Husker Fan myopia

In all fairness, almost no OC is loved by their fans. Watson did coach Ganz, who was one of the better QB's we have had recently. And the nature of Ganz being physically limited but played well speaks well to coaching. And it was no secret that Pelini constrained his offense. Similarly for Beck, what we saw in the bowl game this year is probably a hell of a lot closer to what he actually wanted to run, which did perform pretty well. He did have some suspect play calls, but we don't know the level of influence from Pelini either. Where I will call him out is with QB development. Watson was easily better at that part of the job. And Beck will learn at OSU, Meyer is the QB guru, no matter where he has been he always has had great QB play, regardless of who the position coach was.

 
Are we talking about the myopia of HUSKER fans or of college football fans in general? Because there were threads on Ohio State message boards bickering about Offensive Coordinator Tom Herman.

This year.

As in, the year he guided Ohio State's offense to a national championship.

Here's two examples from a 20-second google search:

LINK 1

LINK 2

Offensive Coordinators are not universally loved by everyone but Nebraska Fan, or uniquely under-appreciated by this fan base.

It isn't Nebraska fans. It's everyone.

 
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Shawn Watson is viewed by most here as a terrible coach that had no business in the profession. Couldn't develop QBs and his offense was crap . . .
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Hyperbole aside, some of the unhappiness was more than justified when we recall things like:
Personally, I think the spiral started with that aTm game . . .
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Remind me, how many points did Shawn Watson's offense post that night?
 
I thought some ACs were likely unfairly judged in the Pelini era. Good/great HCs get the best out of their assistants and Bo didn't. That's why I didn't want to see AC changes at the end of the season because the real problem with the program was at the top.

I think Beck will succeed under Urban.

 
Great players, and in particular great QBs can make an OC look really good. Nebraska hasn't had that exceptional QB that makes a team really better since EC.

I think Frost is a great coach and OC but he won't look nearly as brilliant without Mariota. Ohio St has 3 QBs on there roster better than our starter last year, my guess is Tim Beck will look like a much better coach next year.

 
ALL FANS WHINE. That is a universal truth. Here in Oregon, I have to listen to Ducks fans whine about how horrible Helfrich and Frost are. Before that, they whined about how boring Chip Kelly was.

 
Good post to the OP. I never thought of Beck as a bad coach ...always thought he was pretty creative....but there seemed to be some disconnect between what he was trying to do and what the QB did that made the big games look like a disjointed mess. I believe there was too much freedom given to the players and the style of offense caused them to hurry up with mediocre plays that made them miss some big opportunities. You have the advantage over the defense when you hurry and know what you're doing, but when your guys are just winging it and calling the same audibles it becomes an advantage for the defense

 
Hayseed said:
Good post to the OP. I never thought of Beck as a bad coach ...always thought he was pretty creative....but there seemed to be some disconnect between what he was trying to do and what the QB did that made the big games look like a disjointed mess. I believe there was too much freedom given to the players and the style of offense caused them to hurry up with mediocre plays that made them miss some big opportunities. You have the advantage over the defense when you hurry and know what you're doing, but when your guys are just winging it and calling the same audibles it becomes an advantage for the defense
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So you're saying that the players were not executing. Hmmm, where have I heard that before ...

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Based on my experience reading Husker message boards for years, I have concluded one thing about Husker fan myopia. The myopia rating is above average for posters living in Texas. True story.

 
NUance said:
Hayseed said:
Good post to the OP. I never thought of Beck as a bad coach ...always thought he was pretty creative....but there seemed to be some disconnect between what he was trying to do and what the QB did that made the big games look like a disjointed mess. I believe there was too much freedom given to the players and the style of offense caused them to hurry up with mediocre plays that made them miss some big opportunities. You have the advantage over the defense when you hurry and know what you're doing, but when your guys are just winging it and calling the same audibles it becomes an advantage for the defense
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So you're saying that the players were not executing. Hmmm, where have I heard that before ...

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No, not at all... I'm saying they were executing crap.

 
I posted several times that I thought Watson was one of the all time greats at breaking down film and figuring out how to attack a defense. His weakness was adjusting during the game. I would love to have Watson on staff, just don't let him call plays.

 
teachercd said:
DaveH said:
Good post.

