[Husker] My Observations from Norman

[Jeff Volk]

Greetings Husker List,

I wanted to weigh in briefly on my observations from Norman. Standing on the sidelines before the game watching OU warm up I thought we might be in trouble. I have been around enough teams up close to realize that you can tell a whole lot about a team by the obvious signs of athleticism that you see during warm-ups at half or three-quarter speed. The OU players seemed effortless as they went through their drills and their overall level of athleticism I perceived was night and day different then when I went to the other end of the field and watched the Huskers warm-up.

While I know that many of us wanted to believe going into the game that our offense had the goods to keep this game close, think about things this way:

Nebraska has ONE offensive starter who MIGHT start for Oklahoma - Nate Swift. And if he did start, it would be as the #3 or #4 receiver, and not the #1.

Think about that for a second, we have ONE player who MIGHT start for OU on offense.

Taking that thought one step further, our #2 receiver, Peterson, would never see the field for OU and might not even be on the team. Our #2 receiver is likely not good enough to play for the Sooners.

A lot of the mistakes that got made by our offense, like the interception that started the game, are a direct result of the talent gap. Ganz is an above average QB and can get away with a lot of the stuff that he does against the non-conference cream puffs, ISU's and Baylor's of the world - but that doesn't cut it against a legitimate national title contender. Even OU's mediocre defense has the speed and athleticism to cover up their mistakes and force the offense into mistakes when they are playing an average team - which is exactly what we are.

Taking this a step further, while OU's defense certainly isn't anything to write home about you might be hard pressed to find a single Nebraska defensive starter that would start for the Sooners. Maybe Suh (or a healthy Barry Turner), but that is doubtful as much like NU, OU's defensive problems are in the LB and secondary units. Their D-line is actually pretty solid.

All of this reinforces the dramatic talent level difference between NU and the B12 elite. We simply need to bring better athletes that fit Pelini's master plan, regardless of Rivals rankings, to Lincoln for things to get better. Until they do the expectation should be outcomes of big games like this and seasons like this one.

Can we beat KU, KSU and CU to finish 8-4 and go to a decent bowl game? Sure.

Will that be an improvement over last year? Yep.

Does the team show more heart, desire and competitiveness? Absolutely.

Have we generally gotten better every week and shown signs of improvement? Yeah.

Do we still have a LONG way to go before we are sniffing national prominence again? You bet your ass we do.

Will I still cheer and go crazy and attend every big game and support the Huskers till I die? Without question.

And I realized all of this watching the pre-game warm-ups.

I am off on a 12-hour journey back to Minneapolis.

Go Big Red!!!!

Jeff

PS: And to echo several other earlier posts, if you haven't seen the ESPN piece on Thenarse - GO WATCH IT NOW!. It's the type of piece that gives fans a whole new perspective and reminds us that some of these kids are playing for something far greater than wins and losses - they are playing for their lives, and an opportunity to change them.


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