David Ubben Giving No Respect to Dennard

[EZ-E]

For some reason I am very confident that we win this game in convincing fashion.

[mnhusker]

For some reason I am very confident that we win this game in convincing fashion.

 

I 2nd that.

[Marf]

Am I the only one that thinks Dennard is a better CB than Amukamara?

 

Sure, Amukamara doesn't get tested much... But Dennard doesn't either simply because he is like a part of the WR's jersey.

[blackshirts5115]

Am I the only one that thinks Dennard is a better CB than Amukamara?

 

Sure, Amukamara doesn't get tested much... But Dennard doesn't either simply because he is like a part of the WR's jersey.

I think Dennard is the sexy pick for Husker fans in this debate. Prince is better. He covers the best receiver. He's more athletic. Obviously Dennard has the stats but Prince rarely gets thrown to and when he does he usually bats it down.

[PaulCrewe]

For some reason I am very confident that we win this game in convincing fashion.

 

I 2nd that.

Make that three of us. Same feeling I had before the Washington, KState, Okie State, and Mizzou games. On the flipside had a way different feeling for the SDSU and KU games. I am thinking Skers +13 at least.

[Fuzzy]

What were his other 3 reasons A & M beats Nebraska? I noticed that was reason #4....

 

http://espn.go.com/blog/big12/post/_/id/21631/page/thursday-predictions/big-12-predictions-week-12-2

 

Bottom of the page.

 

No. 19 Texas A&M 27, No. 8 Nebraska 24: I'll call my shot here in an upset special. I barely missed when I picked the Aggies to beat Oklahoma State. I missed by, let's say, a wide margin, when I picked Missouri to beat the Huskers. The third time's the charm, right? Let me explain:

 

1) Texas A&M got a lot of practice defending the zone read against Baylor last week, with Robert Griffin III and Jay Finley. They gave up a few big plays in the first half, but played a lot better in the second half. That'll continue this week.

 

2) Conservative, average, punchless, whatever. Call it what you want. Mediocre has many names. That's what Nebraska's offense has been without a full-strength Taylor Martinez. I have my doubts about how healthy Martinez's ankle is, and in this game, where Nebraska will have to put points on the board, that's a big deal. Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson sounded optimistic on Wednesday, but if he's not 100 percent healthy, their running offense won't be as effective. Even if he is, the Aggies have athletes on the edge and in the middle at linebacker in Garrick Williams, Von Miller and Michael Hodges who can make the stops necessary to keep the Huskers at bay.

 

3) Oklahoma State couldn't stop Nebraska's offense. Missouri couldn't move the ball against Nebraska's defense. Texas A&M, however, has a better pass rush and a better secondary than Oklahoma State, and can run downhill with power, versus Missouri's slow-developing, east-west running attack that got swallowed up by the Huskers speed on defense. Taylor Martinez isn't throwing for 300 yards against Tim DeRuyter's defense, and as long as Cyrus Gray gets 20-plus touches, the Aggies should be able to run the ball where Nebraska has been vulnerable: right in the middle of the defense. The Aggies offensive line is getting better fast, and those two freshman tackles have turned from a liability into a strength, coach Mike Sherman said this week.

 

4) Missouri doesn't have the talent at receiver to get open, but Texas A&M does. Jeff Fuller probably won't have a big day against Prince Amukamara, but Uzoma Nwachukwu will occupy Alfonzo Dennard, and opportunities over the middle should be there for slot men Ryan Swope and Kenric McNeal, as well as tight end Nehemiah Hicks and Gray out of the backfield. Ryan Tannehill will find them enough to help the Aggies spring the upset and finish the season strong.

 

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to root for Fresno State to upset Boise State.

[whateveritis1224]

I think Dennard is more athletically gifted, but it's a difference of choosing between two different qualities of high end diamonds. Both of them are very good CBs and I seriously don't think you'd find any other CB tandem that is better (does Peterson have someone on the other side?). Also find me another defensive backfield that has 4 potentially high draft picks?

