lo country

59 minutes ago, chamrocck said:

I’m going to keep preaching it. Our OL and defense has to be our identity. This must be the foundation.  I give credit for the defense making progress. We legitimately can recruit kids to come be a Blackshirt, that is a culture and identity that ballers can come play for.  This was woefully lacking in the Riley and Frost years. 

 

I don’t like our OL. It really has established nothing IMO. We don’t put guys in the league and other teams in our geography have taken OL mojo from what used to be a source of pride for us. If frankly pisses me off. We need to develop the OL and get an identity and culture to build upon. Reward White for progress, show Raiola the door. Results matter and we don’t have 3 years to improve incrementally as we are going to get killed in the new BIG if we don’t wake up.
 

Teams that have flashy skill guys are fun to watch but without defenses and winning the LOS you never reach potential as a team. Many fell for this initially with Riley (Calibraska) and Frost (he got AM and Wandale)…both coaches were disastrous. I’d argue Michigan prior to Harbaugh had this same problem.  Lincoln Riley has had great skill guys and Heisman winners but no defenses at OU and now USC. His star is fading. 
 

It’s trench warfare.  Once you establish the LOS pipeline depth, watch the gravy train of skill guys that want to play for those programs.

 

SmashRaid or bust.

I agree with your post.  The pipeline and Blackshirts are what NU was known for.  The B1G, and even with the addition of the PAC teams, will be won or lost banging in the trenches.  

Unsure who coined "smash raid" last night in the games thread (if it was you Kudos), but even this "run the damn ball guy" can get behind it.  Unsure if Wisky figured us out (adjusted) after the 1st or we went away from it, but those first few series looked good.  If we could build around the quick passes, the misdirection and PA with power running (would love some actual 2 back sets (EJ and insert other RB here) we migth be on to something.  Learn from last nights miscues and move on.  Bring the smash raid to Iowa and go bowling.

21 minutes ago, funhusker said:

This is going to come off as “poo-pooing” NUs defense this year and I really don’t mean it to.  The defense is undeniably the strength of this year’s team.

 

But White’s DC resume at NU now really isn’t a lot different than from a calendar year ago.  He stops bad offenses like he’s supposed to.  But so far, not much success against teams like Michigan, or even Colorado…(year at Nebraska)

 

Hes a great and super smart guy that deserves a shot at a head gig.  But I don’t think it’s based on his performance at NU.  The Huskers are just the latest notch in his belt.

Don't know if it's the grind of a long physical season or injuries at spots, but we haven't played as well defensively since the MSU game.  MSU, Maryland and Wisky seemed to find some flaws to exploit when needed.BUT still better than previous years.  Just hard to gauge as the West is really weak this year, but hard to discount that stats of the D.  More TO's next year and I'd expect us to be even better.

2 minutes ago, gossamorharpy said:

I know most of our injuries are just horrendous luck but past few weeks I’ve been wondering if the offensive injuries are a by product of us hitting hard in practice.

 

don’t get me wrong, the physicality of practice has shown up from week 1 with how sound this team has been at tackling (most weeks). But been wondering if part of our injury bug is due to our guys just taking shots consistently from our defense 

I wondered that as well or the S&C, buts D seemed to be spared from injuries.  Figure that it would make them more prepared as they'd get "conditioned or used to the hits".

6 minutes ago, huskerfan74 said:

Amen, that is what I have been saying since yesterday. We had all the momentum in that last drive and Wisconsin was scrambling and could not stop us. Rhule did a better job of stifling our momentum than Wisconsin. We should have been in hurry mode and intending to score a TD all along. Unfortunately, it appears like Rhule was playing for the tie since we took the ball over. Either he did not trust his offense to score a TD or his defense to defend if we scored early. Regardless, with 1:35 to go on the 26 yard line and 3 timeouts, that is an eternity to score. Instead we ended up kicking a FG on second down. If we are going to go down, let is go down swinging and not being afraid of success. When you have momentum and your opponent is reeling, you run it down their throats and not go for overtime in their own backyard. The end of the game was mismanaged and this is not the first time Rhule does that. It is a well known weakness of his. He needs to work on that.

