DrunkOffPunch

Using NW as a gauge is a mistake. The hail mary has served as Kool-Aide for some. Let's examine some facts.

1. NW averaged 5.2 yards per carry.
   
2. NW is the 74th ranked offense in NCAA (399 YPG). They were held to 326 against the huskers.
   
3. Treyvon Green in the #3 TB and he didn't even make it through the entire game.
   
4. Averaged 4.8 yards per play
   

 

Positive Stats

1. 8-21 passing by NW.
   
2. 2-14 on third down.
   

 

 

Northwestern couldn't convert on passing opportunities in this game.

Here's a positive stat-

After the first two NW drives for TD's,(both drives went for 75 yards) the D only gave up 161 total yards. They only averaged 11.5 yards per drive during that time span, while during that time span we turned the ball over four times. 10 of NW's points came off turnovers starting at our 38 and our 7. Lastly,(and most important) NW only gained 34 yards in the 4th quarter(23 of which came on one drive). I'd say improvement is there, it's consistency that is key. So, can our defense be more consistent?

Edit- Also, 6 3-and-outs. 7 if you count the interception.

Justice Hayes

Light bulb

Edit- For some reason i couldn't get a picture of a light bulb to stay when I posted and it won't save when I try to edit. Help? Never mind got it. Wow am I dumb.

He stepped up BIG in Kenny's absence Saturday. I figured he would be a fast ATH trying to play WR. Couldn't have more wrong. He runs good routes and had some VERY good catches. We are in great hands in future years with Westy and Moore.

 

Westy and Moore will both be good, but where's Taariq Allen? Still injured?

IIRC this question came up a while ago and somebody said his injury was nearly career ending.

I'd like to throw in the 12 STRAIGHT stops on 3rd down from the D. You don't win many ball games going 2-14 on 3rd down.

1. TA is the future.

2. TA starts off really hot but for some reason falls flat as the game goes on. Kinda weird. He'll have to work on that.

3. The D isn't dead, and we can make some plays. The only question is will this continue or will there be another let down.

4. If we can't get anything going on O we can lean on AA.

5. Not sure on this...but maybe some leaders and play makers(besides SJB) come out this week after some solid all around individual performances on D.

Just sit and wait, they are still celebrating over there and plus you know how the traffic is.

Haha true. Probably a little too quick to it. After replaying it over and over I learned the play was under review. Didn't even hear the ref say it was under review.

I don't personally understand all the hate on the coaches. Yes first half you can blame them, but second half we made a lot of improvement. The only thing I didn't understand was us ditching the option. We overcame 4 turnovers and 4 costly penalties on drives that seemed like we were going to score on. I AM NOT defending any coaches, but it is obvious this team didn't roll over and die. We made plays on D when we had to. The D carried us in the 2nd half.

I wasn't personally there. Just wondering to the people who attended and stayed till the end, how loud was it and how does it compare to other moments in Memorial Stadium?

My bowels have released.

For Papuchis

 

That's improper tackling. His head is on the wrong side and his butt isn't underneath him.

Do you remember Ganz. Now ganz wasnt the best QB but he was a leader and that showed. That is what im talking about, sorry if you guys are bored with martinez threads but im not here daily to read them.

A leader is someone who leads his team to victory. No matter the obstacles when the game is on the line he can win the game. Going on what Po said, wouldn't those comeback wins define him as a leader? Four last year not to mention the biggest one in school history against OSU. The kid hasn't been healthy since he was a freshman. He played on broken toes last week. That sounds like a leader to me.

I like some of your points, but with all due respect I disagree with some of them. Kenny Bell and a lot of other kids don't see Nebraska the way we see it. They're not hardcore fans from birth like us, they're recruited. Their best memories of Nebraska won't be of the fans; it will be of time spent with other players and coaches, their best friends and mentors on and off the field.

I don't have a problem if you don't a player or think he shouldn't play, but I have a problem when they are attacked on social networks for their performance. They put all the time and the effort into these games. They are the ones running wind sprints in November while we're sitting inside chatting on HB. They have a lot more at stake in these games than any of us, so I'd say it's fair to say that they take a loss harder than us. A loss for us is the reflection of something we associate ourselves with while a loss for them is a direct reflection upon themselves. I'm sure they after a loss the last thing they want is to go on the internet and be blasted by 'fans' with their opinions. The first couple times I'm sure they don't really care, but after a while I'd bet it wears down on them.

