Lonnie Utah

Geez...... Lonnie Utah was not trying to flame, but only make a simple point..... and I think many of you missed the whole point of his post and got defensive.

It wasn't until #8 that there was really a negative for Nebraska. On the flip side, there were a LOT of negatives for the gamecock thru that stretch. The penalty I brought up in #2 was only to make the point that while it was technically a minus for Nebraska, it really didn't hurt the huskers that badly because it only moved the ball about a foot.

Eh, if you're going to talk smack come on with stronger game than that...

Read the post. I think that even in the Husker loss, I found more than one bright spot from the game for you guys, things that were lost in the final score. That was kind of the point of the original post. I'm not here to rub salt in the wounds, if that's what you are implying. Just because our teams were opponents for one game, doesn't mean I can't still pull for you guys when we aren't playing. Ironically, reading the board these past couple of days/months, I think that the husker fans and gamecock fans have alot in common in the way we feel about our respective teams Change the colors and the names, and this board could easily be cockytalk...

Look at all the posts I've made since the game ended. I think you'll find I'm here to discuss the game of football, not just the Cap1b.

From 2007 with 53 million views. That one's tired. Is that the best you've got???

As a gamecock fan, of all the Husker players I saw on Monday, David impressed me the most.

Really? You're basically saying Nebraska scored because S Carolina messed up due to penalties and 10 men on the field. What makes that something positive?

I'm saying both teams made mistakes that cost them.

X-posted at Cockytalk....

FWIW this is NOT a trolling post. It's posted with good intention...

So last night the baby was being extra fussy (we think his teeth are coming in), so I watched the game again from an "analytical" point of view without the emotion of game day. After reading both message board over the past two days, I came to the conclusion that we all have selective memories. I think the SC side is only remembering the good things and the Huskers are only remembering the bad things.

Here are a few things that I had "forgotten" due to all that happened later in the game. I've tried to post it in roughly chronological order from the game events.

1. On SC's first drive Connor Shaw overthrows a wide open Jeffery. That likely would have gone for 6 had they connected.

2. There was an early Nebraska offsides penalty on the 1 yard line that resulted in zero penalty yards.

3. On SC's first touchdown, it took them 3 tries from the 1 to punch it in.

4. On Nebraska's 2nd touchdown drive, USC had them stopped and forced a punt on 4th and 4. A facemask penalty on USC before the kick extended the drive and ultimately resulted in a Nebraska score.

5. On the play where Abudulla scored, Carolina only had 10 players on the field.

6. Late in the 1st, Gilmore gets beat and panics on an overthrown/uncatachable ball by Martinez and commits a pass interference penalty extending a Nebraska drive.

7. On Jeffery's long catch and run in the 2nd, the ball was over thrown by Shaw. Jeffery had to extend his body to catch it, and as a result stumbled. This allowed Dennard to close the couple of steps that Alshon had gotten on him. It was a big play, but that miscue by Shaw likely cost the gamecocks 6 points.

7. Nebraska's goal line stand and SC's inept play calling/mistakes late in the 2nd qt after Jeffery's long catch. The c$%ks had a costly delay of game penalty that moved the ball from the 1 back to the 6. The most likely also cost them 6 points.

8. Both Nebraska turnovers were basically in the Red zone. Gilmore's pic was on the 26, and that's close enough for me. The point is both were deep in Nebraska's end of the field.

9. The Gamecocks TOTALLY mismanaging the clock before the the hail mary. It worked out, but that was just poor play that could have made all the difference in the game.

10. One of Nebraska's O-line men, the guy guarding Clowney, got tangled up with him, and was shaken up in the 3rd and had to go out. For a few plays. This same O-line man was the same guy that got more than 1 movement call later in the game. I have nothing to support this, but I wonder if his bell was run, or whatever at that point.

11. QB play: Martinez was 2 for 3 in the 1st, while Connor Shaw was 1 for 3. In the 4th, Connor Shaw was 4 for 5 throwing the ball and Martinez was 1 for 2. Shaw was sacked twice in the 1st and had one run for no gain. Martinez was not sacked in the first and sacked 4 times in the 4th.

