Direction of the Program

[Guy Chamberlin]

It's pretty easy to say we took a step back last season. It's not wrong, either.

But it certainly wouldn't be the first time a team took a step back in the process of moving forward.

Unfortunately, I don't see the pieces in place on defense this year to make that very necessary leap, and QB remains a question mark, so I'm not convinced that next season will bring satisfaction.

But the overall direction still might be good. Not sure I'd make a conclusion till Riley's season #4.

 

[Blackshirt316]

You honestly felt last season we looked like a worse team? We havent had a team that passed the eye ball test for quite some time.

I don't have to "feel" or "eyeball test" anything. I just showed you some actual facts that clearly indicate we were a worse team last year. I'm pretty sure these are some of the facts MD3 was referring to when he said we took a big step back last year. Your attempt to discredit his opinion by statistically equating the two previous seasons with "feelings" and "eyeball tests" is understandable, but still wrong. And silly.

I get that a few of you think we are terrible yada yada yada. But to say after watching last season we took a step back is silly to me. We played better football at the end of last season than i have seen in awhile.

There were glimmers of hope. The play at the end of the season showed that when the coaches learn to properly utilize the talent we have, we could have a pretty good team. So perhaps that walks back (forward?) that big step backwards a bit. Although the win over Mich St. felt good, it doesn't actually mean as much as people think it does. And the UCLA win felt good, though it took the coaches a while to formulate an efficient game plan. But there is still a lot of improvement needed by coaches and players to undo some of the sad play and playcalling from ALL of last season.

Have we not bitched about playcalling etc since Solich though? Every off season we moan about the same stuff, the names of coaches change but the complaints remain the same. I honestly feel that if Bo would have been here last year we finish with a very similar record. Perhaps 7-5 or 8-4 but i dont think we would have the same optimism many have now.

5-7 sure seems like a step backwards from 7-5 or 8-4. That would have resulted in a higher standing in the conference, and likely an actual ranking and better bowl game, or would that be silly?

MD3 will probably accept your apology now.

You are both correct here. We were better coached as the year went on than any point since Bo's origional assistants were here.

We Also took a step back. Something that tends to happen when you lose guys like Ameer, Gregory and DPE without anyone to replace them. Even then it wasn't a massive step back.

We lost more games and the loss to Purdue was bad but remember, in 2014 we had those three dudes and a healthy Armstrong and still needed a heisman caliber play from Ameer to beat McNeese State.

 

[cm husker]

I love dpe, but really? We had plenty of firepower at that position.
We also had a lot of guys primed to step up into the roles AA, one of my favorite Husker backs, and Gregory. Like Armstrong, Westy and Gerry to name a few. We as many draft picks taken as the teams we lost to had combined, including 3 off the lines.

I don't think it is necessary to make this about then last staff. This staff was blown off the field by a literal bottom dweller.

If the talent wasn't good enough to avoid a meltdown season, a few ticks higher on Rivals isn't going to make much of a difference in terms of end results.

 

[Elf]

A losing season was tough too take, especially given losses to bottom dwellers like Purdue. Last year was a major step back. Maybe we are in the right direction now, but we traveled a great distance in the wrong direction last year.

Reasons for hope:

The coaches talk like TA will run more

DPE will be back

New DL coach

Reasons for despair:

Two DL drafted

Lost most of the OL

Lost the best FB in a generation, and maybe of all time

Hello Paging Mackovicka, Rathman, Schlesinger. jano was good ......but come on man!!!

I am with you about Mackovicka, Rathman & Schlesinger. I lived in Detroit for 20 years, and it was beautiful watching Schlesinger block for Sanders. There is nothing I enjoy more than a FB making a big gain with a quick hitter up the middle. My second joy in life is watching a FB destroy a DB 10 yards down field while the RB goes un-touched. Jano didn't get as many opportunities as the others, but I think he may be just as good. In any case, it will hurt losing him. Even though the coaching staff forgot about him some games, he delivered when his number was called.

There is nothing you enjoy more?

There are all kinds of things I enjoy more than that, or even more than football. For example, the attentions of a fine woman.

 

[Redux]

I don't think it is necessary to make this about then last staff.

So don't

 

[Elf]

While I don't want to be a Debbie downer, I see this team (now and for at least a couple years) as just ok (i.e. 2nd or 3rd in thier division). I don't see it in the class of one of the top teams (and I think you need to be to compete for the big10 title). Hope I'm wrong.

When it comes to Nebraska football I am usually the eternal optimist. Even during the debacle of 2007 I fully expected the team to come out of it's funk at some point, obviously I was grossly in error.

I can see it taking another year or two to finish rebuilding the Huskers because of a pair of lower quality recruiting classes. However, I do see us improving this next year. It would be hard not to wouldn't it? And how we finished the last season gives me loads of hope for this next year.

 

[Redux]

You honestly felt last season we looked like a worse team? We havent had a team that passed the eye ball test for quite some time.

I don't have to "feel" or "eyeball test" anything. I just showed you some actual facts that clearly indicate we were a worse team last year. I'm pretty sure these are some of the facts MD3 was referring to when he said we took a big step back last year. Your attempt to discredit his opinion by statistically equating the two previous seasons with "feelings" and "eyeball tests" is understandable, but still wrong. And silly.

I get that a few of you think we are terrible yada yada yada. But to say after watching last season we took a step back is silly to me. We played better football at the end of last season than i have seen in awhile.

