Steven M. Sipple: A reality check for NU
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San Jose State’s potpourri of blitzes, slants and twists obviously created confusion for Nebraska’s offensive line Saturday.
I’m also discombobulated at this point. I thought the Husker offensive line would be a strength of the team in 2008, perhaps the strength.
Um, maybe not.
Here’s a twist: Nebraska’s defense actually helped rescue a surprisingly stagnant offense. Think about that for a second. Think about the Huskers’ awful defensive showings in 2007.
Well, well, well. The Nebraska defense Saturday forced two critical turnovers and knocked San Jose State quarterback Kyle Reed out of the game early in the fourth quarter. He suffered a concussion on a sack by Phillip Dillard and Zach Potter. Imagine, a Husker defense causing QB concussions after giving its fans headaches almost every weekend last season.
Nebraska also got a big lift from Niles Paul’s 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the fourth quarter of a 35-12 triumph before a crowd of 84,146, many of whom probably left Memorial Stadium feeling uneasy about the home team.
The final score will be misleading to those fans around the nation who see it crawl along the bottoms of their television screen. A score of 35-12 makes it seem as if Nebraska waltzed into the late afternoon like those Tom Osborne and Bob Devaney teams so often did back in the day.
“I think it’s more of a reality check because we came out slow and almost lost that game,” said Paul, a budding Husker star whose return pushed the Huskers’ lead to 21-12 with 12 minutes left in the game.
Yes, the game was a reality check for Nebraska and its fans in a number of ways.
It showed that the Huskers probably face a long climb back into the nation’s elite. A change in coaching staffs caused a significant bump in expectations for the program. The idea was maybe the magic of Bo Pelini would propel NU into the nation’s Top 25 by the end of September. The thing is, Big Red still has a good shot to be 4-0 after the nonconference season. New Mexico State’s program has really hit the skids. Virginia Tech was underwhelming again Saturday.
Playing Missouri? Well, let’s just say Nebraska isn’t quite ready for prime time.
Make no mistake, the Huskers aren’t a Top 25-level outfit. At least they didn’t play like it Saturday. Not even close.
Reality check: Nebraska’s five procedure penalties were unsightly. The Huskers had three straight false starts during one second-quarter series, matching the total the Big Red offensive line had in all of 1995.
“That’s coaching,” said Pelini, admirable in taking the blame for the mental gaffes. “We have to fix it, and we will.”
Nebraska struck me as being an ordinary team at times during the course of last week’s 47-24 win against Western Michigan. The Huskers were consistently ordinary Saturday, although their halftime adjustments on defense and strong finish overall were encouraging signs.
“They wanted it a little bit more than we did in the first half,” said Nebraska strong safety Major Culbert, who started the second half in place of Larry Asante.
Culbert’s words are telling, and evidence shows he’s accurate. San Jose State was the aggressor in the opening minutes. The Spartans sacked Joe Ganz twice during the game’s first series. Dick Tomey’s crew then rattled off big gain after big gain in driving 59 yards for a 6-0 lead and a heaping dose of Big Red reality.
Nobody’s saying Nebraska overlooked San Jose State, although that might have been understandable considering the Spartans needed a touchdown pass in the final seconds last week to defeat UC-Davis 13-10, which was coming off a losing season.
The thing is, many Nebraska fans still labor under the illusion that the Huskers can just show up and steamroll WAC opponents (Big Red did improve to 19-1 against the WAC). In these parts, we’re almost conditioned to think that way. But those days might be over for good, with scholarship limits spreading talent throughout the nation and coaching ability improving at all levels of the game.
Sometimes it seems Nebraska fans still think parity in college football is something for other traditional powers to worry about, as if the Huskers are somehow immune.
Many Nebraska fans still have images of Big Red offensive lines operating with precision and power. Those awe-inspiring lines would take control of games and flat-out dominate outclassed foes to the point where you’d almost cringe because of the level of the mismatch.
“I’m not ready to say our offensive line isn’t a strength of our football team,” said Nebraska coach Barney Cotton.
I’m not ready to say that, either. But after only two games, I’m seriously wondering. Now there’s another twist I didn’t see coming.
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.
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