The mental part of football is what is holding Nebraska football back. It's not a talent issue.

TheSker said:
Frost was not a captain.

Peter and Wistrom made Frost earn his stripes and respect when Frost had to play scout team.  Frost didn't back down 
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Huskers93-97 said:
Honestly what we need is for our team captains to be our best players. They set the standard, they are the examples everyone will follow. When your best players are doing the right things and saying the right things people follow. No one really cares about the leadership of Warner. He is a semi talented walk on. That is not going to inspire people.

People followed Frazier because he was the leader and the best player on the team. 
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Right, and my point is I don't think the captains are the issue. We need widespread leadership - no offence to the guys, but looking down the list of captains in the 90s many were not even close to the best players on the team. If the contention is Warner shouldn't be a captain because he's bad and has the audacity to grow a mustache after a bad loss, and that the captains in the 90s were the best players, I just don't buy it. We don't need the best players to be captains, we do need better leadership whether guys are captains or not. 

 
Undone said:
Where this gets tricky is that you're already running at a stacked box with no threat of the throw. So then constantly running out of double or even triple tight end sets means your ball carrier is just pounding into a huge mixing bowl of big, sweaty bodies.

Really serious there. We saw that same problem under Riley in 2017.

I think the reason we ran the ball so well in 2018 was because Adrian was actually a threat as a passer, so the field was a little bit looser between the hashes.
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The saddest thing is we all know how pathetic 2017 was. They average 25 per game and we currently average 21. 

 
Husker in WI said:
Right, and my point is I don't think the captains are the issue. We need widespread leadership - no offence to the guys, but looking down the list of captains in the 90s many were not even close to the best players on the team. If the contention is Warner shouldn't be a captain because he's bad and has the audacity to grow a mustache after a bad loss, and that the captains in the 90s were the best players, I just don't buy it. We don't need the best players to be captains, we do need better leadership whether guys are captains or not. 
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The captains are a reflection of the issue because they are voted.

Also note how many former captains were OL and DL.  These guy earned their respect over 3-5 years in the program.....including their time in "the Pit".

 
I posted this in the other thread but think it is very much applicable to this one on attitude:

The stop the run issue has been a Nebraska issue for years.  Do I need to bring up Gordon from Wisc - I think he is still running up yards against us :facepalm: .   We have had good to great play from our safeties and corners in years past and I think we have a good group this year as well.  I think the issue is physicality.  If our front 7 aren't physical/aggressive enough, they hang our back 4 out to dry.  On OL, physicality is equally important - they must attack and not just block.  Perhaps we need to be tracking pancakes again.

Bo's teams went soft the last few years without a feared up front 7 guy - a SUH, Crick, Gregory, or a David,  Riley's team were very soft, and we have yet to regain the type of physicality we were once known for, or dare I say FEARED by other teams, that we had  during the Solich era and of course during the Osborne years.   This is what it takes to compete in the Big 10.  Sure, the Big 12, AAC, Pac 10 may be different - but in the Big 10 there has to be both a mental and physical attitude whereby you grind the opponent down.   Long gone are the days when Tom Osborne could  tell  the team at half time of the Miami NC game in the Orange Bowl : paraphrase: "We'll win the 2nd half, they will get tired, we will be stronger and they will make mistakes and get personal fouls because of it'.  He was prophetic in every way and it played out exactly that way - because they had done their work in practice.  It was said that Tom's players looked forward to games because they knew it would be much easier than the practices.

If physicality and might I add discipline (avoid stupid penalties and turnovers) aren't stressed as a #1 priority, it won't matter who we have as QB, RB, or OL/DL or who is calling the plays or what style of football we play.  We might as well join the AAC, Mountain West or some other G5 conference or be content as a bottom dweller in the Big 10.   

 
TGHusker said:
The stop the run issue has been a Nebraska issue for years.
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Arguably the biggest turnaround Frost's program has made thus far is getting our front seven bigger & stronger and being better against the run.

It's the passing game where we get torched, primarily because:

1. We don't have particularly great corners.

2. We have basically no pass rush at all.

 
Undone said:
Arguably the biggest turnaround Frost's program has made thus far is getting our front seven bigger & stronger and being better against the run.

It's the passing game where we get torched, primarily because:

1. We don't have particularly great corners.

2. We have basically no pass rush at all.
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#2 goes back to my point on physicality.   We are getting bigger and stronger and longer but I'm not sure we are yet physical enough.  Are we really better against the run?  Last year we were terrible. Perhaps there is a modest improvement - I haven't seen the stats on it.  But we've given up 500 yards +/- the last 2 weeks.  That doesn't speak of improvement. 

 
You simply affirmed my point regarding the effectiveness of the run game in a spread offense when a team has a long to intermediate passing game.  That does not exist now.

