Nebraska Throws Away It's Chance to Upset Iowa

At his Monday press conference, Mike Riley talked about how his team needed to run the ball this week against Iowa. The importance of running the ball grew as the weather forecast grew colder and colder.

So if you had told me that, despite all that, Tommy Armstrong threw 45 passes against Iowa, I would have asked how badly Iowa had boat-raced the Huskers.

You can blame Tommy Armstrong for throwing four interceptions. I'll blame the play calling that asked Armstrong to throw the ball that much today. Take that 4th and 1 fade route. Or throwing 3 straight incompletions after getting gaining 8 yards on first down.

The Huskers defense played well enough to win, save for two busted assignments on Jordan Canzeri in the third quarter. But asking them to overcome a minus three turnover margin was asking too much.

Some will say that Nebraska threw out of necessity because the ground game wasn't working. It wasn't terribly effective, but I saw flashes of shotgun runs to the edge with Terrell Newby in the first half. They didn't try it in the second half.

That's the story of Nebraska football in 2015: Mike Riley trying to jam a square peg into his round hole offense. Some fans will eagerly await Patrick O'Brien's arrival as the round prg that will match better with his offense. Maybe that might work, but that's an awful lot of hope and pressure being placed on a true freshman who is still in high school.

Now the question is whether Nebraska can somehow get to a bowl game despite having a losing record in 2015. Not accepting a bowl bid if offered is not an option to me for two reasons: First, the Huskers could use the extra practice time to better learn these new systems. Second, the players deserve the bowl trip, especially the seniors. It won't be a great bowl, but it's better than no bowl.

In fact, I'd argue that the bigger question that needs to be asked is whether Mike Riley should return in 2016. I don't seriously think that Riley is going to be fired after just one awful season, but it's a more valid question than whether or not  NU should accept a bowl bid, if offered.

Especially when you consider Riley's record in recent years at Oregon State. Going into this season, I was the pessimist in predicting 7-5. Most others thought this was a nine or ten win team. Well, Nebraska won exactly half that. Despite what Shawn Eichorst. May claim, this wasn't a rebuilding effort in 2015.

It is in 2016. How does Mike Riley do that? Or can he?

Huskers Flirt With Disaster Against Rutgers

All season long, you've heard a common refrain from Husker fans:  "Run the ball."  It hit a fever pitch against Illinois, became viral against Northwestern, and became epidemic against Purdue.  Last week against Michigan State, fans started chanting "Run. The. Ball." in Memorial Stadium one series after the Huskers turned the ball over in the Red Zone with two ill-conceived pass calls.

The fans seriously just chanted "Run the ball." This is amazing. #Huskers

— Jake Sorensen (@937JakeSorensen) November 8, 2015

After Nebraska beat Minnesota handily a month ago, Mike Riley said afterwards that Nebraska's 60/40 split was optimal for this team. Yet Nebraska has hardly tried to emulate it - though last week, they came closer.

Against Rutgers, Nebraska once again played with fire with a 20 mph wind, with a near 50/50 split. And it was working early, as the Huskers broke out to a 21-0 lead with Tommy Armstrong completing all seven of his first quarter passes.   It worked for the first 20 minutes of the game...or did it?  Take Jordan Westerkamp's first quarter touchdown catch...looks good on the stat sheet, but look again: it's thrown into triple coverage.

Tommy Armstrong is having fun out there. YOLO balls all day.

— His Dirkness (@HisDirknesS) November 14, 2015

The next 20 minutes gave us the downside of YOLO ball; Armstrong went 3 for 7 with two interceptions, a sack, and a fumble (recovered by Alex Lewis).  And the blowout was over; Nebraska's lead was down to 21-14.

Fortunately, Nebraska returned to what they did best:  running the ball in the final 20 minutes.  17 runs, three passes. It wasn't particularly effective, but it controlled clock and more importantly, kept the ball away from Rutgers.  And Nebraska got the win.

After the loss to Purdue, Mike Riley remarked that some of Nebraska's struggles in running the ball were a lack of "want to." As we see this situation repeat itself week after week after week, I've become convinced that it's all a lack of "want to" by the coaches.  I get why the coaches like to throw the ball, especially against a team like Rutgers, who's secondary was decimated by injury.

But it's not what Nebraska does best.  Tim Miles has a saying that has turned into a hashtag for Nebraska basketball:  "It's about us."  #usAlways.

Somebody on Nebraska's crack digital media team tried to claim it for the football team today.

It's about us. 🔴🌽⚪️ #GBR #Huskers pic.twitter.com/BlsE9STC3V

— Nebraska Football (@HuskerFBNation) November 14, 2015

Mike Riley didn't get the message.

Let Me Clear My Throat: Huskers Get Upset Win Against Sparty

As Tommy Armstrong released the game winning touchdown pass, I saw that Brandon Reilly was out of bounds. So when he caught the ball, I held my celebration. And after the officials discussed whether or not Reilly was pushed out of bounds, I held my celebration. And knowing that it would be reviewed, I still held my celebration.

Too bad for me...I missed the first three opportunities to celebrated...but I didn't miss the fourth, once the review was over. (Turns out that this type of judgement call can't be reviewed anyway.) And I certainly didn't miss the fifth and final celebrating after Connor Cook forgot about the clock at the end of the game. Though I did wait to see if Mark Dantonio would get a Mack Brown extra second...

Did Nebraska get lucky? I didn't see a replay in the stadium that was conclusive enough to overrule the call. I understand people watching the ESPN replays Saw something different. Much like on that questionable pass interference call with Alonzo Moore...TV may have had a better look than I got. So i'll have to defer to folks at home...and it sure sounds the Huskers caught a huge break.

Michigan State fans will justifiably complain about it, but in a season like this, the Huskers desperately needed this one, When Chris Pankonin cranked up "Let Me Clear My Throat" for the post game celebration on the PA system, the cathartic release was on all over Tom Osborne Field.

For one night, we were reminded on how much fun Nebraska football can be. Fans, players, and yes, recruits. It was an absolute blast.

Tomorrow, we'll look at the game itself over at CornNation. Tonight, let's just enjoy a win. Winning never sucks...and in 2015, we appreciate it  a while lot more.