Pessimist Perspective

[BIG ERN]

These are not my own views on what the season will hold. Just an insight that isn't all kool-aid. 

 

QB: Nebraska is starting a TRUE freshman quarterback for the first time in school history. To add to that nervousness that freshman also didn't play his senior in high school due to a shoulder injury on his throwing arm. Why do I bring that up you ask? Well, the two backups are two walk-ons. Andrew Bunch had a mediocre season at the juco level and Masker is straight outta high school with no D1 offers. It could be tough sledding for this unit that has to travel to the crowds in Ann Arbor, Madison, Columbus, and Iowa City. 

 

RB: A lot of hype is surrounding the running backs as the Huskers brought in juco AA Greg Bell and true freshman Maurice Washington is turning heads. Neither of those guys have taken a hand off at the D1 collegiate level yet. Ozigbo is also slated to get some carries and here's a guy who averaged just 3.8 ypc last season and spent more time in the doghouse than out on the football field. Sadly he had the most rushing yards for Nebraska which ranked 22nd in the B10 for an individual player. 

 

OL: This unit returns some good interior experience, but also a unit that was dead last in the B10 for rushing yards per game. Was it the lack of playmakers or could these guys not get any push? We are about to find out. There is also no depth at the tackle position so the big men on the outside need to make sure to keep healthy otherwise some guys named Gaylord and Sichterman will have to do. 

 

WR: Hard to be negative when you have Stanley Morgan and JD Spielman back from last year. The three backups haven't proven anything and we are hoping that Mike Williams can stretch the defense to open things up underneath. Without Stanley we only return 2 total receiving TD from this unit. 

 

TE: "We are going to throw to our tight ends this year" is a trend all Nebraskan's are familiar with. That was slightly true last year, but opposing defenses caught almost half the passes from our quarterback than all our tight ends combined. Now starter Jack Stoll had a staggering 89 yards and 2 TD. The two other tight ends are freshman who haven't seen the field yet. 

 

Defense: I had to group all the units into one since they were so bad last year. Gave up 36.4 ppg and ranked last in the B10 in rush defense and total defense. The defense created very few sacks, tackles for loss, or turnovers. The top 3/5 tacklers also graduated. Lets hope that this 3-4 is a lot better than what Diaco had to offer. 

 

K/P: We will call it a win if we don't have to use Lightbourn as much in the punt game. The shaky part is starting a true freshman kicker who may need to knock a few down to decide if we win or lose.  The failed XP in the spring game was not a good start. 

 

#InFrostWeTrust

 

[JKinney]

 

I appreciate the post, it's nice to keep these things in mind, and stay more down to earth.

[brophog]

QB - An absolute stud wins the job and all anyone wants to talk about are his backups. WTF? He may be a freshman, but freshmen put up very good numbers in this system, both for Kelly and Frost. The average is around 62-63% completion percentage. Martinez got here early, worked hard, and has had the benefit of Mario. That average is probably closer to his floor than ceiling.

 

RB - No one cares about experience at this position. You can be a 1000 yard rusher here as easily as a frosh as a senior. The young guys are the ones we are talking about because the older guys didn't get it done. That's what we call a positive.

 

OL- Easily the most underrated group on the team. They shouldn't surprise this year, but for most people they will.

 

WR/TE - Great offense, promising QB, depth at these positions. Someone will emerge at these spots.

 

Defense - Defenses often make enormous statistical jumps in one year. Amazing what happens when you tackle people. 

 

Specialists - I admit I'm a little worried here. UCF was great in the return/coverage units, but lousy with regards to kickers/punters. It's the one coaching area that worries me. 

[Husker03]

41 minutes ago, brophog said:

 

Specialists - I admit I'm a little worried here. UCF was great in the return/coverage units, but lousy with regards to kickers/punters. It's the one coaching area that worries me. 

But seriously, we can’t be much worse than last year here if we tried. 

[beorach]

 

55 minutes ago, BIG ERN said:

OL: This unit returns some good interior experience, but also a unit that was dead last in the B10 for rushing yards per game. Was it the lack of playmakers or could these guys not get any push? We are about to find out.

 

That's taking a lot away from the coaching staff when you phrase it like that.

