Dave Feit: Cleaning Up a Mess

Better late than never for Nebraska against FCS foe North Dakota

At halftime of Saturday's game against North Dakota, I headed down to the men's room. The Fighting Hawks had just tied the game at 7. The mood in line was a mixture of tension and frustration.

As I entered the men's room, I noticed the urinal troughs on one side of the restroom were full and cascading over the top. There was a probably a half-inch of water* on the floor.

*I’m telling myself it was water, especially after some of it soaked into my shoe.

Meanwhile, a similar situation was happening out on the Memorial Stadium turf. Nebraska spent the better part of three quarters playing like the contents of that trough. Tensions were rising faster than the water level, and anybody who saw it would be appalled at the scene.

I did not return to that restroom Saturday. But I suspect the facilities folks did their best to correct the issues and clean up the mess. Somebody walking in after the game probably would not have known about what took place earlier in the afternoon.

To the Huskers' credit, the coaches and players did their best to correct their issues and largely cleaned up their mess. If you just looked at the final score - a three-touchdown win! - it would be easy to assume that the Huskers had no problem taking care of the lesser of the two FCS teams from the 47th most populated state.

So, while I apologize for the crassness of a literal toiler metaphor, I do think is an apt description for what happened Saturday.

Look: I hope it is obvious to everyone that Nebraska is not currently at a place where we can get hung up on style points. There are a handful of key issues we need to discuss, but at the end of the day, I'm just happy Nebraska won - even if it was against a mid-tier FCS school.

If you want to apply asterisks to the successes that NU had  Saturday, I won't argue. But when the team hasn't won a game - against anybody - in eleven months, a win is a win.

It could have been worse.

Things I believe

Nebraska's clock management was poor. I saw three blunders in how Nebraska managed the clock Saturday:

1. End of the first half. North Dakota had 1st and 10 from the NU 14, with about minute to go. The Huskers used all three timeouts in an attempt to get another possession. Instead, North Dakota used that time to call the plays needed to extend its drive. The Fighting Hawks converted a 4th & 1 before scoring the tying touchdown with 13 seconds left.
2. End of the third quarter. NU was in a hole after a holding penalty. On 2nd & 22, Ajay Allen ran for 7 yards as the clock ran out. On 3rd & 15, Thompson was called for intentional grounding. Instead of punting with the wind at his back, Brian Buschini punted into the wind, resulting in a season low 38-yard kick. If NU throws on second down - or calls a timeout - they could have punted with the wind at their back.
3. Fourth quarter. Good news: Nebraska was in a situation where they could bleed the clock, and was getting decent yardage. Bad news: NU was often snapping the ball with 15-20 seconds left on the play clock. A faster tempo on offense is great when things are clicking, but that was a time to burn clock and protect a defense that already spent way too much time on the field.

Nebraska got away with these miscues against an FCS opponent, but when the team has little margin for error, everything becomes important to winning games.

This time, the onside kick was a smart call. If you didn't watch the game and I told you that Nebraska attempted another onside kick with a lead in the third quarter of a game - and did not recover it - you'd probably be upset. Heck, many of the fans in the stadium gave Frost a chorus of boos.

But considering the circumstances, it was a smart call.

On the preceding PAT try, North Dakota committed a personal foul, which was enforced on the kickoff. This meant NU was kicking off from midfield.

If Brendan Franke blasts his kickoff into the stands, North Dakota starts at the 25. Instead, he attempted a squib kick hoping that NU could recover it.

The kick was muffed by a North Dakota player, but was recovered by a teammate at the 31-yard line.

All in all, NU lost six yards of field position, but had an opportunity to steal a possession. That's a much better risk/reward scenario than what happened in Ireland.

Nebraska can make change for a dollar. After the Northwestern game, I was reminded of an old put-down for football teams that struggle late: What's the difference between (your team) and a dollar bill? You can get four quarters from a dollar.

Throughout the week, NU coaches and players talked about the need to "finish" games. On Saturday, they finished.

In the fourth quarter, NU outgained North Dakota 118-28, was 100% on their passes, 3 of 4 on 3rd down, and outscored the Fighting Hawks 14-0.

This is probably one of those places where the FCS asterisk comes into play. But I'm okay with the Huskers knowing that they can do it. We hear a lot about the team's need for self-confidence and positive momentum, so let's take it whenever and wherever it can be found.

Things I don't know

When is it time to panic about the defense? The raw numbers (17 points, 306 yards of total offense) aren't terrible, even with the "it was an FCS team" disclaimer.

