Wednesday Night Beer: Are We Still Bi***ing About O'Hanlon

You know a Husker loss is hard when we're days after the game and people are still complaining about it. Frankly at this point, it's pretty much repetition at this point. Should Matt O'Hanlon have reacted faster to Danny Coale sprinting further downfield? Probably. But would that have sealed the victory? Maybe...maybe not. There were other receivers running free in the secondary, and we might be arguing about somebody else.

A lot of people are extrapolating Zac Lee's horrible passing statistics from Saturday's game over the entire season and making gross assumptions about what kind of quarterback he'll be. You do that at your own risk, assuming that he's going to face defenses like Virginia Tech throughout the season (which he's not, except against Oklahoma) in places as hostile as Blacksburg (which he's not, period.) throughout the season.

Now is it fair to say that Sun Belt opposition may have given us an unrealistic view of Lee? Probably. But when you take a single bad half of football (Lee's first half wasn't too bad) and use that as your baseline for the rest of the season, you're making sketchy assumptions that might burn you later. Plenty of time for Zac Lee to prove himself.

Tom Shatel of the World-Herald took a bit of offense to Bo Pelini's terse post-game press conference last Saturday. Would it be nice or good to get an explanation of what all-went wrong in that final drive? Yes, but I'm not sure the postgame presser was going to give us a good explanation, just minutes after that stunning defeat. And really, what did you expect Pelini to do? Call out a single player? You should know Bo Pelini better than that. Truth be told, Pelini was brutally honest when he told the media this:

“Played well. Did some good things. Didn’t finish it. We all take responsibility for not finishing the deal. You have to finish the job and we didn’t do that. Each and every guy that walked on the field had a hand in us not winning that football game. Coaches included. They made the plays. We didn’t. Pretty simple. In a game like that, you’ve got to make a play."

Everybody wants to focus on the 81 yard bomb...but what about not getting the sack on 3rd and goal. What about getting a touchdown on 1st and goal from the VT 6? (What about at least getting a friggin' field goal in that situation?)

Pelini may not have answered the specific question, but you got the answer and the accountability that fans and reporters needed to hear after the game. Now the question is how the Huskers will respond to this loss, and that's not going to be answered in any press conference.

I see the Journal-Star is looking for stories of "Love at Memorial Stadium." Looks like they're interested in proposals or first dates at actual games; my story took place in March in an empty Memorial Stadium. Still wouldn't do it any other way, either the place or (especially) the lady. (Speaking of which, I've got to figure out a 10 year anniversary gift...time is getting away from me here!)