NU Opponent Watch: Week 1
5 comments so far
September 8, 2009 by
What sort of conclusions can you draw on teams based on one game? Tough to say for sure but they're at least more justified, if only marginally "better" after one game, than conclusions based on year old data and preseason prognostication.
With that in mind, let's look at what the Cornhuskers' future opponents did in week one.
Missouri 37 Illinois 9 - We'll start with the one that caught all of our eyes early on last Saturday. For the record, I was bullish on Illinois this year but I was also never totally convinced Missouri was headed for a huge drop off this season either. That said, Saturday's blowout of the Illini still came as a shock. Blaine Gabbert looked great, throwing for 319 yards and three touchdowns and adding another on the ground. Illinois did turn the ball over twice inside the 30 but the Tiger defense still held the Illini over 100 yards below their total offense average from 2008.
With Bowling Green and Furman as home games to fatten up on followed by a trip to Reno to face a Nevada team that got worked by Notre Dame preceding the Tigers date with Nebraska on October 8, Missouri is probably an undefeated favorite in that game. Maybe that's a good thing. Now everyone knows just what sort of challenge awaits in Columbia.
Oklahoma 13 BYU 14 - Sam Bradford's injury didn't help matters, but that wasn't the reason the Sooners lost. BYU dominated this game, holding Oklahoma to 265 yards of total offense--their lowest output since the loss to CU in '07--and losing the turnover battle. The Sooners rebuilt offensive line suddenly has a lot of questions to answer after the Cougars harassed Bradford for much of the first half before putting him on the sidelines for good on the last play before halftime.
Ultimately, however, the Sooners didn't lose everything here, pride, early poll position and room for error excepted. Oklahoma has to win out to even approach fulfilling expectations this year but doing so would include wins over Miami, Texas, Oklahoma State, Kansas, Nebraska and the Big 12 North champion. Get through that gauntlet and they'll be back in the discussion. Early non-conference losses, while fun to point and laugh at, aren't necessarily fatal.
Virginia Tech 24 Alabama 34 - For a good portion of the third quarter, it looked like the Hokies might gut out one of their patented Beamer (read: Ugly) Ball wins. Sure the 'Bama defense was dominant, holding VT to 155 yards, low for even the low-expectation Hokie offense (303 ypg in '08), but that was how many of had this game pegged coming in. No, the shocking thing was how Alabama, with a new QB, carved up the Tech defense, rolling up 498 yards of total offense, the highest total the Hokies had given up since getting shellacked by LSU 48-7 in '07.
The encouraging thing for Nebraska, given the play of Roy Helu, was that 268 of those total yards for Alabama came on the ground with Mark Ingram tallying a career high 150 yards on the night. A trip to Lane Stadium is still a tall task for a young Huskers squad but at least for one week, the Tech defense looked mortal. Then again, the Hokies lost their first game of the season last year too and never gave up as many yards the rest of the season as they did to ECU in week one.
Quickly...
Baylor 24 Wake Forest 21 - The Bears took a huge step towards eventual bowl eligibility and looked great doing it in their new white helmets. Most Husker fans already had the Baylor game circled. Circle it twice because Halloween is looking like a must win for Nebraska.
Northern Colorado 3 Kansas 49 - The Jayhawks ended with the same final score as the Huskers, albeit against one of the worst teams in the FCS. KU finished with 328 yards rushing.
North Dakota 13 Texas Tech 38 - As usual, Tech threw it all over the field for 405 yards but unusually used the running game to finish off 3 of their 5 touchdown drives. File under "Interesting": Taylor Potts threw three interceptions.
North Dakota State 17 Iowa State 34 - The Cyclones won but gave up 210 rushing yards to the Bison. That doesn't bode well.
UMass 17 Kansas State 21 - Bill Snyder built his Manhattan empire on games like these. His return was hardly the blowout of an overmatched foe that he became famous for--the Wildcats turned it over three times and had a blocked punt returned for a TD--as the Minutemen clawed their way back from a 21-3 halftime defecit.
Southern 19 Louisiana 42 - The Ragin' Cajuns trailed after a quarter but found their footing in the second on their way to 500+ yards of total offense. Everyone, presumably, drank beer and generally enjoyed themselves.
Mississippi Valley St. 0 Arkansas State 61 - In a match-up of overly descriptive nicknames, the Red Wolves shut out the Delta Devils allowing only 69 yards of total offense. Jerry Rice gently weeps.
