New Blood on the search

     I finally caught up to Non-Stop John at Brewsky's. He had notebooks, a pitcher of beer, a plate of nachos and two cell phones arrayed in front of him. He seemed to be trying to watch all 15 screens on the wall at once. Neat trick when you can manage it.
     "John," I said, "Or if you prefer 'Non-Stop', I've got a couple of questions to ask you."
     He motioned for me to sit, and gave me a quick glance over his shades. "You can ask. Don't know if I'll have any answers, though. And if it's betting tips, you can go away, now."
     "I don't need betting tips. I've got a missing person and was told that you may have heard something about her."
     John leaned back in his chair. He placed his hands behind his head in an obvious attempt at looking unconcerned. "Why are you coming to me with this?"
     "I need help and I'm stumped. You came highly recommended, but if you don't want to help..."
     "I'm not linked to this chick?"
     "No."
     "Who recommended me?"
     "Preacherman."
     He relaxed. "You should have said so, earlier. Preach and I go way back. What are the particulars?" he asked pulling one of his notebooks toward him.
     I told him about Susan, ''Groping in the Dark" and the trip to L.A. with the tip from Mickey. I told him how Lloyd and I had taken over the management of the band and how we needed to find things to keep them busy. He nodded, took a few notes and asked a few clarifying questions. "I can connect with some people, but if it starts involving a lot of leg-work..."
     "I know. If you get into this for me, I will get you my agency's standard fee for an investigator, assuming you're bonded and licensed, of course," I said, doubtfully.
     "Licensed, bonded, never use it. Just in case kind of thing."
     We shook on the agreement and I nodded toward the screens. "Do you think the Huskers will get their revenge, on Saturday?"
     "Against the Stinking Badgers," he said like the bandito at the end of Treasure of the Sierra Madre. "If they use their speed advantage. It's not like last year where they can load up the box and dare Martinez to throw. They will have to play their defense straight-up, which means that Martinez can check down to plays that will take advantage of what the defense is showing. The speed factor comes in if Beck makes the defense run after them on every play. Tosses, pitches, screens, jailbreaks, that sort of thing. The Huskers are so deep at receiver, they can spread the field all night long, stretch them both horizontally and vertically."
     "How about the ground game?"
     "Nebraska has four backs, three should get a decent number of carries. I hope that Beck uses them in waves, maybe Cross comes in in short yardage situations. Burkhead is back, Abdullah has proven himself and Heard is decent, too. I don't think the Badgers defense will be able to take the pounding for a full four quarters. But that might not even matter. Nebraska has gotten off to a fast start in every game this year."
     "Big question, now. Will the defense be able to handle the behemoths? They have been chasing spread-option offenses all year. Can they change it up and play a team that is committed to a ground game, especially if Montee Ball plays?"
     "If Huskers do to UW what they did to Martinez, last year. Load the box with 8 defenders, dare them to pass and double team Jared  Abredeis in passing situations. Half of Stave's completions went to Abredeis and he has 40% of their receiving yards for the year. They do not have the weapons they had last year. Remember last year when Wilson made the defense look silly? That guy is starting in the NFL this year. Stave is not a pro prospect, yet. The defense needs to take advantage of that difference."
     "What about special teams?"
     "The Huskers have had their ups and downs, I don't expect it to be a big difference maker."
     "Any score predictions?" I asked
     "Nebraska will get out to an early lead, putting even more pressure on the Wisconsin passing game. If Nebraska can get up by two possessions, Pooch will be pinning the ears back and turning the pass rush loose. Every possession Nebraska has with a sizable lead will be run heavy, to quicken the game and take time away from any potential come back. Hostile crowd, emotional weight to the game. I expect a 17-3 Nebraska lead to finish up as a 31-10 grab the conference by the throat game."
    "One last question. Why do they call you 'Non-Stop'?"
    "That," he said with a wry smile. "Is a secret."
    Husk-husk and on the qb.

Northwestern Post-Game

     Three years in a row, now, the Huskers have dropped a game, at home, that they had no reason to. In 2009, it was Iowa State, 7 turnovers and a 9-7 loss to an awful team, with their best two players hurt. Last year, it was Texas, who finished 5-7 as the Huskers had a virulent case of the dropsies. This year, it was Northwestern, their second and third string quarterbacks playing the Blackshirts like a virtuoso. It's almost like I wish Dan Persa hadn't gotten hurt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piVnArp9ZE0
     No-one had better lay this on Martinez. He had an excellent game, 28-of-37 (.756 comp. pct.), 289 yards, 2 TD's (should have been three), and NO interceptions. Trying to recall all the incompletions: 2 Kenny Bell drops, one Brandon Kinnie drop, one Ben Cotten drop; the intentional grounding call (good call by the ref's), the interference call on the final TD drive, the go-route to Bell where he got tangled up with the db, and one PBU that should have been interference on Northwestern had the refs applied the same standard as the call against the Huskers in the first quarter; and one pass where Taylor got hit as he threw it on the final drive. Not a bad day's work, all in all.

     Taylor scores a two point conversion

(photo courtesy Kim Adams Johnson)

     I don't really think one can blame the turnovers, even though both of them happened inside the Northwestern 20, including Rex's fumble at the one. The Huskers won the turnover battle with two interceptions and a fumble compared to two fumbles.

