Husker Win Shows Fire And Fatigue

Thanks to a birthday present from son Cliff, I was able to be one of the 84,000-plus on hand to check out Bo Pelini's first regular-season game as Husker head coach last Saturday. We were in the south end zone--a cool spot to be because not only can you see the plays develop, but the big 5-acre wide screen-- or whatever its dimensions are--is right there for all the replays.
Here are my thoughts from my gametime experience.

#1--There's fire on the sideline. Bo and the coaches were into this game from the first play, keeping the guys pumped up and focused on their assignments. Bo--with his single-ear headset, play chart, Husker cap and gum--prowled the sidelines constantly. You could tell that he was looking for energy and pursuit as much as anything else. And all the coaches were like that. The best example was Linebacker coach Mike Ekeler's leap and mid-air hug of Cody Glenn when he knocked down a pass to create a Western Michigan 3-and-out in the 2nd quarter. (It was actually Glenn's 2nd knockdown I think--and came close to being a pick-6).

Another example of Bo's total involvement: In the 2nd quarter and Western Michigan driving, they had a couple big plays from their spread offense. Bo called time out to talk to the defense and get re-organized. That's one of the techniques Kerry Coombs emphasized in his how-to-defend-the spread commentary--use timeouts to break the momentum of the offense. As I recall, our guys stopped that drive, then got the ball back and scored on the 61-yarder from Joe Ganz to Nate Swift.

#2--Gang tackling is back! Let me repeat--gang tackling is back! There were some solo stops Saturday night--but on many Western Michigan plays--even their short passes--the tackle call had two or more names listed--with usually 3 or 4 more red shirts in the play. Bo talked about flying to the ball. We had that going on. I especially remember Zac Potter's name being called on tackles following short pass plays. That was impressive for a D-lineman to keep going. It was nice to see that motor back in operation.

#3--The Cody Glenn to linebacker move is on the way to being this year's version of Bo's Demorrio Williams story. We all know that one--how Bo took Demorrio out of just being a cover linebacker and created a pass-rush monster off the edge. Well, folks, I'm here to say that the Cody G linebacker switch could very well be all of that and more--considering that Cody G had not played linebacker in college prior to last spring. You've seen the numbers he had--a dozen tackles, 9 unassisted, 2 1/2 for a loss, several pass breakups. This guy truly was all over the field!
It's not like Cody just had 1 thing to do, either. Western Michigan was constantly going after him with receivers running drag patterns, switches on coverage, and motion. Heck--the first play of the game they checked his assignment savvy by trying a QB delay run. Cody stuffed it for a 1-yd loss. And, since he's the WILL linebacker, he's going to be on the field a lot--possibly all the time like he was last Saturday. He never came off. What a move by him and the coaches!
By the way--this move is also reminiscent of how Rich Glover's career got jump-started in the early '70s. Glover was a serviceable defensive tackle, but when Monte Kiffin moved him to the nose position, his college career mushroomed. I sure wish that Cody Glenn had at least 1 more year like Glover had when he made his move.

#4--The D-backs have some style. By that, I mean they're playing like top-level college game defensive backs. Anthony West, Eric Hagg, and Prince Amukamara had bigtime pass breakups Saturday night--featuring aggressive coverage and just-at-the-right-time knockdowns. Their tackling form was excellent, too. There were some plays by the D-backs that made me think of our bigtime guys from back in the day--like Ralph Brown, Barron Miles, etc.

#5--Joe Ganz is the man on offense. He saved our bacon a BUNCH Saturday night with his scrambling to avoid taking a big sack--and made something positive happen instead by keeping his cool and knowing where to look for a receiver. Yes, he had a couple picks--which I'll talk about later. But he had some throws that were nothing short of brilliant--especially on the 2 play 3rd quarter TD drive, where he aired it out to Dreu Young over 2 WMich guys in good coverage--and Young came up with the ball (great catch by a TIGHT END by the way---a Ron Brown product). And he followed that zinger with another beauty to Marlon Lucky for the score--again throwing over a defender. Those were big-time tosses, gang.
(An aside here---I think that Callahan kept Ganz off the field the last couple years as much as he could--because he was afraid of the crowd reaction if Joe would light it up. Just sayin'.)

#6--Back to the defense. The D-line was a solid unit all game, and got some good pressure all night long. Barry Turner had either 1 or 2 sacks (or shared sacks). Suh was a force. Ty Steinkuhler wrecked a bunch of running plays. Shukree Barfield got in on the action. Zac Potter acted like a beast. Jared Crick and Terence Moore put in quality minutes.
In total, what did the D come up with--4 sacks? One-third the total for all of last season? That's making something happen!

Now to the other side--that being fatigue. Our guys--especially the back 7--definitely started to wear down in the 4th quarter. No surprise, because there wasn't any subbing done by the coaches. The LBs and D-backs who started played practically the whole game. Certainly Glenn and Philip Dillard did not come out--nor did Larry Asante at strong safety. I read that Ricky Thenarse was in for 1 play on defense, but then got hurt on a kicking team play. I know that the coaches know this--but this definitely points to how important it is to develop some depth at linebacker and defensive back. Western Michigan got too many chances to make big yardage in the 4th quarter.

A couple other notes before some fun stuff. First, the O-line and fullbacks have some work to do on the run game. On Ganz's long option run in the first quarter, followed up by Marlon Lucky's TD run, the fullback made a good block. Other times, the FB failed to get his man and the plays were stuffed. And the O-line didn't blow anyone out of there. I like how Bo was quoted saying that execution has to improve...and did not lean on the excuse that the dive and off-tackle plays didn't work because Western Michigan had too many guys close to the line. Thanks, Coach! There are times when you have to be able to run no matter HOW many guys are stacked in there.
Second--how refreshing it was to see Alex Henery get some trust from the coaches on his field goals. And they were not any gimmes, either. They were all in the 44-45 yard range. Good practice for a number of reasons--not the least because there was some pressure involved. You know that the players all wanted to win the first regular season game for Bo and the rest of the coaching staff--plus for each other. That's pressure--and Alex and the special teams handled it well.

Fun stuff. Starts out with tailgating. Our ticket contact, Kristen, told Cliff about a tailgate that her family's part of--so we grabbed some brats, a few brewskies, and took it in. Outstanding! What a great way to get the game day routine underway! The folks were great company and the side dishes tasty-plus.

Second--I truly think that the Husker Hawaiian-style shirt I had on was the only one of that type that anybody in the entire stadium had. And as I was going through the ticket line at Gate 2, I was the last one in our group. The usher taking my ticket said, "Nice shirt!" as he tore my ticket stub. A lady was behind me--and the usher asked her, "Did you buy that shirt for him?" She was completely perplexed! One of those where you had to be there, but it was a hoot!

What a day--what a game--what promise for these guys. Keep making it happen, Huskers!

Go Big Red!

The Old Husker Fan