Here we are yet again Husker fans, the pit of despair. Okay, maybe that's a bit dramatic, but after another frustrating performance where the Huskers took themselves away from victory with numerous penalties, poor execution, tackling and a number of other issues, it's hard not to be very upset this week. This post will break down the Huskers' loss at Northwestern as well as my thoughts on some other big games and happenings from around the nation. Be sure to post or send me any questions you'd like me to answer. Otherwise just read on and keep your heads up Husker fans, maybe we'll have a new QB1 on Saturday! #TEAMLUKE
The Battle of the NUs once again came down to the wire as the Wildcats knocked away a fourth down attempt at the endzone by the Huskers with just a few seconds left. After looking at the stat sheet, you wonder how Nebraska lost 21-13 after out-gaining the Wildcats 442 to 317 on offense and picking off Peyton Ramsey twice in the first half. The Huskers also doubled the Wildcats on first downs (28 to 14) and won the time of possession battle by nearly 5 minutes. The inevitable second half collapse was highlighted by two redzone interceptions, poor tackling and dumb penalties. Nebraska falls to 0-2 for the second time under Scott Frost. My full breakdown of the game is below with my GOOD, EXPECTED and BAD categories.
GOOD - The Lukes and Husker defense. Luke McCaffrey needs to be QB1 moving forward for the Huskers. I have nothing against Adrian Martinez, and he's clearly a talented kid, but the Husker offense is different when McCaffrey takes the snaps. There's a new energy and as shown by the last two drives of the game, they can move the ball down the field with some consistency and rhythm. Obviously he has work to do and improvements to make before he's leading this team to victory on a regular basis, but I've seen enough to believe that Luke McCaffrey gives Nebraska the best chance to win.
The other Luke I'm giving kudos to is Linebacker Luke Reimer. In his first game of 2020 the sophomore standout recorded a team-high and career-high 10 total tackles with 7 solo, 1 sack and 1.5 tackles for loss. The linebacker unit got a big boost from Reimer and he's clearly going to be a playmaker for the Blackshirts. As for the rest of the unit, I'll give them kudos for playing a solid game. Tackling got sloppy late in the game, but for the most part they were quite stout and forced two first-half turnovers to help the struggling Husker offense in every which way. Once the offense gets things together, the Huskers can win games if the defense plays like this. I will warn that tackling needs to improve drastically or a number of players will be getting more targeting calls with the poor form and efforts I've seen on some of these hits.
EXPECTED - Dumb mistakes/penalties and offensive struggles. Once again the Husker offense was the best defense on the field as they continue to stall their own drives with penalties and negative plays. The Huskers had a number of false start penalties to start drives yet again, which could have been influenced by the change in center since Cam Jurgens did not make the trip due to injury. Regardless, it seems that negative plays on first downs is a staple of this Scott Frost offense as the Huskers had penalties on each of their first three drives and 4 out of their first 5. Nebraska finished the game with 9 penalties, 5 of which were on offense and 4 out of the 5 were false starts. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the key to victory for this Husker offense is consistency and rhythm, and right now there is none. The lack of a passing attack again proved to hinder their ability to move the ball as the Huskers completed just barely over 50% of their passes and didn't use some of their best weapons at all during the game. Marcus Flemming led the team in receiving while Wan'dale Robinson touched the ball just 4 times and the legend of Omar Manning proves to be just a legend thus far as he didn't even see a target despite all the hype around his return to the field. The rushing attack is decent, but Martinez still leads the way rather than Mills. It was good to see Mills get the bulk of the carries though. Regardless, running a QB draw every 3 plays is entirely too predictable, just as the RPOs have been leading to the low completion rates with tight coverage. Everyone knew this would be a battle against a rugged and experienced Wildcat defense, but for the Huskers to go just 3 for 6 in the redzone with two picks when it comes to scoring points of any kind is more than just a disappointment at this point. Mike Riley had won 16 games at this point compared to 9 for Frost. The blame needs to shift from one to the other for the rest of Husker Nation.
BAD - Play-calling. This is my biggest issue with the Husker offense, not only this season, but the entirety of the Scott Frost era in Nebraska. There have been a few games (or at least parts of games) where exceptions can be given, but for a man who learned from one of the best offensive-minded coaches in Chip Kelly and averaged 48.2 points per game with a UFC team that lead the nation in scoring back in 2017, the offensive production at Nebraska under his tenure is downright pathetic. Now I'm not expecting all of those numbers to translate seamlessly to the BIG 10, that's not going to happen. However, Nebraska has been going in the wrong direction in some key stat categories. Starting with points per game, the Huskers scored an average of 30 in 2018 (Frost's first season) compared to 28 in 2019 and just 15 points on average this year (granted this is only a 2 game sample). Switching gears to Redzone efficiency, this is probably the most telling stat. Nebraska ranked 26th in the nation by scoring points 88.6% of the time once they reached the redzone in 2018. This number fell off a cliff and then some in 2019 as the Huskers ranked 115th in the nation with a redzone scoring conversion rate of 74.5%. Through the two games of 2020 the Huskers sit at 66.7% scoring on just 6 out of 9 trips to the redzone. These issues are a combination of problems within the Husker offense, but there's no bigger issue than poor play calling in my opinion. I've mentioned time and time again how predictable Frost's offense has been as I'm able to call out plays while sitting on my couch. Play-calling also factors in not getting the ball to key playmakers. Through 2 games this year Wan'dale Robinson, arguably the best offensive weapon for Nebraska, has just 10 receptions for 81 yards. He's been given very little space to work in and they're not calling his number on many plays. A look back to Omar Manning, the star receiver recruit who was supposed to change this offense tenfold. He didn't receive a single target in the game against Northwestern. JD Spielman was drastically underused and under-appreciated during his time in the Frost offense. There are playmakers on this unit and Frost needs to show his $5 million dollar creativity and get them the ball. QB Draws and RPOs cannot be the focal point of the offense for a winning team.
