Happy Thanksgiving Football Fans! I apologize on the delay for this post, but I figured it would be a good read as you feast on your turkey and watch a full slate of Football. For the first time since my Junior year at Nebraska, the Huskers are going to a BOWL GAME! A fantastic win over the Badgers at home broke so many bad streaks for the Huskers, and I'll talk about all of them right here. This post will have a full analysis of the game broken down into my GOOD, EXPECTED and BAD categories along with my thoughts and perspective of the new playoff rankings with so many teams tumbling last week. I'll sneak in a Memphis vs Tulane pick as well before my full prediction post tomorrow. Enjoy!
The last time the Huskers bested the Badgers in a football game, I was standing in South Stadium as a junior in high school watching the game with my Grandpa and trying to figure out who had the ball due to the tiny numbers on the alternate uniforms. The Huskers had lost 10 straight games to the Badgers since that 2012 game in Memorial. However, after a dominating performance and nearly 500 yards of total offense, the Huskers have the Freedom Trophy in hand and are going to the post season. I've got my GOOD, EXPECTED and BAD categories below breaking down everything about the game.
GOOD - Emmett Johnson and Dana Holgersen. Honestly, I'll give a nod to the entire Husker team in this category to start because this team finally put a complete game together against a conference opponent. The Blackshirts gave up a couple big plays late, but for a good chunk of the game, Wisconsin could not do much and were stopped without points multiple times. John Hohl and the special teams units were fabulous and the offense put up 473 yards and 44 points. This is where I want to single out Dana Holgersen and Emmett Johnson. A special thank you to Holgersen for finally realizing (probably after reading my blog) that Emmett Johnson should be RB1 and a focal point of this offense. Johnson racked up 198 total yards on 22 touches throughout the game. He was electric, shifty and so much fun to watch for Husker fans as he made some moves we haven't seen since the Ameer Abdullah days here in Lincoln. Dylan Raiola played a very consistent game, completing 73.6% of his passes for 293 yards and a TD. He looked much smoother with the simpler playbook, and had some new playmakers to get involved as well. I very much appreciated the shift to Nate Boerkircher and Luke Lindenmeyer at Tight End. Lindenmeyer impressed immediately with his blocking, taking defenders 10 yards downfield off the line of scrimmage and I loved the route spacing and separation Boerkircher had on pass plays. There were a couple plays he could've hit big if Raiola had seen him, but that chemistry and connection will come with time. This was a great game to see from the offense as players are being put in positions to succeed and now making the most of it. One last tip of the cap to Dana Holgersen for making the changes needed.
EXPECTED - Emmett Johnson to shine and the Blackshirts to get burned a bit. Starting with a defense, I would not prove to be a good analyst if I only focused on what worked well. The Huskers did more than enough defensively to help their team win, but a few things stood out to me in this game. My first point of concern is the secondary play. Obviously, this unit has taken some hits with Tommie Hill being injured and playing a lot of younger guys in the back half, but they allowed Braedyn Locke to complete 67% of his passes for 292 yards with 3 TDs and 1 pick. This was his second highest yard total of his career and that is back-to-back weeks of the Huskers giving up 250+ through the air. I doubt Iowa will have that ability given their QB situation, but that wasn't my favorite performance from the Husker secondary. My second point of concern for the full defense is the amount of big plays given up. For the most part, they've limited that throughout the season, but gave up 5 different plays of 20+ yards including the 58 yard TD pass to Vinny Anthony II. Those big gashes often come at the wrong time when you're about to get an opposing offense off the field, so keeping things in front of them and being disciplined on assignments will cut that down. Over to Emmett Johnson, he gets a second shoutout for his performance, and he's in the EXPECTED category because this is exactly what I was waiting for him to do once he got the touches he deserves. This kid has some serious talent and if the Huskers can continue to open up lanes for him, he'll have a very big season in 2025.
BAD - The bad streaks are broken! Really the only thing "Bad" about this game is how long it took to happen. With their win over Wisconsin, the Huskers became Bowl Eligible for the first time since 2016. They beat the Badgers for the first time since 2012 (shoutout to Volleyball for also SWEEPING the Badgers on the season for the first time since 2012). The Huskers also secured their first November win since 2020 and the first in front of fans since I was jumping around in the snow against Michigan State in 2018. The Huskers were 0-9 in bowl clinching games prior to beating Wisconsin and Matt Rhule was 0-8 as the Husker HC. The team needed this win, the fans needed this win and College Football as a whole needed this win. The bad streaks are broken, now let's get back to true Husker Football form. GBR!
