35-30 the final against Virginia Tech. The optimist says the Huskers battled back, showed their grit, the pessimist says some holes were exposed on this team.
First the defense, is the cup half empty or half full? The gave up points on six straight possessions in a stretch from the 2nd through 3rd quarter. If you take away the Joe Ganz interception and the short field off the punt return, you can say the defense held when it mattered because they limited Virginia Tech to four field goals. Linebacker Cody Glenn says the defense just didn’t make the plays when they needed.
Despite that lapse in the middle of the game, the offense came back, but it was two crucial defensive penalties that led to Tech’s last touchdown. One of those penalties called on Bo Pelini.
I said last week, with the way Virginia Tech stuffs the box with 8 guys at times, they were going to take away the running game and it would come down to Joe Ganz and his arm. Just 55 net rushing yards for the Huskers, but that can also be attributed to the fact that the Huskers also needed to play catch up down 28-10 at one point. Take away the early interception by Ganz, and I was really impressed with the way he hung in there. 278 yards on 17 of 26 passing with his two TD tosses, Ganz sees little things that need fixing, but says they’re correctable.
So, a bump in the road, or a sign that there are some holes in the team that were exposed. A tough game coming up against 3rd ranked Missouri. We’ll turn our attention to that game tomorrow.