Week 10 has come and gone, now time to analyze the damage done and what teams are on the rise for a late season playoff push! Welcome football readers and thank you for all of your support. This post will break down the Huskers tough loss at Ohio State as well as the other big highlights from around College Football. Before I get to my breakdown of the Husker game, I do have a quick announcement to make. Due to the recent chaotic events and stresses in my life, I have decided to cancel my CFB KnowItAll radio show from KRNU. It was a tough decision to do so, but with graduation coming up in just over 1 month, I need to ensure I have everything in place. I apologize for any inconveniences, but I appreciate all the support. Who knows, there may be a podcast idea being worked on for the future! ;) Anyways, let's get to what you came for, FOOTBALL!
I know my mom tried her best to help the Huskers win from above, but sometimes you just can't fix something that broken. She's probably saving her energy for next season anyways. However, Nebraska did come close, falling to the Buckeyes of Ohio State 36-31. Below I will break down the game with my GOOD, EXPECTED and BAD analysis, but first, let's address the elephant in the room with this game... HOW THE HELL DO YOU WHIFF AND TRIP ON A KICKOFF?! I swear, Caleb Lightbourn is actively finding new ways to show everyone how bad Nebraska's special teams are. For those of you who haven't seen, Sports Center's NOT Top 10 was gifted an easy #1 as Nebraska's Caleb Lightbourn whiffed as he tried to get fancy with an onside kick. I'm not even going to use that in my analysis, because that one play basically sums up Nebraska's Special Teams this season, #PATHETIC. Now onto my analysis of the game!
GOOD- Do I even need to say his name anymore? Mr. Adrian Martinez impressed yet again on Saturday, racking up 338 total yards (266 passing, 72 rushing) and 3 total TDs (1 passing, 2 rushing). Apart from a very bad fumble in the redzone early in the second quarter, Martinez was practically unstoppable. He helped the Huskers rack up at least 450 yards for the sixth game in a row and completed 67% of his passes against the Buckeyes. Now Ohio State's defense isn't what most people would expect them to be, but they're still a top 10 team and Martinez went toe to toe with them. The entire Husker offense did for that matter. Nebraska finished the game with 4 more 1st downs than the Buckeyes and more than 7 minutes on time of possession compared to Ohio State. This offense has improved drastically over the last few weeks and will definitely be a force to be reckoned with in the years to come. Adrian Martinez is one special player, and I am so excited he's only just a freshman! Dude can ball out with the best of them, ranking second in the nation among freshman in total offense. #FutureHesimanFinalist
EXPECTED- I expected this to be a tight game, and it definitely did was. Nebraska lead 21-16 at half, showing two things; 1. The Huskers are better than their record shows and they're on the rise, and 2. Ohio State is not a Playoff contender this season. The Buckeyes have struggled in recent weeks this season, and if the loss to Purdue didn't show chinks in the armor, they're definitely visible now. Even though Nebraska is on the rise, they are still a young team and shouldn't be able to take Ohio State to the wire in the Horseshoe in Frost's first season. I'm really excited with how Nebraska played, but again, this might show more about Ohio State. They're on the road against a sneaky Michigan State team this weekend and then travel to Maryland before the big one at home against Michigan. The Michigan game will likely determine the BIG 10 representative for the playoffs this year, and I don't think it will be Ohio State. The Buckeyes are not a bad team by any means, but they would not be able to hang with any of the top ranked teams if they played right now. Nebraska showed they can hang around with talent, and this team will continue to grow moving through the end of the season. I was happy with the performance, would've preferred a win, but am content in knowing Nebraska is not far off from competing in BIG 10 play again. Great game in a tough match-up on the road.
BAD- I'm not even going to label the Special Teams as bad for this game, because that would be a compliment. However, the bad title of the week goes to the Blackshirt's run defense. Coming into Ohio State, Nebraska had numerous issues with the passing game, but the run defense was fairly solid. With Ohio State's lack of a running game, I thought Nebraska would be able to really hold down the fort... I was wrong. The Buckeyes haven't had a 100+ yard rusher since the TCU game, but J.K. Dobbins racked up 163 yards and 3 TDs on the ground against the Blackshirts, helping the Buckeyes to 229 total rushing yards. For a team that threw the ball 73 times against Purdue, their run game really didn't seem that broken against the Huskers. I put more of that blame on the Blackshirts, and these are the growing pains I expected this season. It's just odd the pass defense was able to step up in this game but the run defense was not. Still a lot of work to do for the Blackshirts, but they forced 3 turnovers and 4 punts from the Buckeyes, so progress is being made!
Overall, it was a solid performance (apart from special teams) by the Huskers, but I think they missed their chance to possibly win this game. After getting a touchdown to be down 36-31 with just under 3 minutes left in the game, Nebraska decided to kick the ball deep and rely on their defense to get a stop and give the ball back to their offense. At this point in the game, I really believe the onside kick is the better choice, because if your defense can't end up stopping your opponent, it doesn't really matter what side of the 50 you're on. At least with the onside kick you have a shot at getting the ball back to your offense. Although, I'm sure Frost was nervous about that after watching Lightbourn's first attempt, so I can see why he wanted to trust his defense. Hind sight is 20/20, but you have to at least try for the onside in this position, what else do you have to lose this season?
Now for some other news around College Football:
- Alabama is absolutely unstoppable. LSU doesn't have much of an offense to begin with, but being shut out in today's College Football landscape really says a lot about a team. Bama's defense hasn't been talked about much this year because of Tua's success, but they're still top notch as always.
- Notre Dame with a big win on the road has an inside track to the Playoffs. USC in LA at the end of the year is never easy, but the Irish are playing really well right now, and Ian Book is arguably one of the best QBs in the nation right now. He has a 15:4 TD to INT ratio to go along with 1,824 yards and is completing 74.5% of his passes. Keep in mind he didn't even start the first 3 games of the season.
- Michigan might be legit in 2018. Even on the road, Penn State is not an easy offense to slow down. The Wolverines demolished the Nittany Lions 42-7 in this game, and it wasn't even that close! They are really looking like the BIG 10's best shot at a Playoff Contender.
- Georgia proved Kentucky is a solid team, but the SEC East still belongs to the DAWGS.
- Wazzu pulls out a tough win against Cal at home. The Golden Bears are not an easy team to beat, and if the PAC-12 wants a team in the playoffs, the Cougars need to keep this up, but might also need some help.
- The Big XII is an absolute mess... but chaos is always welcome in CFB. West Virginia pulled off a late game comeback against Texas in Austin and Oklahoma was able to hold off the Red Raiders. The last few weeks could cause even more chaos, so watch the Big XII closely!
- Speaking of chaotic divisions, look no further than the Pac-12 South. Three different teams hold a 4-3 conference record and the Sun Devils have moved up to 3-3 in conference with their upset on Utah this past weekend. I honestly don't know who will come out of this division anymore, but it should be a fun race to the finish.
- Purdue knocked off Iowa giving Northwestern a full two game buffer in the division race. The Wildcats still have to travel to Iowa City, but have just 1 conference loss and already have wins over Wisconsin and Purdue. Look for them in Indianapolis in about 1 month!
- One of the biggest under-the-radar team is Utah State. Their only loss is to Michigan State by 7 in the season opener which went down to the wire, and they've dominated every game since. They won't have any playoff talk, but the fact that they aren't at least ranked is upsetting. They're going to give a lot of headaches for whoever they face in a bowl game.
Thank you all for reading my reflection post and be sure to watch for my Week 11 Predictions coming on Saturday morning! GO BIG RED!
#CFBKnowItAll
Alex Fernando
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