A Work In Progress

Recap:

Editors Note: Apologies for no post last week. Experienced some technical difficulties and by the time I got it fixed/had time, it was already Saturday afternoon. Which stinks because last week was one of the biggest weeks in football. Oh well.

Update: Incorrectly stated that Nebraska hasn't allowed a passing touchdown this year (lol that would be the dream right?) Instead the stat I was thinking of was that they didn't allow a passing TD to just Oregon. Not quite as impressive but still cool. Statement has been properly updated.

As much as I thought we’d win last week, I’m still in shock and a bit confused that we still won. They played like crap, how did they win? Like…they weren’t shitty per se…but they certainly were not stellar. It was a very Nebraska game…they did enough to win, which for the first few games of their schedule, good enough is all we can ask for. We’ll ignore the fact that Oregon was stupid enough to go for 2 every single damn time. I can understand the first time, Oregon being Oregon (which also you’d think Mike Riley would know they’d do on the first touchdown after playing them what, 14 times at Oregon State?), I can understand the second time “It worked once let’s do it again!”. But you’d think after getting stopped you’d be like “oh darn they stopped us. Let’s just take the point” Guess not. Kicker issues I guess? They were never really in field goal range (either being too far away or just ended up scoring anyway) so the world will never know.

Some things are still looming in the muck though. Sure, Nebraska has only had one turnover, but Armstrong is a couple lucky breaks away from having at least a 2:1 TD:INT ratio (instead of a what, 8 or 7 to 1?). His decision making skills are still sub-par when it comes to throwing the ball, especially for someone who’s in his fourth year of doing this. But a fun quote from some people in the student section when Armstrong started cramping up and everyone started gasping “YEAH HE DOESN’T SUCK NOW DOES HE GUYS”. This guy knows what’s up. Nebraska has a real Chicago Bear complex (a complex which as a Bears fan I am not amused by), Armstrong isn’t exactly top tier and makes a bunch of mistakes, but he’s certainly almost a mile better than the next best option. Much like how Jay Cutler is with the Bears, except I have more trust in Hoyer than Cutler. So we’ll see how that plays out.

The defense though definitely held their end of the bargain, comparatively speaking when you’re going up against one of the most dynamic and fastest offenses in the nation (there were some "They gone" runs, but that's expected from Oregon. Not very many defenses will keep up with that speed). They bottled up the run when they needed to, and the secondary was a bit better…still some concerns though. Which is an issue I have. I’ve been reading this past week about how much improved the secondary is this year (which I won’t argue as much, the numbers are in favor that Nebraska is allowing 100 ish less passing yards through their first three games than they averaged all of last year, so definitely a good sign in the right direction) But I’m still seeing receivers wide open with about 10 yards of space from the nearest defender, and Oregon somewhat took advantage of that? But the deeper we get, the smarter teams will get (here’s to looking at the inevitable blowout at Ohio State right now). Apparently though this pass defense was able to deny Oregon a passing touchdown for the first time in 80 some games. Cool that we get to do that against one of the most prolific offenses, but don’t tell me they’re doing fine when they have 8 interceptions when 1) 5 of those were against Wyoming 2) 3 or 4 of those were freebies almost. I’ll say they’re taking steps in the right direction, but still very exposed.

Big Red Breakdown:

Anyway, digressing. Today is Northwestern. It’s always fun to play Northwestern for whatever reason no matter how good or bad they are. This year they come into the matchup at 1-2, with losses against Western Michigan and Illinois State…but won against Duke. So we’ll slate this as a bad start for the Wildcats and might not be the best team they’ve fielded in a while. Yet somehow it’ll still be a close game because Northwestern always plays scrappy (cue to three years ago, Northwestern comes into town 4-4, 0-4 in Big Ten play and yet Nebraska wins via epic Hail Mary that gave birth to the legend that is Westerkamp) Anyway, Northwestern usually feeds off of turnovers, which is great that Nebraska hasn’t committed that many to this point this year, but with Armstrong under the gun, every game is always an adventure. I’m not worried. Nebraska shouldn’t be either. Every game at this point should be tune-ups/working out the kinks for hopefully making Ohio State a competitive game.

Nebraska O vs Northwestern D: Advantage Nebraska. The run game has been in question lately, it’s almost as if defenses are figuring out that if they stop that, Armstrong will be likely to mess up through the air. Sounds like a logical game plan to me, so hopefully Armstrong can improve on his decision making skills if that becomes the case (again, he’s been better but he’s still not the greatest)

Nebraska D vs Northwestern O: Advantage Nebraska. I’ll be honest, haven’t really watched Northwestern, haven’t really had time to do a lot of scouting in general, but based on their scores this year (21-22, 7-9, 24-13), I like my chances to think that Northwestern won’t get too far against Nebraska’s stellar run defense and improving air defense

Special Teams: Edge Nebraska. Northwestern is always scary on special teams, so I’ll keep them honest

Prediction: Nebraska 31, Northwestern 16

 (PS: I really really really enjoy this picture)

The Rest of the Week in College Football:

Yeah...so about my top 4, since some teams can't live up to expectations....Let's go with:

Ohio State

Alabama

Louisville

Clemson (via way of being in the same division as Louisville)

Staying Relevant: Michigan, Stanford, Houston

No real time top 25 rankings yet because of technical issues, so still working on that! 

Georgia @ Ole Miss - Ole Miss 35, Georgia 24

Ole Miss kept it close against Alabama. Georgia kept it close against Missouri and Nicholls State. One of those stat lines is not like the other.

Wisconsin @ Michigan State - Michigan State 24, Wisconsin 13

Seriously. Why did Wisconsin get such a big bump when they beat LSU? I'm also not high on Michigan State either this year, but enough to say they'll win at home

Florida @ Tennessee - Tennessee 24, Florida 20

Uff. I still think Tennessee is overrated. Florida isn't sharp enough to prove me right unfortunately until their original starting QB comes back from suspension. But Florida, feel free to do so. When Tennessee loses, America wins.

Arkansas @ Texas A&M - A&M 34, Arkansas 27

SEC shootout (kinda)! A&M has a couple more fine points than Arkansas, and home field.