If we die, we die....Or as the Spartans said "With your shield or on it".  Rather go down trying to win, than trying not to lose.

Hate to see him go.  But can't blame the guy of that's what he wants.  Plus the pay day.  But what he did in 1 year was pretty amazing.  Be great to see that year 2 jump....Saw someone had posted Miss St DC would be a guy to go after if White gets hired away.  He was with White and knows the 3-3-5.  

Just now, admo said:

It's all good 

 

Keep in mind that we are seeing a lot of players across the board getting their feet wet this year instead of being in this position next year.  These young players will have tape on them and know what to work on and what to expect/anticipate when they play next season.  I think that's great and an advantage to them, especially when they go into Spring ball and keep hitting the playbook, the weights, putting on pounds.  It's like they are a year ahead of the projected curve.  Sure they make some mistakes and sometimes look unready to play big time football.  But at the end of the day, they will grow from this experience and be better going into next year.

Can't complain about them getting experience.  I like White and the D doing it by design (and some injuries) vs the O having to do it purely by injuries.  A lot to build on.  We are a crazy young team on both sides.  Truly don't think the staff on either side wanted to play this many young guys this much or with this many reps. But with the portal, I think you almost have to in order to "keep guys" from moving on. 

4 minutes ago, gossamorharpy said:

I wish it was 7 years winless against them, isn’t it 10 now? Lol. Hot damn this sucks 

Is it really 10? Or did the Melvin Gordon game count more.

11 minutes ago, admo said:

Take a step back and breathe a little bit.  The sun will come back out tomorrow.  

 

I like you but you seem to fault "the OC" in almost every post during losses, for years and years.  Satterfield, Lubick, Walters, Langsdorf, on and on and on.  And you have a fixation with Chadwell and Korn as the "end-all be-all" fix in your mind.  

 

I understand we lost.  It was close.  But keep in mind that Rhule & Satterfield and White were not here during those previous 5+ years of close losses and they do not need to be blamed or included into all of the prior frustrations that you or other Husker fans feel.  This staff is in year one and deserves more respect than that.  They are trying to restart and rebuild a program that was a stinker for 5-8-10 years.  You don't have to blame OC every time we lose.  Let it go.  Just review the year and look at all the turnovers, fumbles, INTs by the QB players.  Nothing to do with OC calling plays.  That "non-winning" or "non-successful" stuff is on the players.  And that might be a better direction with how to look at wins and losses.  I'm just being honest.  I'm not trying to be mean.  

 

 

Appreciate it. I like  your stuff as well.  Good insight and discussions.  Shouldn't have come off so harsh on my reply.  I am ticked.  Can't lie.  Last night was a bad loss.  Truly thought we had them.  

I also complained about Beck and Watson a lot    I did complain on all of Riley's staff, most of Frost's, but did like Bo's.  

I do like Chadwell a lot.  Watched him at Charleston Southern and followed him since.  Just like his scheme.  Really think it would work.  A lot of others as well, but he's a SC guy.  I think that TO's O would have evolved into this.  He uses a lot of those basic concepts.  Complexity in the simplicity as it were.  

There's Iowa next week and then the off season.  Tome to recruit and rebuild.  Really hoping to get Iowa.  The seniors deserve a bowl game.  Hate the thought of Iowa being the reason we don't go bowling.  

6 minutes ago, DrunkOffPunch said:

It’s year 1. Your going to make your offense fit the pieces it has. What exactly are the bright ideas apparently so many people have that would’ve turned around the offense led by Sims/Haarberg? We don’t average 20 passes a game because we don’t have a need to pass. I don’t know how anyone can think they can accurately judge Sat with the qb play we’ve seen this year.

