The Bottom Line on Watson's Playcalling

[irafreak]

The ONLY complaint I have about the defense is they seemed to relax up 17. They've given up quick scores with a comfortable lead in several games this year...washington was one of them. But that's it. Defense played well enough to win this game by several scores. 23 points and how many turnovers did we give away? Four right?

Shawn Watson's playcalling is average at best. He's had some nice calls here and there and some good games overall but it's the lack of consistency that kills us. The lack of adjustments and saturday night it was also the lack of getting the ball into your hot hand.

Sigh...the kids come out an play poorly I just say well we laid an egg. The playcalling just really depresses me.

 

[junior4949]

How about the defensive playcalling? How many yards did we give up Saturday? I don't care who is coaching what. A team that leads the nation in fumbles and leads the Big 12 in penalties isn't a team that will be very successful.

I hope you're joking about the defense. The offense GAVE a powerful OU offense the ball with great field position 4 times. Any team that gave OU the field position that NU did would be THRILLED to hold them uner 35 points. This is what Watson's offense has done to the fans. We've become accustomed to winning games with tremendous defense and no offense. Now all of a sudden people think if the defense doesn't play PERFECT, then they didn't play well enough to win. I've got news for you, no defense plays a perfect game for 14 games in a row. Unfortunately, if this defense doesn't play perfect, they lose.

It was somewhat tongue and cheek, but it's not as though the defense lit the World on fire. OU averages 7.3 yards per pass attempt on average. Against us, they average 8.3 yards per attempt. OU averages 5.4 yards per play. Against us, they average 5.7 yards per play. You would have thought with the times we gave them the short field they wouldn't have had a lot of yards due to not having to go the length of the field. However, they had nearly their average for yards. Then, we look at when we played that juggarnaut Iowa State team. For the season, they averaged 317.4 yards per game. Against us, they had 360 yards meaning almost 12% more than their average. Against Okie State, the D gave up for the most part what Okie State has averaged for the year. It was the offense that had to bail out the defense.

What does all of this mean? It means that we're not very consistent at all. It's a very rare occurrence that both the offense and the defense plays well in the same game. We lead the league in penalties, and we have done so since 2008. We're leading the country in fumbles. This team does have a lot of talent. If it were ever to be consistent both on offense and defense, we would be nearly unstoppable. I realize a lot of people want to start chucking coaches as soon as the bowl game is over, but I believe that is premature. In year three, we've had to break a new QB in each and every year. I'd like to see what this offense can do with a two or three year starter.

 

[Jason Sitoke]

I am pretty sure that Shawn Watson had no playcalling responsibilities at Colorado.

(...but that wouldn't look very good, would it?) It's okay, you can just post up these last three years and make an argument. At least there can be discussion. Numbers that can't be backed up with context are meaningless.

Yes he did.

No he didn't, Gary Barnett called plays, just like Callahan and Osborne.

That's not correct. In fact, Watson got a ton of flak for his predictable play calling while he was in Boulder. Sound familiar?

 

[wiby_NU]

Anyone else just hate the fact that us Husker fans EXPECT our offense to lay an egg..should'nt we expect our offense to play decent, and when they dont, we're dissapointed..this is a sign that something is not working. I would love to be an defensive coordinator going up against Watson. Watch a couple hours worth of game footage and take the rest of the week off.

 

[3rd and long]

How about the defensive playcalling? How many yards did we give up Saturday? I don't care who is coaching what. A team that leads the nation in fumbles and leads the Big 12 in penalties isn't a team that will be very successful.

I hope you're joking about the defense. The offense GAVE a powerful OU offense the ball with great field position 4 times. Any team that gave OU the field position that NU did would be THRILLED to hold them uner 35 points. This is what Watson's offense has done to the fans. We've become accustomed to winning games with tremendous defense and no offense. Now all of a sudden people think if the defense doesn't play PERFECT, then they didn't play well enough to win. I've got news for you, no defense plays a perfect game for 14 games in a row. Unfortunately, if this defense doesn't play perfect, they lose.

