Purdue Pause

T

tmfr15

Starter
Like most people on this board, my expectations for Nebraska football are pretty high this year.... sometimes maybe too high, i.e. conference championship and playoff bid.

Still, it would seem that the direction of this this team is way up from a year ago. A solid bowl game bid, 10-win season, Big Ten West Division title.... those all seem reasonable.

That was until I watched the Purdue game.

Nebraska was just really bad in that Purdue game. We had flashes of good but so many dumb mistakes and breakdowns. Can we fix it all in one calendar year?

And then you look at how Purdue finished. They went 6-6 and then got beat 63-14 by Auburn in the Music City Bowl. Auburn was ahead 42-7 with 8+ minutes left until half. It felt like Auburn could have scored 100.

What I saw against Purdue was a theme of last year. There's good, but then there's,  "What the heck are you doing?" Like A-Mart's backwards pass to JD against the Bucks. Why? Just Why?

I love the Huskers and I am ready for a breakout season. So I want to believe great things are about to happen.

But I also have a bit of pause in my enthusiasm after Purdue.

Anybody empathize?

 
Do you think we would’ve beaten Purdue in late November? I do. Also, we had momentum in the 4th quarter. I think we would’ve lost regardless but I recall some really questionable penalties when we had that momentum. I think that’s the only game where I was mad about penalties. 

 
Frost made comments about that game, in how the culture finally started to change after that.  Then, we saw steady improvement start to come.  The process isn’t complete yet, but it’s really taking root.  So, no, I am no less enthused after any of the early games that looked the way the Purdue game looked.  The team started to GET IT at that point. 

 
Scarlet Overkill said:
Frost made comments about that game, in how the culture finally started to change after that.  Then, we saw steady improvement start to come.  The process isn’t complete yet, but it’s really taking root.  So, no, I am no less enthused after any of the early games that looked the way the Purdue game looked.  The team started to GET IT at that point. 
Click to expand...


The frustrating thing with me is that the Purdue game caused a "change in attitude" twice in like 4 years.  I just don't get how players as competitive as they need to be to even get Div 1 offers can be on a team that it takes losing to someone like Purdue to "change an attitude".

Well, on a positive note, I believe that Frost & Co. will have the right attitude right from the start this year.  Will they have break downs and mistakes?  Sure.  But, I am going to be surprised if we see the wholesale breakdown in team and mentality that we saw in the first half of last year.

 
tmfr15 said:
Like most people on this board, my expectations for Nebraska football are pretty high this year.... sometimes maybe too high, i.e. conference championship and playoff bid.

Still, it would seem that the direction of this this team is way up from a year ago. A solid bowl game bid, 10-win season, Big Ten West Division title.... those all seem reasonable.

That was until I watched the Purdue game.

Nebraska was just really bad in that Purdue game. We had flashes of good but so many dumb mistakes and breakdowns. Can we fix it all in one calendar year?

And then you look at how Purdue finished. They went 6-6 and then got beat 63-14 by Auburn in the Music City Bowl. Auburn was ahead 42-7 with 8+ minutes left until half. It felt like Auburn could have scored 100.

What I saw against Purdue was a theme of last year. There's good, but then there's,  "What the heck are you doing?" Like A-Mart's backwards pass to JD against the Bucks. Why? Just Why?

I love the Huskers and I am ready for a breakout season. So I want to believe great things are about to happen.

But I also have a bit of pause in my enthusiasm after Purdue.

Anybody empathize?
Click to expand...


Purdue had a stretch last season from games 4-9 that they were playing very well.  They went 5-1 in  that stretch, beating a good Boston College team, Nebraska, Illinois, Ohio St and a good Iowa team.  Their only loss was a fairly close one to MSU on the road.   They then lost 3 of their last four.  They should have beat Wisconsin they really pissed it down their leg and ended up losing in OT.  

I would say you have pretty high expectations for this coming year.  A good bowl, 10 wins and a division title are possible and I wouldn't be surprised if they happened, but I wouldn't use the team reasonable.  The margin for error this year is pretty small.  If they can stay pretty much injury free this year and Mills is all the expect him to be.  They have a decent chance at 10 wins. I think the defense takes a good step forward.  

 
Purdue seemed to put it all together after they thumped Boston College and led them all the way to handling Ohio State. After the Ohio State game, they essentially fell apart and only eeked out games against Iowa and Indiana and didn't really showing up against Minnesota or Auburn in the bowl game.

