Rivalry Week has come and gone in 2019, but not before leaving us with some fantastic football, big upsets and of course, a lot of playoff implications. There's a lot to cover, but I'll start with my beloved Huskers and their frustrating loss to Iowa. To be honest, I had to let myself cool down during the week before writing this post. Nebraska had multiple chances to beat the Hawkeyes and played one of the better games of the year. However, due to some poor play calling and game mismanagement, Nebraska has now fallen to Iowa 5 years in a row. The defense settled down after being trashed in the first quarter, but an anemic offense and terrible special teams ultimately allowed the Hawkeyes to walk it off on another game winning field goal. My GOOD, EXPECTED and BAD break down categories are laid out below.
GOOD- Husker Defense (2nd - mid-4th Quarter) and Luke McCaffrey. The Blackshirts kept Nebraska in this game, and Luke nearly brought them to victory (if only he would've had the chance). In the first quarter, Iowa racked up 14 points and 191 yards, most of which came on the ground from Freshman RB Tyler Goodsen (55 yard TD run) and a terribly defended reverse play by Ihmir Smith-Marsette (45 yard TD run). However, in the final 3 quarters, the Huskers gave up just 133 total yards, and held Nate Stanley to 11/24 passing with 99 yards (44 on the final drive) and a beautiful pick-six by Cam Taylor-Britt. The Blackshirts made some good adjustments and really kept Iowa from moving the ball much, even with how well their rushing attack worked earlier in the game. Then we look to Luke. McCaffrey was thrown into the game randomly during various Husker offensive possessions, but none sparked more of a cheer than his beautiful rollout, 39 yard touchdown pass to JD Spielman in the middle of the 3rd quarter. Yes, it was only one pass, but separate of that, I genuinely thought the offense ran better with him taking the snaps. There was a tick up in energy and Frost was much more creative with the play calls with McCaffrey in the game. I enjoyed the tempo and really thought he had a chance to push this team over the edge in terms of winning this game. Great performance Luke, I'm excited to see how it looks moving forward, wish I could've seen more of it last week.
EXPECTED- Close game, offensive struggles and TOO MANY BUBBLE SCREENS. It's a rivalry game against two middle-tier (at best) BIG 10 teams, and last year came down to a last second kick. You need to be prepared for a tight game, and I expected it to come down to the wire yet again. On offense, there were sparks (mostly with Luke McCaffrey), but they were limited. There were some unique and creative play calls, but there were just as many head-scratching ones as well. Most of them were the 18 million bubble screens ran for negative yards multiple times on every drive. Iowa's defensive back, Michael Ojemudia had a field day breaking up that play. He easily ran through the attempted blocks by wide receivers, and then either broke up the poorly thrown pass or tackled the receiver behind the line of scrimmage. The Bubble Screens were easily picked apart and easy to see when they were coming. The BTN announcers were even explaining how the numbers don't work when Frost runs these plays. The offense ran 11 first down plays in the first half and only 3 of them gained positive yardage. The Huskers were in 2nd & 12+ almost the entire game and there was no rhythm to the offense. This is a major issue that needs to be addressed before next season.
BAD- Special Teams, game management and the final drive for both Offense and Defense. We all know special teams is bad at this point. But for Frost to be completely unaware where his kicker is placing the ball on kickoffs is ridiculous. This unit needs to have a coaching change before next season in my opinion and someone needs to learn how to explain kick coverage. Special teams is the most poorly run unit on this football team and it has cost the Huskers too many opportunities and ultimately games due to the incompetency. On top of that, Frost needs to learn how to manage a game. Yes, he's only just finished his 4th year as a head coach, but some of these are simple situations that he should be more prepared for. Experience is a great teacher, but he better start studying more than he has been. Lastly, I want to focus on how terrible the last two drives of the game were for the Huskers. This goes back to the poor game management, but starting with the offense, Nebraska recovered an Iowa fumble at the Husker 33 yard line with just over 3 minutes left and 3 timeouts. This looked to be the moment where all of Frost's offensive genius would show and Nebraska could put together a game winning drive. Unfortunately for the fans, that's not what happened. Frost ran a terrible series of plays which included inserting backup QB Luke McCaffrey into the middle of the drive without taking a timeout and running roughly 40 seconds off the clock and losing yards on the play from a penalty. Then Adrian Martinez was trotted back out onto the field, thinking he would save time and try to win the game. However, Frost was clearly playing for Overtime and did not tell Martinez to stay in bounds. Martinez stopped the clock (something I do not fault him for at all) and then Iowa was able to take a timeout and get the ball back with enough time to go possibly win the game. Then we switch to the defense. The Blackshirts had held Nate Stanley in check all game long, but give up back to back 22 yard pass plays to set up the Hawkeyes for the game winning field goal. I put this more on the offense than the defense, and Frost most of all, but this team had too many chances to win this game (or at least go to overtime) and they screwed all of them up in a way only Husker fans could've imagined. There's a lot that needs to be fixed during the offseason, and talented recruits is not the only cure.
