Saturday, November 26, 2005

It finally all clicks...

In the Bill Callahan era, the Huskers have had short bursts of offensive success. And some longer bursts of defensive success. But until yesterday in Boulder, they've never put together a cohesive 60 minutes of football.

Yesterday, it all came together. Every Husker fan has to be amazed by what they saw yesterday. It was a beautiful thing.

I must admit that I was expecting a repeat of the 2001 game, especially after the opening 3-and-out followed by Colorado running a counter play to gain 40 yards early on. But that was it for the CoCo Puffs. From there on out, the Huskers simply dominated.

Credit goes to everyone for this performance. Zac Taylor elevated his game to the next level, making clutch throw after clutch throw. Bo Ruud spent almost as much time in Colorado's backfield as CU quarterback Joel Klatt. And when Cory Ross wasn't picking up a CU blitzer, he was making a big reception.

After the Kansas debacle, I stated that the problem wasn't talent - and yesterday proved it. In the last 2 years, the only team to significantly outtalent Nebraska was Oklahoma. So what changed?

Simple. For the first time since the shakeup, the coaching staff and the players truly were on one page. Sure, they've said the right things at times, but you've never gotten the feeling that all was right in the Husker camp.

Until yesterday.

You could see it in the tears in Bill Callahan's eyes in his post game press conference. You could see it in the Gatorade dunk Callahan received.

It was a masterful performance by both the players and coaches. It's a shame that the Huskers will need to wait another month for another game to build on this performance.

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