• You do not need to register if you are not going to pay the yearly fee to post. If you register please click here or log in go to "settings" then "my account" then "User Upgrades" and you can renew.

HuskerMax readers can save 50% on  Omaha Steaks .

Locked due to no posts in 60 days. Report 1st post if need unlocked Nebraska vs Miami Game Thread (9/19/15)

Status
Not open for further replies.
After all that went on in this game (good & bad), I call it a Jekyl-Hyde performance.

Wow, just hard to express it all.
 
Final Game thoughts.

We beat ourselves. We beat our opponent. And then we beat ourselves again.

Same chapter and verse of so many other heartbreaking losses.

A courageous comeback fell short thanks to one of the worst plays by a Nebraska QB since Joe Ganz gave away the Texas Tech overtime game two coaching staffs ago.

Tommy, you CAN’T throw that football. You can’t. You can’t. You can’t.

You’re not in High School anymore. You can’t just chuck the ball up into the air on those kinds of plays. This is college. You lose when you brain hemorrhage like that.

Nebraska had all the momentum in the world. The Miami defense was gassed and two safeties were in the lockerroom. First and ten from the 25, Tommy has all kinds of time. He rolls out. He has some room to run. He sees a receiver in the back of the endzone. He makes the throw. It never comes close to the receiver in the endzone. The ball sputters out of his hand well short of the intended target and the Miami defender makes a gift interception. Joe Ganz all over again.

I saw it. I still can’t believe he made that play. I still can’t believe it. What a God awful play. Even worse than the first half interception. Perhaps the worst play of the year. I hope so. Hopefully no one else tries to outdo him for worst play of the year honors.

But to be fair, we wouldn’t have been there if it hadn’t been for the legs, arm, and heart of Tommy Armstrong. He really played a great game. Just like Joe Ganz against Texas Tech. Just like LaKevin Smith against Texas Tech the year before that.

If Armstrong can just learn to settle down and stop trying to do too much on every single play, he has a chance to be a real good one. He has nerves. He’s got guts.

But he’s going to remember that pass for the rest of his life. And to make it worse, it was a pass he didn’t need to throw.

To be fair to Tommy, I thought a run play would have been a nice way to start overtime. Sort of send a message to your offense that you are not in desperation 4 down territory against the clock anymore. Also, let’s not forget Alex Lewis with a stupid penalty after the play that put Miami on the doorstep of our goal line. Alex Lewis had three costly penalties on this day, btw. His act is getting old.

The drop by Hovey (the first of two key drops) really set the tone for this football game. Just a terrible performance today by the young man. I’m not sure Hovey saw much of the field in the second half as Taariq Allen played quite a bit.

We have all seen this act before. The team came out flat. They had nothing between their ears. Miami was faster and more physical and Nebraska looked like they wanted no part of this game.

One of two things always happens. An ugly blowout ensues (Wisconsin Big Ten Championship Game); OR the team finds a way to make a frantic comeback that likely comes up just short (Michigan State last year)—although every once in a while the boys pull one out (Iowa last year).

There were a lot of nice things in this game. Besides the guts shown by Tommy Armstrong, the receivers really stepped up big in the second half.

If you look at Tommy’s numbers, you will not see in the numbers the four hideous dropped passes to kill drives early in the game nor will you see the two big pass completions to Westerkamp that were called back due to injuries (killing two more early drives).

But in the second half, we saw some great plays from Westerkamp, Reilly, and some Freshman named Stanley Morgan. Reilly and Morgan recorded their first two TD catches. Alonzo Moore is suddenly a touchdown machine. Another game, another TD catch. He is three for three this year after not scoring a TD previously in his career.

Morgan’s first TD catch was a beauty. In the face of a defender (who was called for PI) and in a critical time of the game. This kid is going to be a great one.

We converted two two-point conversions to send it into overtime. Cethan Carter caught one. Westerkamp caught the other.

Defensively, we’ve got issues. One thing I have noticed very early in the season is when the opposition makes a big play, our defense seems to lose their mojo in a hurry. Four or five bad plays in a row usually results. This team needs to learn to move on to the next play. We gave Miami too many easy plays.