The Iowa game ended in frustrating fashion, and was yet another blown opportunity by Scott Frost and the Husker football team. There were so many positives to take away from this game, but they will be overshadowed by the boneheaded mistakes. Be sure to listen to the new episode of The 2nd String for a full breakdown.
Now for some other news around College Football:
- Ohio State trashed Michigan yet again and has won 8 straight against the Wolverines and 15 of the last 16 meetings.
- LSU and Georgia rolled their respective rivals, setting up a juicy SEC Title game. Also, Joe Burrow has all but walked out the door with the Heisman.
- Ole Miss fell by one point to in-state rival Mississippi State after failing to convert a PAT to send the game to Overtime. The PAT was made more difficult by Rebels wide receiver Elijah Moore, who was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after acting like a dog taking a pee in the endzone after scoring the potential game tying touchdown with four seconds left. The penalty moved the PAT back and the kicker pushed it right. Classic Mississippi football if you ask me.
- Memphis held off Cincy at home to force a rematch this weekend for the American Conference Championship. Should be a good game, but you never want to play a team twice, especially in back to back weeks!
- Virginia won the Commonwealth Cup by beating Virginia Teach for the first time since 2003! They are now the seventh team to win the ACC Coastal in the past seven years.
- Mike Leach still can't beat Washington and Chris Petersen has decided to step down from coaching the Huskies, we'll see how long this break lasts.
- Utah put the hurt on Colorado, solidifying their spot in the PAC-12 Championship against Oregon and setting up a shot at the CFB Playoffs.
- Oklahoma won Bedlam, as usual.
- Northwestern beat Illinois to build some momentum for next season and K-State won a tough game against the Cyclones.
- Indiana took the Old Oaken Bucket home with a double-OT win against the Boilermakers.
- Wisconsin rumbled through the Gophers, taking Paul Bunyan's Ax and the BIG 10 West Title back to Mad-town. The Badgers will play the Buckeyes again for the BIG 10 Championship, but this is an exception to my "never want to play a team twice rule". Spoiler alert: Buckeyes win.
- Oh, and Alabama lost in the Iron Bowl by the way! So once again, the Tide will not have to worry about the decision from the Playoff Selection Committee. They had a chance to tie it with a late field goal that doinked off the upright, and then a chance to get the ball back for one last minute drive, but had 12 men on the field for Auburn's 4th & 4, giving them a first down and the game. It was quite funny in my opinion, but it was clear Nick Saban did not share in that sentiment with me.
Thank you for reading my reflection post and watch for my Conference Championship Predictions coming up later today! GO BIG RED!
#CFBKnowItAll
Alex Fernando
The Iowa game ended in frustrating fashion, and was yet another blown opportunity by Scott Frost and the Husker football team. There were so many positives to take away from this game, but they will be overshadowed by the boneheaded mistakes. Be sure to listen to the new episode of The 2nd String for a full breakdown.
Now for some other news around College Football:
- Ohio State trashed Michigan yet again and has won 8 straight against the Wolverines and 15 of the last 16 meetings.
- LSU and Georgia rolled their respective rivals, setting up a juicy SEC Title game. Also, Joe Burrow has all but walked out the door with the Heisman.
- Ole Miss fell by one point to in-state rival Mississippi State after failing to convert a PAT to send the game to Overtime. The PAT was made more difficult by Rebels wide receiver Elijah Moore, who was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct after acting like a dog taking a pee in the endzone after scoring the potential game tying touchdown with four seconds left. The penalty moved the PAT back and the kicker pushed it right. Classic Mississippi football if you ask me.
- Memphis held off Cincy at home to force a rematch this weekend for the American Conference Championship. Should be a good game, but you never want to play a team twice, especially in back to back weeks!
- Virginia won the Commonwealth Cup by beating Virginia Teach for the first time since 2003! They are now the seventh team to win the ACC Coastal in the past seven years.
- Mike Leach still can't beat Washington and Chris Petersen has decided to step down from coaching the Huskies, we'll see how long this break lasts.
- Utah put the hurt on Colorado, solidifying their spot in the PAC-12 Championship against Oregon and setting up a shot at the CFB Playoffs.
- Oklahoma won Bedlam, as usual.
- Northwestern beat Illinois to build some momentum for next season and K-State won a tough game against the Cyclones.
- Indiana took the Old Oaken Bucket home with a double-OT win against the Boilermakers.
- Wisconsin rumbled through the Gophers, taking Paul Bunyan's Ax and the BIG 10 West Title back to Mad-town. The Badgers will play the Buckeyes again for the BIG 10 Championship, but this is an exception to my "never want to play a team twice rule". Spoiler alert: Buckeyes win.
- Oh, and Alabama lost in the Iron Bowl by the way! So once again, the Tide will not have to worry about the decision from the Playoff Selection Committee. They had a chance to tie it with a late field goal that doinked off the upright, and then a chance to get the ball back for one last minute drive, but had 12 men on the field for Auburn's 4th & 4, giving them a first down and the game. It was quite funny in my opinion, but it was clear Nick Saban did not share in that sentiment with me.
Thank you for reading my reflection post and watch for my Conference Championship Predictions coming up later today! GO BIG RED!
#CFBKnowItAll
Alex Fernando
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