For me, personally, the issue is he is the QB coach.  He's been dealt a crappy hand with the TO's following Sims, HH getting bit by the same bug and injuries.  But even with the TO's still had them throwing downfield to open DB's like punters shagging a punt.  They never improved in any of that.  The first 2 series last night were great.  And then Wisky adjusted after the 1st and we got 3 points in the remaining 3 quarters.  Once he gets behind the sticks, he doesn't seem to know what to do.  The option play has been bad with HH and Chubba.  I am a fan of it, but not the way we "try" to run it.  

With the O struggling Satt is an easy target.  But at the end of the day he is the OC and the O is struggling.  

Really nothing tbh.  A lot like watching Frost for 5 years to be honest.  Chances to win and then snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.  

Chubba played well.  Pleasant surprise.

Hoping we get Iowa looking to the B1G championship.  Be great too bowling and beating them 2 years in a row.

Better on penalties.  Chubba cadence might have been an issue and the noise.

A lot of work going into 2024 season.

For me, pre-season, I said bowl or bust.  Not as a measure of Rhule and success, but a visual, tangible "thing" that showed we are better.  Probably 5-7. With a pretty down B1G West.  Just like last year.   With a Interim coach....

Just 3 really crappy looses in a row.  To 3 teams on multiple game losing streaks...

GBR!

18 minutes ago, admo said:

9 pages of "Fire the OC!"........  you guys are out of your minds.

 

Yall are just extremely pissy and acting drunk because we didn't win a close game at Wisconsin and don't know how to deal with it.   

 

We played a clean game.  No fumbles and no interceptions (until the final play in OT - so what?).  

Our offense outplayed Wisconsin's offense in passing yards, rushing yards, total yards, yards per play, and time of possession.  We had the same amount of first downs (19). And Wisconsin ran 5 more plays.  The game was decided in overtime. 

 

Fire the OC?  That's irrational.  

And we still lost.  I can give a flying F about the stat lines.....All that matters in W-L.  7 years winless against them.  No win there since 1966.  And it's not just this "close loss".  Stop me if you've heard the best 1 score loss team in the country before.  We are now on year 6 of "close losses" and "moral victories".  Dude is getting paid north of 1 millions....He has not had a prolific O in any of his stops.  Wasn't suppose to be the OC here until Peetz fell through.  OC by default.  I wasn't a fan then and even less after 11 games.  

14 minutes ago, Undone said:

 

Here's an analogy. For the past six seasons, we can't even walk. We're crawling.

 

You seem to not be talking about walking or maybe even running slowly. You seem to be talking about competing in a 100 yard dash.

We have been wandering in the desert for longer than I care to remember. We are the only FBS team to have not gone bowling the past 6 years.  We have been stumbling and bumbling since firing Bo.  How do we get better?  One way is with a competent staff. With all of the money available, do you really think we hired the best guys possible?  McGuire as WR for example. First coaching job is at a rebuild program in the B1G.  
 

I am a firm believer in the crawl, walk, run methodology.  But as you said we are crawling. Why?  With the resources, NIL, history etc we shouldn’t be struggling this long or be this bad.   Continuing to lose is only going to make it harder and harder to get the right guys here.  There’s no reason Liberty should have better skill positions than us.  But they have some solid guys. Same with other G5 schools. I’m just sick and tired of out MO being “ keep it close and NU will beat themselves”.  Execution is horrible. There’s been little to no improvement on the O side.  If a guy is on scholarship they should at least be able to jog using your analogy. And some are not. And it shows.   
 

I bag on Satt, but what is his system?  His scheme?  I have no idea as we do none of “it” well.  At least Chadwell has a scheme he is known for.  That he runs well. And has won with. 

