Scott Frost had a chance to get a little bit gun shy right at the start of Nebraska’s 44-8 win over Northern Illinois on Saturday night at Memorial Stadium.
The Huskers started the game’s opening possession with consecutive incompletions, neither of which was particularly close, as sophomore quarterback Adrian Martinez did not appear to be on the same page as JD Spielman on first down and Kanawai Noa on second down.
Instead of dialing back on third-and-10, though, Frost dialed up a shot downfield and Martinez hit Spielman for 41 yards on a post pattern that took some time to develop.
NU settled for a field goal on the opening drive, but it’s hard to imagine that opening the game with four straight pass plays — and two Martinez runs sandwiched around another throw — was a coincidence one week after Nebraska sputtered in the second half in overtime and opted to run the ball twice to begin overtime in a loss to Colorado.
“You know I don’t want to talk about that (Colorado) game at all, but what’s made us good as a coaching staff and as a team when we’ve been good is just always keeping the foot on the gas,†Frost said after the game. “I want our guys to play like that all the time.â€
It’s easy to see why. Yes, Nebraska’s offense feels a little bit feast or famine at times — Frost has been blunt about the fact that his system not only thrives on big plays but requires them in order to succeed — but the Huskers’ 30-point first half was a perfect illustration of why NU is best when it's aggressive.
Five times, NU stacked chunk plays or big plays together in order to inflict significant damage.
* After the first two incompletions, Martinez hit Spielman for 41 and Noa for 17 on the next snap, gobbling up 58 yards in a matter of seconds.
* Following Nebraska’s first punt block — officially ruled a fumble — Maurice Washington took a fly sweep 21 yards for a touchdown on a play that NU had not yet used this season.Â
* Martinez hit Spielman for 19 working off the fly sweep action, then Noa for 7 before Washington took an inside zone play, cut it all the way back and raced 60 up the left sideline.
* In the second quarter from the 50, Martinez again started with two incompletions but then hit Mike Williams on the run for 26 on third-and-10, rushed up to the line of scrimmage and handed to Dedrick Mills, who ripped off 24 up the middle for a touchdown.
* On the Huskers’ scoring drive just before the half, their first two plays covered 17 yards and bled 20 of the remaining 44 seconds off the clock. After a completion to Spielman, though, Martinez hit Wan'Dale Robinson for 30 and Noa for 27 on a throw he cut loose from the far hash at the 34-yard line to the back corner of the end zone. NU covered the final 57 yards in about 12 seconds of game time.
“I think that our mindset was right coming out in that game,†Martinez said. “And a couple of possessions I think we should have translated into touchdowns but, in general, I think our offense was in the right mindset to go out there and make the plays work.
“Go execute and let’s play how we should.â€
Nebraska’s four first-half touchdown drives looked like this:
* One play, 21 yards, 7 seconds.
* Four plays, 83, 1:11.
* Four plays, 50, :39.
* Five plays, 87, :37.
That, of course, is extreme, but it shows the importance of big plays and an aggressive approach.
“Maybe I needed to get the lesson from outside and from my assistant coaches last week — we preach a desire to excel and a fear of no failure all the time, and if we want the players to be that way, we need to be that way as coaches,†Frost said. “That means calling what we need to call, rolling the dice, letting them play, being aggressive.â€
It helps cover up blemishes, too, when a team can get quick-strike scores.
On top of 30 first-half points, NU had the ball at the NIU 16, 20 and 14 on three different trips and came away with nothing. Dedrick Mills — who broke out in a big way — followed a 61-yard run with a lost fumble in the first quarter. The Huskers took over at the 20 after the Huskies’ failed fake punt, but had a field-goal attempt blocked when the offense stalled. Then the hosts took over at the 14 after a blocked punt, but had another field-goal attempt blocked.
Zero points on three red zone trips can be a game-killer, and it’s not an issue that can be taken lightly going forward, but on this night the big-play ability of the offense and a staunch effort from the defense, which allowed only two field goals, was more than enough.
Notes
* Nebraska’s kicking woes are not going anywhere. Isaac Amstrong’s three blocked kicks — a PAT and two field goals — came in different variations. The first field-goal block came from linebacker Antonio Jones-Davis, who split right between Brenden Jaimes and Jack Stoll up the middle and got to the ball easily.
Then, Armstrong had a PAT blocked by a player coming off one edge and another field goal blocked by a player coming off the other.
That prompted a change to Lane McCallum, who made three second-half PATs. Whether it’s timing, blocking or both, the Huskers have to find answers quickly.
* Jaimes’ fourth-quarter injury — apparently to his left knee, based on the attention he received and the way he limped off — came on an odd play in which he widened out to block but still got rolled up on from behind around NU’s goal line.
Lincoln native Broc Bando played the final 16 offensive snaps at left tackle.
* A tip of the hat to Austin Allen, Nebraska’s sophomore tight end, who could choose to be frustrated after recording just one catch for 8 yards through three games. Instead, he did the dirty work on Saturday. Allen recovered a fumble on NIU’s first botched punt and stopped punter Matt Ference short on an attempted fake punt. He should have had a recovery and perhaps a touchdown on a blocked punt later in the first half. Then, in perhaps his biggest contribution, he alertly recovered a fumble by fellow tight end Stoll at the end of a 27-yard catch and run late in the third quarter that kept an eventual put-away touchdown drive alive.
* It’s unclear if Cam Taylor-Britt will miss time or, if so, how much time, with an apparent right shoulder injury suffered in the first quarter. Frost at halftime told the Husker Sports radio broadcast, “Hopefully we get good news on Cam. It looks better than we thought, but he won’t play any more today.â€
If the sophomore does indeed miss time, Travis Fisher will have interesting decisions to make. He’s played Marquel Dismuke, Eric Lee and Eli Sullivan in regular play over the first three games, but two freshmen, Noa Pola-Gates and Myles Farmer, have started to see the field a bit, too. Pola-Gates has been a special teams player only, while Farmer made his debut against NIU on both special teams and a couple of late clean-up snaps at safety.
Frost after the game also pointed to freshman cornerback Quinton Newsome as, “getting closer to being ready to play a lot for us,†and redshirt freshman cornerback Braxton Clark logged his first career interception.
So, there are some options in the secondary should Taylor-Britt miss time, but he’s certainly a key player for Fisher and NU’s defense.
Photos: It's a victory under the lights for the Huskers