Maybe, just maybe....

H

Huskers44

Five-Star Recruit
Mike Riley might not be the problem and the last few weeks keep showing me this.
This football team looks like they don't want to play football to me. Whether that be because these players don't want to play for Coach Riley or Riley just can't get them ready to play. Now, I'm not saying that everyone on the team doesn't want to play, but I can definitely see a few players who could care less what happens. *cough Gerry cough*
Not sure if this is just my crazy theory or if everyone else sees lack of effort, but don't get me wrong there are still people trying, but some people definitely need to take a seat if they are not in 100%.
I will take effort over talent any day.
 
Lack of effort is just further proof that Riley has lost the team. We'll know for sure this weekend. If they play hard and fight until the end, they're still on board. If they fold early and stop playing hard, they've jumped ship.

 
On a lot of plays, you see Cotton & Lewis just standing around. Gerry does not act like he cares. If this is the case, then Riley needs to set these guys on the bench and put in the players that want to play. Due to injures and the lack of talent at key positions, I will give Riley another year. Yesterday we played with walk-ons at key positions - QB (maybe D II talent), 2 WRs & 2 DEs. I love the walk-on program and some deserve to play, but how many good programs have 6 walk-ons playing significant minutes!

 
SouthLincoln Husker said:
On a lot of plays, you see Cotton & Lewis just standing around. Gerry does not act like he cares. If this is the case, then Riley needs to set these guys on the bench and put in the players that want to play. Due to injures and the lack of talent at key positions, I will give Riley another year. Yesterday we played with walk-ons at key positions - QB (maybe D II talent), 2 WRs & 2 DEs. I love the walk-on program and some deserve to play, but how many good programs have 6 walk-ons playing significant minutes!
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Really? Did you not see Lewis chase a guy down at full speed on Saturday? And Cotton? The backup tight end is a problem? What are you watching man. Also I'm sick of all this blaming the players B.S. it's up to these coaches to still draw up a gameplan and get these guys to believe in them. If they can't do that then they're not right for the job.

 
Really? Did you not see Lewis chase a guy down at full speed on Saturday?
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I was impressed with that. A good coach gets Lewis (and everybody else) to play like that on every down, in every game. If they don't, won't or can't then ask them why they are here in the first place.

 
I would not be surprised if one calculated the 'stars' of the 2 deep chart that played against Purdue yesterday, you would find an 'average of about 1.5 stars per player. I would assume you would assign a zero (0) stars for all walk on players whether or not they have been recently awarded scholarships by the team.

I doubt we have even 2 five star players on the team and probably less than 5 four star players playing considerable minutes.

One might reasonably also weigh positions differently, perhaps, such as deducting points if we are playing non "4 star or better' guys in key places such as QB, WR, RB and tackle spots. You can get by arguably with 3 star guys or so at the line positions if they have the size and are red shirt juiniors with plenty of time to develop and some good experience playing late in games while developing their talents and strength. Two star quality TEs and FBs are usable but to win championships you will need 4 star or better across the board (two deep) with your third string being solid 3 star quality players. You can fill in with some walk ons on special teams and scout team and in the 4th quarter of the domination games but you can't win at a national high level without the requisite talent!

Everyone is losing sight and is just not accepting the facts: Nebraska is a mediocre or less program and has been for years with very low average level overall talent. How many of our players that started or played over half the minutes of the game against Purdue could start for Ohio State? I don't think we have any! How many would make their second string? I don't think any! How many would make third string? Perhaps two or three.

I don't think we have more than a couple that could start for Wisconsin or Michigan or Michigan State or perhaps a number of other Big Ten teams. We could find 5 or 6 starters from each of the following teams - Minne, Illinois, and Purdue. I believe we could find 15 starters on Penn State, Wisconsin, and better.

Be real: we are not very good. I am doubtful Tom Osborne could have done much better with the talent on this team this year.

 
84HuskerLaw said:
I would not be surprised if one calculated the 'stars' of the 2 deep chart that played against Purdue yesterday, you would find an 'average of about 1.5 stars per player. I would assume you would assign a zero (0) stars for all walk on players whether or not they have been recently awarded scholarships by the team.

I doubt we have even 2 five star players on the team and probably less than 5 four star players playing considerable minutes.

One might reasonably also weigh positions differently, perhaps, such as deducting points if we are playing non "4 star or better' guys in key places such as QB, WR, RB and tackle spots. You can get by arguably with 3 star guys or so at the line positions if they have the size and are red shirt juiniors with plenty of time to develop and some good experience playing late in games while developing their talents and strength. Two star quality TEs and FBs are usable but to win championships you will need 4 star or better across the board (two deep) with your third string being solid 3 star quality players. You can fill in with some walk ons on special teams and scout team and in the 4th quarter of the domination games but you can't win at a national high level without the requisite talent!

Everyone is losing sight and is just not accepting the facts: Nebraska is a mediocre or less program and has been for years with very low average level overall talent. How many of our players that started or played over half the minutes of the game against Purdue could start for Ohio State? I don't think we have any! How many would make their second string? I don't think any! How many would make third string? Perhaps two or three.