There were glimmers of hope. The play at the end of the season showed that when the coaches learn to properly utilize the talent we have, we could have a pretty good team. So perhaps that walks back (forward?) that big step backwards a bit. Although the win over Mich St. felt good, it doesn't actually mean as much as people think it does. And the UCLA win felt good, though it took the coaches a while to formulate an efficient game plan. But there is still a lot of improvement needed by coaches and players to undo some of the sad play and playcalling from ALL of last season.

Have we not bitched about playcalling etc since Solich though? Every off season we moan about the same stuff, the names of coaches change but the complaints remain the same. I honestly feel that if Bo would have been here last year we finish with a very similar record. Perhaps 7-5 or 8-4 but i dont think we would have the same optimism many have now.

5-7 sure seems like a step backwards from 7-5 or 8-4. That would have resulted in a higher standing in the conference, and likely an actual ranking and better bowl game, or would that be silly?

MD3 will probably accept your apology now.

You are both correct here. We were better coached as the year went on than any point since Bo's origional assistants were here.

We Also took a step back. Something that tends to happen when you lose guys like Ameer, Gregory and DPE without anyone to replace them. Even then it wasn't a massive step back.

We lost more games and the loss to Purdue was bad but remember, in 2014 we had those three dudes and a healthy Armstrong and still needed a heisman caliber play from Ameer to beat McNeese State.

Agreed.

Losing AA and Gregory was bound to hurt regardless of the transition. But couple that with the transition and lose DPE who we all know would have been a feature attraction in the offense last season and yeah, nasty close losses started stacking up. We had depth but those guys were struggling with the transition as was the staff.

In the end, yeah losing to Illinois and BYU on last second/minute plays isn't much different than beating NW on a Hail Mary or beating Mcneese State on a Heisman play. Don't get me wrong, huge difference between W's and L's, but production wise we got about the same out of a 1st year staff compared to a 7th year staff with all the same draft picks plus some. That gives me a lot of hope moving forward.

 

[cm husker]

People should probably revisit the flow and ending of that mcneese game. Lots of history being rewritten to I guess to equivocate between 9-3 and 5-7.

6-7 with the most talented team in the B10W was a major failure and only so much can be chocked up to "transition."

 

[cm husker]

This team, by recruiting rankings at the time and since updated to reflect attrition, is more talented than every team in the west end no worse than 4th in the B10.

A season without a division title would be an unmitigated failure.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

You really should learn the definition of "mitigated."

Sample: cm husker's relentlessly negative posts are not mitigated by insight or humor.

 

[cm husker]

It's negative to highlight the talent this team has?

 

[Redux]

People should probably revisit the flow and ending of that mcneese game. Lots of history being rewritten

I guess I'm forgetting something here. I remember it taking a massive effort play from do everything back Ameer Abdullah to edge out an FCS team.

Honestly, what am I forgetting? At the time I thought it was forgivable, but in reflection it's no more forgivable than barely edging out SMISS.

 

[Thanks_Tom RR]

This team, by recruiting rankings at the time and since updated to reflect attrition, is more talented than every team in the west end no worse than 4th in the B10.

A season without a division title would be an unmitigated failure.

It's negative to highlight the talent this team has?

It is too simple to say Nebraska had better talent on paper, so they should win. If recruiting rankings were the only thing we had to look at to predict win-lose records, why even play the games? Let's take last season loss-by-loss and evaluate the major reasons for each loss.

BYU: The scheme on both sides of the ball did not match the talent of the team. Drew Brown struggled.

Miami: Defensive scheme continued to allow significant passing yards. Offensive scheme still asked TA to throw too much. TA was a roller coaster, as a result.

Illinois: Play calling and clock management gave this away. O and D scheme flaws highlighted.

Wisconsin: Bad D.

Northwestern: Players did not do their jobs, especially the O line.

Purdue: Players gave up. Langsdorf continues to ask too much from the passing game.

Iowa: TA's worst performance of the season. Too much passing.

I would say the poor season last year was due to the coaches not scheming to what they had (contributing to 5 of the losses) and an absence of player buy-in (major reason for 2 losses). Both of these issues are problems many teams deal with during a transition year. Coaches come in expecting to run their schemes, but the personnel on the team was not recruited for those schemes. This disconnect leads to talented players struggling to execute. Further, it was discussed how some players struggled early on with buying into the vision of the new staff (potentially due to their resistance to the coaching change). As the close losses added up, the psychie of the team wavered leading to a lack of effort on the field (culminating in the loss at Purdue).

 

[Redux]

^ So much that

 

[cm husker]

People should probably revisit the flow and ending of that mcneese game. Lots of history being rewritten

I guess I'm forgetting something here. I remember it taking a massive effort play from do everything back Ameer Abdullah to edge out an FCS team.
Honestly, what am I forgetting? At the time I thought it was forgivable, but in reflection it's no more forgivable than barely edging out SMISS.

Edge out? Nebraska never trailed in that game. And though Ameer made a great play at the end, he didn't have a particularly strong game. That TD catch and run just avoided OT. It wasn't, in itself, necessary to win.

Compare that to Purdue and being down 4 scores in the fourth quarter. And before saying "fbs vs fcs", compare how many FBS teams each of those opponents beat during the respective seasons.

Anyway, no reason to even bring up 2014 and that staff except to deflect.