Husker71

Both Tim Beck and JP are extremely loyal to Bo. They were obviously deeply concerned for him. When the coaches have a lot of mutual respect and trust among them that can be very powerful in the long run.

Hope you feel better Bo! It was good to hear Bo's statement that he is okay and will be back soon.

Proud of Solich. Like him as a person and no question he turned his program around. Bo is better now and has the better long term potential.

Nice article. This game is a great opportunity to erase the doubts created last week. Just what we need.

I think Flu sees things as they are, actual real time, with past performance verified. He sees things as they most likely will go. No less a fan than anyone else, just stating his thoughts.

 

Others do not want to see what is in front of them, refuse to as they are fans. Neither are wrong and neither are right, only time will tell who is and we have not passed that point yet.

 

I felt this was going to be a bad year from the beginning. Saw some of the things that worried me in the Southern Miss game, but thought things might get better with a higher level opponent. Not so much.

 

I am trying very hard to believe that Bo has improved his recruiting and that we will see a upswing in defensive production. I am just not sure that it will happen this year. He has improved the offensive talent I think, so it would seem with time he can get the defense back where he once had it. But there is a talent level problem, and very little experience. That is what hurts us so badly, we have players that have not truly seen the field and a staff that is learning along with them.

 

I still think this is going to be a bad year in Nebraska standards, but listening to some talk about the new talent on the D side, I am hopeful we will see the improvement we all want next year. Not giving up on this year by any means, but will take it for what it is, learning.

I am glad there are posters who honestly say what they think and don't fold even when a lot of people pile on them. I respect that. Just makes the conversation interesting for me. We may lose 3 or even 4 games this year but I predict we will improve noticeably. I look at this as a learning year as well. As long as there is progress I enjoy watching it.

I have trouble predicting any losses for us, have always had that problem. I would say the teams harder than UCLA are Ohio State, Michigan, Wisconsin and Michigan St. in that order. Maybe in the face of all logic I still think we have a shot at the B1G championship and until I can deny it no longer that's my story.

Listening to it a couple of times I think he handled it pretty well. The message was focus on what you can control and also taking exception to lowered standards which I liked. I liked that he didn't talk down to the guy or dismiss him personally. Like talking down a drunk guy he matched his intensity at first and then calmed it down at the end.

Over 4 posts more.

 

Number of sacks by our D linemen (not counting LB or Db blitzs) -1

Under. I predict we still have some UCLA flashbacks, but our tackling will look much improved.

More posts before this guy^^^ understands this thread- 4

Under.

number of points we surrender on defense- 21

I predict we still have some UCLA flashbacks, but our tackling will look much improved.

okay, okay, I meant the above. Duly noted, thank you.

I guess your 4 post prediction also came true, so you should be feeling awesome right now.

Under. I predict we still have some UCLA flashbacks, but our tackling will look much improved.

Hilarious and true. That and the he-man "what's going on" vid (can't remember which thread that was) cracked me up today.

Interesting article. Agree tackling is teachable and fixable. Couple things interesting to me. Coach McBride didn't seem like it was time to be drastic. He also seemed to say in his defense the players were very "live" with the tackling in practice. Makes me wonder if our defense has enough opportunity in practice to realistically tackle and finish plays.

This analysis matches closely what I feel. I'm not ready to sound the alarms yet. I don't interpret the recent drama as Pelini losing the team. I am trying to take a step back, trying to take a long term view. When I do that I see progress despite all the problems we have had on both sides of the ball. I couldn't detect any crisis of confidence after Southern Miss. I thought I was hearing the defensive players sound more upbeat like, "they are turning us loose more, we can attack more" before the season started.

Very experienced posters are saying this is different, this feels serious. That probably worries me more than anything else. But I had completely given up on Martinez to improve as a QB and Beck's ability to improve as a coach. I feel I was so wrong about that if anything I want to see a lot more before I reach any premature conclusions again. We are probably way behind where any of us would like to be but I am still of the mind we are headed in the right direction with Bo and this staff.

I'm not totally worried personally yet. I'm tired of the roller coaster, but my theory is that Pelini got spread too thin with concerns on offense and went on autopilot on the defense fundamentals. For much of Bo's tenure the defense was the lesser concern. Despite the disappointment with Beck and Martinez toward the end of the UCLA game, to me the progress is undeniable and this allows Pelini to get back to the basic and his passion for defense. I'm betting that in the long term this gets fixed.

 

The only thing that nags at me is that EVERY year we talk about tackling issues like it is a new problem we've never seen before. That is getting old.

 

I think this is tying a lot into the complicated scheme issue. I think guys are spending too much thinking about where theyre supposed to line up and reading this and reacting that that they get themselves just a smidgin out of position by taking the play a half step slow. Go back to the great defenses of '09 and '10 and them guys in the secondary were shootin like missles into ball carrier like it was 2nd nature. O-Hanlon. My land he would fly out of nowhere to make plays on extremely talented guys like Shipley, Broyles, Murry and so on. And all he was was a walk-on from podunk Beatrice, Nebraska.

I would agree with that. That's funny, I grew up in Beatrice.

