Prior to the season we could've seen this coming...

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predictionking

Four-Star Recruit
I don't mean to be captain obvious, but we had some holes that needed to be replaced, and we thought they would've been replaced. We were obviously wrong. I will argue with anyone still that our scheme is not the problem, and Watson didn't just forget how to call a football game over the summer. NU has failed to overcome serious personnell departures, and its killing them.

1. The loss of Joe Ganz- Well duh. yes, I am preaching to the choir, but that kid was special there is no way around it. He should've been a 2 year starter for the Huskers. Ganz's biggest strength was his ability to avoid a rush and throw on the run. Lee can't feel the rush to save his life.

2. The loss of Matt Slauson, Lydon Murth AND Javario Burkes- Murtha was an average to below average pass blocker for his size and athleticsm, but he was an excellent run blocker. Matt Slauson is well.....Matt Slauson. Ricky Henry is a good run blocker, but he doesn't have the pass blocking down. And Marcel and DJ Jones are both downgrades from Javario and Murtha. DJ Jones is one of NU's worst offensive tackles in years.

3. Swifty and Peterson- Quite Frankly this one boggles my mind. Those of you who want to rag on our scheme need to realize these two were constantly opened despite not having any athletic advantage over a single DB they faced all season. NU's offense allows it's receivers to get open, ours just can't catch and our QB can't muster the forward pass.

4. The departure of Quentin Castille is killing this team. That's all on Castille. But his presence alone makes this team dramatically different. One could argue Burkhead nor Helu would be hurt right now. Secondly, do we find the end zone with Castille in the game against Va Tech and Iowa State? Probably.

Going into the season did any of you really believe these losses would be this dramatic? I sure didn't. Our issues have been more than innexperience. Innexperience players often improve as the season unfolds. Right now, these replacements are digressing. That's on the coaching.

Our offensive depth needs substantial improvement over the next few seasons. Otherwise, we will always struggle to re-build.

 
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Good post sir. Not much I can disagree with. I think I'd downplay the loss of Castille a bit. He's a loss . . . but not as much as Ganz, Swift, and Peterson. If anything . . . Castille's ball security issues might have looked right at home against ISU.

 
carlfense said:
Good post sir. Not much I can disagree with. I think I'd downplay the loss of Castille a bit. He's a loss . . . but not as much as Ganz, Swift, and Peterson. If anything . . . Castille's ball security issues might have looked right at home against ISU.
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I think losing Helu would have been a much greater hit than losing Q... Rex for the time being filled the void that Q left, however I feel neither of them could have put up Roy's numbers versus Vtech. He kept us in it almost single handily.

 
typ3kal said:
carlfense said:
Good post sir. Not much I can disagree with. I think I'd downplay the loss of Castille a bit. He's a loss . . . but not as much as Ganz, Swift, and Peterson. If anything . . . Castille's ball security issues might have looked right at home against ISU.
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I think losing Helu would have been a much greater hit than losing Q... Rex for the time being filled the void that Q left, however I feel neither of them could have put up Roy's numbers versus Vtech. He kept us in it almost single handily.
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Maybe . . . however Helu seems to get dinged up easier than Q did. Helu hasn't been able to do much since his injury at MU.

 
Yes, we lack talent, but I will continue to believe that with the talent we do have we could make changes with the game plans and have greater success.

 
I do believe that this scheme can work but what wats does with it is mind boggling to say the least. Running two qb counters with a guy who has proven more times than I can count that he is not an effective runner. Running the ball THREE times all of which were runs to the outside after we pounded the ball right down ISU's throat. Claiming to have over 300 plays but it appears that we run the same plays over and over again, OUT OF THE SAME SET. The shotgun play where the back runs in motion to the sideline and the bunch toss play come to mind right off the bat. The fact that we haven't tried to target Mcneil during a time where our wr's obviously are struggling. Mcneil said the other day they aren't doing anything special to get him the ball. Why?! Running a jailbreak screen to our slowest receiver? I have many more questions about wats but it would be wayyy to long.

 
He said "Yes, we lack talent, but I will continue to believe that with the talent we do have we could make changes with the game plans and have greater success."

I can't disagree more. At the spring game I think everyone knew we had way more athletic players on the field both sides of the ball, smart players? now that is what we need to discuss.

Todd Swift Ganz all knew what coaches Watson wanted and understood how this offense worked. I wouldnt say they were more athletic than the guys we have now but they were true products of the system. The emphasis I think is at QB, Now I have absoultely no proof other than observations, but I think Ganz was a little brighter QB and just got it. He just got what Watson wanted.

