Injuries, Wind a Factor this Saturday

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
The sports Breath the Husker buzz edession with Shawn Callahan.
Our big red insight are liven Lecnrosie Shano.

Speaker 2 (00:06):
At the risk of sounding like a typical Husker Chinese,
I'm looking at the lineups for this game on Saturday,
and I see all of these Michigan State injuries. Like
their best guard Luka Vincik he's out, their left tackle
Stanton Ramil is out. They have a red shirt freshman
and they're playing on the offensive line, and their best tackler,
Jordan Hall, has been booted for the first half of

(00:26):
the game because he was thrown out for targeting in
the USC game. Seems to me that if Nebraska doesn't
trip over its private parts, we should be in pretty
good shape.

Speaker 3 (00:34):
Well, I mean the number. It's the first time Nebraska
has been a double digit home favorite in a Big
Ten game since twenty twenty Minnesota they quit their excuse me,
twenty twenty Illinois they ended up losing their game twenty twenty,
Minnesota was a nine point line, but before that twenty sixteen,
so it's really only happened one other time in ten
years that Nebraska has been a ten point plus favorite

(00:56):
in a Big ten home game, so it's rare, but
I think the odds makers think this is a good matchup.
Gary and iRED is talking off air though there's gonna
be about a thirty mile an hour air blower out
of the South in this game. So punting and kicking
deep ball throws are going to have some extra strings
attached to them as far as what you decided to do.

(01:19):
And we saw a game like this a year ago
against Rutgers. I mean, Greg Ciano said it was one
of the windier games he's ever played in and his
coaching grew ever, and now you welcome to Nebraska. That's
how it is in October, especially when it's warm like that.
So I'll be interested if that affects any of the
downfield throwing. But Dylan is really good still throwing those
ten to twenty yard throws, even into a wind.

Speaker 2 (01:40):
Well, that's the thing. If you look at his success
so far this year, and it started with the Cincinnati game,
and you got to give Dana Holgerson credit for this.
He's got a great arm, there's no doubt about it.
But Nebraska has moved the ball through the air with
those ten to twenty yard passes, not the deep balls
and that has been an effective use of his quarterback skills,

(02:03):
and I don't know why they would change it, which
mitigates any wind.

Speaker 3 (02:05):
Blowing well, and teams take away the deep ball as well,
like they generally play their safeties deep on Nebraska because
they don't really respect him as a running team as
far as you know, being a consistent every down run team,
so they can play more deep safety and then that
leaves a lot of underneath throws. In the Cincinnati game,

(02:26):
that's what it was the whole game. I mean, they
had three high safeties. They were not gonna let Nebraska
throw over the top. I don't know how Michigan State's
can defend Nebraska. It will probably be like that. But again,
a lot of people, until Nebraska proves they can run
it better, they're going to play safeties deep, which makes
it makes it really hard to throw it deep.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
Now.

Speaker 2 (02:48):
Dana Holgerson said something out landish yesterday on the Hay
Coach Calling show. He said, we've practiced two hundred thousand
passing sets in the last eight days nine days. Well,
I find that hard to believe. One hundred thousand maybe,
but not two hundred thousand. And if they're spending that
much time in pass protection that I'd spending a lot
of time running the ball in practice.

Speaker 3 (03:09):
Yeah, I think he was. I think he was start
being sarcastic about that, how much they've emphasized it. Clearly
they had the wrong approach against Michigan. I mean, they
were ready for that, and you've got to be ready
now for Michigan State to try to attack Nebraska with
a similar approach. And they're just getting their guys ready.

(03:30):
So we'll see what the three additional practices over the
bye week we'll do for this team on top of
what they've been working on here for this game on Saturday.

Speaker 2 (03:40):
Is the Michigan State a blitzing team. I didn't see
a lot of that in their USC game.

Speaker 3 (03:44):
No, they only have six sacks on the year. Michigan
had seven in the Nebraska game on the Huskers alone,
So they are not a pass rush team. That's another
reason why I think that spreads where it's at. They
don't get to quarterbacks and they're back, they're back in
coverage has not been very good. Nebraska doesn't really get
the quarterbacks, but their secondary still has been elite, leading

(04:07):
the country obviously, and they're the only team in the
country that is not allowed Nebraska a twenty yard throw
in the game this year.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
Well, I I think that some teams own other teams
and sports in general. With a few exceptions, Nebraska tends
to own Michigan State. Last we have a brain cramp
and decide, uh and late in the fourth quarter to
kick to the wrong to punt to the wrong guy.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
Well, Michigan State's won out three of the last five
against Nebraska.

Speaker 3 (04:40):
It's a four and fourth series since the Big Ten,
since they've joined. But so it's even up.

Speaker 2 (04:45):
But to your points out of Nebraska won the first
seven matchups. Yeah, against Michigan State. It just hasn't been
for a while and will be centered. I mean I
the other thing is Michigan State quite candidly, and I
don't know where Mark D'Antoni was ever going to land
on the greatest coaches of all time, but that game
when he brought Kirk Cousins in, I think it was

(05:06):
twenty twelve or twenty thirteen, maybe twenty fourteen. I beg
your pardon, not known for sure, and he just kept
throwing the ball down the field against a Nebraska team
that gave up a lot of yards on the ground
that year, and I kept thinking, why is he doing this?
Now he's got Kirk Cousins who wound up being an
NFL player, But he just kept checking the thing down
the field and constantly Nebraska was getting them in third

(05:27):
and long, long time ago.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Sean. Thanks, we'll check with your twenty four hours from now.
Get the keys to the game.