9 minutes ago, chamrocck said:

Rhule tonight made reference that last week he was asked why he didn’t run it. I guess I could see if Purdy throws another INT tonight that would be brutal. To me it felt different tonight. It felt like we had momentum to win the game and try to steal it on the road. Last week it felt like kick it to take the lead and put pressure on Maryland to counter against  our defense. We lost both times which really sucks. Ultimately the coach has to understand his personnel. I don’t think we have a dominant receiver that can win the game there. So until we improve the roster we are going to be in these tight games needing a star or someone to step up.  I think for the Iowa game we go for broke. Someone needs to have a breakout game. Chubba showed me some leadership on offense tonight but no one else really showed me we are winning the game. Wisconsin had those players on their offense tonight. Sucks for us.

Agree.  What current O player to put the game on their shoulders to win?  Half a$$ blocking by receivers and TE's. RB rotation is ridiculous at best.  Like every play you swap them out.  No rhythm at all.  Receivers don't appear to have near the ability of other receivers on other teams that routinely make great plays.  QB's who are just as likely to throw a pick as they are an incomplete pass....Go for broke next week.  Leave it all on the field.  Iowa would love nothing more than to send us home (again) without a bowl game.  Who wants it more..... 

17 minutes ago, Mavric said:

 

Maybe the defenses in the G5 are not nearly as good as they are in the P5.

PAC 12 and Big 12 D's not very good either.

7 minutes ago, Undone said:

 

What skill position has shined? Well, let's see. Here are our injuries:

 

-Gabe Ervin

-Rahmir Johnson

-Marcus Washington

 

You want Chadwell's scheme, right? How is what we did tonight appreciably different than Chadwell's stuff? We ran option, we ran zone read. We run a bunch of stuff out of the "I" (which lifelong Husker fans generally are really happy about).

 

We needed Chubba's game that he had tonight against Michigan State & Maryland and we're 7-4 right now. Hell, make it 8-4 if he had played like tonight against Minnesota.

 

 

Are those 3 guys game changers?  Have they been game changers?  TBH, I'd say that Liberty's skill guys and QB are better than ours.  And that's an issue.  Better talent or development?  

Chadwell knows his scheme forwards and backwards.  It's his.  A lot of read option, misdirection and RPO. One predicated with the run, attack the perimeter with QB or a pass.  More like a triple option with the receiver as an option.  Also uses mostly 20/21 personnel.  Something that would bode well with NU's stable of backs.  I also like that much like TO, they have a set of core plays/principles that they run through a lot of different motions and formations. It's a unique option, and much like TO's is difficult to devote a lot of practice to as it isn't that common. Plus I am biased.  I like a run based scheme.   

Chubba is the best QB on the roster and it's not even close.  I loved the misdirection in the first quarter, but do not remember seeing it again.  

End of the day, I just want NU to win again.  I do not think we will get to where we want to be with Satt as the OC.  If we go all WCO, Spread, Pro Style, Texas Coast etc...I don't care.  Just win.

3 minutes ago, chamrocck said:

Yes Rhule is here. But disappointed he did not go for the win tonight. Chubba could have gained a lot of confidence winning the game and it’s like we took the air out of the ball.  It’s like he didn’t want him to have same experience as last week. Scared to fail. We are not a tough physical team on offense. I want an OL that other teams fear. If you can block then the offense would run much better.

Rhule even said about last weeks call (to paraphrase) "We want to teach the kids to not be afraid to fail"  What did they teach tonite with the horrible clock management and not going for the win.  Manage the time better and you'd still have 10-15 secs minimum and 1 TO to try.  

7 minutes ago, runningblind said:

I don't think anyone is saying this is the offense we want, I simply don't think that one works either. We have to be able to function both running and passing, when the situation calls for it.   It's too easy for P5 defenses if you are one dimensional, as we have seen all year.

Salter has thrown 26 TD's to 4 INT's, almost 2200 yards, with an almost 60% completion rate and rushed for 705 yards.  Granted in the G5, but not bad numbers at all.  Chadwell's O has been run centric, but still has QB's that can effectively move the ball through the air.  I definitely wouldn't call them one dimensional.

