2010 Season Wrap-Up
The Huskers finished the 2009 season 10-4 and were one second away from a Big XII Championship. However, they did get the Huskers' and the Holiday Bowl's first ever shutout.
Bo Pelini is off to a good start after his second full year with his record at 20-8 as the Husker head coach including 3-0 in bowl games. This is nice to see considering the coaching situations of Kansas, Texas Tech, Notre Dame and maybe Florida.
The Holiday Bowl win over Arizona was super sweet. The offense racked up 396 yards. They showed some new wrinkles with Sexy Rexy Burkhead running the Wildcat. They did get a big play on a 74-yard strike to Niles Paul. They held the ball for over 38 minutes and kept our defense really fresh. I think the true credit goes to Shawn Watson. He was forced out of his element after the Iowa State game and he has reinvented the offense. I hope this is here to stay.
As for the BLACKSHIRTS!!! What a performance! They did give up 72 yards on Arizona's final possesion, but only 109 for the game. It was their second shutout of the season and the fifth time this season giving up 3 points or less. This performance should have them leading the nation in scoring defense. Coverage was awesome all night. Nobody was running open. The D-Line controlled all aspects of the game against this "Great" Arizona offensive line. Even though the 'Skers didn't get the sacks (only 1 I think), they were forcing Foles to throw the ball straight up into the air and pray. He was 6 out of 20 with a pick. The backup was "rewarded" for his practice efforts and was 4 of 11.
As for the Blackshirts season, they gave up 26 fewer points in 14 games this year than the '07 team gave up in their final three games. They gave up more points in the KU game that year than in the final 8 games this season. They will end the year statistically in the upper tier of the nation in most categories. I like the swagger. I will take some personal fouls instead of the wimpy tackling we saw a few years ago.
Ndamakong Suh was a man amongst boys. He had a season to remember...one that will put him in the discussion of the all-time greats at defensive line. His awards included leading (most likely) the top scoring defense in the nation...all we need Texas to do is put up 4 points on Alabama and this is the case. Oh, yeah...other awards include AP Player of the Year, Outland Trophy, Lombardi Award, Nagurski Trophy, Bednarik Award, Consensus All-American, Big XII Player of the Year and finishing 4th in the Heisman. Not a bad season. I would thank him for coming back, but he will reap the benefits of this much more than we will when he is picked very high (possibly 1st) in the NFL draft.
Even though the season ended well, it had even more possibilities. 8 turnovers against Iowa State and a bunch in the red zone costing us a win. We gave up points on the final play against Texas and Virginia Tech. The first gets us a Big XII Championship. At least we were in our games (except Texas Tech). The teams made it fun again. I can only look forward to next year. We lose Suh, Turner, Dillard, Asante & O'Hanlon on defense. It is a bunch, but we have 9 guys back that have started at least 5 games this year. On offense, we lose Jacob Hickman. It should be a fun 2010!
