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Idiotic thread number #463

I just rewatched the game and wanted to bring this up, as I don't think there has been enough of an emphasis placed on this in the post game discussion I've seen on here. One (four?) of the biggest things that influenced the outcome of this game were Tanner's interceptions, which wound up placing the much maligned defense in terrible positions. All 4 of the INT's by Oregon led to them starting drives in Nebraska territory: INT1-- Oregon drive starts on Neb 20 INT2-- Oregon drive starts on Neb 34 INT3-- Oregon drive starts on Neb 31 INT4-- Oregon drive starts on Neb 35 For the sake of this conversation we will discount the 4th INT which led to Oregon getting a first down and then running out the clock. The first INT was a decently well thrown ball that came off of a suspect bounce. You place the ball in a place where your #1 WR is able to get both hands on it like that and your #1 WR has to catch it. Simple as that. This led to Oregon punching it in on a 3rd down TD to Nelson in the corner and put Oregon up 14-0 less than 4 minutes into the game. Cannot happen. The second INT was just brutal. Down 35-14 with 1:54 left until halftime and backed up on 3rd and 15, you need to ensure that you get out of the half down no more than 21. Lee throws outside of Morgan and Morgan breaks inside, leading to another quick Duck score before the half to put them up 42-14. This wound up being the game winning TD. The third INT comes as a result of basic quarterbacking, don't be late over the middle. Nebraska was at essentially midfield, down 14 to start the fourth quarter. This was a 3rd and 6, where if Nebraska doesn't convert we are able to bring out Lightbourn and play the field position game with a coffin corner punt. Instead, Lee throws the INT and kills any momentum for Nebraska after stopping Oregon on downs and allows Oregon to set up a drive on the Nebraska 31. The Blackshirts were able to hold and Oregon missed a 44 yard field goal. Oregon scored 21 points off of turnovers in this game and Nebraska had 7 for a +14 advantage in this category. Obviously you don't know how the results of the game change if you take away the interceptions but it is IMPERATIVE that while we continue to settle into this new defensive scheme and learn more about our players on the defensive side of the ball, that we are able to protect the ball on offense and put the defense on the field in situations where they can succeed. I completely agree with the notion that Nebraska on D looked extremely sloppy for most of the first half, but the interceptions are essentially throwing kerosine on a campfire. Moving forward, Tanner Lee is going to have to have better numbers than he did on Saturday. 19/41 with 4INTs and a QBR of 12 is for a lack of better words, debilitating. Nebraska for years has not had the ability to throw consistently in these primetime matchups at a rate that is over 55%, and most of the time has lost the turnover battle in these games in large part due to bad quarterbacking and INTs. This is something that I expected to change with Tanner behind center, and I can't say that it has after having one crack at it. Obviously this was the biggest start of Tanner's career, and I do believe that he will settle down as we move forward and he continues to become more comfortable, but if we don't get better quarterbacking in these games then I don't care who the defensive coordinator is, this team is going to struggle to stop opponents from scoring.

Matty you're doing an amazing job with your refusal to acknowledge that you claimed he didn't start the last game. This whole thing started because someone quoted your original post where you stated you didn't think he was very good. Which is fine, you were entitled to an opinion on a player. Then you claimed he was dressed "on the sideline but not on the field". I then proved this claim incorrect because he not only played significant snaps in the game, but he STARTED. You now have ignored 2 different articles and a direct quote from the head coach of Oregon saying he started and played well on Saturday and are claiming that he saw the field for one play. In case you want to actually read the evidence I'm posting for you, here it is again from Oregon head coach Willie Taggart: Stop digging yourself a hole here and just accept the fact that you are wrong.

Looks like our house escaped unscathed. Somehow, our house still has power, so my parents are headed there to stay until they get it back. We'll be heading back early Wednesday.

I thought he wasn't very good

I think the discussion would be better if you didn't take everything so literally. I know you didn't say there were 400 yards on bubble screens. My point was I don't think they got a large percentage of their yards off them. So we know there were 4 downfield shots in the second half. There may have been a couple more. That's a noticeable decrease from the first half, isn't it?

