lo country

I know that Corey Raymond caught a lot of flak for his comments, but after last nights woodshed they ring true. Maybe he did know something none of us really wanted to admit. The highlighted part, at least to me, speaks of the staff as much as it does the kid. We were running smash mouth power and UCLA was wilting, then Beck went all pocket passer (like Wisky) and I do not think we ran again. Need to find and/or get the speed and athletes on the field. Kind of like "Remember the Titans" when they send in Peety and Sunshine Ronny Bass in on D. The other team was too fast so wiley Coach Boone sends in his athletes. Result (great movie) and a win. “Just be honest,” Raymond said. “Look at them, look at us. It’s pretty obvious.” What did Raymond mean? He didn’t spell it out, but he made veiled criticisms of Nebraska’s personnel. For instance, what did he take from this game going into the offseason? “Hopefully it helps recruiting. Get athletes.” Was he encouraged by how NU matched up man-for-man? “Not necessarily.” Raymond went on to compare the mentality of Southern players versus Nebraska’s players. His guys needed to learn how to punch back once they got “hit in the mouth.” “You can’t live on what other guys have done in the past around here,” Raymond said. “You have to live on yourself…We’re not Prince. We’re not Eric Hagg. We’re not those guys. We have to do much different things. We have to work harder. We’re not the same athletes as those guys.”

We have the offensive weapons to play with anyone in the country. Our problem is a stubborn OC who goes into pocket pass mode when we get punched in the throat.

I agree with a lot of the above. Our DB's are deep. Why not try moving some up into that LB/Hybrid role. Surely can't get any worse.

Lavonte David was thrown in two years ago when Fisher went down and look how that turned out. Sometimes a scheme will only take you so far. Maybe simplifying the D and letting the physical talent shine through would be a better idea. I agree with you, simplify it and put the speedy, physical, talented players on the field even if they aren't getting the complex defense that is Bo Pelini's defense. What do we have to lose really? Washington today even said that they went to RGIII to see what plays he was "comfortable" with and went with those. Makes sense. Simplify to be successful and add on as you go. Hope Bo and Co did some soul searching on the long flight home and realized some changes need to happen.

Have a question for those on the board. Any chance that we see some personnel changes next week? What about scheme. What about the possibility of moving SJB,Smith or Stafford to a role like Super D in 2003. IIRC, he was a safety moved to LB. SJB is at 215-220, Stafford and Smith a little smaller. It would give us a lot more speed at the LB position. David proved you do not have to be "big". Also looking at the roster, Rose, Santos and Roach are on the "smaller" side for typical LB's. Seems like the DL, while getting pushed around, still kept the OL from getting hats on our LB's. Perhaps significantly quicker LB's could blitz quicker, recover faster and sure as heck cover receivers better. Or is it too late to try any of this. Thoughts?

Duke, good stuff as always. Correct about TO. Finally realized speed kills and 3 MNC's later there we are. I hope that Bo and Co do a real honest self evaluation and realize that our current scheme is horrific at best. I said in another post it is easy to blame the players, as they are "missing tackles", but whose scheme puts them in that position. It is the staff's job to devise a scheme that puts our guys in the best position to win and make plays. Same with beck asking Martinez to drop back in the pocket and go all Manning back there. Adjust the scheme to fit your players. Don't try and pound a square peg into a round hole. Watching the ESPN pre-game (NFL) and they commented that the Redskin's have pared down the playbook to what RGIII felt comfortable with. They got him plays that he can run. What a concept.

