Huskers Play Four Quarters Against New Mexico State

Nebraska played a pretty good first half against Western Michigan...and a good fourth quarter against San Jose State. But the second half against the Broncos and the first three quarters against the Spartans left a lot to be desired for Husker fans. So it was nice to see the Huskers play pretty well tonight against New Mexico State.

It wasn't a perfect game, but certainly acceptable. The Aggies drove the field on the opening possession by throwing multiple interesting looks at the Huskers, especially lining up wide receiver Wes Neiman in the backfield to take a direct snap. But once the Huskers got to the sideline following Zach Potter's blocked field goal attempt, the defensive coaches made the necessary adjustments. While it wasn't a domination, it was a good performance especially considering the injuries in the secondary. I mean, with all respect to redshirt freshman Lance Thorell, you've got to hope that Rickey Thenarse and Anthony West are going to be back in two or three weeks.

Offensively, we saw the offensive line finally get into sync, opening some lanes for Marlon Lucky to finally exploit. Roy Helu, Jr. is still the best all-around running back on the roster as far as Im concerned, but there's no question that Marlon Lucky is this team's best playmaker once he gets the ball in space.

So the Huskers are now 3-0, though the going gets a whole lot tougher from here on out. It was a better performance, but as Bo Pelini said after the game, there are plenty of areas where this team needs to improve.

Other thoughts:

• San Jose State beat San Diego State 35-10, one week after the Aztecs lost by 8 to Notre Dame. Western Michigan beat Idaho 51-28. Maybe the first two Husker opponents aren't quite as feeble as first thought.
• If you think that Nebraska has pretty much shown their entire offensive playbook, tell me that you really believe that Nebraska's passing game is pretty much limited to screen passes.
  
• Auburn 3, Mississippi State 2? Who got the save for the Tigers?
• WTF were people thinking when they ranked Ohio State in the top five? Who has Ohio State beaten since defeating Texas in 2006? Seriously. They were annihilated in the 2006 national championship game by Florida, and were dominated by LSU last season. There's a reason why they didn't even rate a mention in my power ratings. And it looks like they won't be seen there anytime soon.
• The rest of the Big MAC is going to have to depend on Penn State to regain respectability. I've seen a few lowlights from that Michigoon/Notre Dame game that suggest that Rich Rodriquez has quite a bit of work to do in Ann Arbor.
• Turner Gill's Buffalo Bulls had quite the finish against Temple, scoring the winning touchdown as time expired.
• Missouri 69, Nevada 17. Ouch. Yeah, it's nice to get your feet wet against the spread against San Jose State and New Mexico State, but it gets serious from here on out.
• Nice to see Jeffie Husker check in from Houston this morning. Hopefully all is still well.