The difference between 31-17 and 45-7?

[JTrain]

This isn't to bash Wats at all, he called a good game overall. But re-watching the game, I just have to wonder what the final would've been if we get that first first down in the second quarter. We were just coming off the Gomes INT, had the ball at the 32 and had 100% of the momentum with the crowd completely jacked. On first down we run Helu through a big hole and pick up a pretty easy six yards.

Second down, we run play-action hoping the safety bites and Reed beats his man deep. He doesn't, but I suppose the risk is warranted. We wanted the kill shot. But then on 3rd and 4, we run an empty backfield and they blitz TM for an easy sack. We have to punt, and they get great field position and take it down for their first score, which eventually led to them making a game of it, sort of.

If we ride Helu and TM on that drive (mixing in the occasional first down pass) and score to make it 31-0 with, say, 8:00 left in the half, chances are Missouri is done. At that point their will would surely be shot.

The media perception is, Iowa throttled Michigan State and Nebraska "handled" Missouri. Probably the reason we didn't get as much love in the human polls as many expected (10th in Coaches and 11th in Harris). Not that any of this is likely to matter, but I do think those two plays may have been the turning point in letting Mizzou hang around and keep it respectable.

 

[sd'sker]

i think you are on to something. it seems like we are not cut throat enough. maybe you need that to go undefeated for 12 games. i look at oregon, and every game, drive, play is to win the national championship. and win you think about it, the season is not a series of games. it is one long game and you can never let up. maybe a killer instinct with more swagger would have helped against texas. it is not enough to just win, it is about developing a never-quit, play-at-your-top-level mentality.

 

[Glendower]

Reverting to the pass really baffled me a couple of times. It's like Watson feels like he has to prove that we pass for a reason and end up eating an entire series.

 

[Ringer02]

i think you are on to something. it seems like we are not cut throat enough. maybe you need that to go undefeated for 12 games. i look at oregon, and every game, drive, play is to win the national championship. and win you think about it, the season is not a series of games. it is one long game and you can never let up. maybe a killer instinct with more swagger would have helped against texas. it is not enough to just win, it is about developing a never-quit, play-at-your-top-level mentality.

This team has never even tasted the national championship so they don't even truly know what they're playing for, however if they finish the year with only 1 or 2 losses and make it to a bcs bowl they'll know just how close they were and what they should have accomplished. That will make them hungry for more in 2011 when we will have a better team anyway.

 

[sd'sker]

i think you are on to something. it seems like we are not cut throat enough. maybe you need that to go undefeated for 12 games. i look at oregon, and every game, drive, play is to win the national championship. and win you think about it, the season is not a series of games. it is one long game and you can never let up. maybe a killer instinct with more swagger would have helped against texas. it is not enough to just win, it is about developing a never-quit, play-at-your-top-level mentality.

This team has never even tasted the national championship so they don't even truly know what they're playing for, however if they finish the year with only 1 or 2 losses and make it to a bcs bowl they'll know just how close they were and what they should have accomplished. That will make them hungry for more in 2011 when we will have a better team anyway.

has oregon even ever played for a mnc? they sure seem hungry.

 

[95huskers]

bama lose to lsu

bama beat auburn

tcu beat utah or vis versa

maybe oregon gets tripped up by zona....

Neb win out

hmmmm maybe a chance

 

[jsneb83]

i think you are on to something. it seems like we are not cut throat enough. maybe you need that to go undefeated for 12 games. i look at oregon, and every game, drive, play is to win the national championship. and win you think about it, the season is not a series of games. it is one long game and you can never let up. maybe a killer instinct with more swagger would have helped against texas. it is not enough to just win, it is about developing a never-quit, play-at-your-top-level mentality.

This team has never even tasted the national championship so they don't even truly know what they're playing for, however if they finish the year with only 1 or 2 losses and make it to a bcs bowl they'll know just how close they were and what they should have accomplished. That will make them hungry for more in 2011 when we will have a better team anyway.

has oregon even ever played for a mnc? they sure seem hungry.

They lost to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl last year. I would say that they are pretty hungry.

