Pitchin with Pritch: NU quarterback change looked good—for two quarters
It’s late Saturday afternoon and the Huskers have just won their first football game of the season.
A lot of things happened in the game—some were good, some were not so good but that is no different than most games.
The situation with the Huskers this year is more like a mystery. How are they going to play, who might the quarterback be, and what is the likelihood of them playing descent all four quarters.
Well, one mystery was solved when Luke McCaffrey took the field on the first series on offense and stayed in that position for all four quarters.
Most of the first half, that looked like the greatest move that Coach Frost has made in his short stint here as head coach. Who the starter was going to be for this game never made it to the sports reporters this week.
Even though that happened, it wasn’t all that surprising that the decision was made. For the first half it looked like it was a great decision as the Huskers put 27 points on the scoreboard, starting with a 75-yard, 11 play drive and a quarterback sneak for touchdown.
The defense helped out with a pass interception and a good return, only to get a field goal. From there, the defense got a scoop-and-score and Zavier Betts sped by the Penn State defense for a 21-point lead going into the second half.
The second half was less impressive as the Huskers could only put three points on the board. But the defense certainly helped with big stops on a couple of drives and the Huskers had a 30-23 victory.
At the first of the season, Penn State was touted as a Top 10 pick, but they are off to their worst start (0-4) since Joe Paterno’s 2001 team, who also lost their first four games.
I really thought at some time we would see both Martinez and McCaffrey in the game but that didn’t happen.
Martinez has started 23 games. It will be interesting to see how the talents of those two players will be used in the coming games.
Both teams, in my opinion, suffered from some of the same problems. Fumbles, penalties at the worst time, and questionable blocking and tackling at times.
Still, you have to remember that even though it is the middle of November, this is just the third game for Nebraska and the fourth game for Penn State.
There also was news that the Big 10 had created a way for league teams to play a game should their opponents cancel that week due to COVID-19 cases. The league didn’t announce the action but ESPN did. Supposedly the Big 10 had voted on it Nov. 5.
So long as two games are canceled by noon Wednesday, the remaining teams assuming they don’t have COVID-19 issues, could play.
According to ESPN, it won’t matter if the game is a rematch or a game that’s on the teams’ schedule later in the year. Nebraska could, for example, play Ohio State or Northwestern again. Don’t see that happening but who knows, it is 2020 . . . just saying.
Saw an article about an 8-man football semi-final playoff game in Iowa that was interesting to say the least—Montezuma vs St. Mary’s Remsen. The game started at 9 a.m. and lasted four hours. The final score was St. Mary’s 108, Montezuma 94.
The quarterback for the winning team rushed for 354 yards and four touchdowns and threw for 134 yards and four more touchdowns. The losing QB had 689 yards passing and 13 total touchdowns. Apparently, St. Mary’s made a tackle towards the end of the game to win!