:violin "insert crying smiley"
Nevertheless, I'm correct.
What's a sports discussion site if you can't second guess the coach?!?!?
This guy said it too:
From:
http://www.huskerweekly.com/
Confusion in SoCal
September 17th, 2006
By Shawn Winters (CENTEXHUSKER)
HuskerWeekly Sports Analyst
____________________________
Nebraska rolled into Saturday as a big underdog against a retooling USC team. There were hopes of an upset all around the Nebraska fan base and with hopes of returning to the national spotlight. It was improbable, but not impossible to knock off the number 4 team in the land. The Huskers have regained momentum with five straight victories, one against a Michigan team that beat Notre Dame on this same day. A Notre Dame team that lost to USC on the last play of the game last year.
Nebraska came out running a conservative offense in hopes of controlling the clock. A successful fake punt was the longest pass play of the first half. Marlon Lucky proved unsuccessful in running the ball as the feature back with only 27 yards on ten carries before an apparent arm injury ended his day. Kenny Wilson carried 19 times for 46 yards. The USC defense began to key in on the Huskers strategy, making them one-dimensional. Even with 7 or 8 men in the box, Nebraska continued to run the ball. It seemed Zac Taylor was held back from commanding his offense through these obvious situations. There were few play changes at the line to keep the Trojan defense honest. Nebraska fans were more than anxious for Bill Callahan to open up the offense. But they would have to wait until the game was all but over to see plays to their big receivers.
This was the biggest stage for Nebraska to display their new offense and the defense that led the nation in sacks last year. What we saw was an offense that was comparable to the pre-Callahan era, with sweeps and traps that developed too slowly for the speedy USC defense. [SIZE=23pt] Every drive was a predictable run-run-pass-punt. [/SIZE] Taylor only threw the ball once on first down. The defense played well, keeping the Trojans under their standard 50 points, but only managed one sack and was over matched in the secondary by NFL sized receivers. A bright spot was the special teams play with Terrance Nunn returning punts and the coverage teams making great tackles.
Nebraska had a chance to tie the game before halftime with less than three minutes left, but four consecutive runs indicated that they were not concerned with scoring before entering the locker room. Why not take a couple shots down the field? Herian? Nunn? Swift? Purify? You have a senior QB that has all but mastered Callahan’s playbook and an inexperienced Trojan secondary. This particular drive may have swung the momentum in Nebraska’s favor going into halftime. There was nothing to lose by taking a chance, if they pick him off, so be it. Send a message to your defense that you have confidence in them and show USC that you’re not going to rollover.
It was obvious early that Callahan was trying to control the tempo of the game to prevent getting into a race with USC. It was successful until Nebraska created their own headaches with penalties and a fumble. At this point it seemed the coaching staff should’ve had a sense of urgency to let Taylor and his receivers try to get the team back into the game, but Nebraska continued to run the ball.
“We continued to run the football,” Callahan said, “and we did what we planned to do to win the game. We felt we could come in and run the football. In a hostile crowd, on the road, you’re going to need to run the football to win a championship. Again, let me be very clear. We wanted to run the football.”
I think what he meant is that he wanted to run the football. But if you are averaging less than two yards a carry, it may indicate that you may need to change things up. Mix in a few quick outs to your big receivers to keep the defense honest. I agree that in order to set up play action passes, you must establish a running game. However if it is not working, then you must be able to change your game plan as the game goes along.
The message that this writer took from this game is that the coaches wanted to get out of SoCal without being embarrassed and with no injuries. Winning wasn’t a priority, surviving was. The goal of this team is to win the Big 12 North and get to the conference championship. Whatever else happens is icing on the cake. But “rolling over” for any opponent probably doesn’t sit well with the impatient Husker faithful. A win over USC would’ve been great for the fans and it would’ve definitely attracted the attention from potential recruits as well. Texas will be coming to town next month and I hope the Nebraska game plan will include a more aggressive approach. The USC game can be forgiven, but if the trend continues, rest assured HuskerNation will be stirring.
A voice from the cheap seats,
CENTEXHUSKER Semper Fi
