Grades - Southern Miss
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lionsfan93
Special Teams Player
I think one thing that we have to remember as far as the defense is that they had no idea what to expect and no real scheme. The strength to Bo's defenses is his schemes. I don't think the defense will be great, but I think we will see a lot of improvement next week.
True2tRA
Banned
I'm not gonna play Debbie Downer here, we did a lot of really great things yesterday. Taylor looked fantastic. But as far as the defensive line goes, Southern Miss's Offensive line moved us 3 or more yards off the ball every snap of the game. The announcer's commented from the very first series that SM was opening huge lane's. That was the first series. Let's all just admit that we are clearly lacking talent, speed and power up front on defense. We have to get better. Plain and simple. Trying to blame it on scheme or anything else is just not realistic. Scheme has nothing to do with being absolutely physically dominated individually.
True2tRA
Banned
I don't want to sound too negative about the defensive line because the defense did hold them to low points and low yardage. It's clear though, that we can get better up front. Southern Miss is not even in the same league as the big hoss's we will face when Wisconsin comes to town. Overall a pretty good game. We definitely look better than I imagined we would. This offense can be absolutely scary.
druski_2k5
Five-Star Recruit
Quarterback: A+
Very impressive by Taylor, and that's even an understatement. He had GREAT zip on his throws, something I've never seen from him, he looked around instead of staring one receiver down, unless it was a quick 1 read only, and he looked decent at times moving. I would have liked to see him run a little bit more, but when you've got the hot hand, stick with it. We will really be a 50/50 team this year. When I thought we would run, 3rd and 3 or less, we threw and with great results. When you're on you're just on. Wonderful to see from him.
Running Backs: A-
Rex got it started early, we kind of faltered a little bit with him out, but I saw good things from everyone. Heard got in the game and scored, nice explosion. Ameer looked faster and ran between the tackles better than he did last year, and Cross, my oh my, what a monster truck he will be for us down the road, he is hard to bring down and will keep moving the pile. We are set at depth at running back where last year we had a lot of unknown and unproven talent.
Tight Ends and Receivers: A
We have so much depth here, it's scary. Everyone looked good. Taylor hit a bunch of different guys and everyone contributed. We need to get Jamal the ball more, he looks electric out there, and Kenny and Quincy were steady as always and it was nice to see Kyler with some grabs and some of the younger guys who hardly ever see the field get in on the action. We are absolutely loaded here.
Offensive Line: B+
Better than I thought I would see. Looked great at times, and looked a little weak at times, but no mental mistakes or anything like that bumps the grade up. No penalties on the line, I believe, is a huge step forward. Keep it up line. They gave Taylor protection all day and there was no one arond him, gave him tons of time to throw and it showed in the boxscore of our passing game. That is how a passing pocket should look like!
Defensive Line: D+
Looks like the same as last year. No push, only containment, hopefully it was just because we didn't know how to defend Southern Miss. Looked good on one play, then would give up some plays where they looked awful. I'm sure it will be corrected once we know how to attack offenses better.
Linebackers: C
Again, same as the defensive line. We played mostly Nickel and Dime and our passing defense packages. Compton and Whaley were in the right spots mostly, we just need to tackle better, and that would help if the line could get more penetration and allow the linebackers to get a better read on the ball carrier and make better tackles.
Secondary: B
Very good effort. They didn't get tested much, got beat on a few passes and a few runs to the outside, but overall I thought they played extremely well. Can't wait to see when we get Mo involved in the defense. I feel comfortable with this group that I saw yesterday.
Special Teams: FFFFF
Feel bad for Maher, you know he isn't that bad. 2 missed Field Goals, kickoff out of bounds, shanked punt. Clearly his worst day playing, but that is not who he is. I feel confident he will resort back to last season form in the next game. I have no worries about him kicking, unless it becomes mental, he just has to get a solid kickoff or Field Goal and he'll be back. He will be fine. Kickoff coverage wasn't the greatest, gave up that TD return, still a lot left to be desired on them. We didn't punt much, but that one bad shank hurt. This is one of those games where you watch the tape and then forget about it as fast as possible. Saturday can't get here any faster for these guys who you know what to improve and show that yesterday was a fluke.
