In the first five minutes of this game, Shanle has two interceptions, Nebraska has a 75-yard touchdown reception, and we're ahead 14-0. It looks like a Nebraska/Kansas game of old where we destroy them, and that's exactly what I thought would happen. The offense was explosive, the defense came ready to play and then the rest of the game happened.
Nebraska got out to a 17-0 lead, then Kansas clawed their way back. Congrats to them for playing their way back into the game, especially in the hostile confines of Memorial Stadium. Kansas had some help - assisted by Nebraska defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove who seemed content to rush four and drop everyone else into zone coverage for most of the evening. They were also assisted by a Nebraska defense that appeared to lose their fire after the first quarter. The result was 574 yards on 94 plays for Kansas - the same Kansas offense that scored 13 points in a win over Southern Florida.
Instead of crushing our heels into Kansas and mashing their heads into the ground, we committed the sin of letting them up. Kansas tried very hard to give us a blow-out and since we didn't accept it early on, they decided to fight back.
Husker Extra has some comments from Cosgrove about pressure:
"(Kansas) has had great success with that shovel draw to (Cornish)," Cosgrove said. "That plays averages about 30 yards for them. We were probably overly defensive of that play. They tried it one time, and we almost intercepted in the backfield."
Cosgrove was wary of applying pressure, preferring to keep everything in front of them. Without pressure, at times Barmann had time to sit back and pick apart the Nebraska secondary. So, what the #)$(*)@#(*)@*(#$*)($* is the difference between applying pressure, which caused some turnovers, and not applying pressure and giving up 574 yards on 94 plays. Would someone care to explain that? Please?
After Kansas's tying touchdown in regulation, Nebraska gets the ball back with 45 seconds left and has two time-outs. Despite the fact that we had three 70-yard plus touchdown receptions, Callahan sits on the ball and takes us into overtime. What a wonderful NFL-like and "safe" thing to do. These guys aren't doing much to assist me in my effort of not becoming an alcoholic.
We were lucky to win this game. Watching it made me nuts. We should have destroyed Kansas, and we allowed them to get back in the game, go ahead, and had to come back to win in overtime. Did I mention that Kansas's offense had 574 yards on 94 plays?