Is NU's greatness really inevitable?

[schuhbdoo]

Takes a class act to admit you are wrong.

 

 

http://campuscorner.kansascity.com/node/1260

 

 

Is Nebraska's Greatness Really Inevitable?

By Mike DeArmond - Posted on 08 October 2010

I went to bed on Thursday night sensing a hint of inevitability in the air and awoke Friday morning to find the skunk had taken a pit stop nearly everywhere.

Nebraska - I am hearing - not only whipped Kansas State on Thursday night. The Cornhuskers defeated every other team it will play the rest of the way in their goodbye season in the Big 12 Conference.

Hey, Nebraska freshman sensation Taylor Martinez had me pulling out comparisons to other great quarterbacks of the Big 12, too. Better than Nebraska’s own Eric Crouch and a few other running QBs of Crouch’s ilk? Martinez turns broken plays into back-breaking touchdowns like Corby Jones once did in the day God gave this kid another running gear, like he did Brad Smith, only Martinez might just shift into that gear quicker than Smith.

Count me as among those bowled over by T-Magic, and yes, I think that is a fine moniker if you really need one. Say “Taylor” and I know who you’re talking about. Say “Martinez” and you’ve got instant recognition.

Martinez makes Nebraska a better team than the Cornhusker squad led a year ago by a Man Named Suh. Last week I voted Nebraska No. 7 on my AP Top 25 ballot and considering No. 6 Oklahoma’s defensive question marks, I’ll give strong consideration next Sunday morning to moving Nebraska above the Sooners again in my next poll vote.

The Cornhuskers now have exactly what they needed a year ago, a big-play-at-any-time quarterback. A game changer. A game decider. A player who demands respect for himself, his team and a fan base that suddenly has tangible evidence that its We’re-Better-Than-You arrogance is more than a brag that barely managed to pull Husker Nation through the Bill Callahan Era.

The Cornhuskers are good. They may be great. But we won’t know that until a two-week span from Oct. 16 through Oct. 30, when the Cornhuskers play host to Texas and Missouri sandwiched around a game at Oklahoma State.

Right now you’ve got to expect Nebraska to win all three of those games. Texas has problems running the football and at quarterback and has lost to UCLA and Oklahoma in consecutive games.

Oklahoma State ranks No. 3 in the nation in total offense at 534.75 yards a game and No. 2 in scoring at 52.25 points a game. But the Cowboys remind me of some of Mike Leach’s best Texas Tech teams. All offense and no defense. Oklahoma State ranks No. 96 in the nation in total defense and last in the Big 12, although the Cowboys are merely No. 49 against the run.

Missouri can do a bit of everything pretty well. Pass and catch it of course, as usual. T.J. Moe leads the nation with 9.25 receptions a game and Michael Egnew is fifth at 8.25. Quarterback Blaine Gabbert is the guy on the other end of all those pass completions. And what MU coach Gary Pinkel hints may be his best offensive line has opened up big holes for every one of four tailbacks who form the committee to replace the permanently suspended Derrick Washington.

Missouri returning All-American Grant Ressel has hit eight of nine field goals, including one from 50 yards with his only miss from 42. Punter Matt Grabner has become a field-position weapon with a 43.1-yard average and seven punts downed inside the opponent’s 20 in four games.

What may - or may not, we’ll have to wait for Oct. 30 at Nebraska - give Missouri hopes of diverting the Nebraska express is the play of the Tigers’ defense, and how that meshes against what so far is one of the few weaknesses displayed by the Cornhuskers’ offense.

Missouri has forced six fumbles and has recovered five. Nebraska has fumbled the football 18 times, losing seven. The Tigers have already intercepted eight passes, equaling their total for 13 games last season. Opponents have picked off 10 Nebraska passes. Missouri’s coaches have already shown a willingness and ability to do what all opponents should do in trying to keep Taylor Martinez from going all Wildcat on them, as he did on the way to 241 yards rushing against Kansas State. MU, after being stung by Illinois freshman quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase in the first half of MU’s season opener, used premier sack man Aldon Smith as a spy, shadowing Scheelhaase’s every move in the second half. It was a big part of why Missouri rallied to a 23-13 victory.

I would suggest that employing the same strategy in attempting to limit Martinez might be a good way to go for the rest of Nebraska’s opponents. And of course, for Missouri, that means getting Smith back from a fibula fracture in time for that game.

Does that mean it will work? Does that mean Missouri WILL upset Nebraska in Lincoln? No, and no.

