The results were tight on both questions - but there’s definitely much to fix during the extended time off.
Michigan 30 Nebraska 27.
Michigan covered and so did the overs (and when’s the last time Nebraska covered the overs?). But there was so much more to all of it. Are we going to take a deep dive into that right now? No, of course not.
But the minuses and the plusses were on display last Saturday and it didn’t take a football genius to spot them all. The questions here were how you, the Nation of Corn, felt about them. Beings it’s a Good News/Bad News situation? Well, Bad News won the day by 3 points, so we start there. There’s no argument the Huskers’ flaws were on display. Which one is the most concerning to you?
Second question – there were positive aspects as well even though Husker PTSD required that most people lose their minds, demand multiple firings and throw that white flag in the dryer to clean the winter dust bunnies before flying. But which of the Husker plusses were you happiest to see?
Here’s what you said and, yes, both were close:
- The offensive line won by a nose – and the difference might be the fact no one really saw this coming. While the line hadn’t been dominant against Cincinnati, they pushed around their two walkovers like a good team should. But weakness was exposed, especially at the tackle position where the Husker pocket was collapsed repeatedly. Elijah Pritchard needs to take over for Gunnar Gottula who was overmatched Saturday – and Pritchard may have gotten a quick hook on the brutal false start call which was really offsides. Teddy was beaten often on the right side as well. But they were both backpedalling off the snap – was that a coaching error? So the bigger question – is this fixable? 46% are worried.
- The run defense was the big fear going in and the fear proved well-founded as Justice Haynes and Michigan rushed for nearly 300 yards. Stunts and bad gaps seemed most responsible for the big runs which accounted for 166 of the Wolverines’ 292 yards on the ground. Missed tackles had popped sporadically in the first three games then brutally so in the 16-play drive which basically clinched the Michigan win. 43% of you still believe this is the toughest flaw to fix.
- Only 11% went with red zone offense inside the 10 and likely believe the opening 70-yard 0-point drive was the difference in the game.
- Another close vote here, 51% went with Dylan Raiola as he put up a 30-41 308-yard 73% 3TD 1INT performance while running for his life against an always tight Michigan defense. When not being sacked, he often evaded the rush while calmly finding the open receivers and looked like anything but an underclassman. We got 99 problems but a quarterback ain’t one.
- 44% liked the fight-back. So many of the Huskers one-score losses since Frost include a dollop of brutal screw-ups at the worst possible times. 10-0? How does 10-10 sound? Whoops, immediate 75-yard TD. How about countering with a Hail Mary? Trailing 30-20 and have to have score to have a chance? After four drives which yielded three 3-and-outs and a field goal? 10 plays and 75 yards for a TD. They lost but they didn’t quit.
- All the defensive backfield did was blow their three-game under-100 yards passing streak – by allowing only 105 yards to Bryce Underwood. If the run defense can get to average, the overall defense will be very, very good. The pass defense is elite.
See everyone next Tuesday with a post-bye week new poll – I’m already thinking about it.
Category: General Sports
