Eric the Red
Team HuskerBoard
Game Report Card
Running game (D)
Nebraska couldn’t run the football. Any apparent holes closed extremely fast, and Marlon Lucky never slipped through. Cody Glenn might be a happier man today, though. After not playing in last year’s USC game (or in last week’s game at Wake Forest) Glenn produced in short-yardage and goal-line plays. He scored two of Nebraska’s touchdowns.
Passing game ©
Bill Callahan, in a Friday interview, told the radio version of ESPN’s “College GameDay” that Nebraska would have to attack USC through the air. And so that’s what Sam Keller did - quite remarkably, early. Keller unleashed the ball quickly, receivers caught zipped passes, and Nebraska moved the chains. Then Keller had another second-half collapse against the Trojans, tossing two interceptions on NU’s first two drives after halftime.
Against the run (F)
USC’s first two runs of the game were career-long jaunts for fullback Stanley Havili (50 yards) and C.J. Gable (40 yards). Not a good start, and things didn’t get any better. Why do the Blackshirts continue to have issues with bad angles on tackles, and missed tackles, period? Why is that a nagging problem that pops up year after year?
Against the pass ©
Nebraska didn’t apply pressure on John David Booty. However, Booty didn’t take full advantage, missing a few times on deep throws, while his receivers had some drops. Coverage was good at times, but nonexistent on Booty’s first two TD throws.
Special teams (A)
Well, the kickoff returns looked good … Nebraska had plenty of practice, too.
What we saw of kickoff coverage was sound, too. Rickey Thenarse nearly put Memorial Stadium into a frenzy with his forced fumble on a second-quarter return … a fumble USC advanced 31 yards. Alex Henery continues to impress - effective pooch kick, and a strong field goal into the wind.
Play calling (B)
So much for last year’s conservative plan against USC. Callahan opened things up with the passing game, and what do you know? Nebraska not only moved the ball, it controlled the clock, too … in the first half. Liked the call for the quick kick out of the field-goal formation. Didn’t like running Lucky on the second-to-final play of the first half.
Game management (B)
The delay-of-game penalty on the second possession drew the ire of fans. A sideline timeout call as the play clock approached zero wiped out a third-and-5 play in the second quarter. (Maybe it’s a good thing we never found out what happened.)
Overall (D)
This game had the makings of something special when Thenarse forced that fumble on the second-quarter kickoff return. (It elicited a rare outburst in the press box, at least.) But the ball bounced USC’s way, and things turned disastrous after that. What did we learn? The defense was porous, and the running game nonexistent. Nebraska still isn’t ready for the big time … and might be further away than we thought.
Game Stats
Stat Huskers USC
FIRST DOWNS 28 22
--Rushing 3 14
--Passing 19 8
--Penalty First Downs 6 0
NET YARDS RUSHING 31 313
--Rushing Attemps 28 38
--Average Per Rush 1.1 8.2
--Yards Gained Rushing 67 326
--Yards Lost Rushing 36 13
NET YARDS PASSING 389 144
--Completions-Attempts-Int 36-54-2 19-30-0
--Average Per Attempt 7.2 4.8
--Average Per Completion 10.8 7.6
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS 420 457
--Total offense plays 82 68
--Average Gain Per Play 5.1 6.7
Fumbles: Number Lost 0-0 5-1
Penalties: Number-Yards 6-45 10-102
PUNTS-YARDS 6-226 4-164
--Average Yards Per Punt 37.7 41.0
--Net Yards Per Punt 38.0 40.0
--Inside 20 2 2
KICKOFFS-YARDS 3-202 9-589
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD 2-4-0 1-(-2)-0
--Average Per Return 2.0 -2.0
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD 0-0-0 2-43-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD 1-11-0 0-0-0
Possession Time 30:58 29:02
Third-Down Conversions 8-17 5-10
Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 1-1
Sacks By: Number-Yards 0-0 2-19
Running game (D)
Nebraska couldn’t run the football. Any apparent holes closed extremely fast, and Marlon Lucky never slipped through. Cody Glenn might be a happier man today, though. After not playing in last year’s USC game (or in last week’s game at Wake Forest) Glenn produced in short-yardage and goal-line plays. He scored two of Nebraska’s touchdowns.
