Huskers Handle Happy Valley Horror Show as Smith and the Special Teams are a Standout Surprise
On a cold, snow flurried afternoon in State College, the Huskers overcame their opponent, the officials, and themselves to pull out an overtime victory 23-20. First, the opponent: Penn State is a gritty hard-nosed football team that as the result of sanctions, has just 61 scholarship players. The guys that remain have bought into the philosophy of O'Brien and play well as a team dealing with adversity. For most of the first half, Penn State appeared to be far more motivated than the Huskers. With a trip to Wisconsin next weekend, they will likely end up 6-6. Saturday was their last home game and the Seniors were honored for their contributions amidst all the controversy. The Nittany Lions have hung together well and their coach will keep them competitive. Second, the officials: What is it about playing on that field that causes officials to distort reality so badly. Do they serve shrooms in the official's locker room? The guy that made the bogus call on Burtch should be fired immediately or committed to a psychiatric facility until his hallucinations dissipate. The call didn't cost us the game, but well could have. Third, the Huskers themselves: A fumble at the goal line that throws away a score, another that almost throws away a chance to win, and a third inside the ten that gives them a score. A penalty at the one that takes away a chance at a leading touchdown, and a penalty in overtime that puts more pressure on a kicker to boot a longer field goal. Along with suspect calls from Beck that make you scratch your head, the Huskers demonstrated incredible resilience to win a game they should have won far more easily and yet about lost.
Tommy Armstrong looked like he was playing hurt and apparently he was. Enter the chubby senior who once again overcame some boneheaded decisions and got the job done. Throwing 20 for 34 for 191 yards under those conditions was respectable. But the 16 yard sack and fumble, and the running backwards and out of bounds on 2nd and 1 and not throwing the ball away, are plays you would not expect from a senior. I suppose that given his limited playing time, a brain fart here and there should be expected, but please learn from your mistakes, Ronnie. Ameer Abdullah, playing on a gimpy ankle, still managed 25 carries for 148 yards and 2 catches for 18 more and continued to show why he is the best back in the league. He carried the load for the Huskers who offensively were outgained by Penn State. The scoring explosion expected early in the year has become more like the Bataan Death March as starters continue to come up lame. I do wonder about our conditioning though, when receivers are taking themselves out of the game just two plays into the game. Westerkamp (5 catches for 62 yards) led the team in reception yardage but I did think he could have caught one more ball in the endzone for a touchdown. Kenny Bell (5 catches for 33 yards) never got untracked as the wide receiver screen was defensed well all day. It does make one wonder why we kept calling for it. Enunwa (3 catches for 23 yards) got back into the action with a very nice 27 yard touchdown catch and Brandon Reilly (2 catches for 19 yards) has become a bigger part of the offense as the season wears on. Our patchwork offensive line plugged along and protected Kellogg for the most part, but we just can't have false starts at such inopportune times.
In the first half I wondered if we were ever going to stop Zach Zwinak, as the bruiser averaged 6.2 yards. The Penn State offensive line maintained a pretty good push against our middle and I wondered why they didn't keep just pounding the ball. Although Penn State's Robinson was the big threat and still managed 8 catches for 106 yards, he could have doubled that total if he didn't have so many dropped passes. Once again, we showed that we have a tough time covering tight ends and they gashed us for big yards. But when the game was on the line, the Blackshirts stopped Penn State on their last five possessions including the overtime to seal the win. David Santos (9 tackles and a sack) led the Huskers in tackles and had the only sack. The kid has demonstrated significant improvement as the year has progressed. Randy Gregory (8 tackles) performed again extremely well even though he was playing on an injured wheel. I also thought Rose (8 tackles), Moss (5 tackles), Curry (4 tackles), Collins (3 tackles) and Valentine (3 tackles) contributed significantly. Cooper (6 tackles) had a very up and down game and his angle on the 46 yard touchdown play was really poor as it appeared he should have easily been able to force James out of bounds. Evans was dinged more than once but he provided solid coverage and his interception led to a field goal.
After last weeks disaster on special teams and after a very lackluster first half performance in this game, the kids shined with the game in the balance. Okay, our punt returns still stink, but Reilly got a punt block (with a bit of assistance from Penn State), Bell returns a kick to the house, and Bondi had 3 touchbacks in 6 kickoffs. Foltz booted eight punts for an average of 46.0 yards, pinning the Lions inside its own 20 on four times and they only had one decent punt return. And finally, Mr. Smith showed he has the cajones in kicking three field goals, including the winning field goal in overtime (twice). Although missing a couple of extra points early in the year, Smith is now 11 of 12 on field goals and is becoming more like the kind of kicker Nebraskans have been spoiled to have.
Nebraska is now 3-1 in November and probably should be 4-0. But, the mistakes and turnovers that cost you games and ultimately championships have not improved during Pelini's tenure. Thankfully, there is a tenacity to his squads that will help you win you many games in spite of yourself. Next week a very hard-nosed Iowa comes to Lincoln at 7-4 and fresh off a defeat of Michigan where they came back from a 21-7 halftime deficit. Iowa's strength in running the ball may again exploit our defensive line and I don't expect it to be decided until late in the contest. But for this week, the Huskers get out of Happy Valley happy and for that I'm thankful. Go Big Red!!!
