IT'S A BIRD, IT'S A PLANE...IT'S THE NEBRASKA FULLBACK! It was an Old School Nebraska football play if ever there was one. I was shocked nobody in the Nebraska media made a big deal out of fullback, Barret Leibentritt’s block on the critical fourth down goal line touchdown. Dowdell reached the endzone by running behind his bulldozer fullback who threw a block that nailed not one, but TWO of Purdue’s edge defenders. Watch the replay. That was The Play of the Game in my book.
THE REFS. (Yeah, I know, know, yet again) Mistakes are part of the game, even for the refs. But RJ’s TD that was called back was for a bogus offensive PI call. Umping is a tough job and certain calls are touch-and-go and tough on officials. But how was that flag thrown??? Fidone didn’t even touch the defender he supposedly interfered with. I did like the fact that when asked about his own personal foul penalty, Coach said “Somebody’s got to defend Nebraska.” He’s right. This BS has been going on WAY too long.
JACORY BARNEY IS A BALLER! That little guy has a real turbo-gear on him when he gets into space. I worry about him sometimes because he’s playing in a Big Boy League. But so far, he’s popped back up after every big hit he’s taken. I’m liking the fact that the coaches are continuing to find new ways of getting him the ball. He’s a home run threat every time he has it.
A TALE OF TWO HALVES. I swear, I suffered Dija Vu watching the first half of yesterday’s game. What the hell? Had I entered the Twilight Zone??? Had I fallen into a time warp and got stuck watching another one of those maddening Frost games? The BHF Shoutbox crew I watched the game with couldn’t see the steam coming out of my ears. I was ready to explode. But once our offense took the field in the second half, the resemblance was gone. It was Dylan Raiola under center, not Adrian Martinez. Instead of costly second half turnovers that sealed our fate, we saw three straight, no-nonsense TDs. And the Blackshirts shut them down until a garbage TD at the end. The Huskers' second half performance showed me a lot of Heart.
SCHIZOPHRENIC FANS. Many thought we were a top ten team until Raiola missed his wide-open receiver for the game-winning TD against Illinois. I’ll confess, I was one of ‘em and took that loss especially hard. Damn it, if I didn't become a fourteen-year old fan again. Then halfway thru yesterday’s game, a whole bunch of us Husker fans thought we’d devolved into worthless pieces of s**t who couldn’t score on hapless Purdue if our lives depended on it. This damn Rhule guy was a poser--nothing whatsoever had changed and we were back to the Frost days.
The truth is that this year's team is probably somewhere in-between those two extremes. And that easy-peasy 7-0 schedule? Rutgers and Indiana are both undefeated, folks. Our next two games will go a long way towards determining which way the needle goes on the “How Good are We?” Meter.
for some time. Knowing that we aren't a team that is going to blow teams away, I really feel that a good field goal kicking unit will be imperative to our success THIS YEAR. It's probably already cost us one game and I think it will cost us more if not fixed. A nonexistent threat to make field goals puts so much additional pressure on everyone.....Dylan, play callers, and the offense in its entirety. I confess that I have changed from just looking at our kickers to looking at the field goal kicking unit in its totality.....ie kicker, holder, snapper, and coaches. This unit needs to be fixed. I don't know if it's fixable this year, but I hope so.
