Sun Shines on Huskers in Win over Missouri

6 comments so far November 5, 2006 by Darren K. Carlson

Just as Renny's forecast predicted, it was a beautiful (if a bit early) day for football on Saturday. The sun shone brightly on the Huskers as they used a strong first-half performance to defeat Missouri 34-20 in Lincoln. The dose of actual and metaphorical sunshine made several things much clearer for NU as their stretch run continues.

They have control of their destiny in attempting to win the North division. Win one more (or two, preferably) or have Missouri lose one, and they punch their ticket to Kansas City. A few other things became clear to me as my ever-loving wife and I took in the game from seats in the Southeast corner of the stadium.

About This Division
Let's talk about the North. Yes, it's not the strongest division. That's an understatement. But, what else is there to do but go and win it? Be thankful the Huskers took a big step in that direction on Saturday. Now, they have to finish it off.

All Nebraska can do is continue to plow forward and try to increase the level of expectation. That means going south and winning against A&M and it means getting an undefeated record against the anemic North by beating Colorado. There is no question in my mind that NU is the only North team demonstrating the resources - finances, facilities, personnel, and the will of the fans - to compete with the South right now. And, don't think for a minute that the man at the top, popular or not, knows his primary job is to shift the expectation toward beating those South schools ("I will not surrender the conference..."). But, for right now they have to take one step at a time. That means winning the North. People can make all the jokes they want. It would be exponentially worse if they didn't win it, right?

Observations from Saturday
Nebraska is just a better team at home. There’s nothing surprising or complicated about that. We're still a young team in many spots and most teams generally play better at home. It was nice to come back and "get well" in the friendly setting of Memorial stadium.

This was the first I had seen the jumbo screen in person. It's...uh...big. Though they could do for some better sound systems, as in the SE corner you honestly can't hear it very well. I absolutely LOVE the use of the new tunnel and having a different military guard honored each game. That's very cool.

Missouri has one of the strangest offenses I have ever seen, really. They are forever in 4 and 5 wide sets, sometimes completely unnecessarily and arbitrarily. An alarming percentage of the offense routes through the quarterback. And, they almost never seem to huddle. It's just odd. I'm glad to have it in the rear view mirror. And, by the way, it's another example of why NU seems to be trying to load up on defensive back recruits.

I'm not a huge fan of the second half performance. But, there is reason to be happy with the 3rd quarter. NU completely dominated the time of possession. Missouri only got one possession in that quarter. If JB Philips catches a ball when he's wide open, NU continues a very impressive drive, scores or at least rocks Missouri to sleep. Both of NU's drives in the quarter were efficient.

Defensively, the difference between the two halves was the ability to get off of the field on third down. In the first half, the Blackshirts were lights out on third down and it was a punt-fest for the Tigers. In the second half, NU had a hard time with MU on third (and fourth!) downs. That kept MU's drives alive.

On Offense
Youth was served on the offensive line. Hickman got the start at right guard over Huff, and he appeared to account well for himself as a freshman. Throw in sophomores Murtha, Slauson and Christensen, and that is a very young line. There is a lot of reason to be hopeful for NU's future along the offensive line.

I love watching Brandon Jackson play. He runs with good speed, good power, great vision and a lot of "want to". BUT (big but) you just can't fumble the ball in those crucial situations, early and late in the game. As good as he's been, fumbling really should be a ticket to the back of the line. Because you might have heard, NU has some other backs. And one of them - Lucky - just keeps looking like an explosive play waiting to happen. A 32-yard kick return and a crucial reception and run on third and 12 are good evidence.

Zach Taylor continues to be as steady and productive as we could ever want him to be. No, it's not spectacular. But, they are also not asking him to be. He's a fan favorite for good reason.

Mo Purify is just a big-time talent. Forget the reverse pass for a second if you can. In his primary role - catching - he made a signature play. The jump-ball touchdown he scored was basically Bill Callahan saying, "Hey, you can't guard him. Too bad." Seriously, it was a one receiver route! Taylor just threw it up and Mo did the rest. That is so fun to see. Oh, and NU has a couple of other nice guys on the outside. Great catches by Nunn and Swift to score or set up scores.

On the game plan, Callahan continues to impress. Good balance of run and pass. And he used reverses, reverse passes and reverse "action" on run plays to make Missouri's fast-flowing defense slow down. Make them move laterally in the wrong direction or lean the wrong way, and it creates creases for runners. Very smart and well executed.

On Defense
Like I said before, Missouri's offense is just...screwy. So, let's give our coaches some credit for game planning against such an odd assignment. Neither McKeon or Octavien played a down. Probably good in this case, because if they aren't 100% with their ankle injuries, they would have been a step slow in a very open-field game. We'll need them next week when A&M brings the game back between the tackles.

I loved when we allowed Bo Ruud and Stewart Bradley to play Missouri's very good tight ends in man-to-man coverage. They were the right athletes for the job and it worked pretty well. The MU tight ends (Coffman especially) got their catches when matched up with our safeties in zone coverage. That doesn't surprise anyone, does it.

Again, youth was served. Sophomore's Barry Turner and Ndomukong Suh made great plays up front for NU. And freshman Major Culbert got very significant minutes in NU's nickel set. His talent and speed were evident at many times.

Finally a nod to the special teams. Hey, we forced some touchbacks on kickoffs, Congdon booted some field goals, Grixby appears more suited at punt returns than Nunn did, and we had the first really good kick return of the season. Hats off to the team for making those improvements.

Onward to A&M for a tussle with the Aggies. They lost a very close and physical ball game with Oklahoma on Saturday. So, it will be another tough match up in a hostile environment. I'm excited to find out if the Huskers are up for the challenge.

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