Week 13 was good to us Football fans. Even with a bit of a lackluster schedule down south, we had some great games this past weekend, and best yet, NEBRASKA WON A GAME! Yes, the Huskers beat Maryland this past weekend. Along with all your other CFB news and analysis, the breakdown of their game is below, enjoy!
The Huskers looked impressive this past weekend, notching their second ever road victory under Scott Frost with a 54-7 drubbing over the Terps. Yes, Maryland is not a very good team and the Huskers had a number of balls bounce their way, but this is still an important (confidence building) win for Scott Frost and his program. Just a couple of weeks ago this team was near the bottom of the abyss with numerous groans and grumbles coming from the fans at Memorial Stadium, but are now fighting their rival for a chance at a bowl game. My GOOD, EXPECTED and BAD categories are broken down below.
GOOD- Blackshirt Defense. Yes, this was a beaten up Maryland team that has not performed well this season, but this game was impressive for the defense. They held the Terps to just 206 total yards and only 57 of those were through the air. The Huskers racked up 7 tackles for loss, 6 sacks and 4 turnovers. This defense has been run over the past few weeks, so having a performance like this will really help heading into the Iowa game against a team that does not have a lot of offensive firepower. Great performance by the defense, let's see if they can repeat this Friday.
EXPECTED- Offensive Production. The Husker offense has been trending up in recent weeks, especially against Wisconsin. The Badgers rank in the top ten in total defense, but Nebraska was able to move the ball quite well. Against Maryland, Nebraska totaled 531 yards on offense, rushing for 305 of those. The blocking was good, the vision by the ball carriers was impressive, this was a very solid performance by the offense. Martinez still struggled a bit in the passing game and probably should have had another interception or two, but overall played well. This is the game he needed heading into face Iowa. They have one of the best defenses in the country, they're a tough rival, Martinez will need to play at his best to beat the Hawkeyes. Nebraska played a lot of younger guys in the Maryland game as well, 10 different receivers caught passes and four different player scored rushing TDs. I expected the offense to keep trending upward and they did not let me down.
BAD- The Husker return game. There's honestly not a lot of bad I could highlight in a 54-7 performance, but one issue that has plagued Nebraska for years is the kick and punt return game. This game didn't have many opportunities in kickoffs, but regardless, the Huskers rank poorly in both categories. Improvements have been made from 2018 (126th in Kickoff Return and 60th in Punt Return) as the Huskers rank 89th in Kickoff and 50th in Punt this year, but there's still no urgency with it. The Special Teams unit at Nebraska has been extremely underwhelming compared to the talent of players on these units in my opinion, and that is a coaching fault. This is an area that needs a serious look during the offseason.
Overall, there's not much to be upset with when Nebraska wins 54-7, but we should all keep in mind this team has a long road ahead. Beating Iowa can completely turn this season around with bowl eligibility and a rival win, but they're a tough team to beat. I'm not sold on how much of an improvement 5 wins is over 4 wins, but if the Huskers can beat Iowa, I'll be singing a different tune.
Now for some quick updates from around CFB:
- Other than Georgia and A&M, the SEC played their usual late November Cupcakes. The Bulldogs defense proved yet again why they are one of the best, beating the Aggies 19-13.
- Ohio State held off a third quarter push from the Nittany Lions to win 28-17, claiming the BIG 10 East Title. They await the winner of Wisconsin and Minnesota.
- Chase Young is the most dominant player in College Football, wrecking havoc upon the Penn State offense by recording 3 sacks, 4 TFL and 9 total tackles. He now owns the Buckeye record for sacks in a season and continues to terrify opposing offensive lines.
- The Horned Frogs kept it tight, but Oklahoma prevailed. Now just Bedlam and the Big XII Championship rematch with Baylor stand in their way of a possible playoff birth.
- Clay Helton may have saved his job at USC for another year by winning the battle for LA 52-35 against the Bruins of UCLA.
- Navy dominated in the second half against SMU, winning 35-28. The Midshipmen will be rooting for the Bearcats of Cincy in the coming week to beat Memphis and allow Navy to slip into the American Conference Championship.
- Virginia Tech blanked Pitt 28-0 to set up a winner-take-all game in the Commonwealth Cup with instate rival Virginia. The Hokies will be looking to claim the Coastal Division yet again while the Cavaliers are simply trying to beat VT for the first time since 2003.
- Hawai'i won the West Division in the Mountain West Conference and will play the ever-dangerous Boise State in the Conference Title game. Kudos to the Rainbow Warriors.
Thanks for reading all of my Week 13 Reflections and be ready for my Rivalry Week Predictions to follow up quick! Nate and I also have a new podcast episode for The 2nd String with all of our predictions, so be sure to listen to that as well. GO BIG RED!
#CFBKnowItAll
Alex Fernando
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