When I woke up on Saturday, something didn't feel right. I didn't feel the buzz of Gameday, and as I walked to the stadium to meet the recruits I couldn't feel any of the normal excitement that surrounds campus on Gameday. I know Wisconsin was a rough one, but I never expected for a Gameday to ever feel like that one did in Memorial on Saturday. From the opening kickoff it didn't even feel like there was a chance for Nebraska. The crowd was dead and disappeared quickly before halftime even arrived. I don't blame them though, Nebraska had no spark and it was painful to watch a performance like that, especially when it happens 20 yards from your face. As I watched our team get demolished on Saturday night, there was only a few things that came to mind.
The first was how far behind Nebraska is to teams like Ohio State, Clemson, Alabama, etc. in terms of talent. Recruiting wise, I know we are bringing in some high-caliber players, and Riley and Co. have a great system set up. It's been very interesting seeing the recruiting world from the inside because Nebraska does so well when we bring these kids to town, and I truly believe that Riley is bringing in the right players to allow this team to compete with some of the best in the nation. However, the development of those players once they step foot on campus is the bigger concern. Pelini struggled to develop his players, and I'm sensing that Riley and his staff could fall down that path if they're not careful. I was originally excited about the Riley hire because of his ability to develop players. He's had a number of players go on to have successful NFL careers. However, I haven't quite seen that yet at Nebraska. The line has been better over recent weeks, only giving up one sack in the past two games, but still can't establish a run game and are the focal point for drive-killing penalties. The receivers continue to commit costly drops and our tight ends get blocked more than they give blocks (go watch the attempted swing pass where Hoppes gets knocked back 5 yards by the man he's supposed to block). On the defensive side of the ball, there's no push from the d-line and teams are easily getting to the second and third levels with their running backs. Lamar Jackson and Eric Lee still get beat by at least 7 yards on every pass play and none of our Secondary players can play the ball when it's in the air. Worst of all, I don't think anyone apart from Weber and Stille can actually tackle for the Blackshirts. I think I've said this for the past 5 seasons, but I don't think I've ever seen so many missed tackles in a season. Riley and his staff need to speed up their player development if they want jobs at the end of the year. As much as I think he should have at least 1 more season, if there is no signs of improvement on even the simplest aspects of the game, then discussions need to be made.
The second point I thought of was how unmotivated and flat out lame Nebraska looked in this game. This is partly due to the Wisconsin hangover, but from both players and coaches, it did not seem like anyone had a clear idea of how to attack or stop Ohio State in this game. I don't think anyone on the team has a clear idea of what the plan is. The points that made me think of this are the following: DiCaprio Bootle starting at Safety and Mikale Wilbon starting at Running Back. Don't get me wrong, I know both of these guys personally and think they are phenomenal athletes. Bootle will be a great corner by the time he leaves Nebraska and already has shown flashes of greatness and Mikale is a proven, solid RB. However, when Bootle has been practicing at Corner, you don't just throw him at safety and say "here, play a position you don't regularly practice at against one of the best offensive attacks in the nation". You also can't just sit Ozigbo after 3 straight 100+ yard rushing performances, one of which came against Wisconsin who has the 4th best rush defense in the nation. From the beginning, it seemed as though Nebraska was telling Ohio State "hey, we don't think we can run on you guys, so we're not going to try. We'll put a RB who just returned from injury out on the field first instead of the RB with over 300 yards in the past 3 games". Again, Mikale is a strong runner, but he's a different style back compared to Zig, and he's much better in the passing game. Ozigbo has proven that he should be the focal point of the rushing attack, and even with a lack of blocking he can still get those tough yards. The past three games Zig had 24, 18 and 23 carries respectively. Saturday against Ohio State he had 9. Now I understand not wanting to wear a guy down, but there's no reason he should only have 9 carries. If the Huskers want to make a bowl game they need to figure out a clear cut plan and quickly.
My final point from watching the game is how incredible JD Spielman is. Spielman set a Nebraska school record on Saturday night with 200 yards receiving. He was the favorite target for Tanner Lee catching 11 passes compared to the next closest Husker who had just 3. One thing that really stood out to me is how much he fights too. His motor never stops and that kid fights for every yard possible when he has the ball. He's only a Redshirt Freshman, so he's got an incredibly high ceiling in my opinion. Teams better start watching out for him, especially with Tanner Lee's improvement over the past couple weeks.
To conclude my analysis, I simply want to say that Nebraska has a long way to go to reach the level we want them to be at. They have the talent and ability to win a majority of their games every season, but regularly fall short of that potential. Hopefully the BYE week will help with that! Thanks for reading and be sure to listen to the 2nd String podcasts and live on Tuesday nights from 7-8pm on KRNU2 online! GO BIG RED!
#CollegeFootballKnowItAll
Alex Fernando
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