 

The point being is that outside of the Safeties (who could still develop into something special) we have a group of dbs that are as good or better than any in the nation. I don't think aTm has anyone capable of doing the things that Blackmon did (and I think Blackmon's performance was an aberration than rule). Okie State really does have a special offense this year and outside of the 2nd quarter, we held them pretty much in check.

 

I just have a feeling that the Kansas game was leaping stone that brings the defense to it's full potential. Sort of like how the Oklahoma game set things up for the rest of the year.

 

My prediction to the Comic Book Store owner that I go to was 41-27 Nebraska. But I could see us both not scoring as much, but Nebraska still winning by 14.

[HuskerBruin]

Ubban's just mad because God forgot to give him a neck.

[fig96]

I like Gomes and Haggs chances lining up agianst their slots, not worried about it at all. All four of those guys will be playing on sundays (Hagg, Gomes, Dennard, Amukamara) Not sure the same can be said for aTm's WR corps.

 

You might be surprised. Fuller will play on Sundays and EZ and Swope both have that potential as only sophomores.

 

Are the aggies gone? okay good...

 

I didn't want to say this with them watching, but they could be setting themselves up for a massive fall. They have supreme overconfidence in their offense. They're over-hyping the game with the discounted student tickets to get a sellout. They are completely miffed that Gameday didn't show up. I just get the feeling like they're investing too much in this game, like the Texas game this year for us or USC game before Callahan got driven out of town.

 

I'm still not sold on Sherman, I don't think he's as bad as our ex-NFL reject, but hes had pretty big problems with every team so far. They are way too overconfident in their offense. Not 6 months ago Jerrod Johnson was the best thing ever, gonna run away with the south. Now a converted wide receiver is their new best QB and sure he's good but how much experience does he really have? I don't think anyone can count on taking advantage of our corners like Ubben seems to suggest.

 

It depends entirely on Nebraska, if the team shows up to prove they can execute and put together a complete game with a chip on their shoulder like they did with Washington on the road, well it could be bad for A&M especially with them placing so much importance on this game. We've seen how that can make a team play tight and out of character first hand this year.

 

Couple points, the biggest being that while the media is loving the "WR turned QB" angle Tannehill was recruited as a QB and was barely beaten out for the starting job by Johnson two seasons in a row (the second season the nod was given to Johnson based on past experience). He was converted to reciever because he was too good of an athlete to keep off the field and responded by almost breaking the A&M single season receiving yards record as a freshman and then being named honorable mention All Big 12 as a sophomore. Point being, he IS a qb and the guy can play.

 

That being said, those of us realistic about things know that while he's very talented and he knows the offense inside out he's still learning the position at the college level and will make some mistakes. I think if he's on tomorrow night and the A&M defense is on it's game we could be in for a heck of a ride tomorrow night. We'll see.

[VA Husker Fan]

To me and doesn't look like a bash on Dennard, but on Hagg, Gomes, etc. Looks like he is saying Dennard will be occupied with Uzoma giving opportunities to Ryan Swope and Kenric McNeal...just the way I read it anyways

No cuz he's saying how good Prince is, then uses the word 'but' so-and-so will occupy Dennard. It's definitely saying Dennard will have his hands full with this receiver and probably won't succeed. lols to that.

But his main point is this:

 

...opportunities over the middle should be there for slot men Ryan Swope and Kenric McNeal, as well as tight end Nehemiah Hicks and Gray out of the backfield. Ryan Tannehill will find them enough to help the Aggies spring the upset and finish the season strong.

 

He's not saying Dennard will have trouble, he's merely saying Dennard will have his hands full with Nwachukwu leaving the middle of the field open hence frazier's reference to it being more a knock on Hagg, Gomes, etc.

That may be what he's saying, but it doesn't really make sense. Would Dennard normally cover two men at once if he was going up against a lesser receiver? Of course not.

[zoogs]

"Jeff Fuller probably won't have a big day against Prince Amukamara, but Uzoma Nwachukwu will occupy Alfonzo Dennard"....regardless of what's after that, I think he is drawing a contrast between Prince and Alfonzo here.