But the Blackshirts did not play a great game. NU - especially in the first half - had issues with tackling, allowing long drives and pressuring the quarterback.

The defense spent 20:38 of the first 30 minutes on the field, largely because of the reasons above. They allowed three third down conversions of 9 yards or more. On North Dakota's first touchdown drive, the Fighting Hawks converted a 3rd & 12, when a stop would have meant a 53-yard field goal attempt.

I'm not panicking yet. But I really want to see some improvement next week before they start playing Power 5 teams again.

Does anybody understand when - or why - some guys play and some do not? Remember when Trey Palmer transferred from LSU? A large part of the hype surrounding the four-star WR was his abilities as a kick returner.

But Palmer was not on the field for any of NU's four kick return opportunities. Walk-on Zach Weinmaster recorded two fair catches and a 15-yard return to the 25-yard line.

Casey Thompson threw passes to three different running backs, but none to Rahmir Johnson. For the second straight week, Johnson only played on special teams coverage units.

NU's leading receiver from Week 0, Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda, did not record a reception.

There are a few more, but I think you get the point.

Can Nebraska get it fixed in time? After two weeks, there are still a ton of unknowns about this team. The amount of question marks - across all three phases - outnumber the positives.

The good news is there are at least 10 more games to play. The new coaches, players and responsibilities will continue to mesh together. I don't know how high the peak is for this team, but I guarantee we didn't see it Saturday.

The bad news is the Huskers have no more guaranteed wins on the schedule. Georgia Southern will bring their own flaws and challenges, but don't assume NU walks away with an easy win.

From here on out, anything can happen.

5 Things I loved

1. Anthony Grant. Let's focus on the third-quarter drive after North Dakota converted an interception into a game-tying touchdown. Grant started the drive with three straight runs, gaining 16 yards. After a completion to Omar Manning, Grant finished off the drive with a 46-yard run, the first of NU's 21 straight points to close out the game. Grant gained 189 yards, often making something out of nothing.
2. Garrett Nelson. A team-high eight tackles, the season's first sack (with a forced fumble cherry on top) and a deflected pass. The 2022 Blackshirts are in obvious need of somebody to set the standard. Garrett Nelson did his best to provide it.
3. Casey Thompson. It wasn't a statistical masterpiece. Thompson took far too many hits for my tastes, but he made the plays necessary for NU to win. It was nice to see him as more of a running threat, but if he's going to last the season, he has to slide to avoid contact.
4. Javin Wright. Wright partially blocked a first half punt, providing one of the special teams highlights of the young season.
5. Backup Tight Ends. With starter Travis Vokolek and high-profile recruit Thomas Fidone recovering from injuries, the workload at tight end went to Nate Boerkircher, Chancellor Brewington, AJ Rollins and Chris Hickman. Boerkircher and Brewington each scored touchdowns.

Honorable mention: Caleb Tannor, Tommi Hill, Isaac Gifford, Ajay Allen, Cooper Jewett, Phalen Sanford, Marcus Washington's blocking, and the air trumpet skills of William Earl Compton III.

5 Areas for improvement

1. Missed tackles. The Huskers recorded four tackles for loss on Saturday. They could have easily doubled that number if the first guy had finished the play. There are too many guilty parties to list them all.
2. Offensive line. The individual efforts of the running backs made the line's day (244 rushing yards) look a lot better than it actually was. Casey Thompson was sacked three times, one of which led to a fumble. It should not take almost three full quarters to the line to assert themselves over an FCS team.
3. Dancing running backs. I'm very happy that Grant had a good game. He earned every one of his 189 yards. Ditto for Ajay Allen's 58 yards. But there were times where both runners seemed to dance in the backfield, or want to bounce runs to the outside. That worked against an FCS team, and I tip my cap. But I don't think it will work as well against Oklahoma or the stout Big Ten rush defenses to come.
4. Turnover margin. It is tough to win consistently when you have a negative turnover margin. North Dakota knew Thompson likes to go over the middle on third down and picked him off. Aside from Nelson's strip sack, the defense was not close to creating any turnovers.
5. Bo-lievers. With Saturday's 21-point win over the Fighting Hawks of North Dakota, Nebraska improved to 16-0 against teams from the FCS or 1-AA ranks since 1992. The narrowest victory? In 2014, Bo Pelini's #19 team was tied with McNeese State late in the game. With 35 seconds left in regulation, NU had 3rd & 6 from its own 41. Tommy Armstrong threw the ball to Ameer Abdullah short of the first down, but Ameer broke tackles, got some great blocking and took it 59 yards for the game winner. McNeese State finished the year 6-5. 

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