2008 Woodie Awards
Spring Game shows some room for improvement
By: Adam Klinker, Senior staff writer
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But after yesterday's edition of NU's annual rites of spring, which the Red squad won 27-12, Husker Coach Frank Solich said some things remain to be seen.
And then again, Solich said, it's only spring. Twenty-four NU players, including eight starters, missed all or most of the spring and the Spring Game with injuries.
"The execution was not where you would like sometimes," Solich said. "At the end of spring ball you'd like to see good execution. But with a number of players out and jumping a lot players back and forth, some of that is understandable."
While the execution may have been down, both the Red and White squads gave the crowd of 29,739 at Memorial Stadium some extended, improvised entertainment on offense and most notably on fumble and kick returns.
The scoring on both sides took on a big-play look as the Whites scored their only touchdown on a 47-yard gallop by reserve I-back Chris Butler. The Reds scored on fumble returns of 94 and 23 yards and a Spring Game record 100-yard kickoff return by Mike Demps.
Scoring the only offensive touchdown for the Reds was Correll Buckhalter on a 1-yard push into the end zone with two and a half minutes remaining in the game.
"It was big that we got that," said Buckhalter, who led all rushers with 90 yards on 14 attempts. "We had to at least get in the end zone once, but we should have gotten more out of some of our drives."
The score capped an 87-yard drive by the Red squad highlighted by Eric Crouch's 45-yard bomb to Matt Davison that put the Reds on the 2-yard line to set up the touchdown.
It was the only time Crouch connected for long yardage in what he characterized as a disappointing showing for himself and the Red offense, which gained only eight first downs and averaged 3.6 yards per play.
Crouch, wearing the green jersey to signify that he was off-limits in the contact category, was 4-13 passing for 63 yards. He also threw two interceptions and was sacked once.
"Any time the No. 1 offense doesn't get on the scoreboard we have to reevaluate and see what's going on," Crouch said. "We had chances all day long. It was frustrating."
While the first-team offense on the Red squad stymied several times on their drives in the first half, it was helped by the White squad's offensive miscues and Demps' long return in the second quarter.
Both Solich and Crouch credited the first team defense (the White squad) with keeping the Reds in check and not allowing either the passing or running games to be firmly established.
"They're a really good defense," Crouch said. "It really helped out this spring being able to work against those guys."
Crouch especially praised the White secondary. Of the 13 passes he attempted, two were intercepted (by cornerbacks Keyuo Craver and Erwin Swiney), four were broken up, one went for no gain and one was for a loss of four yards.
"It was frustrating throwing the ball today," Crouch said. "But sometimes that's going to happen. Erwin and Keyuo made some great interceptions."
In addition to shutting down the passing game, the White defense also kept the Red running game in check - the only big rushing play being a 26-yard jaunt by Buckhalter in the first quarter.
The Red team had 137 total rushing yards.
On the other side, it was the Red defense that made the real charge in the second half, as the Whites coughed up two fumbles that Greg McGraw and Jeremy Lyman returned for touchdowns to put the Red team up 21-12.
"The defense played real well today," cornerback Mike Brown said. "It was physical; we had some big hits and it was an all-around good showing of what our defense can do."
And though the offenses struggled and the defenses reigned, Crouch said it was important to remember that the spring is merely a warm-up, especially with so many missing faces on both sides of the ball.
"When you have the No. 1 offense out there, you expect everything to be perfect, but it's tough," Crouch said. "We've got injuries and players missing and we're still getting used to new things."
As Solich said, the Spring Game may not have been the best measure of NU's potential.
"I didn't expect them to run up and down the field like a real first unit," Solich said. "We've got a mix of experienced and inexperienced players rotating in and out of that first unit and it just wasn't as smooth as it might have been with some other guys.
"But we got done what we wanted them to get done in the spring and we were able to do it with
a lot of players."