I thought we would lose to Michigan in a close game and we did. Not saying this to brag, but to highlight why I am not crushed by this loss. Disappointed? Hell yes. We once again had a chance to beat a ranked team and pissed it away. But I am not despondent. Some takeaways:
1. We are close. We are a good team. Now we need to finish strong.
2. After Iowa got lucky (Sean Clifford was ripping them) and beat PSU there was little hope of us winning the West anyway. So now we play for a bowl invite. I just hope the players don’t lose heart.
3. Martinez reminds me of Tommy Armstrong because, like Armstrong, it is feast or famine. Tommy was an incredible athlete and made some amazing plays. He was also a turnover machine and often made brain fart mistakes. Ditto Martinez. He was good enough last night to win that game for us. He also lost it for us with that stupid as hell fumble. Just like his interception in overtime against MSU. Inexcusable.
4. Our play calling was, once again, puzzling and frustrating. We wasted too many plays trying to run Rahmir up the gut and right into Michigan’s greatest strength: defensive line run stopping. And why was Yant not used more, especially inside the 10? In my opinion our tight ends were also under utilized. Maybe Michigan had them covered. I don’t know. I also wonder why we did not run more option plays. They were working. Fear of turnovers perhaps? Finally, I know rolling out your QB on designed rpo plays cuts the field in half and limits throwing options. But crimony, Martinez is our best running threat and often busts long running plays. Granted, that is usually when he is scrambling to avoid the rush, but I still think rolling him out could have sprung him loose.
5. I bet at the end of the game Frost wished he had kicked the field goal on our first drive. Culp has settled down and my hunch is he would have made it. Still… part of me likes the fact we went for it. Make a statement early. Hindsight is 20/20.
6. Our defense clearly got tired. So did theirs. It was a physical game. But it does make me wonder if our defensive line depth is as improved as we have been led to believe.
7. We will lose to Ohio State. That will give us five losses. But we have the ability to go 7-5 and make some noise. I hope Iowa keeps winning. Nothing would bring me greater pleasure than ruining their perfect season on Black Friday. They have a good defense. But Clifford was killing them until he got injured. In my opinion, had he not gotten hurt PSU would have won by two touchdowns. So Iowa is beatable.
8. If we finish strong, losing only to OSU, and perhaps Iowa, we end 6-6. If we do I think Frost stays. We have a ton of players coming back next year. And an easier schedule.
8. Don’t lose heart Husker nation! GBR!
Huskers can play with anyone left on the schedule. That includes Iowa and Ohio State. Little margin for error in any of them.
I've been reading a lot about Clifford's injury. People would be surprised if they knew his QBR against Iowa was 93.1, while Petras's was 122.5.
I don't think it's a given the second half was going to be comfortable for Clifford.
It was a 7 point lead when he got knocked out. Yes, he had engineered 1 long TD drive, and one shorty with the wind at his back (it was a swirly, windy day when neither team threw well going south)...Iowa had one short one for a fg and one long grinder for a td to make it 17-10. It was a one possession game when the PS back-up entered.
On Clifford's last drive Iowa started figuring things out and popping him. They seemed to adjust to how penn state was 'setting' the defense pre snap to take away his runs. He got 36 yds on 3 carries, all on 3rd down passing plays. Clifford didn't eclips 60% and 2 picks during his Under the Parkers, Iowa always adjusts after 1Q, always.
Penn State did muster 3 points in the second half....meaning the Iowa went from giving up 17 second half points through 5 games, to now giving up 20 second half points over games. Those guys can play defense.
But, indeed, once he went out, everyone on both sidelines knew that Iowa's Offense would have to win it. They did and they were the one's with the few and far between explosive plays in the game.
That said, if the Huskers get gratitas breaks on the injury front (AM can not get hurt), they can certainly go into the Iowa game with a legitimate chance.
