"Offensive" issues
- Thread starter 10_point_buck
- Start date
Plus all the steroids the coaches accidentally give their players!!Isn't this just crazy. I'm not a doom and gloom kind of guy, and I understand that 3 stars can be developed, but how do you compete with this? Sorry, I know you were focusing on us not getting rolled, but I just wanted to talk to someone.
View attachment 15614
CAHusker
Five-Star Recruit
I was kinda off topic, I just saw this and went WTH, crazy. But, yes, I am totally with you, getting rolled by teams we have out recruited is hard to stomach.
ActualCornHusker
Starter
Not sure if such a thing exists, but I'd love to see an adjusted recruiting rankings taking attrition into account. My bet would be that after you account for the massive amounts of attrition that we've had the past 3-5 classes, our recruiting "ranking" would be pretty damn poor...
We are #24 this year - pretty much where we've been the last few years.
Of course, that doesn't account for any development (or lack there of)
Undone
All-American
We kind of went through some of these ideas a couple days ago in the 'Defensive Play' thread. But, I'll make another go at it.
If anyone's interested, I can probably fairly quickly look up Minnesota's offensive & defensive line's recruiting rankings coming out of high school. If I do that and show that they average less talent than our lines, does this count for anything for anyone?
Genuinely asking before I go to the trouble. Because if a lower-recruited player than ours goes to the NFL and ours doesn't, what accounts for that? The recruiting sites being totally wrong...or that Minnesota develops talent better than our program?
Dr. Strangelove
All-Conference
Not to derail the thread much, but I also want to point out the gap between certain recruiting rankings.
For example, on paper the gap between Nebraska at #24 and #19 Washington might not seem like much. 5 spots.
But they have more than double the number of 4-star players, 41 (and one 5-star) such players compared to our 20.
Meanwhile the gap between #24 Nebraska and #34 Kentucky is five 4-star players.
Talent is overwhelmingly concentrated amongst the top.
Undone
All-American
And then there's mighty juggernaut Minnesota coming in at...wait...oh...coming in at #46. Damn.
I did this last weekend and it is surprisingly similar. They have a couple of 0.92 type guys and so do we. They have a two unrated guys that have been in the program for awhile, while all of ours are rated, we have at least one that is rated at a completely different position playing o-line for the first time in his life. They have an upperclassman D line as do we, they have some youth on their o-line as do we. Honestly, it was a wash but Minnesota did seem to have a slight edge when adjusted for years in program. I've been meaning to post the breakdown but just haven't had time yet this week. I can try later today but no guarantees.
Last edited by a moderator:
Undone
All-American
+1, thanks for that good info.
At the end of the day, it's a waste of time to argue with other fans about whether our problem is talent or coaching. Because in two seasons' time, I don't care whether we're an over-performing team that parallels, let's say, Wisconsin or whether our recruiting classes take a big jump around to around the #10-#12 spot and then we play at that same level. Doesn't matter.
It doesn't matter how we get there. But we looked like a conference doormat again last Saturday and it's a pretty terrible feeling. Mainly speaking to the defensive side of the ball; I realize we weren't poised to do much on offense without Martinez anyway.
ActualCornHusker
Starter
Not bad. Then take into account how many of those 20 4-star players are 18 or 19 yr olds, while most other teams' higher rated players are upper-classmen... There's no doubt in my mind we will be better as those young studs develop, while Frost & Co continue to bring in impressive talents like those guys
Jarhead In Red
Four-Star Recruit
Great subject. The whole discussion on performance, and how development, raw talent, discipline, confidence, execution all contribute is quite interesting. The service academies are able to compete with teams who, on paper, are quite a bit more talented, including size and speed. But, they are able to compensate somewhat for these shortcomings by executing cleanly for 4 quarters, playing with a consistent intensity, and using schemes that play to their strengths, etc. Boise State seems to do a good job with lower ranked recruits, and have been able to defeat more talented teams over the past several years. We know these things matter, but it's hard to try and quantify exactly how mental toughness, consistency of execution, and high level effort equates to drives, points, and Defense.........some coaches seem to have it figured out more than others, and seem to squeeze every ounce of potential out of their players, but if someone could solve that equation to a T, then they would be very, very rich...
Husker in WI
All-Conference
Which play(s) do you have issues with, out of curiosity? And he would agree with you on the QB runs - I think it was his postgame presser where he mentioned our most reliable runs are QB runs, and he's never had to run the QB like he's had to this year.