Photo above courtesy of Huskers.com)




Player of the game: Joe Ganz. Has to be. Ganz was terrific on read option plays, patient on traditional option runs, and accurate on the sideline routes any quarterback struggles to complete. A total performance, the early interception aside.




Best offensive play of the game: Roy Helu's awesome 24-yard run for a touchdown. Helu sidestepped a defender at the line scrimmage, jutted hard to the sideline, and hugged it while he sprinted past KSU defenders. That's a special run. An NFL run.




Worst offensive play of the game: Ganz's pick six to KSU defensive back Courtney Herndon



Best defensive play of the game: A wicked cool blitz on third down from head coach Bo Pelini, in which he crossed the linebackers, dropped a defensive end and brought cornerback Armando Murillo from the edge. Kansas State responded by letting Zach Potter free to hammer KSU quarterback Josh Freeman. A perfect pick-your-poison scheme from Pelini.



Worst defensive play of the game: KSU's 63-yard touchdown pass on third-and-long was a tactical error by Pelini (for not blitzing) and a execution error by Anthony West (for misreading Ernie Pierce's route, then timing his jump for the ball a little too early).



GRADES



Quarterback: B+ Can't give out a top grade just because of the pick six. Ganz, obviously, played well otherwise. Backups Patrick Witt and Zac Lee both played in the fourth quarter, and we're just going on read options, which is practically all they ran, then Lee is better at it. He's fast out there.




Running back: A- A really good day for these guys, maybe their best work of the season. Helu, Quentin Castille and Marlon Lucky all ran with purpose and confidence. Castille in particular showed of some attitude and power. Still - the class of this bunch is Helu. He has an instinct for the zone read, an understanding of just how long to wait before he hits the hole.





Offensive Line/Tight Ends: A No argument here, especially when you consider that starting tackles Lydon Murtha and Jaivorio Burkes were both out of the game after the first drive. Ganz's mobility helps, of course, but the line plowed out some good holes on zone and toss plays, while the tight ends caught everything that was thrown their way. Micke McNeill and Dreu Young aren't great blockers. But they are good targets.




Wide receivers: A- Check out two things from this unit if you watch this game again: The perimeter blocking on toss plays; and the yards after catch by Nate Swift. It'll give you a good sense of why this unit's played so well in 2008. It's also fair to say Nebraska might miss Swift a little bit. He's got a real shot at 1,000 yards, you know.




Defensive Line: A- Dominant again. Kansas State didn't really try to run the ball; not that it worked when the Cats did try. Zach Potter and Ndamukong Suh were no match for their blocking partners. Potter, in particular, played like a beast.




Linebackers: A Considering who was out there, and the work guys like Tyler Wortman, Colton Koehler, Matt May and Blake Lawrence did - bravo. Really truly one of the better efforts of the season.




Secondary: B Better. Still got burned once, but generally kept Brandon Banks hemmed in, which is important, and the Huskers took away those short routes Freeman likes to use so much. Nebraska was determined to make Freeman progress through his reads to find open receivers, and he rarely had time to do that.




Special Teams/Kickers C- The Huskers did force and recover a fumble on a punt return, which turned into seven points two plays later. And Nate Swift had one nifty punt return that set up Nebraska at KSU's 35-yard line. Outside of that, it wasn't great, especially Adi Kunalic's kick to Banks, who returned it up the right side of field untouched, because Kunalic kicked the ball to the wrong side for the coverage play. As we've pointed out before - Kunalic can boom them through the end zone about half of the time. Unfortunately, he can't do much else, which is why the Huskers give away squib kicks, because Alex Henery has to come in and execute them.




Playcalling/Game Management B+ Offensive coordinator Shawn Watson called a beauty of a game, taking the running plays to the perimeter to counter KSU's man-to-man run defense. The option plays were well-timed and well-executed. The zone read plays - especially Ganz's willingness to keep the ball on them, which is why the play works so well in the first place - were a mixture of art and brute force. Nice use of Todd Peterson, too, on those inside screen. For his part, Bo Pelini dialed up some aggressive blitzes, most of which worked. Penalties remain a concern, as does ball security, but those are issues not likely to go away in 2008.


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