Ultimately, this is a difficult season all around. The best we can hope for is improvement, but that hasn't quite happened yet in my opinion. I probably sound a bit negative in my reflections, but there have been some nice things to see, like a fairly stout run defense through two games, an improved kicking game and some young players starting to step up. As mentioned before, I have full respect for Martinez and what he's done for this team, but I think it's time Luke get's a shot at QB1 and they need to let him work out the kinks. The offense looks and feels better when he's in, so let's see it full send. GO BIG RED!
Quick hit thoughts from the rest of CFB:
- The return of MACtion was everything we could all hope for! Some close games, some blowouts and even a power outage to liven up our Wednesday night last week. We can only hope for more moving forward.
- If you haven't been paying attention to Heisman-hopeful Zach Wilson and the BYU Cougars, you should start. This team is red hot with an 8-0 record and one of the most dynamic offensive attacks in the nation. They're threatening for the CFB Playoff Wilson's 30 TDs on the season are a big reason why.
- Miami survives a scare from the Wolfpack as D'Eriq King continues to improve his draft stock with video game-like stats (and moves). Watch that man play football, it's fun.
- Another player to watch is Hoosier QB Michael Penix Jr. He's got Indiana off to a 3-0 start after knocking off Michigan for the first time since 1987. They could give the Buckeyes a pretty good game on November 21st in Columbus.
- Speaking of the Buckeyes, they're doing their thing, rolling teams. As odd as it may sound, their next two games (at Maryland and home for Indiana) may be the toughest part of their schedule. Both of those teams are red hot and looking for a big upset to shake up things in the BIG 10 East division. Definitely keep watch on these next two games for Ohio State.
- Rounding out the conversation of the three teams leading the BIG 10 East, Maryland has hit their stride with transfer QB Taulia Tagovailoa. He alone has accounted for 748 total yards and 8 TDs in their last two games and helped the Terps score 80 points in two weeks. They host the Buckeyes this Saturday in what could be a high scoring affair.
- Elsewhere in the BIG 10 Minnesota and Iowa both got their first wins by rolling Illinois and Michigan State respectively. Penn State and Michigan both had the works brought to them by Maryland and Indiana while Wisconsin is still looking to be healthy enough to play a game.
- Moving over to the Big XII, it's chaos as usual. The Pokes survive a scare in Manhattan while Texas and OU look to get back in the conference title picture. Iowa State is sneakily sticking around the top with just one conference loss and Kansas is just all kinds of bad.
- The big game of the week in the SEC was Florida and Georgia, but it wasn't much of a game. Just as I predicted the Georgia defense was torched all afternoon by the Gator passing attack as they dropped 38 points on the Bulldogs in the first half alone. They finished with a 44-24 victory and Kyle Trask had nearly 500 yards with 4 TDs. Gators all but clinch the East.
- I've said it before and I'm sticking with it. Cincy is damn good and they should get a shot at the CFB Playoff. This team can play ball and I don't care who their opponent is, it will be a good game.
- In addition to MACtion coming back, this past weekend also marked the return of the PAC-12. While a couple of games had to be cancelled due to covid-19, we had some fun with an early morning (9 AM Pacific Time Kick) comeback win for the USC Trojans against the Sun Devils. Oregon handled their rival Stanford at home and the rest of the conference did stuff but it doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things *shrugs*.
- Last but not least we look to South Bend for what was easily the game of the weekend. #1 Clemson falls to #4 Notre Dame as the Irish win 47-40 in a double OT thriller. Clemson QB DJ Uiagalelei was incredible with 439 passing yards and 3 total TDs, but Ian Book and the Irish got the last laugh as they torched the Clemson defense for more than 500 yards. The Tigers did have some injuries to key players on that side of the ball, but I'll give ND some credit. They showed out and are making their case to get into the CFB Playoff. Unfortunately they'll likely have to face Clemson again in the ACC Championship and you never want to play a team twice in once year. Oh, and the fans at the game rushed the field to violate all sorts of social distancing guidelines, so hopefully there's not a coronavirus outbreak at Notre Dame (again), but I would be the least bit surprised.
Thanks for reading my Week 10(ish) reflections on the Husker game and all of the happenings of CFB from this past weekend. Stay safe and be sure to watch for my predictions post later this week.
#CFBKnowItAll
Alex Fernando
No comments:
Post a Comment