Monday Column: Purify's Return Add Dimension to NU Offense

USC's offense looks better than its defense, and it's time to stop fussing over ESPN's talking-head snubs

Happy Labor Day from the center of the world.

So, senior wide receiver Maurice Purify returns this week after a suspension for two alcohol-related misdemeanors, and after attending a funeral for a brother who was shot to death.

You could put that on the shoulder of an NFL starter and it would weigh a lot. So soften those expectations a little on No. 16 - at least for one game.

That said, Nebraska's offense needs him Saturday at Wake Forest. Badly.

If there was a concern coming out of NU's 52-10 pummeling of Nevada, it was the receivers, who were supposed to be the offense's strongest unit. 

Senior Terrence Nunn should be past the kind of mistakes he made Saturday. He dropped Sam Keller's best pass of the day and missed a few perimeter blocks.Frantz Hardy dropped a ball, too.

While Purify had his share of bobbles and poorly-run routes in 2006, his catch-and-run potential - see his star-making plays against Texas and Colorado - add a dimension that Nunn, Hardy and junior Nate Swift lack. What he has to avoid is disappearing acts, like his season-ending clunkers against Oklahoma and Auburn.

Cornhusker Coach Bill Callahan addressed Purify's return on the weekly Big 12 Coaches call Monday. Callahan said Purify "knows he has to earn his job back." That shouldn't be all that hard to do, because Purify's a team-first guy. But is he ready?

"He's had a tremendous training camp, so I think he's improved himself with time and experience," Callahan said. "He's a guy who's pretty focused, so we would anticipating him playing at a level we expect him to be at. Of course, he's got higher expectations for himself than we do."

My take: Callahan believes than any number of his offensive parts are interchangeable. Except for Purify. If his head is right, it's hard to single-cover him. Defenses either have to gamble that he'll play sloppy, or use a bracket corner-safety coverage that opens up the middle of the field for the tight ends. 

If Purify can play to his talent, not only does he have a strong, resilient spirit, but he becomes the best friend of Callahan and quarterback Sam Keller.

***

Callahan again played down Nebraska's performance on Saturday. NU has too many big games coming up to pat itself on the back, and Nevada - it cannot be said enough times - wilted like a spurned debutante at her poorly-attended coming-out party.

***

Nebraska's most important game of the early season just got a little easier. Wake Forest quarterback Riley Skinner was ruled very doubtful for this Saturday's early game in Winston-Salem. He sustained a separated shoulder in a 38-28 loss to Boston College. Skinner was replaced by sophomore Brett Hodges, who completed 17-of-23 passes for 130 yards and a touchdown.

Skinner was mobile, and given that Nebraska's defense can over-pursue at times, he was a threat on counters, draws, scrambles and the like.

But it's not just Skinner's absence that makes the Wake Forest game seem like an easier challenge. It's the Deacons' anemic running game, which gained two yards on 24 carries against BC. Yes, that includes two sacks, but you take those away, and you're looking at 20 yards on 22 carries.

Part of it is that, in Wake Forest's shotgun offense, just about every running play starts four yards behind the line of scrimmage. And the Deacs like to run a lot of wide receiver sweep plays that require terrificc perimeter blocking.

How any of this is going to work against Nebraska's front seven is anyone's guess. The grass field at Groves Stadium ought to be an extremely fast track, and that has to favor the attack-oriented Huskers.

So we most certainly should find out what the defensive backfield is made of this Saturday. Wake won't have much choice but to pass. And the Deacons have just about every pattern in the book, too.

***

Caught the replay of the Southern California game Monday morning. The Trojans beat Idaho 38-10.

Thoughts? USC blitzed relentlessly and needlessly; some of the Vandals' "big runs" were simply the result of serendipity; Idaho had the right call and USC had the wrong blitz. At times Coach Pete Carroll practically had his unit in a "46," bringing one linebacker to stand next to a defensive end and go for broke off the end. Did Carroll, who has the nation's best defensive front four along with Louisiana State, really need to go all "'86 Bears" in the opener?

Idaho, oddly, seemed quite prepared for all this. The Vandals lacked the athletes to make the necessary plays, but their coaching staff had correctly dissected USC's scheme. Interesting.

USC's offense was, frankly, pretty spectacular. Oh, sure, the Trojans didn't pull an Oklahoma and obliterate the Vandals, but the offensive line was dominant, quarterback John David Booty was controlled and efficient, and those running backs ... well, none of them are Reggie Bush, but C.J. Gable and Stafon Johnson in particular are shifty, versatile players.

But the best part of offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian's unit? That redshirt freshman fullback Stanley Havili. Oh, you can imagine Callahan wishes he had this guy.

In his second college game, Havili did a little bit of everything. He busted a 10-yarder on third-and-short. He caught five passes, one for a touchdown. He blocked some. He was even fast enough to line up outside and take a quick hitch pass from Booty. Impressive.

And don't let the low point total fool you. USC wasted a number of third-and-shorts - and a fourth down at Idaho's two-yard-line - testing Booty and the young wide receivers with pass plays. The Trojans ran for 214 yards, and could have run for 350.

Maybe it's scary that the offense looked better than the defense, but that's how it played out in Los Angeles.

***

A small note about Nebraska's running game: The toss play is too predictable. The Huskers telegraphed it each time with its shifts and motion. At least NU ran it toward the boundary most times; the more incentive a running back has to turn a toss play upfield, the better.

The best of the tosses involved Quentin Castille. There's not a lot of wasted motion with that true freshman. He makes a good student body president.

***

Husker fans need to lighten up when it comes to ESPN. The whining on message boards about the bias against Nebraska from the Mouse's collective talking heads - specifically analysts Lou Holtz and Mark May - is just as grating as the stuff that comes out of their mouths. Here's a hint: Don't take any of it - not a shred - seriously. A lot of it is for show and controversy. And don't think ESPN isn't fully aware how sensitive Nebraska fans can be, and how easy it is to tweak their sensibilities. As long as you're watching, ESPN couldn't care less if you're throwing anything.

NU has fans in the darkest corners on Earth, but let's face it: Until this year, the Big 12 Conference has chosen to do a lot of programming business with networks other than ESPN, and the one thing you can trust ESPN to do is create story lines hat take care of the teams and conferences that will appear during its slate of games.

ESPN's pet right now is the Big East, which will be frequently featured on Thursday nights. Not that Rutgers, West Virginia and Louisville don't deserve the hype, but it oddly seems to coincide with ESPN making a big push toward blocking out three days for college football.

For some time now, the ESPN slate has not consistently included Nebraska. I have no rock-solid research, but you'd probably have to go back to 1992 to find a year in which NU appeared three times on ESPN in the regular season (at Washington, vs. Colorado, vs. Kansas).

The point is this: Once NU begins appearing prime time on the network again (sometime this year, presumably vs. Missouri) you'll begin to see a change, albeit small, in the tenor of the broadcasters. They're not about to spit much in the face of one of their prime time games.

Or, Nebraska could beat USC. That'll free any team from mass scrutiny. Just ask UCLA.

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