Guys and girls, not a Husker fan here but USM and college football fan. From the outside looking in, I think most all of you are right. There are several areas that did not appear to be traditional Nebraska caliber today. 1) is the secondary, that is obvious. It was bad enough that Southern receivers were open but the yds after the catch should be a concern as well. It wasn't that there was a whole lot of yds after the catch but past NU DB's tackled immediately allowing virtually no YAC yds. 2) The running backs (not counting the FB) lacked explosiveness. Personally, I can't remember a time when NU had an "average" RB. I was expecting more I guess because that is/was one thing you could count on with NU. 3) the pass rush.....considering the competition. Granted most plays were a three step drop out of the shotgun but again I was expecting more. Mullens is a three year starter with a good head on his shoulders but he does not run...ever and there were several plays where he had plenty of time to go through his progressions. 4) the energy of the team seemed to be lacking. Maybe it was a let down game coming off the Miami game but I got the feeling that there was not 100% effort.
Bottom line to me is that Armstrong is a star but he needs help in the running game (FB wrinkle may help that) and he needs a star receiver. Some one in those ranks needs to step up because defensively there are some serious holes in the secondary, meaning that NU is going to have to out score people in the B1G.
I watched Illinois after NU, they are not as offensively potent as USM but better defensively. They have bigger and better backs but their receivers had the drops today and the QB is average at best. Their line gave up several sacks to an undermanned defensive front.
I will be pulling for NU, hope yaw get it together and make run at the West!
Good luck.
