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Sign up for our email list to be notified when we update the HF Blog. October 18th, 2009
Roller-coaster season continues
First, it's a disappointing loss at Virginia Tech on a last second touchdown. Then the fourth quarter comeback at Missouri. Now the unbelievable letdown at home against an unranked Texas Tech team. We're officially on an amusement park ride, but it's not very amusing for Husker fans.
The Huskers are notorious for starting slowly. This has been a recurring problem over the last 4-5 seasons and something I thought would have gone away with the coaching changes. Not so. After allowing the Red Raiders to convert a 3rd and very long (twice), NU gave up a quick touchdown. What the Huskers needed in response was a grinding 10+ play drive that took up 5-10 minutes. Instead they handed Tech seven more points.
With NU driving for a potential tying score in the first quarter, Zac Lee’s backward pass to Niles Paul fell incomplete…only it was a backward pass and therefore a fumble. It seemed only the Texas Tech players knew about this rule because every Husker offensive player quit when the ball hit the ground. How a slow defensive lineman can return the ball 82 yards for a touchdown is beyond me.
Speaking of dropped passes of the backward and forward variety, I thought we had a talented group of receivers. Curenski Gilleylen drops a sure touchdown on a pass from Cody Green that was tipped and floated right into his hands. Niles Paul’s drop took away what could have been a game-tying touchdown for Nebraska and gave Tech a 14-0 lead. Receivers are supposed to catch the ball. Why are drops so contagious with this unit?
The Husker defense finally earned their Blackshirts on Friday. I would be surprised they still have them Sunday. The defense had been yielding only 8 points a game, good enough for second in all of college football going into Saturday’s game. A pretty impressive, but misleading stat, having played three Sun Belt Conference teams, a Virginia Tech team not known for their offense, and Missouri in a monsoon. Still the Huskers were able to hold Tech to 259 total yards, nearly half their season average.
Phillip Dillard was one of the lone bright spots on the Husker defense. He recorded a career-high 12 tackles, including four for a loss.
Husker center Jacob Hickman said NU didn’t lose because of Zac Lee. Well if Lee gets credit for wins, he should get blame for losses. We still haven’t seen Zac play well in a big game. He struggled mightily at Virginia Tech, played poorly for three quarters in tough conditions at Missouri, and didn’t ever look comfortable versus the Red Raiders. He’s got to get rid of the ball faster. NU gave up five sacks on the day, many of which appeared to be a result of Lee holding the ball too long. Lee even managed to lose the patience of Husker fans, some of whom began chanting Cody Green’s name. Green was brought in for one series in the third quarter but his receivers let him down, dropping two passes, including Gilleylen’s would-be touchdown. In fourth quarter action, Green showed his arm strength and led the Huskers to their only touchdown of the day. Is Green the answer to our offensive woes? The Lincoln Journal tackles this question.
One other criticism...the offensive line play. Maybe Zac Lee doesn't deserve as much of the blame for the Husker offensive woes. Maybe Shawn Watson doesn't either. The offensive line looked like Swiss cheese against Texas Tech. I can't wait until we play Oklahoma and then Texas in the Big 12 Championship if we make it to Dallas. And we should back off of Watson a bit too. He has a #1 running back in Helu who is about 75%, no clear cut #2 back, receivers who can't hang onto the ball, and a less than stellar O-line to work with. What is he supposed to do?
After the Missouri game, we thought the Big 12 North was ours. With Kansas losing to Colorado, we're still in the driver's seat, but we might be heading down the wrong road. NU needs to correct some major problems quickly in order to salvage what just a week ago looked like a pretty special season in the works.
Comments (1)
Posted by Tom Zach
I concur with your comments... Would like to add one though - In the second half - Did we pull out the Bill Callahan playbook from when we played at USC ? Long, slow drives that did nothing - Where was the urgency ? I say Bo needs to go shopping for a new Offensive Coordinator... Go Big Red !
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