Undone

Yes, I know he was hurt earlier in the season. Another thing about this game was that it was hella bad luck for us to get the game where Mordecai didn't melt down with turnovers. So unlucky.

Chadwell doesn't bring anything more to the table for this season than what we've had. We finally put in an actually good QB who does pretty well and doesn't make a ton of dumb mistakes. He runs zone read, option, scrambles...how much more "Chadwell" can it get? The problem was not establishing the run in the second half. There's no "What did we learn" thread to actually talk about the game so I'll just put this here: Purdy really rifles the ball in there. He looks like an actual QB when he winds up and throws the ball. Where in the actual f*** has that been all year long?

Unbelievable that Purdy comes out and plays so well and we learn that he wasn't in the mix earlier in the year because of injury. Like, the most Nebraska thing to happen. Guy throws for 65% and rushes for over 100 yards. We just didn't establish the run in the right ways in the second half. For me that's really the bottom line. The defense played fine overall and Purdy had great stats. Just couldn't dominate the line of scrimmage in the second half. If Purdy had started healthy against Michigan State or Maryland we probably win both of those games by 7+ points. I just can't stand the constant dynamic of "we can actually win this game" and then just blowing it. F***.

The constant f****** dynamic of "I think we can actually win this one" and then blowing it is just beyond old.

Wouldn't be a game without a false start by Prochazka.

We gave up all of the momentum when we didn't get that 4th & 1 conversion. Downhill from there. Hey I have a great idea though! Let's run a bunch of 7 step drop pass plays instead of those toss plays!

Yes I was just creating a couple definitions of some things.

Ha. I bet this game is a big one for you!

So Purdy getting the start then? I just really hope that in the 1st quarter on offense we'll try to establish the run without asking him to pass much.

I think we have to separate out two things under the one umbrella of "play calling:" 1. Calling a play that's a weird choice no matter what given the down & distance (which is probably the most common thing fans do). 2. Questioning why we called what we did given our ability to execute the play. And you mentioned that. It's the second one. But there should be no gripe with item #1; totally fine to pass on 2nd & 8 where you're basically spreading the field out. I honestly love that play...but yeah, there's no QB to execute it. Not a hill I'm gonna die on, but fun to talk about with this one: I honestly think it's a part of Albert's mandate to run some option. I'll probably get a ton of disagreement that it even works like that. I know people will say "no way, Rhule is completely free to do whatever he wants." But I think the staff is running some option because we're Nebraska, damn it. And if that's true, I don't like it.

Man. Just maddening.

Absolutely. I have been saying this for years on this forum. I'd be thrilled to pieces to land more of that "pass-first" guy out of the transfer portal this offseason. I'm tired of the "stacked box but you're telegraphing a run play" offensive scheme, I just really want to see something different. And somebody's going to chime in and say "yeah but we're 32nd in the country running the ball this year in rushing yards per game" It's true, but I still think we wind up in a lot of 3rd & longs and we don't have QB's that can handle those situations much at all. As far as 2022 was concerned, I really think we would have made a bowl game with Thompson if anybody not named Erik Chinander had been coaching the defense for those first 4 games. It was absolutely f****** stupid to lose 45-42 to Georgia Southern.

It's a good point. Now maybe it's more of limiting dumb interceptions though also. That's been a pretty big problem this season also. Another thing that's similar to your point would be how we had two key RB's get injured for the season. So maybe the running QB's filled the gaps there because if I'm looking at team stats correctly, we're actually 32nd in the nation in rushing yards per game. Hard to say all things would have been equal with injuries if Thompson had been the starter but maybe there's something to that one.

The discussion is, would that have not been an issue if Thompson was here. I'm not saying we would have for sure seen better offensive production with him as the starter, but that's the point of the conversation. Well we've actually had a few long throws (a couple of them TD's) this season that got drives going, kept them going, or finished them off. Maybe helpful thing to do is to look at points per game this season versus previous seasons. Here's what that looks like: - 2023 currently: 114th - 2022: 101st - 2021: 78th - 2020: 101st - 2019: 63rd - 2018: 54th In the 2020 season we didn't get the benefit of playing two complete nobodies to blow out because of COVID. But anyway, we're just so bad this year at getting points on the board. So if a QB run game is the only thing making our offense work, is it even saying very much?

Agreed. I think a couple people here like you said have wanted to make Thompson seem like this lesser player to cope with Haarberg's & Sims' results. From my eyeball test and stats across the board I see Thompson to be more of the "pass-first" kind of guy that this program needed. No, I'm not saying things like "we definitely are 8-2 if Thompson is on the team." Those kinds of statements are silly.

Yep. Thompson was a very decent QB in 2021. And I seem to remember Longhorns fans grading him (higher) on a curve because of how bad their offensive line was that year. But then again, the talent level of receivers there that season was higher across the board. When a guy gets separation & gets himself "more open," it's easier to make the completion. It's weird how little anybody has talked about Marcus Washington being out around here. I think that's been big but then there are still just so many plays where Haarberg has sailed a ball, skipped it off the turf, or not led his receiver even when the guy is open. Like, so many.

That's true but this thread is about our terrible QB's. Throwing the pick on their 6 yards line right before halftime instead of at least getting 3 points wasn't good.

For sure, and we had another 13-10 loss also (to Minnesota). Sims threw a couple extremely costly picks in that one also.

Good stuff! Sometimes total season interceptions & total season fumbles lost isn't as meaningful as it at first seems as far as how it directly impacts the W/L columns. Example: You're Nebraska and you're playing a Top 10 team where the realistic odds of winning are probably less than 10% and we have a ton of turnovers in that one game. Doesn't really matter that much; you weren't winning that one anyway, and then the turnovers from that one game skew the numbers greatly. The completion percentage comparisons between this year's QB efforts and Thompson last year when taking Palmer's targets out are the most interesting stat. But that said, fumbles and just total number of dumb mistakes this year has been insane and has definitely contributed to the W/L column in huge, huge ways. Last year we would have made a bowl game if probably just about anybody not named Erik Chinander was coaching the defense starting in March of 2022 up through the Georgia Southern game.

@Red Five I wonder what the team fumble stats look like between last year & this year. Of course we have two more games left in this season.

This was amusing as his QBR against Maryland wound up being 0.6. I know he only played a bit...but still.

It's interesting to talk about. Vedral wound up with a 55% career completion percentage with 18 passing TD's & 17 INT's. I would say that makes him a shade better than Haarberg, yeah. But he's basically the same player; doesn't have any real passing pedigree and is more in the "run-first" category to me. Fyfe didn't really play all that much all in all. But he wound up with a 52.7% career completion percentage with 10 touchdowns & 6 INT's.

I kind of have to watch the last two games to make an assessment. If both Wisconsin & Iowa blow us out by three scores then I don't see how this season is any better than 2019. Same record, same mistake-prone team. The defense would have gotten way better, that's obvious. But the program would basically be right where it's been at while Frost was here. Maybe slightly better but not anything to feel all that excited about. Basically an argument over semantics than anything substantial. But, have to see what happens in these last two.