Steven M. Sipple: Plummeting back to reality
digg it!
Facebook
del.icio.us
Seed Newsvine
Fark It
Reddit
Nebraska football is back all right. Back to reality.
The reality is, a lot of people — myself included — became carried away last week proclaiming Nebraska to be back.
So please pardon my amateurish backtracking today.
At any rate, I still can’t define exactly what Nebraska being “back” means. I still can’t tell you precisely what Nebraska being “back” will look like. However, I do know what it doesn’t look like.
It looks nothing like Nebraska’s 41-29 loss to Oklahoma State on Saturday.
Nestled back in the pack of good-but-not-great teams in a subpar Big 12 — that’s where Nebraska once again finds itself, probably for the duration of this season.
The Huskers might feel a tad vulnerable right now, what with this week’s home game against Missouri suddenly becoming a must-win situation, that is if NU wants to avoid limping into the Big 12 title game as the North representative purely by default.
Beat Mizzou, and Nebraska can flex its muscles and again think big — big, but not “back.”
After Nebraska had pushed Texas to the brink Oct. 21, the Huskers seemed to stand above the fray in the lackluster North Division. Yes, above Missouri. Mack Brown proclaimed Nebraska to be back, without question.
Now, after being outscored 41-13 in the final 50 minutes at Oklahoma State, Nebraska slips back into a realm similar to the one occupied by Mizzou — that is, unloved by zealous fans and pundits expecting entirely too much and receiving too little.
So it goes among Big 12 teams not wearing burnt orange — an unyielding storm of ups and downs, with twists and turns often impossible to predict.
So, a prediction: Missouri can’t possibly defeat Nebraska in Lincoln with an ordinary defense that struggles mightily to slow virtually any team’s running game. Lowly Kansas State, for instance, churned out 262 rushing yards against the Tigers, and Oklahoma on Saturday pounded out a season-high 231 rushing yards without Adrian Peterson.
The only thing that could slow Nebraska’s formidable ground attack Saturday would be Nebraska slowing itself — which is essentially what it did against Oklahoma State by inexplicably gravitating toward the air during the second half.
Nebraska flat got out-coached and outplayed Saturday.
So, is Nebraska still back?
To clarify: Last week, I actually wrote Nebraska showed ample evidence of being “back” with the way the Huskers attacked Texas late in the game.
A week later comes evidence to the contrary. Oklahoma State put Nebraska on its heels in the second half. The Cowboys were the aggressors on both sides of the line, while the Huskers reverted to looking rather ordinary in all phases, hence today’s seventh-grade-level backtracking.
Those who argue against Nebraska being “back” can start with the reasonable assertion that the Huskers, with a record of 6-3 overall and 3-2 in the Big 12, still haven’t beaten a formidable outfit this season. In fact, NU’s wins become increasingly unimpressive by the week as woebegone plodders such as Iowa State fade farther into oblivion.
When your most impressive outing of the season results in a loss, you probably have issues.
To be sure, Nebraska has issues. And, of course, issues become magnified in defeat.
For instance, when the Huskers win, their “committee” of I-backs is a thing of beauty, a stroke of genius, a cure for cancer. In defeat Saturday, you wondered why coaches turned to backup Marlon Lucky in the second quarter after Brandon Jackson rushed for 99 yards (on 11 carries) in the first.
Nebraska running backs coach Randy Jordan makes no bones about constantly trying to keep the four “committee members” happy. Was he basically trying to keep Lucky happy?
What’s more, the growing number of injuries to Nebraska linebackers won’t dissipate overnight. Perhaps it was telling Saturday that none of the linebackers was among the Huskers’ top five tacklers. And perhaps it was telling that Kevin Cosgrove admitted he tried to limit a couple of his linebackers’ playing time to get more “mileage” out of them during the season’s homestretch.
After all, much bigger games remain. Saturday comes to mind. Indeed, Nebraska can’t afford to be limping as it attempts to defend Missouri’s five-wideout sets.
Although the loss to Oklahoma State was a bitter pill for Nebraska, the Huskers need to forget it quickly, burn the video, for a win over the Tigers would essentially lock up a trip to the Big 12 title game, and most likely a rematch with Texas.
If the Huskers defeat the Longhorns, could we finally say the Huskers, without a shred of doubt, are truly “back?”
OK, never mind.
Reach Steven M. Sipple at 473-7440 or ssipple@journalstar.com.
Most Commented news