upside. Check it out.
My bad, OSU beat the Hoosiers by 14
My point still stands though.
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
Right
so the point is that it’s just as embarrassing to win by two touchdowns (or one) against bad teams as it is to lose to a bad team. If that’s what you believe than ok. I guess my point is that i would be more embarrased to lose to a bad team than beat one.
Your problem
Is that you’re lumping Northwestern, Indiana, Minnesota into the same category as “bad teams” when you know full well that NW is head and shoulders above the other two.
Northwestern isn’t a “bad” team. They largely went toe to toe with Illinois, Michigan, Iowa, and Penn State before falling short in the 4th quarter and they killed Indiana. Does it suck that we lost to them? Sure it does. Is barely losing to Northwestern better than narrowly beating Indiana? Of course not. I’d have much rather had Nebraska lay an egg against Indiana than Northwestern. But that didn’t happen. Nebraska laid its egg against Northwestern, OSU laid its egg against Indiana. You got lucky in your opponent. We didn’t. End of story.
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
Lots of TV time
I think I saw Thorell and Evans more on Saturday than at any other game. Unfortunately it was tackling the guy who just made a catch on the. Maybe A. Green has stepped up and is locking down his guy because I don’t remember seeing him.
Insert witty retort here.
would people please stop comparing bo to TOM. Especially in reference to bowl games. It is so disingenuous. TOMS bowl losing streak came against usually natty champ type teams. Often in the opposing teams stadium. Not the sad ass bowls like we are headed for again this year. What is the crap bowl in detroit against the mac….lol? I like bo, but we are not getting it done. We will not win our mediocre division and I am sorry that is a complete disaster
For the record I love Bo. I like his anger, passion, style, I am a huge fan. I think the players love and respect him. I hope he keeps growing and wins some type of championship for us. That being said I have some concerns. And I would send his ass back to ohio in a new york minute for a guy like Chris Peterson
Defensive question for the old guys
Remember in 1992 when the defense played with 4 big guys except in passing situations, then they brought in the smaller rush ends. After the season they graded out the defensive play and realized the small rush ends were allowing a better defense. This spawned a string of NFL rush ends and a few NC’s. Should they switch to smaller rush ends to get more speed on the field?
Insert witty retort here.
Pelini
is a good coach but that loss has to sting. It seemed like NW defense was one step ahead of Beck all game long. No Wildcat, one or two screens and draws to slow the NW’s d-line wasn’t enough. They just pinned it back and came up field and didn’t care. On the defensive side of the ball what the hell was that????? I thought they turned a corner last week. The one sure thing about us is that we never know what team to expect from week to week. Oh ya, and we will fumble the football. As Pelini said after the game that was a total team loss all phases fell horribly short of their potential.
On defense...
…I think the difference was that Northwestern has a better offense than Michigan State. Or, at minimum, it employs an offensive attack that is more varied/multiple with some VERY mobile quarterbacks who are willing to take what the defense gives them in the middle of the field, and thus is a bad match-up for the Husker defense (which was able to rattle Cousins, who is a relative statue in the backfield).
I think Bo is an above average coach to good coach.
The last 3 seasons Nebraska has dropped at least 1 game in that season at home to an unranked opponents while being ranked themselves is pretty hard for me to dismiss. I agree that anything that happened in 2008 probably should be thrown out. But we are in year 4 and trends in your program start to show up. This team shows up flat too much at home under Bo. I also think Bo and his staff put a lot of these expectations for this season on themselves by some of their comments early on. Do we have an offensive identity yet? This is year 4 and we still are searching. I kept thinking we were getting a guy who was going to run a program similar to Nick Saban. But when it comes down to it Bo’s teams can’t line up and run and for the most part have tendency to get beat up running it right at them. Maybe I’m still frustrated, but I don’t know if Bo will even get to Frank’s level of achievement. I just don’t see us winning a CCG and/or getting to a BCS Bowl with him as our coach. I sure hope he proves me completely wrong and does just that. Sorry frustrated and needed to vent.