Passing game ©
Bill Callahan, in a Friday interview, told the radio version of ESPN’s “College GameDay” that Nebraska would have to attack USC through the air. And so that’s what Sam Keller did - quite remarkably, early. Keller unleashed the ball quickly, receivers caught zipped passes, and Nebraska moved the chains. Then Keller had another second-half collapse against the Trojans, tossing two interceptions on NU’s first two drives after halftime.
Against the run (F)
USC’s first two runs of the game were career-long jaunts for fullback Stanley Havili (50 yards) and C.J. Gable (40 yards). Not a good start, and things didn’t get any better. Why do the Blackshirts continue to have issues with bad angles on tackles, and missed tackles, period? Why is that a nagging problem that pops up year after year?
Against the pass ©
Nebraska didn’t apply pressure on John David Booty. However, Booty didn’t take full advantage, missing a few times on deep throws, while his receivers had some drops. Coverage was good at times, but nonexistent on Booty’s first two TD throws.
Special teams (A)
Well, the kickoff returns looked good … Nebraska had plenty of practice, too.
What we saw of kickoff coverage was sound, too. Rickey Thenarse nearly put Memorial Stadium into a frenzy with his forced fumble on a second-quarter return … a fumble USC advanced 31 yards. Alex Henery continues to impress - effective pooch kick, and a strong field goal into the wind.
Play calling (B)
So much for last year’s conservative plan against USC. Callahan opened things up with the passing game, and what do you know? Nebraska not only moved the ball, it controlled the clock, too … in the first half. Liked the call for the quick kick out of the field-goal formation. Didn’t like running Lucky on the second-to-final play of the first half.
Game management (B)
The delay-of-game penalty on the second possession drew the ire of fans. A sideline timeout call as the play clock approached zero wiped out a third-and-5 play in the second quarter. (Maybe it’s a good thing we never found out what happened.)
Overall (D)
This game had the makings of something special when Thenarse forced that fumble on the second-quarter kickoff return. (It elicited a rare outburst in the press box, at least.) But the ball bounced USC’s way, and things turned disastrous after that. What did we learn? The defense was porous, and the running game nonexistent. Nebraska still isn’t ready for the big time … and might be further away than we thought.
Game Stats
Stat Huskers USC
FIRST DOWNS 28 22
--Rushing 3 14
--Passing 19 8
--Penalty First Downs 6 0
NET YARDS RUSHING 31 313
--Rushing Attemps 28 38
--Average Per Rush 1.1 8.2
--Yards Gained Rushing 67 326
--Yards Lost Rushing 36 13
NET YARDS PASSING 389 144
--Completions-Attempts-Int 36-54-2 19-30-0
--Average Per Attempt 7.2 4.8
--Average Per Completion 10.8 7.6
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS 420 457
--Total offense plays 82 68
--Average Gain Per Play 5.1 6.7
Fumbles: Number Lost 0-0 5-1
Penalties: Number-Yards 6-45 10-102
PUNTS-YARDS 6-226 4-164
--Average Yards Per Punt 37.7 41.0
--Net Yards Per Punt 38.0 40.0
--Inside 20 2 2
KICKOFFS-YARDS 3-202 9-589
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD 2-4-0 1-(-2)-0
--Average Per Return 2.0 -2.0
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD 0-0-0 2-43-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD 1-11-0 0-0-0
Possession Time 30:58 29:02
Third-Down Conversions 8-17 5-10
Fourth-Down Conversions 0-0 1-1
Sacks By: Number-Yards 0-0 2-19
