DeathRattleSports.com - Huskers look rusty in win against San Jose State

Huskers look rusty in win against San Jose State

Written by Bugeatersteve
Wednesday, 10 September 2008
This was supposed to be the coming out game, the one that established the Pelini Huskers as a better than average team. The game that would make Husker nation forgets about the last four years. But all the game did was to make everyone queasier than before. The final score, 35-12 was much closer than the number indicated; in fact it was only 14-12 Huskers with a little more than 12 minutes remaining. Niles Paul takes it to the House for 85 yards! That was when Niles Paul, a sophomore from Omaha North fielded a kick on his own 15 yard line. Approximately 20 seconds later Paul was in the end zone, the Huskers had some breathing room and jolted the crowd out of its funk on a grey and overcast day in Lincoln. Up to that point the NU offense mustered just one scoring drive in the first 45 minutes, bumbling and fumbling against a team that came in nearly a four-touchdown underdog. There was one particularly embarrassing sequence when Nebraska had three false-start penalties in a row. In addition to that, one play that was typical of the entire afternoon happened at the end of the 3^rd quarter. With a 14-9 lead and the ball at mid-field, Joe Ganz audibled to an option play out of the shot-gun. It was the perfect call against the defense. Ganz pitched to Quentin Castille, with big yardage in sight, possibly a touchdown. Castille fumbled. San Jose State recovered. Typical happening for the day, case in point; the Huskers had more penalty yards (103) than rushing 99, and if not for a defensive interception by lineman Ndamukong Suh we would have trailed at half-time. Topping all this off senior defensive end Barry Turner was lost for the season with a broken leg making an already thin defensive line even worse. A glimmer spot though was Pierre Allen, the 6-foot-5, 265-pound sophomore who replaced Turner in the starting lineup for the game. Allen had a strong game Saturday, recording 10 tackles, three of them for losses. The defense from all accounts, seems to be rounding into "Pelini" type play. They only gave up 132 yards in the second half, with 55 of those yards coming on a single pass play in the 4^th quarter. When asked about the defense Pelini responded "We needed to play better. We were very sloppy in the first half. I mean, when you talk about penalties, we had a multitude of errors in the first half," Pelini said. "Tackling was sloppy in the first half. We were our own worst enemy in that first half. We have to play better and we have to coach better to start the football game." Next up is New Mexico State, who because of weather problems will be playing their opening game of the season Saturday. Don't really expect a cake-walk though, because with new defensive coordinator Joe Lee Dunn the Lobos play a 3-3-5 scheme that relies on small quick players that specialize in stopping the run, the one thing that has been very poor for the Huskers this season. Dunn's defense emphasizes, well, the kitchen sink: Blitzes, stunts, line shifts, max zone coverages, dummy looks, and just general chaos. Joe Ganz called New Mexico State's defense "something I would play against in Madden." After all of this, I have to admit, that while I have been correct in both games so far in regards to who would win, my score prediction has not been in the stadium. I am of course seeing a 3^rd win prior to our "off-week", but with a score more along the lines of 28-10. GBR! Set as favorite Bookmark Email This Trackback(0) TrackBack URI for this entry Comments (0) Subscribe to this comment's feed Write comment Name Email Website Title Comment smaller \| bigger Subscribe via email (Registered users only) I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 10 September 2008 )