Nebraska-Texas: Huskers Wave White Flag Against Longhorns

So much for redemption.

In by far the most important game of their season, the Nebraska Cornhuskers chose to play a sloppy, uninspired, downright sickening game, willingly surrendering the win to the delighted Texas Longhorns, 20-13.

Before I paste the Huskers with criticism, I want to give the Longhorns kudos for their win. When the Longhorns season was on the line, they responded with a solid, efficient game, executing their game plan and letting the Huskers beat themselves like they have so many times in the past against Texas. 

The 'Horns played like they wanted this game. Can't say the same about Nebraska.

With that being said, it's pretty tough to win a game when you drop FOUR certain touchdown passes.

Nebraska's offensive players came out with their tails between their legs, going three-and-out on the first series and fumbling deep in their own territory—again—on the following possession, which led to a Longhorn touchdown and an early 10-0 lead. 

The defense, on the other hand, came out.... also, with its tail between its legs.

Whaaa.....?

To be honest, the offense coming out and playing sloppily was not surprising to me. But the defense?? Missing tackles, lacking that ferocious demeanor, looking lost and confused? That does not sound like a Bo Pelini defense. They didn't look like one either.  Let's get to the specifics.

Offense

Grade—F

After running all over the previous five teams they played, the Huskers were looking very strong offensively, led by explosive freshman Taylor Martinez. 

Then this.

This poor offensive performance cannot be put on Martinez, who, although only rushing for 21 yards, didn't get much help from his offensive line, and didn't get any help from his receivers. Martinez actually looked decent throwing for the most part, but you cannot move the ball when the receivers don't make the most of their opportunities. 

The offensive unit gets an F as a whole, thanks to the receivers. Starters Niles Paul and Brandon Kinnie combined for three, maybe four, dropped touchdown passes, and Mike McNeill was nonexistent. 

The running backs ran hard against a tough Texas defense, but were ultimately a non-factor with the lack of success in the passing game. The normally sure-handed Rex Burkhead blatantly dropped a surprisingly good pass from Martinez, which would have cut the Husker deficit to 10-7 in the first quarter.

Paul had six catches, but dropped at least two sure touchdown passes. Kinnie's drop was effectively the killer for the game. A catch there would have pulled the Huskers within seven with plenty of time left to tie the game. 

The receivers looked like they were surprised they were getting thrown to so much. To call this performance frustrating would be a severe understatement.

Senior quarterback Zac Lee stepped in and played valiantly, driving the offense down the field a couple times, only to be turned away by more drops and some poor officiating calls, which I will touch on later.

Defense

Grade—D

The Blackshirts held the Longhorns to 20 points, and the loss really wasn't their fault.  The Huskers would have won the game had they caught just two of those four or five touchdown passes.

However, the Blackshirts get a D because they did not play like the Blackshirts.

The Texas offense came into this game ailing, and the Husker defense was supposed to hold them to very little yardage and very few points. Instead, the Horns had two 70-yard rushers, including quarterback Garrett Gilbert, who is not known for his running ability. The Blackshirts tackled very poorly overall, and at times looked like they were going in slow motion.

The secondary did OK, but Texas didn't have to throw to win this game. The defensive line was handled by a pretty average Texas offensive line, and the linebackers were consistently out of position, allowing Gilbert to scoot for big gain after big gain. The Huskers did not wrap up, but instead just bounced off the Texas ball carriers.

Another concern was the lack of turnovers and sacks, which, combined, totalled a whopping zero. The defense didn't help the offense in that respect.

The bottom line is, if the Blackshirts really had done the job we all know they are capable of doing (we've seen it done), 13 points would have been enough to win the game.

The officiating in this game was par for the Husker's course today—poor. Many of the calls the zebras made were suspect to say the least, and a couple of them were blatantly bad, eliciting boos from a crowd filled with shocked, angry Husker fans, including myself.  I don't pride myself on being hostile, but some of the officials' calls were deserving of hostility.

With that being said, nobody can blame this game on the officiating. If the Huskers had done their job and executed—and caught a dang ball, for goodness' sake—they would have won the game regardless of how biased the officiating was.

Next week's game against Oklahoma State will go a long way in defining this team's resolve. Bo Pelini will have to work very hard to keep his team from suffering another October meltdown. The Huskers have been owned by Texas, and nobody can deny that. 

But Nebraska's season is still alive. The Huskers, at 5-1, have a schedule that, if they play well, is navigable. They could still conceivably finish the regular season 11-1 and make a BCS bowl game. 

Unfortunately, I lost a little bit of faith in my Huskers this weekend. I don't see the Huskers going into Stillwater and knocking off a red-hot Oklahoma State team, with playmakers like Kendall Hunter and Justin Blackmon who are much better than anybody Texas fielded on Saturday and a defense good enough to slow down a suddenly mediocre Husker attack.

Bo, this is your team's defining moment. Please, prove me wrong.