It was somewhat tongue and cheek, but it's not as though the defense lit the World on fire. OU averages 7.3 yards per pass attempt on average. Against us, they average 8.3 yards per attempt. OU averages 5.4 yards per play. Against us, they average 5.7 yards per play. You would have thought with the times we gave them the short field they wouldn't have had a lot of yards due to not having to go the length of the field. However, they had nearly their average for yards. Then, we look at when we played that juggarnaut Iowa State team. For the season, they averaged 317.4 yards per game. Against us, they had 360 yards meaning almost 12% more than their average. Against Okie State, the D gave up for the most part what Okie State has averaged for the year. It was the offense that had to bail out the defense.

What does all of this mean? It means that we're not very consistent at all. It's a very rare occurrence that both the offense and the defense plays well in the same game. We lead the league in penalties, and we have done so since 2008. We're leading the country in fumbles. This team does have a lot of talent. If it were ever to be consistent both on offense and defense, we would be nearly unstoppable. I realize a lot of people want to start chucking coaches as soon as the bowl game is over, but I believe that is premature. In year three, we've had to break a new QB in each and every year. I'd like to see what this offense can do with a two or three year starter.

I'm starting to wonder if a zone read team(where the QB carries as much as they do)can keep a qb healthy enough to be a legimate two or three starter, they just don't seem to hold up well to the continuall pounding.

 

[junior4949]

The Oregon QB seems to be pretty healthy. I remember the national media saying the exact same thing when we used to run the option that a QB couldn't take hits like that each play and stay healthy. It depends on the player and the situation I suppose.

 

[kchusker_chris]

The ONLY complaint I have about the defense is they seemed to relax up 17. They've given up quick scores with a comfortable lead in several games this year...washington was one of them. But that's it. Defense played well enough to win this game by several scores. 23 points and how many turnovers did we give away? Four right?

2 of those quick scores came off demoralizing turn overs.

2nd half posessions for OU

5 plays, 17 yards, TOP 01:36

8 plays, 59 yards, TOP 02:04

4 plays, 14 yards, TOP 01:52

3 plays, 9 yards, TOP 01:19

11 plays, 55 yards, TOP 03:03

3 plays, 7 yards, TOP 00:44

3 plays, 9 yards, TOP 01:50

2 plays, minus 3 yards

Unfortunately our 2nd half looked like this...

5 plays, 5 yards, TOP 02:41

3 plays, 2 yards, TOP 01:29

3 plays, 6 yards, TOP 01:32

8 plays, 22 yards, TOP 04:33

3 plays, 22 yards, TOP 01:11

3 plays, 6 yards, TOP 01:01

5 plays, 11 yards, TOP 03:03

4 plays, 6 yards, TOP 00:43

Can't say much bad about the defense. They could have made some plays...but they shouldn't have needed to carry the load in this case. Watson had 8 chances in the second half to score. He totaled an entire 90 yards of offense on those 8 posessions.

 

[tmfr15]

I am pretty sure that Shawn Watson had no playcalling responsibilities at Colorado.

(...but that wouldn't look very good, would it?) It's okay, you can just post up these last three years and make an argument. At least there can be discussion. Numbers that can't be backed up with context are meaningless.

Yes he did.

No he didn't, Gary Barnett called plays, just like Callahan and Osborne.

Barnett called plays, just like Callahan and Osborne. The Oz mentioned in the same breath as Callahan and Barnett. That's just wrong, no matter what the context of the sentence...well, unless it goes Osborne is nothing like Callahan and Barnett.

 

[JTrain]

On a bright note, if Bo refuses to make staff changes, I actually think Watson will fair a bit better in the Big 10. None of the top contenders run anything offensively that will force Wats to score more than 20-24 points, if we continue to field a top ten defense. There is nothing as dangerous as an Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., or even Missouri when they're good.

Could be wrong but it seems like you are more likely to win the Big 10 than the Big 12 with a great defense and average offense.

 

[huskerscott]

I am pretty sure that Shawn Watson had no playcalling responsibilities at Colorado.

