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The straight scoop from
Colonel Mustard

Oct. 28, 2002

First and foremost, this can only be described as a great victory -- considering the situation and the 17-point deficit, I believe one of the greatest in the history of the program. Frank saved his job, there is no other clever way to put it. The remainder of the coaching staff changes that I called for earlier still need to happen. But let's focus on the here and now. This sets up what should be a huge Texas game. The crowd should be wild. Confidence is an amazing thing in sports and now we have it. And now the game.

As Butch Cassidy said, who are these guys? And I add, where have they been? We dropped the hammer on these guys, like Nebraska has always done. We were the better team the whole night, and if we hadn't given them easy TD's this game could have been a rout. We blew them off the ball and our backs ran hard. They still don't follow their blocks like they should. But that is coaching and we will fix that next year. Frank stuck to the running game because he knew he had the better team and could move the ball. The 4th-and-1 at the 29 was a gutsy call, but I feel he didn't have any choice. Frank really coached a terrific game. I am very happy for him because I really don't want us to change head coaches. The line dominated like they haven't in a long time. Lord had his usual game — a mixture of good plays and throws with bad decisions and poor ball security. Please, Turner, teach the guy how to do a QB sneak. Look for the open gap and stay low and follow the lineman. Stop jumping. Also, as my friend Darren says, stop running the counter to Judd on short yardage. This game proved it again: Pilkington is always open. We can win with this style of offense. Lord has got to attack the option more aggressively. Again he is slow to make decisions, and that allows the D to string out the option. But he is our guy this year. And this is another part of the team that will improve in the off-season. All in all, a great offensive performance against the best defense we have seen all year. As I have said all year, our problems have very little to do with the opponent and everything to do with us.

On defense we hit harder than we have all year. We mixed up our coverages, did some blitzing, and tried some in-line stunts and loops. We didn't just sit in our base and get attacked. We need to junk the zone, they picked up a third and 17 against us. Our guys just aren't used to playing that passive and we don't generate enough consistent pass rush to make the zone work. Ricketts had a strong game because he was put in a position to succeed, unlike past games. Ruud has to be hurt -- he just isn't playing like himself. The defense really only gave up 7 points, because on the field goal drive, our DB got tackled from behind on the screen pass that led to their score. We got more pressure than previous games, but not consistent pressure. Our blitzers get picked up a great deal. I don't know if they aren't great rushers or if it's the scheme. A well-played and better-coached game than we have seen in a while. And against an offense that had been putting up points.Now we get Texas. I think that the timing is great. We just played by far our best game of the year and we catch them at home. They have great talent, more than we do. But we are at home which offsets at least part of their talent advantage. Their coaches are not great game-planners either, so I see the coaching as even. Whichever turnover-prone QB makes the most errors will decide the game.

Was Saturday an aberration or the start of a pattern? The team that played A&M can win this game. The team that played Oklahoma State will get blown out. I wish I knew which one will show up. Enjoy the week; we are back off the mat and have a huge game to look forward to. Let's hope that we are back in business, boys and girls. Keep the faith. Go Big Red.
 
-- The Colonel

 

 
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