Rumored play calling swap at half..??

Saunders said:
The staff has to get creative, instead of just doing the same things that aren't gonna work.
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I almost feel like the problem might be trying to be too creative instead of going with what might more obviously be the bread & butter of the strengths of the players.

But against Northwestern, the stats show we actually had a "good" offensive day. Not "great," but good.

The fumble (that maybe wasn't even a fumble) deep in their territory and the onside kick were both pretty much the game. And the latter is an example of the staff overthinking and overcomplicating a situation that didn't call for it at all.

More unforced errors - the Scott Frost hallmark to-date.

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
What Farrell's article reminds us is that football coaches are watching Scott Frost get out-coached game after game, and know how to do it themselves. 

Getting out-coached is one of the worst things a coach can do. 

Right? 
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Agreed, and this is probably a concise recap.

But we also still don't seem like we're good on fundamentals. Which is right up there with "getting out-coached" as one of the worst things a coach can bring.

 
Saunders said:
Game 1: Team doesn't adjust in the 2nd half, loses.

Fans: Why don't the coaches make 2nd half adjustments?

Game 2: Team makes second half adjustments, wins.

Fans: No, not like that!

But for real, even though I have a very small glimmer of hope that this will end well, whatever they did, it worked (on offense). The staff has to get creative, instead of just doing the same things that aren't gonna work.
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Well with two minutes left in the third quarter, Nebraska was tied with North Dakota. A skeptic might say it was a heroic individual effort by Grant that got them the lead, at which point they successfully bled the clock with a running game. Or that skeptic might point out that it was North Dakota, and it was almost unimaginable the Huskers wouldn't prevail in the fourth quarter. 

Offensive playcalling doesn't seem to be the issue. I liked most of Frost's offensive playcalling last season, and I think Casey Thompson is the better decision maker we need.  But we seem to have the least physical offensive and defensive lines in memory at the same time. 

Just like last year, it's not unimaginable the coaches and players put together a serious challenge or win against Oklahoma. There's gotta be some development and evolution, right?

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
Well with two minutes left in the third quarter, Nebraska was tied with North Dakota. A skeptic might say it was a heroic individual effort by Grant that got them the lead, at which point they successfully bled the clock with a running game. Or that skeptic might point out that it was North Dakota, and it was almost unimaginable the Huskers wouldn't prevail in the fourth quarter. 

Offensive playcalling doesn't seem to be the issue. I liked most of Frost's offensive playcalling last season, and I think Casey Thompson is the better decision maker we need.  But we seem to have the least physical offensive and defensive lines in memory at the same time. 

Just like last year, it's not unimaginable the coaches and players put together a serious challenge or win against Oklahoma. There's gotta be some development and evolution, right?
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I don't believe that play calling is really the issue (which is why I think this whole topic is irrelevant). But, I do think our run scheme in game 1, and the first half of game two was just not getting it done. It reminded me of Mike Riley's run philosophy in 2015, and 2017.

But as for your last sentence, yes, absolutely. But I fear it is too late.

 
Saunders said:
I don't believe that play calling is really the issue (which is why I think this whole topic is irrelevant). But, I do think our run scheme in game 1, and the first half of game two was just not getting it done. It reminded me of Mike Riley's run philosophy in 2015, and 2017.
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Against Northwestern it looked like Whipple wanted to show off his high efficiency passing offense and new quarterback, and it was working pretty damn good right up to the third quarter onside kick. After that.....I don't know. It wasn't playcalling as much as the familiar teamwide freakout. Whipple didn't exactly abandon the running game against Northwestern, but it certainly wasn't delivering the yards per play the passing game was. Our RBs were getting stuffed.  

You didn't mention Mike Riley's run philosophy in 2016. That's the year we started the season 7-0 and won games by nursing modest leads with a fourth quarter running game. That's what either Whipple or Frost did in the fourth quarter of North Dakota. You really can't have a Tom Osborne scheme when you are playing from behind and can't trust your defense. 

 
Undone said:
I do think that Chinander's involvement in the problems has also flown under the radar in big ways, agreed.

But what happened was really just timing, I think. Since 2021 was this hugely improved year on defense but we went 3-9, it felt intuitive to most fans to think that meant the problems were all on the offensive staff and things like offensive play calling, scheme, etc.

But after just two games this season it's starting to feel obvious that Daniels, Stille, & Thomas were the linchpin to that success on defense last year. Especially Daniels.

