Nebraska’s offense was anemic yesterday against the Michigan Wolverines. They couldn’t sustain drives, couldn’t get first downs, just couldn’t stay on the field for the life of them. Nebraska cannot go on the road, hold the ball for less than 19 minutes, an expect to win the game.
Nebraska’s offense had two touchdowns yesterday. The first was a strike to Brandon Kinnie (who actually caught one!) that went for 54 yards, his only catch of the day. The other touchdown came on a play straight out of the sandbox. Martinez ran the zone read with Burkhead, who he gave it to, then Burkhead ran the option with Ameer Abdullah, and pitched it to Abdullah when the corner collapsed.
Brady Hoke just looked at his defensive coordinator, said something along the lines of ‘what was that’, getting a response ‘I have no idea.’
Besides that, the Huskers could not stay on the field. Take away the Kinnie touchdown, and Nebraska had 206 yards of offense. Definitely won’t cut it in this league. Maybe the win at Penn State took more out of the Huskers than everyone thought. Whatever the case, improvement is needed.
Here are three things that I took away from the game.
1. Can Receivers Please Catch the Ball?
I can’t even remember how many times somebody dropped the ball. 5? 6? Whatever the final number was, they have to help out Taylor in a day when he was struggling. If Nebraska was able to to catch a pass when they needed it, they would have had quite a few more first downs.
2. Offensive Line Struggles
Michigan was dominating the line of scrimmage against the Huskers. When Nebraska was able to get outside, they had the advantage; but running up the middle, the offensive line could not get linemen and linebackers out of the way, leaving no room for any Husker to run. I’m not sure if it was due to injuries, or just a simply overpowering Michigan d-line. Whatever the case, they will need to fix it next week.
3. Playcalling
Tim Beck make some interesting calls throughout the game. I loved the ridiculous play, the “Quadruple Option” or whatever it is dubbed. Michigan stacked the box and dared the Huskers to throw it. I saw multiple cover zero and cover one defenses. So why not let Taylor take a shot deep? Another gripe I have is the number of Burkhead touches. One week after he played a great game against Penn State, how come he only got 10 carries? He’s the best player on this offense, so give him the rock.
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