3 minutes ago, WWG1_we_GBR said:

For some reason, we aren't getting those players so there must be a reason. Why can't we isn't working for me anymore

We have consistently "recruited better" than all the teams in the West and only lower than UM, PSU and OSU in the East.  The inability to develop and retain them has been a huge issue for sure.  Kids want to play for a wining program.  We are currently not one.  Kids want to go to programs that will show case their abilities.  I have no real idea what our scheme is.  What skill position has shined.  Who is our game on the line he needs the ball guy.....We have no identity.  

2 minutes ago, Mavric said:

 

Possibly.  But that's just a lot of assumptions at best.

 

It seems pretty likely that there are just way more offensive skill players to go around than there are defenders.  G5 teams can still find plenty of elite athletes to put on offense but not nearly as many on defense.  So I think it's a lot easier to run those kind of offenses at that level than in the Power 5.

And yours isn't a lot of assumptions at best?  Remember when Frost and UCF beat Auburn?  Didn't  we lose to a couple of G5 schools under Frost?  Almost lost to one under Pelini if not for AA?  Parity is getting more and more prevalent  in the FBS.  If they can get those elite players on O why can't we.  Whatever we are trying has not done well in year 1.  Yes injuries have impacted this, but QB is horrific at best.  I'm still a fan of Chadwell's scheme.  And still think it would be successful.  

4 minutes ago, runningblind said:

That will never work in P5 football consistently.

I'd give it a shot.  NU's O wouldn't work at that level either, but here we are.  "Better" athletes, hard to scheme for, unique, I'd try it.  Sure wouldn't be any worse.  

1 minute ago, Mavric said:

 

So did Frost at that level.

 

Chadwell has had multiple years of winning at that level. Much better coach than Frost IMHO.  Chadwell has really developed that scheme.  Don't want to say invented, but is an originator in it.    I wanted him as HC a few years ago.  Wanted him when Frost was fired.  Undefeated at Liberty this year.  Has been ranked more years as a HC than Nebraska has since since Pelini was fired.  I'd take him in a heart beat.  Maybe Korn is just as sharp, maybe not, but I'd give it a shot.

Just now, knapplc said:

 

Of course not. But you can't honestly look at the defense and think they've suffered the same attrition since the start of the season as the offense, either.

 

Eight of the 11 starters on offense in the first game are gone. The defense hasn't had remotely the same attrition. There's zero chance we're performing as well on defense with the same losses.

 

And then we'd have "Fire Tony White" threads by the message board geniuses.

3 QB's-TO's

Play calling is suspect

Doesn't scheme around the talent he has

Has a history of poorly ranked offenses

I simply don't like him as an OC.  Will take a lot for me to change on that.  So I am admittedly biased.

1 minute ago, DrunkOffPunch said:

Satterfield isn’t turning the ball over. People act like we’re a good running team. We’re an average run team that can’t pass. That’s why we haven’t been scoring points. We aren’t Michigan where we can just lean on the o-line. The only teams that pass less than us are the military academies and people act like we’re giving up on the run.

He's the QB coach and his guys play with fingers covered in vaseline.  

Bottom line, the old adage "if nothing changes, nothing changes" holds true...

2 minutes ago, Decked said:

HC at Coastal 

Tony white doesn’t suck at his job every week. 

I know people think that Chadwell's O at Coastal and Liberty is gimmicky, but they flat out win....Willy Korn and Kaidon Salter with a little package deal with salary and NIL....

TBH, I followed Beck after he left NU.  Dude has become a solid OC.  7-4 his first year at Coastal. 

2 minutes ago, knapplc said:

 

Satterfield staked Tony White to a two score lead. Where are the "Fire Tony White" threads?

 

It's just so arbitrary. There's so little thought put into these knee-jerk reactions.

Because this O and his QB's have sh!t the bed in every loss we have had.  You can't honestly look at the O and see the same improvement as the D or think that they are "close" in ability and performance.