We were lucky to be in this football game. Miami shot themselves in the foot multiple times in that second half. We were on the ropes. They couldn’t put us away. Our defense did step up to make some key stops at certain stages and did a nice job of capitalizing on Miami mistakes (2 TD’s called back). But we just make it too easy for the opponent at times. Especially the first two drives of the first half and the opening lackluster effort of the second half.

You can’t let one bad play lead to another and another and another. Go back to the last two games. The Touchdown drives of our opponents have been just like that. Bad play. Another bad play. Bad play followed by another bad play and a quick TD.

Our linebacker play was not good and I am not convinced that Daniel Davie is 100% at CB. Remember he missed spring ball and he just looks bad out there. He is better than that. He was torched at will again. His one pass breakup could have been an interception because he was beaten on that play but the QB made a horrid pass.

Meanwhile, Dedrick Young and Josh Banderas did not look good in their returns. Hopefully, that was because they were still a bit banged up and will be good to go by Big Ten season. Michael Rose-Ivey didn’t look 100% to me all day, and finally left with an injury. Hopefully, it is not serious.

Chris Jones looks like a keeper and please, let’s hope Nate Gerry stays heathy. He was all over the field.

Nice interception by Josh Kalu. I love that kid. Jonathan Rose is both great and shaky sometimes on consecutive plays. The same might be said for Byerson Cockrell.

Freedom Akinmoladun is starting to make a believer out of me. Love that kids future.

Early in the game, I commented how Miami runners were finishing runs and our runners were not. Terrell Newby did a much better job finishing his runs as the game progressed. Again Terrell, this isn’t High School. Gotta lower your head and go.

I thought we did a nice job of mixing the run and pass early in our comeback in spite of the pressure to try to score quickly. I commented a few times that Armstrong was starting to put too much pressure on himself to make a big play and started throwing off his back foot and balls were sailing. But each time, he seemed to reign it back in and slowly but surely, the comeback began to pick up steam.

Did anybody else get the sense that this game might come down to a two-point conversion? I kept thinking that as the comeback progressed. History did not repeat itself there but I was thinking back to that game.

There were some other similarities to that game. We were down 17-0 before we barely had time to breathe. Sound familiar?

But I also was thinking of another great Huskers comeback. The first Osborne National Title game where Miami controlled us the whole game but they were gassed in the fourth quarter. You just knew we were going to win that game. I kept thinking of that game. That’s what makes the Armstrong bonehead play so tough to swallow. I think if he doesn’t throw that horrid pass, we would have won this game in similar fashion—albeit in overtime.

This game brings back so many ghosts from yesteryears.

A few years ago, we had a defensive back make the mistake of a lifetime against Virginia Tech. The coaches told him and told him, “Whatever you do, don’t let anyone get behind you.” So what did he do? He immediately let a WR run right past him. He knew immediately what a mistake he had made. No one was sicker than him when that happened. I thought he played some of his best football after that play. He learned from his mistake. It never happened to him again. He got better. He played with fierceness and determination the rest of that season. He was determined to make up for that mistake—to make it up to his teammates. He didn’t lose the Virginia Tech game by himself. But he knew. . . .

Tommy Armstrong needs to learn from his mistake. There is a lot of tough football left to be played. There is a new coaching staff trying to assemble many round pegs into square holes and many players trying to learn a new system while under fire. They need a leader. If Tommy can learn from this mistake, brighter days may be ahead.

Okay, we are 1-2. We could be 3-0 but 2-1 is probably a fairer possibility. You gotta win the tough ones.

There are disturbing things. There are encouraging things. The team showed heart. But the team also showed that glassy-eyed not ready for the moment stare we have seen so many times.

We have new coaches. We have the same old problems.

We are still in "glass is half full and half empty" purgatory.

Great comeback. But that final mistake will sting for a long time.

Let’s see where this team goes. There is some interesting talent out there. Cethan Carter is back (though he looked a bit rusty) and we should get Pierson-El and Gangwish back at some point.

Time to go back to the drawing board and keep trying to get better. As fans, there is little more to do than try to be patient and support the process as best we can.

That’s hard to do. These games are tough pills to swallow. But we just have to hang in there and keep the faith.

Take care all.
 
