Huskers Need A Hammer

You've heard the line. You may have said it yourself a time or two. Something isn't working quite right--an appliance, a door, a gadget, a computer--and you're having a heck of a time fixing it. You tell someone in your family or at work about your problem. Your friend or relative replies, "Try a hammer. That'll fix it."



That line "...try a hammer..." is elemental. Kind of cave man-like. The main message is, "What the heck. Just smash it."



But there's another angle to that joke as well. The hammer is a basic tool. It only does one thing, but you can depend on it to do that one thing all the time. You know what you're going to get when you pick up a hammer.



And, on the eve of the Huskers' first regular-season game under Bo Pelini Saturday against Western Michigan, that's the one thing that the Huskers really need to find. Not something simple necessarily, but something dependable--like a hammer. Something on either offense or defense that the team, coaches, and you and I as fans KNOW can be counted on to perform at a high success rate game in, game out.



Ponder that for a minute. What part of the team do you KNOW--without reservation--is going to make it happen come kickoff time tomorrow? Let's go through the question marks.



The easiest ones to find are on defense, of course, where the scheme is brand new--as are many of the players to starting roles. I know that this is old news, but we really don't know WHAT the Husker defense has at this point anywhere in the lineup. So there's either 4, 5, 6 or 11 question marks depending on how you want to slice and dice the unit by either general groupings, subgroups, or each player.



Now we come to the offense. Here is of course a more likely side of the ball to find that "hammer" in terms of dependability. Joe Ganz has some huge numbers from his time on the field last season. Same for Marlon Lucky. Nate Swift and Todd Peterson can catch. The O-line showed some flashes late in the season.



But still--there are these nagging questions. In my mind, and many other fans' minds as well, we remember the basically 2 pick 6's that Ganz threw against Colorado almost as much as his carving up of K-State. Is that out of his system now that he's got some game experience and a new play caller? Is Lucky capable of the tough yards as well as being a checkdown receiver? Can Swift and Peterson get open when they're the prime defensive targets now that Mo Purify is gone? And will they hang onto the ball? Can the O-line make the blocks on 3rd and 3 for the run game? Can the O-line give Ganz a pocket on 2nd and 8? I know there are Husker fans who will point to the big scores from the end of the season as proof that the offense doesn't have questions---but, to me, there was enough failure at crunch time to keep me a little uneasy about how this side of the ball will come together.



In previous eras that this Old Husker Fan has followed the team, almost every year there was something that you knew would "be there." Usually, of course, it was the defense and the running game. Take those two and build from there. That's 2 hammers.



Right now, I don't know where the hammer is. I believe it's in the rubble somewhere, though--and I think Bo Pelini will eventually find it and put it to good use.



Go Big Red!!

The Old Husker Fan