Nebraska-South Dakota State: What Happened to the Huskers?

Call 2010 the year of the FCS.

The South Dakota State Jackrabbits gave the Nebraska Cornhuskers all they could handle Saturday night, playing the Huskers through all four quarters in a surprisingly close 17-3 defeat.  This was just another fantastic FCS performance of 2010, which has become a banner year for the former Division I-AA teams in terms of competing with FBS schools.

Maybe Nebraska's football players we're partying all Friday night—and Saturday morning.  To put it bluntly, the sixth-ranked Cornhuskers looked like a bumbling bunch of drunks on their way to a thoroughly unimpressive win over the scrappy Jackrabbits.

We've all seen Bo Pelini's football teams play bad football at times, but have we ever seen one of his teams give such lackadaisical effort?

Before I rag on the Huskers more, I want to give SDSU props for their performance.  Those guys came to play, and they executed their game plan to perfection, exploiting the Huskers' weaknesses by pounding the ball down the defense's throat and forcing the quarterback to beat them in the passing game by stuffing nine defenders in the box. 

The game plan was genius, and you can bet teams such as Kansas State, Texas, Oklahoma State, Texas A&M and, well, everybody, will be modeling their game plans after the Jackrabbits.  The SDSU players wanted to win more than the Husker players, and they gave triple the effort Husker players gave.  Even their fans, who had a nice turnout, were more into the game than the Husker fans were.

First and foremost, Bo Pelini needs to send a message to his team.

Frankly, the Huskers seemed like they didn't give a crap.  The lack of effort in this game was extremely annoying and was really getting on my nerves.  Ask anybody that was seated around me, and I'm sure they would tell you I was irritable to say the least. 

Pelini is a guy who usually doesn't underestimate an opponent no matter who it is, but it seemed even the Huskers' cerebral head coach was surprised at the way SDSU came out to play.  But Pelini is also a guy who learns quickly, and I can say with confidence that no team in the nation will be practicing harder this week.  If the Huskers show the same effort against Kansas State in a week and a half, they will get crushed.  I don't expect Pelini to allow that to happen.

Although much of the team's struggles were likely because of the lack of effort, I'll treat them as though effort had nothing to do with it.

Offense

Is it 2009 all over again?  The offense just couldn't do anything most of the game, and put up fewer points against the Jackrabbits than did FCS members Delaware and Illinois State.  So where was the flawless execution we saw in the Washington game? 

The biggest reason the Huskers couldn't move the ball was because Martinez looked fresh out of high school passing the ball.  Had he completed some of his passes, which were not hard throws to make, it would've loosened up the defense and allowed Martinez room to break a few of his signature long runs. 

However, Martinez could not complete those passes and it stalled the offense badly.  He also had two hideous interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown that was called back by a block-in-the-back penalty. 

If the Huskers want to have any offensive success moving forward, Martinez MUST be able to hit those passes, like he showed he could do against Washington.  We know he can make those throws, but the question is, will he?  In addition, he needs to get more air under his passes, and that may go all the way back to how he holds the ball.

Rex Burkhead and Roy Helu Jr., the Huskers' thunder and lightning backs, had halfway decent games given they had very little room to run, another effect of the ineffective passing game.  They both got more carries and fewer yards than last week.  Some of the time, however, the Huskers were effectively rushing the ball even with a stacked box, and then Watson would call a pass play.  I know he wanted to get Martinez some passing reps, but by the time it was 14-3 in the third quarter, he should have scrapped that and pounded the ball when it was working.

Overall, the offense deserves and "F" for this game.  These Huskers have to prove that they aren't going to sputter and stall after the first quarter of the season like the 2009 version did.  The onus is now on Martinez.  He must show that he can be an effective passer in big-game situations, or defenses will stack eight and nine defenders in the box and this offense is doomed.  You can't block nine defenders with five linemen and one running back.

Defense

The defense was very vanilla in this game, as I'm sure was on purpose.  Pelini doesn't want to show other more competitive teams their elaborate blitz packages and such.  But that was part of Pelini's problem on Saturday—he underestimated the competitiveness of SDSU.  The defense did fairly well given the circumstances, particularly the secondary, which is to be expected. 

Cornerback Alfonzo Dennard continues to have a brilliant season.  He recorded his third interception of the season on a beautiful leaping grab in which he showcased his 40" vertical leap (of course, the offense did nothing to capitalize on it.  Remind you of 2009?). 

LaVonte David was also brilliant, making a whopping 19 tackles on the night.  He had 11 in the first half alone.  David still has a lot to work on according to Pelini, which is scary to think about.  He might be an All-American linebacker by the end of his career at Nebraska.