Honestly? There's not enough blame on the players for this week.
Coaches don’t fumble. Coaches don’t drop passes. Coaches don’t get out of position, miss tackles and get beat off the ball by an opponent.
From what I saw, this loss was about execution and focus, and that falls squarely on the players’ shoulders. The game plan was sound, at least on the offensive side – we just didn’t execute. Defensively, well, we’re down to walk-ons at DT and no one knows who the second CB is from week to week – maybe you can put that on the coaches, but there’s also a need for players to step up and do what they’re being coached to do. Bo and Carl have shown us in the past they know how to coach defense; it could be we just don’t have the horses this year like we thought.
After last week I thought things had finally gotten where they were supposed to go. I guarantee you that as sick as this loss made us feel, it makes the coaches and players ten times as sick. They know they all failed on this one – now’s the time to see if this year’s team has the fortitude to come back. I hope it does.
"I have never been noticeably reticent about talking on subjects about which I know nothing." Prince Phillip
Agreed
I’m hearing Bo didn’t get the players to “get up” for this game. Utterly absurd! That is all on the players if that is the case. And should that be true they need to figure out how they can not “get up” for a game that you get to play only 12-13 times a year. Never had that trouble when I suited up for any team I played for.
Two other observations I had on the game:
First, horrendous job by the WRs and TEs on the edge blocking. DBs for NW made a lot of tackles around the L.O.S. on running plays.
Secondly, numerous holds by the NW offensive line, where our D-line would be in the hole and then suddenly pulled back in the opposite direction, onto the ground. So it was in plain sight for the officials! Not saying thats the reason for the loss by any means, just perplexing to me how so many went unnoticed by the stripes.
Last observation: Helluva game played by NW. They executed exactly what they set out to do this game.
Agreed....
On holding the players a little more accountable, but don’t we have a very young team. Could this be just a case of “lack of ______”? I definately drink the kool-aid a bit, I love the Huskers, So don’t fault me. I live in AZ, and can’t get enough of the Big Red. ASU/UofA annoy the crap out of me here. Very much fair weather fans (like CU without the riots).
Pelini is the right coach for us now, and for a while. I would hate to bring in someone new and run into this possible situation in another few years. His Defense was set up for Big12, and now has to adjust to B1G……He’ll figure it out. As far as the offense goes, at least we are scoring points this late into the season now……..
Sorry, haven’t had enough coffee yet, rought weekend!
by Huskerinthedesert on Nov 7, 2011 10:05 AM CST up reply actions
Refs: F
They missed so many calls it was ridiculous (including three block to the backs on the game-winning drive for Northwestern).
If they called a good game, I think Nebraska would have won.
by Nathaniel Perlow on Nov 6, 2011 10:58 PM CST reply actions
Had Nebraska played a good game at home against a bad NU team they would have won.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Nov 7, 2011 1:20 PM CST up reply actions
If that makes you feel better
then Big Red has fallen a Hell of a long way.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Nov 8, 2011 12:55 AM CST up reply actions
Just thought I would drop you a quick reminder about your own team.
But if you must, keep on trolling.
I'm not here trolling.
I like the site, have had conversations with many commenters here and enjoy the writing. Perhaps you’ve changed your avatar, but I actually don’t recognize you. I was merely shutting down one of the sadder routes a fanbase can go; in very rare instances does officiating “cost” a team the game. It usually ends up looking like grasping for straws, like above. I watched 3 quarters of this game. Unless the first quarter was the single most biased quarter in football history this sounds like someone making excuses for their team. Especially for a program as mighty as Nebraska. I should know as well as anyone that Northwestern just up and beats teams better than themselves, it’s not fun but it’s nobody’s “fault”.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Nov 8, 2011 9:36 AM CST up reply actions
Just thought you were just trying to ruffle some feathers...
