Do We Have the Talent We Need?

Undone said:
I think what you're largely describing there is our defensive turnaround under Chinander - which I would be dumb to disagree with.

But offense and special teams? Turnovers and stupid penalties?

The overall results seem to stem from bad coaching, bad preparation, and bad culture - which to me are indicative of a staff that's just going through the motions. 

The passion to be a national championship caliber team has been beaten out of Frost and his guys. That is of course changing the subject away from "looks like they're going through the motions."
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Total offense yards per game, 2014-2020: 452, 446, 380, 385, 456, 415, 391

So Riley took at 450-yard offense and ground it down 70 yards per game in two years.  Frost immediately took it back to where it was when he still had enough Pelini recruits to field a decent team plus a dynamic Martinez.  But, as I've pointed out elsewhere, we didn't even recruit one full offensive until worth of contributing recruits over a four-year period from 2015-2018.  So if he's shown he can turn it around here, which is the more likely issue: that he doesn't know what he's doing or that he doesn't have the horses to run right now?

Turnovers Lost, 2014-2020: 25, 27, 14, 19, 22, 21, 18

Penalty yards per game, 2014-2020: 50, 63, 53, 60, 70, 42, 60

Turnovers have been a problem for over a decade - new coaches, old coaches, doesn't seem to matter.  Not sure a whole lot can be determined from that.

We were actually #18 in the country in fewest penalty yards per game last year.  Yet people still talk about it like we've always been the worst in the country since Frost got here.  We're still pretty bad most years but, again, that's been how it's been for years.  I think it's more we just haven't been that good so we make more mistakes.  I think trying to throw out all the accusations you did is more just trying to find an outlet for frustrations rather than based on any evidence that those are actually the issues.

 
Mavric said:
I think trying to throw out all the accusations you did is more just trying to find an outlet for frustrations rather than based on any evidence that those are actually the issues.
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I think you're probably right about that.

So, back to the topic. One thing that might be appropriate is to attempt to specify whether we have enough talent average a winning percentage of <fill_in_the_blank>. Because according to your writeup, it seems it doesn't really matter what the other variables are - we just plain suck, period.

 
Undone said:
So, back to the topic. One thing that might be appropriate is to attempt to specify whether we have enough talent average a winning percentage of <fill_in_the_blank>. Because according to your writeup, it seems it doesn't really matter what the other variables are - we just plain suck, period.
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Eh, I think a lot of people are over-selling how bad we are because they are frustrated.  Not that I blame them for being frustrated.  But we're not nearly as far off as people like to claim.

We played toe-to-toe for 25 minutes with an Ohio State team that took Clemson behind the woodshed.

We had easily the second-best offensive outing of the year against a very good Northwestern defense and had two chances at the end of the game to beat the team that finished 7-2 and #14 in the country.

We beat a Penn State team that has some of the most talent in the country with our backup QB who we later figured out wasn't really ready for the spotlight.

We had the ball at the end of the game with a chance to be 6-2 Iowa team that finished #15 in the country.

We also laid a couple eggs this year.  But I think it's more accurate to say that we're a decent team that makes too many mistakes to be able to win many close games than it is to say we suck.

 
Mavric said:
Eh, I think a lot of people are over-selling how bad we are because they are frustrated.  Not that I blame them for being frustrated.  But we're not nearly as far off as people like to claim.

We played toe-to-toe for 25 minutes with an Ohio State team that took Clemson behind the woodshed.

We had easily the second-best offensive outing of the year against a very good Northwestern defense and had two chances at the end of the game to beat the team that finished 7-2 and #14 in the country.

We beat a Penn State team that has some of the most talent in the country with our backup QB who we later figured out wasn't really ready for the spotlight.

We had the ball at the end of the game with a chance to be 6-2 Iowa team that finished #15 in the country.

