McKewon's Take

[Saunders]

Here's one word for the offensive game plan Fresno State used to cut up Nebraska's vaunted defense on Saturday night.
Irony.

The Bulldogs threw out of run formations and ran out of three-receiver formations, manipulating NU's defensive personnel with ease and exposing just how important Alfonzo Dennard's return is to the Blackshirts.

http://www.omaha.com/article/20110911/BIGRED/709119810/-1#mckewon-dennard-s-return-would-stiffen-nu-run-defense

 

[zoogs]

Martinez's throwing mechanics: I'll politely disagree with my colleague Tom Shatel for a second — I think Martinez is better in the pocket than he is outside of it, where he bread loafs the ball and misjudges throwing windows. Inside the pocket, he makes better decisions and correctly identifies mismatches.

Thank you, Sam.

Overall, this was a great article, from the only local journalist I really read these days Top notch stuff, as always.

 

[da skers]

I agree Sam gets it quite well. The one thing he harped on was bringing up a DB for run support. That really hasn't been Bo's MO anywhere he's coached. That extra DB is a contain type of guy.

I honestly don't think anyone knows where this team is as its pretty inconsistent. I think we could probably play any Top 5 team and win or keep it close and at the same time lose to any bottom 10 team because our head isn't there yet. Thank goodness this group of freshman is learning team mentality from this group of Seniors rather than the group that just graduated that talked about it but didn't practice it.

 

[NUance]

When does the super-fast tempo get rolling?We might find Atlantis first. As it is, Nebraska's offense mostly wears out its own defense.

Penn State's loss to Alabama is no stunner. The Nittany Lions might as well use cans and strings for game management, and there's not a single SEC athlete in Happy Valley.

Ha ha. Aside from these quotes--which are instant classics--Sam makes a lot of great observations in this great article. McKewon is the king of Nebraska sports journalists. Hands down.

 

[NUance]

I SEE YOU• Compton, who notched a career-high 15 tackles on a squishy ankle. Man's game.

• Baker Steinkuhler, for playing one of his best games at defensive tackle.

• Ameer Abdullah, for the 100-yard shake, bake and bolt.

• Taylor Martinez, for taking fewer blow-up shots this week while breaking off his long runs.

• Rex Burkhead, who looked like Nebraska's best fullback in the first half and played some seriously funky music on NU's game-icing drive. Swiss Army Rex has wiggle!

• Quincy Enunwa, for not quitting and forcing a fumble after Martinez's interception. The sophomore receiver is playing with swagger and physicality.

• Offensive coordinator Tim Beck, who found a way to hide tight end Kyler Reed in a formation and free him up for a 53-yard reception.

Was Compton really playing on a gimpy ankle? If so, quite an impressive performance by Compton. But what about Fischer--was he playing with both gimpy legs and arms?

 

[zoogs]

I have read some pretty positive reviews of the LBs actually. I think the knock on Fisher probably is that he may be a step slow still coming back from that injury last year. Maybe being outschemed and surprised a bit by Fresno had more to do with it than Compton and Fisher, who are familiar punching bags from 2009, but are both probably quite a step up from back then.

Still think we may be better served in the Peso, though.

 

[Husker Richard]

I have read some pretty positive reviews of the LBs actually. I think the knock on Fisher probably is that he may be a step slow still coming back from that injury last year. Maybe being outschemed and surprised a bit by Fresno had more to do with it than Compton and Fisher, who are familiar punching bags from 2009, but are both probably quite a step up from back then.

Still think we may be better served in the Peso, though.

Agreed.

Stafford is made for the Peso. We need to get some of our athletes on the field and our non-athletes off (Blatchford, Thorrell).