Grading Confidence Level against the Ducks

Special Team Play

  • A

    Votes: 1 1.2%

  • B

    Votes: 6 7.2%

  • C

    Votes: 29 34.9%

  • D

    Votes: 26 31.3%

  • F

    Votes: 21 25.3%
  • Total voters
    83
Maybe I went about this all wrong. I thought we were voting on how well we had been playing in each phase of the game.

If the question is how much confidence I have that we'll do well against Oregon, I think I'd give us all Cs.

I don't think our running game is set up for success and I'm afraid Langs will panic and go pass-happy and we'll get too much Bad Tommy. I think we will have success but I'm afraid there will be too many misfires mixed in.

On defense I think our pass coverage is in a better place than last year but we still give up way too many easy throws, especially now that we're not facing a freshman QB. And we struggled with Wyoming's speed sweep and I don't think that bodes well for Oregon.

Special teams is the same as above.

 
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I was a bit confused so I'll just address the question first:

Grading Confidence level against the Ducks:

Offense: B-

Defense: C+

(plus and or/minus due to game in Lincoln)

Grading confidence in team after two games:

Offense: C+

Defense: B-

(it's actually opposite from above, but things/perspective changes considering a game against Oregon and how they've done up until now)

Offense: Impressed with last week's passing game for the most part, not so much in first one. We all know which couple of throws were not good so I am skipping over that.

Feel very good about Westy, Moore, Cethan, Reilly, and Morgan out there. The passing is there. Quick slants and deep ball look good. Just have to play a little smarter and avoid past mistakes.

Newby looks good. Ozigbo looks good. I think they are doing the best they can considering the vanilla play calls. The offense would benefit more if they could utilize Newby in the running game out to the hashes. To be honest, it's unthinkable that between these two featured backs - 47 combined carries, and just 5 runs that went 10 yards or more (the longest run has been 17). And 22 runs that have been 4 yards or less including negative yardage. The ground game is so predictable and vanilla...that it's hard to tell if the OLine is good or bad or if they are just getting outnumbered from extra defenders to block. Middle, Middle, Middle. So if they want to reap the rewards of big chunk plays on the ground, go WIDE more with the RBs. Overall, the team needs to get more points in the first half while still playing strong in the 4th.

Defense: So far, So good (or not too bad). Limiting big plays, front 7 doing well against the run most of the time... Kieron and Kalu having been playing well. Gerry did nice in his one game. Cover 3 looks more promising. The secondary does way better looking back for the ball (just not as consistent though). Pressure is there when the D gets good coverage. But it's difficult for any team to apply pressure when the QB gets rid of the ball in a few seconds. Forcing turnovers has been huge. Very impressed with that so far.

Special Teams: D (It stinks!)

29.9 yards/24.6 net punt average on 8 punts? 0 yards on punt returns? A blocked punt and a failed fake punt experiment? It looks like a mess out there and needs to be cleaned up immediately. These two are areas are failures. There are some good kick returns and kickoff coverage has been good. 1-1 on FGs. So not entirely an F.

 
admo said:
I was a bit confused so I'll just address the question first:

Grading Confidence level against the Ducks:

Offense: B-

Defense: C+

(plus and or/minus due to game in Lincoln)

Grading confidence in team after two games:

Offense: C+

Defense: B-

(it's actually opposite from above, but things/perspective changes considering a game against Oregon and how they've done up until now)

Offense: Impressed with last week's passing game for the most part, not so much in first one. We all know which couple of throws were not good so I am skipping over that.

Feel very good about Westy, Moore, Cethan, Reilly, and Morgan out there. The passing is there. Quick slants and deep ball look good. Just have to play a little smarter and avoid past mistakes.

Newby looks good. Ozigbo looks good. I think they are doing the best they can considering the vanilla play calls. The offense would benefit more if they could utilize Newby in the running game out to the hashes. To be honest, it's unthinkable that between these two featured backs - 47 combined carries, and just 5 runs that went 10 yards or more (the longest run has been 17). And 22 runs that have been 4 yards or less including negative yardage. The ground game is so predictable and vanilla...that it's hard to tell if the OLine is good or bad or if they are just getting outnumbered from extra defenders to block. Middle, Middle, Middle. So if they want to reap the rewards of big chunk plays on the ground, go WIDE more with the RBs. Overall, the team needs to get more points in the first half while still playing strong in the 4th.

Defense: So far, So good (or not too bad). Limiting big plays, front 7 doing well against the run most of the time... Kieron and Kalu having been playing well. Gerry did nice in his one game. Cover 3 looks more promising. The secondary does way better looking back for the ball (just not as consistent though). Pressure is there when the D gets good coverage. But it's difficult for any team to apply pressure when the QB gets rid of the ball in a few seconds. Forcing turnovers has been huge. Very impressed with that so far.

Special Teams: D (It stinks!)

29.9 yards/24.6 net punt average on 8 punts? 0 yards on punt returns? A blocked punt and a failed fake punt experiment? It looks like a mess out there and needs to be cleaned up immediately. These two are areas are failures. There are some good kick returns and kickoff coverage has been good. 1-1 on FGs. So not entirely an F.
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Good review. Has anyone heard anything about DPE getting back to field punts anytime soon?
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We need a difference maker back there and now. I know there was a statement after game 1 that it is 'slow and patient' but we might as well ask the opposing team where they want us to spot the ball and bypass the punt wt the lack of return we are getting.

 
We haven't beaten a ranked non-conf opponent during the regular season since Notre Dame in 2001. I know those opportunities don't come around every year, but we have had our chances and whiffed on those games. So I think this game is important.

In regards to the team's play this year so far I haven't seen anything much different yet besides squandering leads in the 4th quarter. We have beaten a bad Fresno and not so great Wyoming team. Oregon will be our first true test on if we can take that step forward. I would feel a lot more confident if we controlled the game from the get on these teams, but we only had a 11 pt lead and 7 pt lead heading into the 4th quarter -- a top 15 team doesn't do that. Offensive line will need to improve and stay healthy throughout the year. The defensive alignment still seems funky to me, but we will know more on that Saturday. Overall, you can tell we mesh a little more with these systems and coaches. Something about Riley as well, maybe just a little bit more spark I see in him.

With that being said I bet Nebraska preseason and again this week to win the game #GBR

 
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we have won 5 out of our last 6 games. 2 of those victories were against ranked teams and the loss was to an udefeated Iowa team. this team has come together and is playing well since the Purdue game. whatever happened that game it sure has drawn this team together since then. i have confidence in this team now. this game is the type of game we can look forward to with anticipation....no need to fear it. I don't know if we win....but am thinking that win or lose....we will see a good game from our huskers this time.

 
commando said:
we have won 5 out of our last 6 games. 2 of those victories were against ranked teams and the loss was to an udefeated Iowa team. this team has come together and is playing well since the Purdue game. whatever happened that game it sure has drawn this team together since then. i have confidence in this team now. this game is the type of game we can look forward to with anticipation....no need to fear it. I don't know if we win....but am thinking that win or lose....we will see a good game from our huskers this time.
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great attitude just like your tag line - Live it!

 
It is hard to rank the special teams unit based on punt returns when we have had no legitimate chances to return punts. FG blocking needs to be worked on. I have to feel bad for Lightbourn. It cannot be easy to replace Foltz, but he has not been really good so far. He is obviously a true freshman though, and freshman punters/kickers always tend to just get better (look at Fairbairn's history).

 
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