First my two cents on the game (much of which has been repeated elsewhere).
Why the offense is fine.
1. Drops. All this talk about firing Watson is nonsense- if one of the 3 TD passes was caught the game has a different outlook and no one is blaming Watson. Drops are related to players messing up and position coaches, not scheme/play calling.
2. The youth of Martinez. Running the zone-read requires patience- the proper read must be made on every play and getting frustrated and rushing the read guarantees more failure. Against a worse defense like KSU's it was possible to get away with a few poor reads as Martinez' ability could overcome errors (see first touchdown against KSU). Lee actually found success with the zone read late in the game, due to proper, patient reads (although the Texas defense might not have respected him as a runner/may have been more inclined to play the pass).
Why the defense is fine.
1. The defense only allowed 20 points, 7 of which came after a fumble gave Texas the ball on the 20 yard line early in the game.
2. Texas rushed for 209 yards total. Gilbert had 71 yards rushing on 11 carries, 68 of which came in the first half. This was obviously a wrinkle the D wasn't ready for, but seemed to have adjusted for in the second half. Outside of Gilbert's performance, 138 yards rushing by the rest of Texas' back's hardly means that the Blackshirts were rolling over against the run.
3. Gilbert- 4/16 for 62 yards. Not much to say about this- 41 of these yards came on a pass to Whittaker due to terrible tackling.
Intangibles.
1. Pressure. There have been many other posts discussing the poor play of the Huskers in Lincoln. The extreme hype surrounding the game undoubtedly had some influence on the players, maybe accounting for some of the drops.
2. Lack of 'breaks.' Other than Hagg's punt return for a TD, which came too late in the game, Nebraska had no other lucky breaks of note, be it catches or calls by the officials. Hats off to Texas- a perfectly executed, conservative game plan prevented the Blackshirts from getting a turnover, which would've had a huge impact in the game.
Final analysis- a one-score loss that could have gone the other way had Nebraska executed/had one lucky break.
Why we will beat Okie State.
1. Offense- Oklahoma State is currently 92nd in yards per game allowed and has given up 21 TDs (vs Nebraska's 9). Their defense is more like KSU's than that of Texas and should allow our offense to perform.
2. Defense- although OSU has a prolific offense (2nd in the country), their spread style matches up better with our defense than the offense we saw out of Texas. Throwing the ball often will give our defense a chance to make one of the big plays they had in the first 5 games but couldn't get against Texas.
3. Intagibles- Bo Pelini's teams play well on the road and have bounced back well from disappointments in the past. This week the pressure is on OSU to get the huge win at home.
Summary- OSU is a better matchup for Nebraska than Texas and the intangibles are more on our side.
I stake what little reputation I have on a big win on the road this weekend.
Why the offense is fine.
1. Drops. All this talk about firing Watson is nonsense- if one of the 3 TD passes was caught the game has a different outlook and no one is blaming Watson. Drops are related to players messing up and position coaches, not scheme/play calling.
2. The youth of Martinez. Running the zone-read requires patience- the proper read must be made on every play and getting frustrated and rushing the read guarantees more failure. Against a worse defense like KSU's it was possible to get away with a few poor reads as Martinez' ability could overcome errors (see first touchdown against KSU). Lee actually found success with the zone read late in the game, due to proper, patient reads (although the Texas defense might not have respected him as a runner/may have been more inclined to play the pass).
Why the defense is fine.
1. The defense only allowed 20 points, 7 of which came after a fumble gave Texas the ball on the 20 yard line early in the game.
2. Texas rushed for 209 yards total. Gilbert had 71 yards rushing on 11 carries, 68 of which came in the first half. This was obviously a wrinkle the D wasn't ready for, but seemed to have adjusted for in the second half. Outside of Gilbert's performance, 138 yards rushing by the rest of Texas' back's hardly means that the Blackshirts were rolling over against the run.
3. Gilbert- 4/16 for 62 yards. Not much to say about this- 41 of these yards came on a pass to Whittaker due to terrible tackling.
Intangibles.
1. Pressure. There have been many other posts discussing the poor play of the Huskers in Lincoln. The extreme hype surrounding the game undoubtedly had some influence on the players, maybe accounting for some of the drops.
2. Lack of 'breaks.' Other than Hagg's punt return for a TD, which came too late in the game, Nebraska had no other lucky breaks of note, be it catches or calls by the officials. Hats off to Texas- a perfectly executed, conservative game plan prevented the Blackshirts from getting a turnover, which would've had a huge impact in the game.
Final analysis- a one-score loss that could have gone the other way had Nebraska executed/had one lucky break.
Why we will beat Okie State.
1. Offense- Oklahoma State is currently 92nd in yards per game allowed and has given up 21 TDs (vs Nebraska's 9). Their defense is more like KSU's than that of Texas and should allow our offense to perform.
2. Defense- although OSU has a prolific offense (2nd in the country), their spread style matches up better with our defense than the offense we saw out of Texas. Throwing the ball often will give our defense a chance to make one of the big plays they had in the first 5 games but couldn't get against Texas.
3. Intagibles- Bo Pelini's teams play well on the road and have bounced back well from disappointments in the past. This week the pressure is on OSU to get the huge win at home.
Summary- OSU is a better matchup for Nebraska than Texas and the intangibles are more on our side.
I stake what little reputation I have on a big win on the road this weekend.
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