IN MY OPINION

Column by Sam McKewon / World-Herald staff writer

MINNEAPOLIS — Signs, signs, signs. They're everywhere in this city and at TCF Bank Stadium. Arrows, symbols and pictures. Road markers that may not exist outside of here. Are Minnesotans thinking challenged? They seem pretty with it and cosmo.

Maybe it's the independent Nebraska spirit in me, but it's odd, when you push a crosswalk button, for a calm voice to say "Wait." You know how to do that.

You waited through an entire pedestrian second half in Nebraska's 41-14 win over Minnesota. You'll wait through this upcoming week before breakfast at Memorial Stadium.

Holy Husker Roller vs. Hail Sparty. A team still trying to lock in its identity vs. a team built to win right now, this year, all in, no excuses.

Understand that, even with its 37-31 miracle win over Wisconsin Saturday night, Michigan State is the finished product, the culmination of coach Mark Dantonio's five-year plan. That's a savvy, hungry, experienced bunch with several NFL prospects who have one last, good shot at a Rose Bowl. And they're playing like they know it.

Aside from the first 10 and last five minutes of the game, MSU dominated the Badgers. Bullied them. Got inside Russell Wilson's head and rattled around in there. Ran the ball — and stopped the run — consistently. Made two key blocks on special teams. The Spartans aren't perfect — they ran out of gas and nearly lost the game — but they press the issue. They win in the trenches.

NU — still improving with basic blocking and tackling stuff — will have to play its soundest, toughest game to win. The game it didn't play at Wisconsin.

Prepare for the kitchen sink, Taylor Martinez. Michigan State will load the box, bring the heat and dare him to throw over the top. He did against Fresno State. But the Spartans aren't the Bulldogs. Martinez — and offensive coordinator Tim Beck — can't take the deep ball bait every time. It's a quick way to kill drives.

MSU quarterback Kirk Cousins, meanwhile, has matured into a steady-not-spectacular playmaker.

He's smart with the ball, and his skill players — especially receivers B.J. Cunningham, Keith Nichol and Keshawn Martin — are slippery. Those three break a lot of tackles, Cousins knows it, and he'll throw quick slants and crossing patterns that get the Huskers' secondary moving across the field. Cousins is good at moving safeties, too, to set up one-on-one matchups downfield.

Watch for tightly bunched routes, late releases and wide receiver rubs and picks. Short-side tosses and zone power plays in the running game. Again: Michigan State isn't fancy — just sound, tough and relentless.

What's Nebraska? Well, wait. By Saturday high tea, you'll have a useful sign.

On with the rewind.

I SEE YOU

• Wide receiver Kenny Bell: Man — fast.

• Wide receiver Brandon Kinnie: Excellent 61-yard catch-and-run on the jailbreak screen.

• Left tackle Yoshi Hardrick: His passion for the game is evident, and every third or fourth play, he delivers a massive blow to some defensive player. You wish he had another year to polish his game. He's close to being excellent.

• Beck: I loved the reverse call and short passing game. NU needs more of that. Now get it more to Jamal Turner on those quick throws.

• Running back Rex Burkhead: With 117 more tough running yards, he surpassed 2,000 career yards. One tackler rarely does the trick when he has the ball.

• Cornerback Lance Thorell: One of his best career games after getting the start at nickel-dime.

• Safety Harvey Jackson: Solid in the fourth quarter with four tackles. He'll make a run at starting next year.

• Kicker Mauro Bondi: Got a kickoff, an extra point and a tackle. And great postgame hair.

THREE CONCERNS

Deep ball disconnection: NU's fleet receivers were challenged in the second half by Minnesota's defensive backs, and neither they nor Martinez could make the Gophers pay.

Martinez has a decent ball to the corner of the field — that his receivers need to catch — but he needs to flatten out his passes on middle post patterns. If he overthrows it, he overthrows it — but put some smoke on it. No more clay pigeons.

No sacks or quarterback hurries: Yes, Nebraska's pass rush strategy was to contain quarterback MarQueis Gray from running. But still: There wasn't one play where Gray was officially under duress?

Too few reps for Brion Carnes: If the gap between NU's No. 1 and No. 2 quarterbacks is so wide — and I think it is — then give Carnes the entire second half to work on the basics: Game management, early-down throws, option work. Carnes can get a half with a 34-0 lead, can't he? Lost opportunity.

THREE QUESTIONS

Whither Kyler Reed? NU's tight end didn't show up in the participation chart Saturday.

What's the most underrated aspect of the Big Ten? Its receivers. Three conference guys — Illinois' A.J. Jenkins, Iowa's Marvin McNutt and Cunningham — are in the nation's top 15 in receiving yards per game, and six are in the top 50. McNutt is averaging 18.46 yards per catch. Nearly every Big Ten team has one guy you absolutely have to watch on the field.

Is the ending of the Michigan State-Wisconsin game part of the beauty of college football's regular season? Sure. It'll take several good breaks for the Badgers to get back into the national title race now because of their rotten computer rankings. But UW would be in the thick of the eight- to 16-team playoff race, if it existed. Nebraska would, too. Ditto Michigan State, Michigan and one-loss Penn State. The regular season doesn't lose much luster under those circumstances, does it?

Think about it: Today, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany wakes up basically knowing that a Big Ten team will not win the national title. In a playoff world, five league teams would still be in the thick of the hunt. That doesn't make for a boring regular season. That makes for a great one.

THREE STATS

0 — NU's turnover margin for the year. That's tied for 57th nationally. Ohio State is tops in the Big Ten — again.

216 — Lavonte David's career tackles. Only one two-year NU defensive player had more — Demorrio Williams with 220 — and David should pass him vs. Michigan State.

1 — One team leads the nation in the four major defensive categories: rushing defense; pass efficiency defense; total defense; and scoring defense. Alabama. And yet the Crimson Tide are No. 2 behind LSU?

OPPONENT WATCH

At last, Penn State seems to have a firm No. 1 quarterback. It's Matt McGloin, who threw two touchdowns in a 34-24 win at Northwestern.

Or maybe not, according to coach Joe Paterno, who said he fully intends to play Rob Bolden in future games, even if Bolden didn't play a snap in Evanston.

Here's Paterno's rationale to David Jones of the Harrisburg Patriot-News: "No, I don't know who the quarterback is ... There'll be days when Bolden will play and ... I know you guys ... We won the game. We won the game!"

Whatever. Paterno's won a historic number of them — and lost only one this year — so maybe he's crazy like a Happy Valley fox. In truth, his defense affords him the luxury of futzing around with the quarterback.

Coupled with that great defense and budding star Silas Redd at running back, Penn State will be a tough out, a kind of poor man's version of Michigan State with a wicked home-field advantage.

FORECAST

Out of one camp or another — Michigan State or Nebraska or both — you'll hear what passes for trash talk these days. Which isn't much.

Contact the writer:

402-202-9766, sam.mckewon@owh.com

twitter.com/swmckewonOWH

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