Why We Are Fine and Will Beat Okie State

[GI56]

First my two cents on the game (much of which has been repeated elsewhere).

 

Why the offense is fine.

1. Drops. All this talk about firing Watson is nonsense- if one of the 3 TD passes was caught the game has a different outlook and no one is blaming Watson. Drops are related to players messing up and position coaches, not scheme/play calling.

2. The youth of Martinez. Running the zone-read requires patience- the proper read must be made on every play and getting frustrated and rushing the read guarantees more failure. Against a worse defense like KSU's it was possible to get away with a few poor reads as Martinez' ability could overcome errors (see first touchdown against KSU). Lee actually found success with the zone read late in the game, due to proper, patient reads (although the Texas defense might not have respected him as a runner/may have been more inclined to play the pass).

 

Why the defense is fine.

1. The defense only allowed 20 points, 7 of which came after a fumble gave Texas the ball on the 20 yard line early in the game.

2. Texas rushed for 209 yards total. Gilbert had 71 yards rushing on 11 carries, 68 of which came in the first half. This was obviously a wrinkle the D wasn't ready for, but seemed to have adjusted for in the second half. Outside of Gilbert's performance, 138 yards rushing by the rest of Texas' back's hardly means that the Blackshirts were rolling over against the run.

3. Gilbert- 4/16 for 62 yards. Not much to say about this- 41 of these yards came on a pass to Whittaker due to terrible tackling.

 

Intangibles.

1. Pressure. There have been many other posts discussing the poor play of the Huskers in Lincoln. The extreme hype surrounding the game undoubtedly had some influence on the players, maybe accounting for some of the drops.

2. Lack of 'breaks.' Other than Hagg's punt return for a TD, which came too late in the game, Nebraska had no other lucky breaks of note, be it catches or calls by the officials. Hats off to Texas- a perfectly executed, conservative game plan prevented the Blackshirts from getting a turnover, which would've had a huge impact in the game.

 

Final analysis- a one-score loss that could have gone the other way had Nebraska executed/had one lucky break.

 

 

Why we will beat Okie State.

1. Offense- Oklahoma State is currently 92nd in yards per game allowed and has given up 21 TDs (vs Nebraska's 9). Their defense is more like KSU's than that of Texas and should allow our offense to perform.

2. Defense- although OSU has a prolific offense (2nd in the country), their spread style matches up better with our defense than the offense we saw out of Texas. Throwing the ball often will give our defense a chance to make one of the big plays they had in the first 5 games but couldn't get against Texas.

3. Intagibles- Bo Pelini's teams play well on the road and have bounced back well from disappointments in the past. This week the pressure is on OSU to get the huge win at home.

 

Summary- OSU is a better matchup for Nebraska than Texas and the intangibles are more on our side.

 

 

I stake what little reputation I have on a big win on the road this weekend.

[holvy83]

Good post, NU played a bad game and lost by 7. I think you are right on the blackshirts matching up well with OSU, I look for a few INT's and pressure being put on their QB. Their D is suspect at best, I really don't think NU will changed their offensive philosophy that much if any for OSU. This is going to be another great game and looking forward to how they bounce back from adversity.

[ADS]

May I borrow a cup of your kool-aid?

[holvy83]

May I borrow a cup of your kool-aid?

 

no, get over your texas hangover first then will drink up!

[Huskers532]

May I borrow a cup of your kool-aid?

 

 

May I offer you a glass of fruit punch?

 

[huskerscott]

First my two cents on the game (much of which has been repeated elsewhere).

 

Why the offense is fine.

1. Drops. All this talk about firing Watson is nonsense- if one of the 3 TD passes was caught the game has a different outlook and no one is blaming Watson. Drops are related to players messing up and position coaches, not scheme/play calling.

2. The youth of Martinez. Running the zone-read requires patience- the proper read must be made on every play and getting frustrated and rushing the read guarantees more failure. Against a worse defense like KSU's it was possible to get away with a few poor reads as Martinez' ability could overcome errors (see first touchdown against KSU). Lee actually found success with the zone read late in the game, due to proper, patient reads (although the Texas defense might not have respected him as a runner/may have been more inclined to play the pass).

 

Why the defense is fine.

1. The defense only allowed 20 points, 7 of which came after a fumble gave Texas the ball on the 20 yard line early in the game.

2. Texas rushed for 209 yards total. Gilbert had 71 yards rushing on 11 carries, 68 of which came in the first half. This was obviously a wrinkle the D wasn't ready for, but seemed to have adjusted for in the second half. Outside of Gilbert's performance, 138 yards rushing by the rest of Texas' back's hardly means that the Blackshirts were rolling over against the run.

