What did we learn?....Northwestern

I learned that this staff was wrong when they were hired and worse now.

I learned that some players still care and step up and many do not.

We have no concept of special teams.

For all of Riley's BS about wanting a running game, it's just that.  Pandering to a fan base.

We are soft. Physically and mentally.

The team, has become accustomed to and excepting of Riley's ho hum hip hip hooray attitude.  Winning is contagious.  So is losing....

The new coach, whom ever it will be ha s hell of a job in front of them to toughen the program up and separate the contenders from the pretenders.

We have fallen farther than O thought possible.  Worse than Cally. On par with Bill Jennings.

This is the most incompetent staff I have ever witnessed.  Williams x2 might be great recruiters, but the results don't show on the field.  Maybe scheme (Diaco for defense) or complete lack of OL, but I haven't been impressed all year. 

Going into OT, it looked like the guys knew they were going to lose.

Lastly, guys like Morgan, Weber, Kalu, Newby (where has Newby 2.0 been), Spielman played great IMO.  There's a lot of untapped talent in this team.  Get them to embrace physicality and a wining mentality and we will be ok.  Bring in another "who the heck is this guy" and we are screwed.

 
Mavric said:
No. He called two good plays - the key sweep to Spielman and the TD to Stoll. Other than that his offense scored 10 points. 

That's not good by any stretch.
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I never claimed he was good, but for once Langs didn't lose a game.

Our horrid D line play and the secondary tackling were pretty bad.  Obviously the picks didn't help either.

Bottom line is that neither side of the ball controls the line of scrimmage.....ever.

 
Caliborn72 said:
- Maybe I’m just bitter, but NW isn’t very good. And I fully understand the obvious response of “well then what does that make Nebraska?”

- I’m far from a Riley apologist. My mind has basically been made up since the NIU game and I wasn’t going to give him another chance after Purdue, even if we miraculously won out. With that said, there are times (not often) when I really like what I’m seeing. The offense gets in rhythm and clicks beautifully and it’s a lot of fun to watch. The defense sometimes brings pressure and it’s fun to root for those guys when they’re making plays. But it’s beyond frustrating that we can’t put it all together, for several drives, all game long. It’s due too poor coaching, planning, preparation, and gamecalling and it’s unwatchable to anyone who is not a fan (and probably to a lot of us fans).

- To that point, I foolishly thought we were going to run away with this one a few different times.

- There are some holes in the roster that I’m really worried about going forward. Poor roster management and we should have gone after JUCOs from day 1.
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This.  All of this.  I couldn't of said it better Caliborn.  

All I can add is our offense looks like it's exhausting to run.  Every single play seems like it requires a near herculean effort to even pick up a small gain.  And then I watch Iowa of all teams and they're cruising up and down the field like a gravy train on biscuit wheels.  It shouldn't be this hard.  It just shouldn't.

 
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grandpasknee said:
The "no running plays in OT" was a kick in the gut...another kick in the gut.  I"m a simpleton, but I figure if you even average 2.6 yards per carry, in a four down situation, you come out with a TD more often than not.  Glad I'm not a coach I guess...their thinking is obviously way beyond mine.
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Yes, abandoning the run when we knew we were in 4-down territory was pretty bad. Unfortunately this is just the kind of crap we do in the redzone. 

 
gobiggergoredder said:
The game was over when it even went to OT.  We all know that.  That's what this program is.
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When we have no running game, the deep passing game goes away int he red zone.  IIRC, we are dead last in the B1G in red zone efficiency.  (We are 1.5 points above Iowa who is dead last)........Non way we are gonna win basically starting in the red zone.  The #1 team in red zone efficiency?  north Western...Thy are also the #2 red zone defense....

http://www.bigten.org/library/stats/fb-confldrs.html

 
I learned that if I was coaching the QB would be Morgan Jr, Spielman ,or Pierson-El and we'd have a spread out running game with play-action passing.....and the defense would never play the prevent.

 
I had us winning this game 27-24 (contest crib) and would have been spot on if we just could put enough together on that late drive to let Brown win it for us. 

These teams are fairly equal but Northwestern just better coached.   

We finally had a few good sweeps because the execution was good.  Typically it is so easy to see we are not giving to the sweep man because the timing and ball fakes are bad.

Lindsey is misused...comes down in motion to block?  Not a strength...put the dude in the slot.  

Tanner is Tanner...some dimes and some duds.

OL is still bad. 

Which means weak running attack.

Thanks Riley for your professionalism.  I expect it when you are let go and I did want it to work out but saw early on this year it was not working.  

We have some pieces but new coach has a rebuild on his hands.    

 
NebraskaHarry said:
That the west and Big 10 can be won with the right coaching. It's right there for the taking.
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No it isn't. Not for the Huskers. You are fighting with Northwestern for the third best team in a "weak" division. Give PJ Fleck two years and you'll be fighting for 4th. 

 
Dilly Dilly!

Wow, didn't think we could see coaching at the level in a Power 5 game ever.  Neither coach called a good game, one just didn't call as bad of a game to win it.  Really, wasn't to impressed with either teams play calling or play.  This game was more winnable than any game we have had all season.  

All in all, this game is just another one in the line 19-18 record now here.  37 games of this kind of crap.  I am guessing this modest .500 will be on display at the end of this season when he finishes 20-20 on his career here.  What a legacy.  What a program.  

 
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