 
I think in the last 6 games the only downfall I saw was the rushing defense. I felt Ohio State, Illinois, and Iowa bullied us a little bit. We need the DL and LBs to step up this year and we will see a big boost. Have to at least contain the run in the B10. Keeping Green would be big, and of course the addition of Daniels helps. Davis twins are SRs and Stille with another year of lifting. Outside of Barry the LB unit needs to man up. I feel our LB overall has been trash for quite some time. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
BigRedBuster said:
The frustrating thing with me is that the Purdue game caused a "change in attitude" twice in like 4 years.  I just don't get how players as competitive as they need to be to even get Div 1 offers can be on a team that it takes losing to someone like Purdue to "change an attitude".

Well, on a positive note, I believe that Frost & Co. will have the right attitude right from the start this year.  Will they have break downs and mistakes?  Sure.  But, I am going to be surprised if we see the wholesale breakdown in team and mentality that we saw in the first half of last year.
Click to expand...


I don't know if it's attitude as much as just a mentality. There is no doubt these kids know how to work hard or they wouldn't be D1 athletes. Many of them probably haven't lost much in their life. So, it's more of something goes wrong and they respond "here we go again" instead of "let's go." In the second half of the year they changed their response and that made the difference. 

 
tmfr15 said:
Like most people on this board, my expectations for Nebraska football are pretty high this year.... sometimes maybe too high, i.e. conference championship and playoff bid.

Still, it would seem that the direction of this this team is way up from a year ago. A solid bowl game bid, 10-win season, Big Ten West Division title.... those all seem reasonable.

That was until I watched the Purdue game.

Nebraska was just really bad in that Purdue game. We had flashes of good but so many dumb mistakes and breakdowns. Can we fix it all in one calendar year?

And then you look at how Purdue finished. They went 6-6 and then got beat 63-14 by Auburn in the Music City Bowl. Auburn was ahead 42-7 with 8+ minutes left until half. It felt like Auburn could have scored 100.

What I saw against Purdue was a theme of last year. There's good, but then there's,  "What the heck are you doing?" Like A-Mart's backwards pass to JD against the Bucks. Why? Just Why?

I love the Huskers and I am ready for a breakout season. So I want to believe great things are about to happen.

But I also have a bit of pause in my enthusiasm after Purdue.

Anybody empathize?
Click to expand...


Yes.  After a 4-8 season, the burden of proof is on the coaching staff to prove to us they can have what it takes. 

 
BigRedBuster said:
I just don't get how players as competitive as they need to be to even get Div 1 offers can be on a team that it takes losing to someone like Purdue to "change an attitude".
Click to expand...




It's weird but it's reality. Any team no matter how good can be off one day. Especially if that team's players are treated like royalty and think of themselves as better than. We saw that when Michigan lost to App State. I mean we've seen it a million times with even the best teams. Ohio State has gotten depantsed by Iowa and Purdue the last two seasons. Human psyche isn't too predictable or easy to keep stable and consistent. 

 
BIG ERN said:
I think in the last 6 games the only downfall I saw was the rushing defense. I felt Ohio State, Illinois, and Iowa bullied us a little bit. We need the DL and LBs to step up this year and we will see a big boost. Have to at least contain the run in the B10. Keeping Green would be big, and of course the addition of Daniels helps. Davis twins are SRs and Stille with another year of lifting. Outside of Barry the LB unit needs to man up. I feel our LB overall has been trash for quite some time. 
Click to expand...


I've heard from a few high school coaching contacts that have observed multiple practices over the last year that the D-line vastly improved this spring/summer, not only in size but in want-to and technique. Same coaches are big fans of Coach T and his teaching abilities. 

 
Landlord said:
It's weird but it's reality. Any team no matter how good can be off one day. Especially if that team's players are treated like royalty and think of themselves as better than. We saw that when Michigan lost to App State. I mean we've seen it a million times with even the best teams. Ohio State has gotten depantsed by Iowa and Purdue the last two seasons. Human psyche isn't too predictable or easy to keep stable and consistent. 
Click to expand...
The problem with Nebraska in those particular seasons, it wasn't them having a "off day".  It was an "off first half of the season".

 
The Dude said:
Blough is gone.  Ain't worried about it.
Click to expand...


247 has Pirdue at #5 in the B1G at QB.

The verdict: David Blough is gone after almost 10,000 career passing yards and 69 touchdowns but the offense is not expected to slow down in Jeff Brohm’s third season. Rondale Moore is one of the nation's most dangerous playmakers and Sindelar gets a chance to build off his 2017 season where he had 18 touchdowns compared to seven picks (and started eight games). With two years of eligibility remaining after gaining an extra season following a knee injury, Sindelar has a chance to leave a lasting mark on a program that's made noteworthy strides and has an upward trajectory under Brohm.

 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top