I totally agree with you on trying to use the tight end more. One of my friends said that maybe Callahan was trying to limit the reads that Taylor had this year to limit the sacks and the hits he took. It might be possible that the tight end was eliminated or that Taylor just didn't look his way and went right to the backs for a checkdown instead of waiting that extra second and taking a hit because of it. This is all speculation but it does make sense to a point.
Would any Husker fan have wanted him to? I thought he was going to get killed in the few games I watched.I know Taylor is a tough kid and took a lot of hits the year before, but I agree with you gamecocks. I don't know if he could have made it through another season like 2005!!!
I must say I never understood Herian always being on the field either. I remember Callahan saying hat he was expecting to use the TEs a lot in the WCO, however, it seems that our lack of a receiving threat at the position made him more inclined to use the TE as a blocker. I am guessing that this means most teams were using Zone defenses to defend us. If the other teams were guarding us in man to man, we would want the TE to go out on a pattern to get rid of another possible rusher. If they are in zone, it would make sense to leave another blocker in that is no threat as a receiver, because the defense will have the same number of people rushing....regardless of how many receivers are out in routes.
I know you are just stating your opinion, and I respect that, but I really think any apparent improvement in the defense has more to do with the fact that we finished against teams down the stretch that were having offensive issues (OU, Auburn, Colorado, A&M, K-State). Once our defense got lit up by the likes of Kansas, USC, and OSU, anything would look good. Besides, there were even times in the OU and A&M games where the defense had their (unfortunately) typical meltdowns. I didn’t see any real improvement in the defense throughout the season. IMHO.
Eh, Lubbock, Stillwater, College Station, Happy Valley, Gainesville, Tuscaloosa, Auburn, Blacksburg, South Bend, Ames, Manhattan, Athens -- many schools are in crappy little towns (no offense if you are from one of the above mentioned towns or if they are really nice, I'm generalizing) in the middle of no where and are either too cold in February or too hot in August. Win and recruit like crazy (not necessarily in that order) and you'll get top talent.
As much as we all think NU is on the same level as the schools listed most of the rest of the Nation does not. USC, Texas, Florida can all recruit and fill their teams with players from their own back yards. Notre Dame has more history then anyone and they all have fatter pockets then NU does. I may be wrong but I assume that is what he meant when he listed those schools. I could be wrong though.
I know the West Coast offense is here to stay, and I think it will be okay. However, one of the problems with it is what many of you have said about recruiting. If you are a big, strong-armed quarterback, or a talented wide receiver, there might be a temptation to look first at USC or Texas, or Miami, or Notre Dame. In the past, when we ran the option, we were the best at running it (at least under Osborne). Back then we got good running backs from outside the state of Nebraska (Mike Rozier from New Jersey, LP from California, etc.) and any good backs from inside the state. We also got pretty much our pick of the option quarterbacks (Turner Gill from Texas, Steve Taylor from California, Tommie Frazier from Florida, Bobby Newcomb from New Mexico) Although Newcomb didn’t work out at QB he was yet another example of pulling the best option QB’s available from out of state. Hell, Donavan McNabb has said in interviews that the only reason he went to Syracuse was because Frazier was already at NU and he didn’t want to have to compete with him for a starting job.
husker1, once again, you totally missed the point.huskers1 said: