84HuskerLaw

Yup, the limiting factor in the offense is O line play and keeping CT healthy enough to play. I’m afraid the coaches have little faith in Chubba at this point but who knows for sure. Opponents upcoming will present new and different challenges and matchups. We can hope that the line gets a couple games vs defenders they can hold up a little better. If we could get 4 ypc out of Grant instead of 2-3, we can sustain more TD drives. Need 35 points to win most games down the stretch. Half the season is over. Seems like it’s going fast, despite the struggles. Overall, I see slow incremental improvement. Still getting the ugly penalties but the team responds to adverse plays with more fierce determination. That’s the single biggest change from prior teams. There is less sense of let down and a mental resignation. They are resisting the ‘loser’ mindset. Hopefully they can avoid that setting in again.

HC fires staff to scapegoat them and about 12 months later the HC gets fired. Kinda a kick in NEB fb balls to say we are so bad that to lose to us is a fireable offense! Ugh Hope we somehow get about 7 more coaches fired!!! Lol

After the initial shock (OU week), the team has really shown no I’ll effects of Frost getting booted from the program. So far, I’d say the team seems relieved and very eager to play with the revamped staff. The O line is the only team position group that has not responded. It’s THE most critical, essential, important of a fb team. It takes the longest to build and or fix. Maybe we can get an entire O line to transfer en masse in Dec. from somewhere with their coach?

Again, the class ranking of # 24 is misleading. Take out the WRs and RBs from the numbers and then compare. Our top rated guys are not in the lines and LBs. That’s been the issue for a decade. Go get a great O line coach and focus the NIL money in the bigger bodies.

Looking like the Frost ‘movie’ rerun. Ugh.

Much of the info for all these discussions is just not available, hearsay, biased, false, etc. Trev has more than anyone. He’s watching closely and has been for a year+. I would think in another 3 games, with practices, plenty of conversations and inside looks, references, etc Trev will have a good feel for most of the intangibles re: Mickey, his relationships with fans, players, staff, admin, recruiting connections and Trev. Presumably, Trev did a lot of due diligence before each of the new coaches were hired so it’s the little things, we don’t see. How he relates to individual players in and out of the game settings. Player morale. Player buy-in and unity. Etc. Outside the locker room etc it’s impossible to assess. So far, it seems like the team is really positive in the coaching changes. But, again it’s just 3 weeks. Another month will give more info. And I’m sure Trev will want individual coach one on ones to get their sense of things. The ‘losing’ culture and apparent lack of confidence is a toughie. Is it fair to let Mickey accept that ? It seems MJ, Whip and Busch get along fairly well. That is a big factor. Commonality of messaging is key.

Let’s hope the defense stuffs the Rutgers Scoreless Knights and Whipple has the offense revved up. That a$$ chewing might just be what those guys in offense needed as they watch the defense and STs played their tails off. The offense has done some good things - at times - but has had too many dry spells and the penalty monster reared up its ugly head. Finally, it’s high time the Huskers get their sh..t together and play football. Their destiny is in their own hands. They can have a great season still IF they dug even deeper and really want it! Hunt or be hunted!

I’m predicting 35 - 17 Huskers. I just feel we are better on both sides on the ball. It could be a bit ugly (which is a trademark of Frost teams and we are still a Frost assembled bunch) at times but my gut says we take a couple more steps forward. I expect fewer penalties and more aggressive play, especially in offense. We might score more than 35. I’m feeling like Whipple may have cracked the whip to fire up the offense to match the fire of the defense. Of course, miscues and mishaps are to be expected as nothing can be completely fixed in a couple short weeks of practice. Hopefully we get a few injured guys back and we play more of the two deep interchanges. Fresh. Energetic. Happy. Experience is vital in future weeks if more wins are to be found.

No post intended.