12. Burkhead had 5 catches for 35 yards. Good production from a running back.

13. Carolina only threw the ball once on the final drive.

Take away from this what you will. There was good and bad for both teams. I think there is a lot of good in there for the Nebraska fans that was lost in the final outcome. To me it says we remember what we want to, good or bad based on the outcome of the game...

Cheers,

L

Enhance- if you comprehended my post, you would know the only thing I took exception to was calling the play a fluke. You just agreed it wasn't. Not sure what your point is. I know Alshon is not GOAT. Not saying that play would work a majority of the time. On that particular snap, Alshon went beastmode all over your defense. Bottom-line. It's not a fluke- my only point. Yes, people are arguing that point. Read the thread.

Let it go man. We know what we need to know about A1. You'll never convince "the other side" anyway...

I don't recall Yoshi having much of a problem with this. I think it was just a result of him wanting to get off the ball quick given who he was facing opposite the line of scrimmage.

^^This. Clowney is a beast. Your guy pulled a tough assignment having to block him.

We are all forgetting that at the end of 3 quarters of play, it was still only 16-13. USC gets the ball back to start the 4th and go the distance to score. At this point you guys were kinda forced out of your strong suit (running) and into passing situations. That's played right to the strength of the SC defense and was one of the reasons for Nebraska's poor offensive showing in the final quarter.

FWIW and forgotten because of what happened on the next series that precipitated this thread, but Kenny Bell and Victor Hampton got after each other pretty good after Nebraska's tough series in the 3rd qt. The ref's let that one play out and nobody's saying anything positive or negative (calling them thugs, dirty or whatever) about either of those players. Granted it didn't come to blows, but similar circumstances but with the roles reversed.

I think both fan bases are just mad because one of their best players on their respective side of the ball took themselves out of the game...

Just like Dennard's ability to throw punches will probably help land him in Detroit.

lol. That's funny.

It's a fluke. It was a great play by Jeffery, but he doesn't make that catch/TD even 2/10 tries.

Lucky, yes. Fluke? Gamecocks seen A-1 do things like that too many times before to call it that. But as Woody Hayes used to say, "Only three things can happen when you pass and two of them are bad." So that's why you don't run that play every-time you're in the inside the 40....

Back to the Denanrd vs Jeffery battle, is Dennard (or any DB in a classic WR vs DB match-up) can win the battle on 9 plays out of 10, and the 1 the DB messes up ends up on Sports center...

Lonnie, you need to stick around HuskerBoard. I like reading your football commentary.

Thanks bro. We'll see what happens. My son will be just over a year old next fall, so I have a feeling I'll be lucky to catch one game a weekend!

Alshon looked faster off the line - 10 yd dash

Dennard looked (to me) to be able to catch him - 40 yd dash

I'll agree with that assessment. That's (along with hands) is why one plays O and one plays D. One creates separation, another reduces separation...

I wanted to add one more thing. I didn't want to make a new thread, and I figured this was the best place to stick it.

I saw your team play in Columbia back in the 1980's with Tom Osborne coaching them. At the time, my parents had seat very near where the visiting team entered the field. What I'll never forget was the SIZE of the Offensive linemen for Nebraska. Big ole' "beef eaters" mid-western boys. Good lord those guys pushed our defensive guys around all day. Truth be told, other than the fact that we lost that game, it's my only outstanding memory of the game.

So what I thought was ironic about yesterday's game, from a SC perspective was the difference in Nebraska's O-line vs SC's D-line. This was esp true as the game wore on. All you have to do is look at Nebraska's total yards by quarter. 1st, 123, 2nd, 104, 3rd 44, 4th -10. My point here isn't to be a troll or to beat you guys up, but to simply make the point that I think your O-line ran out of gas so to speak vs our Defense. In short, I think the month of hurt you guys in that regard. But that's a conditioning thing and that's fixable.

