Before I get into any recaps, analysis or any other mumbo jumbo, we need to start with the fan base. You guys are why we can't have nice things. So ok Nebraska is 1-2 (should be 2-1 sure, and the way we lost Miami was pretty crummy, so there was a hope for 3-0) But people need to chill the f out. Sure I'm a bit upset at the way the season has started and the way it's gone with those two losses, but I'm a realistic fan. I'm that fan that will initially boo at what seemed to be a bad call from the ref, but when they show the replay I'll be like "Oh, ok, yea maybe he did get a bit of jersey" when the rest of the crowd will resume booing. I'm also realistic in the way that I expected the Miami game to be a loss (sure the first half was frustrating and the epic comeback was pretty epic) but everyone is making it seem like we should've beat Miami from the first minute. No. Nebraska did not match up well against Miami and they quickly exposed the weakness as such.
Each and every fan seems to be expecting IMMEDIATE contention for both Big Ten titles and National Championships. Holy crap give Riley a break. Sure, the way the Big Ten West is shaping up Nebraska might slip into the championship game, but who here realistically believes they can stack up against an Ohio State or Michigan State? Nebraska by no means is a sub .500 team, and with the schedule they should finish at a minimum of 7 wins. For a first year coach to be above .500 is fairly successful, sure its no 9-win successful, but this is where everyone else has trouble accepting. ITS OK TO LOSE. The two games Nebraska has lost they have been relatively outplayed for the majority of the game (BYU stayed with them the entire game, and Miami had them in the first three quarters).
The one thing that does bother me about Nebraska however, is the lack of change to fix these errors that opponents keep exposing. The biggest hole Nebraska has had the past three games that have seen ZERO POSITIVE CHANGES, is the lack of pass defense. In each of the first three games (Yes, even against South Alabama), the secondary has been ripped apart to allow over 300 passing yards in each game. Last year Nebraska totaled a low 200 average in that department. If Nebraska does not fix the pass defense, then this will be a long season of getting ripped apart in that department. What I've seen is defenders being no less than 5 YARDS away from the receiver. That's not a very intimidating defense if you ask me, but again I'm no coach so whatever. Secondly, the run game has not been very strong. That's cool if Nebraska is trying to be a passing team, but there needs to be a solid running game to back it up, especially with a QB like Armstrong under center. Which leads me to my third point. Sure, you can make the argument that if they didn't have Armstrong, the comeback against Miami wouldn'tve been possible, but even during the comeback he was still making the same old mistakes he always makes, and that's the lack of checking receivers. There were a number of plays where all he's done is try to find Westerkamp (which the way the receivers were playing, don't terribly blame him) Or he just looks on one side of the field, and completely ignores the wide open freshman either on the other side or Newby slipping by with a quick, safe, underneath route. In the last offensive play (Throwing the INT in OT) you can see he was tracking one receiver the entire time without bothering to check the safer play (it was only first down...)...lets go to the recap I guess.
Recap:
Brad Kayaa rips apart Nebraska's lack of pass defense, but Miami ultimately lets go of the "gas pedal", Nebraska somehow comes back in how they should've been playing the entire game, but shocker, Armweak (in this case) blows the game in overtime. In my opinion, here's who's directly responsible for blowing the game:
1) The lack of pass defense
2) Armstrong
3) Butterfinger receivers
So no, it's not all on Armstrong, he helped, but he also didn't.
The Big Red Throwdown:
*sigh* So hopefully, with all of that in mind, Nebraska should be able to pick up it's second win against Southern Miss. It's Homecoming week and for whatever reason it's an 11AM kickoff (to the student sections dismay) And also for whatever reason, the Homecoming game is not against a Big Ten foe, but again, whatever.
Nebraska O vs Southern Miss D: Edge Nebraska. Even with Armstrong's struggles, he still gets the ball out an impressive amount and the receivers look well, when they catch the ball.
Nebraska D vs Southern Miss O: Edge Nebraska. Expect some continuing struggles with the passing defense, but overall the Golden Eagles aren't a threat.
Special Teams: RIP Demornay.
Prediction: Nebraska 52, Southern Miss 16
The Rest of the Week in College Football:
So here's where things get interesting and also equally lengthy. Now that we're three weeks into the season, we have enough current season data to accurately portray a rankings system, because we all know the AP Polls can be biased. And I actually have had this conversation with some of my friends and how we hate that they go off of last seasons bias instead of what they're doing right now (I.e Ohio State is still #1 in the AP, but they're kinda struggling for a #1)
So starting this week, I will give the AP poll, my opinions, then I will throw my personal Top 25 based off my bias, and my data.
AP Poll:
1) Ohio State
2) Michigan State (Up 2, *cue Jaws theme*)
3) Ole Miss (Up 12)
3.5) TCU (Down .5)
5) Baylor
6) Notre Dame (Up 2)
7) Georgia
8) LSU (Up 5)
9) UCLA (Up 1)
10) Florida State (Down 1)
11) Clemson
12) Alabama (Down 10)
13) Oregon (Down 1)
14) Texas A&M (Up 3)
15) Oklahoma (Up 1, I'm starting to lose faith in Oklahoma)
16) Arizona (Up 4, Also starting to lose faith)
17) Northwestern (Up 6, Uhh...we'll get to them)
18) Utah (Up 3)
19) USC (Down 13)
20) Georgia Tech (Down 6)
21) Stanford (NR...why AP voters. Why.)
22) Wisconsin (Up 2)
22.5) BYU (Down 3.5)
24) Oklahoma State (Up 1)
25) Missouri (Down 3)
Dropped: Auburn (Lol)
Trending: West Virginia, California, Toledo, Houston, Texas Tech, Temple, Boise State, Miami, Iowa
My Top 25 (These are determined based off Record, Strength of Schedule, and futuristic outlook)
1) Notre Dame
2) Ohio State
3) Ole Miss
4) Michigan State
5) Texas A&M
6) Baylor
7) Florida State
8) Georgia
9) Clemson
10) TCU
11) LSU
12) Alabama
13) UCLA
14) Utah
15) Oklahoma
16) BYU
17) USC
18) Kansas State
19) Florida
20) California
21) Northwestern
22) Temple
23) Memphis
24) West Virginia
25) Miami
(To those curious, Nebraska is currently a solid 101 out of 128 teams)
Take it for what its worth, as the season progresses this will be a bit more accurate....hopefully
What to Watch for:
Last Week 3-5 :/ Overall 13-9 (Only two ranked match ups this week? Bummer)
UCLA @ Arizona - UCLA 34, Arizona 28
Now now. I know I've said UCLA is overrated...but this is more so Arizona isn't as great as once thought than a total buy into UCLA. Will it help UCLA's stock? Maybe. But this game could also go in Arizona's favor to help them re-establish relevancy in the Pac-12
Utah @ Oregon - Oregon 55, Utah 45
Bring out the guns because this one will be a shootout. Utah's defense won't be able to keep up with Oregon, but at the same time Oregon's defense has been exposed in their first few games making this one a good up and down the field game.
Meanwhile...in the NFL:
Thurs Night: Redskins @ Giants - Giants 31, Redskins 20
The Giants have been oh so close to not being 0-2, so hopefully they can finally pick up a win tonight against the Redskins, who are no slouch thus far in the season since they've ditched RG3
Sun Night: Broncos @ Lions - Broncos 27, Lions 17
The Broncos may not have found their offense quite yet, but the Lions still have questions to answer too.
Mon Night: Chiefs @ Packers - Packers 38, Chiefs 26
I've been a fool to go against A-aron Rodgers at home, so let's not make that mistake again.
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