2012 Improvements Hard to Swallow - A glass half empty view

[TGHusker]

Below is a link to an article by "Angry Dad". He removes the rose colored glasses and calls it as he sees it.

It is hard to argue with his statements. Our come from behind wins this year kind of shields us from

some of the issues that made us 'behind' in the first place.

My hope for next year is that the redshirts and juco players on D will be as good as advertised. But, I've

heard the kool-aid talk before (and believed it and was burned by it) and will reserve belief until the UCLA game.

Mod Edit - please don't link to other forums here. Thanks.

 

[ADS]

That was our one big down fall this year, was that Bo redshirted all the talented younger players. It will help us down the road, but we saw this year that his first couple of classes left little to be desired.

 

[knapplc]

I fail to understand why the come-from-behind victories are a bad thing. We won those games.

 

[HuskerNationNick]

Below is a link to an article by "Angry Dad". He removes the rose colored glasses and calls it as he sees it.

It is hard to argue with his statements. Our come from behind wins this year kind of shields us from

some of the issues that made us 'behind' in the first place.

My hope for next year is that the redshirts and juco players on D will be as good as advertised. But, I've

heard the kool-aid talk before (and believed it and was burned by it) and will reserve belief until the UCLA game.

Mod Edit - please don't link to other forums here. Thanks.

If you couldn't tell we had starting with the first game defensively, then you were just completely blind in my opinion. Myself, I knew we were going to be a struggling team before the season started on defense, with the lack of LB and DT talent we had. I wasn't so much concerned about the DT position, until I heard our possible 315lb DT, Valentine was injured and would be redshirted. With him and Stein, at DT, and Martin/Ankrah at DE's, we would have been better set. Nowhere near perfect, but in a better position. Redshirting our LB's may have cost us this year, but you never know if making that move will make them a much better player next year or not.

 

[Count 'Bility]

I agree 100%. We could very well be 6-6 right now. But jeez, you have to be able to play lights out and mistake free for at least a stretch in order to accomplish such comebacks. The thing to me is that I think Bo actually did a very good job coaching this year. You have to look at it as, what were the anomolys? The performances of the 10 wins, or the 4 losses? In my mind, especially the defense-regardless of the competition-was coached and played a bit above their ability in the 10 wins, becuase even in those 10 wins, there were moments of bad exposure of our weaknesses. Then encouraging thing to me is knowing that we can be that good if we cleanup the b.s. on a consistent basis. I dont see it as a hopeless situation.

 

[TGHusker]

I agree 100%. We could very well be 6-6 right now. But jeez, you have to be able to play lights out and mistake free for at least a stretch in order to accomplish such comebacks. The thing to me is that I think Bo actually did a very good job coaching this year. You have to look at it as, what were the anomolys? The performances of the 10 wins, or the 4 losses? In my mind, especially the defense-regardless of the competition-was coached and played a bit above their ability in the 10 wins, becuase even in those 10 wins, there were moments of bad exposure of our weaknesses. Then encouraging thing to me is knowing that we can be that good if we cleanup the b.s. on a consistent basis. I dont see it as a hopeless situation.

Good take on it. More of a 'glass half full' view. An earlier poster mentioned the loss of talent on the D before the season started. Perhaps that was the major reason we were so poor on the D side. With all of the redshirts and medical perhaps Bo sacrificed this year to make a run next year. That is my hope. I have no doubt the O can score - it needs to be more disciplined and not place a inexperienced D into bad situations. If the O can clean up the penalties, the sacks, and the funbles and the young D can learn quick, then next year may be much better than this year.

At this point, I don't know if I'm half full or half empty guy. I don't want to be a kool aid drinker and yet I've been a Husker fan since 1970 - therefore hard to get real negative on them - eternal optimist.

From my 2013 prediction post:

The Dark Side of me says the following:

I predict we lose to UCLA (we are too young on D that early in the season to pull it off), Michigan ( I see their QB giving us fits - he seems to have gained some confidence filling in for Robinson), NW - again our D will be the reason for the loss and OSU if we make it to the CCG. We've yet to prove that we can win the big game in the national spot light. Our offense has the ability to make us undefeated if we lower the turnovers. Our D will be young (perhaps more athletic) but untested. I see us loosing 3+ games per year until we do the following on a consitant basis:

1. reduce turnovers - many turnovers aren't so bad if you have a great D - we had a lot of turnovers in our Option years but we had a great D that could 'erase' those errors

2. Develop speed and experience in the D (1990-1992 all over again - this is when we realized we need speed on D. The championship run of 1994-97 was the result)

3. Have dominate DT play that can stabalize the line & free up DE and LB to rush the passer

4. Recruit the talent & develop it. It seems Bo developed players that BC recruited but we've yet to see dominant defensive recruits on the field. Hopefully the redshirts will be that talent next year.