I don't think we have more than a couple that could start for Wisconsin or Michigan or Michigan State or perhaps a number of other Big Ten teams. We could find 5 or 6 starters from each of the following teams - Minne, Illinois, and Purdue. I believe we could find 15 starters on Penn State, Wisconsin, and better.

Be real: we are not very good. I am doubtful Tom Osborne could have done much better with the talent on this team this year.
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Sad post. Blaming players in a weaksauce attempt to defend sub mediocre coaches. Pelini would be 9-0 right now with these same players.

 
84HuskerLaw said:
I would not be surprised if one calculated the 'stars' of the 2 deep chart that played against Purdue yesterday, you would find an 'average of about 1.5 stars per player. I would assume you would assign a zero (0) stars for all walk on players whether or not they have been recently awarded scholarships by the team.

I doubt we have even 2 five star players on the team and probably less than 5 four star players playing considerable minutes.

One might reasonably also weigh positions differently, perhaps, such as deducting points if we are playing non "4 star or better' guys in key places such as QB, WR, RB and tackle spots. You can get by arguably with 3 star guys or so at the line positions if they have the size and are red shirt juiniors with plenty of time to develop and some good experience playing late in games while developing their talents and strength. Two star quality TEs and FBs are usable but to win championships you will need 4 star or better across the board (two deep) with your third string being solid 3 star quality players. You can fill in with some walk ons on special teams and scout team and in the 4th quarter of the domination games but you can't win at a national high level without the requisite talent!

Everyone is losing sight and is just not accepting the facts: Nebraska is a mediocre or less program and has been for years with very low average level overall talent. How many of our players that started or played over half the minutes of the game against Purdue could start for Ohio State? I don't think we have any! How many would make their second string? I don't think any! How many would make third string? Perhaps two or three.

I don't think we have more than a couple that could start for Wisconsin or Michigan or Michigan State or perhaps a number of other Big Ten teams. We could find 5 or 6 starters from each of the following teams - Minne, Illinois, and Purdue. I believe we could find 15 starters on Penn State, Wisconsin, and better.

Be real: we are not very good. I am doubtful Tom Osborne could have done much better with the talent on this team this year.
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Stuff like this blows my mind. Are people really going this far to try and explain how we lost and gave up 55 to Purdue? It doesn't take Ohio State talent to beat them. For god sakes Minnesota beat them 41-13 this year

 
Football is a relatively simple game. You line up and beat the guy across from you. Are Nebraska players doing that? A few of them are, but a lot of them are not. It's hard to judge a scheme when Nebraska's superior athletes aren't beating Purdue's players one-on-one in their assignments. On the whole, our team is showing very little confidence or energy.

The Football Program has serious problems that go well beyond Riley's schemes. There is minimal buy-in from the players, and whoever's responsible for that needs to get it fixed. If that means removing players, coaches or staff that are dragging everybody else down, now's the time to do it. Riley tried the accomodating route; now he needs to just lay down the law.

 
I blame all of them. The players have lost some games due to execution. The coaches lost the last game with a brain dead game plan. Neither group seems to be able to get out of their own way to win when given the opportunity.

The only reason I can come up with for the passing at Purdue, is they know Armstrong won't play against Michigan State and they know we won't be able to run against them. So they thought the could use the game to practice with Fife. Not a good game plan at all.

But some of our losses have been due to players shooting themselves in the foot with penalties and bad play.

When the coaches and players both come together you get last Saturday. Horrible game plan, five turnovers, poor play, beat by a bad team.

 
InOmaha said:
I blame all of them. The players have lost some games due to execution. The coaches lost the last game with a brain dead game plan. Neither group seems to be able to get out of their own way to win when given the opportunity.

The only reason I can come up with for the passing at Purdue, is they know Armstrong won't play against Michigan State and they know we won't be able to run against them. So they thought the could use the game to practice with Fife. Not a good game plan at all.

But some of our losses have been due to players shooting themselves in the foot with penalties and bad play.

When the coaches and players both come together you get last Saturday. Horrible game plan, five turnovers, poor play, beat by a bad team.
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The running game wasn't producing and Newby got hurt. Our O-line isn't playing well. If you're the coaches you probably throw it because you have more trust in the QBs and WRs than anybody else on the team. It's a mess though, I agree.

 
They should have lined up 2 tight ends and run after Fife throws an interception. Limit the game to one fumble and one interception and the chances of pulling out a win goes way up.

They should have been able to run on this team.

 
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InOmaha said:
They should have lined up 2 tight ends and run after Fife throws an interception. Limit the game to one fumble and one interception and the chances of pulling out a win goes way up.

They should have been able to run on this team.
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Raises are builtin. Extensions are not.

 
InOmaha said:
They should have lined up 2 tight ends and run after Fife throws an interception. Limit the game to one fumble and one interception and the chances of pulling out a win goes way up.

They should have been able to run on this team.
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I agree they should have been able to run. But the problem wasn't the scheme; it was the execution. We should have been able to do whatever we wanted to Purdue, however we wanted to do it.

 
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