Husker defense comes of age

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

Journal Star

 

Husker defense comes of age

BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star

Saturday, Sep 13, 2008 - 11:41:09 pm CDT

 

The shirts themselves aren’t back. Yet. They’re still in storage, presumably.

 

But the Blackshirt spirit was shining through — at long last — in a late third-quarter series Saturday night at Memorial Stadium.

 

Fans could sense it. The crowd of 84,821 grew louder with each sack, each run stop, each fluttering, incomplete pass.

 

Coaches could sense it. Bo Pelini was blitzing from everywhere with his team up 35-0 and New Mexico State in the Nebraska red zone.

 

And, most importantly, the players could sense it.

 

“I definitely sensed it,” nose tackle Ndamukong Suh said. “We definitely wanted to hold them to a shutout.”

 

At that moment, mission accomplished.

 

Matt O’Hanlon’s interception at the 4-yard line on a third-and-9 play turned back New Mexico State on a series that lasted, in real time, nearly a half-hour.

 

Two booth replays. Two pass-interference calls. A fumble recovery that wasn’t.

 

Nebraska withstood it all.

 

“I think it shows our true character as a team,” Suh said. “Even though we had all that adversity, we still came together.”

 

Of course, it all went for naught when New Mexico State busted the shutout in the fourth quarter, scoring on a 3-yard run one play after a 48-yard fumble return.

 

“It was tough. It was tough,” Suh said. “We really thought we had it. Especially (Zach) Potter really wanted it bad. That’s the way it is.”

 

Nebraska’s 38-7 victory, though, was sound enough to elicit praise from defensive coordinator Carl Pelini.

 

“They really came of age today,” Pelini said, referring specifically to the play of his secondary and linebackers. “They took coaching well, and they really executed the game plan. They did a great job.”

 

Pelini was proud of how his troops responded against a complicated spread passing attack. New Mexico State threw for 225 yards — 55 coming on a play in the final 2 minutes of the game.

 

Nebraska, frequently using redshirt freshman walk-on Lance Thorell as a dime back, responded by collecting two interceptions and holding the Aggies to 19-of-39 passing.

 

New Mexico State, playing its first game, caught Nebraska off-guard with some different formations on its initial series. The Aggies drove from their 20 to the Nebraska 3 — a series that produced nothing aside from a little Husker panic.

 

“All we did was we settled them down and we said, ‘Go back to your rules,’ and everything was good from that point,” Pelini said of the changes coaches made after the first series, which ended when Potter blocked a field-goal attempt.

 

“New Mexico State really challenges your coverages. They’ve got a good scheme, and our guys had to adapt our coverages to fit what they do, and I really thought they played very mature for a group of young guys.”

 

In particular, Pelini said sophomore defensive back Eric Hagg adjusted nicely. Hagg had a career-high 10 tackles.

 

“We had a lot on Eric this week, and he had to really recognize certain things and make our coverages work,” Pelini. “Again, he saw something a little bit different and didn’t quite adjust just perfectly (in the first series), so we got that corrected.”

 

Armando Murillo recorded his first career interception in the first half, and O’Hanlon also got his first career interception on the play that ended a wild series in the fourth quarter.

 

“Coach Pelini planned that out perfect,” Thorell said of O’Hanlon’s interception. “He told the safeties to show blitz and pop back, and that quarterback would throw it right to them, and that’s what happened.”

 

If the coveted Blackshirts are finally awarded before Nebraska’s next game, Sept. 27 against Virginia Tech — and Pelini indicated that’s very possible — then Saturday’s third quarter just might be a reason why.

 

New Mexico State had driven from its 15 to the Nebraska 13, when it appeared Potter had recovered an errant pitch by receiver Wes Neiman, who’d taken a direct snap and was running an option play. Replays showed that Neiman, behind the line of scrimmage, had pitched the ball forward, however, making it a harmless incomplete pass.

 

Nebraska thought it had stopped the Aggies again on an incomplete fourth-and-5 pass, but pass interference gave NMSU a first down at the 2. A false-start penalty and back-to-back sacks by Suh and Potter pushed the Aggies back to the 22 and ignited the sellout crowd.

 

Then another pass-interference penalty on third down. Sigh. Pelini responded by blitzing on a first-down pass that Neiman nearly caught in the corner of the end zone. Replays confirmed Neiman was out of bounds when he caught the pass.

 

Two plays later, O’Hanlon, at long last, ended the series with his interception of Chase Holbrook to start the fourth quarter.

 

“I thought we came of age a little bit there,” Pelini said. “We had a great pass rush, we had them covered down and just kept moving them backward. And they kept getting chance after chance, and we kept coming.”

 

Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.

 

[trouble]

That was one of the longest redzone stands I think Ive ever watched. Great stand though, even though those two pass interference calls were legit and our guys made a couple dumb mistakes.

[hskrfan4life]

Yea but our secondary is sorta inexperienced so you know we will make mistakes.