Very interesting here folks...

Oh god here we go again...... a Clemson homer throws out an off the wall prediction and you guys start to fire up again. NO JUST NO

The 10 games that matter, are the last 10 games of this season. Riley has been given an open checkbook to make the adjustment moves to his staff. We have hand picked, highly paid assistants. It's not dead weight assistants any longer. Riley has his QB, and his recruits. We've continued to out-recruit our peers, and only 2 of the remaining teams out-talent us on paper. Anything less than a 7-3 finish, along with with continual improvement week to week, and you will have people seriously questioning the direction of the program. I think that it's entirely reasonable to expect a minimum of 9 wins this year. Propping up the current situation by comparing Coach Riley to TO is an exercise in cognitive dissonance. They aren't even remotely comparable. Tom won at a top 10 rate, while learning to coach. Riley has been coaching for an entire decade longer than TO did. I think he's a fantastic person, and a great figure for our players. But he (and his staff) are paid to win games at Nebraska. If Franklin could do it in year 3 at Penn State after crippling sanctions, and a near death penalty for the program, it can be done here.

Wiltfong CB!

How long are you going to keep trying to ignore your multiple instances of being proven wrong? The more you keep trying to move past it the more people aren't going to let you.

My anecdotal recollection is that Oregon started the second half in normal gameplan, we had a few breaks go our way, and then they got nervous. I think within that is a solid quarter of good execution on our part and bad on theirs.

If you expected Nebraska to beat Oregon and still go 6-6, you've got them losing to teams that aren't nearly as good as the Ducks. That's a pretty strange prediction.

Looks like our house escaped unscathed. Somehow, our house still has power, so my parents are headed there to stay until they get it back. We'll be heading back early Wednesday.

That's something that confused me about the last two games. You're already getting torched for historic passing yards... why not blitz these quarterbacks and see if you can knock them around a little? Jumpy quarterbacks are usually less effective. After 78 points and 900+ yards, what do you have to lose by blitzing more?

I watched Lee's game, Horningbrook's game, the USC QB's game and then Dak Prescott for the cowboys all in one day. Lee is not ready for the NFL. There is no comparison to his accuracy and Dak's or Eli Manning's. Even Sam's at USC is way above Tanmer's. i also made another observation. It is really hard to win college football games with a pro style, immobile QB who sits in the pocket, unless you have all American offensive linemen and some very good, big, wide receivers. Otherwise he needs to throw short, quick, slant passes that tear into a zone because an offense designed to need 3 seconds in the pocket to go through read progressions and wait for plays to develop is going to get him sacked and throwing the ball away over and over again.