I'm not totally worried personally yet. I'm tired of the roller coaster, but my theory is that Pelini got spread too thin with concerns on offense and went on autopilot on the defense fundamentals. For much of Bo's tenure the defense was the lesser concern. Despite the disappointment with Beck and Martinez toward the end of the UCLA game, to me the progress is undeniable and this allows Pelini to get back to the basic and his passion for defense. I'm betting that in the long term this gets fixed.

The only thing that nags at me is that EVERY year we talk about tackling issues like it is a new problem we've never seen before. That is getting old.

What happened to all this "team unity" and "were all a family" bullcrap...It seems to me this entire offseason we were fed horsesh*t by both the players and coaches...Its about time that we start sifting through the excuses/heresay and figure out what's really wrong

 

It's happening. Right before our eyes. They are "weeding out" the bad ones. This team is moving forward with this family concept. Youre either all in FOR THE TEAM, or youre out. Plain and simple. DUN.

Great point. When the unhappy ones move on,doesn't take many, the culture changes dramatically.

I apologize if someone has already said this but I don't have time to cut through the jungle tonight.

 

Simply put, from my distant vantage point, I don't care who on that defense gets passed over. No one--NO ONE--has earned squat. For me this season was from the very beginning about staying level with our current run of acceptable success and preparing for the next couple seasons when our schedule puts us in position to win crowns. Chase Rome wants out? Good. It's not like we're losing a winner, or someone who does things like sack the quarterback, stuff the middle-run game, or generally do any of the things defensive tackles are supposed to do.

 

I'm not even that worried about our recent departures in general. There needs to be a sense of hunger and fight on this team. Guys who fold and walk out at the first sign of adversity aren't going to bring you that (in fact, I'd guess they have an effect more along the lines of a chronic disease), so however many stars they have after their name, in the end they net you exactly nothing. Give me the guy who's ready to bleed for every win over the clown who thinks he's owed his spot, especially in light of what we've seen from this defensive unit the past season +2 games. At this point we might as well put the blackshirt status on hiatus. Nobody's earned anything. They play soft sloppy defense and based off what I've seen from the starters, there's no switch that's about to be flipped. To me this looks like a house cleaning situation, every spot up for grabs. Scheme too complicated? Simplify it until playmakers start appearing on that field. Switch to the 3-4? Whatever man. Get speed and passion on the field as fast as you can.

Well said. I hope that now Bo can finally be less distracted by issues on offense and focus more on defense where he is most effective. Totally agree if it is a battle of wills with players, let the chips fall and take the short term hits no matter how painful. Just keep thinking back now on that UCLA game and how different things might look if we just would have made those tackles, especially in the backfield.

Ok, I'll admit I am still learning the ins and outs of this game but it seemed like our D watches the other players instead of the ball. Aren't you suppose to keep your eye on the ball? Also, they wait for the players to run to them instead of running to the ball. Aren't you suppose to run to the ball or are they afraid that if they do that they will over run the runner? I'm so old school. I remember when you played the Huskers the runners never got through our defensive line. It was BAM and they were down for the count!

The other thing I noticed is how they defend. It's like they're playing patty cake with the opposing player. Can they push off better and get away? I know they can't if the other team is holding (which UCLA did a lot in the game on Sat.) How would you coach that?

I also can't believe how these boys tackle. Didn't they play tackle football in high school? Sheesh! I know some women who can tackle better then some of these boys can!

Thanks! I love this board. It's so diverse in its opinions and rich in discussion! AND! When all is said and said and done we all love our Huskers! GO BIG RED!

When your defensive lineman are lined up 2 yards off the damn ball it doesnt matter what scheme you are running. Baker and Rome were lined up like that everytime and that might have been the most frustrating thing, besides the missed tackles.

I feel the same way. 2 gap is way over my head, I am an armchair quarterback, but I do not understand why we are so far off the ball. I too see this the old-school way where half a step is the difference. I get the rationale of keeping it in front of you, but it just seems too extreme to me. There was a thread I can't find earlier about how far off the ball we are and it just seems like we are too far away.

I don't believe Bo forgot how to coach defense. I can totally see Bo as the head coach chasing the offensive issues especially with the recent o-line drama and get caught assuming we know how to tackle before it got exposed. I think and hope that can be corrected. Just surprised the fundamentals aren't there by now, was football 101 ever emphasized enough?

Good points but I think college football will always have a unique niche here. Obviously we have Volleyball and CWS but basically this is it and no matter how bad we think it gets the absence of it will seem worse. I hope that will always draw the right kind of coaches and players here. I see droughts, but I would be surprised to see us fade away for good.

lol o boy this really IS a family

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. Thanks Bucky for the links. Ha ha you're right, I'm not a lurker anymore. Now if we can just get our defense to come out of hiding! GBR!!

5+ tackles for loss, getting off blocks in any way shape or form, and sound fundamental tackling. Holding to 24 points or less.

My first post. Born in '71, followed the Huskers throughout. I try to be a fan in good and bad times. I support Bo and staff in general. I did not see the UCLA debacle coming. For whatever reason joining the forum now seemed like the right time, like buying a stock when it's really low. Love this forum, I've followed it for years.