**** What did we learn - Sparty edition ****

[lo country]

Our OL is inconsistent at best.

Beck's play calling and inability to adjust in game.

TA has his strengths. A passing game predicated in him making reads is doomed from the on set. 14 games as a starter, he still stares down receivers and doesn't progress through his reads. Very visible when announcers show the open NU receivers that TA overlooked.

The whole reviewing "what worked the past 12-18 months" appears to have only included film on TM as QB. No way TA makes some of those out routes regularly in practice. No way.

Beck refuses to make a defense pay for their aggressive play and stacking the box. The type of plays have been discussed ad nauseam. No idea why he doesn't try something.

Defense was solid. Hurts with the losses of most of our starters save the DL. They played well and kept us in the game. Obvious why Rose isn't starting. Obvious the issues when Bo stated in the fall there was "more of a drop off between the number 1's and 2's than he would like.

Roach had a monster game. Gerry playing lights our. IMO, if Alexander was healthy, he and Nate would be the starters and Coop would be back up.

OL. Had to go back. They got owned and then some. Embarrassing.

ST's. Glad to see Bo running this. Proves he knows what he is doing. Also appears to be calling the D as well. Our only area now lacking is play calling on O. Makes me wonder how well we would do with a new competent OC/OL/QB coach.............

 

[California Husker]

Going for two is NEVER the right decision and WILL come back to bite you.

Could someone explain that, the numbers didn't add up to go for 2 the first time. Had we kicked the extra point both times, we could have kicked a field goal to put it into overtime.

The first time we went for 2, we had just scored from a 27-3 deficit (24 points). We want to go for 2 to cut that into 16 points (2 scores).
The second time we went for 2, it was 27-22 and a successful conversion would have cut it to 3 points (FG).

So it was the correct call in both cases.

We threw away one point, two times. We lost by 5. 5-2=3. Field goals are worth 3 points. I stand by my statement.

I don't even know why I'm arguing you with this, but did think you really think we would have 3 scoring opportunities, that it would have come down to just a FG? You're cutting the number of scoring drives from 3 to 2. But obviously, the coaches should have had Captain Hindsight on the staff to tell them they would have had a third scoring opportunity to end the game.

Uhhh, only if you make them. It doesn't take hindsight to realze that this was a stupid plan.

Just for giggles however, let's look at what (I guess) you're saying was the right decision. Nebraska had just scored a TD. They lined up for a two-point conversion in hopes that IF they make it, they will score TWO more TDs and make Two more two-point conversions? Is that about right? So you and Nebraska's coaching staff thought that NU would score a total of three consecutive TDs with successful two-point conversions? And you think that is more likely that three more scoring opportunities? Wow!

Going for two is almost never the right choice...especially if there is a lot of time left on the clock (which there was when they started this unfortunate series of bad decisions).

 

[Danny Bateman]

Our OL is inconsistent at best.

Beck's play calling and inability to adjust in game.

TA has his strengths. A passing game predicated in him making reads is doomed from the on set. 14 games as a starter, he still stares down receivers and doesn't progress through his reads. Very visible when announcers show the open NU receivers that TA overlooked.

The whole reviewing "what worked the past 12-18 months" appears to have only included film on TM as QB. No way TA makes some of those out routes regularly in practice. No way.

Beck refuses to make a defense pay for their aggressive play and stacking the box. The type of plays have been discussed ad nauseam. No idea why he doesn't try something.

Defense was solid. Hurts with the losses of most of our starters save the DL. They played well and kept us in the game. Obvious why Rose isn't starting. Obvious the issues when Bo stated in the fall there was "more of a drop off between the number 1's and 2's than he would like.

Roach had a monster game. Gerry playing lights our. IMO, if Alexander was healthy, he and Nate would be the starters and Coop would be back up.

OL. Had to go back. They got owned and then some. Embarrassing.

ST's. Glad to see Bo running this. Proves he knows what he is doing. Also appears to be calling the D as well. Our only area now lacking is play calling on O. Makes me wonder how well we would do with a new competent OC/OL/QB coach.............

Solid points, Lo. I agree with everything you said.

I feel like the bolded really hurts the offense as well. It really sucks that we were down to our 7th and 8th string guys on that final pass. I have to think a healthy KBell and Jamal don't run into each other there. But, what can you do. You have to play the hand you're dealt, and we're using a very injured deck at this point.

TB is terrible at in game adjustments. Last night made me REALLY want to replace Barney on staff with a QB coach that could tutor Tommy. Teach him to make those progressions and iron out those mechanics. I think he's got a ton of potential if we actually got off the pot and did this.

As far as the playcalling to pay them back for being so aggressive, you can call this a cop out, but I honestly think he got shell-shocked when KBell fell down trying to come back for that early deep ball and it was intercepted. That was direct evidence of the poor traction they had on the field, and I think Beck got scared from that point on to call anything deep to stretch the D. Those comeback deep balls work really well when we have good footing... on that field last night, not so much.

