84HuskerLaw

Hindsight is sometimes blinded by the light or something like that! Lol.

Or, he loses by 3 and the rest is already history. Maybe he sold his soul at UCF and that explains everything.

Actually, once the Iowa game is over, this, the longest season in Husker history, which actually flew by it seems like, is finally over. It is officially the end of the Frost age not to be distinguished from the last ice age. And since there really isn’t any urgent need for a new HC, Trev will announce the layoffs of the nonessential staff, being careful stewards of the fiscal resources that he is, savings millions. And since we won’t be recruiting any more, relying on player acquisition via the portal auctions, the new ‘HR’ department will be running ads all over the media world. $$$$ talks. Players listen. Coaches - well, not so much. Trev is looking into just continuing to rent HCs until the market stabilizes.

9’points is pretty high. It’s unlikely either team scores 9. Lol. Iowa has a superior defense. NU offense is not good. However, Iowa’s offense is the poorest Nebraska faces, maybe all year. Nebraska is playing pretty well defensively despite struggling to win. But Whipple seems to find a way to put a couple scores in the board even with Terrible line. The difference is in this game, Neb is not facing a team with a great defense AND strong running game offense. Time of possession may end up being fairly close as both teams may punt 10 times. Lol. Turnovers have been hard to come by for NU defense but the defense has steadily improved. Big plays have been hard to get vs Neb lately. I think Neb has a couple big plays vs IA if weather is not terrible. I just have a good vibe and will say Neb 17 - Iowa 13.

Yea, the team plays well enough by year end to defeat early season opponents. We have not been ready to play for any season opening in a long time when it begins. And by the end, injuries and lack of depth take a toll. Too much to overcome. The O line has YEARS of experience and ‘reps’ but is basically playing like first year players. The one positive I can see is there are more younger guys. (Years 1,2,3) that are getting game reps. Graduation won’t be a big problem. Need to get 25-30 GOOD big boys and half a dozen others and hang on to most of the better athletes in this class. It’s a big rebuild project but honestly it’s not a total demo and restart imo. A new HC with a true run game in his offense and couple it with some continued improvements in STs (punt returns, kick blocks mostly) and Defense (DTs, REs and safeties/nickles - talent talent talent), and we win 8-10 games. If weather is decent, these guys WIN Friday! Just my hunch. They were closer today to deserving to win vs a pretty decent team than in a long time. This game SHOULD encourage the next HC in that he can see what’s clearly needed and it’s not 5 stars. It’s 3 star big bodies mostly. It’s doable imo. I’m more encouraged than I’ve been in 5 years. I think Mickey and this staff have coached this group pretty well. They’re getting all these players have got. 3-8 sucks but this team today is better than any we’ve had under Frost certainly. Not good enough, as I said, but NOT quite as bad as many seem to think. Jmo.

Which teams runs the ball and which one can’t? It is THAT simple.

Without a running game (O line just can’t block one good run Play out of five), you can’t win. This team doesn’t quit but they seem resigned to losing - fire the athletic department psych people and start fresh. It seems like all the teams (fb, bb, VB, etc) have more mental issues. Again, talent deficits are BOTH physical and mental apparently. Considering the offense lacks 5 good players out of 11, it’s amazing we don’t get blown out.

Why don’t we spend about 300 pages debating who the next AD will be when Trev is fired? I will suggest we start with a short list of possibilities: Bob Devaney Tom Osborne Bill Byrne Steve Pederson Sean Eichorst Bill Moss Scott Frost Noneof Theabove My nominee: Bill Busch

Hope you’re right but I doubt seriously the current guys can get much better no matter who the coach is. They’ve all been around too long without getting any better. There have been almost no improvement and very rarely have we seen even brief flashes of good line play. The entire bunch continually has glaring mistakes. Penalties. Whiffs. The total ‘pancakes’ by NU line is likely outnumbered by the pancakes OF our line. Pass protection is marginally better now and then but run blocking is poor 90% of the time. They’re big enough. They’ve all had many games to show it. Two coaches plus dozens of former guys to advise and suggest. Still nothing to show for it. i had hopes for improvement this fall but it’s just not happening. Good RBs averaging 2.8 ypc even when we throw it so often.

