Nebraska-Washington Statistical Analysis

I hope I am the only one that isn’t all too pumped about the Holiday Bowl that resides on the bowl schedule for tomorrow. Maybe it’s the Chiefs playoff push, or maybe it’s the fact that Nebraska already played it’s biggest game of the season (oh, and they already played Washington too).

I thought the easiest way to begin my preview for the game would be to take a closer look at the first game these two teams played. What worked, what didn’t, and what the hell happened to Jake Locker (some NFL scouts still think he’s gonna be good?)?

So lets dive right into it…..

September 18, 2010: Nebraska 56, Washington 21

The Nebraska Cornhuskers were able to run the ball at will. Totaling 383 yards on the ground, the Big Red had three different players eclipse the century mark that day in Seattle…

• Taylor Martinez: 19 attempts, 137 yards, 3 TD
• Roy Helu Jr: 10 attempts, 110 yards, 2 TD
• Rex Burkhead: 13 attempts, 104 yards, 1 TD

The Washington Huskies did a decent job of rushing the ball with 175 yards rushing, although 59 of those came from Jake Locker. They did a pretty good job on Chris Polk, who ran 17 times for 55 yards. Polk had a monster game in the Huskies last game of the season against Washington State, going off for 284 yards and 2 TD’s. Time will tell if the Blackshirts can measure up to that fiesty Cougar defense.

With a commanding lead for much of the game, T-Mart didn’t put the ball in air much, only completing 7 passes. However, 5 of those went to Brandon Kinnie, who had a huge day with 105 yards, his highest output of the season. Mike McNeill also caught a 24 yard touchdown, the first of many that afternoon.

And now we get to the main course. Jake Locker. He sure was tasty the first time around as the Blackshirts ate him for lunch. Here is one of the worst QB stat lines this side of Ryan Leaf: 4-20 for 71 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT. The Fonzy Dennard and Eric “The Plague” Hagg were the two Huskers to pick off Leafer.

This is the last game for one of the best secondaries ever assembled in College Football, so it could be tough sledding for Locker once again on Thursday night. However, this will be his chance at retribution. I wander if he is aware of the millions and millions of dollars on the line in this one game for him. Maybe he has a Twitter and I can inform him myself.

I’m not sure if these stats tell enough of the story in how dominating a road win this actually was. Maybe it was too big a blowout for these stats to serve any relevance in the case of the bowl game being any closer.

If there was one thing to fear, on account of statistical analysis, it might be the Huskies running game (I don’t think it’ll be much of a factor). Locker is gonna need to play out of his gord for the Huskies to have a chance.

Game preview coming tomorrow folks!

Bo Gig Red