As for screens, counters, sweeps etc. to combat their aggression-- for whatever reason, those just aren't a part of TB's playbook. It's been that way for a while and we've all been fed up for a while. It sucks.

Just to be clear, I'm not defending TB. Who would do that at this point? I'm merely speculating as to why he called the game the way he did... which is a maddening exercise.

 

[NUpolo8]

We have plenty of problems but we were this close to beating a Top 10 team on the road despite playing poorly.

Credit

This......good post Mavric.

If all we need to do is almost win, we could be paying a lot less

 

[walksalone]

I learned that the MSU D front 7 is better than the NU offensive line. Not much else to say. They are a better team than us.

Yeah, if only we'd have had 7 guys blocking huh?

 

[TheSker]

We have plenty of problems but we were this close to beating a Top 10 team on the road despite playing poorly.

Credit

This......good post Mavric.

If all we need to do is almost win, we could be paying a lot less

Iowa fan agrees

 

[URSS]

Beck's passing chart:

Is this real?

 

[Whistlebritches]

I learned that the MSU D front 7 is better than the NU offensive line. Not much else to say. They are a better team than us.

For a big part of the day the MSU front 4 was better than the NU o-line, TE, and blocking RB.

 

[ZRod]

Beck's passing chart:

Is this real?

Could be. The pass to the endzone is there. Can't remember going over the middle at all.l, so...

 

[Whistlebritches]

Beck's passing chart:

Is this real?

Could be. The pass to the endzone is there. Can't remember going over the middle at all.l, so...

Way too many dots. There's at least 50 in just the top half.

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

We have plenty of problems but we were this close to beating a Top 10 team on the road despite playing poorly.

Credit

This. MSU played like this years Rose bowl champs. The only thing I can say about last night is that this team doesn't give up even when the other team thinks they have it in the bag.

The band's reaction was pretty similar to my own. Despite a terrible 3 quarters of football, we were a held ball away from pulling out a victory. Accredit some of it to MSU laxing. But probably nothing more than our first TD. You could see the look of panic on Dantonio's and Narduzzi's faces when we made it 27-16. You could see them squirm when we made it 27-22. I thought for sure we were going to somehow win.

But MSU was and is the better team. We almost stole it from them, and teams do that sometimes. Even the good ones.

 

[True2tRA]

MSU learned as much from this game as I'm hoping we did.

 

[SeaOfRed402]

1. TOMMY ARMSTONG IS A WARRIOR.

2. Offensive line as of now is garbage

3. Hate Zone Blocking

4. Bo Pelini Teams Really have no quit.

 

[3rd and long]

I didn't get to watch the second half, but was glad to see the kids didn't quit. Seems like in years past, this game would have turned ugly real quickly.

My biggest question from the first half. They had obviously taken away the run. But when we went to pass their DE's were just blowing by our tackles, several times they barely even brushed the defender as he went by. You can't expect Tommy to find a second or third receiver when he doesn't even have time to set up and look at the first option. The question, why didn't we pull a tightend in, or keep a back in to help on the blocking?

Also, we like to run that receiver screen, why not put Ameer in that spot. Try to get him the ball quickly out there with blockers?

 

[junior4949]

I learned that nothing changed.

This is the best we can expect seven years in from this overmatched substandard coaching staff. "We didn't get blown out and never mind that thing about being outmatched for three and a half quarters"

And I don't know how many more injuries to people like Bell or Armstrong we need to show that we are behind in S&C so badly it's depressing.

Anyone who gleans that "we're close" after this debacle of a game where msu was handing it to Nebraska simply isn't living in reality.

Fire Bo Pelini.

I learned that the vultures were predictably waiting in the weeds through 5 wins to jump on the first loss of the season, regardless of how close of a loss it was.

It's like the first five games were against really really bad teams or something.

....or something.

Go ahead, fire Pelini.

Keep an eye on Ann arbor.....

.....you'll look back fondly on the Pelini era.

I'm not behind the whole "Fire Pelini" movement, but all I'm saying is, fear of the unknown should not be a reason to retain a coach. Last year when the team was struggling, my Top 3 replacement choices were Chris Petersen, Jim Tressel, and Rich Rodriguez. "Petersen will never leave Boise," they said. "Tressel would never come here," they said. "Rich Rod failed at Michigan," they said. Um, yeah.

Hiring a Boise State coach seems questionable at best when considering how those before him did at their next gig. One can look at

Boise State and claim either Houston Nutt or Dirk Koetter really got things started. Nutt was only there one year, so we can start

with Koetter. Koetter posted the best winning percentage of a Boise State coach since the late 70's to early 80's. He got the

program rolling. He went on to Arizona State where he was later fired. After Koetter, came the great Dan Hawkins. He made Boise State a perennial power posting three top 15 finishes. Hawkins went on to Colorado, and he was fired. Is Petersen different?

Only time will tell.

Rich Rod not only failed at Michigan, but he ended up getting Michigan in trouble with the NCAA which resulted in sanctions and

probation.

Jim Tressel got Ohio State in plenty of trouble as well. He's the best coach on your list, but he comes with plenty of baggage as well.