I read your reasoning for blaming the Nebraska staff, but I don't really see it that way. Being a South Carolina fan, you should know all too well that some players just make stupid decisions. Dennard is a great cornerback, as you pointed out. He always goes one on one with the opponent's best receiver, and he is usually successful. He didn't need safety help because I'm sure he saw the situation the same as we did - he gave up one big play, the Hail Mary was luck and the rest of it was Dennard doing a pretty good job.

 

Your other suggestion is purely conjecture, because you don't know what the Nebraska staff was doing/saying on the sidelines. Maybe they said/did all those things you suggested, and Dennard still lost his cool. How many times do you think the SC staff told Stephen Garcia to get his act together, yet he continually made the wrong choices. By your definition, I should assume the SC staff did nothing to prevent Garcia from making stupid mistakes and eventually getting kicked off the team.

 

I know your opinion is well-intentioned, so just know that I'm not attacking you. I just don't see it the way you do. Players are ultimately responsible for there actions, and even the best coaches can't prevent players from making stupid decisions. It happens.

 

Lastly, I think Blackmon is going before Jeffrey, but I've also seen Blackmon play a lot more this year.

Fair enough. And good point on Garcia. Well taken.

I was just trying not to put all the blame on the "kid(s)", because, well, he's a kid....

You should blame Jeffery, too. It takes two to tango. Dennard didn't manufacture that fight all by his lonesome. In four years as a starter, this is Dennard's only fight, and only ejection, and he's gone up against some very tough, arrogant, trash-talking WRs in his day. Something about those two set this thing off, and they both went at it. Both are to blame, and if you're going to blame Nebraska's coaching staff, blame Spurrier & Co. as well.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I do. To be fair, didn't I say that I thought along the same lines as 'sd'sker' when they said....

i'm really not too upset at either player regarding the fight. yes, it was unnecessary, but i would not call it cheap or thuggish. it was just two players playing with incredible intensity and emotion and they eventually let their emotion get the better of themselves. fonzie should not have thrown a punch (i never understood this, i mean the other guy has a helmet on) but i do not blame him because jeffery was holding him by the facemask. again, it was stupid, not shameful.

So I hear were you are coming from. I was proud that Alshon made the catch at the end of the 1st. That moment in the 3rd, not so much. I still honestly believe that Dennard hurt his team more in that moment, for reasons stated above. But Alshon screwed himself out of a chance to get the record for most yards receiving yards ever in the SEC and that's going to haunt him (at least until he gets that first NFL paycheck...) It was a thoughtless moment by both players, but I get intensity and teh will to win, so I'm not going to judge too harshly...

I posted a thread to eat my crow on Cocky Talk.

You were/are the best, most reasonable, classiest (is that a word??) Husker that showed up over there.

Hat's off to you sir....

So by that definition I am to think the worst of Alshon Jeffrey for being the other partner in that dance and for also getting ejected? That fight wasn't just Dennard.

 

You go ahead and think the worst of Dennard. I'll think the worst of Jeffrey. We'll both be happy in our inaccuracies.

I think that if you wanted to "hate on" Jeffery, that would be fair.

But you are still missing what I'm trying to say, I guess that's the hard part about trying to convey the nuances of a point in a text based environment.

My point was, and still is this. I think Dennard played a good game. He made a couple of mistakes, but he went man up with the guy that's likely going to be the #1 WR taken in the draft. Played him as good or better than guys from those SEC defenses that you've heard so much about. But that's not what I'm going to remember him by. He'll be the guy that "fought" Alshon. And that's not necessarily a negative view of him, just a factual view of the events. It was the most exciting, unusual thing from the game (I mean players don't fight and get kicked out very often), and it is what it is. He had a chance to let me come away with the same impression I came away with when I look at a Rex Burkehead or Lavonte David. Unfortunately, he blew it in that regard.

With that being said, I don't BLAME him for what happened, and that's the key difference. As I said above, I blame the Nebraska coaching staff, for all the reasons stated above.