Same with Martinez though. I don't think he will play "that good" every game. Those were video game numbers he put up in the air. However, that being said, I loved what I saw from our offense yesterday. His mechanics looked great, he had great zip on the ball, and a lot of guys got touches and involved in the game. We had a nice balance of a Power-Spread Offense that was up-tempo and hard to defend. I would have liked to see some more option and zone read, but we will see that down the road. When you're hot, you stick with what works.
Defensively, I think we didn't know what to expect and that's hard to coach and prepare for. That being said, there were things I didn't like, missed tackles, no penetration, that has got to get fixed NOW!
This team has a chance to win the conference and win every game on the schedule, and I hope they do, but we need to fix the defense, shore up the missed tackles, get more penetration, and keep the offense gelling as well as it did yesterday.
Very excited to get the season under way, but it's best not to get too high or too low on this team. No mood swings, but I liked what I saw yesterday as a whole overall.
Very impressive by Taylor, and that's even an understatement. He had GREAT zip on his throws, something I've never seen from him, he looked around instead of staring one receiver down, unless it was a quick 1 read only, and he looked decent at times moving. I would have liked to see him run a little bit more, but when you've got the hot hand, stick with it. We will really be a 50/50 team this year. When I thought we would run, 3rd and 3 or less, we threw and with great results. When you're on you're just on. Wonderful to see from him.
Running Backs: A-
Rex got it started early, we kind of faltered a little bit with him out, but I saw good things from everyone. Heard got in the game and scored, nice explosion. Ameer looked faster and ran between the tackles better than he did last year, and Cross, my oh my, what a monster truck he will be for us down the road, he is hard to bring down and will keep moving the pile. We are set at depth at running back where last year we had a lot of unknown and unproven talent.
Tight Ends and Receivers: A
We have so much depth here, it's scary. Everyone looked good. Taylor hit a bunch of different guys and everyone contributed. We need to get Jamal the ball more, he looks electric out there, and Kenny and Quincy were steady as always and it was nice to see Kyler with some grabs and some of the younger guys who hardly ever see the field get in on the action. We are absolutely loaded here.
Offensive Line: B+
Better than I thought I would see. Looked great at times, and looked a little weak at times, but no mental mistakes or anything like that bumps the grade up. No penalties on the line, I believe, is a huge step forward. Keep it up line. They gave Taylor protection all day and there was no one arond him, gave him tons of time to throw and it showed in the boxscore of our passing game. That is how a passing pocket should look like!
Defensive Line: D+
Looks like the same as last year. No push, only containment, hopefully it was just because we didn't know how to defend Southern Miss. Looked good on one play, then would give up some plays where they looked awful. I'm sure it will be corrected once we know how to attack offenses better.
Linebackers: C
Again, same as the defensive line. We played mostly Nickel and Dime and our passing defense packages. Compton and Whaley were in the right spots mostly, we just need to tackle better, and that would help if the line could get more penetration and allow the linebackers to get a better read on the ball carrier and make better tackles.
Secondary: B
Very good effort. They didn't get tested much, got beat on a few passes and a few runs to the outside, but overall I thought they played extremely well. Can't wait to see when we get Mo involved in the defense. I feel comfortable with this group that I saw yesterday.
Special Teams: FFFFF
Feel bad for Maher, you know he isn't that bad. 2 missed Field Goals, kickoff out of bounds, shanked punt. Clearly his worst day playing, but that is not who he is. I feel confident he will resort back to last season form in the next game. I have no worries about him kicking, unless it becomes mental, he just has to get a solid kickoff or Field Goal and he'll be back. He will be fine. Kickoff coverage wasn't the greatest, gave up that TD return, still a lot left to be desired on them. We didn't punt much, but that one bad shank hurt. This is one of those games where you watch the tape and then forget about it as fast as possible. Saturday can't get here any faster for these guys who you know what to improve and show that yesterday was a fluke.
