Sunday School: Rex Wrangles Cowboys

I am reviewing the script for the 2011 season and I see that we have reached the end of the first act with everyone right where they’re supposed to be. Huskers 4-0. Wisconsin 4-0.

Okay, so maybe our director and actors adlibbed from what we had placed on paper but hey the great ones do that right?


Bo Pelini Post Game press conference

It says here in the script that the offense was going to have some growing pains with a new system, new way to call plays but with a lot more talent at the skill positions. Honestly, the writers weren’t given much to work with considering that our director refused to share with us how he was going to block the scenes, so we were left to guess.

After the first act, our lead, Mr. Martinez has proven that he can still carry a scene. In fact, he carried it a little too much right after the curtain opened. So a few changes were made and in the last two scenes, Mr. Martinez allowed some room in the spotlight for our gritty, tough guy actor Mr. Burkhead. He reminds you of a young Robert Duvall doesn’t he? Right down to the receding hairline. He never dominates a scene, just plays off the other actors and makes everyone look better around him.

Appropriate that a good cowboy actor would star in Laramie, Wyoming. After all, some beautiful Westerns were shot in this state. Shane. Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Any Which Way You Can. Rocky IV. Okay so the last three aren’t Westerns, but you could have entitled Saturday night’s performance “Save A Martinez, Ride A Burkhead.”


Rex Burkhead Post Game interview (Courtesy Husker Sports Network)

While Martinez kept the ball a season low 12 times, Burkhead was making every bit of his 15 (which seemed like 25) carries for a career high 170 yards and a couple of touchdowns. I know we talk about Martinez in the lead role, but really it’s Burkhead that steals the show. Every time Nebraska needs something, there’s Burkhead doing the old soft shoe. While everyone noticed the way Quincy Enunwa and Tyler Legate cleared the stage on Burkhead’s 45 yard touchdown run in the first quarter, the play was made in the backfield when Burkhead juked the only man who had a chance to stop him. Without that, all the downfield help in the world wasn’t going to cause the crowd to jump out of their seats.

The last few years, Husker fans have wondered if the oxen ahead of the wagon had the pulling power to plow the way forward. Every year we hear about how this offensive line “had it”, that magical link to the now-mythical Pipelines of years gone by. Of course a final judgment is still weeks off, but low and behold there might be something to this bunch. The last three weeks when it was time to put a game out of reach this line has been doing its job. In the final drive against Fresno and the second halves against Washington and Wyoming, this line looks like the stronger ensemble. That will play on the stages of Madison, Ann Arbor and State College.

Then there are those talented role players. Oh what young up and coming stars! Just four games into his college career teams are already trying to play keep away from Ameer Abdullah while his two counterparts in the backfield, Braylon Heard and Aaron Green are taking advantage of their brief time on stage. So too are Kenny Bell and Jamal Turner. I sense more breakout scenes for these young actors are still to come. And the previous mentioned Mr. Enunwa? He’s become quite the utility player. Big catches. Big blocks. Forced fumbles. He reminds me of a young Brandon Kinnie. By the way It was nice to see you come out of your trailer, Mr. Kinnie and not a moment too soon. It’s always good to have a veteran in a supporting role, especially as we move to the big stage.

Looking at the defense, the script says that the bedrock of this troupe was going to carry the load while the offense earned its chops. (Sigh) I just don’t know what to say about this unit. One moment I feel like this is the Saturday Night Live syndrome. You see the name on the marquee and you just assume it is going to be entertaining, but it just falls flat.

Okay, to be fair the second and third quarters of last week’s Washington game were a couple of good sketches. It helps when you have good character actors like Lavonte David who you know will always give you a good performance. But these newcomers are struggling to find their way. I guess it’s true; it’s hard to replace Belushi, Ackroyd and Murray….I mean Amukamara, Hagg and Gomes. Then when you make them perform without the one star they had hoped to learn from (Alfonzo Dennard), the learning curve gets mighty steep indeed.

Then in Wyoming, Dennard was back and it seemed to make a difference. Yes, there were a couple of blown coverages, but 33 attempts and only 166 yards from Wyoming’s Brett Smith. You’ll take that any day. Not that you’ll necessarily see 33 passing attempts much more this season, but you get my drift. Smith didn’t dare throw to Dennard’s side of the field except on cautious, short out routes with soft coverage.   As long as Dennard’s security blanket is there, you’ll always have an extra defender or two to help out elsewhere. I still expect Wisconsin to test him at least a couple times next week. You have to.


Alfonzo Dennard Post Game interview (Courtesy Husker Sports Network)

The critics will say this group isn’t ready for Act Two, especially the first scene at Wisconsin. It’s true, the acting troupe of Wilson, Ball, Toon & Co look like the most talented bunch we’ll see all year. But so far, they’ve been playing the community theatre. Heck, you could argue that they have been spending all of their time acting on the gymnasium stages of the elementary school circuit.

UNLV, Oregon State, Northern Illinois and South Dakota? That ain’t Broadway. That sounds more like Safeway. Don’t get me wrong, this Badger squad looks the part, but let’s see what they can do on the big stage and it won’t get any bigger than next Saturday night.

