Big 12 Championship Post-Game Thoughts
This was a very tough loss for me. I really thought that we would win the game, but we had a lot of things working against us.Problem #1:
We don't have a secondary. (I had written something in anger, but I deleted it. I'm just going to leave my statement at that.)Problem #2:
We lost Brandon Jackson. I think we saw tonight how much our offense relies on his play-making abilities, both as a runner and as a receiver out of the backfield. We had some really good success on two screen plays when we put Marlon Lucky in, but I think that we would have had a better likelihood to score again if we had a healthy Brandon Jackson.Problem #3:
Zac Taylor played uncharacteristically. I am a huge Zac Taylor fan, and this game won't change my opinion of him. Yes, he threw three interceptions (two of which were touchdowns, if completed), but he had only thrown four this year before this game. He had a bad night, but I still think that he has been an incredible quarterback for the Huskers. I will be sorry to lose him next year, and I was sorry that he couldn't pull out a victory over his childhood team.Evaluation of my prediction:
Obviously, I was wrong on the score count, and I underestimated the Oklahoma defense and overestimated our secondary; however, we played very good defense against a very good rushing team. If you ignore the secondary, our defense played lights out football. To hold the team ranked 14th nationally in rushing (averaging 188.67 yards of rushing per game) to a mere 42 yards is lights-out football. We simply didn't produce offensively.Most angry moment:
That Chevrolet gave both player of the game awards to Oklahoma players. I have never seen that happen before, even in huge blow-outs. Isn't the point to give the award to the best player from each school? Did I miss something? Certainly the award could have gone to one of our defensive lineman--they had a great game.
We don't have a secondary. (I had written something in anger, but I deleted it. I'm just going to leave my statement at that.)Problem #2:
We lost Brandon Jackson. I think we saw tonight how much our offense relies on his play-making abilities, both as a runner and as a receiver out of the backfield. We had some really good success on two screen plays when we put Marlon Lucky in, but I think that we would have had a better likelihood to score again if we had a healthy Brandon Jackson.Problem #3:
Zac Taylor played uncharacteristically. I am a huge Zac Taylor fan, and this game won't change my opinion of him. Yes, he threw three interceptions (two of which were touchdowns, if completed), but he had only thrown four this year before this game. He had a bad night, but I still think that he has been an incredible quarterback for the Huskers. I will be sorry to lose him next year, and I was sorry that he couldn't pull out a victory over his childhood team.Evaluation of my prediction:
Obviously, I was wrong on the score count, and I underestimated the Oklahoma defense and overestimated our secondary; however, we played very good defense against a very good rushing team. If you ignore the secondary, our defense played lights out football. To hold the team ranked 14th nationally in rushing (averaging 188.67 yards of rushing per game) to a mere 42 yards is lights-out football. We simply didn't produce offensively.Most angry moment:
That Chevrolet gave both player of the game awards to Oklahoma players. I have never seen that happen before, even in huge blow-outs. Isn't the point to give the award to the best player from each school? Did I miss something? Certainly the award could have gone to one of our defensive lineman--they had a great game.
Labels: Football
I guess all I have to say is ... enjoy your bowl game on the 31st!
Posted by
Anonymous |
11:29 AM
Problem #1: I'm not so sure that you should say we don't have a secondary; I think the correct statement would be we only have two corners and one decent safety. They each had to run 30-40 yards a play and then watch the opposing wide receiver walk off the field to be replaced by a fresh wide receiver while they could only walk back to the line and do it all over again. If we had two more corners, we could do a lot more on defense. That's why they have to play 10 yards off the ball, it saves as much energy as possible.
Posted by
Anthony |
11:17 AM
Fair enough, I suppose. I guess I hope that Ricky Thenarse (and maybe Major Culbert?) is capable of playing by the Cotton Bowl. Perhaps a fresh body or two is exactly what we need.
Posted by
Jacob |
10:08 AM