So maybe we'd say that Chinander hasn't done a good job of setting up the defense for success using the players he has at his disposal. I don't know. I still don't think it's a "talent" issue, but at the same time we really need a Damion Daniels and a JoJo Domann right now.
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Holy crap? You mean having a strong, experienced D-Line is key to defensive success? - Call the presses. We must get this secret to the coaches!!!  :cheers

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
What Farrell's article reminds us is that football coaches are watching Scott Frost get out-coached game after game, and know how to do it themselves. 

Getting out-coached is one of the worst things a coach can do. 

Right? 
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Generally speaking, I think you're right.

But I think it's much harder to quantify than people want to believe.

Basically, for most people it comes down to the perceived difference in talent compared to the on-field results.

By that measure, Frost significantly out-coached Ryan Day, Jim Harbaugh and Lincoln Riley last year, did he not?

 
Mavric said:
Generally speaking, I think you're right.

But I think it's much harder to quantify than people want to believe.

Basically, for most people it comes down to the perceived difference in talent compared to the on-field results.

By that measure, Frost significantly out-coached Ryan Day, Jim Harbaugh and Lincoln Riley last year, did he not?
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I remember thinking the same thing last year: if we were pushing better talent to the brink with lesser talent, maybe we've turned the coaching corner. At the same time, last year's string of close losses created the legend of Scott Frost teams invariably self-sabotaging at the last second. That's a mental preparedness/killer instinct thing,  which also goes to head coaching.

Now add the likelihood that we simply don't have the horses up front this year. Given four years to recruit and address the most basic need in Nebraska (or any) football, it doesn't speak well for Year Six of Scott Frost. 

ipso facto you're right. It's not a play-calling issue. 

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
I remember thinking the same thing last year: if we were pushing better talent to the brink with lesser talent, maybe we've turned the coaching corner. At the same time, last year's string of close losses created the legend of Scott Frost teams invariably self-sabotaging at the last second. That's a mental preparedness/killer instinct thing,  which also goes to head coaching.

Now add the likelihood that we simply don't have the horses up front this year. Given four years to recruit and address the most basic need in Nebraska (or any) football, it doesn't speak well for Year Six of Scott Frost. 

ipso facto you're right. It's not a play-calling issue. 
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Here is a decent article about our recruiting under Frost. The classes started high, but when re-ranked though attrition, guys not panning out etc they are actually pretty poor.  Ranking near the bottom of the B1G.  And the W-L record shows this.  And ironically, instead of losing to teams with lesser talent, we are possibly playing up too much better talent.  I have no friggin idea anymore wth is going on with NU and why we can't win....None.  

The article below speaks to talent left to Frost by Riley and Frost's first class of 2018 *would be 5th year Sr's...2nd article shows further decline by guys not panning out.  In a nut shell, good classes that tuned south the further removed from the signing.  

https://theathletic.com/3129850/2022/02/15/too-many-misses-nebraska-falters-in-another-recruiting-re-rank-again-finishing-at-bottom-of-the-power-5/

https://247sports.com/Article/Nebraska-football-recruiting-Scott-Frost-Florida-signees-169706326/

 
lo country said:
Here is a decent article about our recruiting under Frost. The classes started high, but when re-ranked though attrition, guys not panning out etc they are actually pretty poor.  Ranking near the bottom of the B1G.  And the W-L record shows this.  And ironically, instead of losing to teams with lesser talent, we are possibly playing up too much better talent.  I have no friggin idea anymore wth is going on with NU and why we can't win....None.  

The article below speaks to talent left to Frost by Riley and Frost's first class of 2018 *would be 5th year Sr's...2nd article shows further decline by guys not panning out.  In a nut shell, good classes that tuned south the further removed from the signing.  

https://theathletic.com/3129850/2022/02/15/too-many-misses-nebraska-falters-in-another-recruiting-re-rank-again-finishing-at-bottom-of-the-power-5/

https://247sports.com/Article/Nebraska-football-recruiting-Scott-Frost-Florida-signees-169706326/
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I don't have an Atlantic subscription but the 247 article doesn't seem to do much comparison (unless I missed it).

The 247 Roster Talent Composite still has us at #24 which is pretty much where we've been every year.  Behind Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State.  Basically tied with Wisconsin.  A level above Michigan State, Iowa, Indiana and Maryland.  Then down from there.

So I think the "bottom of the B1G" is pretty misleading.

 
Mavric said:
I don't have an Atlantic subscription but the 247 article doesn't seem to do much comparison (unless I missed it).

The 247 Roster Talent Composite still has us at #24 which is pretty much where we've been every year.  Behind Ohio State, Michigan and Penn State.  Basically tied with Wisconsin.  A level above Michigan State, Iowa, Indiana and Maryland.  Then down from there.