Same with Martinez though. I don't think he will play "that good" every game. Those were video game numbers he put up in the air. However, that being said, I loved what I saw from our offense yesterday. His mechanics looked great, he had great zip on the ball, and a lot of guys got touches and involved in the game. We had a nice balance of a Power-Spread Offense that was up-tempo and hard to defend. I would have liked to see some more option and zone read, but we will see that down the road. When you're hot, you stick with what works.
Defensively, I think we didn't know what to expect and that's hard to coach and prepare for. That being said, there were things I didn't like, missed tackles, no penetration, that has got to get fixed NOW!
This team has a chance to win the conference and win every game on the schedule, and I hope they do, but we need to fix the defense, shore up the missed tackles, get more penetration, and keep the offense gelling as well as it did yesterday.
Very excited to get the season under way, but it's best not to get too high or too low on this team. No mood swings, but I liked what I saw yesterday as a whole overall.
flatwaterfan
Starter
huskrplaya
Special Teams Player
True2tRA
Banned
+1. Hell, that's not drinking the Kool Aid....He was that damn good yesterday. Whether you like Kool Aid or not, the young man looked damn good out there.
HuskerMoon
Special Teams Player
It's always nice to see the expert analysis from the fans reiterated in 163 ways isn't it?
So now I'm informed. What did I learn from these posts?.
Taylor Martinez played well: It was hard to tell that by watching the game ya know.That's why I rushed here to check.
Rex Burkhead appearantly got hurt? Ohhhhhhhh. Is that why he only had three carries? I thought he was limping around on the sideline working on a tan for the top of his melon. Crazy!
The defensive line played bad: This one was really hard to tell for me. I thought when I saw the fellas with the black Southern Miss helmets slashing through our defensive line at will that "Cam and the bumbling stooges" were just being polite and making them feel welcome and not offend them by smacking them in the mouth and stomping them at the line of scrimmage. You know, the same principal as a participation ribbon.? Guess I was wrong.
Alonzo Whaley didn't play well: Nonsense! A fundamentally sound defensive program like Nebraska would never allow such errant play like we saw from Whaley. He's obviously been cursed by a Mississippi warlock.
The Special teams didn't play well: You know maybe if they treated field goals like horseshoes like they obviously should people wouldn't be saying that! You get close you get 1 point. Hit the posts you get 2. Through the uprights? Yay 3 points. Also, Brett Maher almost tackled the guy on the 102 yard return. Maybe they should only get 5 for the TD?
So now I'm informed. What did I learn from these posts?.
Taylor Martinez played well: It was hard to tell that by watching the game ya know.That's why I rushed here to check.
Rex Burkhead appearantly got hurt? Ohhhhhhhh. Is that why he only had three carries? I thought he was limping around on the sideline working on a tan for the top of his melon. Crazy!
The defensive line played bad: This one was really hard to tell for me. I thought when I saw the fellas with the black Southern Miss helmets slashing through our defensive line at will that "Cam and the bumbling stooges" were just being polite and making them feel welcome and not offend them by smacking them in the mouth and stomping them at the line of scrimmage. You know, the same principal as a participation ribbon.? Guess I was wrong.
Alonzo Whaley didn't play well: Nonsense! A fundamentally sound defensive program like Nebraska would never allow such errant play like we saw from Whaley. He's obviously been cursed by a Mississippi warlock.
The Special teams didn't play well: You know maybe if they treated field goals like horseshoes like they obviously should people wouldn't be saying that! You get close you get 1 point. Hit the posts you get 2. Through the uprights? Yay 3 points. Also, Brett Maher almost tackled the guy on the 102 yard return. Maybe they should only get 5 for the TD?
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Apathy
All-American
You bring up a valid point. Just something to think about since most of us weren't impressed with the D me included.
'SkersRule
Banned
About the only thing I really disagree with is your grade of the special teams. Yes Maher missed two FG's and we gave up a kick-off for a TD. But Maher did make seven extra points and aside from that one kick-off return our coverage (on punts as well) was solid.
Overall, I'd grade the special teams as a C.
The Dude
Heisman Trophy Winner
You forgot a shanked punt and a shanked kickoff. The special teams units aren't on the field long enough to have that many blunders in one game. Anything above an 'F' seems disingenuous.
Maher was Mr. Reliability last season, I expect him to shake off Saturday and have a decent season though.
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