Our scheme has been exposed since SUH left. We Yeah. Honestly . . . the score should have been more lopsided. The defense did take away the ball down near the goal line once . . . and got bailed out by a few fortunate penalties by UCLA (and one of those was a really bad call.) I thought last night that I haven't seen the ball moved at will on Nebraska like that since 2007. Turns out that's pretty accurate . . . and it could be argued that it's worse. I think Bo needs to get a chance through at least 2013 . . . but let's be honest here. If Bo can't consistently field good defenses, why on earth should we want him as a head coach? Certainly not because of his recruiting prowess and his offenses. We'll see how this season and next play out. Agree 100% Since SUH has gone (and GUPL, Cally's recruits) Bo's scheme has started to get exposed. Per McBride, on Hail Varsity, without the horses on the DL in the 2 gap, you are screwed. (paraphrase). Last year we blamed it on our previous recruitment to defend the spread, not the power and physicality of the B1G. Last night, I really thought we would excel as UCLA runs more of the Big XII style spread. I as flat out wrong. It is truly easy for me to look at Cam for example, getting beat like he stole something time and time again. It is easy to look at Martinez reverting back to his old self and lay blame at the foot of the players, but you are spot on with the bolded above. He game plans, he recruits, he devises the schemes week in and week out. He also promoted Paps to DC and Beck to OC. NOt saying Cam would be better in another scheme, but dag we do not have the dogs to run that 2 gap. He won't switch. It is all about execution and the system. How about putting a system in place that will better allow the players TO EXECUTE. Same with Beck. Heard owned them on his runs and then Beck asks Martinez to do what every arm chair coach in the country knows he cannot do.....throw from the pocket under pressure. Talking about recruiting, our O line has 3 friggin walk ons starting. Great human interest story, but negatively telling for our recruiting and honestly development. The staff needs to create a system for the kids they have, not for what they want to have. Martinez will never be a pocket passer. He will never effectively run the option of HUsker lore, BUT he can throw on the run, we can roll him out to avoid pressure, we can incorporate screen passes to slow the D, or play action etc..... Our guys come out flat. Football is a game of emotion. It can be won or lost based on this. Bo wants to run this like a business, see UT 2010. Don't play it up, no talk of revenge etc.... Every Sat is a new game. No emotion. He needs to get the kids emotionally ready to lay the wood. I thought after the FG to end the half, our guys would have come out on fire to ram it down Mora's throat, but no, it is a business, 30 more minutes to play. Play to not lose, don't play to win. I think someone else also mentioned changing captains every week, changing the way Blackshirts are awarded to include like 20+ guys getting them. We need to change schemes and as you said above, possibly coaches.

Agree 100% amd have said the same about David numerous times as well as Bo playing knowledge over abilities. Watching the ESPN pre-game (NFL) and they said that the Redskins coaching staff has pared down the playbook to the comfort level of RGIII. Now imagine that, a pro team, with time to practice for their full time job, pare down the playbook to allow their playmaker (great athlete) to contribute immediately. Our scheme is too complicated ie only upperclassmen start and doesn't work without a DT like SUH. See all the comments ref the hailvarsity article on the 2 gap and McBride's thoughts. Time for a change of schemes.

Started by saying it was one game and that we can still win the B1G and go to a BCS Bowl. Then she said maybe it is Bo, can't motivate or get the kids up for the game. AND THEN THIS. Every team has about the "same level" of talent, but has some stars, we don't have any. (She did say Rex was star, but sidelined)

Remember after the Capital One Bowl and Raymond's "look at them now look at us comments"........................ Just saying.

Beck's play calling sucked in the 2nd half. Recall the announcers last night late in the 4th, when UCLA went for it on the swing out pass to their RB. Commented to win, you need to get the ball into the playmakers hands in space and let them work. I saw nothing done by Beck in the 2nd to negate their pursuit and blitzes. NOTHING. When we went to Heard and it worked, Beck abandoned it for Taylor Montana.

We have no intensity and do not play with a sense of urgency.

Out played and out coached. A re-occuring theme for the past few years. Y'all played great.

Agree. That loss wasn't on Martinez. I place the blame squarely on Beck. Just like Wisky last year. Heard was killing them and then Beck gets cute and wants to put Martinez in the pocket with an eight man rush, or run the zone read from the endzone or completely do nothing as it relates to play calling to make them pay for pinning their ears back.

Great post. I would also add we have a glaring issue trying to run this 2 gap without the horses up front. Our secondary has the talent to be scary good. After last night, I would also look at our strength and conditioning. You always hear teams talk about "so and so will be better after another year with the S&C", but or DL was getting owned by true fresh. Disappointing to say the least. Our guys should have feasted on them. I agree burn the RS. The starters we have now at LB and DL are not the future. get the young kids in there and give them reps. Get them ready for conference play and use the likes of Cam, Stein, Compton, Whaley etc to spell them.

