Summary

I predicted we were 2 TDs better than Nebraska in the trenches, and I still believe that, but we only ended up winning by 1 TD.  For the sake of why, I’ll take a look at some theoretical bullshit that could be a reason why.  The Tech offense was clicking on all cylinders in as efficient manner as I’ve ever witnessed.  Graham Harrell was flawless in this game and made great decision with the football.  More than anything, managed the game well, didn’t take any chances, and avoided costly turnovers, which have been his Achilles Heel during games like this in the past.  A lot of that could have been due to the lack of speed in the Nebraska secondary as, but none the less, he kept us in this ball game and made plays when we needed him to, especially at the end of the game.  The Tech offense ran 48 plays in the game, racked up 421 yards, and scored 37 points including OT, despite only holding the ball for a little less than 20 minutes.  Say what?  Bo Pelini went straight up Joe Lombard on Tech’s ass and hung tougher than a Canyon High School girls’ basketball team in an overmatched state tournament.  The Tech offense needed scoring on 6 of their 8 possessions to get the victory.  Talk about no room for error.

Now, while the offense was chugging along, the defense was busy resurrecting an oversized beach umbrella to provide shade for the post game pillagatory picnic.  Since First Mate McNeill and crew had drawn logistical duties for this contest, he found it difficult to find a stationary location for the festivities as resistance from the rebellious invaders was stronger than anticipated forcing the Ruffians to continually reposition the large canvas protection.   60 feet behind the front lines seemed like a safe distance from the flying cannon fodder.  Such nuisances were these marauders from the North, the campsite had to be moved 80 times throughout the action in 18 feet increments for an aggregate distance that stretched almost the length of 5 fields.  What a pain in the ass.

Let’s take a look at what Nebraska brought to the engagement.  I might be the only guy, but I like what I’ve seen from Joe Ganz this year.  I thought he played well even in the Nebraska losses.  Now, the one mistake he made did cost his team the game, but other than that, his level of execution was near that of Harrell’s.  Prior to that moment, Ganz made great decisions with the football and a few throws that only his receiver could catch, which they did.  He’s a nice player and won’t get you beat in regulation. Nebraska’s receivers look exactly like they did in 1992.  Big, slow, great blockers, catch the ball with their hands, etc.  Some people refer to them possession receivers or even tight ends in many cases.  Marlon Lucky is a nice back, who reads blocks well, has decent speed and a large enough frame to fall forward when harassing the Tech pickett lines set up 4 yards past the lined of scrimmage.  That’s about as far as he gets, though.  Despite not having an answer for Colby Whitlock or McKinner Dixon, I was impressed with the way the Nebraska OL played throughout the contest.  You can tell they’re well-coached as they fired off as hard the last snap as they did the first and play hard to the whistle every play.  Sophomore guard #68, Keith Williams will challenge for All Conference honors by his senior year.  He’s got a nice frame, sufficient feet, and is enthusiastic about finishing off blocks.  Williams plays a little high at times, but he’s a fine player.  Most of the other guys are serviceable enough to allow for the completion of a quick slant or opening enough space for 5 yard gains when faced with undermanned fronts.  They may not be long on talent, but overall the Nebraska OL works well together on combo blocks in their mostly zone blocking scheme.  Williams looked a lot better when he wasn’t facing Whitlock, but there’s no shame in that.  On defense, they don’t have much outside of DT Ndamukong Suh, who is the best player on their team.  Suh drove Brandon Carter pretty much where ever he wanted for 4 quarters, or Tech’s rushing total would have been a lot higher.  I’m not sure whether he’s an all conference guy due to the other DTs in this league, but there’s been many years he would have been a sure-fire 2^nd teamer at a minimum.  Playing with a bad defense will hurt his reputation and personal hardware collection, but if he plays every game like he did last Saturday, the NFL will reward him accordingly.  Larry Asante passes the eyeball test, can cover a lot of ground and is a good tackler, but he plays DB, and unfortunately coverage is not his forte’.  Overall, they’re a 0.500 football team this year.  However, Pelini had those guys playing hard every snap and that’s a good sign for the future.  He’ll have them right back in the thick of things in the North with a couple of nice recruiting classes to shore up the severe lack of overall speed among their LBs and DBs.

Offense

Other than the personnel utilization in the RB corps, there’s not much one can complain about here.  Ruthless efficiency was the name of the game.  Outside of the 4^th and 4, we played it safe and let our skill players pick up yards after the catch.  Leach’s record improves to 27-3 since 2005 when the RB position eclipses the 20 touch mark (24 touches for 187 yards).  The impressive part of this is that we only ran 48 plays, so 50% of our gameplan was funneled through the RBs.  That’s a positive sign going forward.

