Pitchin with Pritch: Huskers vs. Purdue: a win’s a win
Another week of Husker football but this time the Huskers get a win—a win on the road against Purdue but it is a win.
I would imagine that after watching the game Saturday morning, there were people that wondered how that game ever got on television.
Two such people got in touch with me to discuss that situation. They will remain nameless for now but I will admit, after watching the game, I got to wondering about it myself.
I am extremely happy that the Huskers won. They needed a win. They played much better in all phases of the game than they did last week and it made a difference.
They blocked a punt that set up a touchdown. The defense held Purdue to minus yardage for the entire game and the pass defense was better than it has been most of the season.
The offense took care of the scoring opportunities when they were presented to them.
What was really difficult to watch was what I think is the lack of discipline on the field. This went for both teams.
I am sure there is smack talk in most games, but there was an abundance of it Saturday and it cost both teams yardage with the penalties that were handed out.
Way too much talk for teams that had a whopping three wins combined.
I think I saw my first ever 30-yard penalty called in a game and it was against the Huskers. I am not even sure how it happened but Nebraska got two 15-yd penalties on a play and they marched 30-yds off which helped Purdue a bunch.
I saw one article that stated “It got a little bit squirrelly as the game progressed. This was nowhere near a perfect outing.” That was an understatement.
I would bet the officials had to go get new penalty flags with the number of penalties that were called.
There were some good things that were nice to see from the Huskers.
Adrian Martinez had a very good outing. He looked more like he did when he was a freshman when everyone was impressed with his play. He had a good day Saturday both running the ball and passing.
I thought the defense played pretty well most of the game. The pass defense only broke down once.
That wasn’t due to lack of effort or positioning so much as just a great catch and two of the Nebraska defensive backs knocking each other down. It did however lead to a 80-plus yard touchdown for Purdue.
Whatever happened in the game, the Huskers still escaped with the 37-27 win. It was maybe just a typical 2020 thing!
Plainsmen success
On the local front, the wrestlers had a good start to their season and the basketball teams split games on their first weekend of play.
Both teams lost to Hershey Thursady and then on Friday night both teams defeated Potter-Dix.
Hopefully the Covid-19 will go to Covid-0 soon and we can get some people back in the gyms to watch games.
It was kind of difficult for this old coach to not be able to go to the games this past week. Thank goodness for Striv and You Tube, plus I got to watch the games in the comfort of my house.
Now we need to keep all the wrestlers and basketball players that are participating free from the virus and get the ones that are out back on the mats or the court and keep the season going.