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NEBRASKA FOOTBALL: Built for a Title Run
Commentary: After smashing Washington, it's clear - Nebraska has the goods
by Samuel McKewon
September 18, 2010
Athleticism. Speed. Explosiveness. Toughness. The sheer just-try-and-beat-us attitude - and the occasional mental gaffes and dumb penalties that accompany it.
After smacking around Washington Saturday 56-21, it’s all there. This Nebraska team has every bit the look of a national title contender. Fast. Physically dominant. Intimidating. Smart enough.
UW isn’t particularly good, the Husky Stadium crowd got unplugged early, and I’d be stunned, after watching him, if Jake Locker spent three years in the NFL. The Huskers should win this game. And they did.
But, in execution and self-confidence, Nebraska’s offense finally matches the defense. With Taylor Martinez confidently running the show NU has an identity. The Huskers know who they are: A physical, downhill, dynamic running team.
“They just wore us down,” Washington coach Steve Sarkisian said. “They did a good job. They’re a big, physical team. They stuck to their plan of really running the ball and they wore us down.”
Martinez can fly. Roy Helu and Rex Burkhead are chugging with speed and purpose. The offensive line can mash. And the wide receivers so thoroughly dominated their blocking assignments Saturday, it looked like 1997 again.
Three guys over 100 yards for the fifth time in school history. You’ll take that and some bacon for breakfast.
Helu’s 65-yard touchdown - a counter trey featuring two pulling lineman - was a slow-developing masterpiece from the Osborne era, a play so perfectly designed it was like dining on a flame-broiled ribeye. It’s the kind of Pipeline performance Husker fans have been waiting for from Barney Cotton’s bunch. Cotton, as maligned as any Husker assistant in recent years, earned a few beers Saturday. Hope you’re ready to buy.
“The offensive line—that was the key to the whole game,” Burkhead said. “They were opening up some tremendous holes, and they were just making our jobs easier.”
And when NU had to pass in the first half - Martinez hung in there. He’s tough. He’s inconsistent with his mechanics and delivery, but it’s hard to argue with a kid who delivers - consistently - on third down. He converted several more in Seattle.
His 21-yard pass to Niles Paul on 3rd-and-16, as Nebraska clung to a 14-7 lead, was arguably his best play of game. He’d just been sacked two plays earlier. That’s a moment where a redshirt freshman wilts. Not Martinez. And if he can make that throw all year, T-Magic is T-Much for most of the average defenses in the Big 12.
Martinez will have freshman moments, sure, but he’s the guy, no doubt, especially after his superior play in Seattle and Cody Green’s two fumbles. And I don’t see the big runs coming to a stop without leaving the middle of the field wide open for Helu and Burkhead.
Nebraska’s defense was as it often is: Poison for opposing quarterbacks. Jake Locker who? UW’s “Savior” misfired on 16 of 20 passes while facing, almost exclusively, a four-man rush. Aside from one mental breakdown by Prince Amukamara, NU’s defensive backs blanketed the Husky receivers all afternoon. Alfonzo Dennard turned in his own Pick Six; among the secondary starters, only Amukamara and Eric Hagg are left to do the same.
As complex as the Pelini Brothers’ defense seems, it has a simple idea at its core: Make the quarterback think until he runs out of time. Locker stood…and stood…and stood in the pocket Saturday, grasping for straws that kept falling into the pop bottle, searching for receivers who weren’t open. After Dennard’s Pick Six, Locker was wasted, fried like a State Fair corn fritter, done. He spent the rest of the game jumping as he threw, lofting quails into nowhere.
And while Nebraska’s run defense is a little leaky - and may stay a little leaky all season - NU’s offense forces opponents to score, so it’s too hard - and it takes too long - for teams like Washington to settle into a NFL strategy. You need a defense comparable to Nebraska’s, capable of stretching a game out to four quarters. How many are there?
Yes, there’s some to clean up. But Texas coach Mack Brown - I know how much you love him - made a terrific point last week: Great teams get penalized a lot. It’s aggression. It’s physicality. It’s meanness. Referees were put on this earth to throw flags at dominant teams. If they didn’t, the zeebs would just run around all afternoon, chasing touchdowns.
The turnovers weren’t as big of a problem, but Green 2010 reverted back to Green 2009. Fumbling. Running into a guy’s back. Quizzically looking over to the sidelines in frustration. Maybe it was anomaly. Or maybe that’s Green’s lot - in the pinch, he doesn’t function so well. Martinez does.
“I don’t get nervous before games, so they should probably stop asking me,” Martinez said. “I don’t really care if it’s a home game or an away game, it it’s in a loud environment or not, it doesn’t really bother me.”
He played like it.
NU fans are chronic worrywarts, so, naturally, after one night of celebrating, Husker faithful will spend that plane ride home from Seattle - What a turnout! What a fan base! - biting their nails over Kansas State, which survived a 27-20 smash-up with Iowa State. I watched it start to finish. KSU has one terrific player - Daniel Thomas. Its defense is a sieve. Its quarterback is a poor Jake Locker. Its stadium won’t be any louder or tougher than the one Nebraska just saw.
That may seem like a knock on the Wildcats, but survey what the Huskers just did to Washington, a team that could, with some luck, qualify for a bowl out of a BCS Conference.
Saturday was a long-lost friend of the 1990s. Fuel up the truck, Nebraska fans. At the very least, this thing’s chugging into Dallas with marbles still on the table.
