Huskers have excelled in the two-minute drill this season
At least twice a week, the practice whistle blows and the imaginary games begin.
Sometimes Bill Callahan sets the ball down and tells his team it’s behind by three points. Sometimes it’s behind six.
One day, Callahan will tell his offense it has two timeouts and 40 seconds to score. The next, he’ll give them no timeouts and put 1:47 on the clock.
“It can win games and lose games,” the Husker coach says. “Believe me, I’ve been on both sides of the stick.”
He’s talking about the two-minute drill, chaos on cleats.
Frankly, some people — and this includes those who play and coach on Sundays — stink at the two-minute drill.
They throw short when they should throw long. They throw to the middle when they should throw to the sideline. They look at playsheets when the rolling clock tells them they shouldn’t be.
Do not put Nebraska in that crowd of inept two-minute drill teams. Not this year, at least.
On this football team, which is so very hard to understand, you must give them this: The Huskers sometimes look most comfortable when things should be uncomfortable.
In three of the past four games, the Huskers scored touchdowns in the final two minutes of the first half to take halftime leads they otherwise wouldn’t have had.
It is on those drives that Husker senior quarterback Sam Keller has been sharpest:
* Against Wake Forest, he took the Huskers 80 yards in 11 plays in 1:46. Every yard on that drive came by way of Keller’s arm. He was 9-of-11.
* Against Ball State, he was 5-of-5 for 71 yards on a half-ending drive that took about four minutes.
* Against Iowa State, he was 8-of-11 for 99 yards on the two drives that came in the half’s final three minutes.
Add up all those drives and Keller was 22-of-27 for 250 yards and two touchdown passes.
That’s a heckuva stat line for a quarterback — achieved in nine minutes, no less.
Keller, who has an overall completion percentage of 65 percent, is hitting at an 81 percent clip on those hurried drives.
“I love it. I just love the two-minute drill,” Keller said. “You know you’re going to throw, and you just can kind of sit back and look at the defense and pick them apart.”
No play-action fakes. No shifting and motion before the snaps.
“Just line up static and go downfield and attack them,” Keller said. “When we need to dial that up, we’re really good at it.”
Who’s to say how games would’ve played out if you take away those late first-half drives. But you could argue that Nebraska would have two less wins if the Huskers don’t get those scores against Wake Forest (20-17) and Ball State (41-40).
At Wake Forest, the Huskers trailed 10-6 until going to a no-huddle offense and Keller got the hot hand.
Against Iowa State, Callahan used the word “brilliant” in summing up how Keller managed the late-half drive that forged the Huskers ahead 14-10.
Of course, two-minute drives can also be as humbling as exhilarating.
A minute after that scoring drive against Iowa State, Keller and Co. got the ball back with 38 seconds left in the half and a chance to score again.
Keller hit 3 of 4 passes to move Nebraska 36 yards to the Iowa State 15-yard line.
But then brilliance gave way to a mental slip. With no one open and no timeouts, Keller ran the ball instead of throwing it out of bounds.
Time ran out before a field goal or another play could be attempted.
“I’m not going to sleep tonight,” Callahan said of the mistake. “I take that on myself.”
The two-minute drill giveth and taketh away.
“I always felt it was a situation that needed to always be tended to, a situation that you constantly have to work,” Callahan said.
“We try to do our best preparing for every potential sequence and circumstance that could occur during the two-minute situation.”
And so the imaginary games go on.
Ball on the 20. One timeout. Go.
Because who knows when you might find yourself in a place like Columbia, Mo., down seven and needing to go 80 yards in 60 seconds.
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
Sometimes Bill Callahan sets the ball down and tells his team it’s behind by three points. Sometimes it’s behind six.
One day, Callahan will tell his offense it has two timeouts and 40 seconds to score. The next, he’ll give them no timeouts and put 1:47 on the clock.
“It can win games and lose games,” the Husker coach says. “Believe me, I’ve been on both sides of the stick.”
He’s talking about the two-minute drill, chaos on cleats.
Frankly, some people — and this includes those who play and coach on Sundays — stink at the two-minute drill.
They throw short when they should throw long. They throw to the middle when they should throw to the sideline. They look at playsheets when the rolling clock tells them they shouldn’t be.
Do not put Nebraska in that crowd of inept two-minute drill teams. Not this year, at least.
On this football team, which is so very hard to understand, you must give them this: The Huskers sometimes look most comfortable when things should be uncomfortable.
In three of the past four games, the Huskers scored touchdowns in the final two minutes of the first half to take halftime leads they otherwise wouldn’t have had.
It is on those drives that Husker senior quarterback Sam Keller has been sharpest:
* Against Wake Forest, he took the Huskers 80 yards in 11 plays in 1:46. Every yard on that drive came by way of Keller’s arm. He was 9-of-11.
* Against Ball State, he was 5-of-5 for 71 yards on a half-ending drive that took about four minutes.
* Against Iowa State, he was 8-of-11 for 99 yards on the two drives that came in the half’s final three minutes.
Add up all those drives and Keller was 22-of-27 for 250 yards and two touchdown passes.
That’s a heckuva stat line for a quarterback — achieved in nine minutes, no less.
Keller, who has an overall completion percentage of 65 percent, is hitting at an 81 percent clip on those hurried drives.
“I love it. I just love the two-minute drill,” Keller said. “You know you’re going to throw, and you just can kind of sit back and look at the defense and pick them apart.”
No play-action fakes. No shifting and motion before the snaps.
“Just line up static and go downfield and attack them,” Keller said. “When we need to dial that up, we’re really good at it.”
Who’s to say how games would’ve played out if you take away those late first-half drives. But you could argue that Nebraska would have two less wins if the Huskers don’t get those scores against Wake Forest (20-17) and Ball State (41-40).
At Wake Forest, the Huskers trailed 10-6 until going to a no-huddle offense and Keller got the hot hand.
Against Iowa State, Callahan used the word “brilliant” in summing up how Keller managed the late-half drive that forged the Huskers ahead 14-10.
Of course, two-minute drives can also be as humbling as exhilarating.
A minute after that scoring drive against Iowa State, Keller and Co. got the ball back with 38 seconds left in the half and a chance to score again.
Keller hit 3 of 4 passes to move Nebraska 36 yards to the Iowa State 15-yard line.
But then brilliance gave way to a mental slip. With no one open and no timeouts, Keller ran the ball instead of throwing it out of bounds.
Time ran out before a field goal or another play could be attempted.
“I’m not going to sleep tonight,” Callahan said of the mistake. “I take that on myself.”
The two-minute drill giveth and taketh away.
“I always felt it was a situation that needed to always be tended to, a situation that you constantly have to work,” Callahan said.
“We try to do our best preparing for every potential sequence and circumstance that could occur during the two-minute situation.”
And so the imaginary games go on.
Ball on the 20. One timeout. Go.
Because who knows when you might find yourself in a place like Columbia, Mo., down seven and needing to go 80 yards in 60 seconds.
Reach Brian Christopherson at 473-7439 or bchristopherson@journalstar.com.
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