2023 Spring Practice Notes - Special Teams

[admo]

Football is actually trending away from that, because the math says kicking is stupid. Not Big Ten football, mind you, some of them just accepted the fact the forward pass isn't actually illegal.

Oh I agree. 

The Big Ten is ugly football and boring. Until we can play up to the level of OSU and Michigan, we have to go back and embrace field position, kicking, punting, play-action passes to the TE, running clock...... and doze off during games until the final 4 minutes of game.    

I'm pretty sure most know me on here as "pass the damn ball guy".  

But, as it is, we have to keep up with the Joneses.  With Illinois, Minn, NW, Iowa, Wisc, Mich St, etc, etc. 

Special Teams play, using the clock, coming up with turnovers..... win 20-17  

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Oh I agree. 

The Big Ten is ugly football and boring. Until we can play up to the level of OSU and Michigan, we have to go back and embrace field position, kicking, punting, play-action passes to the TE, running clock...... and doze off during games until the final 4 minutes of game.    

I'm pretty sure most know me on here as "pass the damn ball guy".  

But, as it is, we have to keep up with the Joneses.  With Illinois, Minn, NW, Iowa, Wisc, Mich St, etc, etc. 

Special Teams play, using the clock, coming up with turnovers..... win 20-17  

The type of football favored by a lot of Big Ten West teams won’t work once USC and UCLA join the conference, the divisions are eliminated, and there will be a true competition with all of the teams within the conference. If the teams you mentioned try to stay conservative and win games in the teens or low 20s, that will get them a bunch of middle of the pack finishes in the conference. 

 

[brophog]

I'm very interested to see how Lincoln Riley adjusts to the Big Ten. He's been quite happy over the years playing teams that also want to play his style.

As much as we all meme on the Big Ten, I've always felt one of the underrated facets of the conference is how diverse teams are. That's one reason I'm super excited for Tony White's defense. It's very multiple and I think he'll have more tools to provide answers with on a week to week basis.

 

[SouthLincoln Husker]

I'm very interested to see how Lincoln Riley adjusts to the Big Ten. He's been quite happy over the years playing teams that also want to play his style.

As much as we all meme on the Big Ten, I've always felt one of the underrated facets of the conference is how diverse teams are. That's one reason I'm super excited for Tony White's defense. It's very multiple and I think he'll have more tools to provide answers with on a week to week basis.

Like NE moving from the big 12.  That's 2 conferences that don't believe in defense.

 

[teachercd]

The type of football favored by a lot of Big Ten West teams won’t work once USC and UCLA join the conference, the divisions are eliminated, and there will be a true competition with all of the teams within the conference. If the teams you mentioned try to stay conservative and win games in the teens or low 20s, that will get them a bunch of middle of the pack finishes in the conference. 

Pretty much what Wisconsin and Iowa have made a living off of...

Play 3 crappy non-con games...then hope to beat 4-5 other horrible Big Ten teams...if your schedule breaks just right...it could be a 9 or 10 win season.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Like NE moving from the big 12.  That's 2 conferences that don't believe in defense.

I agree to a point that the defenses are better in the Big Ten.  But, the offenses are also pretty bad, and many of the coaches are fine with it.  

 

[runningblind]

I agree to a point that the defenses are better in the Big Ten.  But, the offenses are also pretty bad, and many of the coaches are fine with it.  

It's a circular argument to a point. Slow paces offense lends itself to better defensive performance, and vice versa. You also always play better against styles you see repeatedly. 

 

[Red Five]

The type of football favored by a lot of Big Ten West teams won’t work once USC and UCLA join the conference, the divisions are eliminated, and there will be a true competition with all of the teams within the conference. If the teams you mentioned try to stay conservative and win games in the teens or low 20s, that will get them a bunch of middle of the pack finishes in the conference. 

I think that is why Wisconsin made the move that it did.  The new AD could see that although Chryst (and his offense) could crank out 9 or 10 win seasons and a B1G West title every 2 or 3 years, it wasn't going to work when they had to play OSU, Michigan, and Penn St more often.

I do think that Iowa is in for a big wake-up call for the reasons mentioned above.

 

[Undone]

Not Big Ten football, mind you, some of them just accepted the fact the forward pass isn't actually illegal.

