Lincoln Journal Star from Lincoln, Nebraska • 43

Lincoln Journal Star Sunday, October 26, 2008 3F 4U Uj CJ Brian Rosenthal breaks down the Huskers' performance Eg A 5 3 8 HUSKER EXTRA True, there were some big-time coverage busts, something we've seen in almost every game this season. But check out this key stat Saturday: Baylor was 0-of-10 on thircklown conversions. That's a credit to pass defense. Nebraska sacked Griffin three times and hurried him six times, forcing some overthrows. Marlon Lucky averaged 5.2 yards a carry and did a fine job of finding holes.

Joe Ganz was in on the act with 42 rushing yards, once taking a big blow near the goal line. Quentin Castille continues to grow, although that fumble at the goal line is what's feared most when 'Q' gets the ball. Credit the offensive line, too, for solid play and no false-start or holding penalties. First of all, Robert' Griffin is as good as advertised. One mistake, and the Baylor QB will make you pay.

NU had more than one mistake in the first half, and it bit the Huskers each time. Outstanding goaHine stand in the third, stopping Griffin on third-and-goal. We don't know much about Colton Koehler, but the walk-on sealed this victory with a fourth-quarter safety, one of NU's nine tackles for loss. That second-quarter groan you heard was everybody in Memorial Stadium seeing Nate Swift wideopen for a TD. Everyone except for Ganz, who actually missed an open Swift two times in the first half.

Otherwise, smart decisionmaking by Ganz. Outstanding one-handed grab by Marlon Lucky on a thircklown play to set up a touchdown. Congrats to Swift, too, for breaking Johnny Rodgers' record. For the first time since the Penn State game in 2003, NU won a game It trailed at half-time. A sign of progress? Yes.

But before giving credit to a bunch of half-time adjustments, realize the biggest adjustment was mental. "It took us a while to get settled down," linebackers coach Mike Ekeler said. The defense made big plays when needed, and the offense, while not 100 percent sharp, ran 83 plays. One more Sure looked like that punt went off the left foot of the Baylor return man. The reaction on Antareis Bryan's face was evidence enough.

The kicking game did enough to pin Baylor inside its lOyard line three times in the first half. Honorary game ball goes to the south end zone's left upright, which denied these teams a combined four points, one an extra-point attempt by Alex Henery. NU again dominated time of possession, a credit to Shawn Watson's play calling. This offense is finding its rhythm. It appeared Nebraska would run clock after consecutive 6-yard runs by Lucky, but a peculiar call for a deep pass (an incompletion) stopped that momentum.

Ganz and Lucky, though, turned that around with the 69-yard completion on a third-and-16 middle screen. Four more lSyard penalties, Including a costly roughing-the-punter foul on Will Henry to start the fourth. A facemask call on Cody Glenn was even more costly in the first half. It negated a sack, which would've forced a long third-down play. Coaches were flustered with Baylor pushing the "intent to deceive" rule on its personnel looks, probably why Bo Pelini spent much of the game jawing at officials.

life in itio rod t- i pr id Ii 'tut jj if i 1 -tit, I a Our bloggers take your questions and YOU 1 jj get some answers 1 Where Is the backside containment on Baylor QB Robert Griffin? He's gotten 1 huge runs in critical situations and that's what's keeping them in the game I Griffin rushed for 93 yards and a touchdown on just eight first-half carries. After halftime, on the same number of attempts, he got just 28 more. Gnffin gained 87 of his yards on two carries during the Bears' second touchdown drive of the first quarter. His first big gain came on the initial play of the series, a 40-yarder around left end after he'd shoulder-faked to the right. Four plays later, on fourth-and-1, he won a sprint to the left edge and was home free from 47 yards.

"I would say on the short-yardage play where he was sneaking around we had a guy misalign," defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said. "We should've had someone unblocked right on that edge and he lined up on the wrong side. The pace of the game (with Baylor huddling groups on the sideline and then making a lot of late personnel changes) was something that our guys panicked a little bit in the first half and we made some mistakes that gave up some yards. But once we settled down we were fine." 2. How did the refs give Baylor the ball on the 24-yard line on that punt? This ruling came on the series after the Bears took a 14-7 lead.

They'd gotten a second-down sack of Joe Ganz to help bring about a punt. The ball landed next to Antareis Bryan, who was in traf- fic with NU's Prince Amukama- ra and took an 'interesting' i bounce from the 24-yard line i i toward the Baylor end zone, hi ir- ii -r r- ijiwwiiiiiiiw iiMumwri mmfyumtmi), 1:4. jiwiiinliiWWJTjr.iin lumiirn nrr GWYNETH ROBERTSLincoln Journal Star Baylor's Robert Griffin (left) is brought to an abrupt stop by Nebraska's Larry Asante during the fourth quarter Saturday at Memorial Stadium. FINISHING STRONG NU defense finally settles down, keeps Baylor under wraps. and Husker Phillip Dillard pounced on it at the 6, believing he'd recovered a fumble.

Officials ruled the ball hit Amukamara. The play was reviewed and even though one angle made it look as if the ball' could have glanced off Bryan's left foot first, officials ruled it was; n't conclusive and so the original call stuck. BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL Lincoln Journal Star Mike Ekeler and Bo Pelini had faced this type of mess before. Art Briles, now head coach at Baylor, was coaching at Houston, and Ekeler and Pelini were at Oklahoma Ekeler a graduate assistant and Pelini the co-defensive coordinator. So there was fair warning all week for Nebraska's defenders.

