Report Card: Huskers 51, Washington Huskies 38
by Husker Mike on Sep 18, 2011 10:23 PM CDT
in 2011 Nebraska Huskers Football
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PrintRemember just two weeks ago when we were worried about the offense and pleased with the defense? Now we've got the opposite concerns. The Husker offense looked dominant, but the defense had some issues against Washington...mostly in the fourth quarter. Let's give credit where credit is due: Washington has talent on offense and frankly, I think they are better this year than last, if only because I think that Keith Price is a better quarterback than Jake Locker. (Of course, when I've seen Locker play, he reminds me more of Jammal Lord or Mickey Joseph than a first round NFL draft pick.)
But it's a win...and against a BCS conference opponent who went to a bowl game last year. So we'll take it. As always, your feedback and comments are always welcome below!
QB: There was a lot out of Martinez to like on Saturday. He avoided contact, and judiciously selected his runs. Several times, he made sure he had two hands on the football to make sure he wouldn't fumble. While his footwork in the passing game leaves a lot to be desired, he's becoming more accurate as a passer. Sometimes he still makes bad decisions (like his third quarter pass into the endzone that hit the ground before it could be intercepted), but week by week, he keeps improving. Grade: B+
RB: Rex Burkhead picked up where he left off at the end of the Fresno State game: grinding out tough yards and finding a few extra at the end of each one. And the three freshmen backs all were impressive: Braylon Heard had a nice 25 yard run, Aaron Green with two touchdowns, and Ameer Abdullah with another beautiful long return. Oh, and a FULLBACK TRAP busted out for a 37 yard gain! Grade: A-
WR: Kenny Bell opened the game right by beating the coverage to gain 50 yards...but later in the game, he ran the wrong route and watched as a pass landed on the Washington sideline. Kyler Reed made another miraculous catch, and Jamal Turner caught a couple of short passes and turned them into good gains. All told, a nice afternoon: Grade: A-
OL: The line was bad in week one, and a little better last week. This week, a whole lot better...in fact, pretty good. Nice holes opened up, and Barney Cotton kept them fresh by rotating players in and out. Grade: B+
DL: Want this year's defensive struggles in a nutshell? Jared Crick finally got his first sack of the season, and Keith Price paid big-time for it. (Ouch!) But I really would have liked to have seen more consistent pressure in the first half. Grade: C+
LB: Lavonte David had a quiet eight tackles, though a nice interception of an underthrown pass by Price. But listening to Pelini's postgame comments, I get the feeling that Pelini would have liked the linebackers to have made better reads out there...especially with the number of defensive timeouts he called. Grade: C+
Secondary: I liked bringing in freshman Josh Mitchell in nickel situations to allow Ciante Evans to play as a nickel back instead of Justin Blatchford. That helped out tremendously. However, I still see Andrew Green getting toasted several times a game. Hopefully Alfonzo Dennard is ready to play soon, because I get the feeling that his presence will markedly improve this defense. Grade: C-
Overall: B- Truth be told, at the end of the third quarter, this grade was probably looking at a B+ or even higher, but those defensive lapses can't be excused. But a solid win.
Elsewhere in College Football
Iowa State: B+ Just win, baby. Cyclones are 3-0.
Indiana: D+ 21 points for South Carolina State and 20 penalties? Really?
Kansas: F Oh dear, Turner. 768 yards allowed?
Pac-12: F Now that Texas has destroyed two conferences, how can you seriously be thinking about letting the Bovines join?
Tulsa Athletic Director Bubba Cunningham: F C'mon man. You can't start a college football game at 12:20 am...especially when the two schools are only about an hour drive apart. Send the kids back, and bring everyone back the next afternoon after a good night's sleep.
Ohio Bobcats: A+ A 44-7 victory over Marshall was the type of game Frank Solich had while he was at Nebraska. Except he's now at Ohio U.
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Almost gave them a C
But then remembered how happy the offense made me. And Washington’s offense is legitimately good.
