Nebhawk

I can't really complain about our offense.  We have no line play and what lineman we had are banged up.  We don't have solid RB and WR cores.  We are limited on what we can do with this team on offense.  I don't think Satterfield is a good offensive coach, but can't really say he is bad either based on what he is working with.  HH is not a drop back passer and is not fluid enough to ever be a good passer.  I know that watching K-State and Kansas today at certain points, they are much better programs right now than we are.  They each have two QB's who would shine here and make us blush.  They have running backs and receivers.  They block on offense.  Sad to think that Kansas went from 0-12 to now 6-2 in three years.  We keep getting excuse after excuse for why we can't do that, but clearly they hired the right people.  Huge Liepold fan and think that Kleiman is pretty good as well.  I hope Rhule can get it done, but I will reserve all rights for judgment until after next season.  We are playing bad football teams and bad offenses.  This will change next season and be more reality based on what we have.  Will give Rhule credit for taking care of business to this point and beating these teams that beat Frost annually. 

I think our defense is legit for the most part, but folks we are playing like the worst offenses in D-1 football right now.  WE should be defending these teams and winning with any kind of decent Defense.  Truly, other than Michigan, Ohio St, and Penn St, the Big 10 is mostly horrible.  We better make a bowl game with the level of competition we are facing and will be facing the rest of the way out.  

I learned that HH is not more than likely our starter next season.  We have to get our NIL cooking and get some better overall line talent in this program.  We need more skill players.  SHOW ME the Money.  Do what everyone else is doing and offer more, give more and get more.

Some of our offensive issues are play calling, and some are just plain no blocking.  It is hard to blame one with out the other.  I think that Mickey and his staff from last year would have won the four games we have won this season, so it is going to take more than these four wins to really impress me with Rhule.  That really is no knock on Rhule, but rather an honest opinion right now.  Our defense is good, but we can't do anything if we don't bring constant pressure.  I good offense will torch this unit threw the air.  WE are too predictable on D.

I think we are the worst offensive team other than Northwestern in the whole Big 10.  I would put Iowa and us neck and neck for offense..  We have a two faced coach.  I see no differnce in fumbling and interceptions.  If you have a QB who throws that terrible, replace him for at least one series.  Grant is there best RB but they are quick to replace him.

I don't care about injuries.  Every team has them, not every team looks this bad.  I am willing to give Rhule some rope this year and maybe next season, but he better hit the road  this off season and get some transfers and better players overall. 

Of course a win  is a good start, but we tried to give that game away early and often.  HH will not pitch the ball and at some point will get lit and lit hard. 

I think that If i were Rhule, I would be searching every Juco dual threat QB, speedy WRs, and finding some competent lineman on both sides of the ball.  Thats where I would start for next season.  Recruit some building blocks, and find some instant offense in the JUCO ranks.  There are hidden gems in the Juco ranks that could help.  The transfer portal is good, but often most of those players are leaving because either they just plain are not good enough or have major flaws somewhere else.  That game last night showed me more about what really needs fixed on this team than anything else.  Our defense is servicable and will keep us in most games against this seasons competition.  Our offense is just bad enough they will keep other teams in the games for too long.  Figure that out some and I think we get our 6 wins and find a bowl game.  Keep going this way I find 6 wins tough.

1 minute ago, Micheal said:

My thought on the QB situation is this. 

 

Sims has been a starter at the FBS level, P5, for almost 4 years. And he still makes those mistakes of wild throws and poor ball handling. 

 

Haarberg has started 4 games, he is a tough runner, holds on to the ball and makes poor advised throws. 

 

I think HH could be coached into a decent passing QB. He still is pretty raw and with the right instruction could make improvements on reads, check downs etc. I think it has been too long for Sims to make any improvements at this point. Sad to say for him. 

 

Finally I think with HH, as of right now anyway, you cater any throws to his abiliy. Roll him out, throws to the flat, anything over the middle or deep needs better training. 

I would agree somewhat, but I would also find spots for Purdy to get some shots.  I think he is just as fast and maybe a better downfield passer.  Start figuring out what you have good and bad before next season.  Why carry a roster full of Qb's who are not going to ever play for you?  HH has some bright spots, but he is not running the offense like it should be.  This offense is not good, but when your not in command of it, its tougher on everyone. 

I honestly feel that 3 more wins are going to be hard to come by with this offense.  Yes, we need to use Grant more, but as I stated, if HH won't pitch him the ball sometimes, he will start to show some frustration and won't play as hard.  Grant can pound out at least 3 or 4 yards on almost every carry.  Against good defenses he does struggle, but most of the the teams left on our schedule he can overpower alot of those defenders.  I would like to see Purdy get a shot as well going forward.  He can run, and I think can pass the ball somewhat better than what we have seen from either Simms or HH.

If were going to keep showing the option, we better start pitching the ball and spreading the defenses out so they have to honor the pitch man or its for nothing other than window dressing.