As for Lee, I dont think he is too far behind, I think the other guys are. They are young and more athletic, but havn't had time to completely understand the system. Some of them do and they just don't finish the play. Which isn't Lees fault.

I agree with what Watson is saying, they just havn't had the time/experience needed to run the Nebraska Spread Correctly. We can only get better from these last couple weeks.

 
predictionking said:
2. The loss of Matt Slauson, Lydon Murth AND Javario Burkes- Murtha was an average to below average pass blocker for his size and athleticsm, but he was an excellent run blocker. Matt Slauson is well.....Matt Slauson. Ricky Henry is a good run blocker, but he doesn't have the pass blocking down. And Marcel and DJ Jones are both downgrades from Javario and Murtha. DJ Jones is one of NU's worst offensive tackles in years.
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Agreed about the tackles. I like Hickman, but I think Caputo is outplaying him. Caputo is just a better a center.

 
I think you could have seen it coming. Most choose to overlook the things that put up red flags. I recall many conversations about WR's/playmakers going into the season. I had brought up my concerns for the NE offence. These guys have been in the system and never really contributed, some never even at all. If you really think about the offence that you run, its possible for a backup/part time player to make impacts. to come away with 20+ catches a season. 300+ yards a season. For most of your wide outs those were better than their career numbers, not season numbers. There had to be a reason for that.

All the talent in the world doesnt mean you are a good WR. Doesnt mean you run good routes, that you can find the seem in the zone, that you dont tip your routes when against man coverage and most importatly, that you can catch and hold on to the ball. I would laugh when many husker fans down played losing " two white, slow WR's" and how there were better with this younger, faster talent. Nate Swift was a stud. I would have taken him on my team any day. I said it before and I am saying it now. Mu had 10 guys more talented than Tommie Saunders, but i dont know if anyone worked harder than he did. And it showed. Not flashy, but you can count on him on 3rd down to find and opening beyond the line and catch the ball.

The RB issue is a fluke issue. You lose you #2 back, your #3 back gets hurt. you moved your #4 back to 3rd string QB to fill the lack of depth there. So now you have a banged up #1 and your #5 playing. Other than Helu's duribility, which was always a question the rest is a worst-case for your RB's

QB....well, it is what it is. There was obviously some depth issues. I have heard it both ways about Lee and Witt. I have heard that Witt saw the writing on the wall and left, And i heard that Witt left, so now its Lee's job. Either way you have a player, that either in a funk or not, is playing with no concistancy. You cant expect eveyone to pick it up and run, Plus you have to consider the cycle..Taylor=good, Keller=bad, Ganz=good, Lee=bad. But you should feel better about Green now.
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O-line, well when you lose your best and replace them there will be a drop off. There is talent there, i think its alot like MU's line. You have players. sometimes they are good, sometime they arnt so much. There will be better as the year goes on.

Overall it could be alot worse. your O is not that bad. Its just not as good as many for some reason expected it to be.

 
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Maybe given time Lee will click. I for one thought his J/college record looked good and having Okl considering offering him also made him look like a good bet to be able to step up and lead this offense. He may still be able to do that. Its to bad that Swift and Peterson were not around for Lee, to get his feet wet in his first season. Those two were heads and shoulders above what Lee's got to work with now. Hopefully this years recruits will help fill the void those two left. Having all the athletic abilities and speed doesn't do you much good if there's not enough between the ears, Swift and Todd proved that.

GBR!!!

 
I really don't think Witt would have been playing here, he is struggling in the Ivy League...

I think we all knew that there would be some drop off at certain positions, but good coaches get things going no matter who you lose. Thats part of college fb, you lose people every year. Losing people can't be an excuse.

 
Twodocs said:
We have a good defense and we have a good/great field goal kicker!
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I think a good defense is saying too little.

Six consecutive games, the Blackshirts have allowed less than 278 total yards — Nebraska hasn't matched that feat since 1996.

No opponent has scored on back-to-back possessions. Only six times have the Blackshirts allowed a touchdown drive longer than 40 yards. Seven foes have combined to tally three points in the third quarter.

Nebraska’s average of 164.1 passing yards allowed per game not only ranks among the national leaders but is on a strong pace for the Husker record book. To wit: Big Red last allowed fewer than 170 passing yards per game in 1993, when it gave up just 163.9.

I'll go out on a limb and say this defense is playing at a Big12 Championship / BCS Bowl bid caliber.

:restore

 
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