D
Derek Johnson
Guest
What's most disappointing about BYU beating Nebraska on a Hail Mary is that Nebraska had three guys around Mitch Matthews, and he still made the game-winning catch. Nebraska controlled most of the second half against the Cougars and still lost because they couldn't kick field goals and couldn't get one more first down. Let's react.
-
Biggest gut-punch loss since...probably Texas 2005. Last year at Michigan State, Nebraska was just lucky to be in it at the end. Minnesota 2014, they should have taken more chances. Northwestern 2011, they were exhausted in Big 10 Year 1, 2009 Iowa State they played scared. Today is the first time in years the Huskers lost with an extremely honest effort.
-
Did Mike Riley do the right thing in using his last two timeouts before the last two plays? I've often though Pat Fitzgerald made a mistake by using his last timeout right before Nebraska beat Northwestern on the 2013 Hail Mary. Nebraska's wide receivers had run down the field multiple plays in a row and must have been tired. I get why you'd use them, but timeouts always help the offense more than the defense. Certainly one of those timeouts could have been better used right before Drew Brown attempted his last field goal.
-
Was it the right decision to give the ball to Jamal Turner on the last third down? I'm torn on this one, because Nebraska hadn't overused the jet sweep, so they could go to it again. Yes, Turner danced as usual, but he wasn't the worst part of that play. Because Nebraska ran to the outside, they had to kick the field goal from the hash, which couldn't not have been helpful for Brown. Even if you just gain a yard running to the middle and Brown still misses, that yard could have mattered on BYU's last drive. And if Brown had made the field goal, Nebraska could have pinned BYU deeper on the kickoff.
-
Is Brown Nebraska's kicker next week? He won't be Nebraska's sole kicker. After all the rave reviews in camp, you have to wonder if he just clutches up in games. Whether it's Spencer Lindsay or Jamie Sutcliffe or whoever answers a discreet call for student tryouts this week, someone other than Brown will attempt a field goal against South Alabama.
-
Where Nebraska could have changed the outcome: the back-to-back drives were Nebraska fails to convert 3rd-and-1's. The offensive line got outmanned in both situations, especially on the quarterback sneak where BYU wasn't crowding the line of scrimmage. Also, if Nebraska gets a pre-first down tackle on two running plays, enough time comes off the clock to matter.
-
What Nebraska couldn't have changed: the 4th-and-1 conversion. If the ball flounders helplessly to the ground, Nebraska takes over with a great chance to score and press BYU.
-
Unrelated to the final play...
Did Riley run the ball enough? Debatable. Certainly, Nebraska could have called 4-5 more runs in the second quarter, when Armstrong was giving into his bad mechanics. He'll fight his those horrible habits all year. Replace some incomplete passes with short runs, and maybe that tires the BYU defense just a little bit more, and Nebraska gets one more long play to win. Maybe.
-
This offense is more diverse and dynamic. Don't put a pro-style or spread label on it-Nebraska spread the ball around to a lot of running backs and wide receivers. The two faked screens were very effective. The big question is, will a more disciplined Big 10 defense give them more problems? Joe Ganz said that, when Nebraska moved from Big 12 to Big 10, it took them by surprise how disciplined even the lesser Big 10 teams are on defense. Stanford found that out the hard way today, against a Northwestern defense they had a huge size edge on.
But as we surmised in preseason, Nebraska's strong at the wide receiver position, and should outscore a bunch of teams.
-
The defense that gave up 511 yards is boom or bust, but can other Big 10 teams exploit it? I'm officially worried about Illinois, who scored 52 today and could be cutting lose without their former head coach who was defensive-minded. BYU exploited one of Nebraska linebackers on their first touchdown drive with a long pass against him. Good news for the defense-Josh Kalu can give the kind of coverage Banker's defense needs to be successful. Against smaller, less-athletic Big 10 wide receivers, Kalu is going to be a shutdown corner.
-
Dedrick Young looks like he can be an answer at linebacker-if he can hold up against Big 10 blocking tight ends.
-
Hope Alonzo Moore isn't out for long. He had five great touches, half his number of total receptions all last year. He's dynamic, and finally showed it.
-
Tyson Broekmeier did his job. Even though his last punt wasn't great, he got it off. If Nebraska loses Sam Foltz for any length of time, it's a big deal.
-
I swear, this is the same officials crew that worked Nebraska-Texas A&M 2010. I get some of the procedural penalties on offense, but Riley's calling card was clean play. 12 penalties, even if some of it was the bad blocking Barney Cotton taught the offensive line, is way too much. Mike Cavanaugh had better have something to say about it this week. And the -1 in turnover margin doesn't help either.
-
Does this loss matter? Obviously, it doesn't count in the Big 10 standings, and Nebraska, more than likely, will not be in contention for the College Football Playoff this year anyway. If Nebraska suffers several close losses this year, we'll all remember this as the turning point. This is the danger of challenging yourself in the non-conference, which all of college football has to do now. Nebraska is going to wind up on the same side of the stick sometimes.
-
So, what do you think? Are you more worried about the offense or defense? Did Riley stick with the run enough? What's your biggest concern? Drop me a comment, or send me an e-mail with your thoughts. Thanks for reading!
