FAU Post-Mortem
2 comments so far
September 8, 2009 by
I've heard plenty of coaches say that they allow their teams, win or lose, to think about their previous game until the end of the night, and then it's focus on the next week's game. I'm a big fan of that, but I say we let the win or loss simmer for a few days and take apart the good and the bad before moving on. The Good this week? Plenty. The Bad this week? Not as much as my initial fears before I started looking at the play by play and stat sheet.
If I were Bo Pelini this week, I would take the video of Curenski Gilleylen's block on the touchdown reception of Menelik Holt and I would make it the play of the game. Everything that every member of this team does is designed to win games as a team. All athletic plays that resulted in a touchdown happened because someone else on the team was doing their job very well on that particular play.
Next show the move Holt made on that play (successfully) and then show the successive two times he tried it when it resulted in him getting tackled on the spot. Pound into these guys heads that the Huskers are going to get lucky with a move about one out of three times. Roy Helu, Jr. and Rex Burkhead were the perfect examples of what to do this year. Each lowered their heads, gained one or two more yards, then fell forward for another yard. Imagine gaining three extra yard every time one of your skill position players was tackled. That can add up to 150 yards in a game!
Defensively, the Huskers took the ball away and stopped the Owls when they needed it. There were two interceptions, but there could have been two more. There were five forced fumbles with only one recovered by Nebraska. And there were a number of times the pressure resulted in an incomplete pass due to a non-developed play. I would complain about the lack of sacks, but I can't remember seeing a blitz without looking at the whole game again. I even remember Suh getting dropped into a zone and acting like a linebacker and running someone down from behind on a particular play.
To those concerned about the yardage "piled up" by the Owls: It just didn't feel like they were moving the ball very much when I was actually watching the game. Never did the Husker look like they weren't in control on defense. There were a few mishaps with players being caught a little out of position. So I guess the one thing I can complain about (that happened far less often than last year) was the defense not being set when the ball was snapped and a safety or linebacker out of position. Blake Lawrence in particular had to make up a lot of ground to tackle the running back after he was caught out of position. His athleticism prevented a touchdown, but they did end up scoring on the field goal a few plays later.
I would have to say the players of the game would have to be Helu and Matt O'Hanlon. Without them, this game would probably still be a win, but they showed something special. The areas that needed improvement were not nearly as numerous as a year ago at this time. Let's hope that Nebraska can keep up the beatings on weaker opponents as next time I would love to see more of the backups develop for the future.
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WyHuskerFan Sep 08 09
IMO there were way too many penalties. It was hard to watch that first possession. I was thinking "here we go again." Didn't hurt this game but could be a deciding factor like in the VT game last year. Our D did not seem as intimidating as I was expecting, but it's hard to complain about holding any D1 team to 3 points. The one breakdown did lead to the field goal, but they played better after. I don't like how the refs enforced the protection penalty all weekend. Crick didn't put a wallop on Smith and still gets flagged for 15. QBs are going to start flopping like punters when defenders get close. I watched games where the player got laid out and the penalty was not enforced. Hopefully it will get more consistent.
GBR!
tom Sep 08 09
Ok, so I didn't really notice the penalties until now. Nine. That's a couple more than we averaged per game last year. For a first game, it is acceptable to get a couple of false starts, holding, etc. What hacked me off (and ended up not mattering thanks to Kunalic's great kick off) was Niles Paul getting an unsportsmanlike penalty after a touchdown. There was also a personal foul penalty by Eric Martin when the game was pretty much over. Those should go away by next week. If not, Bo should get tough on anyone who makes an "emotional" error rather than a mental error. Crick's hit was a little late, never mind that he didn't hit him that hard. You've got to know when to ease up.