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Nebraska @ Ohio State Game Thread (10/24/20)


HuskerNash said:
We need some play makers on offense period. I think that’s why we had two quarterbacks on the field much of the game because McCaffrey even at a quarterback is one of our better play makers. It appears we don’t have them at running back and we definitely don’t have them at wide out.
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I think we have talent at RB . . . just didn't really give them a chance. Mills ran pretty good the few times he got the ball. Thompkins I think showed some flashes. But the offense got back into its east-west & QB run game and then everything went south with the mistakes.

At WR we knew we were still thin, so I agree there. We were making up for it with the TE's in the first half and then I'm not sure what happened after. Maybe tOSU took that away and/or the offense just couldn't get out of its own way for other reasons.
 


For me it was all about the line. They look like a big 10 line. And they play nasty. I think we would demolish the out of conference cupcakes if they were offered up. Hopefully we win the remaining as the capability to do so present
 
The worst part about this game was we may have lost the second game due to the first half suspensions. I was already disappointed with the play of the secondary and now we lose two for a half. What was surprising to me was the unit I expected the most from on the defensive side of the ball disappointed me the most. Overall I thought we played the run game pretty darn good and I was very pleased with that.
 



There was no way we were going to win, but the score was a bit misleading. tOSU scored 7 points on a flukish turnover, and then there was the touchdown with 15 seconds left. The game was a little closer than the score indicates and was legitimately competitive for about 25 minutes (vs. 5 minutes last year).
 
HuskerInOkieland said:
Final Game Thoughts.

OSU downs Nebraska 52-17 in a game that was actually more competitive than the score would indicate.

For Nebraska, there are plenty of things to feel good about. Plenty of things to feel bad about.

Was it an absolute blowout? No.

Was it a hotly contested football game? No.

But Nebraska showed that they could make plays against one of the best teams in the country. They also showed flashes as to why the program has struggled.

First, let’s get the bad out of the way.

Down 17-14 late in the first half, Nebraska inexplicably melts down. A delay of game penalty after a fair catch kickoff is followed by three brutally bad plays in a row.

Lack of focus at a key time.

The result? OSU is set up with a perfect opportunity to score another touchdown before halftime. Even a moderately successful drive kills the clock.

Then OSU gets ball first in second half. Touchdown.

14 unanswered points after the stupid lazy penalty. Then to make matters worse, Adrian Martinez has another unforced fumble. He makes a poor decision to dipsy doodle to the outside, looks up, sees “oh oh, I’m in trouble”, and the ball comes rocketing out of his hands straight forward into an OSU pile where the OSU defenders draw straws to see who is gonna pick it up and run it in for the gift easy score.

21 points, just like that.

You can’t fall asleep. You can’t take plays off. And you can’t just fumble the football every time things don’t work out for you. It didn’t work for Taylor Martinez. It isn’t cutting it for Adrian Martinez.

We’ve seen that too many times.

Game over. Now we are playing for pride.

Nebraska mounts a good drive, and Adrian Martinez throws a 300 mph fastball to a wide open receiver in the end zone 15 yards upfield wide and to the right and we kick a FG.

Then it is a matter of how many defenders can we get kicked out to the Wisconsin first half with some of the cheapest, most ridiculous targeting calls on the planet. Three ridiculous calls, one overturned. Announcers begging the Big Ten to reconsider. I hate the rule, and I hate how the rule is enforced some of the time and not all the time.

There really is targeting here. And the target is Nebraska. Think about it, when was the last time you heard announcers (and the referee analyst) so adamant that targeting calls were weak? Not just one of the calls, but all three?

Two really poor punts by Nebraska set up two of the OSU touchdowns. Another weak QB fumble from a QB (McCaffrey this time) where the ball rockets forward into a pile of defenders basically ends the day for the offense.

But there was some good today.

Nebraska moved the ball. A couple of big penalties at bad times hampered the offense—and of course the two QB fumbles—but this offense can be creative. The offensive line largely held up. The TE play was good although the WR group was largely invisible. Part of that could be the play of OSU’s lockdown corner but still, WR’s weren’t exactly a force to be reckoned with.

The switching of Martinez and McCaffrey has potential to keep defensive coordinators up at night. Mills didn’t get a ton of opportunities but looked solid enough. It was nice to see Ronald Thompkins on the field with a couple of touches.

Wan’Dale Robinson had 6 catches but OSU did a good job of not giving him much to work with. We really, really, really, really need Omar Manning.

Hope Jack Stoll is okay.

Defensively, NU held up pretty well. They managed to sack the OSU QB 4 times and they were pretty effective against the run although the 3rd and 15 up the gut run from the 5 isn’t going to make a fun film session.

Ty Robinson and Casey Rogers flashed at times. The young defensive line looked stout and made life difficult for OSU on short yardage situations.

But Fields was 20-21 passing the football. And that one incompletion was a drop in the end zone although a nice hit by an NU defender helped the drop. Of course, there were two other incompletions wiped out by questionable calls but still, allowing the QB that kind of numbers won’t get it done. Despite the sacks, Fields largely had all day to survey the field for open receivers.

At halftime, many fans were asking “why the big cushions”. It was obviously Nebraska’s strategy to protect against big plays and make OSU earn their way up the field. Largely, that strategy worked but the offense needs to do more with their opportunities than we saw today to give the defense a bit more help.

Special teams was okay. Two bad punts and probably a couple of ill-advised kickoff returns (not really large factors in the outcome of the game) was really all I can remember. We even partially blocked an extra point although it still went through the uprights.

I would say that Nebraska did not look overwhelmed. At times, they even looked good. But too many inconsistencies and still a question of rather or not NU has it in them to play every down of a game.

So now, we move on to Wisconsin at home. The Big Ten gave Wisconsin two gifts—an extra day (they played on Friday) and two key NU defenders railroaded out of the first half.

All in all, fans really can’t be too disappointed with what they saw today. But . . . will we see this effort every week and in particular, next week?

We should know a lot more about this football team after next Saturday.

But football is back! Don’t forget to simply enjoy it.

Take care all.
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Very well said.

I’m mostly encouraged. Our lines held their own against what are typically very strong units for OSU. It’s hard to tell, because it was OSU, but our D-line must be able to generate a pass rush on their own. Most of our pressure and sacks were the results of blitzes.
 


Hard to believe I'd feel ok about a loss with such a score, but the fact is I feel better than I have for a while about the possibilities for this team and this program. We looked much more like a good team than we have the last couple of years. I liked the game plan in the first couple of quarters, and I thought the team made some good adjustments on how they blitzed after leaving the front door open a half dozen times early. But after a while our skill limitations on offense make it easier for the defense to cover what we are able to do. We need to broaden out our plan a bit, but I'm not sure we have the right players to do that..

I would like to have seen more Luke in the second half, since I am not convinced Martinez can get us there. I hope I'm wrong and that he can because I think he will start most of the games and play most of the snaps. 21 fumbles so far.
 

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