[I See Red People]

The fumbled snaps were tough to watch, as they were really the only bad mark for the team. I'm sure Witt feels bad about that. I think that the second pass interference call in the endzone was BS. That call sucked as well as MANY others. Calls made and NOT made. Overall, this was the best all around defensive performance I've seen in a long time, even though it was NMST. JMO

[cornhuskers4ever]

It was awesome. After the blocked Field Goal you kind of sensed the tide turning. As the game went on, you saw the fire back in the Defense's eyes. When Nebraska held them out of the End Zone when they had to go for it on 4th down, the Bar I was at that had the game on everybody and I mean everybody stood up yelling and was "Throwing the bones".

[BIGREDIOWAN]

I was so pissed that Witt put those guys in the position of failure after fumbling that snap, but he is inexperienced so oh well.

[SkullandBones]

Yeah, the fumble sucked but it's spilled milk. I'm sure noone feels worth than Witt does about it, so I'm not going to beat the kid up over it. I was just glad we were able to get to a point where he could get in there and get some reps.

[bennychico11]

the stadium was crazy!!! It was awesome! We were sitting there (yes sitting sadly in the South end zone) and any outside would be wondering why the crowd was getting worked up since we had a 35 point lead! But after every stop everyone started standing...everyone started getting louder and louder....EVERYONE, even older people who sit the entire game, was yelling at the top of their lungs. It was one of the best drives I've ever seen...those penalties sucked though. But everyone was so excited how we stopped that drive

[Ohio Pete]

the stadium was crazy!!! It was awesome! We were sitting there (yes sitting sadly in the South end zone) and any outside would be wondering why the crowd was getting worked up since we had a 35 point lead! But after every stop everyone started standing...everyone started getting louder and louder....EVERYONE, even older people who sit the entire game, was yelling at the top of their lungs. It was one of the best drives I've ever seen...those penalties sucked though. But everyone was so excited how we stopped that drive

Hey, don't have to stand to be loud. Just keep bringing the noise when the team's on D. And if the crowd is too quiet, stand up in front of the old farts and at least they'll get a down in front chant started. Tell em lets make a deal old timer, you do husker power the rest of the game and I'll sit.

 

 

 

( Love to see those idiots at Duke standing there with their mouths shut after Carolina beats the crap out of them. STFU and sit the F down.)

[MCAT800]

It was a great, great, game. Sure it was against NMSU, but the O-line fired off the ball, the D pursued and tackled and the crowd sounded energized.

 

I think we saw a small glimpse of whats to come.

[pctopeka]

the stadium was crazy!!! It was awesome! We were sitting there (yes sitting sadly in the South end zone) and any outside would be wondering why the crowd was getting worked up since we had a 35 point lead! But after every stop everyone started standing...everyone started getting louder and louder....EVERYONE, even older people who sit the entire game, was yelling at the top of their lungs. It was one of the best drives I've ever seen...those penalties sucked though. But everyone was so excited how we stopped that drive

Hey, don't have to stand to be loud. Just keep bringing the noise when the team's on D. And if the crowd is too quiet, stand up in front of the old farts and at least they'll get a down in front chant started. Tell em lets make a deal old timer, you do husker power the rest of the game and I'll sit.

 

 

 

( Love to see those idiots at Duke standing there with their mouths shut after Carolina beats the crap out of them. STFU and sit the F down.)

 

Typical statement from a probably drunken young brat. Most of those "old farts" know a lot more about football than he does. At least they know when to yell and what to yell about. The "old farts" have given Nebraska the reputation of having the best fans in college football; his kind cheer for a routine tackle and puke down the back in front of them.

[AR Husker Fan]

Okay, guys - either take it to the 'Shed or stop.

[pctopeka]

Okay, guys - either take it to the 'Shed or stop.

 

This reminds me of one of Oldman's posts the other day. A bunch of guys bag him for being older and having an opinion, and when he talks back (after about 25 posts trashing him), one of the moderators tells him "that's enough".

 

I guess we "old farts" and "old timers" aren't supposed to have an opinion or defend ourselves. Or do we use words with too many syllables for the kids to understand?

[Vuren]

Okay, guys - either take it to the 'Shed or stop.

 

This reminds me of one of Oldman's posts the other day. A bunch of guys bag him for being older and having an opinion, and when he talks back (after about 25 posts trashing him), one of the moderators tells him "that's enough".

 

I guess we "old farts" and "old timers" aren't supposed to have an opinion or defend ourselves. Or do we use words with too many syllables for the kids to understand?

or maybe it's your tone? you want to group all of us youngins into a hole, so i'll do it too, i don't want to be recognized as a nice guy during the game, before and after great, during that game i want to be your worst nightmare.

[pctopeka]

Okay, guys - either take it to the 'Shed or stop.

 

This reminds me of one of Oldman's posts the other day. A bunch of guys bag him for being older and having an opinion, and when he talks back (after about 25 posts trashing him), one of the moderators tells him "that's enough".

 

I guess we "old farts" and "old timers" aren't supposed to have an opinion or defend ourselves. Or do we use words with too many syllables for the kids to understand?

or maybe it's your tone? you want to group all of us youngins into a hole, so i'll do it too, i don't want to be recognized as a nice guy during the game, before and after great, during that game i want to be your worst nightmare.

 

My worst nightmares come from combat in the Marines. Maybe that's why I try to act civilized at something as trivial in life as a football game. You would simply be an insignificant annoyance.