Colorado State 23 Colorado 17 - Go ahead, try to find ten winnable games left on Colorado's schedule after a season opening loss to the in-state rival Rams...at home. Cody Hawkins went 24-41 on the night and still doesn't look like much of a college quarterback and it's getting harder and harder to see Dan Hawkins as a college coach at CU much longer. The Buffs tallied only 29 yards rushing on the night, not lead at all by superback Darrell Scott's one carry for one yard.
And, finally, for what it's worth, Washington looked light years ahead of where they were last year, pushing LSU in Steve Sarkisian's debut. The Cornhuskers travel to Seattle next fall.
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WyHuskerFan Sep 08 09
Mizzou looked good but I don't think that O line can handle our D. Don't look at how Suh and Co. played Saturday, I truly believe the Pelini's are holding back the defensive schemes for VT. CU looked awful, the rest about what I expected. Big Bonus, OU looks vulnerable. Bradford is probably healthy by the time they get to Lincoln, but will his timing be back? One good hit by our D and he's wishing he had declared early.
GBR!
James Moore Sep 08 09
MISSOURI -- Darn impressive performance. Maybe Illinois came out the most lifeless of any team I've ever seen on a season opener (boy is there something wrong in Champaign, that team looked like they would rather be doing anything but playing a football game) but they executed and looked good doing it. Gabbert looked excellent BUT with Missouri (like last year) they are trying to hide something. Despite the numbers, Missouri was not an effective running team last year against good defenses. I'm not sold on their running game. If it's a strength, then we would've seen a more pronounced presence of their ground game. They worked everything but Washington which was surprising. There's a famous maxim in war "He who defends everything, defends nothing." Sometimes teams who attempt to execute everything do this because they can't do any ONE thing really well. We will see, but they looked a lot better than I expected at this point. They have to be PRESSED at the line. You cannot let the WR's get free off the line without press. This is a timing offense, gotta bump and hit it. . .
OKLAHOMA -- Man, one cannot help but think that maybe this program left its heart and soul down in Miami last January and just haven't been able to pick themselves up since. Reynolds and Lewis looked very good, McCoy is a beast, but I was honestly surprised the way BYU was able to execute a ground-control running game. On paper at least, nobody should run the ball on Oklahoma this year, but BYU did, and effectively too. Oklahoma should dial up some more blitz packages than they do. My guess is, with a front 7 like that, that they don't have a whole lot of confidence in the secondary as a unit to be disciplined. The offensive line is shaky for the moment, there's no getting around that. What got me was that the WR's looked subpar (compared to last year) and really did NOT consistently separate as they SHOULD have. I'm curious to see how this bunch responds. When Mel Kiper Jr. says that you could be the No. 1 pick in the draft, maybe you should go because when Coach Stoops finishes 3rd in the Big 12 South and leaves for the NFL. . .
COLORADO -- hahahahahahahahaha, Puffaloes. . .
BAYLOR -- Heck of a job there Coach Briles.
That's a good football team you have there, and some nice imagination too offensively. . .
Bill Kerr Sep 08 09
I still hate that we lost Blaine Gabbert during the coaching change.
He would have made a good backup to Lee this year.
On a positive note, I don't have to hate myself for cheering on a guy with the name "Blaine."
Bill in Iowa Sep 08 09
Gabbert, I'm afrad, is going to come back and haunt Husker fans...just like Josh Freeman (ok not really like that). But, Gabbert looked very good. The only consolation is that we have his younger brother coming here next fall. Mizzou's defense looked improved too and their WR's looked good enough. I have to agree Mr Moore, their running game is their weakness. However, do they really need a running game? Does Mike Leach need a running game?
James Moore Sep 09 09
Mr. Bill in Iowa mentions a good point. Do they need a running game? Well what has Missouri done in these past 2 years in the showdown matchups with Oklahoma and Texas? Mike Leach and Mr. Harrell suffered from the lack of Texas Tech to run the ball effectively or for that matter the willingness to run. Because of this, the Sooner front 4 could pin their ears back and go. Wide splits or not if the other team's secondary can run effectively with your skill players in space, then your pass protection will break down if the QB does not have a mobile element to his game. Missouri couldn't run the ball when it counted against Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship games, and down in Austin last year. If you can't pound the rock in big games you're asking for the more difficult road to travel. . .
"Gabbert, I'm afrad, is going to come back and haunt Husker fans...just like Josh Freeman (ok not really like that)." Lol, that's awesome!!! Only if it were going to come to pass that way. . .