Last edited:



Sad to say Freedom looked like our best DL. I know you never lose your starting spot to an injury but I think Freedom should start if and when Jack is healthy. Jack has the heart and freedom has the heart and talent why haven't we seen our most dynamic back on the team in wilson the last 2 weeks?
 



HuskerinOkieland, thank you for once again showing that you are far and away the best poster among the universe of posters using screen names that indicate that they are Huskers residing in the state of Oklahoma.
 
As always HIO, an outstanding analysis of the game, in fact, maybe your best recap ever. I think you are spot on about the HUSKERS defense losing their "mojo" after giving up a big play and as you stated then following that with bad play after bad play. That needs to be addressed and changes made as the HUSKERS move forward in their season.
 



Final Game thoughts.

We beat ourselves. We beat our opponent. And then we beat ourselves again.

Same chapter and verse of so many other heartbreaking losses.

Tommy, you CAN’T throw that football. You can’t. You can’t. You can’t.

You’re not in High School anymore. You can’t just chuck the ball up into the air on those kinds of plays. This is college. You lose when you brain hemorrhage like that.

Nebraska had all the momentum in the world. The Miami defense was gassed and two safeties were in the lockerroom. First and ten from the 25, Tommy has all kinds of time. He rolls out. He has some room to run. He sees a receiver in the back of the endzone. He makes the throw. It never comes close to the receiver in the endzone. The ball sputters out of his hand well short of the intended target and the Miami defender makes a gift interception. Joe Ganz all over again.

I saw it. I still can’t believe he made that play. I still can’t believe it. What a God awful play. Even worse than the first half interception. Perhaps the worst play of the year. I hope so. Hopefully no one else tries to outdo him for worst play of the year honors.

But to be fair, we wouldn’t have been there if it hadn’t been for the legs, arm, and heart of Tommy Armstrong. He really played a great game. Just like Joe Ganz against Texas Tech. Just like LaKevin Smith against Texas Tech the year before that.

If Armstrong can just learn to settle down and stop trying to do too much on every single play, he has a chance to be a real good one. He has nerves. He’s got guts.

But he’s going to remember that pass for the rest of his life. And to make it worse, it was a pass he didn’t need to throw.

To be fair to Tommy, I thought a run play would have been a nice way to start overtime. Sort of send a message to your offense that you are not in desperation 4 down territory against the clock anymore. Also, let’s not forget Alex Lewis with a stupid penalty after the play that put Miami on the doorstep of our goal line. Alex Lewis had three costly penalties on this day, btw. His act is getting old.

The drop by Hovey (the first of two key drops) really set the tone for this football game. Just a terrible performance today by the young man. I’m not sure Hovey saw much of the field in the second half as Taariq Allen played quite a bit.

If you look at Tommy’s numbers, you will not see in the numbers the four hideous dropped passes to kill drives early in the game nor will you see the two big pass completions to Westerkamp that were called back due to injuries (killing two more early drives).

That’s what makes the Armstrong bonehead play so tough to swallow. I think if he doesn’t throw that horrid pass, we would have won this game in similar fashion—albeit in overtime.

Tommy Armstrong needs to learn from his mistake. There is a lot of tough football left to be played. There is a new coaching staff trying to assemble many round pegs into square holes and many players trying to learn a new system while under fire. They need a leader. If Tommy can learn from this mistake, brighter days may be ahead.

We have new coaches. We have the same old problems.

We are still in "glass is half full and half empty" purgatory.

Great comeback. But that final mistake will sting for a long time.

I am a huge supporter of TA. I hope the kid can learn from his mistakes. However, he is now a well seasoned QB in a big program. When will he learn to simply throw the ball away when he gets into trouble? I love his competitiveness as it sets an example for the rest of the team. He is more than impressive in that regard. He literally put the team on his back and carried them. A truly heroic effort. But, sooner or later, he has to stop making mistakes that cost. I know he feels badly about his last throw, but it was a mistake a seasoned QB does not make, cannot make.

As I said in a previous post, we have a lot of work to do. We are not a really good team. As a team, we need to stop making mistakes that cost us in critical situations. Focus and concentration. Going forward, this should be the "teaching theme" of the coaching staff. If mistakes continue, we will have a very long season.
 
Last edited:

Status
Not open for further replies.

GET TICKETS


Get 50% off on Omaha Steaks

Back
Top