Who NEEDS to have a good game against OU

The secondary. I feel reasonably confident we can hold up in the run game - they'll pop a couple of good runs, but for the most part we'll be fine. But we need to be flying up and destroying the screen game and staying over top of the deep balls or it'll be out of hand really quickly.

At times we've been really good blowing up perimeter screens so I'm optimistic there, but I don't know if we can run with these guys. Of the main guys in the secondary (CTB, Newsome, Clark, Dismuke, Deontai, and Farmer) it seems like only Deontai has above average speed. I don't think the rest of the guys are slow per say, and hopefully they can use their length. But I'm a lot less optimistic there.

 
Head Coach Scott Frost said:
Scott Frost
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I was going to say the same thing when I saw the topic.  

Scott needs to make in game adjustments, he's got to motivate and coach like we've never seen before with him - he above all others needs to be at the top of his game.  It all starts wt him. But of course he isn't playing QB any more.  So on the field......

AM - No turnovers and the game of his career

OL - now or never - get mad and play mad

RB - pick the holes and run like you are on fire 

DL and LB - pressure pressure pressure

DB - stick to those fast receivers like stink on skunk

ST - please pick this game to be mistake free

Toure - keep doing what you have been doing

Manning - show up please - finally prove your JR college worth

 
Xmas32 said:
Someone in the secondary is gonna need to turn into Matt O'Hanlon 2.0
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I like that  - Matt was one of the most underrated players of all time at Nebraska.  A big part of that D - always on fire and never took a down off. Of course SUH took the air out of the room - he got most of the attention.    I had to copy the full article below about Matt.  Great story. 

https://huskers.com/news/2009/11/14/204833576.aspx

In football, sometimes it can be a very short distance between the penthouse and the outhouse.

Credit that line to Nebraska Hall of Fame Coach Bob Devaney. It was one of his favorite expressions to describe how fast a football player can descend from winner to loser, from victor to vanquished, from hero to goat ... and back again the other way.

Matt O'Hanlon knows the feeling, and it digs deeper than rising from the ashes of that late long pass at Virginia Tech and the empty, lonely feeling of that play to the school record three interceptions against Oklahoma and the penthouse status of Big 12 Defensive Player of the Week  and National Defensive Player of the Week honors.

As low as O'Hanlon felt after that 16-15 loss in Blacksburg, he has experienced something much worse than that.

In fact, you won't believe how far he fell two years ago. On the eve of Nebraska's trip to Kansas and its worst defensive performance in school history, Matt O'Hanlon was crushed like never before ... so crushed that he put the experience into the deepest recesses of his brain.

On Thursday night, Nov. 1, 2007, O'Hanlon had his bags packed and was finalizing his next day's schedule for the team's trip to Lawrence when he got a phone call from Bill Busch, his secondary and special teams coach.

A Hole in the Travel Roster ... a Bigger One in His Heart

Busch told O'Hanlon he wasn't on the travel roster for this game, even though he had started every game that season on the kickoff team and the kickoff return team. Yes, he was one of the Huskers' five leading tacklers on the kickoff team, but suddenly, in a season that had gone bad and was about to get worse, O'Hanlon wouldn't even be in uniform.

Busch was told that the Huskers needed another offensive player on the travel roster, and O'Hanlon's spot would create the opening.

O'Hanlon remembers getting off the phone, looking at his packed bag and wondering how much lower life could get, especially for a player who busted his butt every day in practice.

He went home that weekend and watched the NU-KU game on TV with his family in Bellevue. If you think a 76-39 loss was hard on you, imagine how O'Hanlon felt. "It was hard to look my family in the eye," he said.

Life in football's outhouse isn't fun for anyone, but fortunately, a few weeks later, O'Hanlon adjusted the sails on his psyche and envisioned a different future for his last two years as a Nebraska walk-on.