---
Derek Johnson is a Seward, Nebraska native who works for his family's organic farm seed company, Blue River Hybrids, and is a freelance writer. He has been a contributor to HuskerMax since 2013, and is a former contributor to the website Husker Locker. He currently also hosts the Maximum Red Podcast, which you can find at his blog, derekjohnsonmuses.com. Follow him on Twitter @derekjohnson05 and email him at derek@derekjohnsonmuses.com
-
Biggest gut-punch loss since...probably Texas 2005. Last year at Michigan State, Nebraska was just lucky to be in it at the end. Minnesota 2014, they should have taken more chances. Northwestern 2011, they were exhausted in Big 10 Year 1, 2009 Iowa State they played scared. Today is the first time in years the Huskers lost with an extremely honest effort.
-
Did Mike Riley do the right thing in using his last two timeouts before the last two plays? I've often though Pat Fitzgerald made a mistake by using his last timeout right before Nebraska beat Northwestern on the 2013 Hail Mary. Nebraska's wide receivers had run down the field multiple plays in a row and must have been tired. I get why you'd use them, but timeouts always help the offense more than the defense. Certainly one of those timeouts could have been better used right before Drew Brown attempted his last field goal.
-
Was it the right decision to give the ball to Jamal Turner on the last third down? I'm torn on this one, because Nebraska hadn't overused the jet sweep, so they could go to it again. Yes, Turner danced as usual, but he wasn't the worst part of that play. Because Nebraska ran to the outside, they had to kick the field goal from the hash, which couldn't not have been helpful for Brown. Even if you just gain a yard running to the middle and Brown still misses, that yard could have mattered on BYU's last drive. And if Brown had made the field goal, Nebraska could have pinned BYU deeper on the kickoff.
-
Is Brown Nebraska's kicker next week? He won't be Nebraska's sole kicker. After all the rave reviews in camp, you have to wonder if he just clutches up in games. Whether it's Spencer Lindsay or Jamie Sutcliffe or whoever answers a discreet call for student tryouts this week, someone other than Brown will attempt a field goal against South Alabama.
-
Where Nebraska could have changed the outcome: the back-to-back drives were Nebraska fails to convert 3rd-and-1's. The offensive line got outmanned in both situations, especially on the quarterback sneak where BYU wasn't crowding the line of scrimmage. Also, if Nebraska gets a pre-first down tackle on two running plays, enough time comes off the clock to matter.
-
What Nebraska couldn't have changed: the 4th-and-1 conversion. If the ball flounders helplessly to the ground, Nebraska takes over with a great chance to score and press BYU.
-
Unrelated to the final play...
Did Riley run the ball enough? Debatable. Certainly, Nebraska could have called 4-5 more runs in the second quarter, when Armstrong was giving into his bad mechanics. He'll fight his those horrible habits all year. Replace some incomplete passes with short runs, and maybe that tires the BYU defense just a little bit more, and Nebraska gets one more long play to win. Maybe.
-
This offense is more diverse and dynamic. Don't put a pro-style or spread label on it-Nebraska spread the ball around to a lot of running backs and wide receivers. The two faked screens were very effective. The big question is, will a more disciplined Big 10 defense give them more problems? Joe Ganz said that, when Nebraska moved from Big 12 to Big 10, it took them by surprise how disciplined even the lesser Big 10 teams are on defense. Stanford found that out the hard way today, against a Northwestern defense they had a huge size edge on.
But as we surmised in preseason, Nebraska's strong at the wide receiver position, and should outscore a bunch of teams.
-
The defense that gave up 511 yards is boom or bust, but can other Big 10 teams exploit it? I'm officially worried about Illinois, who scored 52 today and could be cutting lose without their former head coach who was defensive-minded. BYU exploited one of Nebraska linebackers on their first touchdown drive with a long pass against him. Good news for the defense-Josh Kalu can give the kind of coverage Banker's defense needs to be successful. Against smaller, less-athletic Big 10 wide receivers, Kalu is going to be a shutdown corner.
-
Dedrick Young looks like he can be an answer at linebacker-if he can hold up against Big 10 blocking tight ends.
-
Hope Alonzo Moore isn't out for long. He had five great touches, half his number of total receptions all last year. He's dynamic, and finally showed it.
-
Tyson Broekmeier did his job. Even though his last punt wasn't great, he got it off. If Nebraska loses Sam Foltz for any length of time, it's a big deal.
-
I swear, this is the same officials crew that worked Nebraska-Texas A&M 2010. I get some of the procedural penalties on offense, but Riley's calling card was clean play. 12 penalties, even if some of it was the bad blocking Barney Cotton taught the offensive line, is way too much. Mike Cavanaugh had better have something to say about it this week. And the -1 in turnover margin doesn't help either.
-
Does this loss matter? Obviously, it doesn't count in the Big 10 standings, and Nebraska, more than likely, will not be in contention for the College Football Playoff this year anyway. If Nebraska suffers several close losses this year, we'll all remember this as the turning point. This is the danger of challenging yourself in the non-conference, which all of college football has to do now. Nebraska is going to wind up on the same side of the stick sometimes.
-
So, what do you think? Are you more worried about the offense or defense? Did Riley stick with the run enough? What's your biggest concern? Drop me a comment, or send me an e-mail with your thoughts. Thanks for reading!
---
Derek Johnson is a Seward, Nebraska native who works for his family's organic farm seed company, Blue River Hybrids, and is a freelance writer. He has been a contributor to HuskerMax since 2013, and is a former contributor to the website Husker Locker. He currently also hosts the Maximum Red Podcast, which you can find at his blog, derekjohnsonmuses.com. Follow him on Twitter @derekjohnson05 and email him at derek@derekjohnsonmuses.com
Last edited by a moderator:
