What is most to blame for Nebraska's two losses?

[knapplc]

I was thinking about this doing chores today. We've lost two one-score games.  Why?

 

Are Colorado and/or Troy just better than Nebraska?  Possibly.  Colorado has some talent in the skill positions, and made clutch plays when they needed to.  Troy went 11-2 last year and won the Sun Belt, and trounced North Texas (who just trounced Arkansas in Fayetteville) in their bowl game.  Colorado is in year six of the Mike MacIntyre rebuild, and he's finally getting some traction.

 

Both losses were by less than a touchdown, so Nebraska could have won either game on their last possession.  But we trailed in those instances thanks in large part to our own unforced errors. Untimely penalties, turnovers, poor execution, all either stalled drives or allowed points.  Nebraska's three turnovers against Colorado led to 14 points, and while Troy didn't turn turnovers into points, each one stalled a potential scoring drive. Nebraska is at -5 in turnover margin through two games. Penalties have been a mixed bag, since some of these calls are questionable, to say the least. But our guys are putting themselves in position for refs to make those calls, and if you have inconsistent refs, you have to play clean and not allow them reasons to throw those flags. We haven't been doing that.

 

There's a discussion to be had about how much talent we actually have on the team. I think there's talent, and some really good skill players, but there's some talent gaps. Frost & Co. are working on that.

 

Frost is the hero incarnate, I know. But he and the coaches - who went 13-0 last year and clearly know better - have made some galling errors. Not burning clock vs. Colorado. Not opening up the playbook. Late play-calling decisions that lead to stupid penalties. Instilling a culture that "We are Nebraska" which means Nebraska of the 1990s instead of Nebraska the underdog trying to claw its way out of the cellar. Frost and his staff are selling a dream, not a reality. The whole staff, from Moos down to the interns, are doing that, to be fair. The graphics are all throwbacks to dominant days, days long gone, that this team has no recollection of and no idea how to emulate. You can't sell that package to an audience who doesn't understand it.

 

So that's my list. It's short because I'm lazy and tired as ass after standing in a hotbox for four hours yesterday thanks to stupid Troy and stupid hurricane Florence and that stupid fool in the red shirt who stands on the field during TV timeouts. I'm going to find that guy and Nancy Kerrigan his kneecap and see how he stands in two weeks when Purdue comes to town. And I did yard work today and it was hot and Florence is the worst thing in the history of things today and whatever.

 

Give me your other. I missed stuff, I know.

 

Go Big Red. Every day 'til I die.

[RedDenver]

Combination of missing the first game, Colorado and Troy are good teams, Nebraska is lacking some talent but talented depth is really lacking, bad luck (mostly AM getting hurt), and of course all the ridiculous errors and mistakes.

[KazLong]

Mike Riley.

[Day by Day]

D. All the Above

 

Or at least some kinda of combination. 

[Mavric]

I guess I should have selected Other because I think the single biggest thing was the Colorado linebacker twisting Martinez's knee.  Without that, I honestly think we're 2-0

 

But there are obviously too many unforced errors.  We've had a lot of success on a lot of plays.  But when we mess up, we mess up big.

 

Pretty sure Colorado and Troy are not better teams because we out-yarded both significantly.  Same for the lacking talent question.

 

I do think some of the blame for the Troy loss goes to Frost for not being able to find a good mix of plays for Bunch.  But that wasn't the biggest reason for the loss.

[MyBloodIsRed16]

The first game was losing the turnover battle and making stupid mistakes i.e. penalties.  Troy was some of the latter but it looked to me Frost and crew were out coached.  Troy had a good game plan on both sides of the ball.  I was disappointed with the defense.  Dedrick Young made two pretty obvious mistakes while watching.  I believe they were both in the redzone and one led to a score.  He had no idea what he was doing on both plays and was out of position.  Lamar Jackson, even tho he got on interception, played poorly again.  He was beat on the INT and was bailed out by an under thrown ball.  He was continuously beat and got lucky a few times.  He was also being owned by the Wr on the play that led to the first down being reviewed.  O line looked like hot trash.  kept getting beat off the ball and missing blitzers.   

[knapplc]

14 minutes ago, Mavric said:

Pretty sure Colorado and Troy are not better teams because we out-yarded both significantly. 

 

This is killing me. Our stats through two games are crazy for an 0-2 team. We own Time of Possession, we own Rushing Yards, Passing Yards, we own Total Defense. What's funny is, Charlie McBride used to say if he could keep a team below 250 yards, we'd win.  But we held Colorado to 400 yards and Troy to 253 - good for at least one win.

 

BUT NOPE. 

 

 

[knapplc]

23 minutes ago, MyBloodIsRed16 said:

Lamar Jackson, even tho he got on interception, played poorly again.

 

This probably isn't the thread for this, but was that REALLY an interception? 

 

This is the first time I've had to talk about this with people other than in the rows in front of & behind me, and to either side. So forgive me if this has been covered here.

 

Also, I have not seen the broadcast or a replay.

 

But in the stands, and on the big screen, it looked like simultaneous possession.  Lamar grabbed the ball first, but only an instant before the WR. And they had mutual possession as they hit the ground (play is dead). At that point, it looked like both had the ball. Which means the WR gets possession, because a tie goes to the offensive player. 

 

I didn't see how that was a legit INT.  Was it legit?

[JJ Husker]

I actually think we are 0-2 due to bad timing of some unfortunate events. 1- our home opener gets cancelled due to weather/lightning. This prevents us from getting first game crapola out of the way with an Akron opponent who we likely could’ve still beat while committing turnovers, bad penalties and first game jitters of some young players, notably a true freshman Starting QB. So instead we get to experience these things against a better more determined CU opponent and we fail to overcome. 2- then some dirty sob from CU twists our QB’s leg, taking him out for the end of the game , when we desperately needed him, preventing a much better chance of actually coming back to win that game. 3- This injury also takes AM out of the Troy game and requires us to go into game 2 yet again with a QB who hasn’t taken any CFB snaps and who, quite frankly, is nowhere near the athlete AM is. He did not have the same playbook at his disposal for reasons that should be obvious and the coaches chose to go with a more conservative game plan that gets blown up in the first quarter due to falling behind early. The storied first to second game jump does not occur for various reasons and we drop another game that only one week earlier appeared to be a game we should’ve won. So here we are 0-2 instead of 3-0 or 2-1.

 

Now, like you said, the things that can be laid at the feet of HCSF is the failure to burn clock late in the CU game, special teams play that inexplicably has cost us field position and a lack of points due to missed field goals, and a host of really bad penalties. It’s tough to put too much blame on the coaches for the stupid penalties and maybe these do belong more to the players but discipline is typically dependent on coaching so they get it. But really we are 0-2 due to series of unfortunate events largely out of their control. Young rebuilding teams rarely are going to weather these types of things. So here we are. It will get better as long as AM is able to play and stays healthy. We are in for a long year if we have to rely on anyone else in the QB room. But yeah I think everything on your list contributed except for maybe lack of talent. Lack of depth yes, but not a lack of talent from our intended first string players. One guy could’ve been the difference in both games. That’s not an ideal position to be in but that is where we are.

 

Edit- I failed to mention the circumstances of the fall 2 man QB competition that resulted in our intended number 2 QB Gebbia taking his ball and going home all while denying our real backup meaningful fall snaps which could’ve been useful since he was needed so early in the season. It’s really nothing that can be blamed on anyone but it happened.

[JJ Husker]

2 minutes ago, knapplc said:

 

This probably isn't the thread for this, but was that REALLY an interception? 

 

This is the first time I've had to talk about this with people other than in the rows in front of & behind me, and to either side. So forgive me if this has been covered here.

 

Also, I have not seen the broadcast or a replay.

 

But in the stands, and on the big screen, it looked like simultaneous possession.  Lamar grabbed the ball first, but only an instant before the WR. And they had mutual possession as they hit the ground (play is dead). At that point, it looked like both had the ball. Which means the WR gets possession, because a tie goes to the offensive player. 

 

I didn't see how that was a legit INT.  Was it legit?

No, it was a bad call. It should’ve been simultaneous possession resulting in a Troy completion.

[DrunkOffPunch]

3 minutes ago, knapplc said:

 

This probably isn't the thread for this, but was that REALLY an interception? 

 

Maybe I’m remembering wrong but it looked like the Troy player gave up before the whistle blew.

 

Edit- Or at least before the ref signaled possession.

[Mavric]

3 minutes ago, knapplc said:

This probably isn't the thread for this, but was that REALLY an interception? 

 

This is the first time I've had to talk about this with people other than in the rows in front of & behind me, and to either side. So forgive me if this has been covered here.

 

Also, I have not seen the broadcast or a replay.

 

But in the stands, and on the big screen, it looked like simultaneous possession.  Lamar grabbed the ball first, but only an instant before the WR. And they had mutual possession as they hit the ground (play is dead). At that point, it looked like both had the ball. Which means the WR gets possession, because a tie goes to the offensive player. 

 

I didn't see how that was a legit INT.  Was it legit?

 

No, it shouldn't have been an INT.  Watching it live I thought it was simultaneous possession, which is supposed to be awarded to the offense.  Then I thougth perhaps Jackson had more control so they gave it to him.  But then on the replay from the end zone view it was obvious that the WR had at least as much possession and maybe more than Jackson.

 

We got a gift.

[Red Five]

Mix of 1 and 2. CU and Troy were the better team because they didn’t make the stupid mistakes.

[Making Chimichangas]

Too many unforced errors and while I also selected "other" I could have also selected coaching errors, specifically play calling.

 

Nebraska throws quick passes to the sideline and swing passes to the backs in the flats.  Occassionally we take a deep shot down the field.

 

What is completely missing is the intermediate passing game (in the 7-15 yard range) across the middle.  For as much as we motion backs out of the backfield to widen (or alter) the alignment of the LBs (or Ss) we never slip a player up the seam.  I dunno just seems odd that a playcaller like Frost wouldn't use the entire width and depth of the field.

[JJ Husker]

7 minutes ago, Making Chimichangas said:

Too many unforced errors and while I also selected "other" I could have also selected coaching errors, specifically play calling.

 

Nebraska throws quick passes to the sideline and swing passes to the backs in the flats.  Occassionally we take a deep shot down the field.

 

What is completely missing is the intermediate passing game (in the 7-15 yard range) across the middle.  For as much as we motion backs out of the backfield to widen (or alter) the alignment of the LBs (or Ss) we never slip a player up the seam.  I dunno just seems odd that a playcaller like Frost wouldn't use the entire width and depth of the field.

I can only assume that Frost knew better than us that Bunch was not prepared or able to perform those intermediate passes. He acknowledged in his presser that they were giving us those passes and QB runs yet he didn’t have Bunch doing those things. Based on what I did see from Bunch, I’m guessing that was maybe a wise decision to not attempt them even if that is what the D was giving us. You can’t get blood out of a turnip.

 

The more disappointing thing is that he wanted to lean on our OL and run the ball and they weren’t up to the task against a Troy team that we just have to be able to manhandle in the trenches. Apparently the Pipeline is not back to form yet.