I don't want this to come off the wrong way- but do some of you even think about what you're typing before you put it out here? To answer the OP- yes, I agree that a lack of size at WR makes it slightly more difficult to run certain routes. It takes away a lot of the advantages in 1 on 1 situations as the QB can't simply put the ball up in the air and have the WR use his size/body to shield off the DB and go get the catch. However: DPE had probably his best play he's made as a receiver on the TD grab over Graham. That was a true Moss job. Went up and attacked the football. I've mentioned this more than once on the board here but its very impressive the way that our WR's have been attacking the ball this year. Much more so it seems than in years past. Stanley played a great game. The first pass of the game that bounced off his hands and the ball that would've been a difficult catch in double coverage on the corner route obviously were 2 big plays in the game. But so was his fourth down conversion on the 4th and 10 and then ensuing TD. So was his other TD. And he really is our best WR in 1 on 1 situations. He had his man beat late in the 4th and it would've cut the Oregon lead to 7 but Lee missed him in the end zone. The real issue is that there is not a lot of guys that can be "trusted to play in the games" to use Riley terms. Guys like Young and Reimers are fine to have on the team but it was very obvious even in limited action against Arkansas State that Reimers didn't need to be out there in either passing or blocking situations. Young apparently has the yips about catching any passes. Our WR core loses DPE next year but brings back Stanley, Tyjon, KJJ, McQuitty, Spielman to go along with guys like Moore and other incoming freshmen that we will add. We still haven't gotten to see Keyan Williams yet either as he is nursing his hamstring injury. We will be fine here. The last thing I want to address is this "woe is me" attitude that is creeping more and more onto the board. Its still difficult to look at this program as a whole and think that it isn't progressing. The recruiting uptick has been fantastic to see and there are some seriously talented assistant coaches on this staff. Regardless of the results in 2 games, Nebraska is currently paying its Defensive Coordinator over $800,000 per year. That is the largest assistant contract in Nebraska history. Its nice to actually feel like the administration is willing to step up and help the staff as much as possible. The coaching staff and the administration being on the same page is huge. It allows for a coach to take risks like firing a 17 year DC and bringing in a guy he's never worked with before. Keeping the yes man culture out of the staff will benefit us moving forward. And lastly, I really dislike this idea that because we lost a road game at a high level PAC12 opponent by 7 points, Nebraska is all of a sudden worthless and stuck in the mud. One of the main reasons a team like Oregon is able to "turn it around" much quicker than Nebraska (and I'm not even sure you can use that term yet with Oregon, they beat a sub par FCS team and us by a TD at home) is due to 1. their average recruiting ranking the past 4 years and 2. the fact that they hired a coach who's scheme and style fit the current players much better than Nebraska did. Oregon's avg recruit ranking is almost a full point higher than Nebraska's. Oregon still has a lot to prove this year as well, they tried to hand the game to Nebraska numerous times and we were too inexperienced to be able to take it. But I see positive signs. The OL is playing the best it has in the Riley era. The WR's are growing and Bryant appears to be a very legitimate workhorse RB. Stoltenburg had his best game at Nebraska on Saturday and the D really did answer the bell in the second half of the game. I encourage everyone to try to take a high level view of the program and see where we are at currently. I think when you do that and you compare it to some of the other programs and teams in college football, you'll be pleasantly surprised as to how you feel about Nebraska moving forward.

Some people just want to find the flaws in everything. Every team has them, and after a loss they come charging in like a pack of rabid dogs.

I hope Lee can do well as a Husker, but I don't give 2 sh#ts if he has prototype NFL size or arm strength. He needs to play well as a Husker first.

I will admit I didn't think our defense would be this bad through 2 games, but I definitely saw obvious signs that we would struggle in 2017. There was a compiling list of red flags and caution tape during spring ball. The fact that people had us going 10-2 was pretty dumb to say the least. Lost a 4 year starter at QB. Wasn't the best QB, but a lot of experience gone. Lost our leading rusher Lost our top 4/6 receivers Starting a tight end who has no game experience and zero catches New defensive coordinator and the switch to a 3-4 defense without having the personnel to do so Lost our top 2 tackle and sack leaders. Kieron Williams who had 5 INTs doesn't see the field Lost our best corner to an injury. Starting two players with their first starts of career. Moved Kalu to safety Crossover conference games of Penn St and Ohio St Only have a few starters on our whole roster who have enough talent to get drafted into the NFL. Only 1 last year Mike Riley has zero conference championships. Nebraska hasn't won one since 99'

Why does there have to be Riley Lovers and Riley Haters? Why can't we just watch the games, support the team, and hope for the best? That doesn't make you're a Riley lover, it makes you a Husker fan.

if your aunt had balls would she be your uncle?

He said he heard from a certain poster at HB that he was N.

If your nose was on your arm...