3. Gilbert- 4/16 for 62 yards. Not much to say about this- 41 of these yards came on a pass to Whittaker due to terrible tackling.

 

Intangibles.

1. Pressure. There have been many other posts discussing the poor play of the Huskers in Lincoln. The extreme hype surrounding the game undoubtedly had some influence on the players, maybe accounting for some of the drops.

2. Lack of 'breaks.' Other than Hagg's punt return for a TD, which came too late in the game, Nebraska had no other lucky breaks of note, be it catches or calls by the officials. Hats off to Texas- a perfectly executed, conservative game plan prevented the Blackshirts from getting a turnover, which would've had a huge impact in the game.

 

Final analysis- a one-score loss that could have gone the other way had Nebraska executed/had one lucky break.

 

 

Why we will beat Okie State.

1. Offense- Oklahoma State is currently 92nd in yards per game allowed and has given up 21 TDs (vs Nebraska's 9). Their defense is more like KSU's than that of Texas and should allow our offense to perform.

2. Defense- although OSU has a prolific offense (2nd in the country), their spread style matches up better with our defense than the offense we saw out of Texas. Throwing the ball often will give our defense a chance to make one of the big plays they had in the first 5 games but couldn't get against Texas.

3. Intagibles- Bo Pelini's teams play well on the road and have bounced back well from disappointments in the past. This week the pressure is on OSU to get the huge win at home.

 

Summary- OSU is a better matchup for Nebraska than Texas and the intangibles are more on our side.

 

 

I stake what little reputation I have on a big win on the road this weekend.

I too think we SHOULD win. OSU offense fits right into what we do on defense(and mizzou also). My concern is really how our offense will rebound. 2 out of the last 3 games we have struggled moving the ball downfield. I wonder about how shaky Martinez confidence. Also very curious to see if Lee comes in and gives the defense a different look, especially Martinez struggles.

 

Honestly I think we just as many ??? on offense right now as we did last year, which is not very good sign with 6 games left. They are all winnable its just a matter of what team decides to show up.

[Paxo]

While I think OSU's offense is good, they are untested. Look at their opponent's passing defenses:

 

Washington State - 104th

Troy - 109th

Tulsa - 120th

Texas A&M - 101st

Lousiana Lafayette - 113th

Texas Tech - 117th

 

If our offense can hold onto the ball we will win.

[Ringer02]

I'm not drinking anymore kool-aid this year....It just hurts to much when it spills

[zoogs]

We are still a very strong team, as everyone ought to keep in mind.

 

However, the "youth of Taylor" does not mean we are fine. It means we have a young quarterback who will make mistakes. They aren't fine just because of his age or class. They're just more palatable. And the areas where Taylor is weak: reading defenses, going through progressions, throwing the ball, making adjustments at the LOS - they are areas that don't develop with a couple tough learning experience games. Not saying they won't come, but in the middle of a season, those can't really be worked on. So we have to win this year with the Taylor we have now, from a skillset perspective. Intangibles wise, he could grow, yes.

[knapplc]

Martinez was not the problem this game. As has been brought up ad nauseum, had our WR corps simply caught the balls they were thrown, we're not having this conversation.

 

A simple lack of execution on the part of our WRs doesn't mean we need to over-analyze the QB situation.

[Nexus]

Put it this way, I'd be ecstatic if this season ends up mimicking 1999.

[zoogs]

I think we've been having the Taylor conversation almost every game, regardless of win or loss. It's not really about this game or pointing fingers at him for the loss. There were concerns about him from the beginning, even when he was ripping up teams.

 

We aren't fine because Taylor is young, because that would suggest that these youthful mistakes are overcome by playing time. There's just too much ground to cover in too many areas for that to be a reasonable expectation. Could we still be fine anyway, in spite of having to overcome that? yes, I'd still say so, if we roll into games the way we did against KSU. I don't think it's really overanalyzing, as the same (simple) analysis on Taylor has been out there since the beginning.

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

I'm not drinking anymore kool-aid this year....It just hurts to much when it spills

And it tastes nasty when you throw it up

[Husker Z]

While I think OSU's offense is good, they are untested. Look at their opponent's passing defenses:

 

Washington State - 104th

Troy - 109th

Tulsa - 120th

Texas A&M - 101st

Lousiana Lafayette - 113th

Texas Tech - 117th

 

If our offense can hold onto the ball we will win.

 

 

Holy crap!!! That's insane.

[ESPY]

While I think OSU's offense is good, they are untested. Look at their opponent's passing defenses:

 

Washington State - 104th

Troy - 109th

Tulsa - 120th

Texas A&M - 101st

Lousiana Lafayette - 113th

Texas Tech - 117th

 

If our offense can hold onto the ball we will win.

Nebraska's pass defense - 1st

That says it all right there.