The first half of Nebraska’s game with Ohio could be summed up with one word: BRUTAL. Brutal mistakes, brutal heat. Quite a few fans bailed at halftime, and I couldn’t blame anyone for heading out in these conditions. (I drained nearly a quart and a half of water in the FIRST half alone.)
But when you are only up one point on a MAC opponent at halftime, there’s cause for concern. (Michigan fan, please put yourself on mute.) The biggest concerns were the ability to contain Ohio quarterback Nick Poulos
and penalties. That’s a throwback to last year’s season opener against Cincinnati when Brendan Sorsby hurt the Blackshirts with his legs last season.
Second half was a different story on the field. The Huskers pulled away and covered the spread late. Maybe Ohio ran out of gas. But maybe, just maybe, the Huskers stopped being their own worst enemy after halftime.
Season openers aren’t supposed to always be clean. Sometimes they are, such as Ohio State’s 56-3 victory over Ball State, Iowa’s 40-0 win over Northern Illinois or Penn State’s 45-0 blowout of Marshall. But then there’s Northwestern 34-18 win over South Dakota State and Michigan’s official-review-aided 13-12 comeback over Western Michigan.
It’s one of twelve games, and we’ll learn a lot more about this team in October than we will in September. With that, it’s on to this week’s report card. As always, your feedback is welcome in the comments.
QB: Two observations I had: (1) It’s nice to have a quarterback again who can throw the ball downfield and (2) Can Anthony Colandrea consistently throw the ball over a Big Ten defensive line? More than once, Colandrea had passes batted down by the Ohio defensive line. Bigger defensive lines are still to come this season. That doesn’t diminish the first point, and that’s how Colandrea connected with receivers vertically. Multiple times checking down to Mekhi Nelson in the flat. That’s a new wrinkle in this offense, and that’s NOT a criticism of Emmitt Johnson. Let’s see where this offense goes, but I like what I saw in game one. Grade: B+
I-Back: Isaiah Mozee started the game…and might find himself third on the list next week. The emerging star was true freshman Jamal Rule who rushed for 122 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 8.1 yards per carry and also caught two passes for 47 yards and another touchdown. Mekhi Nelson added 64 yards and a score on the ground, averaging 6.4 yards per carry, and that 51 yard touchdown catch was a thing of beauty. It’s wonderful having a quarterback who can go through progressions and find a running back downfield. Grade: A-
WR: Hitting on the same theme, but having a quarterback that can throw downfield changes the entire offensive game plan. Kwazi Gilmer looks like one heck of a possession receiver. I think Jacory Barney is going to excel this year as well. The only downside I have on the day is for Carter Nelson, who didn’t have a good day. His whiff trying to block Omaha Central grad Isaac Ackerman led to one of the Bobcats’ sacks of Colandrea. Grade: B
OL: I think watching some replays alleviated some concerns watching the game live from the end zone. (Or maybe it was the heat…) I think the run blocking was better than we’ve been seeing the last few years, not to mention the pass protection. (Gunnar Gottula’s whiff of Ohio’s Isaac Ackerman, withstanding.) Grade: B
DL: Between number changes and the number of new names on the defense, it was really tough to gauge individuals making (or not making plays). It’s nice to see Riley Van Poppel back off of the milk carton from last season. Excited to see what Jahsear Whittington can do this season. Ohio couldn’t run the ball all game, other than with quarterback scrambles, and that starts up front. Grade: B+
LB: Without Owen Chambliss, we didn’t really get an idea what the linebackers are going to be capable of, but Vincent Shavers did have a good game. Dexter Foster had three quarterback hurries. Probably need to clean up containment of scrambling quarterbacks in future weeks. Grade: B
Secondary: Jeremiah Charles was confused on the opening play of the game, and that led to a 68 yard “here we go again” moment. Jamir Conn led all the Blackshirts with eight tackles, and Donovan Jones was probably the Huskers best pass defender on the day. Throw that opening drive away, and Ohio only completed 12 of the Bobcats’ final 30 passes for 92 yards; I think we’d take that most any week. Grade: B
Special Teams: Matt Rhule famously said before his first game with the Huskers that he wasn’t a fan of fair catching kickoffs and that his teams would be aggressive in returning punts. But that aggression backfires more often than not, like when Nyziah Hunter’s ill-advised reversing field kickoff return gave the Big Red the ball at the eight yard line. Enough. I’m close to starting a statewide petition drive to make it a felony to advance a kickoff out of the endzone. Going offsides on kickoffs is also inexcusable. Grade: C-
Overall: B. At halftime, I was actually thinking we were heading towards a D, but that second half more than made up for that. In the end, it was a good start to the season overall. Don’t read too much into this, but Nebraska, in the end, did what they needed to do.
Elsewhere in College Football
Big Ten/NBC: C I have to admit, I didn’t watch the end of the Weasels/Western Michigan game live. Spending four hours outside in that heat took too much out of me, and I was actually dozing. But after watching the Big Ten’s Hawk-Eye replay and NBC’s replay, I’m not sure how we saw both systems differ. If I’m the Big Ten, I’m reaching out to both NBC and Hawk-Eye and validating that both systems were timing correctly. It doesn’t make sense that the two were off by as much as a half-second. And that’s not good for college football.
Or maybe we should just assume that anything that comes from a company named “Hawk-Eye” is wrong.
Michigan: D for Did Not Impress. (Or if you trust NBC’s replay, Did Not Win.)
Rutgers: F Unless the Scarlet Knights can pull out a couple of wins in the next four games, which include Boston College, Southern Cal and Indiana, we may need to refer to them as Buttgers.
Clempson: 0 The Lane Train made the orange Tigers Yabba Dabo Ouch.
UCLA: A Not going to question any former James Madison coach until proven otherwise.