This team needs the bye week.  They need to figure out the offense.  Course at this point the season is half over, you should have figured out the offense by now.  I see a scenario where Simms gets the nod after the bye week.  One huge complaint I have against HH is his inability to pitch the ball.  He should have pitched the ball early on in that game last night and Grant might have broken a long one on several occasions.   It was there.  I don't know if he understands by pitching the ball early, it will open up for him later in the game.  He lacks some general football knowledge. 

In short this team lacks overall talent on both sides of the ball.  If they do earn a bowl bid, it says something for the coaching staff, and also says something about the Big 10 west.  Going forward if we don't upgrade the talent level on this roster, 5-7 wins is the max.  We see all these teams scoring points and having at least one deep threat, and we have literally no one.  That has to change.  Hats off to Malachi that dudes was blocking down field last night.  That was nice to see.

I would agree with those who said that Illinois is a bad football team.  They are one step above Northern Illinois. These are games you have to win and against teams you have to beat.  We have beaten the mutts on our schedule so far.  Give this team credit for that at least.  However,  this team is hard to watch play football.  Offense is rather terrible.  We see a player last week break a long run, and I don't know if he even saw the field last night(Fleeks)?  I eluded to this in a post a few weeks ago, but our defense is only going to cause havoc if we bring pressure each and every down.  Our front 3/4 players get no pressure on their own.  This is cause for concern against teams with some weapons.  Purdue is a decent team, and will test our defense.  Northwestern is not a good football team, but I think better than Illinois.  We better beat NOrthwestern, because the rest of the schedule I would say we are no better than and we don't have offensive weapons like they do.  Iowa would be the outlier in that discussion, but there defense scores better than our offense does at times.

3 hours ago, Enhance said:

Obviously money and winning are the right combo. I never suggested otherwise.

But, it's faulty logic to associate a lack of talent or bad recruiting decisions as an indictment against Nebraska's NIL potential, particularly in the first year of a head coach with a pretty rough inherited roster and no "Deion Sanders" brand behind his name. There's no way to prove Nebraska's talent challenges right now under Rhule as being the fault or even loosely associated with a lack of NIL potential. Let's revisit the conversation in a couple of seasons before making that claim.

I just keep hearing that we have this tremendous money pool for getting players on campus, but yet I have not seen this working for us.  We bring in players like Casey Thompson, Mathis, Simms, and Palmer (Mickey brought him).  Were not gettting difference makers so to speak. I think we could or should have a huge advantage with the 1890 funds, but just haven't seen the benefits from it yet.  Do I hope we do start seeing those players come to campus?  Yes.  Until we stand behind a coaching staff and give them time to build something, I am afraid the money won't matter.  We have to commit to a staff and give it 4,5, or 6 years to see it thru. 

One other thing I learned is that I listened to two post games on the radio and 93.7 in the last hour was horrible and Big Red reaction on Froggy was to politics saying the right thing not saying anything really.  I want real reaction and real comments. 

We are miles from being a winning football team and program.  Frost left the cupboard bare and so far Rhule has not brought in elite talent.  I understand building a program brick by brick and agree thats how its done, but talent evaluation had to show we were not on par with other programs.   Did he watch game film from last season?  Can he evaluate talent?  Can everyone admit that the Big 10 west is the worst division in college football?  My biggest question is talent evaluation........where is that at ?  Prime took one look at what he was getting and said No Thanks, I take 70 other players and see what that gets me.........not saying I like that approach, but we bring in SImms?

2 minutes ago, Enhance said:

Why do you think Nebraska's current recruiting philosophy is hinged upon 25-year-old success?

Nebraska's NIL potential is definitely among the more favorable across the college football landscape. I have very little concern about them being able to come up with necessary funds if they really believe a recruit is worth their investment.

Is that NIL bringing in any Travis Hunters?  Quin Ewers?  NO.  Its bringing in players like Jeff Simms.  Come on.  Money is just money.  Money and winning is the right combo.  We have to win some games first then maybe our suitcases of cash will do someone some good, but I keep hearing our plentiful our bags are, but not seeing it bring in difference makers.  I don't care how big 1890 funds are, not until we start bringing in great portal players or 5 star Qb's.  Regardless, show me the money is a 90's thing.  EIther we bring in coaches like Prime or we build a program like Yes, like K-State has right now.  They recruit, develop, and get a few difference makes from the portal.   I think Rhule has a chance to do that, but he has to do that.  NIL money is not the same here that it is at Bama or Georgia or Texas.  Those teams are nationally relevant.

2 minutes ago, The Duke said:

Never thought I would say it, but here it goes...

 

If the Big 12 wanted Nebraska back, Nebraska should accept that invitation immediately.

 

I'll say it...I'm tired of being in the Big Ten. We don't belong.

 

I could care less about the millions in money we're getting from the Big Ten. I don't give a rip about being in a future conference where we're associated with the "big brands."

 

At this point I would rather we play in the Big 12 with a few of our old Big 8 teams win or lose and just enjoy our fall weekends again and maybe find a way to win 6-7 games a season.