I am concerned about the defensive line play.  It's like those guys were invisible last night.  They made very few tackles and had no sacks, and the Jackrabbits consistently penetrated the line of scrimmage, forcing the linebackers to make all the tackles.  No wonder David had 19 on the day.  The Blackshirts absolutely have to figure out how to stop the run, or guys like Daniel Thomas and Kendall Hunter will have field days against Nebraska.

In reality, this game just might be a blessing in disguise.  After the beatdown of Washington, the Huskers needed to be humbled.  If they had whooped up on the Jackrabbits like they were supposed to, they may have been overconfident going into the Kansas State game.  The outcome of this game might stick with Pelini and the Huskers and will hopefully keep them humble throughout the rest of the season. 

As for this week, Pelini needs to send a message to his team that he means business, and they had better step it up.  I think they will be prepared for the Wildcats in a week and a half, and expect to see a 180-degree difference in effort.  There is no overlooking a 4-0 team that has a Doak Walker-caliber running back and will challenge for the Big 12 North title. 

At least there better not be.

Food For Thought

• After a few weeks of altogether unimpressive play, everything came crashing down for the Texas Longhorns this week.  The UCLA Bruins, who, frankly, are not a good football team, dominated the Longhorns 34-12.  The worst part for the 'Horns was that it was at home. 

Unfortunately for Nebraska fans, the loss takes some of the luster away from the big matchup in Lincoln.  It will still be a big grudge match, but it won't be what it was chalked up to be: two undefeated, top-10 teams and possibly a preview of the Big 12 title game.  After seeing the Huskers play this past weekend, I'm not even sure Nebraska will be undefeated when they play Texas.  You can bet those $600 Huskers-Horns tickets will drop a little bit after this week.

• The Oklahoma Sooners were given all they could handle by the Cincinnati Bearcats this weekend, eking out a 31-29 win.  Kansas State was also given a scare by UCF, winning 17-13.  What was with the Big 12 this weekend??

• The Miami Hurricanes showed signs of the early 2000s with a dominating 31-3 win over Pittsburgh.  Jacory Harris had 248 passing yards and two touchdowns, but also threw two picks.  I still think Harris is overrated.

• Alabama survived as the top team in the nation this week, pulling out a close win against a surprisingly scrappy Arkansas team.  I have to admit, I thought 'Bama would crush the Razorbacks, but it wasn't Ryan Mallett who kept Arkansas in the game, it was the defense.  The Razorbacks played like they wanted to win, and I was impressed with how they competed through the whole game.  I really thought 'Bama was going to hang 45 on them.  Mallett had 357 yards passing but was picked off three times.  He remains overrated in my book.

• The 20th-ranked USC Trojans destroyed the Washington State Cougars 50-16.  Big deal, the Cougars are one of the worst teams in the nation.  USC is still overrated in my opinion.

• The Oregon Ducks continued their offensive dominance this week, slapping 42 on Arizona State compared to the Sun Devils' 31.  ASU played fast and physical against Oregon, but the offense proved too powerful.  Darron Thomas continues to improve, and LaMichael James continues to impress.

• Stanford continued to impress this week, posting a 37-14 win over Notre Dame.  The Cardinal looks to be the only team with a good chance of defeating Oregon.

• Arizona may have a shot at Oregon as well, but it didn't look like it this week.  The normally high-powered Wildcats needed a late touchdown to squeeze out a 10-9 win over a Cal team whose defense was minced by Nevada.  Similar to Nebraska, Arizona needs to regroup this week and get after it if they want to rebound from a scary game.

• The Boise State Broncos did enough to beat the Oregon State Beavers, 37-24, but I'm doubtful that it was enough to put the Broncos in the title game.  The Broncos need to completely destroy everyone from here on out if they want any chance at all, and they need to root for anybody playing Alabama and Ohio State.

• 15th-ranked LSU had a nice 20-14 win over 22nd-ranked West Virginia, but I don't anticipate LSU being much of a factor in the SEC this year.  Teams like Arkansas, South Carolina, and Auburn are better than the Tigers.

• Speaking of the SEC, the 12th-ranked South Carolina Gamecocks were defeated by the 17th-ranked Auburn Tigers, 35-27.  Both of these programs are on the rise.  Look for each to be a factor in the SEC this year.

Can the Huskers rebound against Kansas State in a Thursday night prime-time game in Manhattan?  I think they can, and I think Pelini will have the Huskers ready.  I'll take the Huskers in a 24-20 win.  That being said, in 2009 I thought they would rebound against Iowa State after a loss to Texas Tech.  We'll see how this team responds.