11 tackles is kind of an off day for David.

I thought he played very well and was impressed. On the other side of the ball, Burkhead impressed me as well. As I said in the Alshon thread, he reminded me of the Great John Riggins.

In the end, I'm glad I made my way over here, hung out and started this thread. It made watching the game more enjoyable (regardless of the score) knowing the players on the other side of the ball. It also made me a fan of several of your players......

.... Starting today!

I think a more telling action than anything else was Dennard refusing to leave the sideline when they got booted, compared to Jeffery leaving right away. He was risking a 2nd penalty by being out there, and didn't seem to care. It was only when ESPN put his presence on the TV and jumbotron did he final leave.

 

But again, to me that falls back on the coaches, not the players...

You know nothing about Dennard. Basing an opinion on this game is errant.

I understand your support for him, but look at it from an outsider's point of view. My take on the whole deal pretty much falls inline with what Sd'husker said above. That being said, this was my first look at the guy, and this is what I'll always remember him by. Now I'm one guy, part of one fanbase, but Dennard will always be the guy that got into a fight with Alshon to me.

I'll contrast that with Burkhead, who really impressed me. Growing up in the south, we got to watch Atlanta and Washington on Sunday's. As I was watching that game yesterday, Burkhead reminded me of the great John Riggins. Big ole white boy with TONS of power and just enough speed. I'm gald we don't have to play him again anytime soon. He kept his head, played well, and I'll be a fan of his at the next level.

The point I'm making here is that no matter how good you play, you can mess it up in a single moment. As I said above, this is something I'll put on the Nebraska coaching staff. They should have seen Dennard's frustration with the situation and COACHED him to how well he actually was doing (all of the sacks yesterday were basically coverage sacks, that's a plus for NEB (vs a mobile QB)), and helped him keep his head in the game. They also should have gotten him a little safety help to take a bit of the pressure off.

But that's all in the past and fodder for discussion boards and talk radio now...

I think a more telling action than anything else was Dennard refusing to leave the sideline when they got booted, compared to Jeffery leaving right away. He was risking a 2nd penalty by being out there, and didn't seem to care. It was only when ESPN put his presence on the TV and jumbotron did he final leave.

But again, to me that falls back on the coaches, not the players...

"Our guys didn't do what they were coached to do," Pelini said of the play. "Period. End of story."

 

 

I find this to be very concerning. You don't throw your team under the bus like this. These are YOUR players, Pelini and it's YOUR responsibility to get them to play like you coach them to.

As an outsider looking in, I'll agree with you.

My take, again as an outsider, was I was impressed with your players, they made some great plays. A lot of the mistakes I saw were mental mistakes and ultimately I always blame those on how well they've been coached. I was NOT impressed by your coach(es). Take that for what it's worth.

Guys, on a serious note, I think you might feel better about things if you go over there and read the Cap 1 bowl thread that was going on during the game. At least the first 1/2. I think you guys are caught up on what happened in the 2nd half and forget how well you were playing for 30 mins. There are some positives for you guys, but the sting of the loss hurts too much for you to see them right now.

Punk? That's the last word I would use to describe Dennard. Calling him a punk because he lost his mind on one play is pretty foolish.

I've been thinking about this since it happened. To me Dennard looked frustrated and lashed out. BUT, I don't put that on Dennard. I'll put it on Pelini. And if you Nebraska fans think about it for a little bit, you'll know I'm right. It comes back to discipline. I look at Pelini's demeanor on the sideline yesterday, and I see that reflected in that one play. I'm not saying spunk and fire aren't needed in the game, but you also need to keep you head about you and as you said, Dennard lost his mind for one play...

Edit: and to the OP, right or wrong about the conclusions, coming into the other sides house and spouting off the day their team had a tuff game and the fanbase is in "meltdown" mode, isn't the best move. Let is sit for a few days and bring it up more gently. I'm not much for gloating by rubbing something in the otherside's face. Sic transit gloria mundi. (All glory is fleeting.)