Cotton sticks up for O-line
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By the Lincoln Journal Star
Offensive line coach Barney Cotton on Wednesday responded to some media and fan criticism of Nebraska’s running game against Western Michigan on Saturday — 138 yards on 31 carries.
“I’m sticking up for my guys,” Cotton said. “They played real hard, they played very physical. I’m disappointed in eight mental mistakes, but I’m absolutely proud of their effort and how physical they were Saturday night.”
A big problem, as has been noted, was WMU’s defensive plan of stacking the line of scrimmage with eight or nine defenders.
“When you have seven blockers and there’s nine guys to block, or we have six blockers and there’s eight guys to block, we’re going to throw the football,” Cotton said. “That’s a sound offensive philosophy.”
It worked for NU, which had 11 plays produce 321 yards in the season-opening 47-24 win.
But if loading the box so easily stops the run, how did Nebraska run for 300, 400 yards every game back in the day when teams crowded the line?
That’s why Tom Osborne used the option, Cotton said. It gets those defenders out of the box.
In fact, NU tried two option plays against WMU. One resulted in a mental error, Cotton said, “and we should’ve pitched on the other.”
This and that: Bo Pelini hasn’t made a decision on Andy Christensen’s status. The two spoke Wednesday. ... In addition to an arm injury, Lydon Murtha was sick and missed Wednesday’s practice. The offensive lineman is listed as “day-to-day,” as is safety Rickey Thenarse. ... Justin Rogers, a RB/DB from Alabama who was part of the 2008 recruiting class, hasn’t started practice yet in part because he missed a week of class while his academic eligibility was being determined. “We’re trying to get his feet on the ground academically,” Pelini said.
Scouting Report: What did offensive coordinator Shawn Watson think of quarterback Joe Ganz’s showing on Saturday?
“I tell you what, I’m going to be honest with you, I graded that first half and he’s spectacular. He’s not good. He’s spectacular,” Watson said. “He did a lot of things that you can’t see. You have to be inside our system to understand and know what he did. He’s managing a beautiful ballgame ... That two-minute drive (at the end of the first half) was awesome. Then, he came back and I think that third quarter, he ran into a rough patch there, and a couple throws that he wishes he would have had back. ... Those are things he’ll learn from.”
Ganz completed 20 of 36 passes for 345 yards, with four touchdowns and two interceptions. The senior has thrown for at least 345 yards in each of his four starts and is the first person in school history to throw for more than 300 yards four times.
His second half couldn’t live up to his incredible first-half stat line — 16 of 20 for 280 yards — but Watson said Ganz will take his mistakes and be his own worst critic.
“Joe takes those things harder than I do ... and I’m a tough-love parent,” Watson said. “But he’s more tough on him than I am. That’s why he’s the player he is.”
Opponent watch: Two years after lower-division foe Montana State came into Boulder and rocked the Buffs, Colorado coaches and players aren’t about to take Saturday’s opponent Eastern Washington lightly.
“I think the landscape of college football is so different than it used to be,” CU coach Dan Hawkins told The Boulder Daily Camera. “Every weekend you say, “Wow, how about that game,’ or ‘Wow, look at that score,’ and that’s pretty commonplace these days, just because of proliferation and development of players in a lot of really good programs.”
Just asking: Going into the second half of Saturday’s opener with a big lead, was Watson looking to tailor his game-calling to help consume time and help a Husker defense still trying to find its way with a new scheme?
Watson said he was prepared to run the ball more, but was pleased to hear Bo Pelini’s response when he talked about that with him at half, the Huskers leading 34-10.
Said Watson: “I told him, ‘We’re going to go out there and try to rush it a little bit.’ And he’s smart, he’s obviously a brilliant defensive coach. He’s seeing the same thing I’m seeing. He said, ‘Wats, you go play football.’ To me that was awesome because he just took the shackles off me and let me go, and let us go. Bo’s smart. That was great management on his part.”
What Pelini and Watson were seeing was a WMU defense that kept bringing its safeties up to stop the run, something it did pretty well at. But in the process, the Broncos left themselves open to getting burned through the air.
"It shouldn't be a revelation to anybody. There's two safeties standing down there at a linebacker level. They're hung out. They don't have a chance," Watson said. "So for me to stand there and keep pounding the ball, that borders on stupidity. So I'm not going to be stupid. ... It's one of those deals. We knew what they were doing. It was real easy to see. Why not take some shots?"
In the second half, the Huskers ran it 18 times and passed it 13.
Watson agrees with the choir that Nebraska did not finish the game strong enough, but he liked the mentality that Nebraska wasn’t going to limit its offensive playbook even with a lead. “Because I tell you what, in this day and age, if you’re going to sit back and be one-dimensional, you’re going to get your tail-end kicked,” he said.
— Brian Christopherson, Brian Rosenthal and Steven M. Sipple
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