NU receivers in Cotton Bowl

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

LJS

 

Husker receivers kept under wraps

BY CURT McKEEVER / Lincoln Journal Star

Monday, Jan 01, 2007 - 11:36:05 pm CST

 

DALLAS — David Irons had already warned Frantz Hardy of the consequences.

 

It’s no wonder, then, that when Zac Taylor’s fourth-and-11 pass for Hardy fell incomplete, representing Nebraska’s last real chance of rallying in Monday’s Cotton Bowl, the Auburn senior cornerback felt like shouting at the Husker receiver: Told you so.

 

“Their wide receivers haven’t been challenged. I felt like in the Big 12 they don’t play physical and man like we do in the SEC,” Irons said after helping limit Taylor to 126 yards passing to fuel Auburn’s 17-14 victory. “I felt like if you put your hands on them and run with them they’re not fast enough to beat me deep. None of them.

 

“I knew Frantz Hardy and I was like, ‘You all are not going to beat me deep.’”

 

 

Hardy, who like Irons played at Butler (Kan.) Community College, had no receptions, while NU’s wide receivers accounted for just five of the team’s 14 completions.

 

In essence, Auburn’s speedy secondary, which relied on a Cover-2 zone scheme more than usual to complement its man coverage, forced the Huskers to attack via the ground or through short dump-off passes.

 

“In the Big 12, they’re playing off (the line of scrimmage) 10, 12 yards,” Irons said. “In the SEC, we don’t play off. I knew it would be hard for Zac to throw with accuracy, because we come from all different directions. That’s what we did today.”

 

The Tigers harassed the Big 12 offensive player of the year into a manageable 14-for-26 performance that also included an interception they converted into a touchdown.

 

Taylor, who in his previous 16 games had just one lower passing total than he produced Monday, credited Auburn for keeping its safeties back in coverage rather than coming after him with a heavy blitz package.

 

“That kind of takes away your shots downfield,” he said. “That’s frustrating for me, because you kind of want to keep them on their heels and take some shots, but they played well and we just tried to take what they gave us.”

 

Taylor’s interception came when he tried to thread a ball through two defenders, one of whom was Irons. The throw caromed to linebacker Karibi Dede, who went 52 yards on his return to the Husker 9-yard line.

 

Two plays later, Carl Stewart took a short pass from Brandon Cox and covered the 9 yards to the end zone.

 

“David just had good coverage on the island all night and challenged their receivers,” Dede said. “On that play, he got his hand on it and it seemed like it was in the air forever. On the runback, I ran out of gas. ... But we were fortunate, we went and put it in.”

 

Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said he felt like his team was lucky to be in a 14-14 game at halftime. But “I enjoyed watching our defense recover from stumbling out of the blocks.”

 

So, obviously, did defensive coordinator Will Muschamp.

 

After the Huskers got a late chance when Stewart Bradley forced and recovered a fumble while sacking Cox, Auburn gave up a first down before stiffening and forcing NU to attempt the fourth-and-11 pass.

 

“We’re going to go out and make stops. We’ve done that 11 times this year,” Muschamp said. “We’re going to go after them, we’re going to go man-to-man. That’s what we do.

 

“We did a good job of pressuring the quarterback. We hit him late in the game and affected him. That’s what we wanted to do.”

 

The result of that approach came as no surprise to Irons.

 

“Our secondary’s so quick,” he said, “we wanted them to throw.”

[Huskerfan55]

Speed kills and we dont have it! We are big but lack real speed!

[Atrain15]

Anyone think Niles Paul or Menelik Holt will be able to contribute or even start next year? i mean florida is using Percy Harvin and is making a huge impact. why not put our best players on the field.

[landonhusker]

Well said. they say Will Henry has been awesome in practice with keller and that Brooks has done real well also. Holt is supposed to be very good but can someone please explain why we wasted a year of eligibility with him. He played in maybe half the games and only a play or two at that.

 

I love swift and petersen, but i hope to not see them on the field next year. I think we need to pick our 2 starters and have a 3rd a 4th and a 5th and stop rotating 15 receivers each game. we tried to get so many in the game that we were predictable. when eisenbart was in RUN everyone knew it.

