Obviously I'm disappointed in our finish. But that was an excellent defensive job by the Huskers, and the offense had just enough juice to pull it out. I think the rain was an issue for both teams with dropped balls, and didn't really favor either one in the end.
The game honestly went about as I expected. I thought NU would run a little better, but I also thought Mizzou was a bit underrated there. I knew the exterior run defense was solid due to our speed, and NU didn't try to go up the gut enough. Mizzou played aggressive and it eventually bit them on the long pass, but overall played great. The second TD was just a jump ball. Could have been an interception as easily as a TD, so I can't blame them there. And you just can't give your opponent the ball on the 10 yard line. Disappointed in the inability to get it back and the end though.
Nebraska, honestly, played terrible on offense until the final quarter, though Mizozu's defense had something to do with that. Lee finally got some swagger, but he's got some serious growing to do. His receivers did him no favors (you need to recruit there big time) but he was off target and rattled most of the game. Hopefully he can grow from this, because this is 2 consecutive road games where he's struggled. That's enough in a defensive battle, but not in a high-scoring match.
I didn't like the officiating at all. Some of those holds were very questionable, although they called it consistently, and we didn't adjust. Both the calls on Suh were tough, and the personal foul on Ebner was bull as well. Sometimes helmets collide. It's football. And dragging a player down by the jersey is not a horsecollar. I just hate when officials make it about them. In the end, it didn't really favor one team other than to make it low scoring. Mizzou had a bunch of drives killed by penalties, especially early. The hold at the end was just a killer though.
Mizzou was able to run a little bit on the 4 man front, but not as well as they should have. That was really a key in the game. The other key, and in my mind, the main key, was the injury to Gabbert. After that, NU didn't really have to respect Gabbert on the keeper and made the run defense way easier. I know he got the TD on it and kept it a couple of times, but they knew Gabbert couldn't get big yards that way. And more importantly, he couldn't plant properly. He was actually throwing off his front foot, which is a testament to his arm strength, but you could see it in his passes. They were low, off target and a little late. NU played tight defense, but we did have some windows that we couldn't capitalize on that I think Gabbert would normally hit. He was 5 of 8 before that play, with 2 of the incompletions coming on 2nd/3rd and 25 after the penalty, and he had rushed for a first down.
I'm personally not real happy with Suh on that one. I like Suh, I've never thought of him as dirty. But I read an article earlier today about how he's working with a former player on bringing attitude, and how it wasn't a dirty play when he tweaked Tyrod Taylor because he was just sending a message. Bullcrap. A dirty play is a dirty play no matter how you justify it, and I remember thinking that well before this play. The extracurricular he gave Gabbert was entirely unnecessary and unrelated to the play, and possibly changed the outcome of the game. The only possible defense for that is he didn't think Gabbert had lost the ball, but I don't believe that for a second. He took a defenseless player and bent him over backwards with his legs behind him simply to send a message. That's not physical. That's not intimidating. That's dirty. Even when you get away with it.
Anyway, I don't want to focus too much on that. Injuries happen and you move on. But I do think it had an effect. Nebraska's D was dominant, and even without that, we were going to put up 30, but we would have scored more.
On the flip side, Nebraska is lucky its mistakes didn't take them out of the game. Special teams in particular was just awful. Credit the defense for getting those big stops. They hung in there and were opportunistic, setting up the offense with good field position. I think your defense was impressive today, but I also think that this race isn't over, and we've got a very good shot at beating you next year as well.
Coming in, I though this was going to be a good game, but I thought Mizzou was better. I'm not sure this game entirely changed my mind, but I did get a healthy dose of respect for NU, especially the defense, and ultimately the matchups ended up in NU's favor. I can tell this is a game that's going to be a hot one for years and I'll be glad when Suh is playing on Sundays and not eating up our offensive line.
The game honestly went about as I expected. I thought NU would run a little better, but I also thought Mizzou was a bit underrated there. I knew the exterior run defense was solid due to our speed, and NU didn't try to go up the gut enough. Mizzou played aggressive and it eventually bit them on the long pass, but overall played great. The second TD was just a jump ball. Could have been an interception as easily as a TD, so I can't blame them there. And you just can't give your opponent the ball on the 10 yard line. Disappointed in the inability to get it back and the end though.
Nebraska, honestly, played terrible on offense until the final quarter, though Mizozu's defense had something to do with that. Lee finally got some swagger, but he's got some serious growing to do. His receivers did him no favors (you need to recruit there big time) but he was off target and rattled most of the game. Hopefully he can grow from this, because this is 2 consecutive road games where he's struggled. That's enough in a defensive battle, but not in a high-scoring match.
I didn't like the officiating at all. Some of those holds were very questionable, although they called it consistently, and we didn't adjust. Both the calls on Suh were tough, and the personal foul on Ebner was bull as well. Sometimes helmets collide. It's football. And dragging a player down by the jersey is not a horsecollar. I just hate when officials make it about them. In the end, it didn't really favor one team other than to make it low scoring. Mizzou had a bunch of drives killed by penalties, especially early. The hold at the end was just a killer though.
Mizzou was able to run a little bit on the 4 man front, but not as well as they should have. That was really a key in the game. The other key, and in my mind, the main key, was the injury to Gabbert. After that, NU didn't really have to respect Gabbert on the keeper and made the run defense way easier. I know he got the TD on it and kept it a couple of times, but they knew Gabbert couldn't get big yards that way. And more importantly, he couldn't plant properly. He was actually throwing off his front foot, which is a testament to his arm strength, but you could see it in his passes. They were low, off target and a little late. NU played tight defense, but we did have some windows that we couldn't capitalize on that I think Gabbert would normally hit. He was 5 of 8 before that play, with 2 of the incompletions coming on 2nd/3rd and 25 after the penalty, and he had rushed for a first down.
I'm personally not real happy with Suh on that one. I like Suh, I've never thought of him as dirty. But I read an article earlier today about how he's working with a former player on bringing attitude, and how it wasn't a dirty play when he tweaked Tyrod Taylor because he was just sending a message. Bullcrap. A dirty play is a dirty play no matter how you justify it, and I remember thinking that well before this play. The extracurricular he gave Gabbert was entirely unnecessary and unrelated to the play, and possibly changed the outcome of the game. The only possible defense for that is he didn't think Gabbert had lost the ball, but I don't believe that for a second. He took a defenseless player and bent him over backwards with his legs behind him simply to send a message. That's not physical. That's not intimidating. That's dirty. Even when you get away with it.
Anyway, I don't want to focus too much on that. Injuries happen and you move on. But I do think it had an effect. Nebraska's D was dominant, and even without that, we were going to put up 30, but we would have scored more.
On the flip side, Nebraska is lucky its mistakes didn't take them out of the game. Special teams in particular was just awful. Credit the defense for getting those big stops. They hung in there and were opportunistic, setting up the offense with good field position. I think your defense was impressive today, but I also think that this race isn't over, and we've got a very good shot at beating you next year as well.
Coming in, I though this was going to be a good game, but I thought Mizzou was better. I'm not sure this game entirely changed my mind, but I did get a healthy dose of respect for NU, especially the defense, and ultimately the matchups ended up in NU's favor. I can tell this is a game that's going to be a hot one for years and I'll be glad when Suh is playing on Sundays and not eating up our offensive line.
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