It’s early in the season to really judge division strengths. Lets see how the next 3 weeks play out at least. The west vs East may turn out like it has been. I think the west is a tad under appreciated while east maybe overrated. Some of it is scheduling imbalance. MI and OSU tend to overshadow imo but there is a good deal of parity across the middle 8-10 teams in both sides. The expansion may really screw things up. They drop divisions could really hurt the conference perception as league will beat itself up. It’s a gauntlet that will get even tougher imo.

Dittos. I will always look forward to Husker fb. But it’s does feel better to not feel almost hopeless about the next game and or season. The defense played Sat like I expected from the season start. I agree with Whipple about being frustrated because I felt the team could play at least as well all year as it did vs Indy. I’m hoping that his but chewing and telling them in no uncertain terms they are capable of being much better in offense. I also agree the players needed to be sternly reminded they only get so many chances. Stop wasting them when the CAN get it done. The brutal penalties were unacceptable in game 5 after playing penalty free in Dublin. Yes officiating varies but most our penalties were clearly called correctly. Effort was GREAT. Now play smarter every snap. Whipple believes in them. They need to believe in themselves.

One chapter as a HC. Frost’s big fail is being a HC mostly. I hate his offense but he was hired, imo, for the following: 1. 13-0 season at UCF 2. His Neb heritage 3. His ‘coaching trees’ His ‘leadership’ and staff management, etc etc were barely considered - he had none beyond UCF. His monumental fail at NU was simply put - he proved to be a very poor HEAD COACH. A player magnet (WRs, RBs, a QB) that repelled as many as he attracted. Player development (big picture stuff generally) was relatively unknown. Two seasons at UCF was not enough. Give him two chapters if you will. Fans judged him by his cover mostly and saw (imagined really) so much they wanted to see. His resume was probably right to be hired by NU as OC. Not HC.

Recent success is an indicator of future success BUT long term success is a better indicator of future success. Frost is the perfect example of judging his book of work based too much on one chapter. We need to look carefully at a coach’s entire body of work. It may be ultimately that MJ gets chosen but I don’t believe he gets the job because his first team gets one or two wins this fall. That’s not fair or wise to treat any applicant this way. Imo.

Casey is doing very well and has some more upside left imo. Too bad we don’t have a great O line cause he’d be a heisman type imo. Not saying he’d be a serious candidate cause the defense has heretofore been poor. But with a line, we could have a top ten offense imo. Whip has done well so far considering. He mixes plays well. If we could block the edge better, an outside run game (sweeps, pitches, even options) would be a perfect complement to our offense. The RBs could turn the corner if we could just get outside the DEs etc.

I’m not sure the ‘love/hate’ deal was so obvious with Taylor and or Tommy as compared to Adrian. I tend to think fans - generally as it doesn’t include me - expected Adrian to be a better passer / QB frankly. Not his fault as Frost held him up as ‘the one’ essentially. No other QBs were seriously considered by Frost. Most fans understood that Tommy and Taylor were RUN / pass QBs vs Adrian was a PASS / run guy. I don’t think the formers bore the burden of being THEE offensive cornerstone like AM. This season, so far, Adrian seems to be fully healthy and happier in purple. Blame Frost there. Whipple wants great play from Casey too but he wants him to be a good game manager and distribute the ball. Casey seems to react better under pressure. He has held the ball a bit too long and scrambles less. I wish he would tuck it and run a couple times a game. It would slow the pass rush a bunch. But I like Casey overall better than the other three. I put Adrian 4th but who knows. It’s early yet.

I would say both to a limited extent. We have been misaligned, over running, slow reacting, thinking to much, hesitating, etc. In short, just not playing very smart, not playing confidently, and really - as Mickey put it - being the hunted instead of the hunter. I don’t know about the PFF #s. But we did seem to make a dozen or so tackles where previously they would have let the guy slip away. I like gang tackling (assisted tackles in the stats I guess). That’s when defenses go from average to good. There seemed to be more than usual but in numbers terms, idk how much. The defense played much harder. More relentless. Indiana had a couple TD drives that hurt us but there were a couple key plays that enabled them to finish. Our defense wasn’t bad - Indy made exceptional plays. We gave up just 14 points defensively. We will win a lot of games at that level.

