Nebraska Football: 8 Questions the Cornhuskers Need to Answer

We're halfway through the schedule, and Nebraska is 5-1 overall and 1-1 in conference. Most people assumed before the season started that Nebraska would be right where they are currently, undefeated except for a loss to Wisconsin in Madison.

So, everything is right on track, isn't it? No worries, no unanswered questions, right?

As anyone who has followed Nebraska this season knows, how NU got to its current record has been borderline stunning. So, while NU is right where most people thought it would be, let's take a look at the questions Nebraska has to answer in the second half of the 2011 season.

The Problem Is in the Secondary, Right?

Admit it. When you close your eyes, you can see one of those awful plays where a wide receiver is streaking past a Nebraska cornerback and catching another long bomb. You can see two and three NU defenders giving chase to yet another opponent, putting points on the board and more pressure on the nascent NU offense to keep up.

That’s got to be the problem, right? Fix the secondary—including putting a guy who was a wide receiver three weeks ago on an island at corner and hoping for the best—and everything else goes back to normal in Blackshirt-land. Right?

Wait. The Front Four Could Be a Problem, Too?

Yes, there’s plenty of room to be concerned about the secondary. Both Ciante Evans and Andrew Green have failed to answer the bell when pressed into starting duty. Corey Cooper was converted from safety to corner and did his best, but also wasn’t the answer. Stanley Jean-Baptiste had a phenomenal play against Ohio State, but relying on a guy completely new to the corner position is frought with peril.

But part of the problem with the secondary is that Nebraska has not gotten the pass rush with its front four that it is used to. Even before the injury, Jared Crick was not generating the kind of chaos that was expected of him pre-season. With Crick gone for the year, and with Baker Steinkuhler and Cameron Meredith under-performing, the concern about the front four feeds into the concern about the secondary performance.

Can You Forget, and Remember, How to Tackle?

If you’re name is Lavonte David, you can just skip to the next slide. For just about the rest of the Nebraska defense, fundamental tackling technique has become quite the mystery. Much of the problems NU has had in the first half of the season haven’t been schematic—the players are where they needed to be to make a play. But time and again, the tackles have been missed and a play was extended by the opponent.

I suspect that missing tackles can be a little bit like missing free throws in basketball. Have you ever seen a team that starts missing free throws, either early in a game or early in a season? Once that mindset gets in place, it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy, with the basket getting smaller and smaller in the players’ eyes with each missed free throw. I would guess there is a little of that going on with the NU defense, which would explain in part why guys like Will Compton and Sean Fisher look so tentative when one-on-one with a ball carrier.

If that is the case, a bye week couldn’t have come at a better time. If NU can use the break to reset itself defensively and shake the tackling cobwebs out, perhaps a second half renaissance for the defense is in order.

Can Pelini Work His Second-Half Magic Again?

In Bo Pelini’s four years at Nebraska, he has developed a reputation for his defenses getting better as the season wore on. Well, if ever there was a year that Nebraska needed a trend to continue, it’s 2011. Having a bye week right in the middle of the season—particularly one coming off a win—allows Bo and Carl Pelini two weeks to focus on fundamentals and have a blank slate to work from in the second half of the season.

Is Beck Still Green?

Offensive coordinator Tim Beck got away with on-the-job training against Nebraska’s non-conference foes, but when the lights went on in Madison, he showed his inexperience. Thinking he saw an advantage, Nebraska under Beck threw the ball 15 times in 17 plays during the second half against Wisconsin. The result? Three interceptions, a raucous Camp Randall Stadium and a hole so deep that Nebraska couldn’t dig itself out.

The following week, it did appear that Beck learned his lesson, diversifying his attack and putting less of his success on the right arm of Taylor Martinez. Time (and trips to Happy Valley and Ann Arbor) will tell if the lessons of Madison made Beck a better coordinator.

Can the Kids Contribute?

Quick! Name the wide receiver with more catches than anyone else!

If you guessed true freshman Jamal Turner, you win. And when you couple Turner’s performance with true freshman Ameer Abdullah’s outstanding work returning punts and kicks, then you can see the contribution the kids are making already.

But there’s much more untapped potential. Against Ohio State, we saw a “diamond” formation with Abdullah, Aaron Green and Rex Burkhead on the field with Taylor Martinez. We saw Turner being used on jet sweeps and motion options from the wide receiver position. We saw Burkhead put in at fullback with Abdullah at the I-back position.

In other words, we saw playmakers on the field. If we see more of that in the second half of the season, Nebraska’s offense will be that much more dangerous.

Can Taylor Be Trusted?

This was certainly the question before the season started. In the first four games, Taylor Martinez demonstrated some growth in his game management skills and in his ability to protect both himself and the football. Then, those awful 15 minutes in Madison happened, and Nebraska fans felt the specter of 2010 casting a shadow over the 2011 season. Would Martinez revert to the Big 12 Championship game form, and would Nebraska’s offense collapse like it did last year?

Well, we got at least part of our answer against Ohio State. Even in a first half where NU struggled, Martinez clearly made better decisions with the ball both running and passing. And the touchdown pass he threw to Burkhead—a checkdown to the flat when all his other options were foreclosed—was exactly what the anti-Taylor crowd was convinced he couldn’t do.

One game certainly doesn’t make a season. But Martinez’s performance against the Buckeyes should provide some confidence and faith in him for the Children of the Corn watching Martinez guide NU through the second half of 2011.

Can NU Take Its Show on the Road?

Nebraska got its season-saving win against Ohio State at home. Now, under Bo Pelini, Nebraska has found success on the road. But NU has also struggled in recent high-profile road games, specifically against Texas A&M and Oklahoma. Nebraska has two very tough road tests against Penn State and Michigan at the end of the 2011 season, before the Black Friday game against Iowa. While NU needs to take care of business at home, Nebraska will also have to find a way to be successful in hostile territory if it wants another crack at a conference title game.

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