Nebraska Football vs Wyoming First Quarter Recap
The Nebraska football team talked an awful lot about how they were going to try some new things to start 11 am games better.
It appears Mike Riley is going to go back to the drawing board. For the second straight game, the Huskers just looked off kilter in their first offensive drive. Alot of that look was due to Tommy who simply appeared to be trying to do too much.
That’s nothing new for the fourth year starter, who apparently was told he’d get to throw more today and is trying to hit home runs. His first pass of the game (second offensive play) was a deep ball to an obviously double covered Brandon Reilly.
Luckily, instead of going for the high fly pop fly, the defenders decided to interfere with Reilly. At some point, Tommy is going to have to learn that when the fly route isn’t there, it isn’t there.
It’s frustrating to have to say that about a fifth year senior. The running game wasn’t really there on the first drive either, as Wyoming appeared to be loading up the box and daring the Huskers to beat them through the air.
Despite a first down pass to Cethan Carter, Armstrong fell flat. Luckily for the Nebraska football team, the Husker defense was ready to play when they took the field, forcing a three and out on three runs. The bad news was that on the ensuing punt, Wyoming uncorked one and pinned the Huskers on their own 3 yard line.
That was when Nebraska finally going. The Huskers were able to get themselves some breathing room with a couple of runs. Then Nebraska hit a 40 yard screen pass to Ozigbo … yes they finally hit a screen pass. And followed that up with a long bomb to Brandon Reilly.
The Huskers took a 7-0 lead thanks to a zone read option keeper and Tommy ran it in from 10 yards. For the second straight game, the offense looked a ton better on their second offensive possession. Of course it’s hard not to look good when you go 97 yards on seven plays.
Wyoming’s offense looked better during their second possession as well. A short dump off passing game seemed to be just what the doctor ordered against the Nebraska football team. For the quarter, Josh Allen completely 5 of 6 passes for 46 yards. That one incompletion was huge though.
It came as Wyoming had driven into the Husker red zone. There was a Nate Gerry sighting, though it was because wide receiver Tanner Gentry blew past him for the longest play of the day for Wyoming, a 17-yard pass reception.
The Cowboys offense was moving the ball, until on a 3rd and 2, there was movement on the line. One 3rd and 7, the Huskers blitzed and forced Allen to throw a little high to Gentry, who dropped the pass. The Cowboys ended up with no points, as its freshman kicker missed the field goal.
Next: Five Wyoming Cowboys Players That Could Cause Problems For Nebraska Football
The Huskers responded with a 55-yard pass to Jordan Westerkamp, his first big catch of the season and looked like Tommy was going to score his second TD of the game. Unfortunately Sam Cotton got called for holding. The quarter ended with the Huskers threatening to make it 14-0.