[AJ32]

As far as the debate about whether Prince or Fonzie is better, I think its a toss up. Prince was having trouble against Blackmon, & yes Blackmon was being very physical & Prince was just tripping (I don't know what the problem was, but it happened a couple times). Fonzie stepped up, said he wanted to cover Blackmon, & he did. Thats just one example, but I wanted to point it out.

[mnhusker]

So far A&M has lost to 3 of the 4 best teams they played. They beat an Oklahoma squad who has trouble winning on the road. Nebraska is the most complete team they have faced.

 

I love this odd pieced together logic that is suppose to make me think that even though Nebraska beat these two teams A&M is better in all the right ways to beat Nebraska. The best part is the that 102nd ranked pass d (secondary) is some how so much better that Ok State that it deserves comment.

 

3) Oklahoma State couldn't stop Nebraska's offense. Missouri couldn't move the ball against Nebraska's defense. Texas A&M, however, has a better pass rush and a better secondary than Oklahoma State, and can run downhill with power, versus Missouri's slow-developing, east-west running attack that got swallowed up by the Huskers speed on defense. Taylor Martinez isn't throwing for 300 yards against Tim DeRuyter's defense, and as long as Cyrus Gray gets 20-plus touches, the Aggies should be able to run the ball where Nebraska has been vulnerable: right in the middle of the defense. The Aggies offensive line is getting better fast, and those two freshman tackles have turned from a liability into a strength, coach Mike Sherman said this week.

 

My Bold PredictionI think the biggest wild card is that a young untested QB is about to go up against the #1 pass d in the country who has shut down many qb's who are tested and proven. I think there is a chance that the old #1 gets on the field in the 2nd 1/2 when the newbie chokes.

[Hujan]

As far as the debate about whether Prince or Fonzie is better, I think its a toss up. Prince was having trouble against Blackmon, & yes Blackmon was being very physical & Prince was just tripping (I don't know what the problem was, but it happened a couple times). Fonzie stepped up, said he wanted to cover Blackmon, & he did. Thats just one example, but I wanted to point it out.

 

Glad you posted this. Was going to say the same. TBH, if I had to take just one, I'd take Dennard by a hair. Isn't Prince without an INT this year?

[Hujan]

What exactly does "will occupy Alfonzo Dennard" mean? Sounds like Ubben expects Uzoma to take Dennard to the woodshed.

 

In spite of this subliminal message, I'm sure Ubben and aTm will be in for a surprise when they find our man coverage blanketing their athletic WRs. Every solid WR corp we've faced this season has been blown away by our speed and cover ability, so I'd be hard-pressed to think the Aggies won't have that same reaction when it's all said and done.

 

Are the aggies gone? okay good...

 

I didn't want to say this with them watching, but they could be setting themselves up for a massive fall. They have supreme overconfidence in their offense. They're over-hyping the game with the discounted student tickets to get a sellout. They are completely miffed that Gameday didn't show up. I just get the feeling like they're investing too much in this game, like the Texas game this year for us or USC game before Callahan got driven out of town.

 

I'm still not sold on Sherman, I don't think he's as bad as our ex-NFL reject, but hes had pretty big problems with every team so far. They are way too overconfident in their offense. Not 6 months ago Jerrod Johnson was the best thing ever, gonna run away with the south. Now a converted wide receiver is their new best QB and sure he's good but how much experience does he really have? I don't think anyone can count on taking advantage of our corners like Ubben seems to suggest.

 

It depends entirely on Nebraska, if the team shows up to prove they can execute and put together a complete game with a chip on their shoulder like they did with Washington on the road, well it could be bad for A&M especially with them placing so much importance on this game. We've seen how that can make a team play tight and out of character first hand this year.

 

Great post. I said the same thing about the Missouri game. It felt like they were starting to get drunk on their own whiskey and were due for a little dose of reality. That game was over after the first quarter. It's funny how Ubben made you think Missouri was the second coming . . . until we chewed them up and spit them out. Now he discounts that victory because A&M is supposed to be better. Whatever. I have been afraid of this game since July, but I can definitely see a little bit of a parallel between us and Texas and A&M and us.