I'd also like to point out the fact that it's not just the hatred towards him, but to others he associates with. If some stranger calls your girlfriend something mean, it angers you. I'd say the same thing applies to his teammates and coaches. It's no secret the amount of hatred T-Mart has gotten over the years. These guys want to look out for their own. It's more than a game to them. Does anybody remember T.O. crying and saying 'That's my quarterback.' when Romo(I don't have the best memory of who/what happened) was going under fire of if he was good enough. Any attack on other players or coaches feels like an attack on them.

My last point is that for some of them this is not the big stage. For players that always had dreams of one day being Huskers or players who will play their last seconds of football in scarlet and cream, maybe so, but not all of them. For some of them this is an opportunity. An opportunity to try and show off their skills before the NFL comes calling. Like it or not it's the truth. They have their whole lives ahead of them and I don't want their memory of some bad fans to ruin the greater sum that was their experience at Nebraska. I don't want this to continue or taint the image that is Nebraska.

I would like to say this was not a rant. I was not responding to anything that angered me and am simply stating my own opinions on the matter.

Lost again. 2-6. Can't seem to find any consistency. Either the WRs or RBs as a group do crappy. I'm looking for a WR from the waivers this week. Who do you think is a better and will score more consistent points?

Marvin Jones- Cincinnati- He's their 3rd option at WR so he doesn't see the field every play but has scored 3 straight TDs in games. Also seems to have some better chemistry with Dalton than Sanu and Green does pull away the better corners.

Kenny Stills- New Orleans- Big play rookie. NO's 2nd option. Only problem with him is Brees likes to spread the ball out.

I'm in a PPR league. Right now Randall Cobb has the most points out of all my WRs....ugh.

Last question. What are the chances of Roddy White or Arian Foster starting? Need both of them really. If Roddy cannot play one of these WRs listed above will be starting for me,

Ran out of +1s...

I personally wouldn't mind him if:

1- He didn't jaw off to every defender after he scores a touchdown.

2- He didn't get all the credit for everything he does. Seriously, he has one of the best WRs in college football in Evans but yet when he throws for 400 yards against a team with Evans having almost 300 of those. He makes a tackler miss then throws up a jump ball to a guy in triple coverage who muscles his way to a catch and ESPN paints him as a god.

Obviously, #2 is not his fault. Just something I wanted to get off my chest. I did root for the guy last year, although I didn't want him to win the Heisman. I think all the talk about him is getting to his head. His ego is starting to catch up with his football skills.

Did you see Romos stat line against Denver? Bailey isn't fully healthy and they're gonna have to put up 35+ to win. GB lost a few playmakers and found a ground game with Eddie Lacy. This actually isn't as close as some think. PrimeTime shoot out on national tv.

 

Rodgers - 20- 30 275yds 2 TDs 17 yds rushing

 

Luck - 28 - 42 320 yds 4tds 60 yds rushing

 

Start Luck and thank me with +1s Sunday night

This. Plus with Cobb out and Jones possibly out you get Joe Haden on Nelson. I agree and say go with Luck.

I think I have my lineup set pretty well but I'm looking for for other people's comments/opinions. I started off 0-4 but am on a 2 game win streak. Playing the league leading team who is 5-1 (and a girl) and I'd like for this momentum to keep going.

Starters-

QB- Phillip Rivers

RBs- Arian Foster, DeAngelo Williams

WRs- Hakeem Nicks, Mike Williams, Justin Blackmon

TE- Heath Miller

FLEX- Keenan Allen

D- Panthers

K- Seattle's

Bench-

QB- Eli Manning

RBs- Stevan Ridley, Chris Johnson, Andre Ellington

WRs- DeAndre Hopkins, Roddy White, Randall Cobb-O

TE- Charles Clay

1. Oregon

2. 'Bama

3. Florida State

4. Ohio State

5. Clemson

6. Louisville

7. UCLA

8. Baylor

9. aTm

10. Stanford

I believe this year the Pac-12 is the best conference in football.

Trent Richardson, Bilal Powell and Fred Jackson are my RB. Need 2 of them. Right now I am leaning towards Powell and and Richardson but I have been in RB hell all year and have got little to nothing out them. Not sure what to do

Goodson and Ivory are returning so I think they'll take some of Powell's touches.

Who do you guys think will be the better long term waiver pick-up this week?

Willis McGahee - Cleveland

Andre Ellington - Arizona

Zac Stacy - St. Louis

McGahee and Stacy are both starters. Ellington is not but has been steadily outperforming Mendenhall, getting more carries, and is the better catching threat. I play in a PPR league. Right now I'm leaning towards 1.Ellington 2.Stacy 3.McGahee.

