I hope you all enjoyed Senior day at Nebraska (and Kansas upsetting Texas for the first time since 1938) this past weekend! Here are my reflections on the Huskers win against Maryland as well as the status moving forward into the rivalry game with Iowa. Enjoy!
Ryker Fyfe (aka the Grand Island Gunslinger) started for his senior day in place of the injured Tommy Armstrong, and made the most of it. Fyfe finished with a 62.2% completion rating for 220 yards and 1 TD. Nebraska dominated Maryland on both sides of the ball, leading to their 28-7 victory. The most telling stat of the day was Time of Possession, where the Huskers held onto the ball for 39 minutes of game time, compared to Maryland's 21 minutes. Keeping the ball away from Maryland and out of the hands of their dynamic receivers was the biggest key to the Huskers victory, especially with their backup QB getting only his 2nd career start. Nebraska ran for 181 against the Terps, 98 of those yards coming from Senior RB Terrell Newby, who also had 3 rushing touchdowns to close out his career at Memorial Stadium. The passing attack proved to be strong against the Maryland defense as Fyfe had 220 yards, 85 of which belonged to Senior WR Jordan Westerkamp who had an incredible game, including his 18th career receiving TD. Nebraska had a very balanced offense on Saturday, passing a few more times than I would have thought of with a backup, but a majority of the passes were simple bubble screens for easy completions and to spread the defense out in space.
Defensively, the Blackshirts nearly completed the shutout, but poor tackling late in the game lead to Maryland doubling their total yardage on their lone TD of the game. This came on a 92 yard screen pass early in the fourth quarter where multiple Husker defenders had a chance to tackle speedy WR DJ Moore in the backfield, but failed to wrap him up, allowing him to run down for the TD. Apart from that play, the Terrapins only gained 115 yards of total offense, and just 11 of those were on the ground. The Blackshirts stuffed Maryland's multi-back rushing attack, and also came away with 5 sacks on QB Max Bortenschlager. Two strong performances since the beat down in Columbus should give the Blackshirts confidence heading into Iowa City against a struggling Hawkeye offense. No takeaways in this game, but holding the Terps to 4/15 and 1/3 on 3rd and 4th down conversions kept the defense well rested throughout the game.
Special teams continues to be one of the biggest issues for the Huskers, and things won't get easier with Drew Brown suffering a concussion on the opening kickoff. A great tackle by Brown came with a price as he's going through concussion protocol this week with hopes he'll play on Friday. If not, Spencer Lindsay will hold down the kicking duties, and with Punter Caleb Lightbourn in a bit of a slump, special teams will be a huge focus this week during practice. I personally am not a huge fan of Bruce Read as our Special Teams Coordinator because it's by far the Husker's worst phase of the game and he's paid nearly half a million dollars to control that. Punt returns are extremely frustrating to watch, because DPE really does not need much help to break one open, but with absolutely no blocking, not even his speed and quickness can get him away from 7 guys encircling him. Changes need to be made quickly in the Special Teams department, because there are too many wasted opportunities and just straight up dumb plays. We'll see what happens moving forward.
Finally, for anyone wondering who is going to play QB for Nebraska on Friday... I honestly don't think we'll know until Friday. Tommy was able to practice a limited amount yesterday, and Ryker is still able to throw since the bone he broke is in his left hand, but neither of those guys will be 100% by Friday. Zack Darlington will likely get some reps in practice just in case this week, and I wouldn't rule out the possibility of a De'Mornay Pierson-El Wildcat package, but for now we'll just have to wait, see and hope. I expect a very defensive game against the Hawkeyes with both offenses struggling and banged up, so Special Teams will be a key factor. Hopefully the Huskers get healthy soon and GO BIG RED!
#CollegeFootballKnowItAll
Alex Fernando
No comments:
Post a Comment