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The nonconference season clarified a few things for the Nebraska football team, which handled Wyoming 38-14 Saturday night to improve its record to 4-0.
The young Cornhusker offensive line is gaining confidence, momentum and cohesion. Score one for Barney Cotton.
The Husker kicking game is solid after the departure of Alex Henery. Score one for Brett Maher.
But if you were hoping Nebraska would waltz into the Big Ten and embarrass a few teams with its team speed, now is the time to chuck those illusions out the window. I said before the season that Nebraska would be a threat to win every game this fall because of its defense. I stand corrected. The offensive unit is where the Huskers’ speed advantage resides, and it should keep the Big Red competitive in every game. Good thing, since the long-awaited Big Ten opener at Madison, Wis., looms dead ahead.
The Husker offense is developing a complex running attack which, although it may never reach the heights of the Tommie Frazier-led offense of the 1990s, has components of the read option, speed option and power game. The word is getting around: Nebraska has a hard offense to prepare for.
On the other hand, the Blackshirts don’t strike fear into anyone this season. After yielding 305 yards of total offense to a Wyoming team with mediocre athletic ability, they looked very ordinary. The Nebraska defense had no clear advantage in team speed over Wyoming’s offense, which surprised me. In fact, the Cowboys never lost their confidence and, led by a gutsy, resourceful performance by freshman quarterback Brett Smith, more than held their own against NU and its All-America candidates, Lavonte David and Alfonzo Dennard.
Bo Pelini doesn’t strike me as the sneaky type; he’s pretty straightforward in his approach. So I doubt he has the Blackshirts playing possum to give Wisconsin a false sense of security. He had his hands full with an overachieving Wyoming team that was a dropped pass or two away from making this game very interesting indeed. A NU defense that had the look of an overpowering unit in the spring has allowed 27 points and 389 total yards per game against major college opponents.
While it’s tempting to say that the Nebraska defense will melt before the onslaught that is the Badger running game, first let’s look at strength of schedule.
How good are those Husker opponents? How good is Wyoming, or Washington or Fresno State? We’ll know in a few weeks. Nebraska’s three FBS nonconference opponents appear to be better than Wisconsin’s three. Husker FBS opponents have gone 8-1 in games not against Nebraska, while the Badger FBS opponents have gone 3-5 in games not against Wisconsin.
It appears Washington is good, and Fresno State is not bad, and it’s clear that NU has faced a tougher nonconference slate. Wisconsin’s most impressive win is a 49-7 win over Northern Illinois, which lost 45-42 Kansas earlier this season.
And don’t forget, when the national champion 1994 Huskers struggled to beat Wyoming 42-32 in Lincoln, it didn’t exactly mean the start of a slide into mediocrity. So some defensive problems against Wyoming don’t necessarily mean that doom is ahead, but the Huskers have a lot of improving to do if they want to even slow down Russell Wilson, Monte Ball, James White and the Badgers. Wisconsin is the clear favorite, but the Huskers have a few things going for them.
So what else did we learn besides the fact that, at least with Jared Crick on the sidelines, the Huskers have a very ordinary defensive front? Here are a few:
– Rex Burkhead is gaining momentum each week at I-back. Superman rushed for a career-high 170 yards. He’s got power, elusiveness and increasing confidence going for him.
– In Braylon Heard, Aaron Green and Ameer Abdullah, the Huskers have three legitimate weapons to back him up, although Abdullah is developing a problem with ball security.
– The offensive line is developing some legitimate depth.
– Taylor Martinez is not a good pocket passer. Never has been, never will be. His delivery, which became almost sidearm at times against Wyoming, leaves him off-balance. He may get one of his receivers cut in half if he keeps throwing behind them on crossing routes.
– Bo Pelini is known for using the blitz effectively, but to this point, the blitz is a non-factor for the 2011 Blackshirts, who typically arrive a couple of steps late. Both of Wyoming’s touchdowns came against blitzes.
– Nebraska continues to play relatively clean penalty-wise (NU had only four flags against Wyoming), but continues to put the ball on the ground a lot, fumbling four times against the Cowboys.
– While the offense fumbles a lot, the NU defense has forced its opponents to fumble only five times in four games and has recovered just one. The Blackshirts have just five takeaways during the nonconference slate.
Formerly the sports editor at the North Platte Bulletin and a sportswriter/columnist for the North Platte Telegraph, Tad Stryker is a longtime Nebraska sports writer, having covered University of Nebraska and high school sports for more than 25 years. He started writing for this website in 2008. You can e-mail him at tad.stryker@gmail.com
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