FOX News

Monday, October 10, 2011

Huskers continue to improve!

What a game!!

In the games I have personally attended, I would have to put this game in the Top 3 of all time.


Number One is the Nebraska/LSU game. This game was on January 1, 1971. We won the National Championship that day. Trailing 12-10 as the fourth quarter opened—after leading early, 10-0— Coach Bob Devaney's Huskers passed and ran over and through the defensive titans of the nation for the winning touchdown.
It came with 6:10 gone in the final quarter when Jerry Tagge, the engineering genius of the night, clinched the Most Valuable Back Trophy by plunging over from the one and then extended his arms high over the pile — just to make sure.


At Number Two, the Colorado game in 2008. Nebraska was all but beat before the heroics of Alex Henery that day. Alex Henery made the kick with room to spare with 1:43 left, and defensive end Ndamukong Suh ran back an interception 30 yards for a touchdown seconds later to punctuate the Cornhuskers' 40-31 victory.

Saturday night was Number Three. What an exciting second half!!!! Nebraska would come back from its biggest deficit ever of 21 points to win. Nebraska scored 28 points in the last quarter and a half for the comeback. Final Nebraska 34 Ohio State 27. A real feel good victory.

In all honesty, I thought Nebraska played pretty well offensively. They played smart ball. Burkhead had ten yards in ten carries but I think the continued playing calling with Burkhead running into the middle of the line set everything up for the second half. It set up Taylor Martinez to keep the ball or pass down the field.

Martinez, I thought, played pretty well in the first half and outstanding in the second half. Play calling was a fit for him on Saturday night. He stayed in the pocket, made very good throws, ran like no other quarterback in college football, and looked to his second and third receivers as options. He's growing as a football player.

Rex Burkhead was his usual "Superman". He is our offensive MVP.

On defense we struggled the first two and a half quarters. Ohio State had a lot of big plays. But then three things happened. Lavonte David, who may have played his best game ever, takes the ball away for a turnover. A few plays later it was Ohio State 27 Nebraska 13.

Stanley Jean-Baptiste starts to play cornerback and wow did he play. He made some great tackles, stayed with his receivers like a glove, and then made a really good interception. We have needed turnovers and he executed one. Baptiste is the real deal and if this is possible I think his addition will improve our defense to last year's level. If Baptiste is as good as I think he is and he keeps his head on, Nebraska will compete for the Big 10 Championship. The defense is just that much better.

Now the fact that Braxton Miller went down definitely helped the Huskers. Braxton Miller hurt us time and again with his running and passing. His injury was huge for the Huskers. Nebraska ends up winning 34-27.

Now on to Dirk Chetelain, Bo Pelini, and the Nebraska fans!

There are 15-20% of the fans that are either stupid or just plain dumb. They are really not fans at all. Behind me Saturday night, there were a couple of idiots that complained about everything Martinez did and criticized Bo Pelini constantly. PLEASE DON"T DO THAT OR STAY HOME. You show your ignorance for the game. Come to support your team and if you can't then go to the bar and bore those people. What good does it do? Does it impress our recruits or make the players want to play harder. Absolutely not. There is nothing positive that can come out of it. Some Nebraska fans are worse than fans of all the other teams. If their actions cause others to act like that, then we got a major problem.

Dirk Chatelain's column reminded me of work. An employee complains constantly but has no solutions. Dirk Chatelain's column was full of negatives but had no positive solution or no solution at all. If you want to make a point and drill down on our quarterback, then make a point to give a side that we could have improvement in the program. I saw none of that.

I can relate to Bo Pelini's anger against the media and the fans. I almost reverted to a tyrade on Saturday night with the fans beside me. It is hard to hold back when fans are so ignorant. Pelini is defending his players and his team in part. However, he would serve himself much better to answer questions in a more dignified way. But to be honest, I am not going to think of him much different no matter how he reacts to the press as long as he keeps winning. In the end, Chatelain can write what he wants and Pelini can get as upset as he wants but they would both be better served to get along. That may be too late!

DIRK CHATELAIN

1 comment:

Todd said...

Loved to see that the Cornhuskers came back to win!