That is not at all why you're a jerk.

they won''t pull his offer but I will fully admit I was very nervous Micah was going to leave Columbus as an Ohio State commit this weekend. They threw everything and the kitchen sink at him. The fact that he left there and hasn't committed to them is HUGE for us. Now that we've survived this hurdle/visit, I really think we have a chance to land him. Ohio State is not out of it by any means and they won't pull his offer over saying Barrett needs to be pulled. He's too talented to lose an offer because of something like that. But having him leave Columbus still a free agent is making me really think we have a shot at it come October 7. I'm still not trying to get my hopes up, I usually don't do that until you see a Wilt/other respected national guy/beat writer for team termed to be the favorite towards Nebraska, but I'll fully admit it is getting harder and harder to deny that Nebraska is right there at the top of his list with tOSU. Penn State I still don't believe is a threat for him. I know Cameron Brown re-committed to us but its just so rare to have someone de-commit from a school and then re-commit to that school again later on in the process. We haven't really heard much about UF or FSU being in contention for his services. I didn't read the above article so I don't even know if he has visit dates to those schools scheduled yet. Miami is somewhat concerning to me as they are putting together a heck of a class but I don't know that he will wind up there. We need to win the next 3 games and be 4-1 going into the Wisconsin game. If we can do that we should have a night game in Memorial against the Badgers. There is something special about being in Memorial Stadium at night. So long as he is able to take the ACT and make it to the game that weekend, we will have our shot.

Well, he should be, because they played like ass.

Freeman had 61 yards on 11 carries in the first half. His first run was for 28 yards, and another carry for 10 yards, but he was held in check for most of the first half, as Oregon had more success through the air. Freeman gained 51 yards on 8 carries in the 3rd quarter, as Oregon went more conservative and ran the ball more. He had one nice drive with 4 carries for 28 yards he was kept contained pretty well. In the 4th quarter, Freeman had 10 carries for 41 yards, as Oregon was trying to run out the clock. He gained 19 of the yards on the final drive to seal the game after Lee's last INT. So, all in all, I would say that Freeman was effective, at least in keeping the NU defense honest. I am sure his running threat enabled some of the deep passes in the first half, and he did just enough damage in the 2nd half to move the ball for Oregon.

He played. Not only did he play, but he started. He was covering Hoppes in the 4th quarter on a ball Lee overthrew. Might not be playing the snaps that Graham is playing but he's playing as a true freshman...

Clock management late in the game was atrocious. Zero urgency. WTF is up with the way we're teaching our NT to line up in a 3 point stance? Play action passing in very obvious passing situations late in the game was obnoxious. Even so, the thing that made me shake my head most was when I had to google Mike Riley a few years ago.

Oh boy here we go again. People complaining about a position group that is just fine. Just like the OL thread when the OL played pretty well so far this season. We are damn lucky to have a WR coach like KW. Id take him over the tOSU coach anyday of the week. We are so thin at WR at the moment. McQuitty got hurt. KJJ got kicked off team. Keyan Williams has some injuries. Yes we missed on some players last year, but name the last time a top 5 WR in the country had Nebraska in their top 2 going into signing day and probably would have signed with Nebraska if it wasnt for his mother? Id rather go down swinging for the best in the country than settle for mediocre receivers. Joshua Moore has more offers than ANYONE in the country. We are still in on some big time receivers this recruiting cycle. As for our current receivers, Morgan is the go to receiver. Solid receiver. Possession receiver like Westy. JD Spielman is a freshman with tons of explosiveness and upside. Anyone not excited about him the next four years is crazy. KW actually turned DPE into a respectable receiver when I thought all he would be is a big time return threat. And now hes more receiver than return threat. Lindsey was a very sought after recruit and has very good potential. Still learning playbook and coming off a bad knee injury. He will probably be more involved by seasons end. We had TEs and WRs running open yesterday that Lee couldnt hit either because of poor accuracy or locking onto one receiver (usually Morgan). Nebraska is lucky to have KW. If youre looking for receivers that catch 100% of the balls thrown to them, youre going to be disappointed. No receiver catches 100% of the balls thrown to them. Not even in the NFL. Hell the guy for the Bears today dropped a ball right in his hands on the 2 yard line. It happens.

