The final Movers –n- Shakers . . .
*Nebraska no longer is a program that has never had a thousand yard receiver. Stanley Morgan made the mark with a whole 4 yards to spare breaking his own school record of 986 yards last year. He had to grind his way to the mark. His 7 catches for 81 yards was very similar to his Michigan State output. What was tough to see was that at least once both games he was wide open for a long TD pass but overthrown. It is sad that NU did not go to a Bowl Game this year or last as Morgan would have had a chance to really set the mark. Hopefully, NU will be playing at least 13 and 14 game schedules now as a rule.
*The injury to J.D. Spielman allowed Morgan to surpass him to lead the team with 70 receptions—just 5 shy of the record.
*Devine Ozigbo added 50 yards on 10 carries to finish the season with 1,082 yards. Ozigbo was one of the most unusual thousand yard rushers in team history all things considered. He finished the season with a very impressive 7.0 yards a carry average.
*Maurice Washington caught seven passes for 102 yards and a TD. It was his first career TD reception and first game over 100 yards receiving. Washington finished third in pass receptions with 24 receptions—edging out Ozigbo with 23. Look for Washington to continue to be a big part of the passing game next year . . . especially if no one steps up at WR or TE to replace Morgan’s production.
*Jack Stoll had a good game with 4 catches for 37 yards. He finished the year with 21 receptions. Kurt Rafdal had 4 catches, Austin Allen had 2 receptions, and Katerian Legrone had one giving the TE group 28 catches on the year for 374 yards. Last year Tyler Hoppes alone had 34 catches for 377 yards—but keep in mind his 34 catches was a school record for a TE.
*Adrian Martinez finished with a 64.6 completion percentage. With 2,617 yards passing and 629 yards rushing, he accounted for 3,246 yards and 25 TDs to go with 8 interceptions. Previously, Tanner Lee had passed for 3,143 yards but lost 97 yards on the ground. He also accounted for 25 TD’s and 16 interceptions. Martinez will need to improve his ball security in that he led the country in fumbles.
*Mohammed Barry ended up with 112 tackles. He had a 29 tackle lead over second place Dedrick Young.
*Luke Gifford edged out Barry for the team lead in TFL’s with 13 (for 63 yards). Barry had 11 (for 39 yards).
*Gifford also led the team in sacks with 5.5 (for 63 yards) just edging out last years’ leader Ben Stille who had 5 (for 28 yards). As a team, Nebraska improved from a dismal 14 sacks to 25. Perhaps a better indicator of improvement in the pass rush area was the increase in QB Hurries (a pathetic 14 to 34). Still not great numbers but some definite signs of improvement.
*Nebraska had 23 players with 10 tackles or more. Only six of those players were seniors although 5 of the top 6 tacklers were seniors.
*Nebraska contested passes better in 2018. They recorded 58 breakups compared to 28 the year before. Maturation of the CB's had much to do with it as Bootle had 15 and Lamar Jackson had 7.
*Nebraska saw a big jump in turnovers forced. They had 20 takeaways in 2018 (11 INT's and 9 FR's) compared to 12 in 2017 (9 INT's and 3 FR's). Conversely, we turned the ball over just a tad more--22 turnovers (11 INT's and 11 Fumbles lost) compared to 19 in 2017 (17 INT's and 2 fumbles lost). We fumbled a staggering 28 times in 2018 compared to only 12 the year before.
*Team wise, Nebraska’s third down conversion rates barely moved from last year. Nebraska converted third downs at a 37.16 rate and gave up a 43.18 rate. In 2017, it was 37.57% for the offense and 43.06% for the defense. A somewhat similar story unfolds on fourth downs (2018: offense 45%, defense 57.89% 2017: offense 48.15%, defense 50%). The similarities are almost eerie especially given all the changes in coaches, philosophies, etc. Those numbers as much as any other numbers illustrate how the team has had back to back 4-8 seasons.
*Nebraska improved in points per game both offensively and defensively. On offense, they improved from 25.8 to 30.0 points per game and defensively, from 36.4 to 31.3 points per game. Both solid improvements and perhaps the best differentiator from this years’ 4-8 record to 2017’s 4-8 record.
*Speaking of points, anybody get a sense of déjà vu when Nebraska finished with 28 points on Friday? Posted this earlier but it deserves repeating. If you throw out the Michigan game (10 points) and the Troy game (19 points) due to Martinez being hurt or not near 100%--the remaining six losses NU scored:
28, 28, 24, 31, 31, 28
That is basically 4 touchdowns in 5 games with a FG added on in 2 of those. The one game was 3 TD’s and a FG. That is incredibly consistent given how wildly inconsistent we were offensively in how we reached those totals. We are dynamic for about 4 drives a game and then spin our tires the rest of the possessions. Looking for improvement next year? Those numbers represent a good place to start. There is so much more out there for this offense. (And yes, improved defense is also a place to start as those numbers are often enough to win with.)
*And finally, there was a Breon Dixon sighting on Friday. The young man recorded his first tackle as a Cornhusker. He was credited with a tackle on the opening kickoff.