 

[sd'sker]

i think you are on to something. it seems like we are not cut throat enough. maybe you need that to go undefeated for 12 games. i look at oregon, and every game, drive, play is to win the national championship. and win you think about it, the season is not a series of games. it is one long game and you can never let up. maybe a killer instinct with more swagger would have helped against texas. it is not enough to just win, it is about developing a never-quit, play-at-your-top-level mentality.

This team has never even tasted the national championship so they don't even truly know what they're playing for, however if they finish the year with only 1 or 2 losses and make it to a bcs bowl they'll know just how close they were and what they should have accomplished. That will make them hungry for more in 2011 when we will have a better team anyway.

has oregon even ever played for a mnc? they sure seem hungry.

They lost to Ohio State in the Rose Bowl last year. I would say that they are pretty hungry.

i am not questioning whether or not they are hungry. what i want to know is why we are not as hungry? we seem more likely to lose focus.

 

[RazzinGTO]

i think you are on to something. it seems like we are not cut throat enough. maybe you need that to go undefeated for 12 games. i look at oregon, and every game, drive, play is to win the national championship. and win you think about it, the season is not a series of games. it is one long game and you can never let up. maybe a killer instinct with more swagger would have helped against texas. it is not enough to just win, it is about developing a never-quit, play-at-your-top-level mentality.

:yeah

I agree. It seems like we hold back on the play calling sometimes. Like we don't want to offend the other team by beating them too much. I would like to see some Blackshirt type fire on the offense.

:bonesflag:

 

[I am I]

Watson didn't get stupid overnight, but he sure loves to outthink himself.

The 3 games we've looked most dominate were all games where at some point we ran the ball at least 10 times in a row and even occasionally from under center, yet Watson goes 5 wide?

 

[blackshirts5115]

bama lose to lsu

bama beat auburn

tcu beat utah or vis versa

maybe oregon gets tripped up by zona....

Neb win out

hmmmm maybe a chance

That still leaves Auburn and Oregon with one loss each. They would remain ahead of us. Here's what we need to hope for:

Bama loses to LSU

LSU loses to Arkansas

Bama beats Auburn

Auburn loses SEC Championship

Utah beats TCU

Utah loses to ND, SDSU, or BYU

Boise loses to Hawaii or Nevada

Ohio St loses to Iowa or Michigan

Wisconsin loses to Michigan

Nebraska wins out and plays Oregon for MNC

 

[dutch91701]

i think you are on to something. it seems like we are not cut throat enough. maybe you need that to go undefeated for 12 games. i look at oregon, and every game, drive, play is to win the national championship. and win you think about it, the season is not a series of games. it is one long game and you can never let up. maybe a killer instinct with more swagger would have helped against texas. it is not enough to just win, it is about developing a never-quit, play-at-your-top-level mentality.

This team has never even tasted the national championship so they don't even truly know what they're playing for, however if they finish the year with only 1 or 2 losses and make it to a bcs bowl they'll know just how close they were and what they should have accomplished. That will make them hungry for more in 2011 when we will have a better team anyway.

has oregon even ever played for a mnc? they sure seem hungry.

A bunch of teams are hungry...it doesn't mean they're good. Oregon hasn't looked too good in a few games. They're just taking advantage of a weak Pac-10.

 

[74Hunter]

Reverting to the pass really baffled me a couple of times. It's like Watson feels like he has to prove that we pass for a reason and end up eating an entire series.

I'm no Watson apologist, but I have no problem with mixing it up to keep defenses honest and keeping them off guard. Make sure there is a deep threat to keep the S's deep and keep them guessing.

I'd like to see 15-20 passes per game, it will still allow us to get high profile pass catching WRs and TEs.

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

^This. We still want to get good pass catching recruits so if we just run run run they're not going to want to come to Nebraska. Maybe that's complete crap, because most players would want to go to a team where they could possibly play for the NC, but others want to go to play on a team that fits their style.

I think Watson let off the gas a little bit, but his first quarter play-calling spoke for itself. An excellently called quarter.

 

[kchusker_chris]

There are quite a few of these things you notice throughout the game. Roy's 3rd & 15 catch down the left side for 15 1/2 yards (but was poorly spotted for 14) to stall that drive towards the end of the 2nd quarter.

I think you could go back through our season and pick out 2-3 drives that prematurely stalled due to something semi-fluky or just a brain fart in play calling. Considering our "finish" attitude this season we let a number of oportunities get away.