My own personal opinion - which I have numbers to back up - is that Riley's first two classes were basically average classes that Bo put together. They were better than Bo's last couple classes but definitely not as good as a couple of his middle classes. Now, since Bo's last couple classes were not as good, it's fair to say that the upper-classmen we've had haven't been our best. However, it's equally fair to say that Riley's three years have followed a steady patter when it comes to roster talent - one team on our schedule (probably two this year) have more talent than us, one team has about the same talent we have and we have noticeably more talent than the rest of our schedule. So it's not like we have a huge hill to climb to be competitive in most all our games. I've always thought that judging "player development" is really just in the eye of the beholder. If you think a coach is under-performing, it's because they're not developing talent. If they have good success, they're great at developing talent. And there could be some of that. But you're always going to have under-rated players who shine (Ameer Abdullah) and higher-rated players who "bust" so it's really hard to know. I put a lot more value in schemes - mainly because we can actually get a look at them to get a little better idea if the players are being put in a position to succeed. For as critical as I sometimes am of Langsdorf, I've always said I don't necessarily think he's a bad OC. I'm just not sure if he's a good fit. I think he tends to like to throw more than will lead to a lot of success with the players that we have. He can draw up some great plays - I noted a couple in the "What Did We Learn" thread from this week. But I think he needs NFL-level QB play to really make it go and that's hard to do for a lot of reasons, not the least of which is practice time to implement it. I think by far Riley's biggest failing is being able to find a DC who can formulate a competent game plan. Banker was just flat terrible all the way around. I think Diaco's issue is he's trying to be too cute in a basic - albeit contradictory - way. He appears to be convinced that he can play his base package all the time. And he's so sure his scheme will work that he doesn't bother to have guys line up in a way that puts them in the best position to succeed. Basically, he's out-thinking himself. So I think our game planning is definitely lacking, especially on the defensive side. And game management is also poor. Diaco has made a couple tweaks in the second half of both games but I can't for the life of me figure out why the tweaks he made against Arkansas State weren't part of the original plan against Oregon when it was obvious from the Arky St game that the base plan doesn't work. Well, it was obvious to basically everyone but Diaco anyway. And why could we not make any of those adjustments after their second score - or the third, or the fourth - instead of waiting until after half time? I don't get it.

This post 100%. I am tired of the excuses, I am tired of the hype, I am tired of the kool aid, I am no longer thirsty. Even this week after giving up over 400 yards in a half and 42 points in a half they tried to spin it as a positive because of what was done in the second half. Bogus! The reason we lost the game was because of the epic collapse in the first half. Football is a 2 half game so if you crap the bed in one half, it's part of the full game. I am just tired of it. We probably win next week and get told how great of an improvement the defense is. We probably beat Illinois because they are horrible and get told we have momentum. Then Wisconsin will come in and punch us in the mouth and we will lose and be told "Its a new defensive scheme, give it time" rhetoric again. All awhile having to pay to read these articles that feed us hope and promise, just to get us by week after week. Enough already. Lets start winning games to prove what we are worth.

It honestly baffles me that you dump as much time into recruiting as you do to be this jaded.