So I think the "bottom of the B1G" is pretty misleading.
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I don't have a sub, but it still showed up. Tried to copy the whole article, but this was the gist:  This was the 2018 class adjusted ranking.  What should be our 5 yr senior leadership.  That class after re-ranking was 69th.  One spot better than Rileys readjusted class of 2017 which finished 70th.  So , yes the article was talking how Frost's  first class, coupled with Rileys last have impacted the Huskers.  Also talks about attrition.  The article was written by Mitch Sherman in Feb 2022. That composite you posted is based upon the projected star power.  How well we "should perform"  Not on the actual performance.  I was talking about adjusted rankings after a class as well as attrition of said classes.  So not really comparing the same things.  We either are these highly ranked competitive classes which means the staff is a bag of a$$ or the adjusted rankings are who we are and the staff is doing a good job to even win games....We can't be both.  And that's the problem.  The 247 2018 Team composite has NU at 23  but the adjusted rankings have us at 69 from the link I posted.  So not really misleading.   https://247sports.com/season/2018-football/compositeteamrankings/

Georgia, at 3.34 points per player, finished with the highest adjusted average, which also factors a team’s win-loss record over the four seasons after the class signed. Clemson, Cincinnati, Michigan and Alabama completed the top five. 

Nebraska came in at 1.65 points per player. Only Northern Illinois scored worse.

 
well if you look at who's playing right now if you are looking at stars then you could say recruiting is good. just from memory:

offense-

Palmer 5*

Washington 4*

Brown 3*

Grant 3*

Thompson 4*

Benhart 4*

Corcoran 4*

Teddy P 4*

Bando 3*

Hixon WO*

Not terrible

Defense is a little different

Hill 4*

Newsome 3*

Henrich 4*

Reimer WO*

Farmer 3*

Buford 3*

Mathis 3*

Robinson 4*

Nelson 3*

Feist WO*

Almost half of the starters are 4* athletes.  

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
Against Northwestern it looked like Whipple wanted to show off his high efficiency passing offense and new quarterback, and it was working pretty damn good right up to the third quarter onside kick. After that.....I don't know. It wasn't playcalling as much as the familiar teamwide freakout. Whipple didn't exactly abandon the running game against Northwestern, but it certainly wasn't delivering the yards per play the passing game was. Our RBs were getting stuffed.  

You didn't mention Mike Riley's run philosophy in 2016. That's the year we started the season 7-0 and won games by nursing modest leads with a fourth quarter running game. That's what either Whipple or Frost did in the fourth quarter of North Dakota. You really can't have a Tom Osborne scheme when you are playing from behind and can't trust your defense. 
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The passing game fell off a cliff in the 2nd half of the NW game. Could that be because of adjustments by the NW defense, the absence of Vokelek, or the team going all "here we go again..." I don't know. But the run game was abyssmal pretty much the whole game, and it was very vanilla, and it wasn't working. It was basically Inside Zone, with a few OZ runs, and almost no counters.

And that's why I compared it to the Riley run game in those specific years. In 2015, they tried to make Tommy a drop back passer, and use the OSU run scheme (Mostly IZ/OZ, little pulling), and we were just plain bad at it. Then they had an epiphany in the bowl, and adjusted to our strengths, and ran all over UCLA. They carried over many of those same adjustments to 2016, and it worked. But once Tommy was gone, and Tannner Lee took over, it was right back to vanilla IZ with little variation.

 
MyBloodIsRed16 said:
well if you look at who's playing right now if you are looking at stars then you could say recruiting is good. just from memory:

offense-

Palmer 5*

Washington 4*

Brown 3*

Grant 3*

Thompson 4*

Benhart 4*

Corcoran 4*

Teddy P 4*

Bando 3*

Hixon WO*

Not terrible

Defense is a little different

Hill 4*

Newsome 3*

Henrich 4*

Reimer WO*

Farmer 3*

Buford 3*

Mathis 3*

Robinson 4*

Nelson 3*

Feist WO*

Almost half of the starters are 4* athletes.  
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The star power for the composite Mav posted shows us at 24 IIRC.  Not bad at all.  Considering 4 losing seasons. The problem is we don't perform like classes rated as high as they have been. The earlier classes had a lot of misses/attrition.  Riley, per the article I posted left Frost an adjusted class thank ranked 70th.  Frost's first class has been adjusted out to 69th.  It's been talked about before, but attrition and transfer portal has hurt/helped NU as well.  We pull in beter ranked classes (initially) than the majority of the B1G, but fail to produce results of other programs who's classes are comparable.  So it's coaching or classes not panning out or combination of both.  I really have no idea.  Since Pelini, we have been floating in a sea of mediocrity at best.  That's two coaches and multiple classes and still can't right the ship.  

 
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