Week 5 Reflections

      It was certainly a wild week in College Football, but my most important takeaway is that the Huskers won! Mickey Joseph got his first win as interim Head Coach and Nebraska is now tied for first place in the BIG 10 West Division. Obviously it's still early in the season, but with how teams in the BIG 10 West have played so far this season, there's no telling what could happen. This post will break down my GOOD, EXPECTED and BAD from the Husker game as well as the other big news from around College Football.

     The Huskers hosted the Hoosiers for homecoming and fired up another sellout crowd for a 35-21 victory. This was a good game to see as the Huskers had solid control for most of the game. There were hiccups, but with the first blocked punt for a TD in 13 years, there's a lot of positives to take from this one. I've got my breakdown below.

GOOD - Secondary adjustments and 4th Quarter defense. Easily one of the biggest turnarounds for the Huskers was the play of the secondary and pass defense. Indiana was a pass heavy team, but mustered just 223 yards through the air against the Huskers. Nebraska had one of the nation's worst pass defenses (still does ranked 111th), so this lockdown in the secondary was very impressive. My aunt asked me mid game what the difference was between the previous games and the one versus Indiana. From my analysis in the stands, it's quite simple, the Huskers are pressing much more and mixing in more man coverage. To break this down, the defense would shorten the cushion of yardage between them and the receivers, forcing tighter throws and being in better position to defend the ball itself. There were and still will be some growing pains with this as many of the corners have not played this technique much under Frost and Chinander, so turning to look for the ball on deep routes is still a foreign concept. However, without the 12 yards of cushion, defenders were in the right spot much more often, and able to make plays on the ball as Luke Reimer did with the hit and interception. Overall, the Huskers' defense gave up 5 total yards in the 4th quarter to the Hoosiers and held them to 0/4 on 3rd downs. Mickey Joseph wanted his team to win the 4th quarter and they did just that. Movement in the right direction on the defensive side of the ball.

EXPECTED - Solid offensive performance. The Huskers have been able to put up points in almost every game this year and Indiana was another strong performance for the Husker offense. Anthony Grant has been a dominant force in the ground game despite the lack of blocking up front at times, racking up 136 against Indiana on 32 carries and averaging 5.3 yards per carry so far this season. Thompson had a number of throws that still raise concern, but commanded the offense well and the deep ball to Trey Palmer was B-E-A-UTIFUL! The few question marks I had on offense came from the play calls with Chubba Purdy in the game and why Bryce Benhart should ever see the field again. Always things to correct but overall a great performance by the offense. FEED ANTHONY GRANT!

BAD - Penalties and pace of the game. These two somewhat contributed to each other, but with 23 combined penalties between the two teams and multiple reviews (some of which were unnecessary), the pace of the game was horribly disrupted. The game ran over 3 hours and just felt incredibly slow from watching in the stands. Nebraska racked up 111 yards in penalties, significantly causing issues in the middle of drives. This is always an issue that needs to be looked at, but when nearly 1/3 of your total yardage is taken back by penalties this is a major issue.

     Hopefully this win propels the Huskers to many more victories this season, but for now we'll enjoy the fact that the Huskers are tied for first place in the BIG 10 West.

Quick Hit CFB Updates:

- Missouri nearly took down the defending champs as they took Georgia down to the wire, falling 26-22.

- Despite a strong 3rd quarter comeback, the Razorbacks couldn't stop the Tide from Rolling.

- Kentucky had their game-winning TD called back due to a penalty and then fumbled the next play, big win for Lane Kiffin and Ole Miss.

- UCLA with a big surprise win over Washington. Chip Kelley's squad has a lot of experience and a high-powered offense, watch out for this team.

- Utah obliterated the Beavers at home 42-16. So much for my PAC-12 dark horse.

- Speaking of big wins, the Horned Frogs racked up 55 points and nearly 700 total yards on Oklahoma. Sooners got BOOMED!

- A defensive battle in Lawrence led to a KU victory after multiple missed Field Goals by ISU. Jayhawks are 5-0 and hosting College Gameday this week!

- Oklahoma State held off the Bears and are quietly setting up for a big season. We'll see if they can keep it clean through their Big XII slate.

- Jimbo Fisher is in hot water at Texas A&M as the Aggies fell to Mississippi State on the Road and are quickly falling in the polls.

- Clemson extends their home winning streak with a 10 point victory over the NC State Wolfpack.

- BoilerUP as they handle Minnesota on the road. The BIG 10 West will be the most confusing (and interesting) division in football this year.

- To continue the confusion trend in the BIG 10 West, Bret Bielma gets revenge on the Badgers by winning 34-10 with the Illini in Camp Randle. The Badgers mustered just 2 rushing yards on the day which is likely a contributing factor in the firing of Paul Chryst. I personally cannot fully understand this firing as he has a very similar record to both Bo Pelini at Nebraska and Jim Harbaugh at Michigan. I suspect there's something bigger afoot, but as for now, Wisconsin is moving on from one of their own as Paul Chryst is out from Badgertown.

#CFBKnowItAll

Alex Fernando