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HAMAR: Another ugly game in the books for Huskers
COMMENTARY
By Bob Hamar
bob.hamar@theindependent.com
Lose ugly. Win ugly.
That’s been the standard M.O. for this 2009 Nebraska football team.
The losses have been rather ugly, even when the scores were close.
There was that 16-15 loss at Virginia Tech in a game that the Huskers dominated for almost 59 minutes but could only put five field goals on the board.
There was the 31-10 loss to Texas Tech a couple of weeks ago. There was really no way to put any kind of positive spin on that one.
And, of course, there was that strange 9-7 loss to Iowa State a week ago when, again, the Huskers controlled the game — except for those eight turnovers.
That takes care of the losing ugly part, but the Huskers win ugly, too.
Like in that 27-12 victory at Missouri when they scored all 27 points in the fourth quarter. For three quarters, that was as ugly as a game could get.
The Huskers managed to post another one of those ugly wins on Saturday in a 20-10 victory over Baylor down in Waco. The defense once again played well while the offense struggled again with just 273 total yards.
That shouldn’t have been a surprise, even to those clamoring all week for quarterback Cody Green.
The NU freshman got his first start on Saturday. The best thing you can say about Green’s debut is that he’s 1-0 as a starter.
But it wasn’t pretty. Green is going to be a very good player down the road. Right now, he’s struggling to adjust to college and learn the offense while trying to not make mistakes — something he wasn’t able to do with a fumble and an interception that was returned for Baylor’s only touchdown of the game.
What we saw Saturday is that Green has a ways to go and so does the whole offense. If you wanted proof that Zac Lee was the problem, you probably didn’t get it.
Many wanted to blame Lee and/or offensive coordinator Shawn Watson for the struggles of the Husker offense. Sure, both could have done some things differently, but there are numerous other reasons why the Huskers haven’t produced offensively this season.
It may not be a coincidence that the offensive problems seem to correlate with Roy Helu Jr.’s shoulder injury. He’s fine, the coaching staff kept saying of Helu, even as everyone could see that he certainly wasn’t.
So Dontrayevous Robinson, Marcus Mendoza, Lester Ward and Austin Jones all saw playing time Saturday at I-back. Robinson in particular has shown some talent, but he also was banged up during the game.
So Quinten Castille is gone — kicked off the team before the season — while Helu is trying to play hurt and now Robinson is injured, too.
Add an inconsistent offensive line to the equation and the biggest surprise would be if the Huskers really were running the ball well, and that lack of a running game can’t be blamed on Lee — except for the fact that Lee just isn’t a runner even though he does have good speed.
Now the Huskers will take this inconsistent offensive play and get ready to face a very good Oklahoma team that is now 5-3 on the season after beating Kansas State on Saturday night.
All 5-3 records are not created equally. The Huskers are also 5-3, but their record doesn’t include one-point losses to BYU and Miami and a three-point loss to Texas.
The Sooners are a very good football team. If Sam Bradford had been able to stay healthy, there’s a good chance they’d now be 8-0 and right in the middle of the race for a national title.
It should be an interesting week of practice for the Huskers.
“It’s going to be intense, I can tell you that much” defensive lineman Jared Crick told reporters after the game on Saturday. “We’re going to get after it, we’re going to have fun getting after it, and we’re going to get better. That’s all we can do and that’s all we know how to do.”
There will certainly be more quarterback questions this week. Will head coach Bo Pelini and offensive coordinator Shawn Watson stick with Green, or will they switch back to Lee?
Even Watson and Pelini don’t know at this point.
“We’ll see where we’re at,” Watson said. “Mine and Bo’s approach each week is to let those guys hammer it out in practice.”
It could be shaping up as another ugly loss for the Huskers next weekend at Memorial Stadium. On the other hand, if the Huskers do manage to beat the Sooners, it won’t be an ugly win.
There’s no such thing as an ugly win against the Sooners. The Huskers would take it any way they can.
Bob Hamar is sports editor for The Independent.
That’s been the standard M.O. for this 2009 Nebraska football team.
The losses have been rather ugly, even when the scores were close.
There was that 16-15 loss at Virginia Tech in a game that the Huskers dominated for almost 59 minutes but could only put five field goals on the board.
And, of course, there was that strange 9-7 loss to Iowa State a week ago when, again, the Huskers controlled the game — except for those eight turnovers.
That takes care of the losing ugly part, but the Huskers win ugly, too.
Like in that 27-12 victory at Missouri when they scored all 27 points in the fourth quarter. For three quarters, that was as ugly as a game could get.
The Huskers managed to post another one of those ugly wins on Saturday in a 20-10 victory over Baylor down in Waco. The defense once again played well while the offense struggled again with just 273 total yards.
That shouldn’t have been a surprise, even to those clamoring all week for quarterback Cody Green.
The NU freshman got his first start on Saturday. The best thing you can say about Green’s debut is that he’s 1-0 as a starter.
But it wasn’t pretty. Green is going to be a very good player down the road. Right now, he’s struggling to adjust to college and learn the offense while trying to not make mistakes — something he wasn’t able to do with a fumble and an interception that was returned for Baylor’s only touchdown of the game.
What we saw Saturday is that Green has a ways to go and so does the whole offense. If you wanted proof that Zac Lee was the problem, you probably didn’t get it.
Many wanted to blame Lee and/or offensive coordinator Shawn Watson for the struggles of the Husker offense. Sure, both could have done some things differently, but there are numerous other reasons why the Huskers haven’t produced offensively this season.
It may not be a coincidence that the offensive problems seem to correlate with Roy Helu Jr.’s shoulder injury. He’s fine, the coaching staff kept saying of Helu, even as everyone could see that he certainly wasn’t.
So Dontrayevous Robinson, Marcus Mendoza, Lester Ward and Austin Jones all saw playing time Saturday at I-back. Robinson in particular has shown some talent, but he also was banged up during the game.
So Quinten Castille is gone — kicked off the team before the season — while Helu is trying to play hurt and now Robinson is injured, too.
Add an inconsistent offensive line to the equation and the biggest surprise would be if the Huskers really were running the ball well, and that lack of a running game can’t be blamed on Lee — except for the fact that Lee just isn’t a runner even though he does have good speed.
Now the Huskers will take this inconsistent offensive play and get ready to face a very good Oklahoma team that is now 5-3 on the season after beating Kansas State on Saturday night.
All 5-3 records are not created equally. The Huskers are also 5-3, but their record doesn’t include one-point losses to BYU and Miami and a three-point loss to Texas.
The Sooners are a very good football team. If Sam Bradford had been able to stay healthy, there’s a good chance they’d now be 8-0 and right in the middle of the race for a national title.
It should be an interesting week of practice for the Huskers.
“It’s going to be intense, I can tell you that much” defensive lineman Jared Crick told reporters after the game on Saturday. “We’re going to get after it, we’re going to have fun getting after it, and we’re going to get better. That’s all we can do and that’s all we know how to do.”
There will certainly be more quarterback questions this week. Will head coach Bo Pelini and offensive coordinator Shawn Watson stick with Green, or will they switch back to Lee?
Even Watson and Pelini don’t know at this point.
“We’ll see where we’re at,” Watson said. “Mine and Bo’s approach each week is to let those guys hammer it out in practice.”
It could be shaping up as another ugly loss for the Huskers next weekend at Memorial Stadium. On the other hand, if the Huskers do manage to beat the Sooners, it won’t be an ugly win.
There’s no such thing as an ugly win against the Sooners. The Huskers would take it any way they can.
Bob Hamar is sports editor for The Independent.
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| Special teams give Nebraska early spark | Crick records school-record five sacks |
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