I'd agree that a lot of fans are pretty shortsighted in that they don't realize as fans, they're not really privy to all the inner workings and variables that play into a team.

I guess the older I've become, I've learned to enjoy Saturdays with friends and watch the team play. Less bickering about details I know nothing about. Enjoy it for what it is and let's not go off the deep end..
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I agree...years back I was soooo into the wins and the losses. Now, for me, Saturday is about the game because of everything that goes along with it...

Take a 2:30 game...

9am: grabbing a beer waiting for friends to show up.

Head down to Lincoln and basically just rehash stories and have a drink

Park and either set up a tailgate or hit O street or the Rail Yard

Its 4-5 hours of fun before the game even starts.
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WOW, what a fair weather fan...

2:30 game.....

9;00 pm night before: grabbing a beer, loading vehicle for morning.

6:00 am: grab a beer head down to Lincoln.

7:00 am: arrive at lot 19, grab a beer and set up camp.

8:00 am: Grab a beer and start cooking, waiting for friends to arrive.

12:01 pm: grab a beer and head up to stadium, stop at barry's for a bloody mary, beer for the road.

1:15 pm: head up to stadium and wait for gates to open, go in and stare at the holy land!!!!!

DONT JUDGE ME!!!!!

 
The Dude said:
Shawn Watson is viewed by most here as a terrible coach that had no business in the profession. Couldn't develop QBs and his offense was crap . . .
Click to expand...
Hyperbole aside, some of the unhappiness was more than justified when we recall things like:
Personally, I think the spiral started with that aTm game . . .
Click to expand...
Remind me, how many points did Shawn Watson's offense post that night?
Click to expand...
It is hard to blame the OC's when you have a HC who is defensive minded, mircomanages the offense even though he knows very little about it. Watson left because he didn't want TMart as a QB, Bo did so he found a new job.

 
It is also possible to see the good in one's scheme, but the problems caused by them simultaneously.

We always talk about the "good ol' days" of the option. But at the same time how many of us screamed at our screen wondering why we ran option on the short side? There have been more than a couple posts regarding GT's system and how everyone want's Johnson as our HC in sort of "see, I told you so" moments, despite the fact that this is probably the best GT will ever get. Before Justin Thomas, they were doing no better than us from season to season.

I can sit here and tell you the excellence in Beck's system. I have seen some of the most creative stuff from Beck. Honestly, he has this zone read play that has kind of a double trap built within. We ran it with some crazy success against Miami. But it sort of died after that. I never saw it again until Tommy ran a TD with it against USC. He has some of the best stuff our of the diamond formation, but the problem is we only saw it a handful of times throughout the whole season despite the fact that we have one of the most capable back fields in the nation.

The point is, personally, I can sit here and complain about Beck as much as the next guy. But I can also sit here and argue with someone about the genius things I have seen in his scheme, and his utilization of some many different concepts that make the scheme incredibly scary. Make no mistake, Urban Meyer knows what he's doing by getting Beck. Our players are honestly better players having been coached by a mind like Beck's. But his scheme was flawed. He will become a better coach working under Urban Meyer. He'll learn and his scheme will be refined. The way it should have while he was here.

I feel like I spent a tremendous amount of time talking about Beck and his scheme. I hope some people aren't sick of hearing it. There's a lot to love about Beck and his scheme. There truly is. But there are also things to not like about it. For me, it was the mentality behind the scheme. That mentality was "read and react". I didn't like it. I understand the need for it, but it was what Beck loved. So we saw it almost to an extreme.

Something should be said about our "general complaining" also. Some people may see it as problematic. And to a certain extent its true. We don't need people attacking players and coaches. However, someone said it best during one of the Big Red Breakfasts. I forgot who, but it was an ex-player. He said it isn't an issue because it just shows our passion. We are passionate fans. He said he would be more worried if we didn't have anyone complain, because that would mean that no one was passionate and no one cared. I have to agree with that. I know I will always complain, but it's only because I care. I think most posters on here can agree with that.

 
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