cg_8

2 hours left, It's still 50/50 now.

VOTE!!

You bet your ass (that you will yell off) that I'll be there yelling too!! I'll be there, I'm probably a bit more excited about the game than I should be. November game under the lights!? I love it! GBR!!

There's so much that tells me we can do it! We can most definitely do it! GBR!!

This again. We'll see this all the time now... I swear, some of you guys... So write your regents, and tell them. Let them know how you feel. In fact, let me get this started for you guys: "Dear Regent Dude, I'm a football fan. I go to a few games and buy a few t-shirts, so I am entitled to tell you what to do with a Chancellor of a whole University system that is more complex than just the football team. The complex nature of the whole University is nothing compared to the complex nature of a buck sweep play. I mean, come on, two pulling guards, a cracking tight end AND a leading H-back blocking... That's pretty darn complex... I mean, they have to create a running lane! Anyway, listen, we're not that good at football this year. I actually cannot pin point exactly why, but I'm gonna place this all on Harvey Perlman. Listen, I get that he did some things to get enrollment up, and built some new facilities for real students and partnered with the city, county, and state to get some stuff done, while in the process help the City of Lincoln become a more viable and attractive city for employees and their employers. But FOOTBALL! This dude's gotta go... It may not be financially beneficial to the University of Nebraska, which would in turn, be taking money from the tax payers of this state and possibly raising tuition higher for the other 25,000 or so students at the University who take out loans and pay their way to get a degree, but come on. FOOTBALL! In conclusion, I just wanted to say: FOOTBALL. Sincerely, An angry fan."

This seems foolish to say. Especially with all of our injuries... I mean, everyone's all on board now saying "They need to hit more in practice!" until we lose 2 guys before a big game. Then everyone would say "they need to be smart! Don't injure players DURING practice!" There's no right answer, but the best is what everyone is doing. And that is less contact during the practice week. Everyone does it for a reason...

Effort

True that. There has been some excellently timed throws by Tommy. A well designed play utilizing the right route concepts against certain coverage can do wonders. We've seen it a lot this year. You can credit Langsdorf and Riley for well designed plays leaving open spaces for WR's to be in. But credit Tommy for those well placed balls in those open areas. I'm not sure about throwing off the back foot is that big of an issue for Tommy. Some guys have the ability to do it. I know when I was in middle school and high school I practiced throwing off my back foot. I practiced throwing on the run. I practiced throwing from my knees. Sure, you want your QB to stand in perfect stance before throwing the ball, but there are way too many variable in this game. That's why I always practiced those types of throws and perfected how to play the game while always on the move. Say what you want about that theory, but every QB has to throw the ball in situations that require understanding how you need to position your body while throwing off your back foot, or throwing on the run. The biggest thing that annoyed me about what we were being coached were two things. For one, they made us do 3, 5, and 7 foot drops with our bodies turned opposite of our natural footing if the primary receiver was on that side. It was dumb, and it caused issues. Also, I hated that they made us put the ball above our shoulder pad while dropping back. Two hands on it. Ugh, nobody plays the game like that... I don't know, maybe that's my own personal theory about how QB's should play the game. Personally I'm not concerned about Tommy's mechanics, it's his ability to read the field and make correct decisions. At this level, he's not the worse, but can always get better.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2gJnv8AFFRs?t=10m44s Here's the play set to show just before snap. I think what's key to beat that edge is the CB coming up to press, then when our split end runs a fade route, he runs with him, allowing that space to be cleared for a good 10 yards, then split end finishes with a good block, securing that edge. I think it's a good wrinkle considering that they might have been prepared for some passing. I was 10 when this happened, so I can't remember how often we ran with a two split end set. Either way, what a thing of beauty. Lead blockers do an excellent job.

This article is great. It's short, but the best part of it is this: http://hailvarsity.com/news/numbers-to-know-1995-nebraska-football/2015/10/?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=2015_10_22_1995Football_1&inf_contact_key=b11e4caf621d450e0d8afdaaea8c9ca800f851d2d54ee5917fea4f5c85f5a1cd And the 1996 playbook is attached... What an awesome source. Seeing that we had 179 option plays, each based on different set of things like defensive fronts. That's awesome for a football nut like myself. This makes me happy...

I'll be at the game. Always... There's only 12 of these guaranteed for the whole year! I miss Nebraska football when it's gone, and cannot wait until it arrives again. I think I'll always be like that regardless of how good/bad we are.

