**** What we Learned - McNeese St Edition ****

It sounds like, from his post game conference, that we're going to be more critical of the game plan and mentality than seasons past. I think we'll be more attacking, and that Gregory will be integral in that.

 
I haven't been able to watch the game yet. But from what I'm reading, what I've learned is 2014 looks a lot like 2013 (which looked a lot like 2012, which looked a lot like......)

How good does Michigan State look right now?

 
The Dude said:
Moiraine said:
I learned that this is the same old team. Pretty athletic but not psychologically sound.
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This pretty much sums up the state of the program for me. On paper, we're a really good team. It's frustrating that rarely seems to manifest itself on the field. If we came out as sharp as we did last week, we win big. If we come out as sharp as we did last week - on a weekly basis, we get over the 4-loss slump.
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Agree with both of you...We are our own worst enemy.

Do we still have a head doctor on the team?

 
Overreact to the first game

we are amazing,

overreact to the second game

we are terrible,

Reality lies somewhere in between,

Better than last year, prob good enough to win the dumpster fire that is the west, but not ready for the big time.

But I'm pretty sure we all knew that

 
The Dude said:
It'sNotAFakeID said:
The Dude said:
It'sNotAFakeID said:
Today had to be a mentality thing, especially on the offensive line. Some of these guys came in to a MASH offensive line unit and played pretty well last year. Well, to those same guys, what happened this week? Did they think that every week was going to be like FAU?

Regardless, hopefully they get the idea that this was a wake up call; that they have to bring it every single game or pay.

Gregory coming back will add a wrinkle into our defense because he can line up as a LB. Go 4-2-5 and line Gregory and Anderson up at LB. If Santos and Banderas are in at LB, you might as well blitz them because they can't do jack in coverage.
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I liked when we blitzed Gregory from the LB spot, but I wonder how much we do it now that we only have 2 viable DEs.
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Use the 2 viable DEs. Let's just go full aggressive, play like we have nothing to lose. Instill some sort of attacking mentality and urgency in the defense.
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Yeah, like I said earlier in the thread, it seems like Bo's passive defense is back. Cannot wrap my head around why he didn't learn something from getting aggressive last season. Instead of picking up where we left off, it seems like we took a step or two back.
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I hate to say it, but at the end of last year we had some different guys in their a LB, nickel, CB and safety. The Rose loss was huge as was Leroy (Nate is doing a great job so far. Not a knock on him at all). I would not be surprised to see something different Sat night at LB.

We get killed on any route into the flat or a TE drag towards the middle. Got to get that fixed quick. Watching MSU, guys throwing it on a rope. Get more press coverage to slow routes. Today our LB's (not named Zaire) were crazy slow to get to their assignments in the passing game if they got there at all.

 
zoogies said:
* A win is a win is a win.

* Husker fans are really bad at keeping their composure. Super disappointed, you guys.

* On to Fresno!

Good things:

* Very potent on offense. Tommy's a great runner and has a hell of an arm. Maybe take a little mustard off the deep balls, just a little bit, though.

* Ameer & Westerkamp are heroes.

* Some nice things in coverage today. Mitchell being competitive and deflecting passes. McNeese has athletes and made some impressive throws/catches, but I like what we've got at DB this year.

* Demornay Pierson-El. Love what he brings to the field as a freshman, in the pass, and in the return game.

Bad things:

* Some truly baffling decisions by the coaching staff made this more of a game than it needed to be. 4th & 1 option, etc. I get that we're just working on things, but you can't play around like that or you risk screwing the pooch, as we almost did. Coaches got away with it today, but deserve full criticism.

* OL. Bad bad bad. McNeese has speed but these are some dark storm clouds when Nebraska's OL can't simply dominate them. Some suggestions that we kept throwing because we couldn't get the ground game going. If true, that's horrendous and it portends trouble against any quality opponent this year. Jake Cotton, take a penalty lap or five, come on, man.

* DL really needs Gregory back IMO.

* Defense still looks exploitable on the move-the-pocket throws and finding backs and playmakers in the flats in space. Can a sharper team exploit the hell out of this like many have in recent years? Let's hope not. Come on, Bo, let's get an answer here already. Feels like a systemic weakness. OCs must be thinking same.

* We have the ability to pass a lot but it's foolish to have a score-or-bust philosophy. Must build off the run game and try to control the clock. Be different from Oregon in that way.

* How do you expect players to take games seriously when coaches don't? I can't blame coaches for treating these games as tune ups, but they were careless with their playcalls all the way through the 4th quarter and it nearly cost us.Let's see some professionalism before getting all experimental and practice atmosphere.
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+1

 
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What is really scary about this game is that Tom Osborne always said that a team improves the most between its first and second game.

 
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