Swift says punt return too little, too late
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BY RYLY JANE HAMBLETON / Lincoln Journal Star
The timing could have been better, according to Nate Swift.
His 88-yard punt return for a touchdown with 7:52 left in the game gave Nebraska new life.
“We emphasize the special teams and work on that every week,” Swift said. “But unfortunately, the punt return was a little late.”
It cut Virginia Tech’s lead to 28-23, but the Huskers couldn’t keep the Hokies out of the end zone one more time, keeping victory just out of reach.
“He had to do quite a few things on his own,” NU assistant coach Ron Brown said. “He did a great job making people miss early on. He’s a nifty guy and has great instincts and he handles pressure very well.”
Swift said Nebraska put itself in a hole.
“It’s never good to spot a team nine points right off the bat. That took a little bit out of us,” he said. “It’s tough to put it on the defense’s shoulders. The offense has to pick it up and help them out.”
Brown said Virginia Tech made it difficult for the Huskers to keep their wide receivers involved.
“We just couldn’t get things sustained offensively. The interior of their defense had the ability to get in there,” Brown said. “We just couldn’t run our whole offense. Plus, we shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times.
“Their defensive front is very strong and they clearly had a great influence on the game tonight.”
Brown said the Hokies didn’t allow Nebraska to open up their entire attack.
“It’s tough to get a rhythm. The running game could have gone better, but we never got anything sustained,” he said. “We couldn’t maintain the control of the football to get any rhythm in the running game and then have the passing game.
“Sometimes we had crossing routes open and we just couldn’t get the ball there because of their defensive pressure.”
Some good things
The learning curve got pretty steep for the Nebraska defense, but coordinator Carl Pelini saw things he liked.
“The first thing we can build on is that there’s no quit in our guys. They fought down to the last five seconds,” he said. “We didn’t always play smart, didn’t always do the right thing, but they never quit. That’s something to build on for this team.”
Pelini said the defensive mixups the Huskers experienced weren’t necessarily player mistakes.
“We didn’t always execute very well defensively and that’s on the coaches,” he said. “We take responsibility for that. We have to be sharper in terms of our assignments and that’s up to the coaching staff.
“When you play gap control defense, you have to be right on with your assignments and we weren’t always there. We just didn’t execute very well.”
Briefly
n Virginia Tech had not scored in the first quarter of any previous game this season. Saturday night, the Hokies scored nine points.
n More than 100 Nebraska lettermen from teams in the 1970s and ’80s lined up to greet the Huskers when they entered Memorial Stadium. The former players wore “N” T-shirts with “Behind the Team” printed on the back.
n Redshirt freshman Curenski Gilleylen caught his first career pass, a 5-yard swing pass from Joe Ganz, on the Huskers’ first play of the second half. He also had a 26-yard kickoff return in the first quarter.
n Cornhusker captains for the game were offensive tackle Lydon Murtha, return specialist and wide receiver Niles Paul and cornerback Armando Murrillo.
n When Virginia Tech’s Stephan Virgil blocked a punt for a safety on Nebraska’s second possession of the game, it was his second career punt block. The other one came in last year’s game against Duke. Later in the half, he was flagged for roughing punter Dan Titchener.
Reach Ryly Jane Hambleton at 473-7314 or rhambleton@journalstar.com
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