Huskers win the Bungle Bowl

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Some of the best playcalling of the season (misdirection, toss sweep plays), some of the worst playcalling (screen pass in the end zone?). The Husker offense looked great at times, and anemic at times.

Let's look at the positives on the day:

• Zac Taylor, until he got smashed in the 4th quarter, had his best game of the day. 21 for 31 passing on a day where the wind was howling.
• Nate Swift is turning into a clutch playmaker.
• Corey McKeon is proving that rivals.com doesn't rate players for heart.
• After struggles earlier this season, Jordon Congdon is now living up to the recruitnik hype with that clutch field goal.
  

I think Husker fans are split on whether burning Harrison Beck's redshirt was appropriate or not. My preference would have been to put Joe Ganz in the game; however, Callahan has clearly said previously that Beck is the backup and would go in if something happened to Taylor. And that's exactly what happened.

I think all Husker fans are hoping that this was Beck's worst performance of his career. His one completion was huge, and the roughing penalty he took put the Big Red into position for the winning field goal. However, Beck's interception cost the Huskers the lead and nearly the game.

Like I said, I would have preferred Ganz in the game, but I won't criticize Callahan for this decision. I knew that it was only a matter of time before Taylor got knocked out of the game, and I had hoped that Callahan would put Ganz in at some point to get him some reps and spare Taylor the shots he took at the end of the games against Kansas and Missouri. But what's done is done.

Apparantly, the coaching staff took notice of the media reports of Beck's lack of attention to the game the last 2 weeks; my wife noticed that staff personnel were watching him closely on the sidelines.

Thank goodness this game was not televised; it was a sloppy mess on both sides of the ball. Daniel Bullocks strip against Wake Forest was a great play, but twice he's been burned by trying to strip the ball instead of tackling. Whoever taught Bullocks to start doing that better hope that the NFL doesn't penalize him for this on draft day next spring.