We also laid a couple eggs this year.  But I think it's more accurate to say that we're a decent team that makes too many mistakes to be able to win many close games than it is to say we suck.
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Certain people want to act like advanced stats don't matter, and I get that they're not everything, but we finished 32nd in SP+ this year. We were 55th last year and 49th in '18. Riley's best team was 33rd and he left the program ranked in the 70s. The numbers would say we have massively improved, we are just a mostly young team playing one of the toughest schedules in the country and make young-team mistakes. I am also frustrated there haven't been more wins, but some fans are being wildly, overdramatically negative about the state of the program and the coaching that is happening. We have improved a lot and are right on the doorstep of being a good team. The wins are coming if we just stay patient, and some of Husker nation needs to get a grip before we sabotage ourselves into being actually bad.

 
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Mavric said:
But I think it's more accurate to say that we're a decent team that makes too many mistakes to be able to win many close games than it is to say we suck.
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And I think it's just a salve to the psyche to say we're 'a decent team that makes too many mistakes' when Frost's winning percentage is .375. At this rate, he'll be hard pressed to pull it above .500 before his contract runs out.

But anyway, we got off topic from the question I asked (although it's an open-ended question anyway): Do we have enough talent to meet what expectation? 

Do we have enough talent to be a .500 team? Yeah, probably. If even just the sh***y coaching on special teams got fixed we might go .500.

Do we have enough talent to be in the mix to get the better of the good teams in the West and go to Indy? That's a better way to more accurately phrase the question. My answer would be "no" on that one.

 
We have the talent to win. We do not have the talent to overcome poor field position, TO's and penalties........Until we fix those.  We could have a team of 5* kids and still not have success.....Unfortunately, that has been our identity for too long.  And not just under Frost.

 
It feels like when we get inside the opponents 40 yard line, we blow chunks.

When are backs are against a wall, we throw slaps instead of punches.  Unless it's against Rutgers.

And anything to do with kicking, punting and 2nd half adjustments, we suck at it more than who we are playing that day.

If the talent is there, boy I'd love to see it on game days.  I don't want to hear about it during practices and summer drills.

 
Undone said:
And I think it's just a salve to the psyche to say we're 'a decent team that makes too many mistakes' when Frost's winning percentage is .375. At this rate, he'll be hard pressed to pull it above .500 before his contract runs out.

But anyway, we got off topic from the question I asked (although it's an open-ended question anyway): Do we have enough talent to meet what expectation? 

Do we have enough talent to be a .500 team? Yeah, probably. If even just the sh***y coaching on special teams got fixed we might go .500.

Do we have enough talent to be in the mix to get the better of the good teams in the West and go to Indy? That's a better way to more accurately phrase the question. My answer would be "no" on that one.
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There are seriously any good teams in the West? The Big Ten West is the worst division in the entire Power 5. Our talent composite ranking of 24th is mediocre, but it's the best in the division. The second best talent ranking in the division is Purdue  at 38th.

I don't think we have the talent to do much more than win the awful BIG West division. But since Frost is going into year 4, that's his fault.

 
Corn55 said:
There are seriously any good teams in the West? The Big Ten West is the worst division in the entire Power 5. Our talent composite ranking of 24th is mediocre, but it's the best in the division. The second best talent ranking in the division is Purdue  at 38th.

I don't think we have the talent to do much more than win the awful BIG West division. But since Frost is going into year 4, that's his fault.
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What was the record of the BIG West vs BIG East this year out of curiosity? from a quick glance it appears the East was 8-7 this year vs the West but yes the West is just soooooo terrible.....

 
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admo said:
It feels like when we get inside the opponents 40 yard line, we blow chunks.

When are backs are against a wall, we throw slaps instead of punches.  Unless it's against Rutgers.

And anything to do with kicking, punting and 2nd half adjustments, we suck at it more than who we are playing that day.

If the talent is there, boy I'd love to see it on game days.  I don't want to hear about it during practices and summer drills.
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Yep. Frost needs to quit blowing sunshine about talent, culture etc. If we have those things then it needs to start showing on game days. Without that it's just more talk.

 
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