(...but that wouldn't look very good, would it?) It's okay, you can just post up these last three years and make an argument. At least there can be discussion. Numbers that can't be backed up with context are meaningless.

Yes he did.

No he didn't, Gary Barnett called plays, just like Callahan and Osborne.

Barnett called plays, just like Callahan and Osborne. The Oz mentioned in the same breath as Callahan and Barnett. That's just wrong, no matter what the context of the sentence...well, unless it goes Osborne is nothing like Callahan and Barnett.

Im not sure whether Watson called the plays at CU, but he was the OC while he was there. I have also heard (i have family that are CU fans) that most the of fans were ready for Watson to leave when he did apparently he wore out his welcome. Sound Familar???

 

[kchusker_chris]

On a bright note, if Bo refuses to make staff changes, I actually think Watson will fair a bit better in the Big 10. None of the top contenders run anything offensively that will force Wats to score more than 20-24 points, if we continue to field a top ten defense. There is nothing as dangerous as an Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., or even Missouri when they're good.

Could be wrong but it seems like you are more likely to win the Big 10 than the Big 12 with a great defense and average offense.

Unfortunately Watson can't coach score AT ALL against top defenses...and next year we have in total defense: #2 Ohio State, #15 Iowa, #22 Wisconsin, #31 Michigan State, #45 Penn St.

This year we had... #7 Texas - then....wait for it...#42 Missouri, #51 A&M, #58 Oklahoma, #68 W. Kentucky, #82 Colorado, #84 Washington, #88 Iowa St, #90 Okie St, #96 Idaho, #99 Kansas, #106 K-State.

I'd say he's better off in the Big12.

 

[Hunter94]

On a bright note, if Bo refuses to make staff changes, I actually think Watson will fair a bit better in the Big 10. None of the top contenders run anything offensively that will force Wats to score more than 20-24 points, if we continue to field a top ten defense. There is nothing as dangerous as an Oklahoma, Oklahoma St., or even Missouri when they're good.

Could be wrong but it seems like you are more likely to win the Big 10 than the Big 12 with a great defense and average offense.

hmmmm....Wisconsin, Ohio State......i think they have just a little fire power!

 

[irafreak]

The ONLY complaint I have about the defense is they seemed to relax up 17. They've given up quick scores with a comfortable lead in several games this year...washington was one of them. But that's it. Defense played well enough to win this game by several scores. 23 points and how many turnovers did we give away? Four right?

2 of those quick scores came off demoralizing turn overs.

2nd half posessions for OU

5 plays, 17 yards, TOP 01:36

8 plays, 59 yards, TOP 02:04

4 plays, 14 yards, TOP 01:52

3 plays, 9 yards, TOP 01:19

11 plays, 55 yards, TOP 03:03

3 plays, 7 yards, TOP 00:44

3 plays, 9 yards, TOP 01:50

2 plays, minus 3 yards

Unfortunately our 2nd half looked like this...

5 plays, 5 yards, TOP 02:41

3 plays, 2 yards, TOP 01:29

3 plays, 6 yards, TOP 01:32

8 plays, 22 yards, TOP 04:33

3 plays, 22 yards, TOP 01:11

3 plays, 6 yards, TOP 01:01

5 plays, 11 yards, TOP 03:03

4 plays, 6 yards, TOP 00:43

Can't say much bad about the defense. They could have made some plays...but they shouldn't have needed to carry the load in this case. Watson had 8 chances in the second half to score. He totaled an entire 90 yards of offense on those 8 posessions.

Regardless those 2 quick scores shouldn't have happened...well not the first one. You can't let OU move 80 yards. I know a big play at the end on a freshman safety was the score but they hit a big run to start if off and they just didn't seem as focused for that series. Might be wrong but that is my only complaint with the defense and it is a very minor one.

 

[Husker_x]

He's average. He produces mediocrity. As long as he's here, I'd expect to see that column grow with the same kid of ho-hum figures.

 

[JTrain]

I'd like to see Greg Davis' numbers and how they ranked within the conference.