5. Coaching staff showing they can outcoach and make adjustments on the big stage

The Optimistic side of me says this:

1. We lose one regular season game to one of the 4 above.

2. The young D shows that talent and speed make up for lack of experience

3. TM learns how not to fumble wt a coach this summer

4. Bo gets the monkey off his back and he wins the CCG

5. We get into the NCG

 

[Huskerfan1985]

I agree 100%. We could very well be 6-6 right now. But jeez, you have to be able to play lights out and mistake free for at least a stretch in order to accomplish such comebacks. The thing to me is that I think Bo actually did a very good job coaching this year. You have to look at it as, what were the anomolys? The performances of the 10 wins, or the 4 losses? In my mind, especially the defense-regardless of the competition-was coached and played a bit above their ability in the 10 wins, becuase even in those 10 wins, there were moments of bad exposure of our weaknesses. Then encouraging thing to me is knowing that we can be that good if we cleanup the b.s. on a consistent basis. I dont see it as a hopeless situation.

Agree. There are plenty of ways to look at this season negatively, but next year will be better. The RS and JUCOS will NOT turn the defense into worldbeaters IMO. The offense and special teams will improve regarding turnovers though, which will drastically help the D as well. Despite what people will tell you, the B1G is better than the general perception. The bowl season shows this IMO. B1G was very competitive with the SEC. Stopping making excuses for the SEC. I don't have any stats to support my opinion, but this team "looked" better to me this year than last year.

 

[Count 'Bility]

When you analyze our losses closely from a defensive perspective, you see guys in position to make plays. All four losses (except a couple TD's against Georgia on the jailbreak and the TE TD pass where they both just ran free) we had guys in the position to make the play. This tells me it is more of a talent or psychological issue than a coaching issue. I'm on the "at some point, the player has to make the dam tackle" side of the fence. Now, if the scheme is so complicated, that it's causing just enough of a slow down to cause the missed tackles, then maybe that should be addressed. But even in 2010 with out Suh, it is proven that with the proper talent, Bo's schemes work. I do wish he would've done some different things this year to compensate for the lack of talent. I cant imagine he couldnt see it as we do.

 

[Count 'Bility]

I agree 100%. We could very well be 6-6 right now. But jeez, you have to be able to play lights out and mistake free for at least a stretch in order to accomplish such comebacks. The thing to me is that I think Bo actually did a very good job coaching this year. You have to look at it as, what were the anomolys? The performances of the 10 wins, or the 4 losses? In my mind, especially the defense-regardless of the competition-was coached and played a bit above their ability in the 10 wins, becuase even in those 10 wins, there were moments of bad exposure of our weaknesses. Then encouraging thing to me is knowing that we can be that good if we cleanup the b.s. on a consistent basis. I dont see it as a hopeless situation.

Agree. There are plenty of ways to look at this season negatively, but next year will be better. The RS and JUCOS will NOT turn the defense into worldbeaters IMO. The offense and special teams will improve regarding turnovers though, which will drastically help the D as well. Despite what people will tell you, the B1G is better than the general perception. The bowl season shows this IMO. B1G was very competitive with the SEC. Stopping making excuses for the SEC. I don't have any stats to support my opinion, but this team "looked" better to me this year than last year.

And honestly, we dont need a world beater defense. We dont need the 2009 defense to squeak out 10 wins like we did that year. All we need now is a serviceable defense. Hell, a 25 ppg defense should be more than enough for our offense who if doesnt average 40 ppg will be a major letdown. I think next year's D will be somewhere between 2010's and 2011's. Not quite that good, not quite that bad. To me, that should be serviceable enough to win most games, and be compeititive in what we do lose. NO MORE BLOWOUTS. But the performance of the defense also has to fall a little on the offense and special team as has been said. No more to's putting them in bad spots. No more fumbled punts flipping the field. the offense and special teams have to do their part to expect the defense to do enough of theirs.

 

[RedRedJarvisRedwine]

Hard to Swallow in the title- not the direction I thought this thread was going!

 

[Nevada Husker]

I agree 100%. We could very well be 6-6 right now. But jeez, you have to be able to play lights out and mistake free for at least a stretch in order to accomplish such comebacks. The thing to me is that I think Bo actually did a very good job coaching this year. You have to look at it as, what were the anomolys? The performances of the 10 wins, or the 4 losses? In my mind, especially the defense-regardless of the competition-was coached and played a bit above their ability in the 10 wins, becuase even in those 10 wins, there were moments of bad exposure of our weaknesses. Then encouraging thing to me is knowing that we can be that good if we cleanup the b.s. on a consistent basis. I dont see it as a hopeless situation.