 

I think the real test of our coaching staff comes next year. will they sit players that have been playing for the past few years and play the players that should be in the game or will they go with the seniority rule and send Grixby, swift, petersen, and the rest out again and again

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

Anyone think Niles Paul or Menelik Holt will be able to contribute or even start next year? i mean florida is using Percy Harvin and is making a huge impact. why not put our best players on the field.

Paul could shine if given the chance. He's a heck of an athlete and has the wheels he will be honing on the track in the spring.

[gamecocks]

The reciever was Erickson that always goes in on the toss sweep plays. Eisenhart is a safety. Don't want to be a jerk, but I am good friends with Ben and I want everyone to know that he plays safety.

[huskers1]

I couldnt agree more!! They really need to pick who their best four receivers are and play them. Whether it be Purify and Nunn or whoever. If you look at USC they play Jarret, Smith, and Turner the mojority of the time and then use Mccoy sparingly but effective. I know he is trying to make it so defenses dont key in on people, however it is still the same number of routes being run whether its peterson or purify in or nunn and swift. It just doesnt make much sense to me. I think us not having a threat at tight end hurts a ton, and wont be fully evident until we have one. I also dont understand why we dont throw more short arrow routes to hardy. that dude can flat out fly, instead we throw them to swift or phillips. It just makes no sense to me. With that said, I love Callahan and everybody else will too starting next year.

[landonhusker]

sorry for the mixup

[landonhusker]

I couldnt agree more!! They really need to pick who their best four receivers are and play them. Whether it be Purify and Nunn or whoever. If you look at USC they play Jarret, Smith, and Turner the mojority of the time and then use Mccoy sparingly but effective. I know he is trying to make it so defenses dont key in on people, however it is still the same number of routes being run whether its peterson or purify in or nunn and swift. It just doesnt make much sense to me. I think us not having a threat at tight end hurts a ton, and wont be fully evident until we have one. I also dont understand why we dont throw more short arrow routes to hardy. that dude can flat out fly, instead we throw them to swift or phillips. It just makes no sense to me. With that said, I love Callahan and everybody else will too starting next year.

I love cally too and i think next year people will change their tune. bad thing about next year is USC , even though we play them at home they will be preseason number 1 and are very good. i think next years offense will be sick and although we lose carriker and moore our D will be way better and potter and Turner will look better because coz can be more creative and take more chances. with the addition of Bowman, murillo, asante and thenarse on the field we have gone from high school secondary to outstanding college secondary

[cmb23]

I would like an investigation on who shot up Terrance Nunn's arms with novicaine before the game. That could be the only reason that so many balls hit him and he couldn't come up with the catch.

 

One good thing that came out of the game for Nunn is that I heard he is getting serious looks from the NFL. Not as a receiver for a team. They want to use him as one of those targets in the NFL quarterback challenges that they throw the balls at for points. Gas is expensive to burn up in those little carts they use...he'd save them money.

 

[Hunter94]

I couldnt agree more!! They really need to pick who their best four receivers are and play them. Whether it be Purify and Nunn or whoever. If you look at USC they play Jarret, Smith, and Turner the mojority of the time and then use Mccoy sparingly but effective. I know he is trying to make it so defenses dont key in on people, however it is still the same number of routes being run whether its peterson or purify in or nunn and swift. It just doesnt make much sense to me. I think us not having a threat at tight end hurts a ton, and wont be fully evident until we have one. I also dont understand why we dont throw more short arrow routes to hardy. that dude can flat out fly, instead we throw them to swift or phillips. It just makes no sense to me. With that said, I love Callahan and everybody else will too starting next year.

I love cally too and i think next year people will change their tune. bad thing about next year is USC , even though we play them at home they will be preseason number 1 and are very good. i think next years offense will be sick and although we lose carriker and moore our D will be way better and potter and Turner will look better because coz can be more creative and take more chances. with the addition of Bowman, murillo, asante and thenarse on the field we have gone from high school secondary to outstanding college secondary

 

i hope coz doesn't get as "creative" as cally.....