Kansas State Post-Mortem

3 comments so far November 23, 2009 by Tom Cudd

As the last seconds of the game ticked away against the Wildcats, I looked at the field and counted the Seniors that had impacted the game with their skill and determination on Senior Day. I figure that in the three games left, these thirteen guys will not be looking to pad their stats and improve their draft status, or hope of becoming a rookie free agent, or try to win trophies, or even grasp onto the glory of playing football at the highest level they will ever experience for themselves. These players did the things they did to defeat this team, this week, and the next team will be no different. Most of the season has passed, and some of the same problems and mistakes are still there, but the players and coaches have made the adjustments and changes required that made the last game of 2009 in Memorial Stadium memorable.

Before the game even started, there was the same kind of electric atmosphere that Bo Pelini said was present during the Oklahoma game. The fans are starting to wake up out of the stupor that used to engulf them. No more holding back, expecting the worst every time the ball is snapped on either offense or defense, this crowd was out for blood (in a good way).

But man, was that crowd even more rabid when KSU's Brandon Banks tried to return the ball from deep in his own end zone and got stopped at the 16. His other kickoff return that only went to the 15 was another great play by the Huskers stopping this dangerous return threat. Nebraska did well to contain him on kickoffs, but he still had returns of 19 and 22 yards on punts. More than making up for those returns was Alex Henery's corner coffin punts. His 61 yard punt to the Kansas State 3 yard line in the fourth quarter might have been the best punt I've ever seen. Most guys can get pretty accurate from 40-50 yards out, but he was standing almost 70 yards away from the spot it landed when the ball was snapped to start that play.

This was a momentum type of game, and plays like stopping Banks short of the 20 were crucial for the crowd to get fired up and the defense to react. When the Wildcats took that first drive and scored a field goal, just the response of a field goal ourselves was enough to calm the nerves. I'm pretty sure the adrenaline was amped up as Zac Lee initially overthrew Mike McNeill for a sure touchdown before the Huskers kicked the field goal. And while we didn't score a touchdown, using up 7 and a half minutes was a sure fire way to show that we were going to march methodically all night if we had to.

Once the first couple of drives were out of the way, the nerves got out of the way too. Lee was able to hit McNeill for the first touchdown of the game in a pass that was thrown with just the right amount of touch on it. And other than one big Niles Paul catch to set up Roy Helu Jr's run, the job of the offense was to just use up time until the game was over. The field position battle and the defense were going to win us this game as Kansas State was unable to overcome the mistakes they made or were forced to make.

And win it the defense did. Larry Asante had a banner night as his highlight play to force a fumble set the momentum on full Nebraska for the rest of the match. His interception in the first half also iced the hopes of the Wildcats of going into halftime tied with Nebraska. The momentum also kept our way into halftime when K State kicker Josh Cherry missed his 51 yard attempt as time expired.

But to put it simply, momentum was evident in these numbers that the defense kept low: 12 for 33 on passing attempts, 3 of 14 on third down conversions, and 0 for 2 on red zone chances. The Blackshirts stood tall and just stopped this team when they needed to.

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