Yeah... I don't really want to talk about the Michigan game either. But it needs to be analyzed and discussed. It really doesn't seem like things could get much worse for this team and the 2018 season, but I would like to point out that Nebraska still has road games to Wisconsin, Ohio State and Iowa. Coach Frost said this would be the absolute bottom, so this team better start to turn it around soon. I'll give my analysis and break down of the game an pass along some thought of other CFB News from around the nation. Thanks for reading and be sure to check out my special announcements at the end of the post, enjoy!
Well, that was one of the worst football performances I've ever seen to be honest. Nebraska was beaten in every phase of the game only looked slightly competitive on a handful of plays. Special teams is still making me sick and the offensive line will get us to start Matt Masker at QB with the amount of pressure an hits they give up. This team has been frustrating to watch in recent weeks, especially because they seem to be showing more regression rather than progress. There is a very steep learning curve for this team, and I've acknowledged that from the beginning, but they seem to get worse every game. Against Colorado, the team looked strong, athletic and fired up to play. Against Troy and Michigan they have been extremely flat and it's resulted in a lackluster performance followed by a complete annihilation. This team needs to get that spark back real quick if they want to win any games this season. I'll be gentle on this breakdown, but there's still a lot to unpack.
GOOD- There really wasn't much good in this game if I'm being completely honest. It took me a while to sit and think about it, but the "good" that I found was that Barrett Pickering made his Field Goal. This is big for his confidence and should help him moving forward.
EXPECTED- The expected category goes to how dominant Michigan was at the line of scrimmage against Nebraska, especially on defense. It's clear the Wolverines have a lot more talent on the defensive side of the ball, but the Offensive Line for Nebraska was horrendous on Saturday. The stats have Michigan with 4 sacks and 14 tackles for loss, but I know both QBs were hit and knocked down at least 7 or 8 times on top of the sacks. Michigan's defense is a tough one, but the "Pipeline" made them look like a group of All-Americans (which some may be) on Saturday. Protecting the QB and establishing just a little push will be crucial moving forward. It's already starting to cause issues on the team as RB Maurice Washington missed practice on Monday because he was upset with the line's performance.
BAD- Just about everything was bad in this game, but the Special Teams was a special kind of bad. There were multiple penalties (yet again) on special teams including fair catch interference and a personal foul- late hit. Dumb mistakes all around on Special Teams really put Nebraska in a hole all game long and this issue has gotten worse week to week. Tyjon Lindsay's muffed punt was just a horrible football play from the get go. This needs to be one of the biggest and most pressing issues for the coaching staff to address this week.
Now for some other news around College Football from the weekend:
- Kentucky is one of the biggest surprises of the season, and the defense they played against Mississippi State was very impressive. Watch out for the Wildcats, they have a very favorable schedule that brings Georgia to Lexington in November.
- Stanford won with a crazy comeback, but Oregon looked tough. The Pac-12 North could be a bit more crowded than most of us initially thought, especially if Washington can't find their offense soon.
- Texas' defense is getting better every week. The Red River Rivalry is always a fun game, but hosting West Virginia in early November could be the an upset brewing. They aren't quite back, but Texas is on its way.
- Old Dominion came up with one of the biggest upsets in CFB history. Virginia Tech's defense was torched for over 600 total yards including 495 and 4 TDs through the air. QB Josh Jackson did leave the game with an injury, but he doesn't play defense. Big props to the Monarchs.
- A video of Chip the Buffalo, Colorado's mascot has surfaced of him getting shot in the groin point blank by a t-shirt cannon. As a Husker fan, this is fantastic. As a man, this is brutal to watch, but still quite funny.
- Some sad news out of Chicago has confirmed that Northwestern RB Jeremy Larkin has retired from football. Larkin has recently been diagnosed with cervical stenosis, a narrowing of the upper spine. It's not life threatening, but he will retire from football immediately due to health concerns. Larkin had taken over the lead RB role after Justin Jackson's departure and has done quite well this season, rushing for 346 yards and 5 TDs. This was looking to be a breakout season for Larkin and it's heartbreaking to see a career end for a player who was looking so dynamic. Happy he'll be safe and healthy though, all the best to Jeremy Larkin!
Thanks for reading my Week 4 Reflections, and now I have two big announcements to make!
1. I will be hosting a radio show again this semester on KRNU2! My show will be named after my blog, College Football KnowItAll and will run from 7 pm to 8 pm on Monday nights. I'll also post the recordings of my shows as well.
2. I will be doing Play-by-Play for the Nebraska-Purdue game on 90.3 KRNU this Saturday! For my Sports Broadcasting game, I'll get to call the game with my classmates, so if you're going to be listening to the game on the radio, be sure to use the link below to tune into our Broadcast!
http://krnu.unl.edu/
#CFBKnowItAll
Alex Fernando
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