Week 5 Reflections

      Hello football fans, I hope you're all having a great week! I personally am still riding high after the Huskers' dominating victory over Northwestern on Saturday night. This post will recap my thoughts and analysis on the game along with the other happenings around the nation. This was a great game to watch, so I hope you all enjoy my reflections.

     The Huskers steamrolled the Wildcats 56-7 in one of the best football performances I've seen in a very long time. I'm not quite sure where it all came from, but wow, Nebraska really came to play on Saturday. A near flawless game was put on as the Huskers went big on the first play and never looked back. Below, I have my regular GOOD, EXPECTED and BAD categories for my analysis.

GOOD: Everything? I was amazed by the performance of this team on Saturday. We knew the defense would be stout, but other than the blown coverage on a double move rote, Northwestern wasn't able to move the ball. The Wildcats totaled just 293 yards, but just 37 of those came on the ground. The blackshirts dominated the game and set up the offense with lots of opportunities for points. Unlike previous games, the Husker offense (most notably the offensive line) answered the call. Truck-sized running lanes were opened as the Husker backfield ran wild, racking up 427 yards on the ground. 127 of those belonged to Jaquez Yant as the big freshman ran wild. Zavier Betts got in the action early in the second half by taking the jet sweep 83 yards down the sideline for a TD. With this new found run game, Martinez had much less pressure when dropping back to pass, and finished the game with 202 yards and 1 TD through the air. The offensive line gave great protection and some of that was due to the new faces in the game. Freshman Tackle Teddy Prochazka started on the left side and really gave the unit a boost up front. The potential of this team is rising because of games like this. This team looked like a brand new group on Saturday, and I hope that trend continues. There was even an 84 yard punt by the Huskers!

The atmosphere in Memorial Stadium was incredible on Saturday night. The photos don't do it justice, but at the start of the 4th Quarter there was a fantastic Fire & Light show to Thunderstruck by ACDC and I need that every week. That's how you get hyped for the 4th quarter and I was a very big fan of the energy. Great job by the Husker Athletics team on creating such a fun atmosphere. I hope to see more of it against Michigan!

EXPECTED: In all honesty I didn't expect much of what happened in that game. The defense is a given, but the offensive game plan and production was phenomenal. I did expect some better play calls in this game, especially with the rebuilding defense of Northwestern. Nebraska has been building to a big offensive performance, but needed a bit more push from the o-line to open up the playbook. The run game was really well executed and opened up the play-action passes and deep routes the Husker offense was able to run and take advantage of. A fantastic performance not only by the players, but the coaches as well. I give props when I see it and it was nice to see a game plan executed well. Still a long way to go as the games only get harder from here on out.

BAD: The only thing bad about this game was that it didn't happen sooner. There's clearly a lot of talent on this team, and despite Northwestern not doing well this season, 56-7 is always impressive. I'll just remind everyone that it's still BAD that the Huskers don't have a special teams coach.

     This was a great win for the Huskers and hopefully will continue to build confidence in this team. However, Michigan is going to a much tougher mark than the rebuilding Wildcats. Lots of good things to take away from this game, but bigger challenges ahead. GO BIG RED!

Quick Hit thoughts from around CFB:

- Georgia SMASHED Arkansas 37-0 and quickly ruined my reaching upset pick. I'm still not completely sold on the Dawgs' offense, but that was an impressive victory nonetheless.

- Bama rolled over Lane Kiffin and the Rebels

- Auburn won in Death Valley over LSU for the first time since 1999.

- Kentucky upset #10 Florida with a dominating defensive performance in the second half.

- Mississippi State upset the Aggies 26-22 in College Station, quickly knocking A&M down 0-2 in the SEC.

- Arizona State made a big statement by beating UCLA 42-23. They showed that I definitely should've stuck with my preseason prediction for them. Sun Devils looking good in the PAC-12 South.

- Hanging out on the West Coast, Stanford once again upsets Oregon as they come back to force overtime and knock off the #3 Ducks 31-24.

- Oregon State walked off with a game-winning field goal over the Huskies and is now 4-1 in the North. That rivalry game with the Ducks could decide who wins the North later this season.

- Florida State got their first win of the season, defeating Syracuse 33-30.

- Clemson narrowly avoided a second straight loss as they beat Boston College 19-13.

- Wake Forrest was able to remain unbeaten by edging out Louisville 37-34.

- Miami doinked a game-winning field goal against Virginia at home as the Cavaliers prevail.

- Pitt quickly proved me wrong by racking up 52 on the Yellow Jackets. Watch out for Kenny Pickett and this offense.

- Just 1 week removed from the big upset on Clemson, NC State had to hold off the Bulldogs of LA Tech, winning 34-27.

- I will take one of my two I TOLD YOU SO's right now with the Cincy Bearcats knocking off Notre Dame 24-13 right in front of Football Jesus.

- Oklahoma survives a late comeback from the PowerCats despite a 320 yard, 3 TD passing performance from K-State QB Skylar Thompson. Fun Fact, he had thrown 18 passes coming into this game and walked out with 59 attempts on the season.

- Oklahoma State also remains unbeaten as they knock off the Bears and start to set up an interesting BEDLAM matchup down the road.

- Texas beat TCU and is primed for the Red River Rivalry against the Sooners this weekend.

- Michigan started slow but eventually rolled a not-so-great looking Badger team.

- Penn State got their revenge on the Hoosiers by blanking them 24-0.

- Minnesota beat Purdue on the road by holding them scoreless in the second half. Still not sure what to make of either of these teams.

- Last but not least, I'll take my last I TOLD YOU SO as the Wolfpack of Nevada upset Boise State on the road 41-31.

Thank you for reading my Week 5 Reflections and get ready for more predictions on the way soon!

#CFBKnowItAll

Alex Fernando