Time to lift the curtain on Act Two.

Nebraska/Wyoming Game Statistics

1 – Rex Burkhead. Who else could it be? 15 carries, 170 yards and I hope we see a lot of Wildcat against Wisconsin.

2 – The O-line. It will take some film review to isolate players, but for the second straight week the line took over the final 30 minutes. Second half NU rushed 35 times for 220 yards, over 6.2 yards per carry when Wyoming knew the Huskers were running.


Mike Caputo Post game interview (Courtesy Husker Sports Network)

3 – Brett Maher. Replays seemed to show he was robbed of the 50 yard field goal at the end of the first half, but no matter. He prevented returns on 6 of 7 kickoffs and averaged 53 yards on three punts.

4 – Terrence Moore. Only one tackle, but Moore disrupted enough to allow others to make plays. He has earned the right to be Crick’s wingman.


Terrence Moore Post Game interview (Courtesy Husker Sports Network)

Seriously, Big East you’re supposed to be sending a message to Syracuse not gift wrapping a win for the Orange.

To many of you (who I presume are Husker fans), this won’t be particularly revealing but I find some clarification is necessary as we sort out the so-called “winners & losers” in the latest round of conference realignment 2011.

Austin-American Statesman writer Kirk Bohls is not shy in proclaiming Texas, and its athletic director DeLoss Dodds the winner of all winners. Sam Mellinger of the Kansas City Star has his own short list, which partially contradicts Bohls’s.

There is no doubt who came out the lesser by all of this drama. The Big East Conference gets paired by two members, Pittsburgh and Syracuse, and while neither is confused for a modern day football power, the loss of two top notch basketball programs and a founding member now creates instability and makes them the conference to watch for the next implosion.

Oklahoma, which so badly didn’t want to be the ‘wallflower’ this time around, pulled a near 180 in its involvement regarding realignment and was 2011’s version of 2010 Missouri, who talked their way out of any chance of being invited to the Big Ten. The Sooners went from kicking sand in Texas’s face to going back to their usual position of being hitched to Bevo’s backside in the matter of hours last Tuesday. Then their amazing attempt to spin the story by saying they were using the threat of Pac 12 membership to actually force change in the Big 12 was some of the worst double agent work this side of Maxwell Smart.

But back to Bohls assertion that Texas is a big winner in all this. I don’t deny any of the points made about preserving the Longhorn Network, making small concessions, and continuing to assert their dominance over the Big 12. The problem I see is that there can be no confusion outside of a few burnt orange patriots in Austin and Bristol, CT that Texas is a cancer inside college athletics that kills or can kill just about everyone but itself.

Last year, the spin outside of Nebraska was that it was the Huskers who cried and pouted their way to the Big Ten because they couldn’t hang with Texas. In reality, it had nothing to do with the playing fields and had everything to do with the board rooms. Texas doesn’t play nice with anybody and doesn’t care about anybody but Texas and while it is fine to look out for yourself, you have to realize that a greater good exists. In that case, it is college athletics.

There is another sports franchise that tends to exist in the same way. But the difference is that baseball cannot live without the New York Yankees, college sports can live without the Texas Longhorns. No, I don’t expect a day to come where everybody gangs up on UT and leaves them out of bowl games or conferences or NCAA tournaments, but I do know the old adage that ‘what comes around goes around’ and people will not forget the actions of the last two years and who is very much at the center of the problem.

The University of Texas isn’t the only one to blame for this mess, but they have a larger responsibility than any other individual school for making it. As far as their ‘partners’ at ESPN, well that is a story for another time.

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. When you can go on the road at a place like Couchburningtown, WV and light the place on fire, you deserve to be the Alpha Dog this week.

2 – Oklahoma. Really shouldn’t be surprised that Mizzou covered the spread. OU doesn’t need to crush all who stand in their way. There are plenty of tests against A&M, Okie State, Baylor and (I suppose) Texas to prove the Sooners are really that good. The Big 12 isn’t a worthy conference, but whomever wins the conference is title worthy.

3 – Alabama. Another impressive win over the little piggies and Florida waits in the wings. If the Tide and LSU stay undefeated until November 5^th, look out for major ESPN Hypemaggedon.

4 – Stanford. UCLA, Colorado, Washington State the next three weeks. Cruise control.

5 – Boone Pickens State. The A&M Aggies were poised to vault up my list after the first half, but credit the Cowboys with a furious third quarter comeback. Ok State still lacks enough defense to run the table, but for right now they have to be considered championship threats until they are beaten.

6 – Clemson. Back to back huge road wins for Dabo Swinney. Now let’s see if you can leave Howard’s Rock and find a way to steal Virginia Tech’s lunch pail in Blacksburg.

7 – Boise State. You beat Tulsa by 21 at home. The guys two spots ahead of you beat them by 27 on the road. At 3:00 in the morning. As usual, you guys wait until everybody with a schedule has at least one loss.

Waiting to sneak in: Wisconsin-Nebraska winner

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