My 2 Cents
10/27/09
Iowa State Game

Commentary by David Max

Well, this one was the third painful game to watch in a row. 11 of the past 12 quarters can fit in the bad category. I thought last week at Texas Tech was the Murphy's Law game but this one was one for the record books. You would need to go back a long way in the NCAAA record books to find a team that was minus eight in turnovers and still only lost by two points. I would be willing to bet it hasn't happened before. That doesn't take much if any sting out of yet another loss where we gave away another game we should have won. Some of the comments I heard walking back from the game were; "It doesn't feel like it's cold enough for Hell to freeze over. More turnovers than points scored. We should have kicked a field goal on first down in the red zone."

We had a bunch of Iowa State fans at our tailgate due to the fact that both of my nephews attended Iowa State in spite of the fact that both of their parents are NU grads. Maybe NU should be more aggressive in offering legacy in state tuition for children of out of state NU grads as they both would have preferred to go to NU. They are still big time Husker fans. Their Iowa State buddies were happy with their first win in Lincoln in 32 years but also agreed that the game was handed to them on a silver platter. They all got passing grades in beer drinking 101 as we ran out for the first time this season.

At this point the season is in survival mode with every game becoming a must win and talk is turning away from the Big 12 North Championship to just becoming bowl eligible. What a difference a couple of weeks make. I was fortunate enough to be a guest of Larry the Cable Guy in his sky box for the game and we commiserated about the perceived lack of emotion from the team. They seem to be playing scared of losing and do not seem to have the swagger of the Husker teams of old. When you see headlines about looking for "sparks" you know you are in trouble. I don't read any of the commentaries before I write mine so I won't be influenced but I do look at the headlines. I did see Suh's post game press conference from the sky box and he did not seem to have the gloom and doom that seems to be permeating throughout the Husker nation. I hope he and his teammates can find that spark and get the season back on track. He did say that we do have our goal of winning the Big 12 North still intact and with the unpredictable results in the Big 12 he is right. I just didn't expect to be crawling out of the "loser's bracket" at this point in the season. Now winning on the road is crucial to getting the Big 12 North ring and bowl eligibility. It would really suck to be in a position of having to beat Colorado in Boulder to become bowl eligible. That should be wrapped up way before that time. Beating them in Boulder to win the Big 12 North crown would salvage the season for me.

If you are able to look on the positive side we can get back on track on the road against what should be a not so good Baylor team playing without their phenom quarterback and get our "mojo" back before coming back into Memorial Stadium against Oklahoma. I would like to see some real emotion at that game at the end of pre-game and the tunnel walk. It seems to have lost it's luster and ability to make the hair stand out on the back of your neck like it used to. I just hope that the players and fans have not accepted what has been called the "new normal" of Husker football that some seem resigned to.

College football is a game of emotions and if we can go down to Baylor and play well and win by a couple of touchdowns with the offense converting instead of serving turnovers we can beat Oklahoma. Especially if we get off on the right foot at the beginning of the game. That would allow the crowd to get into the game early and stay there. The defense keeps us in games and I believe that the offense can start clicking again with just a few more blocks sustained, passes not dropped, and drive killing penalties. It doesn't matter who the quarterback is if the other ten guys on offense aren't doing their jobs. Iowa State spent the entire game working at stripping the ball and we seem to have forgotten that art. It is the little things that change the outcome of a football game and that was not more evident than last Saturday. Next Saturday is a new game and can be the beginning of the reversal of what has been a bad trend. All of you Husker fans in Waco be loud and bring us back the first win of what can still be a successful season. We turned it around last year and we can do it again.

Click on the image for more pictures.

Just my 2 cents. What about yours? Selected responses will be posted here.

GO BIG RED!!!