[NU Sports] Husker game thoughts

[Tom Maycock]

Back in Evanston from the friendliest of enemy territories. Some thoughts:

The home fans:
I've been to several Husker games before, but this was my first time there wearing visiting-team colors. I discovered that the reputation of Husker fans as the most gracious and welcoming in the country is very well deserved. 

I can't tell you how many people said "welcome" or "good luck" or "thanks for coming" to us before the game. Even more impressive was how many folks congratulated us on the win and thanked us for coming after the game. And they mean it. That attitude has become a point of pride, and a tradition handed down from one generation to the next. It's really quite an amazing thing to experience in person. 

The QBs:

I think Persa's contributions may have been overlooked a bit. His interception hurt, but that was one of those flukey things rather than a flat-out bad pass. For the most part, he was outstanding both running and throwing, even though it's clear his turf toe was still bothering him. And did I hear the TV guy say he still does 2 hours a day of rehab on his achilles? I really, really hope he's able to finish out the year.  

That said, how good was Colter? Wow. I know the combination of Siemian throwing and Colter catching is a tantalizing prospect for 2012, but Colter is so good at running the offense that it's hard to imagine him not playing a ton of QB the next two years. I suspect we'll see a lot of shared duty. 

I was talking with a couple of Nebraska fans after the game and they were a little freaked out by the fact that we went three deep in (very) talented QBs. 

The Receivers:
Saturday was a reminder of what a luxury it is to have so many quality receivers. Nebraska has some big, fast WRs, but dropped balls have plagued them for a couple of years now (killed them against Texas last year, I believe) and really hurt the Huskers on Saturday. It doesn't matter how fast you are if you can't squeeze the rock when it's thrown to you. Our guys routinely make the easy catches, the hard catches, and the truly improbable catches. And guys like Ebert and Colter are plenty fast themselves. 

The Running game:

Holy crap! Who saw that coming? I couldn't be happier for the O-line and the vastly under-appreciated Jacob Schmidt. And Green's ability to spin, sidestep, twist, spurt, lean, drive, and/or fall for 3, 4, or 5 yards on almost every carry was a big factor--there's a big difference between 2nd and 8 and 2nd and 5. And Venric's going to take one of his opportunities before too long. 

As someone who grew up watching Husker running backs from Jeff Kinney to I.M. Hipp to Ahman Green light up defenses, seeing the Cats do what they did on the ground in that stadium was amazing. 

The defense:
That was what I'd hoped we'd see on a regular basis this year, but hadn't until Saturday. It was really vintage "good" NU defense: keep everything in front of you, don't give up the big play, make the sure tackles, force them to snap it again and again, and pounce on any mistakes. Ibrahim Campbell in particular grew up big-time in this game. Proby too. But everyone seemed to play well. Special nod to Ricky Weina, who's been getting some PT on nickel situations. His "who the hell is that?" heroics in that Indiana game a couple years back won't be forgotten, but now he's getting some chances to add to that legacy. 

Mick McCall:
There are always a couple of moments you'd like to see handled differently (Kain pitching to Tyris Jones was probably not the ideal scenario in the midst of a very successful first drive), but my goodness, Mick's a freakin genius. 

He can attack you every which way in the passing game, and is brilliant and exploiting weaknesses. We have a deadly option game. He found ways to pound the ball on the ground, even when Nebraska knew what was coming. And when the offense is on a roll and goes high-tempo, opponents have no idea what's coming. Finally, if there's a better tutor of QBs in the country, I'd be surprised. 

I don't know how long we'll be able to hang on to this guy, but we should savor every moment of his time at NU. 

Tom