It was an up and down night in Lincoln for the Cornhuskers as they kicked off the 2013 season against Wyoming on Saturday night. There were times I thought that the guys would go up by 17 or 24 and never look back but a few questionable play calls and a momentum stealing penalty took that thought away. Instead it was Wyoming putting pressure on Nebraska late in the 4th qtr before Nebraska was able to hold on for a 37-34 victory.

Offense:
Bad play call on the 4th and 1 with Martinez who does not run the sneak affectively. Prior to the stoppage it was three runs by Imani Cross for 6, 2 and 1 yards. Why not again or at least a different running back?

If that first down is picked up, this game does not end up as close as it did. Nebraska either score or runs the clock down in my opinion. One bad play call turned this game around.

Out of 85 plays, offensive coordinator Tim Beck called 63 runs. Why not take some shots down the field to Quincy and Kenny? You have a senior quarterback and two senior wideouts that can make big plays. Take a shot once in a while Beck!

It was nice to see true freshman Terrell Newby be affective in the second half. He ran for 76 yards on 15 carries and was explosive. There were a couple of plays that he almost broke for very long runs. He is a nice change of pace back to go along with Ameer and Imani who should only get better.

Speaking of Imani, what a beast running the ball! But please do not run a short pass to him on a 3rd down play Coach Beck!

I sure hope that Taylor Martinez’s shoulder / collar bone is ok. He was never the same after the hit in the third quarter.

Defense:

Oh boy where do we start? I suppose I can start off with a couple of positives before we get into the negatives. Randy Gregory at DE played pretty good for his first d1 game. I still don’t quite understand the “roughing the passer” penalty even though he sacked the Wyoming QB when he still had the ball. Just another “rule” trying to soften up football by the NCAA.

Other positives were Ciante Evans and Stanley Jean-Baptiste in the secondary. Both guys stepped up and had some key plays on defense.

Onto the bad, the d-line and linebackers played like CRAP. Wyoming put up over 600 yards of offense on the “blackshirts” and it all started up front with terrible angles and missed tackles. The front four got pressure against Brett Smith at times but rarely were able to finish the play.

Once again, the line and linebackers look they are rushed and not getting the play call from the sideline fast enough. It looked like they would barely get set and Wyoming was snapping the ball. Things are going to have to fixed in that aspect before UCLA makes their way to Lincoln or it is going to be another long game for Nebraska.

Overall, fans aren’t happy with the performance. Not just by the players but also the coaching staff. They have Southern MIss coming into Lincoln for another night game on Saturday and I sure hope we some improvement from both sides of the ball as well as special teams. (Can’t be missing XP’s) It’s time for the guys to step up and that includes the coaching staff. Man up and dominate the fucking line of scrimmage and control the game for once.


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