Nebraska Goals for the Game:
Balanced offense, over 200 yards rushing, 200 yards passing.
588 total yards for Nebraska, 252 yards rushing. Taylor completed 12 of 13 passes on two drives, including 10 in a row. The only thing you could complain about was the waste of scoring chances in the first half. Otherwise, these looked like our old Huskers with a different offense.
Five sacks
Two. Does that upset you? It shouldn't - LaTech's QB's were running for their lives most of the game. They were coached well, and we have that grounding rule these days that allows them to throw the ball away. Matching the 50 sacks of last year, even with this defense, will be darned close to impossible.
LaTech held to 200 total yards.
LaTech gained 230 yards passing, 139 to Holland. 60 yards rushing a 3.0 average. Not bad, considering LaTech a couple big plays and that was it.
What We Want to See:
This game over by half time
It was, we just didn't know it.
Crisp offense - no penalties due to shifting or silliness
Well, there wasn't many penalties due to dumb mistakes by Nebraska. In fact, compared to the previous two seasons, this offense was well prepared, understood the positions and what was expected. It's coming around, man.
All four backs (Glenn, Lucky, Wilson, Jackson, not necessarily in that order)
Glenn 13 for 88, 6.8 AVG, 1 TD
Lucky 13 for 77, 5.9 AVG
Wilson 15 for 48, 3.2 AVG, had a couple fumbles
Jackson 3 for 37, 12.3 AVG, 1 TD
No Injuries
None serious, eh?
Plenty of offensive line substitution
I haven't gone back and looked, but I"m guessing "YES"! Same with the defensive line.
Joe Ganz by sub, not by injury
Excellent for Ganz to enter the game. 2/3 for 45, 1 TD. Not bad. HUGE improvement over the last two years when the offense looked lost.
Notes:
This was an excellent opening game for Nebraska. The silly offensive mistakes are gone - the constant penalties, the confusion on offense and defense. In the second half, this was a team operating much like it was at end of last year - like they knew what they were doing.
I've seen people talk about how Mike Leach's offense takes mediocre players and makes them better. Perhaps Callahan's offense does the same. Ten different recievers caught the ball. Four different tight ends caught touchdown passes. Four. That's pretty darned impressive. Four different backs gained good yardage. This wont' work in a Fantasy league, or if we're worried about Heisman trophies, but do you really give a damn about that kind of stuff?
Line play - haven't looked yet, and I don't know how many different guys played. Same with the defensive line. But I know that many played. I'll go back and look.
Did you notice that Jake Wesch kicked the extra points toward the end of the game? Everyone got to play. It was so good that Larry the Cable Guy did color during a touchdown run by Brandon Jackson.
Texas has Chuck Norris. Nebraska has "Larry the Cable Guy". Chuck Norris walks around on the sideline waiting to be interviewed, "Larry" buys a luxury suite. Unfortunately, as my wife pointed out, Texas has Matthew McConaughey too, probably the only man she'd leave me for. Nebraska will never win the battle of celebrity. Why bother. Let's stop.