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Tuesday, December 8, 2020

Red Report: Liewer recounts touchdown; playcalling dynamic; Blackshirts stay with starters - HuskerExtra.com

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Nebraska vs. Purdue, 12.5

Nebraska wide receiver Wyatt Liewer scores a touchdown against Purdue during the second quarter Saturday in West Lafayette, Ind.

MICHAEL CONROY, The Associated Press

The first thing Wyatt Liewer did was look for a flag.

After he scooted into the end zone for his first collegiate touchdown Saturday, the walk-on sophomore from O'Neill had to make sure the play was actually going to stand.

"I was really surprised. It was just so wide open I immediately turned around looking for some sort of holding flag or anything," Liewer said Tuesday. "I just didn't know it would work out, and a lot of guys were excited."

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Wan'Dale Robinson was so excited for the play he nearly drew a penalty for running onto the field after Liewer scored, NU offensive coordinator Matt Lubick said.

Lubick was excited, too. Nebraska stresses wide receiver blocking to a high degree, and the Huskers' execution on the play, when receiver Levi Falck and tight end Austin Allen threw the blocks to spring Liewer, was perfect.

"Probably my favorite play of the year," Lubick said.

With Falck already on the right side of the formation, Liewer and tight end Austin Allen motioned from left to right to join Falck in a bunch formation. Allen and Falck threw the blocks, Liewer stepped back to take the pass from Adrian Martinez, and the rest was a walk in the park as Liewer went untouched into the end zone to put NU up 27-10 at Purdue. The Huskers went on to win 37-27.

"Pre-snap it’s a run-pass option play, and I knew I had guys like Levi Falck and Austin Allen out there blocking for me," Liewer said. "I really wasn’t expecting it to be that wide open; so I caught the ball and saw the edge was open and hit it as hard as I could, got in."

Play-calling dynamic: The relationship between Lubick and Nebraska coach Scott Frost as it relates to play-calling during a game is one of communication.

"It's a combination of us both. We talk between each series. And I stress this a lot: I'm a big believer that the game is called before the game," Lubick said. "As an offensive staff, we put together a game plan of, 'OK, in this situation we’re going to do this. In this situation, we’re going to do this. These are our best first-down calls. These are our best third-down calls.'

"And then it just becomes a matter of reacting."

Organization is key, Lubick said, as is drilling those calls against different scenarios in practice during the week.

It doesn't hurt either, Lubick said, that he and Frost have a long-standing relationship that dates back to their days at Oregon.

"The fact that Scott and I have been together for a long time, I think we think a lot alike. There’s definitely a mutual trust level there," Lubick said. "But we speak between each series and kind of get the next series called before the series (starts)."

Blackshirts stay with starters: The number of players wearing Blackshirt practice jerseys hasn't changed, NU defensive coordinator Erik Chinander said Tuesday.

The jerseys, handed out to Nebraska's starters a few weeks ago, have stayed with those players. That policy, Chinander said, came after talking to former Huskers on how to handle the tradition.

"It's kind of more of a unit mentality as far as holding each other accountable, holding the other groups accountable. (We) don't want to water it down by adding a whole bunch more," Chinander said. "Obviously I wasn’t here when it started, I wasn’t here when Jason Peter and Grant Wistrom were here. So I kind of bend their ear a little bit and get some input.

"Having the starting unit have those shirts, and having the starting unit set a different tempo out there in holding people accountable, is a good thing, I think."

Pola-Gates, Gifford poised for larger roles: With redshirt freshman Myles Farmer out for the rest of the season after suffering a pregame injury against Purdue, Chinander said young players Noa Pola-Gates and Isaac Gifford are next in line to fill Farmer's role in the secondary.

"Noa Pola-Gates is ready to roll, Isaac Gifford’s ready to roll at the safety spot. And the other guys truly embrace — just like they did when Collin (Miller) went down — that when you lose a brother, then you play harder for them," Chinander said. "And if you think you can’t play one more, or if you’re too tired, you just think about them not being able to go out there and it’ll propel you through that series.

"So I think the guys just embraced, it’s that time, let’s go get this one for Myles and let’s go play hard for Myles."

Pola-Gates, a redshirt freshman, and Gifford, a true freshman walk-on, have both appeared in every game this season in limited roles.

"As far as moving on from there, it’s always next man up. You hate to lose somebody, but it’s always next guy up, and we have good guys," Chinander said.

TV set for Minnesota game: Nebraska-Minnesota will kick off at 11 a.m. Saturday on FS1. The television network was determined Tuesday.

— Chris Basnett

Contact the writer at cbasnett@journalstar.com or 402-473-7436. On Twitter @HuskerExtraCB.

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December 09, 2020 at 03:32AM
https://journalstar.com/sports/huskers/football/red-report-liewer-recounts-touchdown-playcalling-dynamic-blackshirts-stay-with-starters/article_689b6607-aa81-57a0-8c54-3da09a6d8979.html

Red Report: Liewer recounts touchdown; playcalling dynamic; Blackshirts stay with starters - HuskerExtra.com

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