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Sign up for our email list to be notified when we update the HF Blog. November 8th, 2009
Finally, the win we've been waiting for
Who cares that Sam Bradford wasn't in the game. Any Nebraska win over Oklahoma is a good one. What started off like most Husker games this season, with a bunch of penalties, ended with Matt O'Hanlon recording his third interception of the game. On the preceding play, O'Hanlon dropped what would have been a game-ending INT with 36 seconds left and Husker fans had visions of Texas in 2006. But it wasn't the Sooners night. That distinction belonged to the Blackshirts, who held OU out of the end zone for the first time since 1998.
Opposite of the Iowa State game, the stat line would imply the Huskers had no chance. OU produced more first downs (23 vs NU's 7), more total yards (325 vs 180), more offensive plays (89 vs 57), and fewer penalties (9 vs 11). But as the Husker faithful know, numbers can lie. Turnovers again would determine this game and fortunately the Huskers were on the right side of this one (5 vs 1). In addition to Matt O'Hanlon's three picks, Phillip Dillard came up with a huge INT with 2:31 left in the fourth quarter, but perhaps the play that set the tone for the Husker D was Prince Amukamara's INT in the first quarter. Prince play the ball perfectly and returned the ball all the way to the Oklahoma one yard line. This set up Zac Lee's touchdown pass to Ryan Hill. In fact, NU's 10 points all came off of OU turnovers. Another telling stat was OU's fourth down conversions. The Blackshirts held the Sooners three times on fourth down.
And what would a Husker game review be without Ndamukong Suh being mentioned? The senior Heisman Trophy candidate recorded a blocked field goal (again), four tackles, and a pass break up. More importantly, he drew a double team a majority of the time and even induced OU into a 15-yard personal foul penalty. The Sooners had several personal fouls during the game, in what was very surreal for Husker fans.
Offensively, the Huskers struggled mightily, producing four 3-and-outs to start the game. For the game, NU was 1-14 on third down conversions. Hard to tell if that was due to the Sooners defense or more of the same woes. On a bright note, Roy Helu appears to be back and 100% again. Helu rushed the ball 20 times for 138 yards, 63 coming on a nice run between the tackles that took NU deep inside OU territory. Unfortunately, Zac Lee's pitch to Helu on the next play was fumbled and OU recovered.
Several questions begged to be asked. Why didn't OU run the ball more? They've got two very capable backs in Murray and Chris Brown. Last year, the Sooners scorched us on end arounds and quick hand offs to the in-motion receiver. While they faked this handoff numerous times, OU chose to throw the ball 65% of the time. With Landry Jones not exactly at the top of his game (see five INT's and 45% completion percentage), why not run the ball more? I'm sure Sooner fans are asking the same question.
Second question is why are the referees so inept this season? Calling Dejon Gomes for a block in the back when he got his helmet in front of the OU player was an injustice. Pass interference on Prince Amukamara should have been called offensive pass interference as the OU receiver pushed off when the ball was airborne. After Nebraska punted to the Sooners late in the fourth quarter and appeared to have stopped OU on first down, the referees decided that they had been paged to review the punt return. Either stop the play before it starts, with multiple officials running in blowing their whistles, or let the next play stand. Better yet, come up with a more efficient paging system.
Third question...why so much finesse on offense? This actually applies to both the Sooners and Huskers. OU should have run the ball more. NU should have run the ball up the middle more.
Alex Henery is apparently human after all. Arguably the MVP of the team (okay, second to Suh), Alex missed what would have been his 26th field goal make in a row and all but put the game out of reach for OU. Henery did make his field goal with 5:38 left in the third quarter, marking the final points of the game. In the punt game, Alex was called upon 11 times. I'm not sure he gets that much work in practice.
Hard to pick out an MVP for this game, so we'll give it to the fans. The crowd noise, especially in the fourth quarter, was at a season-high level. Several timeouts and false start penalties against OU can largely be attributed to the Husker faithful.
The celebration of this big win should now be over. Time to focus on Kansas, who lost their fourth consecutive game on Saturday. This fact alone should focus NU's attention on bringing their A game to Lawrence next week. NU controls their own destiny and with a win over the Jayhawks, it sets up a huge Big 12 North matchup in Lincoln against K-State. First things first, NU must play with the same fire and intensity at Kansas as they played with against OU.
View HuskerFaithful's photos from the Oklahoma game.
Comments (1)
Posted by Ty
I was sitting in the OU section and discussing with 2 minutes to go the eeery feeling this game had with TX from 2006 so you\re spot on.I didn\t believe that Helu was well, but he looked good last night. Henery was huge.Interesting note: Dennard gets hurt on the far side of the field on what would be OU\s last possession. He\s frantically trying to get off the field but can\t get subbed in time. According to some fans, Suh \faked\ an injury to get Dennard out and then came right back on the next play. It\s maybe urban legend or GENIUS.I\m still frustrated with the playcalling, but it doesn\t sting as much when we win.
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