I’ve been hearing from a friend that goes by Merlin, that Trev has finished his exhaustive search in the U.S. Now focusing on Canada Mexico and the territories. From there, it goes Europe, excluding Ireland (he took care of that in August to save travel time and exp.). Several soccer guys very intriguing but so far, despite nearly 40 hard offers in the six figure category, no takers. Regents and boosters are saying keep looking until 12-1. If none, the program is to be shut down with money and focus shifted to Rifle and Hockey programs. Trev is also close to blending the men’s BB program in with the women’s program, but apparently not sure any of the current men will make the team. TBD - nothing is finally decided on this. Apparently, the bean counters in the finance dept. say the Big Ten millions will go a lot further if we eliminate the football ‘black hole’ of operating expenses. Again, it’s all preliminary but momentum is building. Announcements forthcoming. My outside sources also do psychic readings over the phone. Considered as good as Nostradamus, but not always easy to interpret. lol

This does highlight the problem. A bunch of RBs and WRs we don’t need. Maybe 1 of each but high and jucos are out there. While, the linemen we desperately need - slim pickings. I hope the #s jump come Dec 5, but unless they starters for two years or backups at top ten programs, probably just more 2nd and 3rd stringers which we already seem to have. Imo, the lines have to built in house mostly. That takes years (2-4) and more likely 4 than 2. We can change offenses but until we get the line built, scoring and consistency will be hard to develop. 3. We need 4-6 good DL to shore that up. The losses in the portal hurt us this fall. Guys played hard but just couldn’t sustain it for entire games or even long drives at times.

Every defense is susceptible to QB runs. It creates 11 vs 11 which is not often the case when QBs are just ball distributors.

I won’t be surprised to see Fisher, MJ, Busch, Beckton. Possibly Dawson and Ruud. Applewhite. I did say ‘guessing’. None are a sure thing but it’s a possibility imo. Rhule is an O line guy so Raiola may not be as high on the list as he will have his favorites presumably. Again, just guessing. He will almost certainly have his own DC and OC. Those guys will have a say too. Those I listed are the better ones on the staff imo. Not every perfect guy may be available to start with. He may hire replacements in the spring / summer - later.

Exactly.

He’s done this from game 5, with a basket case offense half the time. Our punter is an MVP which Busch brought in btw.

That’s what I said I believe.

Trev will certainly help. I’m gonna guess, IF Rhule is the one, that several existing staff will be retained. He doesn’t necessarily have a current staff to draw from at this point. He knows plenty surely. And he’s likely had time to watch current staff work. This is one of the advantages Trev kept by not rushing to grab somebody right away. He wanted a thorough search. He wanted time to evaluate, study etc. And to give prospects time to think about and study as well. Only get one shot so take the time, research, ponder, etc. And probably contacts with assistants’ agents etc. I thinking/hoping a staff come together quickly, especially the coordinators and any defensive coaching changes. Busch is doing an amazing job imo. I’d say he deserves consideration for a coach of the year award by somebody.

Recruiting was Solich’s failure. He wasn’t as good a play caller as TO but it was not his offensive scheme. Jamal L was not even an average passer but a tremendous runner. Both Solich and Callahan had defense issues. Even Callahan had a run game in his system.

