Nebraska Football: Reviewing The Cornhuskers' 23-20 Loss To Oklahoma

THE GOOD ...

- THE START: Well, cripes, could that have been any better for Nebraska? A long Roy Helu run, a call that goes Nebraska's way, and NU has a 17-0 lead in the second quarter. You knew there would be rough waters coming, but things couldn't have been any brighter for NU at the beginning.

- SCORING DEFENSE: No, it doesn't mean the defense scored. It means that although Oklahoma got 454 yards of total offense against the Blackshirts, they were held to only six points in the second half. Even more importantly, the defense held OU to three and out after three and out, continuing to provide the offense with more than enough chances to tie or win the game.

- THE UNUSED WEAPON: Alex Henery, NU's MVP of the last three seasons, was denied two opportunities in the second half to take the field and either tie or win the game. Poor offensive decisions and executions kept him off the field, but his punting repeatedly put Oklahoma inside its 20 and allowed the Blackshirts to pin OU in.

- THE DEATH OF THE CONSPIRACY: I know, this is a fourth good, and it's breaking the formula. But this one deserves some extra consideration. Throughout the season, Nebraska fans have held on to a conspiracy theory that the Big 12 was out to ensure that Nebraska didn't win the last conference title. While some of the conference honchos' actions looked peculiar as the season wore on, tonight's game left no doubt that it was settled on the field. Indeed, if there was any team that could be felt hard done by the Stripe Squad, it was Oklahoma. The conspiracy talk has been caustic to Husker Nation, fueling a lot of anger and a lot of ugly behavior that has made NU as a whole look bad to the nation. So, unless the Big 12 was involved in the decision to play Martinez, the conspiracy talk dies tonight.

THE BAD ...

- DISAPPEARING ACT: There's really no escaping it. While there's plenty of blame to go around (including a fumble each from Helu and Rex Burkhead), Taylor Martinez was the primary reason for Nebraska's loss. Given his indecision, poor decision making (including the interception in the end zone when NU was up 17-7, the turning point of the game), and inaccuracy, we may have some insight as to why other schools didn't recruit him as a quarterback. Let's just say that the only T-Magic NU saw in this game was to make the Big 12 trophy disappear for Nebraska.

- THE ANSWER TO THE ULTIMATE QUESTION: In 13 games, Nebraska fumbled the ball 42 times. 42! As the weeks went on, we all knew that NU was riding its luck in putting the ball on the turf that much and continuing to win. One day, some particularly insightful columnist said, those fumbles would come back to haunt NU. Today was the day. NU lost the turnover battle 4-1, and lost the game by three points.

- HELLO, HELU? Hey, remember the guy who busted the long TD run in the first quarter? Remember the guy who set Nebraska's all-time single-game rushing record? Inexplicably, Helu was a complete non-factor in the fourth quarter, when the game was on the line and NU needed a burst.

Yeah, I know he fumbled, but so did Burkhead and Martinez. Why Bo Pelini and Shawn Watson put the game in the hands of a temperamental freshman with a bum toe instead of a senior with the skill set of Helu is a question we will likely never get a straight answer to.

... AND THE FLASHBACK

For two years in a row, Nebraska has generated a stellar performance on defense, to have it wasted by an offensive performance that was abysmally absent. Fair play to Pelini and Watson, they made their decision to live and die on the back of Martinez.

Unfortunately, as the game wore on, it became cclearer what the result of that decision is going to be. Last year, the near-miss was as close to a moral victory as Nebraska fans will ever get.

This year, with the offense's complete second-half FAIL, the mood of Husker Nation will be decidedly more negative. OU deserves all the credit for winning the title game, and likely should have won the game by a bigger margin.

But NU also had three more turnovers that OU, was outgained by 161 yards, was shut out in the second half...and still lost by only three points. It's hard to see this as anything but a game lost by NU's offensive ineptitude.

THE BIG PICTURE

Nebraska is 10-3, and heading to another bowl game. But all is definitely not well in Husker Nation. Things may look different in the cold light of morning, but at this point it's difficult to see how Shawn Watson keeps his job after the end of the season.

Nebraska is having the same conversation it did at the end of last season--great defense wasted by a horrific offense. Some of it is personnel, sure, and NU has a lot of exciting offensive talent coming to Lincoln next year.

But right now, there's little reason to have faith that the NU coaching staff will be able to figure out how to use that talent effectively.

More and more, the T-Magic we saw at the start of the season looks like a mirage, as injuries and defensive schemes conspired to take Martinez's home runs away and turn him into a very average freshman quarterback prone to making bad decisions, throwing bad passes, and not protecting the ball.

Assuming he stays, Martinez will have competition for the signal-callers' position from Brion Carnes, Jamal Turner, and (maybe) Bubba Starling.

If nothing else, Martinez's collapse at the end of this season may show Starling that the QB race could be wide open and give him a reason to turn down the MLB contracts he is likely to receive.

It's almost a certainty that Nebraska will be heading to the Insight Bowl in Phoenix on Dec. 28, to face a Big Ten opponent. Early projections have Iowa as NU's bowl foe, meaning that we could get a head-start on the end-of-season Farmageddon series due to start next year.

Between now and Dec. 28, Pelini is going to have some serious soul-searching to do. It's unlikely any changes will be made prior to the bowl: let's face it, the decision to play and to stick with Martinez was Pelini's, not Watson's.

But even a man as stubborn as Pelini has to see that what NU is doing offensively is simply not working, and not getting better.

With the defense NU has fielded the last two years, Nebraska is a competent offense (not spectacular, just competent) away from contending for a national title.

Yes, NU had its' opportunities and got close, as Pelini said in the post-game presser. But opportunities are funny things. Eventually, they stop coming.

Last year, NU had the most dominant defensive player in a generation in Ndamukong Suh, and was unable to generate enough offense to win him a trophy.

This year, NU had the best secondary in the country, as well as two special talents in Eric Haag and DeJon Gomes, and were unable to generate enough offense when it mattered to win them a trophy.

Nebraska is in a much better place than they were after Kansas hung 76 points on the Blackshirts in 2007. Quite honestly, after that game, I thought it might be a decade before NU could even reach a conference title game.

Pelini's defensive wizardry has brought NU to the doorstep of national prominence. But he's not going to be able to kick that door in with the offensive scheme he has in place. 

Pelini's allegiance to Watson is certainly enigmatic. Watson was a Bill Callahan holdover, not a Pelini hire. When Watson has been given the reins all to himself, his offense has spectacularly under-performed. It appears he is making a living off the 62-24 beat-down his Colorado team put on Nebraska in 2000. 

Without a dramatic change in personnel (and yes, that means a new offensive coordinator) it's difficult to see how Nebraska finally kicks that door down and returns to contending for national titles.

Pelini's history suggests that defenses under his charge will always be strong. But until NU gets an offense to at least complement, if not match, the defensive prowess, Nebraska's foray into the Big Ten will not end in glory.

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