What did we learn?

[The Dude]

We learned that stupid "power towel" thing wasn't taken seriously. Which means I haven't entirely lost faith in humanity.

[huskered17]

I learned that with a 1st and goal inside the five and with a battering ram in Cross, Beck won't call his number.

That Smith can't out run Mich's freshman q/b

That Bo still had his doubts about the D, by not taking the penalty and letting Mich get that field goal.

 

GBR!!!

[The Dude]

I don't really see Cross as a battering ram. Not yet anyways. He's still too tentative and he runs too upright to be a battering ram. He definitely has the size, and I hope his carries increase dramatically. A lot of that will come with experience.

 

If we had Burkhead, that "drive" probably ends in a touchdown.

[ladyhawke]

That while we got lucky for the 2nd year in a row in a running QB getting knocked out for the game, our defense was absolutely stellar.

 

Our offense really grinded out a win where they didn't play there best but closed it down in the 4th.

 

Our defense actually caught the ball including a highlight inducing catch by SJB.

 

The offense misses Burkhead, but Abdullah can grind out those tough yards. Also our other RBs need to be worked a little more.

We were winning whether DR left the game or not. We were stopping him! We kept them to minimal yards. I think we would've won whether Robinson left or not. It would've been a closer game but momentum was on our side as was the crowd. We were also wearing down their defense to the point where we were able to move the ball. What bothered me is this: With all the talent that we have why did we get all 'pass happy' and why, with a gimpy ankle, was Taylor running so much! Good grief! Give the ball to the other kids and let them run!

[ladyhawke]

I learned that Santos is going to be a solid LB for us in the next few years.

 

And was it just me or was the crowd not into the game? Sounded pretty quiet on TV

It did sound quiet.

 

I read through all the posts, and had comment on this. Sorry, it was not quiet. There were no stadium shaking plays maybe, but everyone and I mean everyone were on their feet yelling/clapping/waving towels/screaming etc for 20 rows in every direction around us. And that was just our 20 rows. It was rowdy. Trust me.

That's good to hear. On tv the stadium sounded really quiet.

The tv is not a good indicator of crowd noise. They can 'mike up' what they want people to hear.

[ladyhawke]

I learned that:

 

It's much more fun watching the game while listening to Matt Davidson and company on KFAB that it is listening to those talking heads at ESPN2 go on and on about Robinson (blah!)

 

We can play good D!!!

 

Beck needs to continue to run the ball when he's in the red zone. Good grief that was frustrating! Put cross in there or some other big guy and smash the ball into the end zone. I'm glad Brett was on his game last night! We needed all of those field goals BUT we could've actually scored. Offensive game calling last night was a little 'iffy' in my book.

 

The Refs are bad in every conference. I thought the B12 Refs were bad-these guys were SOOOO bad! However, we did make some bone head mistakes but that 'leading with the head' call was ridiculous and they didn't call it just on us but Michigan too. One of the KFAB guys said, 'And now back to our touch football game.' Sheesh!

 

The board was fairly quiet after that win and that was to be expected. Although the faithful on the board were here! SO GLAD WE WON THIS GAME!!! 2 down 4 to go! GBR!!

[ladyhawke]

Good play by the LB's! Way to go Fish! They all played well today. Defense in general played well.

 

I didn't think Beck called the greatest game today. For some reason he got real conservative late in the first half and it continued for the rest of the game.

 

Taylor needs to run with more authority. If you run like a girl your going to get hurt.

 

Bo said they need to cleanup the penalties. Better start with that thumb. I don't want to see another flag on the sideline this year. YOU SHOULDN"T HAVE ANY!!!!!

What was the flag for? If it was for those dumb calls I don't blame him for getting mad. The Refs were eating us for supper! It was ridiculous! But they weren't just making bad calls on the Huskers, they were making bad calls on Michigan too. They were awful!! Are these guys getting paid to do this job? It was ugly. But having said that, we do need to stop making stoopid mistakes like hitting a guy when he's out of bounds. Blah!