Some good sarcasm there.   

It's funny though because Frost's system wasn't that different from Urban Meyer's zone read during his heyday. And I consistently felt like what Frost was trying to do here was an excellent approach and his vision was great - I think he wanted to really challenge the strategies of the other teams in the B1G West. But he & his coaches just couldn't buckle down and put it all together.

 

[BigRedBuster]

Some good sarcasm there.   

It's funny though because Frost's system wasn't that different from Urban Meyer's zone read during his heyday. And I consistently felt like what Frost was trying to do here was an excellent approach and his vision was great - I think he wanted to really challenge the strategies of the other teams in the B1G West. But he & his coaches just couldn't buckle down and put it all together.

Yep,  I've always felt that Frost's failure wasn't because of scheme, or even that he's a bad coach/OC.  It simply boiled down to preparation both as a staff and them preparing the team.  Which, absolutely shocks me.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Yep,  I've always felt that Frost's failure wasn't because of scheme, or even that he's a bad coach/OC.  It simply boiled down to preparation both as a staff and them preparing the team.  Which, absolutely shocks me.

All good points.  The margin of error for NU was smaller than Frost expected, and Frost and his staff struggled with the "little things" which were needed for wins.  That's why his teams were so bad in close games.  There was always a penalty, turnover, missed play, or some other mistake which caused NU to pull defeat out of the jaws of victory. 

The first thing for Rhule to do is to turn around the psyche and confidence of the team, so they can win close games.  But , it's not realistic to win a vast majority of close games every year.  The next thing Rhule needs to do is to upgrade the roster and development, so NU isn't playing close games against Northwestern, Illinois, Purdue, Rutgers, etc., having a better roster than Iowa, Wisconsin, UCLA, Michigan State, and then having a good enough team and scheme to be competitive against Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, and USC.

 

[BigRedBuster]

All good points.  The margin of error for NU was smaller than Frost expected, and Frost and his staff struggled with the "little things" which were needed for wins.  That's why his teams were so bad in close games.  There was always a penalty, turnover, missed play, or some other mistake which caused NU to pull defeat out of the jaws of victory. 

The first thing for Rhule to do is to turn around the psyche and confidence of the team, so they can win close games.  But , it's not realistic to win a vast majority of close games every year.  The next thing Rhule needs to do is to upgrade the roster and development, so NU isn't playing close games against Northwestern, Illinois, Purdue, Rutgers, etc., having a better roster than Iowa, Wisconsin, UCLA, Michigan State, and then having a good enough team and scheme to be competitive against Ohio State, Michigan, Penn State, and USC.

The best thing that Rhule can do is to do what Frost didn't do.  And, that's extreme over preparation.  This team, going into Minnesota, needs to wake up that morning feeling like they have prepared for the National Championship game.  They need to know absolutely everything and have been drilled on absolutely everything till they don't even need to think about it.  Any player that was here last year, should be realizing..."wholly s#!t.....this is how it's supposed to be?"  That's how he builds confidence in the team.  There might still be holes in the roster and we aren't always going to be the most talented.  But, at least everyone from the HC down to the waterboy, should at least be prepared.

 

[Toe]

I think that is why Wisconsin made the move that it did.  The new AD could see that although Chryst (and his offense) could crank out 9 or 10 win seasons and a B1G West title every 2 or 3 years, it wasn't going to work when they had to play OSU, Michigan, and Penn St more often.

Erm, they're probably going to be playing those three less often going forward, once USC and UCLA join.

 

[Red Five]

Erm, they're probably going to be playing those three less often going forward, once USC and UCLA join.

Explain please?

Since East/West was formed in 2014 (9 seasons), Wisconsin has played in the regular season:

Ohio St  3 times

Penn St 2 times

Michigan 6 times (this was their designated "rival", similar to how ours was Ohio St)

In the new B1G, they will be playing each of them (and USC) at least 2 times every 4 years.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Erm, they're probably going to be playing those three less often going forward, once USC and UCLA join.

Not only what Red Five responded to this, but Wisconsin and Iowa are going to have a much harder time to finish in the "top 2" of the conference after eliminations of the divisions.  They can't just count on winning a much weaker West division, and be considered near the top of the conference.