[Husker] My Take On The Game and the Defense

[Michael Petersen]

Zac shouldn't have been expected to throw 50 passes. OU knew what we were 
going to do each play in the second half. We still had running backs that 
could have helped our offensive performance considerably even with Jackson 
out.

Don't blame Zac for the offense that day.

Mike
----- Original Message ----- 
From: <3aoo-cvfd at dea.spamcon.org>
To: <29f1-o5eq at dea.spamcon.org>
Cc: "Husker List" <husker at tssi.com>
Sent: Friday, December 08, 2006 2:37 PM
Subject: Re: [Husker] My Take On The Game and the Defense


> Jeff Volk wrote:
>>
>> The defense actually played pretty solid
>
> Our defense played great!  They held Oklahoma to just
> 42 yards on the ground.  It was a tremendous effort.
>
>> I love Zac Taylor, but fact is he didn't have his best
>> game.
>
> Let's not mince words.  It was Zac's worst game this year.
> He played eight games without an interception.  He played
> four games with just 1 interception.  Then in this game he
> throws 3 interceptions?  Please.
>
>> Some of it was related to sub par and inconsistent o-line
>> play
>
> Don't blame the o-line.  They gave up more sacks against
> Oklahoma State and Zac threw no interceptions.  They gave
> up just as many sacks against Kansas State and Zac threw
> no interceptions.
>
>> but mostly he just didn't have a sharp game.
>
> Not sharp?  Not sharp?  Zac was not sharp against USC
> (50% completions) and threw no interceptions.  Zac was
> not sharp against Kansas (45% completions) and threw no
> interceptions.  Against Oklahoma Zac had a meltdown.
>
> Think about it.  Would Joe Ganz have been any worse?
>
>> As for the defense, the focus was clearly to stop the run
>
> And they did a wonderful job.
>
>> and make Thompson win with the pass.
>
> It was a winning strategy.  The defense held Oklahoma to
> just 14 points.  Surely, we could have expected the Husker
> offense to beat that.
>
>> Based on the number of throws they had attempted in most
>> of their games it was a game plan that made a lot of sense
>> going into the game.
>
> It still made a lot of sense after the game.
>
>> You can say what you will about in game adjustments
>
> We didn't need any defensive adjustments, we needed an
> effective offense.
>
>> but the bottom line is that Thompson just played big
>> and made big plays.
>
> Yeah, he scored 14 points.  No big deal.  Our offense
> should have surpassed that.
>
>> The bottom line is that the injury to Bowman put the
>> Husker's defense at more of a disadvantage this year
>> than people really believe.
>
> Not just Bowman.  We have had a number of injuries this
> year in the defensive backfield.  It hurt.  Nevertheless
> I can't understand why critics are focussing on our defense
> when it is the offense that lost us the game.
>
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