Nebraska Football: Reviewing The Cornhuskers' 20-3 Win Over Kansas

THE GOOD ...

- SUB-CENTURY: The Blackshirts held the Jayhawk offense to 87 total yards of offense. No, not in the first half. Or on one drive. Or just rushing. 87 yards is all the offense the Jayhawks were able to muster the entire game. While no one will be confusing KU with Oregon this year, to keep the Jayhawks under 100 yards—heck, under 90 yards—of total offense is an amazing feat.

- WELCOME BACK, FONZIE: Nebraska's secondary definitely felt the return of cornerback Alfonzo Dennard. The effect on what NU was able to do in coverage was highlighted by his athletic interception of an under thrown deep ball, Nebraska's only turnover of the game. The Blackshirts simply are not the same unit without him.

- CONTROL THE CLOCK: Nebraska entered the fourth quarter with a 17-3 lead, but facing a Kansas team fresh off a miracle comeback against Colorado. NU did what teams need to do with a lead. They put together drives, kept the clock moving and kept their offense on the field. While the hallmark of the first part of the season was explosive, long plays, the hallmark of the end of the season may very well be NU's ability to put drives together when they need to.

THE BAD ...

- T-MAGIC STEALS MY SCHTICK: For years now, I've written about Nebraska games and discussed the good and the bad in each game. In one game, we got a clear dose of both from quarterback Taylor Martinez. The good is that, for most of the game he played like he had Zac Lee's playbook, handing the ball off and making safe, short throws to keep the chains moving.

The bad is that the poor decisions and turnovers also returned, including a baffling interception right into the hands of a KU defender that looked a carbon copy to an interception he threw against South Dakota State.

- THE RIGHT SCHEME: At times, KU's defense looked a lot like how South Dakota State and Texas lined up against NU, leaving linebackers and defensive backs at home in the flat to fill the seams and stop Martinez, Roy Helu, and whatever other rampaging Nebraska ball carrier would be coming out of the backfield.

And much like those other teams, such a scheme worked to make NU look very ordinary on offense at times. There was much concern earlier in the season about a Jackrabbit blueprint, and it seems like the Jayhawks may have further demonstrated its existence. 

- UM, WE'RE COLD AND WOULD LIKE TO GO HOME: At the end of the game, with the clock winding under 20 seconds and NU holding a 20-3 lead, Nebraska inexplicably started throwing the ball. An incompletion stopped the clock, and NU took a time out with 10 seconds left.

They then came out, took a knee and mercifully ended the game. But the question has to be asked: what the heck was NU doing putting the ball into the air in the dying moments of a game with an outcome that was long since in doubt? Against NU legend Turner Gill, no less!

...AND THE END OF AN ERA

There's lots of ink to be spilled about Nebraska's farewell tour of their former Big Eight foes, but the Kansas rivalry will be the one I will miss most. The sheer history that will be lost—NU and KU have played continuously for 105 years, through two world wars and a Great Depression—is something that is very sad to see go. But I will also miss trips every other year to Lawrence, one of the prettiest college towns with one of the most picturesque stadiums you will find.

Heck, they even have a Dunkin' Donuts in Lawrence! While the stadium renovations have made a change, the place still feels like it did the first time I went, when a dear friend (now passed on) and I saw Nebraska beat KU badly, enjoyed some pizza at The Wheel, and going back onto the field at Memorial Stadium, reliving Nebraska's victory.

The Big Ten should be a fun and exciting adventure, but we should at least acknowledge and observe the history that is being left behind with Nebraska's departure.

THE BIG PICTURE

Two things became evident pretty quickly in this game. First, Martinez wasn't himself, and Nebraska's offense wasn't going to look like the dynamic machine it did with Martinez as T-Magic. Second, it didn't have to be once NU established what it would do defensively to the Jayhawks.

Once NU got a 14-point lead in the second quarter, it was pretty clear that Nebraska had all the points it would need for the win, absent a Dan Hawkins-like meltdown. In many ways, the second half felt more like a scrimmage than a game where the outcome was in doubt.

THE NEXT GAME

Nebraska at Texas A&M (November 21, Kyle Field, College Station, TX, 7:00 p.m. central, ABC). Don't look now, but the Aggies have got something going. Mike Sherman (previously known as Bill Callahan South) benched Big 12 preseason offensive player of the year Jerrod Johnson at quarterback in favor of Ryan Tannehill, the previous quarterback who Sherman converted to wide receiver.

The gamble has paid huge dividends, as the Aggies are unbeaten with Tannehill calling the signals and are in striking distance of winning the South. Throw in an atmosphere in College Station that is as difficult for an opponent as any in college football, and NU's task next week looks more and more challenging.

See my pictures of the Nebraska-Kansas game here.

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