Sunday School: Spartans Fade To Black

Blackshirts: Earned

Legend of Rex Burkhead: Cemented

Walking to the stadium Saturday morning I looked around at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus and for the first time it felt like a Big Ten day.

After nearly three and a half hours of football, my feelings were confirmed and now we’re going to have an intense month of November to determine the Legends Division champion.

This conference has come to be popularly defined by two men, Woody Hayes and Bo Schembechler. I have to assume that they would have approved of the physical slug fest that was Nebraska’s 24-3 win over Michigan State. Yards earned were earned on the ground. The passing game, which may or may not have been shipped back to the days when Hayes was coaching Ohio State, was almost non-existent. The hitting was hard and the trainers for both teams ran enough yards on and off the field to work off a steak dinner.

Prior to the game it was Michigan State who was billed as the better defense and rightfully so, but Saturday proved that the Blackshirts were anything but dead. The Spartans managed 87 yards passing on 27 attempts (3.2 yards per attempt) while rushing for only 101 yards on 30 attempts. It was a curious game plan from MSU Offensive Coordinator Dan Rouchar to be sure, especially when the Spartans got two quick first downs just simply running the ball straight at Nebraska. But then MSU tried to let their senior QB Kirk Cousins move the ball through the air and he failed them miserably.

Through most of the season, the Husker secondary has been beset by inconsistent play, confusion and blown assignments so it stands to reason that Michigan State might try to take their shots. But they took far too many on first and second down when running the ball would have been the better option and Cousins threw far too many balls into either double coverage or at NU’s strongest pass defender, Alfonzo Dennard. Rouchar had to feel that the game film he watched of Nebraska was of the wrong team because darn near everyone in the secondary saved their best coverage day for Sparty.

It wasn’t just the secondary that pulled out its ‘A’ game on Saturday. Will Compton, Cameron Meredith, and Eric Martin all contributed with arguably their best performances of the season. The Huskers broke out a stand-up, off-the-line-of-scrimmage 3^rd down pass rush stolen from the Pittsburgh Steelers playbook that resulted in a season high four sacks and four quarterback pressures. Martin had his first two sacks rushing off the end and Lance Thorell’s first career interception set up the Huskers first score of the game.

To nobody’s surprise, Carl Pelini announced that the first team defense will be practicing in black jerseys come Monday.


Alfonzo Dennard Postgame Press Conference


Will Compton Postgame Press Conference


Cameron Meredith Postgame Press Conference

I honestly didn’t think after the last two seasons of Ndamukong Suh that another player of his popularity and cult-like following would come around here for quite some time. Rex Burkhead will not likely be a high draft pick who stars in car commercials, but he just might leave this campus after next year as the most popular Husker of all time.

Saturday was classic Burkhead, 35 carries for 130 yards. That’s a paltry 3.7 yards per carry, but they were Burkhead carries, ones that kept the offense moving slowly forward when few other things were working. Sure enough the patience paid off as in the third quarter the Huskers ground out their best drive of the day to open the half, a 14 play, 80 yarder that ended in Burkhead’s one yard run in which the officials originally ruled fumble with an MSU recovery. But after careful review upstairs, the replay booth overturned the call and confirmed what Nebraska fans already know.

Superman doesn’t fumble.


Rex Burkhead Postgame Press Conference

The drive also featured two fine plays by Taylor Martinez and Brandon Kinnie. Noticing that MSU’s Johnny Adams was cheating back at the snap to defend the deep ball, Martinez and Kinnie twice fooled Adams on a quick-stop route. Both plays resulted in first downs.

While it was not a good day for either quarterback, it was Martinez who looked more like a fifth-year senior. As ESPN’s Rece Davis, Mark May and Lou Holtz yucked it up at Martinez’s expense at halftime, Nebraska’s quarterback twice made heads-up decisions to throw deep after drawing MSU offside. Both “free plays” resulted in additional penalties for pass interference. Save for one interception on a poor floating pass, Martinez did what Tim Beck asked of him – run the offense, feed Burkhead and don’t make the critical mistake.

The Blackshirts and Rex would take care of the rest.

Nebraska-Michigan State Final Statistics


Bo Pelini Postgame Press Conference

Predictably, some are trying to blame the result on a Michigan State “hangover.” I call B.S. It’s a cheap and easy excuse to explain what happened and it cheapens the Nebraska effort.

I don’t care who you play and in what order, when you’ve won the games MSU has won in the way they have won them and you have a chance to all but clinch the division (or at least eliminate your chief challenger), you don’t come out mentally flat.

Letdowns, if they happen, don’t happen in games like this. They typically happen against inferior teams. See Nebraska-Iowa State 1992 for an example.


Mark D'Antonio Postgame Press Conference

B1G Divisional Tiebreaker Rules.

Late in first half by Matt Hinton of Yahoo Sports.

If you haven’t seen it yet, here’s SI.com’s Andy Staples’ interview with former North Carolina (and Nebraska assistant) John Blake regarding the NCAA’s investigation into allegations Blake steered players to an NFL agent, check it out here.

In a nutshell Blake is accused of trying to point college players in the direction of Gary Wichard, a longtime friend who represented pro athletes, in exchange for compensation totaling $31,000. Also as evidence, NCAA investigators uncovered several hundred minutes in cell phone conversations between the two, many lasting under five minutes. Blake explains that the money and those phone calls were in regards to Blake’s tough financial situation stemming from the end of his days as head coach at Oklahoma and the fact that Wichard was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and insisted that he maintain a steady line of communication with Blake for support.

Also named in the NCAA’s investigation were former Husker Ndamukong Suh and NU assistant Marvin Sanders. Sanders was asked by Nebraska officials in 2009 to tell North Carolina staff to stop Blake from trying to convince Suh to take Wichard as an agent. Suh later produced a sworn affidavit to Blake’s attorneys claiming that Blake (who recruited Suh to Nebraska) never tried to talk him into signing with Wichard.

The NCAA’s Committee on Infractions began their hearing with Blake Friday. He probably won’t hear his fate until early next year. That decision will determine if Blake ever is allowed to coach again at an NCAA affiliated school, something he hopes to do again.

Meanwhile, I watch the video and cannot help but wonder if Blake seemed coached in his answers. I want to believe him. Having interviewed him on more than a few occasions while working for the Pinnacle (now Husker) Sports Network, he seemed to be a very principled and kind man. It was easy to see how he was such a great recruiter – arguably Bill Callahan’s most valuable asset while at Nebraska. Watch for yourself and be the judge. It will be very interesting to see how the Committee – which includes UNL faculty member Jo Potuto – rules in this case.

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