Sunday School: On Wisconsin, Off Nebraska

Taylor Martinez is not a throwing quarterback.

Neither was Frazier, neither was Crouch. Some Husker options wizards were a little better than others when it was time to let it fly. Steve Taylor, Turner Gill, Gerry Gdowski all fit that bill. But even still, Nebraska was never a throwing team. Not when they could keep teams off balance with a dizzying array of option, off tackle, and power running.

The pass was used as a compliment, to strike when the defense had enough of run-run-run and had sold out to stop it, or was prime to be burned by play action. That’s how the great Husker teams did it, the good ones, too. They were built to do something and do it right and they never strayed from that.

This Nebraska team will probably fit somewhere in that “good” category. Probably an 8-10 win team, which to some fans isn’t good at all. But that’s what you can expect unless this defense continues to flounder – see below.

So in order to beat a team that is your equal or better, which Wisconsin fits into the latter, you have to be smart in your plan and play to your strengths and by all means DON’T MAKE MISTAKES.

The Huskers made more than enough mistakes.  Turnovers and penalties show up on the stat sheet. But the biggest mistake of all was getting away from who you are. The Huskers did that starting in the second quarter and appropriately enough, that’s when the game got out of hand.

11 straight passing plays. You read that right. 11 straight passing plays. From the 5:00 minute mark in the 2^nd quarter to the first play of the second half. With a quarterback whose strengths are: 1) running, 2) running, 3) running, 4) answering questions in as few words as possible, 5) running.


Taylor Martinez Post Game Press Conference

Tim Beck is a rookie offensive coordinator. We have been impressed with the infusion of toughness, the injection of the old school Husker running plays, the steady improvement of an offensive line that has more than its share of young players. But Beck is still a rookie play caller and it showed up big time Saturday in Madison. He saw his quarterback complete 5 of his first 7 passes and thought he had inherited Peyton Manning. He forgot that he had a workhorse behind his quarterback who got all of 6 carries in the first half.

That’s inexcusable. It’s a rookie mistake.

Yes, the defense faces a long shot battle to earn their vaunted black practice jerseys this season, but Beck did the defense no favors by having Martinez wing the ball all over Camp Randall late in the second quarter. They needed to control the clock. They needed to assert their physical play on a beaten Badger defense (and they were on their heels in the first half.) Instead, the Huskers gave Wisconsin two cheap possessions in the second quarter and killed any chance of victory. And it was all avoidable. The Huskers had two time outs and plenty of time to get into field goal range knowing they also had the ball first in the second half.

Run the ball.

Nebraska-Wisconsin Final Game Stats

Bo Pelini has a tough week ahead of him. Whether he likes it or not, you will have a fan base that is pretty upset. Forget the point spread. Forget how good Wisconsin looks. Husker fans didn’t just come in droves to Madison to see something like this. They didn’t anticipate an Oklahoma 2008-style beat down when the Huskers joined the Big Ten. But that’s what they got.


Bo Pelini Post Game Press Conference

This team is now made up of Pelini players, playing solely under his regime. Embarrassments like this were understandable in 2008, but not in 2011. Nebraska is now 2-16 versus top 10 teams over the last decade, 1-6 under Pelini. Again, that’s understandable in 2008, but by 2011 there should be more in the win column.

Afterwards, we got the same reasoning for failure. Lack of execution, too many mistakes. Pelini even apologized for the “embarrassing” loss. But there was one thing that Pelini told Greg Sharpe on the Husker Sports Network postgame show that I found interesting.

“I see guys not taking the coaching.”

You can read a lot of things into that statement. It was said under the context of how the mistakes we are seeing on game day are happening in practice. It is a particularly concerning message because it can indicate a disconnect between coaches and players. Why are players not taking to coaching? Do they not understand the message? Do they think they know better? Are they not good enough to “take the coaching?”

One thing is clear, if Nebraska is to have a prayer of making it to Indy this December – which is the bare minimum expectation around here – then Pelini and his staff better find a way to get enough guys to “take the coaching.” After what we saw Saturday night, any offense remaining on this schedule has enough to score on this defense. Including Ohio State, who looked awful offensively against Michigan State at home on Saturday. But the Buckeyes get RB Boom Herron and WR Devier Posey, two players that a team with quarterback issues would love to get back. Next week is a battle of two marquee programs with their seasons hanging in the balance.

The loser is in big trouble.


Alfonzo Dennard Post Game Press Conference

A performance like that doesn’t deserve a whole lot of kudos. Instead, I will give an honorable mention to safety Daimion Stafford. He led the team with 9 tackles and made a couple of nice open field plays that prevented Montee Ball from breaking a long run.

Rather than the traditional top 5, 10, 20 or 25 rankings, I’ll give you my list of the teams I see as BCS National Championship material.

1 – LSU. Saw a tweet Saturday quoting an NFL scout that said the Tigers have 9 defensive starters that could play at the next level. Yikes!

2 – Clemson. I know people are still waiting for Dabo Swinney’s squad to choke away a game they shouldn’t, but you cannot deny it any longer. Wins over Auburn, Florida State and now a 23-3 win over Virginia Tech in Blacksburg.

3 – Oklahoma. Second straight week I’ve dropped the Sooners, but not really because anything they did. Believe me, if OU runs the table against the Big 12, they’ll be in the BCS title game. Guaranteed.

4 – Alabama. Pretty much the same as Oklahoma. Run the table, win the SEC, and face the Sooners.

5 - Wisconsin.  Next to Boise in this group, the Badgers appear to have the easiest path to being unbeaten after the regular season.

6 – Stanford. The Cardinal might ask Pac 12 Commissioner Larry Scott to invite the Sooners and Okie State tomorrow because Stanford needs the Pac to upgrade the competition.

7 – Boone Pickens State. After a bye week this week and next (Kansas), then you go on the road to Texas and Missouri. Those will be fun to watch.

8 – Boise State. You should be used to this position, hoping that the BCS conference powers knock each other off.

Waiting to sneak in: Anybody playing Texas A&M in the second half. For two straight weeks, the Gaggies have blown three-score leads after halftime. The most underachieving football program in America still lives in College Station.

To my friends in Nebraska sports talk radio, have fun with Angry Husker Nation and talking doomsayers off the ledge all while avoiding coming across “too negative.”

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Follow me during the game on Twitter @JohnBishopKLIN. We always appreciate your comments. Send me a message, jbishop@klin.com.