[Crazyhole]

Martinez has more experience in this system than Frazier did when he started his first game.   That worked out ok.  Both have superior athleticism and mental capacity to grasp a system.  I think the concerns are maybe a little overblown.  

 

At running back, Ozigbo was operating in a bizarre offensive system last year so his numbers are less than impressive.  A better measure of his quality as a back would be to watch the Wisconsin game, which was pretty impressive.  We know that Wilbon is of questionable ability so the fact that he is buried on the depth chart is a good omen.  

[brophog]

12 minutes ago, Crazyhole said:

At running back, Ozigbo was operating in a bizarre offensive system last year so his numbers are less than impressive.  A better measure of his quality as a back would be to watch the Wisconsin game, which was pretty impressive.  We know that Wilbon is of questionable ability so the fact that he is buried on the depth chart is a good omen.  

 

I've got my thoughts on this, but it doesn't really matter. These coaches are going to let it be decided on the field. 

[Caliborn72]

Regarding WRs, a well respected poster on HM mentioned that there has some frustrations with the lack of size at WR. Sounds like we’ve had a little bit of RZ struggles. We are really good here, obviously, but that’s been one criticism I’ve heard and it makes some sense as well.

[Redux]

Now that game week is here, we are a couple days frok kickoff, the nerves are setting in.  After losing Gebbia, QB is going to be as vital as ever.  I was pretty optimistic in saying we could go 8-4 or 9-3, but now that QB is razor thin I'm thinking 7-5 but in it to the end of all 5 losses.  Granted, we will kick the absolute snot out of Akron and the other tomato can teams.  But I expect that hit to QB depth to be a direct reason we lose a couple I was thinking we could win.  Sucks but this is year 1 so it's not the end of the world.  Regardless, we will see a team unlike we have seen in quite some time.

[Moiraine]

Optimist Perspective:

 

Our strength and conditioning sucked ass last year. That improvement by itself will make a difference.

 

We had several Jrs and Srs last year, on OL and at QB. It didn’t help. I’d take all freshman under Frost over all seniors under Riley.

[Moiraine]

7 minutes ago, Caliborn72 said:

Regarding WRs, a well respected poster on HM mentioned that there has some frustrations with the lack of size at WR. Sounds like we’ve had a little bit of RZ struggles. We are really good here, obviously, but that’s been one criticism I’ve heard and it makes some sense as well.

 

 

Watt might’ve helped with that. He’s tall isn’t he?

[brophog]

3 minutes ago, Redux said:

Now that game week is here, we are a couple days frok kickoff, the nerves are setting in.  After losing Gebbia, QB is going to be as vital as ever.  I was pretty optimistic in saying we could go 8-4 or 9-3, but now that QB is razor thin I'm thinking 7-5 but in it to the end of all 5 losses.  Granted, we will kick the absolute snot out of Akron and the other tomato can teams.  But I expect that hit to QB depth to be a direct reason we lose a couple I was thinking we could win.  Sucks but this is year 1 so it's not the end of the world.  Regardless, we will see a team unlike we have seen in quite some time.

 

There's nothing saying he has to get injured. Everyone is acting like we are waiting on the X-rays.

[Redux]

Yeah the upgrade in coaching (stop me if you've heard this, but this time it's true) is the reason a 4-8 team will immediately improve to 7-5 IMO

 

2 minutes ago, brophog said:

 

There's nothing saying he has to get injured. Everyone is acting like we are waiting on the X-rays.

 

Very true, but over the last 10 years every time we get this thin at QB....

[4skers89]

23 minutes ago, Caliborn72 said:

Regarding WRs, a well respected poster on HM mentioned that there has some frustrations with the lack of size at WR. Sounds like we’ve had a little bit of RZ struggles. We are really good here, obviously, but that’s been one criticism I’ve heard and it makes some sense as well.

I figured there might be a problem with speed also. Frost is recruiting some track guys so wasn’t sure we currently have that.

[TGHusker]

Big Ern, or should I say Mr Sunshine  - let's not forget the impact of good coaching.  Last year we saw the results of bad coaching up close.  I think coaching alone will with the current talent

gets us to 7-5, 8-4.