Again, as is becoming typical for these posts, I’m certain the answer is no. At least this time we had an entertaining first half.
Eric
An offense. For the first half, and the first OSU drive of the second half, we saw an offense that was more than up to the task of moving the Buckeyes down the field. They scored 27 points and gained more than 300 yards, including 250 on the ground. And then Braxton got hurt, and Bauserman came into the game, and that was that.
Me not jinxing the OSU offense by asking for silly passing numbers. Success! I think. We got a touchdown to Jake Stoneburner, and had a competent passing game – again, until Bauserman came in.
A pick six. Orhian Johnson got a pick, but he wasn’t able to turn it into six. Surprisingly, Martinez passed the ball much more effectively against our secondary than he was able to do against Wisconsin. Credit Nebraska for sticking with the running game to make the passing game effective.
Taylor Martinez – Wisconsin Version. Yea, we definitely didn’t get the Wisconsin version of Taylor. We got a much nastier, much more effective variety.
The return of the aggressive, angry offensive line. They certainly looked that way in the first half. The run blocking was fantastic, and the pass protection was run to perfection. Not surprisingly, the line was unable to effectively block for Bauserman, probably given how long Bauserman likes to hold on to the football.
Joe L
Completions. We saw 6 completions, and, in fact, Miller was 5/8 and looked pretty solid throwing the football in most cases. That’s pretty successful.
An offensive gameplan that doesn’t look put together by a midget football coach. We got that in the first half with Miller.
Linebacker play that stops the run and gets after the quarterback. Until the 4th quarter, they were doing exactly this. Etienne Sabino was particularly valuable and aggressive in his defensive play.
Us shock the world and beat the Cornhuskers. We almost shocked the world and crushed the Cornhuskers. 28 unaswered points later…
JoeD
An Open Playbook. It was certainly pretty open during the first half. Screens, delayed passes to the flat, counters and a number of other tactics were employed pretty successfully. Miller’s learning curve has been pretty impressive so far this season, and the more dynamic play calling was a sign of it.
Use a trick play. I wouldn’t call anything we did a “trick”, but we did use some plays that are not typical of the OSU offense.
Defensive pressure. The defensive pressure on Martinez was good, but not great, and was nearly non-existent when it mattered most. Some of that was due to Martinez’s ability to escape the pocket and throw on the run, something we didn’t expect he’d be able to do so effectively.
Shut Down the Big Play. They picked up another 4 plays of 20 yards or more against the Buckeyes, plus a host of great first down runs from Martinez. Probably not as successful as we hoped.
Jim
Braxton Miller in the open field. Done and done! Braxton Miller was running wild and free the entire time he was in the game, until he twisted his ankle.
Mike Adams and Andrew Norwell on the left side. The offensive line did look pretty solid for most of the game, and a lot of that has to do with Mike Adams. Adams was manhandling his defenders most of the game, and the running lanes up the left side of the field were ridiculous in their size.
Turnovers and Points from the Defense. We picked up 3 from a Nebraska interception at the end of the first half, but outside of that the defense did not succeed in scoring the kind of points we hoped.
Chris
QB runs. You got it. Miller ran 10 times for 91 yards, including an exciting 29 yarder that nearly looked like he could score.
Screen plays. You’ve got that too! We ran one screen play for a score with Jake Stoneburner, which was more than we expected. Expect to see more of it in the coming weeks.
Make Taylor Martinez throw. We very nearly had him on this. He did end up throwing two beautiful touchdown passes, but we didn’t force him into throwing situations nearly enough in the 4th quarter. His running was simply too good for us to stop.
A spirited effort from the offense. It certainly wasn’t lifeless, at least until Bauserman came in and we called passing play after pathetic passing play.
Halftime adjustments. Things were working, and it’s possible that we still failed to make the appropriate adjustments to overcome what we expected Nebraska to respond with.
Mali
A Touchdown. I’ll give you several, two on the ground and one through the air. That should more than tide you over for this week.
Protection. We had decent protection all day, but simply couldn’t do anything with it through the end of the second half.
Creativity. Nebraska seemed to not be able to predict our snap count like Michigan State was, and the play calling in the first half was exciting. The play calling with Bauserman in the game was much less well considered.
Forced Turnovers. We only succeeded in forcing one, but it did lead to three points. Certainly a step in the right direction. Baby steps..baby steps.
The Usual. And we still picked up 2 false starts – though, Shugarts was not the first this time. Joy!
Husker Hospitality. Given Mali’s tweets, it sounds like this was certainly a success. It’s nice to have new friends in the conference.
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