The Stones sing that Tiiiiiiime, is on my side (yes it is).
The Huskers took that to heart. They ground down the Illinois defense. There were a couple of drives that the media guys had to get assistance form the geology department to properly measure.
The final Time of Possession was Nebraska 38:01, basically, Nebraska got to stay on offense for an entire quarter more than Illinois. Nebraska ran 72 plays, to Illinois' 44.
Caleb Lightbourne did nothing to earn his scholarship. Zero punts.
How Many ways can I break this down. Points per play, Nebraska 0.43, Illinois 0.36.
Points per possession. Nebraska 3.88, Illinois, 2.
The Big One, Scoreboard, 31-16.
No, they didn't cover, the spread, so from a betting standpoint, Illinois won, 16-10.
In Not Fantasy World, Nebraska is 5-0 for the first time in forever (2014). If they get to 6-0, we can start talking about time travel.
Why even talk about this? I guess I'm the weird one. I watch the game, I see Nebraska give up some yards, give up some points, and I look at the time remaining, and don't see any reason to panic.
I don't lay chairs down gently when there's a fumble. I don't like them, but I don't panic. I don't kick the cats when Tommy throws into triple coverage and gets picked. Yes, that led to three Illini points, but, big picture, again. 16 of 23 (70%), 220 yards, and a touchdown to go with the pick, and a rating of 155.6 (which is pretty good). Of the 7 'misses', 1 pick, bad Tommy; 1 throw back across his body to the endzone that would have been spectacular if the receiver could have held on to the ball. All in all, pretty good, but he'll still get crap for 4% of his pass attempts, rather than credit for the 70% that worked.
I guess it's a sign of a return of expectations, but I dislike hearing the 'should-bes'. For example, 'against these guys Nebraska should be up by X by halfway through the second quarter. Huskerfan tends to get all wound up if the margin isn't where it "should be'. The networks usually don't help. After taking a 16-10 lead in the Third Quarter, ESPN started talking about how Illinois hasn't beaten Nebraska in back-to-back games since the 20's, there's an upset brewing and all that other fluff, designed to keep the 36 Illini fans actually watching , glued to their sets. Another note to the Should Bes, there are a lot of FBS schools that can stroll in and take one away, these days. Witness what North Carolina did to Florida State, in Tallahassee. North Carolina, who beat Illinois by 25, but lost to Oregon, broke the Nation's longest home winning streak. Not to worry, I'm sure the 'Noles, with two losses will still be ranked ahead of Nebraska.
After the weirdness in Champaign, last year, where Tommy and Coach got side by side accommodations under the bus, the arm-chair quarterbacks and 25th year senior walk-ons said he should have stuck with the run. Nebraska ran the ball 47 times. The pounding the Illinois defensive line had taken all day long, cracked in the 4th quarter. Terrell Newby's 63-yard TD run was a thing of beauty. Newby touched the ball on 17 plays in the 4th quarter.
Speaking of Newby I want to address 'The Spot'. I think Nebraska got a gimme. While it wasn't a game decider, it certainly was a game-changer. It all balances out, game-theory and all. The refs should have blown the whistle when Devine Ozigbo was inside the the Northwestern 1, but they didn't.
The defense played well, most of the time. They gave up a couple of big plays, but this is modern college football, who doesn't. The things that really stood out for me on defense, was the fourth quarter. Illinois had three possessions, ran ten plays and filed to generate a first down. That was definitely not the case, last year. Twice, Illinois got inside the Nebraska 10 and had to settle for field goals. I imagine the Should Bes would have been apoplectic if Illinois had gone up 24-10 in the 3rd quarter. Through five games, the defense has given up 11 touchdowns. I think that's how many Bo's defense gave up the last time Nebraska played Wisconsin in Madison.
The penalty bugaboo wasn't particularly horrible, and Illinois was way worse on that front. Nebraska had 3 for 35 yards, two on the same drive, which almost killed the drive and made a tough FG attempt for Drew Brown. Illinois only got hit for 47 yards, on seven penalties, two on the same drive, both which extended Nebraska's possession and resulted in a touchdown.
It's a good thing the Huskers have next week off, they need it. Moore was out, Cethan Carter and Devine Ozigbo had to leave the game. Tommy looked a little gimpy after getting his back folded up, and JW got to spend the night eating green jello and annoying the nurses at the hospital, after getting a knee to the back.
Take it easy, this week. Relax, get healed up. Get ready to do the two week prep thing to Indiana.
Husk-husk and on the qb.
Sunday, October 2, 2016
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Illin', Illini, Illinois
I had to get a hold of Lloyd. I had finally gotten to, what I felt, was the hinge in the case. The file marked, 'киска'. In it was a series of pictures, all of them of women, pretty young looking, mostly blondes, most of them wearing tank tops, or other really tight-fitting clothing. All of them had a weird, back-lit sort of lighting or a bluish tinge to their faces. They all had names like Anya, Ivana and Valentina.
