Alex to the rescue

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

NE Statepaper

 

Alex to the Rescue

Commentary: NU escapes a heap of criticism thanks to Henery

by Samuel McKewon

 

November 28, 2008

 

So we were 58 minutes into Nebraska v. Colorado, and the Buffs were one longshot field goal try away from sucking the air right out of Memorial Stadium and the wind right from the sails of NU’s winning streak. At that moment, the Cornhuskers had played one of their sloppiest games of the year on a true national stage, with very few football teams vying for the viewer’s attention.

 

Any casual college football lover who tuned in to see if Nebraska was “back with Bo” saw the ghosts of Bill Callahan: Bizarre, inexplicable defensive busts. The perfectly ill-timed trick play on special teams. The bewildering habit of taking the hot running back out of the game right when he’s needed most. The inexcusable sack.

 

Yep, the sirens were ready to whoop whoop whoop from Omaha to Scottsbluff.

 

But you already know the best antidote for criticism: A miracle.

 

Hello, Alex Henery, the kid who laced a 57-yard field goal and saved NU from a weekend-long riot act. Call it the Kick Heard Round Nebraska. There’s never been one bigger – and there may never be one longer – than that one.

 

“I don’t think it’s set in,” Henery said.

 

Based on Henery’s reaction in the post-game press conference – he quaintly equated the greatest kick in Nebraska football history with a goal he’d scored in high school club soccer – yeah, it’s safe to say he didn’t exactly grasp the magnitude of it.

 

Here’s how big that boot was:

 

*Henery’s kick might have just landed him on the All Big 12 team. Maybe not the first team – that will probably go to Missouri’s Jeff Wolfert. But you tell us who else in the league won a game this year with their foot. We’ll wait awhile.

 

*It saved Senior Day for a bunch of guys who deserved to be sent out the right way, especially quarterback Joe Ganz and defensive end Zach Potter, who sustained a terrific effort all year, but especially turned it on after the Missouri game.

 

“I wish it was a little easier,” Ganz said, “but it kind of sums up my career and the careers of these seniors, getting a win like that. I'm just so glad we could go out winners, instead of going out the other way. Especially the way things ended last year, this year, I didn't want to leave that bitter taste in my mouth."

 

Ganz set the single-season passing yardage record Friday, and it wouldn’t have felt quite the same if NU hadn’t closed the deal against CU.

 

*Bo Pelini narrowly escaped a trip through wringer on the call-in shows for that fake field goal play. He admitted it was a “boneheaded” call, and honesty is one of the great virtues of this coach, but it was the kind of decision that would have followed him, and this team, throughout the offseason.

 

And, no it doesn’t matter that it was a fake field goal pass. The flip from Jake Wesch to Alex Henery was the same flip from three weeks ago. Of course Colorado knew it was coming.

 

*It preserved Roy Helu, Jr’s terrific performance, the best of his young career. Colorado played a deep cover two, guarding against the pass – one of the first teams to employ that strategy against NU this year – and it fell to Helu to make the runs in the zone read game. And he came through, getting stronger as the game progressed despite taking some big shots from CU defenders.

 

So why was he removed nearly every single time the Huskers moved inside the 20-yard line for Quentin Castille, who’s not nearly the runner, short yardage or otherwise, that Helu is? It’s not that Castille is a bad player – he brings some strengths to the table. It’s that, in the running game, Helu does the extra little things so right. To stick Castille back there in the red zone where Colorado is supposedly so stingy just didn’t wash. Thankfully, Helu’s great effort wasn’t wasted.

 

*It bailed out Nebraska’s linebackers and secondary, which continue to struggle in the first quarter. Colorado is not an explosive offense; in fact, it’s exceedingly conservative, as proven by a second half performance in which the Buffs practically crawled into a shell. But CU sure looked like an offensive juggernaut in the first five minutes. Can it be explained? Why do the Huskers routinely need a couple drives to adjust to what an offense is doing? Are mental busts as astonishing as the ones Nebraska committed on the first two drives common in the 12th game of the year?

 

*It put NU in the Gator Bowl driver’s seat. What a terrific roll of the dice for the Big Red, to get a shot at New Year’s Day, potentially against a name team like Florida State. New Year’s has been so watered down because of the BCS that a spot on that day is even more exclusive than it once was. It’s a recruiting opportunity, for certain, a chance to catch the eye of some big-name prospect looking to shake things up late in the process.

 

*It gave the Memorial Stadium crowd a much-needed jolt of electricity. Dunno about you, but the old joint didn’t always seem too alive in 2008. Maybe it was left over from 2007. Maybe it was the students getting shoved to the top of South Stadium. Whatever it was, the empty seats – all over the place – during an exciting, important Kansas game were a little unfortunate.

 

No such thing happened Friday. The seats were packed. The crowd made a visible difference in the second half. And when Henery’s kicker cleared the uprights, the stadium sounded like, well, the old days. And it felt good.

 

Funny, what a soccer player from Burke can do.

[huskernumerouno]

Good story GREAT KICK

[General Blackshirt]

The seats were packed. The crowd made a visible difference in the second half. And when Henery’s kicker cleared the uprights, the stadium sounded like, well, the old days. And it felt good.