This means we need to change the math to create favorable numbers for the offense.  Rather than 3 or 4 wide sets, scale down to 2 wide with an H-back (who motions and can block).  This of course also assumes players can be coached to block without chopping or holding!  Uncommon in Husker football these days.

 
All Hail Herbie said:
Rather than 3 or 4 wide sets, scale down to 2 wide with an H-back (who motions and can block).
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I'm fairly confident we're running out of big sets much more often that 3-4 wide sets currently. If you can provide evidence to the contrary, please post it here.

Last season, Frost did go empty backfield with 4 wide quite a bit and we looked silly doing it because our starting offensive linemen couldn't pass block to save their lives.

The whole thing is a clusterf*** disaster, really.

 
Very fundamental game.  Block, tackle, avoid penalties and turnovers.  If we could simply execute a "clean" game (absent turnovers / penalties) and of course prevent opposing punters from strolling for 1st Downs, I would be overjoyed.

Through 4 coaching staffs, we have been unable to get out of our own way.  

 
All Hail Herbie said:
I recognize that the topic is the run game, but where is the logic in running a spread system if there is no threat of a long or intermediate passing game? Running the ball out of a spread system is predicated on the need for defenders to cover "space".  Without the threat of a passing game, the running game is limited as the numbers at the line of scrimmage favor the defense.

If we are unable to throw the ball, we need to consider adding more blockers at the point of attack to create favorable numbers.

This game is not very complicated.  Our friends at ESPN and Sport Science would try to convince you otherwise.
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Can't just change a system overnight.  I would argue though, that the Spread gets mischaracterized as a passing heavy offense when that's not always the case.  While its true there will be various WR sets that lend itself to the passing attack, Spread doesn't mean you cant not be a run first team.  When frosty was at Oregon they were a spread team but had so many different looks that at the end of the day were run focused.  Having watched so many of their games, so often their offense had an easy 2nd and 3 or 2nd and 4 because they were still picking up a healthy clip on the ground on 1st down to open up the whole playbook.  

I really do think Frosty and staff thought they were ok with the QB before the season and I cant help but reiterate a comment i made in a different thread that our fluff defensive philosophy of givings WRs cushion probably added a false sense of confidence.  

I get what you mean about adding more blockers but if anything, teams already know we cant f'n pass and adding another blocker just gives them even more of a heads up to stack the box.  

I would disagree with your last point- on TV the game is not very complicated but the fact of the matter is football is the ultimate team game in the sense that each position group directly impacts the other and very rarely can one guy who's really good carry a whole team.  I think our main problem at hand is not having a QB who's a consistent thrower, but that problem is not in a vacuum and its worth acknowledging that our O line play is subpar, our play-calling is erratic at best, and we still have no idea how to properly balance the WR/TE options we have at our disposal.  

 
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All Hail Herbie said:
Very fundamental game.  Block, tackle, avoid penalties and turnovers.  If we could simply execute a "clean" game (absent turnovers / penalties) and of course prevent opposing punters from strolling for 1st Downs, I would be overjoyed.

Through 4 coaching staffs, we have been unable to get out of our own way.  
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Agreed there for sure. When zoomed out on offense, that's the biggest problem.

 
To Goss:

We are all armchair analysts to some degree, but there is simplicity to the game.  What I am talking about is a complete loss of fundamentals with this team.  Football is technique and repetition.  Plain and simple.  For example, for forty years we had a program where lineman spent 3 - 4 years on S&C and blocking technique.  in exchange for this work, they were given 1 year to start and play.  

The system was not at all complicated, but the precision and excellence came from repetition of those basics.

It seems we are increasingly enamored with 40 times, agility drills and 7 on 7 Passing Academies that we forget about the importance of the fundamentals (lining up properly, blocking without holding, or carrying the football).  

The coaches that succeed still understand this.  

 
Ok....I’ve taken a few days to calm down from Saturday and assess where I think we are.  I’ve come to the conclusion that I just don’t understand why Saturday happened.  
 

im not going to sugar coat it.  That sucked.  The team and coaches sucked at absolutely everything.

But....I’ve spent some time contemplating the season.
 

OSU - playing against what might be the best team in the country.  Yes, the score ended up bad, but there were some positives.  Most fans thought they showed improvement on the line on both sides.  Oline got good push. D line did decent against a really good o line. 
 

Northwestern - Same thing.  Still playing against what seems to be the best team in the west.  Lost...and was disappointing and made some stupid mistakes.  But, saw some good things. 
 

PSU - struggling team but talented.  Pull out a win.  Defense holds up at the end. 
 

Illinois - Bad team and we totally fell apart. 
 

I just don’t get it.  These players and coaches are all very competitive guys.  I would think that win last week would have fired them up to go to practice and work their asses off. Instead????   Total dud.  
 

All I know right now is that I have no clue what to expect on Friday.  Maybe a Loss fires them up more than a win. 
 

Basketball starts tomorrow and they are going to shock the world. 

 
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