The Sports Xchange
NCAAF Team Report – Nebraska – INSIDE SLANT
Win out.
That’s what Nebraska coach Bo Pelini told his players they must do, after a humiliating 63-38 loss at Ohio State sent the Huskers into their bye week on a downward slope.
“Like I just told the football team, we need to win out. We need to win out,” Pelini said. “We have six weeks. And we need to win the next six football games. Get to Indianapolis.”
Indianapolis is the home of the Big Ten Championship game, where the winners of the Leaders and Legends Divisions will meet to determine the conference champion. Nebraska hasn’t won a conference title since 1999.
But for Pelini to lay out the rest of the season with a blanket “must win” approach is very un-Pelini like. This is a coach who’s always talking about focusing on the process and taking it game by game.
Is he now getting impatient? Showing signs of desperation?
Nebraska, actually, doesn’t have to necessarily win out to win the Legends Division — unless it wants to guarantee its own destiny, which Pelini obviously does.
Winning out would require Nebraska to win six consecutive games — something the Huskers haven’t done since 2001. Their longest winning streak under Pelini, in his fifth season, has been five games, and his teams recently have been best known for taking emotional roller-coaster rides — hardly the trait of a team that’s capable of winning six in a row.
Nebraska opens the second half of the season with three straight games against divisional teams — Northwestern, Michigan and Michigan State. But one of the biggest foes the Huskers must overcome is the one they see in the mirror.
“Our problems, a lot of them were self imposed,” Pelini said of the Ohio State loss. “For whatever reason we lost our composure and didn’t execute.”
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NCAAF Team Report – Nebraska – NOTES, QUOTES
–Nebraska is 4-1 in regular-season games after bye weeks under fifth-year coach Bo Pelini. The Huskers have won four straight games since a 2008 home loss to Virginia Tech with an extra week to prepare.
The Huskers’ last three regular-season victories following bye weeks have all come on the road — 2009 at Missouri, 2010 at Kansas State and 2011 at Minnesota. Nebraska will play at Northwestern on Oct. 20 after a week off.
–In their last eight road/neutral site games against ranked teams, Nebraska has combined to commit 20 turnovers and 68 penalties. The damage in a 63-38 loss at Ohio State? Four turnovers — all by junior quarterback Taylor Martinez — and nine penalties, including four false starts and one delay of game in the first half alone.
–Under Pelini, Nebraska is 9-3 after losses within the regular season. Nebraska hasn’t suffered consecutive defeats during the regular season since 2009, when the Huskers lost back-to-back home games against Iowa State and Texas Tech. Nebraska’s longest losing streak under Pelini was three games, in his first season, in 2008.
BYE WEEK MISSION: Nebraska needs to regroup. A week away from the cameras, recorders and notepads of the 30 or so reporters who camp out for interviews after every practice will be a good start, given the generally negative vibe in the local media. But Pelini and his staff must also take this time to seriously evaluate what changes may be needed — personnel, scheme or otherwise — to avoid another road debacle, given two of Nebraska’s first three games after the bye week are on the road.
LOOKING AHEAD: Nebraska’s bye week comes at exactly the season’s midway point. The Huskers, 4-2 overall and 1-1 in Big Ten play, begin the second half of their season with a key three-game stretch against divisional opponents, which will undoubtedly determine their fate in the race for the Legends Division championship. Nebraska plays at Northwestern on Oct. 20, hosts Michigan on Oct. 27 and begins November with a game at Michigan State.
QUOTE TO NOTE: “Lack of execution.” — Nebraska coach Bo Pelini’s three-word response, with no elaboration, on any similarities between his team’s 36-30 loss at UCLA and last week’s 63-38 loss at Ohio State.
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NCAAF Team Report – Nebraska – STRATEGY AND PERSONNEL
SCOUTING THE OFFENSE: Moving the football hasn’t been a problem for Nebraska under second-year offensive coordinator Tim Beck. The Huskers have scored at least 30 points in every game, and they’ve done a decent job of keeping defenses off balance with a blend of running and passing. That’s a credit to quarterback Taylor Martinez’s off-season improvement in throwing the football. But as was evident in Nebraska’s last game, Martinez still has issues. He committed four turnovers — including three interceptions — in a 63-38 loss at Ohio State. Some surmise he’s trying to press, knowing the offense has to keep pace, given Nebraska’s defensive woes. While it’s a rational theory, it doesn’t excuse the fact that Martinez is a third-year starter who shouldn’t still be melting in big games. Nebraska’s running game, meanwhile, with Rex Burkhead, Ameer Abdullah, Braylon Heard and Martinez, is among the nation’s best, as the Huskers are averaging 292 rushing yards per game. Beck may be better suited to exploit that strength over the season’s second half.
SCOUTING THE DEFENSE: In short, the defense has been this team’s weak link. The 63 points allowed at Ohio State were the fourth most in Nebraska’s history, and it’s the fifth time under fifth-year coach Bo Pelini that an opponent has scored at least 45 points on the Huskers, with three of those games coming in the last two years. What’s wrong? Pelini bemoans the lack of execution, saying players aren’t getting off blocks, and in some cases, aren’t even making plays when unblocked. The lack of detail is perplexing, given Pelini’s defensive reputation. Nebraska has improved last year’s numbers in sacks and tackles for loss, but is still allowing 367 yards per game, largely because they’re hemorrhaging big plays.
ROSTER REPORT:
–RB Rex Burkhead will be “full go” for Nebraska’s Oct. 20 game at Northwestern, coach Bo Pelini said. Burkhead left the Ohio State game with an injury to the same knee in which he sprained his MCL in Nebraska’s season opener on Sept. 1. That initial injury caused him to miss two full games. Burkhead will continue to play with a knee brace.
–WR Tim Marlowe is expected to return later in October after he suffered a broken collarbone in Nebraska’s season opener on Sept. 1. Marlowe, who also returns kickoffs, hasn’t played since.
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