Nebraska Football: Most Valuable Players vs. Oregon

When Nebraska loses like they did to Oregon yesterday, most folks tend to go the way of NO ONE WAS GOOD MAKE EM ALL WALK HOME GRR. That being said, it was a good game for some players on the Huskers squad.

While there are several that we could mention, a few stand out and we’ll recognize them.

Offense: Tre Bryant

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Before he went down with a knee injury, Nebraska had run the ball 13 times with Bryant on first down. He had 81 yards of rushing on those downs, including the first play of the second quarter where he went 25 yards to midfield, finishing the drive with a seven yard TD run to make it 21-14 Nebraska.

Bryant did go down with a knee injury during the second half, one that looked bad on an initial replay. However, Mike Riley did say things were looking up for him after the game. Bryant is now at 299 yards for the season, putting him on pace (health pending) to get to 1000 yards. Bryant’s two 100 yard games to open the season is the first time a Husker had done that since Ameer Abdullah in 2013.

Honorable Mention: Matt Farniok

The Sioux Falls redshirt Freshman was thrown into the fire this week, starting at Right Tackle when it was shown that David Knevel didn’t dress for the game. Farniok did fair for his first true action, not being perfect by any means. He did give up a few pressures on the day, making Tanner Lee have to give up the ball early at times. That being said, Farniok is one of those talents that could have possibly earned his way into the starting lineup and giving Knevel the Wally Pipp treatment.

Defensive MVP: Aaron Williams

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Seemingly forgotten when Joshua Kalu was moved to Safety, Williams stepped up big time as Kalu came out of the game with an apparent hamstring issue. The Junior out of the Atlanta area came up with the most tackles in the game for the Huskers, getting a team high 12 tackles on the day, 6 of those solo. Williams also had a part in both of Nebraska’s turnovers in the second half. making an interception (seen above) and recovering a fourth quarter fumble.

With no idea how long Kalu will be out, the heady Williams could be asked to stay in the defensive backfield, getting more playing time. While he doesn’t have the physical gifts that others have shown, Williams does play a very smart type of football, one that could help Bob Diaco’s defense more times than not right now.

Honorable Mention: Antonio Reed

The Junior out of Memphis also stood out in that Secondary yesterday, helping cause the fumble that led to a Nebraska TD in the fourth quarter. Reed added five tackles (two solo), one tackle being behind the line of scrimmage. As he was behind Kalu on the depth chart. Reed & Williams helped Nebraska pitch a shutout in the second half of Oregon & caused turnovers, helping the cause as much as they could.

Who are your MVP’s of the game and why?