But what Martinez and Nebraska did to Kansas State on Thursday night doesn’t fill my kitchen with the lingering smell of fried fish, or convince me just yet that every upcoming league opponent is a dead duck.

It was a nice buildup to suggest that Daniel Thomas and coach Bill Snyder’s 71st birthday would be enough to pull the upset. But besides the T-Magic Show, I noted several things about the quality of the Kansas State team he and Nebraska demolished.

1. The Wildcats are just as one-dimensional offensively as I thought they would be. That is two straight weeks that Thomas has been held under 100 yards. Thomas ran 22 times for 76 yards and no touchdowns against Central Florida and 22 times for 63 yards and no TDs against Nebraska. Slow Thomas and you stop Kansas State.

2. Bill Snyder Family Stadium - when a great home team isn’t playing in it - isn’t as intimidating as stadiums at Nebraska, Texas, Oklahoma, Texas A&M and Missouri on any given game day or night. The venue seats fewer fans than the stadiums at all five of those other Big 12 teams and from the looks of things on Wednesday night there was a lot of Nebraska Red mixed in, including in seats where people normally wearing purple seemed to have taken the money of the Cornhusker faithful and sold out.

3. The Kansas State rush defense? It was the worst in the Big 12 going into the game and it appeared to be much worse than that against Nebraska.

Perhaps it all can be put down to T-Magic. As Thunderclap Newman sang back in my youth:

“Call out the instigators

Because there’s something in the air.”

I’m just not sure, yet, that it is inevitability.

 

Posted in Big 12 Football Mizzou

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Read more: http://campuscorner.kansascity.com/node/1260#ixzz11mnv73zf

[HuskerJosh]

Did he really admit that he was wrong? It seemed more like a "nice win, but don't get ahead of yourselves" piece. Along with the typical talking-up of Missouri, of course. I'd like to see Aldon Smith try to spy Martinez. Nebraska ain't no Illinois.

[junior4949]

I'd like to see Mizzou play Texas. While Texas may be down this year, I'd venture to guess they could easily come in second in the North this year. Heck, they may very well come in second in the South.

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

Nicer than most of his rants.

[Husker_x]

Nothing is inevitable in today's game.

[Saunders]

"Opponents have picked off 10 Nebraska passes."

 

 

Uh, no they haven't.

[HuskerBruin]

"Opponents have picked off 10 Nebraska passes."

 

 

Uh, no they haven't.

 

I registered as "mizzouforlife" (thought he might actually read my comment if I used that name) and corrected him. He edited his story as a result. He also mistakenly said NU has lost 9 fumbles when it's actually 7.

[I am I]

I think spying and, lol, stopping Martin-ez is illl-fated. Yet it does seem that it might be the only way to stop us. For that very reason, I wish we would develop some screens, traps, power I formations that can produce substantial ydge in case we bog down. Sustaining 12-14 play drives without Martin-ez hitting home runs is my ONLYconern about this whole team

[knapplc]

I think spying and, lol, stopping Martin-ez is illl-fated. Yet it does seem that it might be the only way to stop us. For that very reason, I wish we would develop some screens, traps, power I formations that can produce substantial ydge in case we bog down. Sustaining 12-14 play drives without Martin-ez hitting home runs is my ONLYconern about this whole team

 

I think we have gone to great pains early in the season to show teams what will happen if they do not commit to stopping Martinez. I fully expect Texas to go "full SDSU" against us in order to shut Martinez down.

 

I also fully expect Rex and Roy to rip off 10- and 15-yard chunks while they do that, with the occasional home run.

 

It is not an accident that we have been featuring Martinez early. We already know what we have in Rex and Roy. We also know that we have dangerous weapons at WR and TE if we choose to use them. All we've done so far is show teams that if they don't commit to stopping TAYLOR MARTINEZ ON THE ZONE READ (and we've done that in huge capital letters just like that), that we're going to beat them.

 

So let them commit to stopping Taylor. I hope they do.

[HuskerTrucker]

Just another "talking head".

[schuhbdoo]

"Opponents have picked off 10 Nebraska passes."

 

 

Uh, no they haven't.

 

I registered as "mizzouforlife" (thought he might actually read my comment if I used that name) and corrected him. He edited his story as a result. He also mistakenly said NU has lost 9 fumbles when it's actually 7.

 

 

He emailed me and asked me to repost/amend this post to reflect his mistake. He didn't need to do that but he wanted to make sure he facts were correct. I don't agree with a lot of his takes on football but I have to give props to a guy that admits he was way wrong.