College Football Playoffs:
Following a weekend full of upsets, we had quite the shake-up in the new CFB Playoff Rankings. All week we had to hear about how dominant the SEC would be over teams like Indiana and how the SEC should have no less than 5 or 6 teams in the playoffs because they would be favored by the Vegas odds in hypothetical matchups. As we learned quickly, hypotheticals don't mean much in College Football. While Indiana wasn't able to keep pace with the Buckeyes, Alabama was demolished by Oklahoma, Ole Miss couldn't move against Florida, Texas A&M was outlasted by Auburn, Colorado fumbled the bag against KU and BYU couldn't complete the comeback against Arizona State. This is why they play the game and this is why I'm pleased with how this playoff bracket is shaking out. Most importantly, my dark horse Mustangs are FINALLY getting the respect they deserve and have been moved into the #9 spot. They are in the ACC Championship and await either Miami or Clemson depending on if the Hurricanes can take care of business on the road against Syracuse. Other big movers are Clemson in the #12 ranking spot above Alabama, however Arizona State at #16 would jump the Tigers and knock them out of the playoffs as the highest ranked Big XII team right now. This is a good spot for Clemson though because you assume Miami or SMU would tumble following a loss in the ACC Championship if you don't make it yourself. Tennessee and Georgia are other big winner as they watched the very crowded SEC field filter itself out as they played the SEC classic cupcake game ahead of rivalry weekend. Both of them moved up 3 spots a piece and are sitting firmly in position for a playoff spot with limited worries apart from their arch rival screwing things up. The last note I'll give on the current playoff rankings is my displeasure with Texas and Penn State sitting up at #3 and #4 respectively. Like many of the analyst who cover the sport, I think resume should be a primary consideration factor when ranking teams. Texas and Penn State have horrendous resumes with no ranked wins and have done nothing to earn their high rankings. Do I think they're playoff caliber teams? Most likely, but they should be ranked lower with the risk of falling out if they lose a game. If A&M and Ohio State win, neither of these teams will go to their conference championships, and they'll just sit around waiting to see who they host for a first round game at home despite having put in little work to achieve that status. Rivalry weekend always provides that extra dose of chaos, so hopefully we'll get some more shakeups this weekend.
Memphis at #17 Tulane
Since this game is on Thanksgiving evening, I want to get my prediction in this post before I go through the full slate with tomorrow and Saturday. Army & Tulane are already set for the American Conference Championship, but if Boise State slips up, Tulane has a lot to play for with that highest ranked G5 Conference Champion getting into the playoffs. They're sitting at #17 right behind Arizona State who is currently the highest rated Big XII Conference team, meaning if Boise were to fall, they could potentially jump over the Broncos and be sitting in a position to go to the playoffs. Memphis would love nothing more than to ruin that after stumbling a couple of times earlier in the season, dashing their playoff hopes. The Tigers have enough firepower on offense to get it done, but defensively is where the struggles are. They rank 54th in total defense, allowing over 350 yards per game with more than 22 points on average. Now these aren't horrendous numbers, but when you consider they gave up 100 total points in their two losses on the season, things can get out of hand quickly. Tulane ranks 30th in total offense and is 4th in the nation with 40.5 points per game on average. There should be plenty of offense to watch between these two teams tonight, especially with two great RBs set to duel. I like Tulane to take care of business at home, but don't be surprised if things get close, Memphis has 4 wins in 1-score games and their 2 losses were both 1-score as well. Green Wave win the firework show 47-37.
Thanks for reading my reflections on the Husker's big win against Wisconsin and watch for my Rivalry Week Predictions tomorrow morning. Also a special shoutout to the Husker Football staff for welcoming myself and other High School Coaches for an appreciation lunch ahead of the game. Great experience and so glad they're working on building relationships with different High School coaches around the state. GO BIG RED!
#CFBKnowItAll
Alex Fernando
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