The Lowest of Lows to the Highest of Highs

I got a little bit of sleep last night and have settled down a little bit. Just a little bit though, I still can't believe we won that game. We really had no business getting the W. I don't know what it is about this team but we are just not a second half team. Do we just not make halftime adjustments? It is just strange how we've taken off almost 3rd quarter this year after getting up big. We have only scored 42 points in the 3rd quarter this year. Here are some sweet pics I got from Omaha.com.


Cody Glenn scoring early. What a stud. Definitely outplayed the Aggie's big back. Nice to see a Texas boy who had 60 to 70 friends and family in the stands get a couple of chances to take it to the house. Yup, he don't play.

Man, we needed a 3 and out and a miracle and we got it. Aggie fan can not be happy about their back going out of bounds on 1st down. I would blame the coach for running a freshman back towards the short side. That saved probably 45 seconds on the play clock and really gave us a lot of time to work with on the final drive. I don't think we win with only 1:15 and no timeouts. What a huge block. I read that Cryer said he knew the snap count and told Turner to just follow him. Nicely done.

What a catch. Wow. It is nice to see us exploit a matchup of WR vs corner as we have gotten worked all year on plays like this.

I think Mo is excited. He said this after the game: "(Taylor) said, 'I'll get you the ball, no matter what,'" Purify said. "All I was thinking was, I have to get it. I can't drop it."

What a great picture. With a bye week coming up, you know that Billy C didn't want to spend 13 days answering questions about blowing another big lead.

Positives:

• The defensive line was great all night. Carriker and Moore have really arrived. The D tackles played I think their best game of the year. We had great pressure all night from the front 4 without doing hardly any blitzing.
• Running game was great in the first half against a tough run defense. Our backs do a great job of finding holes and exploiting them. Nice to see Kenny Wilson get a few carries.
• Lucky is a great receiving back. What a weapon out of the backfield.
• I thought the game was very well officiated. I don't really remember any questionable calls other than some holding that didn't get called, but it looked like they were pretty consistent at least not calling it on both sides.
• How tough is Taylor? Man did he take some shots and just keeps getting up. He is a warrior. Although he may be the worst scrambler I've seen this side of Drew Bledsoe. Get down buddy! Don't take those shots.
• Offensive line did a pretty decent job on pass pro. Taylor usually had time to throw, although it looked a lot of the time like Zac couldn't find anybody open, hence the scrambles or sack.
• How big was the late hit? I was relieved that it was a clear penalty and not a close one that would be debated for days.
• Huskers did a nice job taking care of the ball, other than the one pick that was almost disastrous.
• ABC didn't show one smooch that I saw. Nice. Nice.

Negatives:

• First of all, the announcing was some of the worst I can remember. Did anybody else think that the was one of the worst examples of Homerism they've seen since Griese was calling Michigan games while his son was playing? I mean, come on, the play by play guy was screaming at the top of his lungs every time A&M busted a big play. They also constantly hyped the A&M players it seemed to me. The color guy was fine but the other yahoo really chapped my hide. I scoured the Internet this morning looking for a tie to Texas or A&M but couldn't find anything other than this and this. No smoking gun unfortunately, other then one of the dudes started 3 years at UCLA at QB and likes to play poker.
• The telecast wasn't that great, other than the aforementioned no smooching. There were a lot of plays they didn't bother showing a replay, like that play where the ball popped out on the goaline. Maybe it wasn't a fumble, but can we at least get a replay on it? This happened a few other times I think. ABC should be better. And what was up with the camera being 3 miles away?
• Where were the linebackers? Octavien had a few nice plays, Ruud had the athletic play where he knocked down the pass, but other than that I don't remember seeing them make many plays, other than Brandeberg who had some big hits.
• Way, way too many dropped balls. Purify dropped 3, Peterson dropped 1, and Nunn dropped 1 as well that I can remember. Some of them were tough catches but this is D1 baby and you need to go out and make those plays on the road.
• Tackling was piss poor for this late in the season. You know, I don't mind when our corners get beat because they aren't very good, but when 3 guys have a shot at making a tackle they need to bring the guy down. Wrap him up and wait for your buddies. Could have, and probably should have, cost us the game. Most of the big plays were a result of missed tackles as opposed to
• What happened to out tight ends? Started out hot and haven't seen much from them at all.
• I don't know whether this is a positive or a negative, but I'm going to drop a dime on my co-workers. We did our usual late night burger cook out, and SSG Johnson was in rare form. The nachos and burgers were great. After the Taylor interception, SSG Johnson, SFC Kerchal, and SPC Fleck left the office as they thought the game was over and they were disgusted by our collapse. I was disgusted as well but of course there was still time left and we were still in the game. I made a joke to Hammer that it would serve those guys right if we came back and won it. I also made a joke that hey, at least all of goals are still intact. Ha ha. I'm sure you are all laughing with me right now. Sure enough we roared back. Brad came sprinting back to the office after the TD to celebrate with us. SFC Kerchal went to bed and missed the finish. Good stuff. Hammer made a joke that once we cleared out the negative vibes it cleared the way for the Skers to come back. Lots of jokes in this section.

Bottom line:

• I'll take the win anyway we can get it. On the road, ranked team, Big 12 south. Gutty performance. That last drive was awesome. Converted a 4th down, a 3rd and long, and made the plays we needed to. Nice job Huskers. I talked to Dan on the phone after the game, and he was at the Arena in Omaha. He said after the Taylor interception the bartender got on the intercom and gave a little speech about Veteran's day and not to give up on the Huskers just yet. Good work on the homefront.

So, a week off next week. Disappointing, but we have biggest CFB game since last year's Nat'l championship in Ohio State v. Michigan to take its place. Should be a great one. Michigan is 0-3-1 when undefeated against an undefeated Buckeye squad.

And I would be remiss if I didn't mention the Texass loss (we held the Mildcats to 3 points by the way so I don't really care that you lost your QB). I don't like Texas. I don't like anything about them. Burnt Orange makes my physically ill. So, I root against them at every opportunity and nothing puts a smile on my face like a big Horns loss. It is even better than a Iowa loss (those happen quite a bit nowadays so they have lost their luster). Sorry Texass fans, this may not make me a good sportsman but you have caused me so much pain since 1996 that it is only right that you get a little bit right back at 'ya. I hope you lose to A&M and then lose your bowl game as well. Badly. By like 50 points. Sorry. I just can't help it. And I will hate the player and not the game. I'm making the down with the horns sign as we speak.