Grading the Huskers: NU/KU

I think it is entirely possible that Dr. Tom Osborne had a conversation with head coach Bo Pelini before the Nebraska Cornhuskers took on the Kansas Jayhawks that went something like this….

Tom- “Turner Gill meant a lot to this program, and is one of my favorite players I’ve ever coached…”

Bo-

Tom- “Do you see things on tape that we could expose against KU?”

Bo-

Tom- “Well, if you looked past those, and kept things respectable, I wouldn’t forget it. Turner is getting a bad rap at KU right now and could use some good fortune. They’d be making a big mistake to get rid of him too soon. Any problem with that?”

Bo-

Tom-

(More…………)

Sorry, I had to entertain myself somehow while listening to a boring game on the radio. Now for my parting shot aimed at Dan Beebe, a flaming bag of poo has been placed on his front step. On to my uninformed grades of how the Huskers sounded…..

Rushing Offense: Second week in a row with no big runs for the Huskers (long of 20). Obviously protecting T-Mobile’s bum leg, transforming him into T-Stationary, Nebraska rolled up 230 yards on the ground. The carries were evenly split between Helu and Rex for the second week in a row. RexCat formation also used for the second week in a row to pretty good success (I think). Grade: C

Passing Offense: Coaches must have stressed for T-Stationary to get the wideouts involved on Saturday. 13 of Air-Mart’s 14 completions were to starting wide receivers, Niles Paul and Brandon Kinnie. The 14th completion went to Mike McNeill, who may be considered a receiver now, but that won’t convince me. Tight end! Seemed like an average night throwing the ball, especially under Osborne’s directions. Grade: C

Rushing Defense: The Jayhawks tried four different running backs against the Blackshirts to very limited success, logging 74 yards on 24 carries. With little else to say on this, I don’t get why College Football accounts sacks to rushing yard totals. Doesn’t make sense. It’s suffered in the passing game. It skews the numbers. That is all. Grade: A-

Passing Defense: Well, lets see…3 completions. 15 passing yards. 6 sacks. I’d say that’s some pretty good pass defense. Welcome back Alfonzo Dennard (who had a pick)! The NFL secondary is back in Lincoln! Not much to critique here….Grade A+

Specialty Teams: The Jayhawks logged two good kick returns while the game was still somewhat interesting. Henery was perfect yet again. He was named one of 20 finalists for the Lou Groza award earlier this season, and I will be quite disappointed if he’s not one of three finalists for the award. He will be sorely missed next year while he’s kicking in the NFL. The only question is….kicker or punter? Grade B