I clicked on a picture marked 'Yelena', since it appeared to be first. I might as well be systematic about this. The first screen brought up a picture of Yelena, presumably, stretching out provocatively on a bed, wearing a tank-top and tights...or leggings...or yoga pants, I can never tell. The caption was hilarious, though. 'Young student wants to make English chat for practicing'.
I didn't even want to think about what she was majoring in.
There were several files, so I clicked on one. I got more than I bargained for.
It was a video of a chat session between Willy and Yelena. I was assuming it was Willy, anyway. The first segment was benign, and a little awkward. Willy is in his mid-fifties, and Yelena looked like she would get carded, trying to buy a Slush Puppy. It was like watching a tourist ask for directions in Marseille. Eventually they got to the crux of the matter. He started complimenting her, and she started tee-heeing-ing and 'oh, you-ing', playing up the coy, little coquette.
I was glad I hadn't eaten. Rather abruptly, Willy told her to take her top off. I had forgotten I was in the bar, and the Frankenal turned and glared at me, sharply. I killed the video, and closed down the lap-top. Must remember headphones.
"Sorry about that, guys..."
"You need to think about where you are," the Frankenal interrupted.
"What you do in private is no concern of ours, but in public is different matter." The other half of the Frankenal continued.
"I know, gentlemen, I know," I said. "It wasn't planned. You'll just have to trust me when I say that its not a habit of mine to observe adult-oriented content in public...unless I'm at the mall," I joked.
"That's not even funny." Condemnation from the Frankenal. Ouch.
Luckily, Lloyd bounded in, looking quite pleased with himself.
"Sit down, man," I said to him. "Order a drink, deflect the attention of the Frankenal from me."
Lloyd turned toward the Frankenal. "What'd he do now?"
"He's a pervert."
"We know, that," Lloyd deadpanned. "But what'd he do now?"
The Frankenal laughed. Lloyd must have a better delivery.
"Why so bouncy?" I asked Lloyd.
"Oh, I dunno, we're sitting at 4-0, and while the coaches are constrained to the one-game at a time, mantra, I'm not."
"Explain."
"I was just looking at the schedule, and barring injuries or complete, catastrophic meltdowns, it's looking pretty good for us."
"All right, break it down," I said.
"There are five 'should wins' on the schedule, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Maryland, and Minnesota. That puts it at nine wins on the year. Iowa is almost a 'should win', they are not as good as last year, and we're better than we were, but Iowa always plays us close, and the game is in Iowa City, but that's ten wins."
"Ok, what about the other two games?"
"Wisconsin is a toss-up. I still think they are a bit over-rated, since they got to where they are by beating teams that were overvalued. They have to face a death march before getting to us, they had Michigan State, then Michigan, a week off, then Ohio State and Iowa before we head up there. They will be beat up, and have at least two losses. the downside is that Camp Randall Stadium is the stuff of nightmares for Husker fans."
"What's left?"
"The week after going to Wisconsin, we have to go to Columbus and Ohio State. I hate to pick against us, but I'm marking that down as highly improbable. But, if that turns out to be our only loss, we might get a rematch with them in the B1G Championship game. We'd have to play the winner of thew Michigan-Ohio State game, which is in Columbus."
"Either way, that sounds scary, me."
"I know, I know," Lloyd said. "I'm getting way ahead of the curve, here.
"Back to the task at hand. What are we going to do to Illinois?"
"Coach says Illinois has a tough d-line. That d-line is 11th in the B1G in stopping the run. They allowed Western Michigan and North Carolina to roll up on them and their one win is over Murray State. They might have talented defensive ends, but if they are giving up run yards, that tells me their linebackers are awful."
"Ground and pound, or air it out?"
"Ground and pound, be patient, use screens and the play action pass, when its advantageous. Other than that, let the three-headed beast wear them down."
"Revenge game #2?" I asked.
"Yep. The Huskers seem to be a much more cohesive unit, than last year. The coaches seem more tuned in to what the players' skill sets are. I wouldn't be surprised to see Tommy run a lot more than they let him, last year. Hopefully his trend of minimizing brain cramps continues."
"All right Mr. Confident. Cowboy Steve says the Huskers are 21-point favorites. Take it?"
"21 is a big number, but North Carolina beat them by 25. We're averaging over 43 points a game, at home. I say take it, they won't score 20 points, they'll be lucky to get 14, their offense is terrible. I have a feeling we get a lot of short field opportunities."
"Final score prediction?"
"Huskers start slow, but pull away in the second half. Maybe 21-7 at halftime, double up for both teams in the second half, Nebraska 42-21."