Not picking a side but something to add..

Martinez:

1) Led (IDK the exact number) 4(?) comeback victories last year. Not to mention he QB'ed the biggest comeback in Husker history.

2) He is tough. Not nearly as good when hurt, but I'd be hard pressed(is that a saying?) to find many people on the roster that want it more than him.

Either way I am excited for the next 3 yrs of TA.

We've shown a ton of promise at times defensively. The first half of the UCLA game is evidence. That's a UCLA team that is very talented that we smacked around for 2 quarters. I'm hopeful we play up to our potential on the defensive side of the football Saturday because we can be really good on that side of the ball there with the guys we have.

I love the excuse when I point out the first half of the UCLA game that "UCLA was just emotionally drained, then they woke up". Well, I use that same excuse for the 1st quarter and half against SDSU.

 

Excuses absolutely apply for other teams but not us. Absolutely not us.

 

Took my daughter to that game. Her first game ever. Talk about a roller coaster of a game. We were cheering screaming and high fiving everyone around us. That UCLA score right before half had a slight effect on everyone. The second half drained the life out of everyone. I still cheered when the defense was out there hoping for a stop. We didn't get many.

 

The thing was, I could hear people grumbling "here we go again". And I thought, I think they are right. Here we go......AGAIN. Roller coaster seems to be quite a fitting term for this team and this staff quite frankly. An emotional wreck at times would describe both.

 

You can hate the excuses Accountability and EZ, but the fact is, we've seen this show enough to know the outcome. To start expecting it the way I did after that final score of the half.....well it's just unfortunate but common. In the same breath as you are saying how lame some fans excuses and explanations were, well many fans find some of the coaches excuses and explanations equally annoying. To the point of, no, those excuses don't apply anymore.

 

You'd be looking very hard to find an excuse that Bo has given the past year or so. I actually believe he's actually taken sole blame multiple times this season and last. And it really comes down to this question: What more do you want or need him to say? He can't win with whatever he says to the media or fans. There is really nothing that he can say that won't be over-analyzed, spun around, and read into so much that it's made into something it's not by the media or fanbase. You married men or guys with serious girlfriends, does that sound familiar at all?

I think this year he's made more excuses than ever. I remember the UCLA game when he said they made defensive adjustments all the time but the guys couldn't get it down (not verbatim)

He did a similar thing at the Wisconsin game and really the only loss I remember him blaming himself, it was the Ohio State game. How come we aren't allowed to criticize O Holy Bo, but he can blame our players for not executing the process?

Perfect example of why we shouldn't is Martinez. The offense looks sluggish and we go three and out and it's his fault. We score 50+ and he runs for 100 yards and people praise him. It's been like that his entire career. Being the QB, he's an easy target to blame when the offense doesn't execute. Same can be said of Bo with the defense. '09 and '10 defenses were amazing. He got some credit but most of it went to players like Suh and Amukamara. Then looking back people hold an asterisk on those years because Bo didn't recruit them.

In the game thread people are quick to blame a player when he misses a tackle or blows a coverage then after it's all said and done blame Bo when we give up a good amount of yards. When a LB misses a tackle or a DB takes the bait when a WR throws him a head fake then gets beat that is what Bo means when he says execute. These plays add up. He's not throwing them under the bus. The players are in position to make a play yet don't. Does Bo deserve a little criticism? Yes, but not all of it. What EZ said was true; no matter what Bo says he can't win. Husker fans are always looking for a scapegoat to blame when things go wrong. At the end of the day the players are the ones that step on the field, and if the 'execute' the way they should and can, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

Anybody have thoughts on Roddy White? Some guy in my league dropped him. He's obviously a very good player and since I'm 1 in the waiver wire I'll be picking him up but how long will it take him to overcome him high ankle sprain?

I wouldn't read too much into that personally. More of an indirect motivational speech. David didn't seem like the kind of guy to fold under criticism, more of the type that hears it and does everything he can to fix these little 'mistakes' and get better. There's more than one way to motivate someone other than praise. Looking back at David's short career, it seems to me like it worked.

 

I hear where you're coming from man, which is why we used to just laugh it off. Really, that was just a stream of consciousness rumination: Reflecting on the whole tenure. Thinking about this scheme, whatever gap * X it may be.

