Let me start this off by saying that I really, really, REALLY wanted to see Carnes tear it up Friday, not just as a Beef fan but just as a fan of any former Husker.
Also, I came to the realization that no matter what happened it wasn't going to sway my opinion either way about what happened to him while he was here. Water under the bridge.
I make all these prefaces because looking back over my notes, it sounds like I'm bashing the poor kid. I'm not, just sharing what I saw.
First some overall observations:
He does have a cannon, he can really sling it. But it comes with a bad case of what I call "option QB arm". Everything is a bullet, a fast ball, no touch. Like you can read their minds "I don't get to throw it very much so when I do I'm gonna throw the s*** out of the ball".
The only long passes were a rb screen that went house (or near house) I can't remember. And a long bomb where some air did actually get under the ball, but it was a duck, under thrown, late, and if either of the DBs who were double covering Brandon Kinne had turned around it would have been an easy pick. Brandon did a good job of stopping short and scoping up a low ball as he fell backwards into the end zone. Not really how you want a fly route to end but 6 points is 6 points.
He flashed at times, reminded me of the spring game of his that had everyone buzzing. Some of my notes had quite a few exclamation points, but for the most part it was pretty ugly. This to me is a perfect microcosum of his NU career. A lot of flash, promise and excitement mixed with the burning memory of him chasing a dropped snap around in the backfield on one of his few snaps.
Not all of this was Carnes fault either, the game itself was a train wreck especially early. From the team not making it out in time for the line up announcement, to the roughed kicker that wasn't called and resulted in an injury and having going for two the entire game to a defense that had no answer for the other teams offense. Carnes and the offense struggled with things like delays of games, the routes getting mixed up, motion penalties, offensive time outs etc. The kinds of things you would expect when you put in a QB with less than a week to learn pretty much an entirely new game, let alone an offense.
Also to his defense, his much heralded debut was delayed greatly, so much so he only had three plays in the first quarter and only two throws. Dodge City started the game with a long clock eating drive resulting in a touchdown, followed by a kick return for a TD by Omaha and then another long TD drive by Dodge City. So by the time he was finally in the game he had to have been pretty "cold".
I actually charted all of the plays for the first half but I won't bore you guys any more than I already have. I'll just share some highlights and try and keep the rest of this as short as I can. I wish I would have brought my sketchbook instead of my tablet as some of the plays were pretty cool,...but I am rambling.
First play was a quick WR bubble screen, thrown so fast and hard I'm not sure where the ball ended up.
2nd play was a run, and 3rd and long was a bad overthrow on a fly route, WR had a chance but no air under the ball. What bothered me most was Carnes really didn't seem to care, maybe he was just trying to stay composed but he just simply seemed to walk off the field like 'meh'. Not even a "darn it" clap or anything.
I did like seeing the back up QB #7 (and I'm pretty sure the QB that started the season) coaching up Carnes on the sidelines, ending with a pat on the back, and it's cool #7 is still a captain and was out for the coin toss. I don't know much about the guy be he seems like a class act.
A couple of drives later and I should have mentioned this earlier but most of the first two quarters the O was in 3 and 4 WR sets with Carnes in the shotgun, I may be mistaken but an even deeper shotgun than I've seen before. And 4 WRs is a lot considering that's HALF the players on offense...Anyway, Carnes was cut loose on a QB draw out of the gun, it was DAZZLING, prob. my favorite play of the game, about a 20+ yard gain if I remember correctly.
Another highlight: a deep out route to the corner of the end zone where the ball was thrown way before the WR made his cut, also a thing of beauty.
I count at least 5 instances of near picks, but he never got picked off. Most of his other throws were the same story, to hot, and either dirt balls or sailed on him.
The team looked better in the second have and battled to within a couple scores but the safety of Carnes and the TD afterwards early in the 4th put the nail in the coffin.
Coincidentally I did finally figure out why they are struggling this year, I talked to one of the players wives/girlfriends whatever, she said this is the first year they aren't housing players, so that explains the talent gap.
Thanks everyone for reading.