--Solid 76-64 win for Nebraska basketball over South Dakota State, who had given Georgia and Minnesota trouble so far this season. Bo Spencer racked up 18 points, but more importantly had eight assists and just one turnover. Christopher Niemann played three minutes -- so much for the 15 that Doc Sadler guaranteed he'd play the day prior.
Onward to a Wednesday matchup against Wake Forest, who was most recently seen getting blasted by an average Arizona State team in an Old Spice Classic consolation game.
--Nice to see Roy Williams has started getting outcoached already this season. The Orleans Arena has always been known as a snakepit...white trash blackjack players and $3.99 steaks that resemble the sole of an old cowboy boot.
--Nice to see the Nebraska volleyball team has started its annual choke. Usually, they wait until the NCAA Tournament to melt down. This year the gals decided the first round of the conference tournament would suffice. So...under Title IX.....if NU blew its number-one seed and between two to four home games in the NCAA tournament, do the women have to pay back the lost revenue? Just wondering.
--PYB chimes in with a quick recap of the boring Iowa football game, an epic 20-7 battle that gave NU its first win of the contrived Heroes series. A game where the Hawkeyes barely tried to score. At least Penn State had an excuse with its horrible offense. Iowa didn't even try and certainly forgot the tried-and-true formula. Throw random deep balls over and over against any DB besides Alfonzo Dennard and get at least 14 points a game from it.
Nebraska won because of its three good players -- Rex Burkhead (overused), LaVonte David, and Dennard. Other than that, it was four quarters of completely unremarkable football. The only watchable part of the game was the Dennard v. Marvin McNutt matchup, which was a first-round TKO. Welcome to the Big 10.
In another side note, LaVonte David has racked up 274 tackles with one game to go in his all-too-short NU career. To put it in perspective, if he had two more seasons he would beat Barrett Ruud's career tackles mark by at least 100. PYB would give anything to see Ruud's name wiped from the record book, as he was one of the most overrated NU players ever. Considering how many times he saved the Blackskirts this season and that he made game-saving plays against Ohio State and Penn State, David may be one of the most underrated.
The game, however, did leave us with a clear big picture of the future. Next year will be rough, with an already porous defense losing its only two good players. The offense will be the same. Same shitty QB. Same menagerie of RBs seeking playing time. Same inconsistent line. Decent, but underused, receiving options.
All we know is that this program is not getting any better without a new quarterback. Three to four losses will be the norm. Taylorina Martinez can't pass downfield consistently. He can't complete a screen play. He can't run the option. He can't scramble. He can't run the zone read. He can't lead others. He can't put together a sentence of more than four words. What, exactly, does he bring to the table? This is a 100 percent serious question, and if anyone has an answer, we're all ears....
Any other point we could cover today would be something we've driven into the ground 15 times this year. Change must happen, and if it doesn't, we'll see you again next year at 9-3. All we have now is a horrible 11 a.m. bowl game in Florida, against an SEC also-ran that isn't that good but has way too much speed for a team with a bad line, slow defense and a QB who turtles at the first sign of adversity.
All we want for Christmas is a point spread under seven....For now, we're saving our breath.
Happy Holidays...PYB
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