 

I have this nettlesome pessimistic suspicion that we simply had playmaking studs at all three tiers, and our vicious destruction of opposing offenses merely a consequence of Suh scoffing at double teams while three guys lined up beside him feasted off the chaos he generated. That's not genius X and O stuff. That's an all time college DT right next to another current NFL player who often gleefully blazed past a single team while that Storm of Suh caused mass wreckage and frustration next to him...and then, whatever panicked or rushed pitch or flare to a safety valve that managed to squeak out of a wide eyed QBs hand was cleaned up by Hagg or Gomes or Prince or Dennard...or O'Hanlon. (Sic?) Remember that first or second series for Arizona in that bowl game, when Matt came flying up and just beat up a WR or RB trying to move upfield after a little screen? That was sound tackling. Our safeties haven't done that since Courtney Osborne got whatever career altering injury he incurred. (Something happened. PJ Smith or Harvey Jackson ain't hitting Gabbert like that. Just not happening.

 

This scheme, what we're doing now, is '09 offense painful to watch. I have consistently stuck by this staff for six years, and I'm not gathering pitchforks over here. I will say though...something's gotta give.

 

I am patient. Past posts of mine will illuminate that. But this guy better figure out a way to make this defense at least an average unit. Average is not an extravagant request. And the disheartening thing is that we're a long way from that. We are absolutely awful right now. Like bottom league bad. And "process" and "execution" isn't enough for me at this point...sorry. This is not a backwater school with kids playing two ways. There is enough speed and athleticism to hold opponents to 400 yards and 28 points. Yes. That is how low the bar is right now.

 

And 28 points seems too low. 400 yards? That's only gets you 2/3 of the way to Laramie.

 

Sorry guys...really longwinded, I know. Just been kind of bottling it up and trying like hell to not worry about Wyoming, focus on the 1st half against UCLA (when they arguably did as much to stop themselves on offense as we did on D.) Arguably because it's unfair to discount what the defense did manage to achieve: Look like a unit capable of getting a pretty decent offense off the field with some regularity. That's our high point. And that included a dropped snap by a punter, two short field scores for us...and some misses for plays that were there for the Bruins.

Well said. I actually said something along the same lines as you about the safeties in a thread. It sometimes can be a real roller coaster watching this D. I mean, like you said, against an explosive UCLA O in the first quarter we really had them on the ropes. There's highs and lows. You see a guy like SJB read a QB and make a pick by jumping a route so you ask yourself why can't everybody do this?

That's what I don't get at times, but I'll be the first to say I'm optimistic enough that when I see something like that I believe others can do it too. We at times have seen some amazing college football players on Pelini's D. Guys like David and and Hagg who made little mistakes and were complete ball hawks. You can look at the 09/10 defenses and say well Pelini didn't recruit them, but then again most of them(besides Suh and a couple others) didn't really play that much under Callahan. That's why I believe Pelini can repeat those results.

I'm not disagreeing with you, more or less just saying I'm an optimist. One thing to take away from the 09 D was their aggressive nature, which is made a bit easier when we were getting constant pressure with 4 guys, but the aggressive nature on this D does need to pick up, and I'm not talking about play calling. Like you said, our safeties were more aggressive, and if I am thinking correctly since our safeties are usually playing a 2 deep zone their eyes should be towards the QB. Guys like O'Hanlon were great at reading run/screen/whatever short play the offense threw at them, and we need that now.

OT- Was Osborne really hurt? I always wondered why we never played after taking the starting spot when he was a Freshman/Sophmore. Really liked him as a player.

I'm thinking back to when Lavonte was emerging and starting to reveal himself as the special player he was for us and is on Sundays currently. David would have these ridiculous, almost stupidly inflated stat lines: 20 tackles, FF, fumble recovery.

 

Every time, Pelini would almost castrate the guy afterwards. "David, actually, made a TON of mistakes out there."

 

At the time, my dad and I would just kinda laugh about it. Now I'm thinking, the most prolific guy on the field for our defense compiled 20 tackles and he had a terrible game? What does that actually mean?

 

Maybe nothing. Maybe it's a green coach flaring the arrogance of youth and staunchly believing his plan, followed EXACTLY, could yield circus tent numbers, 34 tackles, 4 picks, and a hot blonde at halftime.

 

I wouldn't read too much into that personally. More of an indirect motivational speech. David didn't seem like the kind of guy to fold under criticism, more of the type that hears it and does everything he can to fix these little 'mistakes' and get better. There's more than one way to motivate someone other than praise. Looking back at David's short career, it seems to me like it worked.