"He said, 'Listen, guys, this is a helter-skelter Ekeler said, referring to what Pelini said last week. What's so "helter-skelter" about Baylor's offense? "It's hard to see what personnel there is until they're all out on the field," said Ekeler, the Nebraska linebackers coach. "They huddle out there, halfway on the doggone field, run people in and out. "It's like a circus." For a while Saturday, the same could've been said of Nebraska's defense. Busted assignments were leading to big plays, and Baylor, with help from electric quarterback Robert Griffin, had scored 20 first-half points.

The Bears didn't score again, thanks to big second-half plays by a defense that coaches said settled down at halftime. Nebraska responded with a critical goal-line stand in the third quarter, a fourth-down sack of Griffin and a safety from walk-on Colton Koehler that sealed the Huskers' 32-20 victory at Memorial Stadium. "There weren't really any adjustments made at halftime except, 'Hey, guys, settle down, follow your rules, and you'll be Nebraska defensive coordinator Carl Pelini said. 'And they did. They came out in the second half with confidence and they adjusted to all the different things that they saw, and they played a much better half." One thing that didn't change was Baylor running multiple players on and off the field.

That drew the ire of Nebraska defensive coaches, who cited the "intent to deceive" rule. "A team cannot run multiple guys on and then run guys off," Ekeler said. "The officials nave to give us an opportunity to match personnel, or else you can't play. You've got to be able to match up personnel, and that's kind of what we batded today. The official is supposed to stand over die ball and give the defense an opportunity to match personnel." Nebraska was caught in the wrong personnel, Ekeler said, when Jay Finley broke free on a 43-yard touchdown run, tying the game 7-7 in the first quarter.

"We actually thought it was a different personnel going in, and we didn't get the adjustment the right way," Ekeler said. "We didn't have an edge out there, and it was just a myriad of things. "Then we changed how we were calling (John David Weed). They had never shown him as a down tight end, so we just made an adjustment, and we were fine from that point on, in that respect." Griffin, who ran for 121 yards, had runs of 40 and 47 yards on Bay lor's next possession, the latter resulting in a touchdown. On fourth-and-1, Nebraska was loading up to stop the quarterback sneak.

Two plays before that, on second down, Griffin gained 3 yards on a sneak. This time, he darted free to the outside, sprinting down the Baylor sideline for a 14-7 lead. "It was just a missed alignment on our part," Carl Pelini said, "We were supposed to have a guy on the edge, and we didn't get diere." Three big first-half mistakes, three big Baylor plays. "We missed some things that we'd done a million times all week in practice, the veer exchanges be-; tween end and linebacker, missing tackles," Ekeler said. "It took us a while to settle down." That happened in the second half.

Eventually. Griffin hit Kendall Wright on a 44-yard pass, as Nebraska had a busted coverage on the wheel route. Baylor had first-and-goal at the 7-yard line, and advanced to the 1, on the verge of taking a two-score lead. But on third down from the 1, Zach Potter and Larry Asante tracked down Griffin for a 1-yard loss one of Nebraska's nine tackles for loss. Ben Parks' ensuing field-goal attempt hit the left upright, keeping Baylor's lead at 20-17.

"We knew that we needed to get off the field, and we knew if we got the stop, the offense would get back on the field and put in a score," linebacker Cody Glenn said. "That was really big at the time." Nebraska did score for a 24-20 lead, and Baylor drove to the NU 31 on its next possession, thanks in part to a roughing-the-punter penalty, when Will Henry leveled Derek Epperson well after the ball was kicked. On fourth-and-4, Carl Pelini dialed up a blitz with Asante, who sacked Griffin for a 4-yard loss. That was one of three sacks Pierre Allen and Prince Amukamara each had one in the first half. "If we could put them in obvious passing situations and force them to execute, when we could be playing coverage, that was a key to the game, said Pelini, whose defense held Baylor to 0-of-10 on third downs.

"We talked to die guys all week. We had to defend the run on early downs, we had to adjust to their formations, and just followourrules and put them in long-yardage situations where we could get our coverage guys out there and just play coverage and let our four guys rush the passer." One of Nebraska's nine tackles for loss came from Koehler, who tackled Finley in the end zone in the fourth quarter. Koehler had replaced injured Phillip Dillard at MIKE linebacker in base coverage. "He wasn't stunned at all," Pelini said of Koehler, who's from Harvard. "He just ran right out there and he actually played well.

He knew what he was supposed to do, and he's been getting a lot of reps with the twos in practice." Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthaljournalstar.com. 1 I To participate in Out of the Blog, log on to HuskerExtra.com and submit your questions to Curt McKeever in the Life in the Red staff blog. Ths schedule 9 Li Texas Tech 0) I Ci Li Oklahoma Kansas Kansas St. Colorado Nov.l Nov. 8 Nov.

15 Nov. 28 Norman, Okla. Lincoln Manhattan, Kan. Lincoln Time: 7 p.m. Time: TBA Time: TEA Time: 2:30 p.m.

TV: TBA TV: TBA TV: TBA TV: ABC (7,8) W. Michigan 47-24 San Jose St. N. Mexico St Virginia Tech Missouri 35-12 38-7 35-30 52-17 35-7 37-31. OT 32-20.