I respect your opinion, but what what's stuck in my mind is losing by 39 points to a team (Wisconsin) we had beaten earlier in the year. That's not talent or injuries, that's coaching in terms of game planning, motivation, and in-game adjustments. It's hard to just write that loss off and point to 10 wins...there are some missing ingredients in that overall staff that allowed such a brutal beat down like that to take place.

 

[TGHusker]

Hard to Swallow in the title- not the direction I thought this thread was going!

Title of the article I linked to

 

[Count 'Bility]

I agree 100%. We could very well be 6-6 right now. But jeez, you have to be able to play lights out and mistake free for at least a stretch in order to accomplish such comebacks. The thing to me is that I think Bo actually did a very good job coaching this year. You have to look at it as, what were the anomolys? The performances of the 10 wins, or the 4 losses? In my mind, especially the defense-regardless of the competition-was coached and played a bit above their ability in the 10 wins, becuase even in those 10 wins, there were moments of bad exposure of our weaknesses. Then encouraging thing to me is knowing that we can be that good if we cleanup the b.s. on a consistent basis. I dont see it as a hopeless situation.

I respect your opinion, but what what's stuck in my mind is losing by 39 points to a team (Wisconsin) we had beaten earlier in the year. That's not talent or injuries, that's coaching in terms of game planning, motivation, and in-game adjustments. It's hard to just write that loss off and point to 10 wins...there are some missing ingredients in that overall staff that allowed such a brutal beat down like that to take place.

I dont know what you can adjust. They ran a jet sweep numerous time that burned us for scores. Every single one, we had a guy, if not multiple guys, there to make the play. Like I said, at some point, the players have to take on the responsibility to make the play. Like the long TD pass against Georgia where Andrew Green all but had a finger tip on the ball. What more coaching can be done to make that play happen. Green needs to hold up his end and make the play. We make a few tackles on Wisconsin and it's a different game.

 

[Huskerfan1985]

I agree 100%. We could very well be 6-6 right now. But jeez, you have to be able to play lights out and mistake free for at least a stretch in order to accomplish such comebacks. The thing to me is that I think Bo actually did a very good job coaching this year. You have to look at it as, what were the anomolys? The performances of the 10 wins, or the 4 losses? In my mind, especially the defense-regardless of the competition-was coached and played a bit above their ability in the 10 wins, becuase even in those 10 wins, there were moments of bad exposure of our weaknesses. Then encouraging thing to me is knowing that we can be that good if we cleanup the b.s. on a consistent basis. I dont see it as a hopeless situation.

I respect your opinion, but what what's stuck in my mind is losing by 39 points to a team (Wisconsin) we had beaten earlier in the year. That's not talent or injuries, that's coaching in terms of game planning, motivation, and in-game adjustments. It's hard to just write that loss off and point to 10 wins...there are some missing ingredients in that overall staff that allowed such a brutal beat down like that to take place.

I get where you're coming from, but think about this for a second. What was the spread for the CCG and who was favored? Last check, NU was FAVORED to win by 2.5 or 3 points. Obviously, we lost by 39 points. That means vegas was wrong by 42 points, on the wrong team. This is why i look at that game as an anomoly. Even vegas had no clue. In all fairness, we shouldn't have won the game in Lincoln, but did.

 

[Count 'Bility]

I agree 100%. We could very well be 6-6 right now. But jeez, you have to be able to play lights out and mistake free for at least a stretch in order to accomplish such comebacks. The thing to me is that I think Bo actually did a very good job coaching this year. You have to look at it as, what were the anomolys? The performances of the 10 wins, or the 4 losses? In my mind, especially the defense-regardless of the competition-was coached and played a bit above their ability in the 10 wins, becuase even in those 10 wins, there were moments of bad exposure of our weaknesses. Then encouraging thing to me is knowing that we can be that good if we cleanup the b.s. on a consistent basis. I dont see it as a hopeless situation.

I respect your opinion, but what what's stuck in my mind is losing by 39 points to a team (Wisconsin) we had beaten earlier in the year. That's not talent or injuries, that's coaching in terms of game planning, motivation, and in-game adjustments. It's hard to just write that loss off and point to 10 wins...there are some missing ingredients in that overall staff that allowed such a brutal beat down like that to take place.

I get where you're coming from, but think about this for a second. What was the spread for the CCG and who was favored? Last check, NU was FAVORED to win by 2.5 or 3 points. Obviously, we lost by 39 points. That means vegas was wrong by 42 points, on the wrong team. This is why i look at that game as an anomoly. Even vegas had no clue. In all fairness, we shouldn't have won the game in Lincoln, but did.

Which pretty much supports my point that maybe Bo did a phenomenal job coaching this year if we found a way to win games that some want to paint as we had no business winning. That's the other side of the coin I see. "Our coaches suck, we had no business winning that game". Well we did win it. Maybe they aint so bad. Alot of the negativity we see is so contradictory to itself from what I see.