NEBRASKA FOOTBALL: Built for a Title Run
Commentary: After smashing Washington, it's clear - Nebraska has the goods
by Samuel McKewon
September 18, 2010
Athleticism. Speed. Explosiveness. Toughness. The sheer just-try-and-beat-us attitude - and the occasional mental gaffes and dumb penalties that accompany it.
After smacking around Washington Saturday 56-21, it’s all there. This Nebraska team has every bit the look of a national title contender. Fast. Physically dominant. Intimidating. Smart enough.
UW isn’t particularly good, the Husky Stadium crowd got unplugged early, and I’d be stunned, after watching him, if Jake Locker spent three years in the NFL. The Huskers should win this game. And they did.
But, in execution and self-confidence, Nebraska’s offense finally matches the defense. With Taylor Martinez confidently running the show NU has an identity. The Huskers know who they are: A physical, downhill, dynamic running team.
“They just wore us down,” Washington coach Steve Sarkisian said. “They did a good job. They’re a big, physical team. They stuck to their plan of really running the ball and they wore us down.”
Martinez can fly. Roy Helu and Rex Burkhead are chugging with speed and purpose. The offensive line can mash. And the wide receivers so thoroughly dominated their blocking assignments Saturday, it looked like 1997 again.
Three guys over 100 yards for the fifth time in school history. You’ll take that and some bacon for breakfast.
Helu’s 65-yard touchdown - a counter trey featuring two pulling lineman - was a slow-developing masterpiece from the Osborne era, a play so perfectly designed it was like dining on a flame-broiled ribeye. It’s the kind of Pipeline performance Husker fans have been waiting for from Barney Cotton’s bunch. Cotton, as maligned as any Husker assistant in recent years, earned a few beers Saturday. Hope you’re ready to buy.
“The offensive line—that was the key to the whole game,” Burkhead said. “They were opening up some tremendous holes, and they were just making our jobs easier.”
And when NU had to pass in the first half - Martinez hung in there. He’s tough. He’s inconsistent with his mechanics and delivery, but it’s hard to argue with a kid who delivers - consistently - on third down. He converted several more in Seattle.
His 21-yard pass to Niles Paul on 3rd-and-16, as Nebraska clung to a 14-7 lead, was arguably his best play of game. He’d just been sacked two plays earlier. That’s a moment where a redshirt freshman wilts. Not Martinez. And if he can make that throw all year, T-Magic is T-Much for most of the average defenses in the Big 12.
Martinez will have freshman moments, sure, but he’s the guy, no doubt, especially after his superior play in Seattle and Cody Green’s two fumbles. And I don’t see the big runs coming to a stop without leaving the middle of the field wide open for Helu and Burkhead.
Nebraska’s defense was as it often is: Poison for opposing quarterbacks. Jake Locker who? UW’s “Savior” misfired on 16 of 20 passes while facing, almost exclusively, a four-man rush. Aside from one mental breakdown by Prince Amukamara, NU’s defensive backs blanketed the Husky receivers all afternoon. Alfonzo Dennard turned in his own Pick Six; among the secondary starters, only Amukamara and Eric Hagg are left to do the same.
As complex as the Pelini Brothers’ defense seems, it has a simple idea at its core: Make the quarterback think until he runs out of time. Locker stood…and stood…and stood in the pocket Saturday, grasping for straws that kept falling into the pop bottle, searching for receivers who weren’t open. After Dennard’s Pick Six, Locker was wasted, fried like a State Fair corn fritter, done. He spent the rest of the game jumping as he threw, lofting quails into nowhere.
And while Nebraska’s run defense is a little leaky - and may stay a little leaky all season - NU’s offense forces opponents to score, so it’s too hard - and it takes too long - for teams like Washington to settle into a NFL strategy. You need a defense comparable to Nebraska’s, capable of stretching a game out to four quarters. How many are there?
Yes, there’s some to clean up. But Texas coach Mack Brown - I know how much you love him - made a terrific point last week: Great teams get penalized a lot. It’s aggression. It’s physicality. It’s meanness. Referees were put on this earth to throw flags at dominant teams. If they didn’t, the zeebs would just run around all afternoon, chasing touchdowns.
The turnovers weren’t as big of a problem, but Green 2010 reverted back to Green 2009. Fumbling. Running into a guy’s back. Quizzically looking over to the sidelines in frustration. Maybe it was anomaly. Or maybe that’s Green’s lot - in the pinch, he doesn’t function so well. Martinez does.
“I don’t get nervous before games, so they should probably stop asking me,” Martinez said. “I don’t really care if it’s a home game or an away game, it it’s in a loud environment or not, it doesn’t really bother me.”
He played like it.
NU fans are chronic worrywarts, so, naturally, after one night of celebrating, Husker faithful will spend that plane ride home from Seattle - What a turnout! What a fan base! - biting their nails over Kansas State, which survived a 27-20 smash-up with Iowa State. I watched it start to finish. KSU has one terrific player - Daniel Thomas. Its defense is a sieve. Its quarterback is a poor Jake Locker. Its stadium won’t be any louder or tougher than the one Nebraska just saw.
That may seem like a knock on the Wildcats, but survey what the Huskers just did to Washington, a team that could, with some luck, qualify for a bowl out of a BCS Conference.
Saturday was a long-lost friend of the 1990s. Fuel up the truck, Nebraska fans. At the very least, this thing’s chugging into Dallas with marbles still on the table.
