Sunday school, 10/16
1. Pooch kick (after scoring a TD to go ahead 10-7 in the second quarter)? What? Why?
Believe it or not, the Huskers had more than a hunch the play would work.
“It’s fairly obvious when they’re pressing their coverage to the field we saw a hole back there we thought we could get to,” special-teams coach Scott Downing said. “And it was there, but to be honest with you, our turf in Lincoln is softer and the ball dies in Lincoln. Here, the turf is harder and it rolled. We had practiced it all week long.”
2. Where is our running game (a comment made at halftime, when NU had 48 yards)?
We think you got your answer on the opening drive of the second half, when the Huskers drove 79 yards (getting 20 off penalties) and ran eight straight plays for 38 yards before Zac Taylor found Todd Peterson to complete a nifty 21-yard TD pass. But we’ll let someone a little more qualified explain the early offensive strategy. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you offensive line coach Dennis Wagner.
“We just thought at halftime they were getting tired, so we wanted to continue to wear on them a little bit in case we had to throw the ball. But we were wearing them down, so ...
“We felt like early they were going to try to pressure us and come after us. They played a nine-man box and so we knew we were going to have to try to get some quick passes in and throw some things and air it out. We did that, but with the constant pass rush, and they weren’t getting to the quarterback, was getting them tired and then we were able to run the ball a little bit. It was still eight- and nine-man boxes, so you’ve got to be patient with those
4- and 5-yard runs. Those kids did a good job.”
3. Did Baylor’s timeout call give replay officials the time they needed to determine that a replay was needed on Trent Shelton’s fumble at the 1?
Baylor head coach Guy Morriss said he didn’t call the timeout on first-and-goal at the 1 to stall for that purpose, but he was pretty sure the play wouldn’t have been reviewed if the Bears had not called timeout.
Whatever the case, it worked, and the Bears were awarded a touchdown on the rare simultaneous recovery call.
Believe it or not, the Huskers had more than a hunch the play would work.
“It’s fairly obvious when they’re pressing their coverage to the field we saw a hole back there we thought we could get to,” special-teams coach Scott Downing said. “And it was there, but to be honest with you, our turf in Lincoln is softer and the ball dies in Lincoln. Here, the turf is harder and it rolled. We had practiced it all week long.”
2. Where is our running game (a comment made at halftime, when NU had 48 yards)?
We think you got your answer on the opening drive of the second half, when the Huskers drove 79 yards (getting 20 off penalties) and ran eight straight plays for 38 yards before Zac Taylor found Todd Peterson to complete a nifty 21-yard TD pass. But we’ll let someone a little more qualified explain the early offensive strategy. Ladies and gentlemen, we give you offensive line coach Dennis Wagner.
“We just thought at halftime they were getting tired, so we wanted to continue to wear on them a little bit in case we had to throw the ball. But we were wearing them down, so ...
“We felt like early they were going to try to pressure us and come after us. They played a nine-man box and so we knew we were going to have to try to get some quick passes in and throw some things and air it out. We did that, but with the constant pass rush, and they weren’t getting to the quarterback, was getting them tired and then we were able to run the ball a little bit. It was still eight- and nine-man boxes, so you’ve got to be patient with those
4- and 5-yard runs. Those kids did a good job.”
3. Did Baylor’s timeout call give replay officials the time they needed to determine that a replay was needed on Trent Shelton’s fumble at the 1?
Baylor head coach Guy Morriss said he didn’t call the timeout on first-and-goal at the 1 to stall for that purpose, but he was pretty sure the play wouldn’t have been reviewed if the Bears had not called timeout.
Whatever the case, it worked, and the Bears were awarded a touchdown on the rare simultaneous recovery call.
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