Thursday notebook: Preventing 'explosive' plays key for Blackshirts

When defensive coordinator Mark Banker looks back on last season’s 14-13 loss at Illinois, one play in particular still stings him more than any other.

In a day full of mistakes and missed opportunities by Nebraska, the worst of all for Banker came with less a minute left in the game, when Fighting Illini quarterback Wes Lunt threw a deep pass over the top of NU’s secondary and connected with Malik Turner for a 50-yard gain down to the Husker 7-yard line.

Three plays later, Lunt found Geronimo Allison for a 1-yard touchdown with just 10 seconds remaining to all but seal the victory.

Had the Huskers not given up that 50-yard strike, the story of that game could very well have had a much different ending. That’s why when Banker looks ahead at this week’s rematch with Illinois, preventing “explosive plays” is as big of a priority as any.

“You can’t do it,” Banker said. “It’s not even a matter of limiting them, you just don’t want to give up a big play. Always make a team drive. Chances are if you get lined up correctly and you just execute the basics of your assignments, you’re going to have a chance to make a play of some sort and make the offense earn that particular play. Make somebody beat you, you know?”

The good news for Nebraska was that in last week’s win over Northwestern, the Blackshirts only allowed two total explosive plays - defined by NU as runs of 10 or more yards and passes of 20 or longer.

The bad news was those two plays resulted in 13 points for the Wildcats.“We only gave up two big plays, one in the run and one in the pass, and they were both touchdowns,” Banker said. “Other than that, they didn’t hurt us.”

While Illinois may not feature the most offensive firepower the Huskers will see this season, the Illini are one of the best in the country at picking up huge chunks of yardage in a hurry.

Through three games, Illinois has reeled off five plays of 50 yards or longer, which ties for the second-most in the country. Two of those plays were passes, while three were on runs by backs Kendrick Foster (two) and Ke’Shawn Vaughn.

That’s why linebackers coach Trent Bray said even though Nebraska’s defense only made two big mistakes vs. Northwestern, they can’t afford to make any against an opportunistic offense like Illinois.

“We can’t allow that explosive play,” Bray said. “When you watch that (Northwestern) game, there was only two plays they got us on. That deep pass and then the long run, which were completely avoidable. That’s the thing, just staying in it the whole game and not letting those big plays happen. We limited them to two, which was a big improvement from last year, but still we don’t want any. So that’s our goal every week.”

- Robin Washut

The offensive line depth chart for Saturday’s game vs. Illinois might be about as simple as it’s ever been since Mike Cavanaugh has been coaching the position a Nebraska.

Because of a rash of injuries to the unit over the first month of the season, the top back-up option at all five spots on the offensive front this week is one player - redshirt sophomore walk-on Cole Conrad.

“Cole Conrad has to be ready to go,” Cavanaugh said when asked about his o-line depth. “Tackle, and guard, and center. He’s the next guy up.”

The 6-foot-5, 305-pound native of Fremont, Neb., spent the bulk of his first two seasons in Lincoln working primarily at tackle, but Cavanaugh said Conrad has taken practice reps at all three positions on the line.

Conrad has also seen action in all four games this season, primarily on special teams, but did get time with the offense in the first half of Nebraska's win over Wyoming.

Cavanaugh said he feels good about his starting group, even against an Illinois defensive line that NU's coaching staff has agreed will be the best it has seen yet this season.

The hope is that the top five linemen can make it through Saturday’s game unscathed, which would get Nebraska to its bye week and provide some much needed time to get healthy.

But what if one of the linemen does suffer an injury during the game?

“Let’s not go there,” Cavanaugh said. “You’ve got to be tough. You’ve got to be ready to go. What was (the) line? ‘Toughness is in your soul’? We’ve got to be tough.”

- Robin Washut

In the wake of Nebraska’s 14-13 loss at Illinois last October, one of the few glimmers of optimism from that game came in the apparent emergence of Devine Ozigbo as a potential workhorse running back.

The true freshman carried the ball seven times for 70 yards on the day, including scoring the first touchdown of his career on a 19-yard scamper early in the second quarter.

His stock has only continued to skyrocket since that game, and as Ozigbo prepares for the Huskers’ rematch with Illinois on Saturday, he’s hoping for a day equally as special this time around.

“That was the day after my birthday, so it was a crazy experience,” Ozigbo said. “This year it’s a day before my birthday, so that’s pretty cool. And my parents are coming, and it’s homecoming. So there’s a lot of reasons why I’m looking forward to this one.”

Ozigbo’s birthday week hasn’t been all fun and games, however.

Though he rushed a team-high 13 times for 41 yards in NU’s win over Northwestern, Ozigbo had a costly fumble at the goal line that took a surefire touchdown off the board late in the second quarter.

His was one of two touchdowns Nebraska missed out on due to fumbles, as senior running back Terrell Newby lost the ball as he dove for the goal line on the third play of the game.

Running backs coach Reggie Davis has made fumbling a bigger emphasis than ever this week in practice as a result.

“We just hit our ball security a little harder this week,” Ozigbo said. “We focused on it while watching film and talked about things that could’ve prevented it, like keeping two hands on the ball and things like that. We had to do our punishment for it, of course.”

That punishment was the running backs having to do up-downs every five yards from one goal line to the other and then back again, all while holding on to a football in each arm.

- Robin Washut

***Head coach Mike Riley confirmed the expected that senior wide receiver Alonzo Moore (shoulder) and sophomore right guard Tanner Farmer (ankle) would be out for Saturday's game vs. Illinois.

***Other than Moore and Farmer, Riley said no other Huskers have been ruled out for Saturday.

***This weekend will be the third major recruiting visit weekend of the season for Nebraska, and Riley said that's definitely by design. He said the staff wants to get as many players on campus as they possibly can, because experiencing a football game day in Lincoln was something that NU had to make part of the recruiting process for their targets.

***In a week dominated by debate over the national anthem protest by Michael Rose-Ivey, DaiShon Neal, and Mohamed Barry at Northwestern, Riley said he hasn't seen the issue impact his team at all on the practice field, in film study or in the meeting rooms.

Riley admitted he was worried at first about how his team would respond, but just like the Huskers have with everything from the death of Sam Foltz to the suspension of Keith Williams, they have bee able to "compartmentalize" the off-the-field issues and preparing to play a game this week.

"This team has been through a lot together," Riley said. "It's an unbelievable story. I've been proud of them that way."