Well of course. When we win, why be happy? That is what you should expect your team to do. You shouldn't be happy and celebrate when your team does what you want them to do. You should sit there and pick them apart tell everyone around you what they still did wrong and why they still aren't any good. After all, that's what fans do when their expectations are in the right place. Now, if they lose, OF COURSE all hell should break loose because that is your opportunity to shout from the roof tops that you were right all along, our program sucks and any fan who was remotely enjoying the season is not anywhere close the fan you are because everyone else has lowered their expectations. You owe me money after this post. You broke my sarcasm meter.

Yep. Lots of people like to say "But look! We ran the ball three times!" But that's a pretty short-sighted view. Yes, we ran the ball. But we ran in straight ahead with our third string RB. In Cross' defense, there wasn't much of a hole there. But he could have at least gained a couple instead of nothing. And that's what happens when you use basically a three tight end set and the defense knows you're going to run it - there are a bunch of defenders really close to the line. A little more creativity and a little less predictability could have gone a long ways. And still would have left plenty of run calls available. My first thought during that drive was exactly that. Why did we come out with 13 personnel?! Personally, I would have liked to have seen us with 22 personnel at least once that drive... Regardless, our RB's have consistently had problems with following blockers. That's something that guys like Ameer were good at. Follow your blockers and squeeze your way to an open field.

Exactly this. Honestly, this is exactly how Minny beat us last year. They had ZERO penalties going into our last drive. They ended up getting a PI, that could have cost them the game, but it obviously didn't. Regardless, Minny also had ZERO TO's last year too. I hope we can continue to play like that. I didn't get a chance to really watch the game, but seems like we played well. 48 points in conference play is always a good step. Also, who said this is our worst punt returning? Do we all forget our punt returns in 2013? Where we returned a total of 70 yards the whole year? Also, as someone pointed out, Santino Panico.... C'mon...

The short stuff has been the biggest issue I see. Quick outs, comebacks and slants will be the death of us. It has been already. Newby had a decent game attacking some of it vs Wisconsin, but I haven't seen that type of play from anyone else on those types of quick passes. I didn't get a true opportunity to watch the Minnesota game since I was in Chicago spending time with the fam, so I didn't get a true sense of how Liedner (a joke of a qb) got his 300 yards. But I assume a lot had to do with short, well timed passes.

Agreed with this. I was talking to my buddy about Jano and how he's the hardest runner we had. I half jokingly said that we need to line him up at RB. Sure enough, he was lined up behind Tommy in pistol, to which I immediately said "They listened to us!!" If JS can make plays enough to change the running game mentality of Langsdorf, that would be great! It's obvious that the other guys weren't doing it for him.

Good for him. I hope it's a successful move. BTW-I don't know if anyone else is seeing the same thing as me but none of your Twitter posts are showing up. They just look like links. Yeah, he deleted them already, for whatever reason. I edited the above post. Was his twitter always private/protected? Or did he just make his account like that today? I swear I checked it out earlier in the year and it wasn't protected...

No

TERRIBLE CALL!! I actually cannot believe that people actually think putting your OLine in pass protection on a play that you don't want to stop the clock is best. Conceptually that is dumb. If you don't want your QB to accidentally throw the ball, then call a play that sends you OL downfield so your QB knows that he'll get a illegal man down field penalty. It's that simple. Instead, you give college kids the option to throw by giving them the pieces to throw the ball? No Illegal Man Down Field?: Check Eligible Receivers running routes?: Check Your QB with the ball in his hands?: Check I can't fault TA for trying to make a play. But as coaches on a critical 3rd down, 3 TO's and a full array of running plays in front of you? I'm not saying the coaching staff in general is terrible, but for that play, it was absolutely terrible. I still like the direction of the offense and the offensive staff, but that was terrible on the part of the coaches. TA shouldn't have thrown the ball. But hey, give a college kid the ingredients for a party, tell him not to party at all, then see what happens...

I hear you, but MR has been a Head Coach for something like 30 years and has never done anything consistently substantial at this level; whereas Fitz is clearly a young up-and-comer who has arguably already accomplished as much at 40 years old as Riley has his whole career. Riley was a bad hire...the wrong hire for here. He won two CFL Grey Cups, the Canadian equivalent of the Superbowl. /cue the "Canadian football isn't real football" smarmy comments. It's real football, but it's quite a bit different from what we play in the states. And his overall winning percentage is poor. Their allowances for pre-snap motions are insane. I ran into Keyou Craver at the park once, we started talking about football, and he said he has never been in better shape than playing in the CFL. Hardest he ever had to work was in the CFL.