I am no expert at breaking down a defense, I don't think our D adjusted well at all. Their RB ran around us the entire second half. They made plays when then needed them. some questions/observations: If a two-gap defensive scheme is to engage and protect the gaps, then why would we start a full yard off the ball. It seems to me that giving up a yard right at the snap just gives the offense time to fire off the ball and move into position. Why not engage and protect right at the point of the snap? We knew we were playing a very mobile qb but I didn't see us spying him. Did I miss that? what in the world has happened to Meredith?? He showed so much promise his sophmore year. He seems to have regressed since then. our defensive slowness reminds me of our mid 70's and late 80's teams. Good against inferior teams, and exposed against good ones. our tackles play way too high at the point of attack. Especially Rome. after last year's defensive showing, and the first two games this year, Bo needs to swallow his pride and make some sweeping changes in scheme. This one does not work with the horses we are able to recruit. Agreed 100%. I watched Martin when he was in. He was at the LOS every play. Obviously that is acceptable or Kaz or Bo would have had him shift back. We are S-L-O-W on the DL and at LB. UCLA was hitting the edge and we had no hope to catch them. I was embarrassed for our DL and LB's trying to chase them down. Bo won't swallow his pride. See not hiring Mike Stoops as DC. Our fundamentals are horrible. Missed tackles, arm tackles poor pursuit angles etc.... As McBride stated in his article, to paraphrase, "If you don't have a stellar DL, look out" (in ref to the 2 gap)

Just wanted to give a list of some issues that really stood out to me last night and give some reasons we are in a bind. We do not have the horses to run Bo's 2 gap D. With SUH we looked all world. Even David covered up some mistakes. Now, we are seeing the effects of no talent at DL or LB. Our best D Lineman is a converted LB with no technique, but just plays mean. Our most electrifying receiver (JT) is a converted QB. Our hardest hitting player is a WR in Quincy Right now, most physical DB is a converted WR in SJB Beck (good in 1st half) proved to stubborn, inexperienced and unable to adjust. Goes into a funk and can't get out. Heard was killing them and we abandoned run and made Martinez a pocket passer. Zone read from the end zone. Martinez, while improved against SMU, reverted back under pressure. Beck placed him in a position to fail O Line has 3 WALKONS. Our starting center is a 5th year Walk on IIRC. Make s a great story, but we won't win with this Paps is new and inexperienced. We took a DL coach last year (with horrible D line play) and gave him the keys. We were out played by UCLA starting 3 Freshman on the O line. Looks like Cross wasted a RS year for one game. Our strength and conditioning program really needs to be evaluated. Our seniors were pushed around by true Freshman In a nutshell, this on the job training for our staff is showing. Out coached in all aspects of the game. We can't adjust on the fly. We have recruited players for position A, who switch to another position and excel. Not a bad thing, but shows we are either recruiting the wrong guys or not developing them to simply take up a schollie and a roster spot. The 2 gap SUCKS. We line 2 far off the LOS to be effective. The DL has no fire and LB's are flat out slow. We also almost gave up the most yards in Husker defensive history. In History. To a RS QB and an O line with 3 true Freshman

Super D, the Bullocks, attacking secondary. Need to go back to the Peso and bring up SJB as the Super D stand up hybrid LB/DE. Kid plays with heart and is a beast. And Marvin Sanders. (serious drop off when he left) I hope you're kidding. I mean, the secondary played SO well last year. In coverage, the secondary is fine. Not good, not great. Just fine. The biggest problem is TACKLING! Coaching issue. Absolutely 100% coaching issue. Go back to 1s-on-1s in practice and HIT each other like they're your biggest rival. Absolutely inexcusable football by the Huskers tonight. Answering the question about 2003. Led the nation with 29 INT's IIRC. The secondary was balls out that year. Sanders wasn't here last year. We had Raymond. Sanders last year was 2010 and IIRC we were like #3 in pass defense efficiency. Yea, last year and this we are lacking.

Super D, the Bullocks, attacking secondary. Need to go back to the Peso and bring up SJB as the Super D stand up hybrid LB/DE. Kid plays with heart and is a beast. And Marvin Sanders. (serious drop off when he left)

Here is the issue. WE HAVE 3 WALK ONS STARTING on the OL. Makes for a great feel good story, but sucks when you want to win games. Plain and simple. We have serious issues folks. NOt saying this is Cotton's fault, but I do not think any other team has that many walk on starters. Possibly a reason that they did not get offers to other big programs.

I am sure Beck will say I got a little stubborn, No doubt

Beck needs to be fired. That guy is an idioy. WTF. Wisky 2.0

WT. He is not a pocket passer. Come on Beck. You sir are an idiot.

Great things happen when you bring pressure

Run the friggin ball. No zone read. Power or play action.