     Rex fumbles at the one (we still love you, Rex)

(photo courtesy of Kim Adams Johnson)

     There were some penalty issues, but none were really game-changing except for the interference call in the first quarter. From where I sat, it looked like the defender made a play on the ball, and actually touched the ball before he touched the receiver. That changed a defensive stop, that would have forced a field goal attempt, into a first and goal from the three that resulted in a touchdown.
     For the first time since the Wisconsin game, I've been scratching my head about the play calls by Tim Beck. He ran a lot of read-option plays. The same kind of read-option plays Northwestern sees in practice every day. Northwestern showed up with a great game plan. Take Burkhead out and make Taylor throw. Taylor did throw, and threw well. Beck relied too much on the run, which played right into Northwestern's strategy. If anything, I think Beck stuck with the run too long. I almost got the sense that he felt that the Huskers would wear down Northwestern, and by the time he realized that wasn't going to happen, it was too late.
     When Nebraska hasn't performed well, there has been plenty of room under the bus for Taylor, Beck and even Bo. I've heard a lot of 'take the black shirts away', 'make them wear pink shirts', etc., etc. I'm pretty mystified, too, as to how a great performance against Michigan State was followed up by such a bad performance against Northwestern. Some of it was injury, there were guys in at defensive tackle that hadn't seen any game time until Northwestern. There were obvious communication problems all day, guys were hurrying onto the field as Northwestern switched out their personnel packages. the linebackers were looking at each other...a lot, and didn't seem to know what their responsibilities were. The same went for the DB's at times. Northwestern receivers were getting between defenders, and between responsibilities. Add in the fact that the Northwestern QB's all were making their throws, and the Blackshirts wore out by the end of the game. It is rare, but I saw it yesterday, the other team out-muscled the Huskers in the fourth quarter.

     One of those 747-sized holes (as one friend put it)

(photo courtesy of Kim Adams Johnson)

     Which brings me back to Carl. If Husker Nation expects Tim Beck to own up for calling a bad game, then it is only fair that it does the same when Carl does it. He looked like a freakin' genius, last week, against Sparty. This week, his play calls looked lost. He called the same defense on first down, most of the game. That's fine, if it's working. It wasn't. Northwestern consistently picked up positive yards on first down, leaving them with 2nd and manageable most of the day. They played like champs in the second quarter, forcing three straight 3-and-outs. On the possessions following those 3-and-outs, the Huskers lost two fumbles and got stopped on fourth down. It went downhill from there.
     On the back breaking play, the 81-yard touchdown pass, Ciante Evans got beat on an inside move and Cassidy played the wrong receiver, coming up to cover the receiver running the fly route. He was out of position to help Ciante. The Northwestern quarterback hit the receiver in full stride and he never lost any energy having to change direction. Perfect execution by Northwestern.
     I have nothing but admiration for Northwestern. They came in with a great game plan, handled all sorts of adversity, and adjusted on the fly way better than Nebraska did. Just Nebraska's luck that the Northwestern defense gelled for a whole game at the worst time for Nebraska, but at just the right time for them.
     Getting ready for Penn State, which may have been where the team's head has been, all week, anyway. No way to be sure, but it's the feeling I got. That, and a bit of over-confidence. There are no off weeks in the Big Ten. Iowa, who lost to Minnesota, beat Michigan. Minnesota took Sparty to the fourth quarter. Indiana took Ohio State into the fourth quarter as well. That being said, even if Nebraska sweeps their last three opponents, they now need help to get to the Championship game. If Nebraska wins out, and doesn't get help, the likeliest scenario is Sparty playing Penn State in Indianapolis. That would really stick in Huskerfan's throat, to see the Big Ten decided by two teams that the Huskers beat. That's why it's so important to take care of business.
     National picture time. LSU beat Bama. Yay. There is still plenty of football left, but I think we have one opponent for the National Championship game set. Good thing for Les Tigres that Bama's kicker was terrible. The three remaining "BIG" games that will shape the picture for the other half of the National Championship. TCU at Bosie State: BSU should win, finish the season undefeated, but will probably get left out in the cold. Oregon at Stanford: De Facto Pac-12 Championship game. Leaning toward Stanford, right now. If they finish the season undefeated, they will have a strong case for going to the big show. If Oregon wins out, they will still be behind the 8-ball, since they already lost to LSU. Oklahoma at Oklahoma State: Despite OU throwing up on themselves against Texas Tech (much like Nebraska did, against Northwestern), I was leaning toward the Sooners winning the Bedlam game, knocking the Pokes out of contention. Then Ryan Broyles got hurt. The Sooners are an excellent offense with a good overall defense that is vulnerable to the pass. Now they are down their best running back and best receiver, and have to play a team that throws the ball all over the field and more often than has ever been seen.
     If I were to make a snap pick, right now, I would say that the National Championship will be LSU and Oklahoma State. Oddly enough, Boise State and Stanford could both finish the season undefeated and not even get a shot at the title.
     Oh well, bring on Penn State, but leave your teenage boys at home if you know what's good for you. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/sports/ncaafootball/former-coach-at-penn-state-is-charged-with-abuse.html?_r=1
     Husk-husk and on the qb