Hey Football Friends! I hope you're all doing well and still riding high after a great weekend of College Football and most importantly, a Husker victory! Yes, the Huskers in fact looked like a competent football team for a majority of the day on Saturday, and were able to hold off the Boilermakers for a 37-27 victory. They proved me wrong in my prediction, but I couldn't be happier. I've got your full analysis of the game along with all the other happenings around the nation from a fabulous weekend of football action. Let's get to it!
Scott Frost has cleared the Purdue hurdle in his young tenure at Nebraska, beating the Boilermakers for the first time as the Huskers' head coach. Nebraska started off hot with impressive defensive stands, some big special teams plays and short fields for an offense that finally put some things together. Purdue made a push late in the game, even pulling to within 7. The Blackshirts stood tall though and the Huskers now have an outside shot at finishing with a 4-4 record. I've got the full break down of the game in my GOOD, EXPECTED and BAD categories below.
GOOD - Adrian Martinez and Cam Taylor-Britt. There were a lot of good things about the Huskers' win on Saturday, but Martinez and Taylor-Britt really stood out and made some key plays on their respective sides of the ball to clinch the second win of the season. Starting with Martinez, it's clear his benching helped him reset, and Frost's QB1 looks back to his Freshman self. I am still very much excited by the potential with Luke McCaffrey, but I'm never opposed to a confident AM2 slinging it for the Huskers. He's gained his confidence back, which has helped in his decision making. There were flashes of it against Iowa, but against the Boilermakers, Martinez was lights out. He completed 23/30 passes for 242 yards and a TD while rushing for another 45 and 2 more TDs on the ground. Martinez managed the game extremely well and didn't force many throws he didn't need to make. He used his legs to move up and out of the pocket when necessary, and hit some very nice routes to the open receiver down the field. It's been a while since we've seen him play this smooth, and I hope it's here to stay. Great game Adrian!
Onto the defensive side of the ball, the star is Cam Taylor-Britt. Everyone will remember his leaping pass deflection to stop a Purdue 3rd & 13 conversion with just over 5 minutes left in the game, ultimately keeping the Huskers' 10-point lead intact. However, there were a number of plays Taylor-Britt made throughout the course of the game, and overall he's been great all season. Opposing teams rarely throw to his side due to his tremendous coverage, but if they dare, he's got great awareness to locate the ball and knock it down. Outside of Quarterback, corner is arguably the most difficult position to play in football. Corners are often lined up against some of the best athletes the other team has on their roster and in many cases are left alone on an island to cover them, having to read and react off of a number of keys such as route patterns, WR footwork, QB eyes, the ball and more, all without touching the receiver before the last possible second in order to avoid a costly penalty. Cam Taylor-Britt has sneakily become one of the best corners in the conference in the past couple seasons. It's been great watching him lead this defense and be the spark that fires them up.
EXPECTED - Purdue comeback & solid defense from the Blackshirts. My two expected takeaways from the game may seem like opposites, but there's a reasoning behind both. Starting with Purdue, they're a talented and well-coached team. The have probably the best receiving corps in the BIG 10 West and one of the best in the conference overall with a QB who can throw the ball with few mistakes. Jack Plummer torched the Blackshirts for the second straight year, tossing the pigskin for 334 yards and 3 TDs. They have an experienced defense and shut down the Husker offense for a majority of the second half. Zander Horvath is a problem at RB, but luckily the Huskers were able to keep their lead big enough and limit Purdue's attempts at running. Nebraska can never be trusted to fully close out a game (at least not yet), so it was no surprise when the Boilermakers pulled within 7 mid-way through the 4th. Besides, all of their losses prior to Nebraska were by 7 points or less and often came down to the wire. This game will be a battle again next year.
Looking at the Blackshirts, they played extremely well in this game. There was a bit of bend don't break due to the passing attack catching fire for Purdue, but the Huskers held the Boilermakers to -2 in the rushing column. This was the first time all season the Huskers were able to get consistent pressure. While no turnovers were gained, the Huskers held Purdue to just 3/13 on third down conversions. The defense has played solid all year apart from the Illinois game and a few other quarters, but this time the offense stepped up to take advantage of the defensive effort. The Blackshirts played well and are starting to earn those jerseys back.