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
Locker
Last year, UW had no tight ends, often very poor line play that meant crossing routes couldn’t be used, and wide receivers who couldn’t get separation and faced a Husker secondary that was superior, according to this board, than this year’s. Price will be good, but Locker over the course of his playing at UW had a superior arm, accuracy when he had time, and mobility. Price could be something big, but Locker was great…save for Nebraska.:P
I liked watching NU’s offense. I think if Martinez would stop airing the ball out, he would be a legit Heisman-quality player.
Locker had a 53.9% Completion for college
I don’t think you can call him an accurate passer.
Last years secondary was light years ahead of the one in this years game. Prince is now with the Giants (first round pick) Hagg, Gnomes, and Dennard are also gone.
You can't possibly be a scientist if you mind people thinking that you're a fool.
~Wanko the Sane
Big Red Kool-aid Drinker @ Corn Nation
Hence the 'when he had time'
If the Huskers and their fans had to deal with the horrible coaching and dirth of emotion of and skill that the Huskies experienced during Locker’s time here, they would have rioted and burned down half of Lincoln. Politely.
If Locker had played for USC or a team or another team with a better supporting cast and offensive line, then we wouldn’t be having the debate.
The Refs
I thought the Refs played great for Nebraska. I’d give them an A+ for the Special teams play for Nebraska. As for doing their own job, they failed miserably F-. I HAD what that head ref was having, but I was in my own house with a stocked bar…
$.02
Game on!
I watched the game in person...
…and didn’t see what Washington’s coaching staff or Matt Millen saw. I saw Burkhead get clobbered trying to field a punt, and that should be a penalty. If someone has a link to a video replay so I can see what riled up Millen and UW fans, I’d like to see it.
I don't have any video to link
But I agree that the refs were bad. I saw at least 3 bad calls replayed over and over on tv, and to make it worse…the commentary did a piss poor job of explaining anything. So if there was an obscure rule that would have explained the refs calls, they weren’t conveyed. Burkhead didn’t get touched on the punt, until he had the rock. That was a great play by the UW coverage guy. The kickoffs were bad calls, except for the one where he skyed it in the air rather than bouncing it along the ground.
Having said that, I think it’s weak for anyone to blame any of the UW loss on the refs. A few bad calls..yes. But you can’t discount the Huskers running all over the Husky defense.
"Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game;
In the deed the glory"
GO BIG RED!
by Brian Speers on Sep 19, 2011 8:37 AM CDT up reply actions
Wow! It must be true...
There’s not an obscure rule… there is only one rule. Whether the receiver of the kick caught the ball or not does not have any bearing on the call. The rule is that if he is contacted simultaneous to his first touching the ball it is an interference foul. The rule also states "When in question, it is an interference foul". The fact that there has been such passionate debate about this particular call (not on the first bad call or the last good one) by both sides demonstrates there is a question and thus to label it a terrible call is questionable.
Many of us have tried to be fair minded and have stated that WU got jobbed on the first call but the other 2 were not the travesty some have made it especially those on TV who make a living stirring up controversy. We should each do our own research not parrot the opinions of talking heads.
The second call was more reasomable
But still bad. He got the ball and was then hit; it wasn’t as if he caught the ball and was hit at the same time. Otherwise, wouldn’t the ball have bounced out? He caught it and hit. The rule doesn’t say that he has to have the ability to make a football play with the ball or else it is a penalty, if I remember correctly.
I say it is a bad call, but not as much of a travesty as the first one. I can understand it, even if I think it is wrong.
How often does the defense get flagged
…for pass interference yet the receiver makes the catch anyway?
But the rule does say that the return man must have a unimpeded opportunity to
Make the catch.
by Husker Mike on Sep 19, 2011 10:14 AM CDT via mobile up reply actions
Fair...
I can understand why you think this was a bad call… if it had not been called I would say the same thing I’m saying now… the contact was close to being simultaneous but, based on the rule, I could see where the ref could have said the contact was after Rex first touched the ball and there is no conclusive video evidence I have seen to overturn whatever call was made on the field (if it was reviewable).
As to the question of whether the ball would have bounced out… Husker Mike is right… there are many times a player is hit and makes a great catch. In fact this particular hit could have helped Rex maintain possession since the ball ended up trapped between the 2 players. Just something to think about.