Quarterback

Graham Harrell played outstanding going 20 of 25 for 284 yards with 2 TDs, and most importantly, no interceptions.  He dearly valued the football, made good reads, didn’t force any throws, got rid of the football when required, and let his WRs and RBs make plays in space.  Harrell never panicked and I think his play in this game was a positive step forward for him mentally.  Games like this are what prevent you from getting beat by Colorado.  He almost under threw Crabtree on the 4^th and 4, but had just enough juice on it to bail us out.

Running Back

I over-covered my thoughts on Batch and Woods in the other write-up, so I’ll just link it: http://barkingcarnival.fantake.com/dedfischer/the-books-dont-lie  Needless to say, Batch is my offensive MVP finishing with 13 touches for 150 yards and delivering a teabag-like performance to Nebraska defensive personnel.  Don’t look now, but he’s quietly transformed into our most reliable weapon on offense.  You can’t do much to keep a RB from getting the ball in this offense.  Or any for that matter.

Wide Receivers

Not too shabby at all and probably their best performance of the season.  Crabtree had a couple of borderline drops, but dominated an overmatched secondary for most of the night.  Ed Britton chipped in with a 56 yard catch and run, and Detron Lewis some nice gainers after securing the ball. 

Offensive Line

Marlon Winn was once again our best OL in this game and it should be an interesting matchup watching he and Sergio Kindle go at it.  Reed, Vasquez and Hamby were hit-and-miss with the run blocking, but all solid in pass protection.  Brandon Carter got his shit pushed in by Suh the first two plays and quit the rest of the game.  He had on nice run block against Suh’s backup on the Woods 4 yard run, but once Suh returned to the contest, Carter returned to the fetal position with his Mohawk wilted and face lined with tear-induced mascara streaks.  Carter needs to go find his balls in the next two weeks because it ain’t getting any easier from here on out.  The Conquistador from the East that the Empire of Austin rented has access to game tapes in this era.  My guess is that, if Texas is going to get pressure on Harrell, it will come from this gap by a guy wearing #33.

Defense

Overall, this unit played well against the run given the formational challenges presented by the coaching staff.  I have no idea why we continue to be a predominantly cover 2 zone team.  Our players aren’t good at running it.  When provided opportunities in man coverage, our DBs seem to make plays on the ball and challenge WRs appropriately.  You can get into a little more detail right here:  http://tortilla.weaselworks.com/?p=3

Defensive Tackles

Colby Whitlock again played an active and disruptive game.  He made a ton of little plays that won’t show up on the stat sheet, but even when things go bad for him, he still seems to find a way out of trouble by the time the whistle blows.  This dude is a football player.  Richard Jones batted about .500 in this game.  He made some nice plays and got dominated on others.  Brandon Sesay played like a 7^th grade girl.  Flat out scared.

Defensive Ends

I’m not sure why our backups, Jake Ratliff and Sandy Riley, received so many of the snaps.  Ratliff made two good plays and a few shitty ones.  They surprisingly didn’t run at him as much as I thought they would.  Riley is too small to play DE in this conference for not being a speed guy.  I know Sandy, I am too.  McKinner Dixon continues to play at a high and consistent level.  Even though he didn’t see as many snaps this game, he made it count when he did and was my defensive MVP for the game.  The game-winning quasi-sack/forced pass again came from the 3-technique and off a double team.  Brandon Williams was able to get some pressure on the QB, but was very average against the run.

Linebackers

Brian Duncan had a solid effort again.  He’s the best linebacker we’ve had since Zach Thomas was here, and only had about 2 or 3 bad plays in the game, which is good for a MLB.  Bront Bird spent most of this game on the sidelines.  And that happens sometimes when you overrun plays and get pushed out of bounds for 4 quarters.  Marlon Williams…. I’m just out of words and any more comments on him just begin to make me sound vindictive.  Julius Howard had one good play, but he’s no better than Marlon in general.

Cornerbacks

Jamar Wall, Brent Nickerson, Laron Moore, and L.A. Reed.  It’s tough for me to say as I believe their level of play was more reflective of shitty schematics.

Safeties

Daniel Charbonnet is the best open field tackler we’ve had in a long time.  Darcel McBath is doing well too.  They didn’t let anything get behind them, and Charbonnet assured NU’s longest running play was 10 yards.

Conclusion

Our 7 playmakers (Harrell, Crabtree, Batch, Whitlock, Dixon, Duncan, Charbonnet) all carried this team.  Four of those 7 weren’t here last year.  This team has to realize they’re not flying under the radar any more.  We’ve got a big bullseye on our chest and teams are going to come harder to play each week than in the past.  I thought the Nebraska guys played hard and their coaching staff was just nothing short of magnificent in this contest.  At the end of the day, two of our playmakers, Batch and Dixon, made plays to win the ball game at the end.