Now that I've settled down a bit from the euphoria of the win, here are my thoughts about the game:
Offense:
Positives:
Positives:
Positives:
Go Cats!
Offense:
Positives:
- Our OL is legit. All the improvement we've seen on paper in the Anderson era appears to be coming to fruition. It wasn't just about Skoronski. The entire unit played cohesively, as if of one mind. It wasn't a perfect game, and how good Nebraska's front 7 really is remains to be seen, but both run blocking and pass protection were excellent. We will certainly face tougher defenses this season, but if our OL can perform consistently at the level displayed today, our offense has the potential to be one of the most exciting in recent years.
- As expected, our RB room is probably the best position group on the team. Hull showed that last year was not a fluke, and Porter seems to have fully recovered from his "lower body injury". If they can both stay healthy, their ability to spell each other and remain fresh for 4 quarters will spell trouble for opposing defenses.
- We have our QB. What a difference having time in the pocket and familiarity with the system makes for a QB, huh? Hilinski showed great decision making, excellent command of the offense, and great accuracy and good velocity on his throws.
- 4th quarter strategy. I liked the philosophy of (as the broadcasters put it) making Nebraska earn it, and I don't mind trying to tire a defense out by ramming it down their throat to milk the clock with the lead. However, I don't like the way in which we did it. We came away from any variation in how we ran the ball and just settled from running in between the tackles in a very predictable fashion. Felt like I was watching McCall back on the sideline. I would have preferred to mix in a few more outside runs with guards pulling, which I think would have netted more yards, as well as one or two play-action passes on 2nd downs during the last two drives. I think Hilinski is a smart enough QB to not turn the ball over in those situations, and being able to pick up a couple more first downs could have made the game much less nerve-wracking at the end. We got away with the ultra-conservative approach mostly because it was Nebraska and Frost on the other side, but I don't think that will work as well against other teams.
Positives:
- Front 7 was solid on run defense all game long. With a few exceptions, Nebraska never really was able to do much on the ground. DL seemed to be very stout, and LBs flowed to the ball well.
- Whether it was a change in scheme from last year, or just that the players were more familiar with the scheme this year, there appeared to be much less confusion on defense. Players seemed to always be in the right positions (as opposed to last season), and I don't recall any obvious blown assignments.
- The secondary is deep. While I know that Hampton has his detractors on this board, I was concerned when he got hurt and the broadcasters later say that he was in a walking booth. Doubly concerned when Mitchell also came out. But the others on the depth chart stepped up.
- O'Neil called a good game. I think Nebraska's first half offensive success, particularly through the air, was all about us trying to feel them out under their new OC, Whipple. I'd be interested to see what exactly changed at half time, but Thompson look rattled and was not the same QB. The safety blitz call was a perfect call, especially since we hadn't really blitzed all day. JON is still a puzzling hire to me (why hire a 3-4/multiple DC if we're not going to run that defense?), but at least for today, I think he did a fine job.
- Tackling still needs to improve. Better than last year (hard to get worse), but there were still several plays that had me tearing my hair out as I saw our players fail to wrap up and finish tackles.
Positives:
- Akers is going to be a major asset for us. Field position played a large role in some of the momentum changes in the game. His ability to drop it inside the 10 with accuracy was excellent, and that punt that hit on the 1-yard line with backspin was a thing of beauty.
- Return game: I would have liked to see a little more aggressiveness in returning the ball instead of fair-catching everything, but I admit that there may not have been many good opportunities to do so.
- Kicking: Yes, Stage missed the 36-yarder, but not by much. Let's see how he does the remainder of the season, but his attempts just felt more solid than anything that Kuhbander put up during his career.
Go Cats!
