Well, that was interesting, wasn't it? After a first quarter in which we felt our way out, Texas unloaded on the Huskers in the second quarter and held a fairly commanding 16-7 lead at half. In the second half, Texas had to kick to Nebraska. Presumably, that meant we decided to keep the wind for the 3rd quarter. And it makes no sense, because we played the 3rd quarter as if we were up by 20 points, instead of up by 9.
Defensively, things were fine for Texas, except for three big plays. The first touchdown, a collision between Freshman Beasley and Senior Mike Griffin. Second, the shovel pass with THREE missed tackles. Third, the halfback toss, where Aaron Ross and Mike Griffin both got smoked on a terrific play call by Callahan.
Fortunately, Texas won, with another great day winning the turnover battle. Still, there's no excuse for the way we played that second half. Credit to Nebraska for hanging around and taking advantage of the opportunities Texas gave them. They played hard, and could have easily won. For Texas, a great win, of course, but one that we should learn from. Playing that tenderly with a lead is a bad idea. We won today, but the defense had to force a late turnover to make it happen.
We did a lot of good things today, and quite a few questionable things. The win is critical to the team's goals for the season, and we'll celebrate it for today before discussing the details of the game tomorrow and Monday.
Congrats to the Horns on a gutty win in a hostile environment.
--PB--