Colonels couldn't stop Huskers' marches
When your mission is to stop the Nebraska offense, the Huskers’ success can be a bit dizzying.
“Third down killed us. They had so many third-down conversions, probably like 29,” said Toney Edison, a strong safety for Nicholls State.
When he learned that Nebraska was 7-for-12 on third-down conversions, Edison realized that was as telling as if the Huskers had converted 29.
“We just couldn’t get them off the field on third down,” he said. “We put ourselves in great position sometimes. We made a couple of good plays on first down and second down but then we got to third down.
“We had a lot of third-and-eights and third-and-sevens and we couldn’t get them off the field.”
Edison and coach Jay Thomas said Nebraska’s West Coast offense caused plenty of problems for the Colonels.
“Being an NFL-style offense, what it does to you defensively is that it limits what you can call,” Thomas said. “It’s not going to allow you to get into man coverage, you have to zone pressure. And they do an outstanding job of blitz pickup.
“We knew it was going to be a chore for our defense.”
Motion and shifts were the root of the problem for the Nicholls State linebackers and secondary.
“Nebraska does a lot of shifting and once we get one of the outfield calls and we’re sent to that side, then they go ahead and shift out again,” Edison said. “That makes it difficult for all our guys to adjust. They run those little slant routes and out routes and they were hard for us to contain.”
The Huskers finished with 498 yards of total offense. They rushed for 261 and passed for 270.
“Their offensive line pulling caused a little trouble coming to attack the running backs,” Edison said. “We played them real good in the first half, but we had bad field position in the second half.”
Actually, field position plagued the Colonels throughout the game. While Nebraska’s average drive start was at its 44-yard line, Nicholls State’s average starting field position was its 24.
“We never could get field position switched,” Thomas said. “Once we had the turnover there at mid-field, we never could get out. One time we tried to fake a punt and we didn’t handle the ball.”
The turnover Thomas referred to proved to be more than just a turnover. Starting quarterback Vincent Montgomery fumbled the snap on the fifth play of the game and injured his knee trying to dive after the loose ball, which was recovered by NU’s Stewart Bradley.
“It affected us a lot when Montgomery went down. That’s the guy that usually makes the play calling. That’s the one that the team’s comfortable with,” Edison said. “But (Chris) Bunch, he’s a good quarterback as well. He did a real good job and kept us going a little bit.”
Thomas said he intended to have Montgomery and Bunch share playing time but Montgomery’s knee injury meant Bunch played the rest of the game.
“We don’t know the extent of Vincent’s injury yet and we lost defensive tackle Baylor Ordoyne to an MCL, which is a costly injury,” the coach said.
Despite those setbacks, Thomas said the trip to Lincoln was good for his team.
“It’s been great for our fans to come and be a part of this atmosphere,” he said. “It’s been good for our players to come and have the opportunity to play here. Now they have something when they go on and they can tell their kids they played here. And they can tell their grandkids they played here.
“We learned a lot of lessons from playing this game — the speed of the game, the intensity of the game, the atmosphere.”
Bunch said playing in Memorial Stadium was a bit unnerving when he first entered the game.
“The first time I went out there, I was nervous, but after I got in a few plays, I got the nervousness out and started focusing on what I had to do,” Bunch said. “I prepare myself to get ready for something like this, the starting quarterback going down.
“I practice all week so that if something goes wrong, I have to go in and take over the offense, so that’s what I tried to do today. I tried to keep us in the game.”
Reach Ryly Jane Hambleton at 473-7314 or rhambleton@journalstar.com.
“Third down killed us. They had so many third-down conversions, probably like 29,” said Toney Edison, a strong safety for Nicholls State.
When he learned that Nebraska was 7-for-12 on third-down conversions, Edison realized that was as telling as if the Huskers had converted 29.
“We just couldn’t get them off the field on third down,” he said. “We put ourselves in great position sometimes. We made a couple of good plays on first down and second down but then we got to third down.
“We had a lot of third-and-eights and third-and-sevens and we couldn’t get them off the field.”
Edison and coach Jay Thomas said Nebraska’s West Coast offense caused plenty of problems for the Colonels.
“Being an NFL-style offense, what it does to you defensively is that it limits what you can call,” Thomas said. “It’s not going to allow you to get into man coverage, you have to zone pressure. And they do an outstanding job of blitz pickup.
“We knew it was going to be a chore for our defense.”
Motion and shifts were the root of the problem for the Nicholls State linebackers and secondary.
“Nebraska does a lot of shifting and once we get one of the outfield calls and we’re sent to that side, then they go ahead and shift out again,” Edison said. “That makes it difficult for all our guys to adjust. They run those little slant routes and out routes and they were hard for us to contain.”
The Huskers finished with 498 yards of total offense. They rushed for 261 and passed for 270.
“Their offensive line pulling caused a little trouble coming to attack the running backs,” Edison said. “We played them real good in the first half, but we had bad field position in the second half.”
Actually, field position plagued the Colonels throughout the game. While Nebraska’s average drive start was at its 44-yard line, Nicholls State’s average starting field position was its 24.
“We never could get field position switched,” Thomas said. “Once we had the turnover there at mid-field, we never could get out. One time we tried to fake a punt and we didn’t handle the ball.”
The turnover Thomas referred to proved to be more than just a turnover. Starting quarterback Vincent Montgomery fumbled the snap on the fifth play of the game and injured his knee trying to dive after the loose ball, which was recovered by NU’s Stewart Bradley.
“It affected us a lot when Montgomery went down. That’s the guy that usually makes the play calling. That’s the one that the team’s comfortable with,” Edison said. “But (Chris) Bunch, he’s a good quarterback as well. He did a real good job and kept us going a little bit.”
Thomas said he intended to have Montgomery and Bunch share playing time but Montgomery’s knee injury meant Bunch played the rest of the game.
“We don’t know the extent of Vincent’s injury yet and we lost defensive tackle Baylor Ordoyne to an MCL, which is a costly injury,” the coach said.
Despite those setbacks, Thomas said the trip to Lincoln was good for his team.
“It’s been great for our fans to come and be a part of this atmosphere,” he said. “It’s been good for our players to come and have the opportunity to play here. Now they have something when they go on and they can tell their kids they played here. And they can tell their grandkids they played here.
“We learned a lot of lessons from playing this game — the speed of the game, the intensity of the game, the atmosphere.”
Bunch said playing in Memorial Stadium was a bit unnerving when he first entered the game.
“The first time I went out there, I was nervous, but after I got in a few plays, I got the nervousness out and started focusing on what I had to do,” Bunch said. “I prepare myself to get ready for something like this, the starting quarterback going down.
“I practice all week so that if something goes wrong, I have to go in and take over the offense, so that’s what I tried to do today. I tried to keep us in the game.”
Reach Ryly Jane Hambleton at 473-7314 or rhambleton@journalstar.com.
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