After a less than glowing performance against North Dakota, the Huskers will have an opportunity of a winning season going in to the Oklahoma game with a win over the Georgia Southern Eagles. The weather may be prominent in how the Huskers “call” their offensive game plan and the opponent’s success or failure may hinge on it as well. One thing is for sure, Georgia Southern will have more talent than North Dakota!
Anthony Grant (#10) sure did have the Fighting Hawks all twisted up on Saturday when the Cornhuskers finally pulled away in the last 7 minutes of the game to beat the mid-ranked FCS football team 38-17. With that said, a much improved and more talented Georgia Southern team, under former USC coach Clay Helton, comes to Lincoln on Saturday to prove that their score last week, more reminiscent of Huskers teams long passed, against Morgan State Bears will translate in to a road win for the Eagles. This makes it a big week or a couple of big weeks for the stressed Scott Frost and the Nebraska Cornhuskers, not for just what is going on in Memorial Stadium, but what is going on elsewhere, like Manhattan, Kansas. Adrian Martinez, after a statically insignificant performance last week against South Dakota, cruised with a tuneup type game and will host the Missouri Tigers (to be aired on ESPN 2 @ 11AM Saturday). The Huskers will have a few hours after the conclusion of that game to digest their former teammate’s performance. A significant performance may impact the fragile psyche of the Huskers but rain in the forecast on Saturday may prove formidable for a Casey Thompson who, on occasion, struggles with accuracy. My suggestion is a Chubba but what do I know?
We heard from Scott Frost this week that he decided that the number one offense should go up against the number one defense to “help” simulate more game situations and address performance gaps. I think every little bit helps and doing so might just impact the nature in the way the Cornhuskers play. Unfortunately, when both sides of the ball need vast improvements it is hard telling if this will have an impact as much as admitting to it does. Fact is, the Huskers could not “put away” the feisty Fighting Hawks until late in the game and having simple things like not touching a punt when you are on the return team and the ball is surrounded by the opposition still leaves us in awe-full state of mind. It is much easier to believe in conspiracy theories than it is to believe that we are just playing possum for a surprise Oklahoma game.
What scares me about the Georgia Southern game, is the same reason why Troy came in to Lincoln and beat us in 2018, they have more talent than we know, and as of late it has been applied and developed accordingly. I know that you cannot say that about a win over one powder puff team like Morgan State, but still a 59-7 victory does wonders for the psyche of a team that senses vulnerability in Huskers Nation. I said it last week and I will say it this week, Georgia Southern will come to Lincoln and come out with a victory over the Huskers. The only way that changes, is if the front four of the Huskers can bring the heat… and I haven’t seen it all year like we expected to see it all year! If we have more than three sacks, we win this battle. But, if we struggle to put pressure on their quarterback he will pick us apart. I just think that we have reached a point where we cannot look at this as a tune-up game for Oklahoma, but rather it has to be a play by play grind that will test our mettle. I know that the Huskers covered last week, if you could get it at 20.5 points, but this week will look more like Troy of 2018 than anything else. I am truly sorry for saying it, and I would rather be wrong and eat crow over a Huskers win, but ultimately the team will succumb to the stressors of having fundamentals discussed in meetings rather than reinforced on the field that lead to errors of a poorly coached team, having talent out of place and disproportionate across the different positions, and watching a fellow teammate go to greener pastures and experience a culture with some success. Georgia Southern wins 35-31.
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