Been saying that for years.  Question why we really ever moved but we did and lost our mojo and program in doing so.  MOney isn't everything, but it might have cost this program everything in doing so.  We lost our recruiting footprint, we lost our way.  Said it then and will say it now, instead of dealing with Texas being a bully, we have to deal with Ohio St and MIchigan and now upcoming USC, Oregon and UCLA.  We traded one Texas for maybe 5 Texas's.  Trev see's this coming and see's his job in doubt, thus the stadium upgrades, 2 years out.  Upgrade the fans experience is easier than providing a winning football team that would do that.  Lets spend several million more for stadium upgrades.  Future of this program is in deep trouble more than ever.  .........Joking I think we knew that Rhule would struggle this season and have to find his players.

Theres your answer.  Our 5th string former Baylor player looks faster than anything on our roster this season.  Seriously, he couldn't see the field at Baylor.  After seeing that, I do question what Rhule is doing.  That Fleeks is faster than anything we have on the field, where has he been at?

1 minute ago, TherealTomOsborne said:

Such a Harbaugh thing to do going for it on that 4th and 1.

Should they have taken a near with 8 minutes left?  If they kick a FG we b!^@h...........they just ran the ball down our thoat- like 80's Huskers did............how our memories have become well, just skewed thoughts?  Remember when our 3rd stringers would run downhill and score touchdowns on sorry sap opponents?

Please, were not charity case yet........maybe next season, but were not that team yet......We are close to 1985 KSU, but not there yet.

Thank You Harbaugh.  This could have been a 63-0 nothing game, but he is developing his team!

The answer is developing talent whether in the weight room or in the portal.  Most are portal developers right now, but MIchigan, Georgia, Bama are still developing who they recruit.  Clemson doesn't believe in the portal, but I think that will change after this season.  If we don't start winning, the portal is going to be the only answer.  I wouldn't stay here if I could start elsewhere for a p-5 team.  Why would you stay for this right now?  Go to a different school that might be bowl bound.............theres alot to blame for this program becoming this bad, but Rhule is not one of those yet.  He inherited this mess, and instead of dumping this program and its players, he kept those players here to give them a chance to go to a bowl game.  Right or wrong.  I believe he made the right decision. 

Bunch of narrowed minded fools on this board.  Rhule is coaching Frost players.  Wouldn't have been for Trey Palmer last season, a Mickey guy, we don't win those 4 games we did.  This team has no talent, most on Frost.  Sure, we could have done what Prime did, but Rhule wouldn't bring in 20 players the caliber of what Prime did.  Thats why Rhule didn't go that route.  Most coaches can;t bring in 70 players and meld them together like Prime, but Prime is getting beat by elite talented teams as well.  Figure it out fellas, until we figure out that our program is not a program anymore, we might start doing something.  Just because we are Nebraska, doesn't mean we have gotten talent.  Sean Callaham is also a big fraud.  He ballyhoos these recruits, rates them with alot of stars and they are failures, year after year.  We suck.  We might get better next season, we might not. 

Frost might end up being a bigger fraud than Mike Riley.  Frost left this program in worse shape than anybody ever.  Wouldn't have been for Adrian, we might have not won the game we did.

I would be ok with losing if we were playing freshmen and newcomers more.  I would take that.  This is with our best players available?

Just now, PaulCrewe said:

I just want to see a Malachi YOLO bomb, you know just to see if the kid exists.  Like a welfare check

He will be Colorado bound if he doesn;t see the field this season.  We are saying he is not ready, but is anyone on this team.  Get him some expererience now.

I think Rhule is a decent coach.  If he can't pull off an upset like this game would be soon, this program will never again be relevant.  USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon are all in better shape and will not be getting worse anytime soon. 

We act desperate.  Kick the FG, take the points.

I pointed out two weeks ago, we don't get pressure with our D unless we bring heat.  A few on here said that was not right, but we can't get pressure unless we bring 6.  Flawed defense scheme.  Play more 4 man fronts, and then bring some heat. 

We have not had elite talent on this roster now for 18 years or so.  Callahan was the last coach who brought in some elite offensive talent. Hell he brought in most of Bo's talent he coached for his first 3 years. First off we have to get with the times and get more vertical talent, down field talent.  Qb who can throw and run.  Tired of watching this scheme with limited talent.  Were playing to our talent level folks. 

Being honest and fair with my take so don't think i am a hater.  We have not played a really good offensive attack that can run the ball like Michigan can.  Sure Colorado was a good offense, but couldn't run for a lick.  Minnesota is a shell of what Minnesota has been in the past few years running the ball.  So what we will find out is if our defense is legit and if our offense can do anything positive to help out our defense.  I think we are still a year away from being a solid team on both sides of the ball.  I think the defense right now is solid, but i think we will see it get better with more recruits and coaching.  Question is right now, will we keep gaining ground on the Big 10 or will we lose ground going forward.  Wisky is improving each week, and Purdue is not as bad as I thought.  Illinois is still not a good team, but not bad.  MInnesota is like I thought, not good and barely might get bowl bound.  Northwestern is awful, but willing to stay scrappy.  Iowa is Iowa once again.  So can we keep improving to win some of these winnable games?  Thats what I want to see.  This game against Michigan is what it is right now, but after this game, we should have a 50/50 shot to win alot of those games.  Can we ?