Sam McKewon, Dirk, Mike'l Severe, Brian Rosenthal (although he's primarily bball, covers football too), Hail Varsity, huskerextra, OWHbigred... OF course, Faux Pelini... I wish I followed more ex-players, anyone have good suggestions? I follow Fabian Washington and Tommie. They have some good comments throughout the games. That's almost it, other suggestions? Also, I'd suggest following the Nebraska Equipment guys. It seems kind of dumb, but you'll be better prepared for "white pants or red pants?" since they always have a picture of their set up the day before. Outside of just Nebraska, must follows for me are smartfootball (Chris Brown) and Bruce Feldman. Deadspin is fun. I'm sure I'm missing a lot...

Most definitely agreed here. He has better instincts than Banderas. Banderas seemed to have a hard time not-getting-blocked. He always seemed to find a way to get blocked. Weber has a knack for finding holes, filling them or blasting through them to make a play. Similar to what we saw from guys like Lavonte David and Barrett Ruud. He's not at their level, but I see similar instincts. Look forward to seeing how this kid grows.

I know you didn't write this, so don't think I'm thinking you are wrong. But they have a few things wrong here. Here's the play: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GnKHqsOctM?t=2m24s 1. That's called "bail technique" and it's pretty widely used and isn't all that unusual regardless of situation. I'm actually confused to hear this, sure you open up the middle of the field, but you also better prepared to "bail" or run in the direction of the play. In this case, it's faster to "bail" than it is to "back pedal". Additionally, the bail technique allows for CB's to watch the play develop since they are looking in the direction of the play. Seems more unusual hearing that this is "bad technique" than that it's unusual. Additionally, the guy who got the ball wasn't the one on the outside, whom Jones is covering. If I'm not mistaken, the guy on the outside (I'm assuming would be their #8) stayed outside. Which is why the guy who ends up with #11 (the guy who caught the ball) was Gerry. In our quarters, our S picks up inside WR after 8-10 yards. I wasn't able to see anything from the TV feed (I hate watching football on TV, doesn't tell the whole story), but seems like LB releases to S, as per usual in our quarters coverage. It just seems like Gerry blew it on the play. I can't see what happened but I'm guessing #11 made a quick move that made Gerry go in the wrong direction. QB seems to always have eyes on what the S will do on that play. And once he saw it, he threw it. Just seems like Gerry was the one who slipped up or went in the wrong direction for a split second. It happens. 2. I actually don't know who made the catch on the play (slot or outside WR). I'm not sure jamming is best for a LB on a slot WR. That spells more disaster than anything... What if he doesn't jam him enough? That WR is beating him because, well, he's faster than an LB... If the outside WR is indeed the guy who caught the ball, that makes more sense that Gerry was out of place. If there was a scissors concept on that play, I couldn't say who has slot or who has outside WR, because it could vary. I could see Gerry thinking that the slot was his guy past 10 yards, as is the norm. But if they crossed, might seem like a lot to ask your CB to follow outside guy to inside. I'd have a better answer if we had a wider shot. Which we don't have. Either way, blown coverage is blown coverage, regardless of scheme. 3. Seems more nit picky about 9 technique on DE's. Nothing abnormal there, not sure you want them in. If they're suggesting they're in 7 technique, ok, but you like their pass rush on the edges a bit better. Freedom seems to have better success in 9 technique. Additionally, DE's are loopers on the play... I might be wrong on this, but you want the DL generally spread out more when you have two loopers. What's funny is that, with the loopers, all the pressure is pushing to the inside. I usually like Mike'l and Joe, but I don't know where they're coming from here regarding these points on this play...

Huskermax does a decent job of putting a lot of news in one site. So you get articles from Omaha.com and Journalstar. They even add some notable ones from opposing teams during the week. I mostly get mine from twitter though. About as close to getting news in "real time" as possible, as long as you follow the right sources.

I hate to bring up the past, since we should move beyond that, especially when speaking of a reminder of 408. But even after that performance last year to Wisconsin and hosting Minnesota, I don't remember a lot of Boos. Even after the game... Maybe I was protected in my little shell crying on the inside, but it wasn't even close to what you guys might be thinking. I won't be booing. The only time I boo is at the refs. Blown calls deserve some boos, especially when you don't call unnecessary roughness on an obvious incomplete pass. I don't boo players or coaches. It'd take a player or coach to literally flip us all off or mooning all of us for me to boo (and maybe that might happen with Lewis... JK! hopefully).