[Manny Bob]

1. The defense is really improving - our secondary CAN catch the ball!
   
2. Our offense is resilient, as is our defense.
   
3. Nebraska will still get called on some very questionable calls - see #2 above - that's how you deal with it.
   
4. Some off. play calling was predictable. Not conservative, predictable.
   
5. T-Mart should be captain of the off squad - he's got cojones.
   

[Manny Bob]

The board was fairly quiet after that win and that was to be expected. Although the faithful on the board were here! SO GLAD WE WON THIS GAME!!! 2 down 4 to go! GBR!!

 

Some of us were either 1) away from the computer or 2) too crazy "spirited" to type...or all of the above.

[flatwaterfan]

The flag was mostly about Bo coming out on the field to scream at the ref albeit briefly. Refs don't want to be shown up their job is hard enough the way it is. They have to maintain control.

 

 

 

As a coach you cannot ask players to keep their cool and be smart when you(the coach) cannot be smart. It's all about demonstrating leadership otherwise it's lip service. To get a 15 yard flag flag on the bench is UNACCEPTABLE. Talk about mental mistakes.

[AFhusker]

I learned that we were the better team, with or without Denard Robinson on the field.

That the refs blow. Not only against us, but in general.

That this defense is capable of stopping mobile QBs.

 

And my gripe of the game:

I learned that Tim Beck is still learning on the job. It has become apparent this year to me that he does not know how to run the ball effectively throughout the game without Rex. This has to change. When we did run the ball today, they weren't quick-hitter runs. Not only that, our runs were too predictable. I want us to add a couple of RB counter plays to the playbook. They are effective but subtle misdirection plays.

 

To pile on, we could stand to get more FB carries and add a steady dose of Cross/Heard to soften up the Meatchicken defense sooner. I don't know if they're trying to get Ameer to pick up some power running traits via on the job training, or what...

 

...but I still say we left 8-12 points on the field because we decided to get 'cute' with our playcalling and not just stick to the run.

 

I'm glad we won, we did a good job when Denard was on the field, and we won in spite of the officials giving Meatchicken a free FG. It's a good win, but I just hope we don't start acting like we're world beaters. We have a team that, on paper, should win out, but has a penchant for making things difficult on themselves.

 

Those plays were called because the OL wasn't run blocking very well last night. I think that Beck does have his issues, but a lot of the time he's forced to call plays because of how bad our OL is. The UM DL was kicking their butt, esp in the red zone. It's a strength and conditioning issue/ coaching issue that will hopefully be fixed in the off season. They have "dumbed" down the assignments for the OL as far as they can get. We are what we are at this point. And even with that major problem, there is no reason now that won't be B1G Champs.

[billdozer15]

The refs are blind. Did anyone see the two block in the backs on the opening kick? One of them cost Allen his knee.

[huskered17]

I don't really see Cross as a battering ram. Not yet anyways. He's still too tentative and he runs too upright to be a battering ram. He definitely has the size, and I hope his carries increase dramatically. A lot of that will come with experience.

 

If we had Burkhead, that "drive" probably ends in a touchdown.

 

Cross could run backwards toward the line and probably get two yards. He is avg six yards a pop or was. Every time I see him run straight ahead, he moves the pile back. May not be that good yet at taking it outside, but we have other backs for that.

Yes Burkhead probably gets in from there if he could play, but till then we have Cross, and he "can". jmo

 

GBR!!!

[mwj98]

That Fisher CAN play

 

Santos is lights out

 

Bo called defensive plays

 

we can contain a mobile qb

 

We do miss rex

 

Crowd was too damn quiet

 

Smith is slower than molasses (should have scored)

 

I drink way too much during these games!

[tschu]

Maher had a fantastic night kicking field goals and punting, but what was up with his kickoffs?

 

Every kick ended up between the 5 and the 10 yard line, and he even booted one out of bounds. Not the strongest effort on kickoffs.