Northwestern: What Did We Learn?

Bob Stoops said before the OU game that NEB was ready to turn a corner. 

What I learned is that this Oline change was a plus. It might have been a big enough plus for another 1 or 2 scoring drives in previous games. That is the difference between this team being 3-3 and 6-0. 
 

Illinois wouldn’t have gotten to Martinez, we would have sustained drives and that game would have been a blowout.

OU wouldn’t have hurried Martinez nearly as often and that would have resulted in more sustained drives and at least 7 points… The difference in the game of course.

Last week was pathetic for our oline. This oline would have created enough space and drive sustainment to allow for 14 or more points. 
 

This team should be 6-0 during one of the hardest schedules in school history according to preseason predictions. 
 

This team still has a lot to improve, but that team that showed up tonight should have beaten OU and Michigan State. That team that showed up tonight will beat Michigan next weekend, and I’ll be there to watch. 
 

GBR

 
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Whatever work Jacquez Yant put in to get himself in playing shape, it paid off.

Our O line still has a lot to prove, but with the running lanes that opened up and the amount of time Adrian had in the pocket on most plays, it really goes to show how important their job is.

I know Przystup had a couple of bad punts last week, but he seems to have a higher ceiling than Cerni.  That punt last night was a monster.

I learned what it feels like to watch a Nebraska team that is in control the entire game and doesn't give up momentum.  That's a feeling I hadn't felt for about as far back as I can remember.

Best of all for me, I got a reminder of how much fun it is to get to watch a game in Memorial Stadium, especially on a night like last night.  Last night was the first game I got to watch in person since McNeese State in 2014, and I couldn't have picked a better game to attend.

 
3rd and long said:
I only saw the fourth quarter, but I was happy  to see us actually fielding punts. 
 

Was it that way all game long?
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It was Oliver Martin that we had back there. He's been out the last few weeks with an injured knee, and was rumored to be on a snap count for this week.

 
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Courtesy Flush said:
Bob Stoops said before the OU game that NEB was ready to turn a corner. 

What I learned is that this Oline change was a plus. It might have been a big enough plus for another 1 or 2 scoring drives in previous games. That is the difference between this team being 3-3 and 6-0. 
 

Illinois wouldn’t have gotten to Martinez, we would have sustained drives and that game would have been a blowout.

OU wouldn’t have hurried Martinez nearly as often and that would have resulted in more sustained drives and at least 7 points… The difference in the game of course.

Last week was pathetic for our oline. This oline would have created enough space and drive sustainment to allow for 14 or more points. 
 

This team should be 6-0 during one of the hardest schedules in school history according to preseason predictions. 
 

This team still has a lot to improve, but that team that showed up tonight should have beaten OU and Michigan State. That team that showed up tonight will beat Michigan next weekend, and I’ll be there to watch. 
 

GBR
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I agree 100%. Who was the starting left tackle before the change? I cant remember. 

I also noticed on kick offs that everyone sprinted to the endzome. 

 
I have to say that was the most enjoyable Husker game I've seen in a long, long time. While I realize it was only NW in an off year at least we took care of business and played like I expect a Husker team to play. After seeing them struggle in games like this constantly, or worse, get beat by teams like Illinois, looking at what they did last night gave me a feeling of excitement I remember having with TO's teams from the 70's thru the 90's. And the return of the big plays was a treat to behold.

Now if we can just carry it through to Mich.

 
3rd and long said:
I don’t even care about returns. If we had fair caught every punt against Michigan St we would have saved a bunch of field position. 
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I agree. Just catching the ball with no drama was huge. Especially when the offense is playing like they did. And Martin made a great play on that one punt that was short where he was able to field it cleanly, not letting it hit and roll for who knows how many extra yards.

 
I learned that a true freshman from Nebraska is going to help instill a culture on the OL that has been missing.

 
Nebraska55fan said:
All fair catches- no run backs. One was a pretty tough catch- saved us about 20 yards of field position

Martin
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Lame that in year 4 I'm relieved to see us just managing to Santino Panico it, but does beat the living hell out of being afraid of catching the ball and watching it roll on by. Ya I liked that Martin went up and made a tougher(but not recklessly tougher) catch. Maybe we beat MSU if we'd managed to that last week. 

 
Danimal said:
Lame that in year 4 I'm relieved to see us just managing to Santino Panico it, but does beat the living hell out of being afraid of catching the ball and watching it roll on by. Ya I liked that Martin went up and made a tougher(but not recklessly tougher) catch. Maybe we beat MSU if we'd managed to that last week. 
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  Our Special Teams is a disaster. I'm good with incremental improvements right now. 

 
Danimal said:
Lame that in year 4 I'm relieved to see us just managing to Santino Panico it, but does beat the living hell out of being afraid of catching the ball and watching it roll on by. Ya I liked that Martin went up and made a tougher(but not recklessly tougher) catch. Maybe we beat MSU if we'd managed to that last week. 
Click to expand...


Nebraska55fan said:
  Our Special Teams is a disaster. I'm good with incremental improvements right now. 
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Ya, it's an area where we are going to have to walk before we run.. For now, I am happy to see we can stay upright.

 
Danimal said:
Lame that in year 4 I'm relieved to see us just managing to Santino Panico it, but does beat the living hell out of being afraid of catching the ball and watching it roll on by. Ya I liked that Martin went up and made a tougher(but not recklessly tougher) catch. Maybe we beat MSU if we'd managed to that last week. 
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That catch made it extremely obvious that the coaches told them no balls are to hit the ground. Frost was pissed about all the field position we gave up last week. Im not sure how they finally got through to the team but whatever they did, hopefully they keep it up going forward. It was as if the players knew they were in deep s#!t if they didn’t do the right thing. Whatever, they made a 180 degree turn from bonehead ST plays and stupid penalties. It was awesome.

 
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