Call it what you want, but when Nebraska quarterback Tanner Lee was booed after throwing his third pick 6 interception in two games against Rutgers it was a key moment in his career.
When Lee took the field for his next series he was greeted with boos from the near 90,000 fans in Memorial Stadium. I don’t care if you are Aaron Rodgers or Tommie Frazier, getting booed by your home stadium is not an easy pill to swallow.
Give Lee some credit though. He’s continued to be the same person with his approach, and he has gotten better since that moment. The problem is Nebraska as a team has not gotten better, so his improved numbers don’t have near as much meaning as they would if the Huskers played better the last two weeks against Ohio State and Wisconsin.
Since being booed after his third quarter pick 6 against Rutgers, Lee has completed 63-of-104 passes for 869 yards, seven touchdowns and just one interception. The other number that jumps out is he’s only been sacked twice since that period.
“We’ve helped him a hair with protection,” head coach Mike Riley said of Lee. “We’ve done a better job. In that span of time there’s only been two sacks. That doesn’t mean it’s all been perfect, he’s avoided some stuff and had some good throw aways. We’ve done a little bit better job of that, and you know what, I think it’s settling down a little bit probably. Just playing again, getting to play more.
“I think what you’ve seen since Rutgers is what you’ll see continually from Tanner Lee. I think he’s a good player. I think we have to help him. I think we have to run. When we have run since that time he’s been better and we’ve been better. It was really, really hard and difficult in every circumstance against Ohio State. You are getting beat badly and you are throwing too much. I was impressed with that. We are just going to keep going with him and always keep in mind protection and always keep in mind good outlets to get rid of the football.”
And the running game is what’s been a hard thing to get your finger on. Against Wisconsin the Huskers were running the ball with a high level of success in the first half. Devine Ozigbo had nearly 100 yards rushing at halftime against one of the nation’s top rushing defenses.
The problem is the game got away from NU in the fourth quarter and it completely took the running game out of the Huskers offense. They were in catch-up mode, and forced to throw. The same thing can be said last week against Ohio State. When your defense gives up touchdowns on 11 straight drives against the Badgers and the Buckeyes it’s hard to be fully committed to running the ball – that’s 77 points allowed to be exact. It’s hard to recall a stretch of defensive football like that at Nebraska ever.
“I think the consistency of what we do is not good – whether it’s passing or running,” Riley said. “We’ve seen signs of really nice, crisp pass routes and plays, and we’ve seen signs of really good productive running. The consistency of that is what is limiting us, and I think it really cuts down of the opportunity for us to be in the red zone and score points. We have to score more points and that’s the bottom line.”
With an extra week of rest, and what appears to be a more manageable stretch these final 5 games, we are going to find out just how much better Lee has gotten.
The bottom line is this offense has to score more points down the stretch and take some pressure off of the defense.
“I’m disappointed in offensive production,” Riley said. “I can’t change what’s happened already, but in this day in age with the points that are put on the board, we have to be productive.”