I nodded. Sounds like a good day.
Husk-husk and on the qb.
I clicked on a picture marked 'Yelena', since it appeared to be first. I might as well be systematic about this. The first screen brought up a picture of Yelena, presumably, stretching out provocatively on a bed, wearing a tank-top and tights...or leggings...or yoga pants, I can never tell. The caption was hilarious, though. 'Young student wants to make English chat for practicing'.
I didn't even want to think about what she was majoring in.
There were several files, so I clicked on one. I got more than I bargained for.
It was a video of a chat session between Willy and Yelena. I was assuming it was Willy, anyway. The first segment was benign, and a little awkward. Willy is in his mid-fifties, and Yelena looked like she would get carded, trying to buy a Slush Puppy. It was like watching a tourist ask for directions in Marseille. Eventually they got to the crux of the matter. He started complimenting her, and she started tee-heeing-ing and 'oh, you-ing', playing up the coy, little coquette.
I was glad I hadn't eaten. Rather abruptly, Willy told her to take her top off. I had forgotten I was in the bar, and the Frankenal turned and glared at me, sharply. I killed the video, and closed down the lap-top. Must remember headphones.
"Sorry about that, guys..."
"You need to think about where you are," the Frankenal interrupted.
"What you do in private is no concern of ours, but in public is different matter." The other half of the Frankenal continued.
"I know, gentlemen, I know," I said. "It wasn't planned. You'll just have to trust me when I say that its not a habit of mine to observe adult-oriented content in public...unless I'm at the mall," I joked.
"That's not even funny." Condemnation from the Frankenal. Ouch.
Luckily, Lloyd bounded in, looking quite pleased with himself.
"Sit down, man," I said to him. "Order a drink, deflect the attention of the Frankenal from me."
Lloyd turned toward the Frankenal. "What'd he do now?"
"He's a pervert."
"We know, that," Lloyd deadpanned. "But what'd he do now?"
The Frankenal laughed. Lloyd must have a better delivery.
"Why so bouncy?" I asked Lloyd.
"Oh, I dunno, we're sitting at 4-0, and while the coaches are constrained to the one-game at a time, mantra, I'm not."
"Explain."
"I was just looking at the schedule, and barring injuries or complete, catastrophic meltdowns, it's looking pretty good for us."
"All right, break it down," I said.
"There are five 'should wins' on the schedule, Illinois, Indiana, Purdue, Maryland, and Minnesota. That puts it at nine wins on the year. Iowa is almost a 'should win', they are not as good as last year, and we're better than we were, but Iowa always plays us close, and the game is in Iowa City, but that's ten wins."
"Ok, what about the other two games?"
"Wisconsin is a toss-up. I still think they are a bit over-rated, since they got to where they are by beating teams that were overvalued. They have to face a death march before getting to us, they had Michigan State, then Michigan, a week off, then Ohio State and Iowa before we head up there. They will be beat up, and have at least two losses. the downside is that Camp Randall Stadium is the stuff of nightmares for Husker fans."
"What's left?"
"The week after going to Wisconsin, we have to go to Columbus and Ohio State. I hate to pick against us, but I'm marking that down as highly improbable. But, if that turns out to be our only loss, we might get a rematch with them in the B1G Championship game. We'd have to play the winner of thew Michigan-Ohio State game, which is in Columbus."
"Either way, that sounds scary, me."
"I know, I know," Lloyd said. "I'm getting way ahead of the curve, here.
"Back to the task at hand. What are we going to do to Illinois?"
"Coach says Illinois has a tough d-line. That d-line is 11th in the B1G in stopping the run. They allowed Western Michigan and North Carolina to roll up on them and their one win is over Murray State. They might have talented defensive ends, but if they are giving up run yards, that tells me their linebackers are awful."
"Ground and pound, or air it out?"
"Ground and pound, be patient, use screens and the play action pass, when its advantageous. Other than that, let the three-headed beast wear them down."
"Revenge game #2?" I asked.
"Yep. The Huskers seem to be a much more cohesive unit, than last year. The coaches seem more tuned in to what the players' skill sets are. I wouldn't be surprised to see Tommy run a lot more than they let him, last year. Hopefully his trend of minimizing brain cramps continues."
"All right Mr. Confident. Cowboy Steve says the Huskers are 21-point favorites. Take it?"
"21 is a big number, but North Carolina beat them by 25. We're averaging over 43 points a game, at home. I say take it, they won't score 20 points, they'll be lucky to get 14, their offense is terrible. I have a feeling we get a lot of short field opportunities."
"Final score prediction?"
"Huskers start slow, but pull away in the second half. Maybe 21-7 at halftime, double up for both teams in the second half, Nebraska 42-21."
I nodded. Sounds like a good day.
Husk-husk and on the qb.
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