BAD - Penalties and more penalties. The Huskers continue to be one of the most penalized teams, ranking 105th in the nation with an average of 66 yards per game from penalties. Nebraska racked up 9 penalties for 107 yards. For context, this is nearly as many rushing yards the Huskers had on Saturday. This continues to be an issue, on both sides of the ball. Luckily, Purdue ranks 91st in the nation and actually bested the Huskers in the yellow flag category with 11 for 126. This was a big factor in the Husker victory as Purdue hurt themselves more than Nebraska did. Most Husker fans were freaking out last week because of a stat that was released saying that there was something like 340+ plays since the last time an opponent was called for holding against Nebraska. Yeah, that's ridiculous and there were probably a number of missed holding calls. WHO CARES?! There's missed holding calls and others in every game. Yes, penalties on the other team is always a benefit for the Huskers, but a bigger benefit is not having penalties of their own, especially those that shut down drives before they even get started. Nebraska needs to fix their own issues before they complain about other teams, and the penalties are one of the biggest issues plaguing this team.
Quick hit thoughts from the rest of CFB:
- The fun kicked off on Friday night when #25 Louisiana defeated Appalachian State for the first time in program history in a very odd way. The Ragin' Cajuns took an intentional safety with 1:46 left in the game, trusting in their defense to hold onto what then became a 3 point lead. App State had a chance to tie it with a field goal in the end but the kick was wide left. The funny thing is that the Ragin' Cajuns had a 4th & 1 from near midfield when they took the safety.
- After a slow start for both Notre Dame & Clemson, they turned on the jets in the second half to demolish Syracuse and Virginia Tech respectively. Both teams now have a week off to prepare for the (sure to be wild) rematch in Charlotte.
- Absolutely nothing was slow about DaVonta Smith and Bama as the Tide Rolled LSU in Death Valley 55-17. Smith only had 8 catches on the night, but that was more than enough as he racked up 231 yards and 3 TDs. The SEC Championship is looking to be a high scoring affair.
- Sparty was nothing more than a bug on a windshield against the Buckeyes Saturday, even without Ryan Day. I think something about not being worthy of their playoff rankings may have upset Ohio State.
- Kyle Trask is making that Heisman push loud and clear with another 400+, 4 TD passing performance against the Vols.
- Iowa State was in no mood for an upset, absolutely demolishing the Mountaineers of WVU 42-6. Look out for Matt Campbell's squad.
- Miami is the quietest 1-loss team I've ever seen, but that's not going to matter much with 2020. Either way, D'Eriq King is ballin'.
- The Sooners locked up a rematch with the Cyclones for the Big XII Title by holding off a late push from the Baylor Bears.
- Who said Indiana was done with Michael Penix Jr. out?? I certainly didn't and the Hoosiers showed why. They locked down the Badgers offense in a rugged 14-6 win. Don't sleep on the Hoosiers and don't sleep on new QB Jack Tuttle.
- TCU pulled a second half upset and I still can never predict Oklahoma State correctly. Oh well, I like the Horned Frogs better anyways.
- Eastern Michigan got their first win of the season by handing Western Michigan their first loss of the season. Gotta love #MACtion.
- Texas ran the ball like K-State wasn't even on the field, racking up 334 yards on the ground and 69 points on the scoreboard.
- The PAC-12 continues to be a disaster as the Ducks were upset by Cal and Stanford rocked the Huskies. UCLA and Arizona State provided some late night entertainment, but at least USC is still unbeaten??
- Penn State apparently likes to win again and dominated Rutgers 23-7.
- Last but not least I close with the best game of the weekend. The Cougars of BYU and the Chanticleers of Coastal Carolina met for a battle of the unbeatens with College Gameday after Liberty backed out due to covid-19. This game was put together on Thursday and was absolutely fantastic to watch. My adopted Chanticleers pulled off the victory by puling BYU wide receiver Dax Milne away from the goalline after he caught the ball at the two yard line and fought to win the game on the final play. It was an incredible finish, an incredible game and watch out for my adopted Chanticleers!
Thank you for reading my Week 14(ish) Reflections post and watch for my predictions later this week. It's CHAIR Week for the Huskers as they take on Minnesota in the Battle for the Broken Chair Trophy!
#CFBKnowItAll
Alex Fernando
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