The thing is, Nebraska should have been playing hard right out of the gate. I love Gifford's comments, I really do, but how about having that mentality to start the game. How about having that mentality as a group as a team both players and coaches when you walk out and see that almost half the dang stadium is red in support of you guys. How about realizing that you have an entire fan base that travels from all over the country to watch you play, so much support that, really these days that's all Nebraska football has going for it, is that their fan base travels really well. Take notice all those fans who traveled, spent money, took time out of their personal lives to come and support you. So how about coming right out of the gates playing with that passion and that mentality. Or I'll even take once you realize "Crap we are down 14-0 and not even 2 minutes into the game" you get that mentality. Look I love Nebraska football, I'll request to have the Nebraska "N" on my tombstone when that day comes. But lets look at it this way. These players and coaches are spoiled beyond belief. They have state of the art facilities, they are kings within the entire state. They have an entire state at their support and fans across the country who live and breath Nebraska football (This might be a con considering the criticism they may get). You play for Nebraska you're the states main focus and again being treated to great facilities, great academics, great fan support, etc. Yet you only produce 7,8,9,10 win seasons. Now the usual rebuttal to this is Nebraska is hard to recruit to, hard to get kids to come to middle America where there isn't much to offer. Sure, I get Nebraska's geographical location, but look at other programs in similar locations as Nebraska. What makes Oklahoma a consistent winner and power and not Nebraska? Is it the simple fact that Oklahoma is closer to Texas then Nebraska? Is that it? This day and age with every game on television I don't think its a big deal to be so far away for 3-5 years because your family and friends can always see you on TV play. Either way, whether you're in Lincoln, Norman, Ann Arbor, Madison, you're going to have to take a plane ride home to Texas. So I get the feel good optimism the media and coaches are trying to sell us, because there is a lot of season left, but the bottom line is, we have been fed this perspective for 16 years and we as fans still wait with optimism of hope and it never comes. So lets just go out there and start winning please.

This board.

Too much reasoning, not enough false hope.

We'll lock the board, lol.

Ummmm.....I was responding to this. And....I responded with..... How did I take that more literally than it was meant to be? Looks to me like you were overly hyperbolic and I pointed that out. If you want to help out the discussion....don't use so much hyperbole.

lol are you seriously ignoring the quote I placed directly in front of you that the Oregon writer put out? Here it is again: How about this from an Oregon newspaper today? Have you ever been able to just admit you were wrong? You were wrong in saying he isn't very good. Doubling down and being wrong on him not starting the game on Saturday makes it even worse. How about we move along before you embarrass yourself even further...

To lose six more games, Nebraska is going to have to lose to two of these teams: Rutgers, Illinois, Purdue, Northwestern, Minnesota. Yes, it's possible that we lose two of those games, but to have predicted two of those as losses, while still predicting an Oregon win, would be exceedingly strange. Oregon is better than all of those teams. But he's claiming he thought we'd beat them, in Autzen, while still losing to two of these teams. Rutgers & Northwestern are in Lincoln, so those two are highly unlikely. Where are the losses? Where's the logic in that alleged prediction?

This x1000 3 years in and I'm still shaking my head about this hire. Personally, this was as dumb as firing Solich to hire The Man Who Shall Remain Nameless. Don't take this as me being a Solich lover or a Bo lover. I'm more of a "make smart decisions" guy. To fire Bo was fine, but you couldn't follow it up with a career .500 coach. You put Mediocre Mike in a hole from day 1....a deep, deep hole, which he has proven he won't get out of.

For whatever reason, our DLinemen don't do much exploding at all. Doesn't matter what stance they're in.

For some reason I don't think things that happened several years ago had any bearing on what went on Saturday.

I don't think many people expected McStoltenburg to be such a stout presence in the middle. He's been excellent so far. I think the offensive line has done a decent job of doing what's been asked of them and it's horsesh#t that people are trying to blame them for Lee's errant passes.. Tre Bryant has been excellent. Caleb Lightbourn is in the running for most improved player. A. Williams had a good game against Oregon. Also, Stan is the man!

Oregon didn't go fully vanilla immediately in the 3rd. Part of it was luck and part of it was momentum - we scored quick, forced a three and out, then Oregon went full conservative mode. Regardless - it's a very legitimate accomplishment (albeit a minor one in the scheme of things) for our players to execute and give up zero second half points to that offense.

Sipple never said that. Stop being such a whiny white boy.

Which is what we were told after his first year because he had to get better players. Which is what we were told after "no blowout" losses turned out to be bunk because he needed a QB for his system. Which is what we were told when his first recruiting class turned out to be not so hot because the 2017 class was going to be special. Which is what we were told after the 2017 recruiting class turned out to be solid but nothing spectacular. Which is what we were told after our defense against Arkansas State was supposedly just playing vanilla and the DC thought played "fantastic" Lather, rinse, repeat.