STEVEN M. SIPPLE COLUMN: Schedule-maker dupes us all again
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There’s no reason for Nebraska football fans to panic at this stage of the season, an overtime win against a rather ho-hum Kansas outfit notwithstanding.
The 22nd-ranked Huskers, for the most part, played woefully on defense, missing more assignments than Spicoli at Ridgemont High. The Jayhawks accumulated 574 total yards, and only 16 came in the first quarter.
Matched against a formidable defensive front for the second time this season, Nebraska’s running game again became as reliable as a Florida presidential exit poll.
Nebraska asks much of senior quarterback Zac Taylor, bless his heart. The Huskers summon him to run a complex offense, make big play after big play, serve as a coach on the field and so on. And he consistently delivers.
They might now consider asking him to play some cornerback (wink, wink).
Nebraska placed another triumph in the books, 39-32, and that’s hardly ever a bad thing — even if the 4-1 Huskers’ performance brought forth nearly as many red flags as red balloons at the old stadium.
One can draw a few preliminary conclusions from the Huskers’ Big 12 opener — for instance, NU’s front seven might be just a tad overrated (seven sacks on the season and none Saturday despite KU’s 54 pass attempts), and 6-foot-4, 210-pound wideout Maurice Purify (nine catches, 225 yards) may be more than a tad underused.
All things considered, the game more than anything drove home the notion that it’s far too soon to make many far-reaching and lasting judgments about this particular Nebraska season.
Except for one thing.
The Big Red schedule-maker duped us again.
No doubt, he hornswoggled me.
It’s unclear exactly who fleshes out Nebraska’s non-conference foes from the heap of eligible teams, but that person is surely a genius along the lines of Thomas Alva Edison, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Bill Walsh, Jim Morrison and whoever invented the Gong Show.
For the Big Red schedule-maker somehow pulled from the heap three teams — Louisiana Tech, Nicholls State and Troy — that made some of us believe Nebraska was ready to make the jump to the NFC East.
All I know is Nebraska looked like a juggernaut in a 49-10 dismantling of Louisiana Tech, which now stands 1-3 following losses to Texas A&M (45-14) and Clemson (51-0).
Louisiana Tech’s only win came against Nicholls State, and of course we know all about Nicholls State (1-3), the program from Thibodaux, La., that runs a “flex-bone” offense, or something of the sort. Whatever the case, the Huskers crunched the Colonels 56-7. Of course, so did South Dakota State, 24-17, allowing the mighty Jackrabbits to improve to 1-3.
Nebraska players no doubt felt they belonged among the nation’s the Top 10 after trouncing Troy, which this past weekend fell to 1-4 after losing 21-3 to Alabama-Birmingham.
In games in which the opponent was comparable talent-wise (Kansas) or a notch stronger (Southern California), Nebraska performed OK. Just OK. The Huskers haven’t proven to be really good, and they haven’t proven to be really bad.
They’ve proven once again that a good spin on some bad opponents tends to distort the overall picture.
Turns out, playing three patsies was as regrettable as taking a chance in Los Angeles was admirable.
At any rate, we’ll get a better read on Nebraska this weekend when it plays at Iowa State, which improved to 3-2 with a 28-27 win Saturday over — drum-roll please — Division I-AA Northern Iowa, which already had lost to Division II North Dakota.
Nebraska struggled in some key areas yet prevailed Saturday, a mark of a good team.
If Nebraska again plays poorly and loses to an ordinary Iowa State squad, it’s fair to begin to wonder about Callahan and company.
Bottom line is, Nebraska, like most major-conference college football teams not located in Columbus, Ohio, proceeds on a week-to-week basis, generally unable to chalk up many “sure” wins anymore. At least in conference play.
However, an astute schedule-maker can dig up some non-conference pushovers that can mislead the masses.
Indeed, duped again.
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.
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