Three things to watch for in the Holiday Bowl

6 comments so far December 30, 2009 by Brandon Vogel

Technically speaking, I won’t be watching for any of these things in the Holiday Bowl. In fact, I won’t be watching the Holiday Bowl at all. I’ll be flying back to Nebraska on Wednesday night, painfully unaware of the goings on in San Diego. I was one “Texas second” away from being able to see Nebraska’s final football game, to stock up on Suh memories for the long off-season, to try to glean some insight into next year’s offensive plan. Instead, I’ll probably be playing Boggle on my phone in seat 12C.

But if I were watching Wednesday night’s game, here’s what I’d be looking for.

1. An offensive pulse
This is the obvious one, but this is the defining image we’ll be left with of the Husker offense in 2009. It will also set the tone for 2010. If Nebraska comes out and puts up about 300 total yards, has an offensive that at least looks like it had three weeks to prepare, then I think the Huskers might earn themselves a few Big 12 favorite votes next season, maybe even a top 10 preseason ranking. The schedule is good. Texas has to replace Colt McCoy. Oklahoma is sort of a wildcard. If it looks like Nebraska has their offense on the right track after essentially a mini-camp after the Texas game, they might be the surest bet in the conference. Next year’s defense might not put up the lofty numbers they did this season—although the coaching staff doesn’t think that’s necessarily a given—but they won’t fall of the table either.

2. Can Helu/Burkhead find some sort of rhythm?
Considering the erratic play along the offensive line and out of the quarterbacks and wide receivers, the running back position has seemed like the most solid facet of the offense, but it hasn’t been as consistent as anyone would’ve liked, coaches included. We had questions about Helu’s durability coming in to the season and those fears proved, again, to be well founded. It’s simply too hard to lean on one back as much as Nebraska needed to lean on Helu this season.

That said, he does have the potential to be a game breaker. He is the Nebraska back with the potential to turn something into nothing, to turn six yard gains into sixty yard touchdowns. When he’s healthy.

Burkhead is essentially the opposite. He seemingly gets two extra yards on every carry. Hit after picking up three, but fighting for five. What we haven’t seen out of Rex is the ability to break for that big gain. Ideally, Nebraska’s top two backs are ideally suited to play together but injuries and the general ineptitude of the offense prevented that much of the season. The Holiday Bowl should be our first opportunity since mid-season to see how we can utilize both guys at full strength in the offense.

3. Suh’s swan song
It’s painful to watch the great ones graduate. Not since Frazier has Nebraska had a player who has been as enjoyable to watch as Ndamukong Suh. Ever think you would say that about a defensive tackle? There’s really no need to write many more words about Suh. No matter how many you use, none of them are good enough to describe the absolute disruption he causes on every single play. Watch him all night and just enjoy it. The Huskers seem to have some exciting players coming up along the defensive front, but remember, this guy reinvented what we thought defensive tackles could do.

Thinking about that, I’d like to amend my earlier statement. I’ll probably be sobbing in seat 12C while you’re—hopefully—enjoying the game.

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