I am saying
That if contact was simultaneous, with the returner being hit just as the ball got to him, chances are that the ball would have bounced out because the returner would have blown away before he had control of the ball.
He wasn’t hit at that time however. He was hit after he caught it.
RABLE RABLE RABLE RABLE
The call was made on saturday, there is no way to overturn it on Monday. get over it the way we had to get over last year against aTm
Nebraska, The Good Life
Keith Stone, always smooth
So
If I look at the thread after that game from last year, I will see everyone being completely over it by Monday?:P
There was one big difference
The A&M game was actually close. :-)
by Cheeseandcorn on Sep 19, 2011 2:41 PM CDT up reply actions
And!
The last and worst penalty called on NU directly resulted in A&M’s winning score. Not to mention the A&M screwjob dwarfed what happened Saturday. UW was victimized by two bad calls, one of which had a significant impact on the game.
The A&M game:
-Ben Cotton was sexually assaulted in the pile and instead of 15 and an ejection on the A&M end, we got 30 against us.
-An A&M pass interference penalty that was waved off after the refs decided giving Nebraska the ball on the A&M 2 would jeopardize the Aggies’ chances of winning.
-Literally the worst roughing the passer penalty I’ve ever seen which gave the Aggies a new set of downs (they’d just failed to convert on 3rd and long) and moved them into range for the game winning field goal.
-Garden variety holding/blocking penalties whenever NU appeared to be gaining any offensive momentum.
-16 penalties for 150+ yards on NU vs 2 for 10 on A&M.
-And I’m probably missing some stuff.
So, yes, what happened to Washington on Saturday was really too bad. But if UW fans are sensing any lack of sympathy from us when they tell us about how the refs “threw the game” it would be because we know what that actually feels like, and no, the Huskies did not experience that miserable fate on Saturday.
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
by jdhusker on Sep 19, 2011 7:20 PM CDT up reply actions 1 recs
There was another key element to the refs actually "throwing the game" that night
They actually told Bo Pelini during the game that they were going to screw the Huskers over. Think about that for a second.
by Cheeseandcorn on Sep 19, 2011 10:30 PM CDT up reply actions
Yeah that's unbelievable
I kind of wish Bo had given us actual quotes. Everyone knew that game was a total sham and the Big 12 officials/coaches/players/fans who attempted to actually claim that game was fairly called deserve what’s happening to them right now. Except of course the worst offenders are going to be just fine.
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
To Be Fair Most Huskers STILL Are Not Over It
That ref-jobbing we got in the aTm game was epic and in no way will be forgotten by this generation of Huskers. Anytime a discussion is made about how heinous the Big 12 was, that will be example number 2, right behind (pick anything Texas did).
I think the officiating crew in the game last weekend looked lost a lot of the time. Didn’t know how to operate the equipment when making the calls, only identified the player being penalized a handful of times, made those kick calls that regardless of whether they were right or not were entirely questionable and worthy of discussion. I hate to see penalties like last week. They sabotage the spirit of the game and make for bad feelings and excuses (see Chris Polk comments). We ought to know – Nebraska has been on the receiving end of plenty.
"Were there monkeys? Some terrifying space monkeys maybe got loose?"
by UltimaRatioRegum on Sep 19, 2011 1:10 PM CDT up reply actions
I agree on the refs looking confused/lost alot
I should’ve known it would be a rough day when the head referee attempted to call unsportsmanlike conduct against Nebraska after UW’s first td (they ultimately got it right, despite UW protests….spiking the ball backhanded is still spiking the ball).
The one play I was stunned that they got right with no confusion was that UW onside kick. That’s an obscure rule and they got it right without hesitation.
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
They played the replay 1 time
and even Millen and wife saw that the ball was kicked into the air and not into the ground. The first one I will give up as a bad call but the other two are fine, the second punt was a “judgement” call and in his oppinion the ref saw an infraction. was it a perfect call? Depends on what color you were wearing on Saturday
Nebraska, The Good Life
Keith Stone, always smooth
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