Nebraska Football: The Good, Bad and Other of Nebraska's 38-14 Win over Wyoming

Nebraska traveled to Laramie and returned with a 38-14 victory over Wyoming, keeping their non-conference season perfect at 4-0. NU stuttered a little, holding only a 14-7 lead at halftime before pulling away to a comfortable victory.

But how did it happen? Let’s take a look at the good, the bad and the rest of the game and then look at the bigger picture for Nebraska.

The Good: Rex the Foundation

Rex Burkhead was clearly the star of the show, gaining 170 yards and scoring two touchdowns. But perhaps more importantly, Burkhead provided the offensive threat Nebraska needed when Taylor Martinez was struggling.

At the end of 2010, Nebraska’s offense fell into a very simple trap. Stop Martinez, stop Nebraska. With Burkhead’s performance against Wyoming, combined with his strong performances throughout the season, Nebraska appears to have escaped that trap.

The Good: Depth Gets a Workout

With an injury to Jared Crick and a partial return to action by Alfonzo Dennard, Nebraska’s depth chart got well used by both fans and announcers.

A number of Nebraska’s second and third-team players got a number of first-team snaps in a game environment. In many ways, the Wyoming game was almost like an early-season FCS-opponent game in reverse for Nebraska.

In this case, instead of the second-teamers getting action after the game was decided, they got in right from the start.

The Good: A Road Trip Is in the Book

Road trips are a different animal for any football team, and it is a real benefit to Nebraska that it was able to work their road kinks out for the first time in Laramie instead of Madison.

Particularly in the first quarter, Nebraska looked out of sorts, and at least part of that could have been due to the first road trip of the season. Nebraska can survive a bad first quarter against Wyoming.

It’s much less likely Nebraska can survive such a start against Wisconsin.

The Bad: Dennard Isn't Magic

Just wait, they said. Once Alfonzo Dennard comes back, everything will be fine in the secondary, and the Blackshirts will look like the Blackshirts again, they said.

Well, Dennard was back, and the same issues in the secondary that have been haunting NU all season continued. Admittedly, Dennard didn’t look like he was completely fit, ultimately not finishing the game. And, in a surprise, Nebraska gave Corey Cooper a start at the opposite corner over Ciante Evans and Andrew Green.

Still, with the Badgers now squarely on the horizon, Nebraska’s secondary is still a source of concern for the Children of the Corn.

The Bad: Secondary Isn't the Only Issue

It’s been fashionable this season to blame the secondary for all of the defensive woes for Nebraska. In fairness, there’s a lot of truth to those concerns. But there are other issues defensively that Nebraska needs to sort out.

Nebraska’s sacks are well down from last year at this time (13 in 2010, six in 2011), meaning that receivers are having more time to get open and make the secondary look bad.

Tackling technique has been poorer this year than last, meaning that there are more plays getting into the secondary in the first place than last year. And Nebraska’s new no-huddle offense, when it breaks down, means that the defense is back on the field in a hurry with less time to rest and recover.

So, while the secondary is the legitimate target of concern for Nebraska fans, save a little bit of blame for the rest of the team as well.

The Bad: Old-School Taylor Martinez

Nebraska fans watching the start of the Wyoming game could have been forgiven for having flashbacks to the 2010 Big 12 Championship.

Taylor Martinez was wildly inaccurate with his throws and looked tentative and uncomfortable running the option.

Rex Burkhead’s heroics, and Martinez’s ability to manage the offense and let Burkhead do his thing, saved Nebraska from what could have been a very embarrassing result in a classic trap game.

And the Dichotomy of the 4-0

Wisconsin is 4-0 after having little trouble dispatching four teams of clearly lesser talent. Nebraska is 4-0 after struggling its way through wins against four teams…of clearly lesser talent.

That fact gives many Nebraska fans pause as they prepare for the journey east to Madison and into the B1G Conference.

While it is true that Wisconsin is untested, based on the evidence of the season, it looks like a tall order for Nebraska to turn its 4-0 into a 5-0 record.

The Big Picture

It should always be remembered that Nebraska is an extremely young team, and the areas in which Nebraska is struggling are mainly where that youth is being asked to contribute in a big way.

Given the comparative weakness of the B1G (except for Wisconsin), a conference title game is certainly a legitimate target for Nebraska. But in watching NU in 2011, don’t forget how young the team is and how much experience it will be getting for the 2012 campaign as well.

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