Defense fails to execute - again
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BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
Chad Sievers looked like he wanted to cry.
The tears welled in his eyes, but none streamed down his cheeks.
They didn't have to. You could easily detect Sievers' emotions through his words.
The Husker senior linebacker talked about pouring your heart and soul into a program. He talked about players always battling, never giving up. He talked about trying to leave something positive for the younger players.
But in the end and Friday's 26-20 loss to Colorado was certainly that for Nebraska Sievers said the Huskers' defense never fully adjusted during a season of transition.
"I know with the new scheme ... I just don't think that everyone quite bought into it as much as I had hoped they would," Sievers said. "Unfortunately, it showed on the field."
The Blackshirts, who played this season with their third defensive coaching staff in as many seasons, had the nation's No. 55 total defense and No. 70 scoring defense. Their performance Friday will do little to help those figures.
Colorado amassed 295 yards by halftime and finished with 420. The Buffaloes ran seemingly at will. Receivers roamed free. Quarterback Joel Klatt emerged from the game with nary a scratch.
"Emotionally, we did not show up to play every down," Sievers said. "If you're not out there, flying around, getting pumped up, doing your job every play and really selling out ... it can make a big difference."
Nebraska inexplicably started off slowly, a trademark of this season's defense. In the first half alone, Colorado had plays of 38, 48, 43 and 28 yards. The Buffs finished with six plays of 21 or more yards.
"You have to come out ready to play," Sievers said. "I don't know why that didn't happen. I felt personally I was ready to play, and I thought the team was ready to play. I can't answer for the rest of the guys, but it's frustrating. It really is.
"You can't ease into a game anymore. You've got to attack. Once again, they jumped on us, and we didn't jump on them."
Sievers said many of Nebraska's problems this season resulted from an inability to gel as a defensive unit.
"The biggest thing is," he said, "if you get more players in here, the longer they play here, the more reps they get at it, they're going to feel more confident."
Titus Adams, a junior defensive tackle, said he believes in defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove's system. But did every player on the defense buy into the new scheme?
"I really can't speak for everyone else," Adams said. "But if they didn't, it might be a shame, because if everyone ain't on the same page and don't believe, I don't think there's anything good that can come out of it."
Cosgrove said he believes his players are buying into his system. He points to the final quarter of Friday's game as proof that he hasn't lost his defense. A team that has given up, he said, wouldn't have stopped Colorado in Nebraska territory after a Husker turnover when the Buffaloes were already up three touchdowns.
But the Blackshirts countered with a turnover of their own a 44-yard interception return by Ira Cooper. It set up the first of two late NU touchdowns that pulled the Huskers within six points.
Still, the Buffaloes rushed for 198 yards, and Klatt completed 18 of 29 passes for 222 yards.
Cosgrove also was disappointed in NU's lack of pressure Klatt was sacked just once and rarely pressured or forced into bad throws. As for the option play, which CU ran a handful of times, Cosgrove said the Buffs used a silent audible into the play.
But Sievers said Nebraska's main problem Friday was that, like much of the season, the Blackshirts simply didn't execute.
"We got to the sideline, and upstairs, they called down and said, This guy was out of gap, this guy didn't slow-play the quarterback, this guy over-ran the ball,'" Sievers said. "I mean, it wasn't a matter of the calls. We flat-out didn't execute. And that's what really hurts."
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