On a cold, snow flurried afternoon in State College, the Huskers overcame their opponent, the officials, and themselves to pull out an overtime victory 23-20. First, the opponent: Penn State is a gritty hard-nosed football team that as the result of sanctions, has just 61 scholarship players. The guys that remain have bought into the philosophy of O'Brien and play well as a team dealing with adversity. For most of the first half, Penn State appeared to be far more motivated than the Huskers. With a trip to Wisconsin next weekend, they will likely end up 6-6. Saturday was their last home game and the Seniors were honored for their contributions amidst all the controversy. The Nittany Lions have hung together well and their coach will keep them competitive. Second, the officials: What is it about playing on that field that causes officials to distort reality so badly. Do they serve shrooms in the official's locker room? The guy that made the bogus call on Burtch should be fired immediately or committed to a psychiatric facility until his hallucinations dissipate. The call didn't cost us the game, but well could have. Third, the Huskers themselves: A fumble at the goal line that throws away a score, another that almost throws away a chance to win, and a third inside the ten that gives them a score. A penalty at the one that takes away a chance at a leading touchdown, and a penalty in overtime that puts more pressure on a kicker to boot a longer field goal. Along with suspect calls from Beck that make you scratch your head, the Huskers demonstrated incredible resilience to win a game they should have won far more easily and yet about lost.
Tommy Armstrong looked like he was playing hurt and apparently he was. Enter the chubby senior who once again overcame some boneheaded decisions and got the job done. Throwing 20 for 34 for 191 yards under those conditions was respectable. But the 16 yard sack and fumble, and the running backwards and out of bounds on 2nd and 1 and not throwing the ball away, are plays you would not expect from a senior. I suppose that given his limited playing time, a brain fart here and there should be expected, but please learn from your mistakes, Ronnie. Ameer Abdullah, playing on a gimpy ankle, still managed 25 carries for 148 yards and 2 catches for 18 more and continued to show why he is the best back in the league. He carried the load for the Huskers who offensively were outgained by Penn State. The scoring explosion expected early in the year has become more like the Bataan Death March as starters continue to come up lame. I do wonder about our conditioning though, when receivers are taking themselves out of the game just two plays into the game. Westerkamp (5 catches for 62 yards) led the team in reception yardage but I did think he could have caught one more ball in the endzone for a touchdown. Kenny Bell (5 catches for 33 yards) never got untracked as the wide receiver screen was defensed well all day. It does make one wonder why we kept calling for it. Enunwa (3 catches for 23 yards) got back into the action with a very nice 27 yard touchdown catch and Brandon Reilly (2 catches for 19 yards) has become a bigger part of the offense as the season wears on. Our patchwork offensive line plugged along and protected Kellogg for the most part, but we just can't have false starts at such inopportune times.
In the first half I wondered if we were ever going to stop Zach Zwinak, as the bruiser averaged 6.2 yards. The Penn State offensive line maintained a pretty good push against our middle and I wondered why they didn't keep just pounding the ball. Although Penn State's Robinson was the big threat and still managed 8 catches for 106 yards, he could have doubled that total if he didn't have so many dropped passes. Once again, we showed that we have a tough time covering tight ends and they gashed us for big yards. But when the game was on the line, the Blackshirts stopped Penn State on their last five possessions including the overtime to seal the win. David Santos (9 tackles and a sack) led the Huskers in tackles and had the only sack. The kid has demonstrated significant improvement as the year has progressed. Randy Gregory (8 tackles) performed again extremely well even though he was playing on an injured wheel. I also thought Rose (8 tackles), Moss (5 tackles), Curry (4 tackles), Collins (3 tackles) and Valentine (3 tackles) contributed significantly. Cooper (6 tackles) had a very up and down game and his angle on the 46 yard touchdown play was really poor as it appeared he should have easily been able to force James out of bounds. Evans was dinged more than once but he provided solid coverage and his interception led to a field goal.
After last weeks disaster on special teams and after a very lackluster first half performance in this game, the kids shined with the game in the balance. Okay, our punt returns still stink, but Reilly got a punt block (with a bit of assistance from Penn State), Bell returns a kick to the house, and Bondi had 3 touchbacks in 6 kickoffs. Foltz booted eight punts for an average of 46.0 yards, pinning the Lions inside its own 20 on four times and they only had one decent punt return. And finally, Mr. Smith showed he has the cajones in kicking three field goals, including the winning field goal in overtime (twice). Although missing a couple of extra points early in the year, Smith is now 11 of 12 on field goals and is becoming more like the kind of kicker Nebraskans have been spoiled to have.
Nebraska is now 3-1 in November and probably should be 4-0. But, the mistakes and turnovers that cost you games and ultimately championships have not improved during Pelini's tenure. Thankfully, there is a tenacity to his squads that will help you win you many games in spite of yourself. Next week a very hard-nosed Iowa comes to Lincoln at 7-4 and fresh off a defeat of Michigan where they came back from a 21-7 halftime deficit. Iowa's strength in running the ball may again exploit our defensive line and I don't expect it to be decided until late in the contest. But for this week, the Huskers get out of Happy Valley happy and for that I'm thankful. Go Big Red!!!
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