Bo Pelini was announced as Nebraska's new head football coach, and what he told the team in its first meeting was music to Matt O'Hanlon's ears. "He said all jobs were open, and everything would be based on how hard you work and how well you practice," O'Hanlon recalled.

With a Clean Slate Came a More Aggressive Goal

Suddenly, O'Hanlon's goals broadened beyond special teams. "If all jobs were open," he said, "I thought I would finally get a look, and this was my chance to start. So I set my sights on that."

You know the rest of the story. Last year, O'Hanlon started Nebraska's first nine games at safety and finished third among all Husker tacklers with 52, including 33 solo stops. In the Gator Bowl victory over Clemson, he had six tackles, including five solo stops, and helped preserve the win with a critical pass breakup on a Clemson third-and-goal play in the final two minutes.

The high of that experience is balanced by that busted coverage in Blacksburg, something that O'Hanlon had a hard time living down, publicly and privately. "My wife helped me get through that more than anyone," he said. "She was at the game and saw me burst into tears outside the locker room. She reminded me how much I had already persevered through and how I would get through this, too. She told me I would come out of that game stronger than ever."

Even though it took O'Hanlon a good week to get over it, he is indeed stronger than ever. A captain for last Saturday's Oklahoma game, O'Hanlon had a career-high 12 tackles, including nine solos. His tackle total tied the team's season-high mark set a week earlier by Jared Crick. His three interceptions - all in the second half - tied a school record. His first interception led to a field goal, and his third sealed the 10-3 upset of the Sooners with 41 seconds left.

Uncharacteristically, O'Hanlon threw the ball high in the air after making that final interception. He was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct. Officials never make exceptions for emotional relief, but fortunately, understanding coaches do.

"Coach Bo lives and dies with this team," O'Hanlon said. "He cares about us as much as he cares about his own family. He has our backs."

And therefore, Pelini's players bounce right back up every time they get knocked down. "Through ups and downs, we keep our confidence," O'Hanlon said. "We take the field every time thinking we can play with anybody in the country."

No Need to Look Far for Exemplary Role Models

Not a bad mindset for a player who spent his first three weeks of college at South Dakota before deciding to return to Nebraska and give his lifelong dream a try. "I didn't want to have any regrets," he said, "and I had plenty of role models."

Cory Schlesinger was the first, but there were others. The Makovicka brothers. Ben Eisenhart. Blake Tiedtke. Wes Cammack. Todd Peterson. Tyler Wortman.

"It's all about persistence, will and self-confidence," O'Hanlon said. "You also have to be a risk-taker. If I wasn't, I'd still be in South Dakota. I wouldn't be here. Thank God, I have two great parents and a great wife who support me in everything I do. Without them, I wouldn't be here either. The only regret I have is that I didn't come here right away. But I'm glad I'm here now. I'm glad I took the risk."
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Everybody. The correct answer is everybody.

I'm serious. Assuming of course the idea here is to actually win.

 
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No faith in the offensive line to be able to stop Oklahoma's defense, so with that I would say Adrian Martinez needs to have the best game of his career. May not be fair to put the entire game on the shoulders of one guy, but hey, when you're a 4 year starter at quarterback, sometimes that is the need and expectations of the team. Sometimes as a captain and 4 year starting quarterback, you have to put the team on your shoulders and go with it. OLine won't be able to stop Oklahoma as the OLine still has troubles as it has for the past 12 years and our defense will give up middle slant routes all day like it has for 11 years. This game depends on Martinez's ability to roll out and either make an accurate throw or run.

 
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BigRedBuster said:
This is appropriate for this thread. 
 
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I'm just not sure I believe their numbers - using pass attempts + sacks (I don't know a way to include scrambles that doesn't involve more time than I'm going to spend), Oklahoma would have a 70% pressure rate. Missouri would have a 79% pressure rate. That just doesn't seem accurate, or at least sustainable.

That being said, our OL vs. their pass rush is the biggest mismatch in the game regardless of these numbers.

 
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