Skin of Their Teeth

For the first time in the early part of the season, Nebraska was truly challenged and happened to come out on top. Not only was the victory this weekend against a conference champion, it came on the road.

The Wake Forest Demon Deacons were unranked and coming off an opening weekend loss to conference opponent Boston College and playing in their first game in Winston-Salem. The crowd and the team were poised to defeat a top 25 team to jump back into the national spotlight, trying to prove themselves all over again after winning the ACC last season. What I’m trying to say is not only was this team on year removed from winning a BCS conference and hungry to prove it wasn’t a fluke.

After the game was over I was surprised that the Huskers won this game. I’m shocked it wasn’t an easier victory considering that there was almost more red in the crowd than I’ve seen at an away game since the Notre Dame game in South Bend back in 2000. The offense looked slow and sluggish at times but looked on point and sharp just as often. I knew that the big match up would be Wake’s running defense against Nebraska’s rushing attack and it went worse than expected. Nebraska was stifled coming off some gaudy numbers against Nevada the previous week.

The Huskers were only able to produce 115 yards on the ground, a far cry from the 400+ they put up in Lincoln against the Wolf Pack. Marlon Lucky came back down to Earth and finished the day with a modest 90 yards from scrimmage with one touchdown.

Sam Keller, who I thought would follow in the footsteps of Boston College quarterback Matt Ryan, only looked good in flashes and still looked uncomfortable with the offense making two poor decisions that resulted in interceptions. His two-minute drill late in the first half was stunningly good as he took the Husker offense nearly the length of the field for a touchdown to go into the locker room with a 13-10 lead at the half.

The good news is the defense was able to limit the Demon Deacon’s to 17 points and 376 yards of total offense. Bad news is the defense was not able to adapt to the offensive play calling I could decipher from my couch in my apartment. Finally, midway through the third quarter, defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove wised up and only used the front four to put a pass rush on Wake Forest QB Brett Hodges and left his linebackers to patrol rushing plays and bootlegs that were killing the Huskers up until that point. When Wake would try to run up the middle they got absolutely nowhere. Matched up against Nebraska’s defensive line they were simply out classed every step of the way. When they figured this out they decided to stretch the field in the first quarter and beat Nebraska around the edge. They did so quite well with several plays going for 20 or more yards at a time. It took an entire half of football for Cosgrove to see what everyone in the country watching could see. This is a little more than discouraging that adapting to a team's offensive play calling took half of the game to figure out.

Big props to returning senior defensive captain Zackary Bowman for saving the day after Keller’s second interception in the fourth quarter which pinned the Blackshirts deep in Demon Deacon territory. Had it not been for Bowman’s play on a potential touchdown pass from Hodges, Nebraska may have lost or had the game tied.

Nebraska had some lucky breaks again this week, but with ACC official’s and an ACC review crew you can’t really blame for some things falling the Husker’s way. At the end of the day a win is a win, especially when it comes on the road against a quality opponent. That being said, Nebraska had better play up to their potential and beyond if they even hope to compete this weekend against USC and not just good enough to win. Because playing a team like the Trojans, even at Memorial Stadium, everyone else’s “good enough” simply is not going to cut it.

ESPN’s College Game Day will be in Lincoln for the game, so if Nebraska as a program, and Husker fans as a nation would like their team back in the eye of national media outlets that cover college football, there is no bigger game than this one. Upset USC at home and this will make your program and give it instant cred and put us back on the map. Lose, and the Huskers will still be answering questions about being “almost there” as they have been for the past two seasons.