Rout turns Cornhuskers into bullies
From The Patriot-News, 2002
By David Jones
If Nebraska football wanted to reinforce its reputation as Thug World on Saturday night before national television cameras, it succeeded.
When the score reached 26-7, then a shocking 33-7 in favor of Penn State, the Cornhuskers began taking cheap shots, led by redshirt freshman offensive tackle Richie Incognito.
Incognito, who spat on an Arizona State player in Nebraska's 48-10 win three weeks ago, was thrown out of the game after baiting Jeremiah Davis into a fight he apparently thought officials wouldn't notice. That was because Richard Gardner was streaking down the sideline with his game-breaking interception for a TD.
Later, when Larry Johnson scored to make it 40-7 on a sweep, he was whipped down 5 yards into the end zone by a frustrated Cornhusker.
Moreover, it was remarkable how quickly the bullies from Lincoln appeared to quit on the game, as bullies usually do when faced with a decision no longer in reasonable doubt.
After Michael Robinson's TD on an 8-yard reverse capped an 18-play drive to open the second half and made the score 19-7, the end came in swift order.
Gardner's pick came five plays later followed by a Nebraska three-and-out and a bad punt. Then the Lions, who hadn't been able to run between the tackles all night, began ripping great chunks through the Husker defense. Johnson went for 35, then Robinson went 10 and 10 more for the clinching score.
"I never sensed any giving up from the offense," said center John Garrison, implying something else about the defense. "I think the offense played as hard as we could and things just didn't go our way."
As for linemate Incognito, Garrison said, "I'm not exactly sure what happened. Obvioiusly, there was some sort of altercation that led him to take the action he did.
"It's a learning process. But you don't want to learn the hard way like he did." Coaching decisions
Nebraska defensive coordinator Craig Bohl admitted that Penn State's pass-run ratio on early possessions caught his unit off guard. Which makes very little sense considering that Penn State's offensive line found it near impossble to knock anyone off the ball on running plays last season.
"We thought coming into the game they would be pretty balanced, 50-50 run and pass on first down," said Bohl. "Then in the first portion of the game on first down, they were more like 80-20 toward the pass.
"Those guys made some great catches. That allowed them to move the ball. That did open up their offense and it took us by surprise a little bit."
But it seems Penn State's increasing confidence with the new diverse offensive scheme had as much to do with Bohl's boys' failure as anything. Remember when no one could catch a pass this time just a year ago? Hard to believe now.
Bryant Johnson is quickly turning into an All-Big Ten first-team receiver and is Mills' obvious favorite target.
But the brilliant and creative deployment of back-up quarterback Robinson will give Mills another major weapon. He has good hands, can run the option, throw and deliver a hit with his 231 pounds, as Nebraska cornerback Pat Ricketts discovered when flattened on a late-third-quarter run to the NU 10.
Give Fran Ganter and Joe Paterno a lot of credit for finding a way to get redshirt freshman Robinson in the game one way or another, not to mention recognizing the way freshmen think these days.
With no apparent shot at the QB job for three more years barring an injury to Mills, it was important that the staff get Robinson involved or risk losing him to transfer. No kid that talented wants his time limited to mop-up duty until his senior year. And the days of QBs patiently waiting their turn to play until junior or senior seasons may be over.
Bohl was impressed with both quarterbacks:
"Using number 12 at a couple of different positions out there, that got us out of balance. Because we were concerned about the halfback pass and things of that nature.
"Mills was in a rhythm and we had a hard time getting him out of rhythm. In the first half, he did a nice job of moving the ball around and throwing to a lot of different receivers. That's difficult to defend.
"Then he started moving around a little and some of our guys didn't know whether he was going to scramble or run. We'd talked a lot about his ability to run, so they were looking for it." Quick pops
* Nebraska I-back Dahrran Diedrick was asked to compare Penn State's 40-7 domination to the 62-36 whipping administered by Colorado last November and the 37-14 loss to Miami in the Rose Bowl:
"I feels pretty much the same. We got killed in all three.
"It really doesn't hurt my confidence. It hurts my manhood. Especially when you know you just went out and got killed."
* Diedrick's backup Cory Ross, who played considerble time in the second half:
"Penn State came out and was really impressive. They won and they should have won."
* Middle linebacker Barrett Ruud on PSU's finesse game:
"It was really a surprise to see a power running team like Penn State come out and throw the ball as much as they did."
Power running team? Did Bohl tell these guys anything about a team that finished 10th in the Big Ten in rushing in 2001?