Anyhow, I can assure anyone who may think that the general concensus around here is that we lost because of the officiating, that it couldn’t be further from the turth.
We all know damn well we lost because Northwestern came in and knew EXACTLY how to beat Nebraska, and they did it without trailing at any point in the game.
We now know what it’s like to be “Northwestern’d”
Don't worry
I’m sure Iowa will take that dubious honor back sooner rather than later.
Less memorable than Sam Okey's Hawkeye career.
by Kyle McCann't on Nov 8, 2011 10:46 AM CST up reply actions
If you're blaming the refs, your team lost fair and square.
We shouldn’t be depending on the referees making good calls to win games.
A Cornhusker through feast or famine. Get up, dust yourself off and run the ball. That's the Nebraska way.
by Salt Creek and Stadium on Nov 7, 2011 9:53 PM CST up reply actions
As far as coaching goes...
Ask yourselves one question. Is Nebraska any better off this year than the previous 3?
My answer is no. I have not seen any improvement, and, perhaps, a downward trend. Had Nebraska entered the B1G with 2009/10’s stale offense and stingy defense, they would be running the table in this league.
Unfortunately, that stingy D came and went, leaving us allowing teams like Northwestern to light us up.
Still excited for the rest of the season, but I think this year, more than any, has been an eye opener, and I think some of us will enter next year’s season with more realistic expectations.
Well stated.
I think the biggest problem facing Nebraska and it’s fans, is making the distinction between high aspirations, and high expectations. It’s not bad to aspire to win the league each year. It’s going to be unreasonable to EXPECT to win it each year.
(And yes, I do believe that some teams don’t even aspire to win their league.)
"Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game;
In the deed the glory"
GO BIG RED!
OK, on the paterno story
I read ny times story today and the si article by Mandel, I dunno how much really can be blamed on Paterno right now. All we know is that the graduate assistant mentioned it to Paterno, where apparently used terms like “horsing around” and wasn’t explicit, Paterno then reported it to the athletic director and told (I think I read that) the GA to report it to the athletic director as well. So Paterno may have had 2nd hand vague details from his GA, did what he is supposed to do per the university rules and reported it, and had the GA followup with it.
I dunno, in the times story there is a lawyer who is saying that Paterno should have “followed up”. But what does that mean? How do we know that he didn’t follow up for the athletic director later? And oft times, I would think people want to get out of the way and let the legal process work, and that looks like what appears that Paterno followed the employee handbook and is now currently testifying for the prosecution. Now more may come from this that makes Paterno more much at fault, but right now, I dunno, I think the “fire Paterno now” slogans are a bit knee-jerk.
Google's homepage celebrates too much shit.
I think you're right that we need to pump the brakes a bit on the "go after JoePa" thing
But the thing that gets me is that Pennsylvania is a mandatory-report state for suspicions of child abuse. If you have serious suspicions that a child is being abused, you’re required by law to report it to law enforcement. When you hear an eyewitness report of a 60-year-old man “horsing around” in the shower with a 10-year-old boy, you respond with two things: 1) “Whoa, what exactly do you mean by ‘horsing around’?” 2) Then, when he tells you the details of what he saw, you say, “All right, I’m going to get the authorities on the phone.” JoePa didn’t do that. No one did.
by Cheeseandcorn on Nov 7, 2011 9:17 AM CST up reply actions
Paterno knew
Sandusky was investigated in 1998 and didn’t retire until the next year. Paterno had to know that his DC was being investigated. After the 2002 incident Sandusky was barred from bringing young boys to the facilities but he was still given access. The guy is caught assaulting a child and they tell him he can still come use the school’s facilities but he can’t bring any kids!!! The higher ups at PSU are focusing on the we did the minimum legal thing when everyone else is focusing on the moral side. There is no way Paterno never heard a rumor or such over the years about Sandusky.
Insert witty retort here.
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