The west is a pretty strong division with all but the two ‘NUs being pretty solid teams. Most will likely win their bowl games. Of course, it appears OSU, MI and PSU are the class of the east. They actually may be the top three in the Big Ten. It will be interesting to watch. The team has about 4 or 5 practices left and 2 games. At some point, we will learn our new HC. Idk who it is but I’m pretty sure the list is whittled down to just about 3 or so and it may be done and over weeks ago. I am worried about Husker Nation being seriously angry and divided by the choice, whomever it may be. Despite the losses piling up and yesterday’s embarrassing beat down, many are still pulling for MJ. I am afraid some of the support for Mickey is actually sympathy and appreciation for even being willing to take the job and try so hard. His resume is mostly three things: former Husker player, renown recruiter, and he has a open, honest and frank way of speaking and sideline demeanor. He gets a load of credit for some WRs on LSU’s team(s) for a couple seasons. Husker fans are very skeptical of HC hires and rightfully so. The past 25 years has been a nightmare string of hires and fires in which the new ‘mr right’ HC is announced with almost no input from fans, all of whom think they have all the right answers to fix things. Lol. Frost of course was actually chosen by the fans and no other candidates were really considered. Fans mostly wanted Bo because they were familiar, he seemingly helped Frank rebound a bit, after 2002 debacle. But the fans ought NOT be choosing HCs based on a recent splash of success. Fans can’t be objective and reasonable in the midst of what has been the worst period in Husker Fb history in 60 years! The Frost ‘marriage’ was a terrible heartbreak for 80% of Husker Nation. The refusal to see the need for the divorce sooner is similar to the abused spouse or some form of attachment disorder. Before fans get too reattached to the first one that comes along, everyone needs to let the AD do his job. He has the inside info. He’s hired to do this. He hired ‘experts’ to conduct a discrete, nationwide search. He has Univ officials offering critical input. It’s a huge decision. Trev is not disinterested but he appears to be able to keep a good perspective and be rational.

Think of it this way - that’s like having played in 2 bowl games each season! Here we are - all unhappy - when in reality NU can pack an extra quarter’s worth of action into every game almost. Getting our fan money’s worth!! Lol Frost did change the culture - it’s hurry up and lose brought on by no fear of failure. His roster developed an almost a don’t care about winning just play the snaps and individual players’ stat sheet.

Yea, it’s painful watching teams all year just run it right over us while we do just the opposite. The only thing that’s chAnged really is the Huskers must be wearing the opponents ‘ uniforms. Brutal. Someday I hope the pass the ball folks will wake up to reality but ?? It’s been 20 years and no sign the Huskers will ever be resurrected. Probably gonna hire another fun n gun coach. Repeat as necessary every 3-5 years. Ugh!

Yea. If accurate that is a big factor. If the average completed pass is a 9 yard gain, the drop is like a nine yard penalty. Instead of nearly getting a first and that’s a bunch of first downs lost. A first down lost forces risky punts and results in lost field position, and is another 1:45 and 3 snaps lost as well. All of which puts more pressure in the defense and STs and give snaps, time of possession and yardage and points to the opponent. Sometimes people don’t even think about these things. A malfunctioning offense hurts the defense a bunch, both statistically and physically/mentally. It hurts the entire team mentally. Every bad play takes two better ones to make up for it essentially. Incomplete passes are equivalent to a no gain running play in yardage but also do very little to fatigue the defense, unlike a running play which requires tackling.

Maybe he’s changed his mind but I’ve read Smothers saying he is a Husker until the end - he is not leaving - period. I’d think he wants to play if wanted. I suppose he’d redshirt if asked for the future time as a Husker but not so he has more time elsewhere. Id tell him - as a Husker, you should want the chance to play to help your team. Not simply to mop up in a 40 point loss to MI. We have other QBs that can do that. HH and Torres are alive, correct?

Mud wrestling? How about pole dancing? Now that would sell out!

This hire needs to get the program stabilized and getting marginally better over the next two or three years. The Big Ten is tough and getting tougher. Adding more above average P5 teams makes the schedule tougher. That’ll make this hire a good hire if that can be done. Even getting to a 7-8 win level is nearly doubling our win rate of the last 5–8 years. Our SOS will be as high as ever in all probability over the next 5 years. ABSENT a splash hire (Meyer mostly), it will be amazing to see a ten win season in the next 5. Imo.