By Kshell
The 8th ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers(3-0) prove to be to much for the Washington Huskies(1-2) as they defeated the Huskies 56-21 in a game that set all-time lows for the Huskies. The Cornhuskers managed to throw more passing yards in this game than Washington and have three 100 yard rushers in this blowout. The Huskies showed they still have a long ways to go.
The game started off horrible for the Huskies. In front of a packed house that was roaring(which featured tons of Nebraska fans as well) the crowd was taken out of the game early. Jake Locker on his first pass attempt threw a pick intended for Devin Aguilar in double coverage. In just two plays the Nebraska offense scored a touchdown. Taylor Martinez connected with Mike McNeill for a 24 yard touchdown pass. That was Martinez' first career touchdown pass in college.
After a Washington three and out Nebraska got the ball again. Taylor Martinez hit Brandon Kinnie for a 55 yard reception on a missed tackle by Richardson. Martinez then scored on a 1 yard QB keeper. Nebraska with just less than five minutes into the game had led 14-0.
Washington then started to surprisingly run the ball on the next drive. Locker capped the drive with a great 7 yard touchdown scramble on 3rd and 5 from the 7. After both teams stalled for a few possessions Nebraska tacked on another score from Roy Helu from 8 yards out making the score 21-7.
The Huskies pinned the Cornhuskers down on the 6 yard line. Washington would then force a fumble recovered by Nate Fellner. Chris Polk would rush up the middle on a wide open hole for a 2 yard touchdown to make the game 21-14. That would be the closest the Huskies would get.
This was the key point in the game where Nebraska played smash mouth football with the Huskies. The Huskies were not ready for this. Nebraska ran the ball up the gut the entire drive with Martinez rushing for another 1 yard touchdown to make the game 28-14 at halftime.
In the 2nd half on the very first play Martinez busted a run on poor tackling angles for 80 yards. Nebraska then held a 35-14 lead. The Huskies in their last effort to make this a ball game would score quickly. Locker would rush for 33 yards then hit Jermaine Kearse who was wide open for 45 yards. That would be Lockers 4th and last completion of the game.
Nebraska then quickly turned this game into a blowout when Roy Helu ran for a 69 yard touchdown. That was followed up by Jake Locker throwing an interception which was ran back 31 yards for a touchdown. That put the game out of reach at 49-21.
Nebraska would tack on another score to make it 56-21 which was the final score. The 56 points were the most points ever allowed by the Huskies at home to a non conference game and tied California scoring 56 back in Tyrone Willinghams first year in 2005. The Huskies also allowed three guys to rush for 100 yards(Taylor Martinez 139 with 3 TD's, Roy Helu 110 with 2 TD's and Rex Burkhead 104 yards and 1 TD) and 383 yards on the ground. Jake Locker would finish the game 4 for 20 for just 70 yards passing with 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions.
The Huskies are now 1-2 heading into Pac-10 play. They must go 5-4 despite playing 5 road games in the Pac-10 to be bowl eligible. The Dawgs have a bye week next week then play at USC a place they haven't won at since 1996.
Observations:
- Before the game I met legendary coach Tom Osborne. He won three national championships and besides Don James he is up there for me on college coaches I'd like to meet.
- Jake Locker looked like the freshman and Martinez looked like the senior. If someone told me that Martinez would throw for twice as many yards as Locker would I'd laugh and point at you. Martinez threw for 150 yards while Jake threw for 70.
- Much like Rex Ryan on Hard Knocks its one thing to do the talk but its another thing to back it up. Steve Sarkisian guaranteed that the dawgs will go unbeaten this year. He didn't need to say that and for a team much like the Jets who haven't done anything yet just makes you look stupid.
- Thumbs up to Nick Holt for being man enough to show up on the Husky Honks show and talk about the tough loss after the game. You can tell he was not happy with things but I'm still confident with him as our Defensive Coordinator.
- Thumbs down to Steve Sarkisian and Jake Locker. I know this was a terrible loss and in Lockers case his draft stock might have fallen but still talk to the media after the game. Snubbing Bob Rondeau and Damon Huard isn't cool.
- Kudos to Nebraska fans for making the trip there was a ton of red. Even when Nebraska routed the Dawgs the fans I was by as I was walking to my car didn't say anything or talk crap. I'm wishing you guys good luck in the future.
- On the way to the game passed several cars with Oregon license plates who were wearing Nebraska Red. I hope those were Nebraska fans and not Duck transplants in disguise.
- This was a career low in QB rating for Jake Locker and minus the game when he got hurt in the first quarter a career low in passing for Jake. The one plus was his running. This was the toughest defense he'll face all year but if you are truly the best player in college football you can't just lay a stink bomb like this.
- Huskies are still a long ways away from being good. Sarkisian unlike Willingham put great expectations on himself. The facts are this team was 0-12 two years ago. If the Huskies played Nebraska 100 times they would lose all 100 times regardless of how Jake plays. At times when the game was still close the Huskies had 5 true freshman on the field on defense and started a true freshman on the offensive line. Thats not a recipe for success. The facts are the Huskies are still a long ways away probably another two years before the Huskies can legimately compete and start winning most of their games. The Question is will the fans/university give Sark a fourth year if he has had losing/underwhelming seasons in his first three?
Well even though the Dawgs lost hope you enjoyed my write up. My phone broke, the Huskies got destroyed and my favorite player laid an egg. Sounds like a great start to my birthday doesn't it? lol. Well fans thanks for reading my blog guys.
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