[NU Sports] 'Cats-Huskers

[Dennis W. Brandt]

BEAMSLEY: I just couldn't resist your claim of rarely being wrong.
BRANDT:  When it comes to sports, everyone is wrong at times.  On other 
matters, formulating a cogent argument is not a claim of perfection, but it 
does often silence the opposition, as it certainly has in this case.

BEAMSLEY: What I can say is that the win in Lincoln wasn't a fluke.  NU won 
an old fashioned smash mouth toe to toe BT football game.  That last seven 
minute TD drive would have brought a tear to Woody Hayes' eye.
BRANDT:  That is true.  They did play the best defensive game of the season, 
and they way they moved the ball at crunch time was a marvel to watch.

BEAMSLEY: NU had every opportunity to pack it in, but showed heart and 
character playing on the road against a top-10 team.  They overcame every 
obstacle and more importantly every nay sayer who felt that they weren't 
talented enough or well coached enough to be on the same field with 
Nebraska.
BRANDT:  Also true.  But whatever the polls may state, Nebraska obviously 
was not a top ten team going into yesterday's game and certainly did not 
play like one.

BEAMSLEY: There is no talent deficit on this team.
BRANDT:  Sorry, oh ye of great faith, but that is dead wrong.  We have but 
three stars on offense, but we have built a good offense around them.  We 
have no stars on defense at this point, which is why we are ranked among the 
worst defenses in the nation.  One win, glorious as it is, does not suddenly 
grant halfway decent players all-conference status.  Again yesterday there 
were zero sacks and a still-porous pass defense.  We clearly eschewed the 
pass yesterday to concentrate on the run.  We should thank the Nebraska 
coaching staff for concentrating on the run in the first half.  They scored 
all their TDs in the second half AFTER they started passing more often.  Had 
they passed the entire game, it is highly unlikely that we would have won 
the game because we have yet to stop anyone from passing.

BEAMSLEY: There is no coaching deficit on this team.
BRANDT: Define "deficit."  Fitz's enthusiasm spreads throughout the team, 
and that is superb.  But there again were some questionable, overly 
conservative play-calls.  And the continued us of a double quarterback 
system when you have, if healthy, one of the finest quarterbacks in the 
nation is, as the king of Siam once said, "a puzzlement."  On a positive 
note, we don't have Jerry Sandusky on staff.  I hope.