Not a speed burner but great quickness, vision and great leg strength and balance. Has a special, unique knack for taking hits to his legs without losing his balance. He kind of gives way when hit instead of getting his legs knocked out from under him. A slasher and doesn’t jitter bug or dance. He is a nice all purpose back - might be exceptional wing back on screens and swings etc. Not sure of his size.

Aranda or whomever the next HC turns out to be, will certainly demand a staff and related people and operations to suit his system. He wouldn’t be a good HC if he simply follows orders. I’m sure that was Riley’s burden. Frost just refused to listen to anybody - apparently on anything. And when forced to do so, he basically checked out and quit. If NU had a great HC prospect on the staff, a plan like this might work. Aranda seems like a pretty good coach with better than most potential to be exactly what DONU needs right now. I am favorably impressed by MJ so far but he has an impossible task to win the job with this team. Bless the man for all he does. I’d almost like to see him have another year as interim HC IF a complete new staff with top notch HC is not to be had. We need to get this right for the long term. Choose carefully.

Maybe this BB beer only approval is a sly way of saying BB in Lincoln is just better seen thru drunken eyes? I always seem to start every new season with absolutely irrational hopes and dreams. Of course reality sets in by game 3. PNB seats a bunch more that Haymarket. City of Lincoln probably needs more bar sales tax revenues in anticipation of declines in the future FB revenues Just a trial run to see how much frustrated fans will pay to drown their sorrows. After the stadium is retrofitted with new high dollar chairbacks and capacity is reduced by 25,000, ticket and beer prices will double.

So you want to perpetuate this? If we want better, then we have to hire better. Imo we can’t afford to just hire a proven average coach and hope he becomes great. It will be difficult enough for a better than average coach much less one with less success. A first year coach might become a great one but there is no way to tell. A strong recruiter or a great CEO type (preferably both). Then pair him up with the best staff we can find. Nebraska has brand appeal for fans but the recruit attraction has deteriorated over the last five years dramatically. It’s a rebuild but that doesn’t equal bottom P5 or worse as a program, yet. We first promoted from within a coach with long historical Neb ties that was given the controls of the very best program in the country, loaded with good talent very well developed (Solich). Frank lacked the recruiting gravitas and energy, and the program nearly collapsed. We then hired a nationally known, experienced NFL coach without the college level understanding (Callahan). He failed to turn things around quick enough and didn’t see the need for a defensive upgrade (he was singularly focused on his offense). We tried hiring an inexperienced NFL coach without recruiting strength/gravitas (Bo Pelini) with great fan support despite having but one season of DC on his resume. He struggled to be a Head Coach in areas beyond the X & Os and couldn’t deal with media pressures. He tried hard but was only an average recruiter. We tried a very experienced coach without recruiting gravitas (Riley). He was a proven mediocre coach that people viewed mostly as ‘a nice guy’. Finally, by popular demand, we tried a very unproven and inexperienced ‘Nebraska guy’ coach that had become the latest cfb ‘wonder boy’ with apparent national renown as a ‘splash’ hire. The presumption was he was a football genius that could recruit anyone anywhere. His resume included lots of good experience working under very respected successful coaches, presuming he learned from the best. He checked most of the boxes, except he didn’t really. He lacked any actual proven recruiting record and lacking any sustained HC record as a program and team builder and staff manager. He wasn’t prepared and failed wildly. Obviously he focused on receivers, RBs and one QB. The rest of the team and staff were basically ignored. This reflects his coaching and playing history as a QB with NFL dreams and a pass play designer type OC. He brought an inexperienced staff without proven team building record. Now, we must focus on recruiting gravitas at the maximum level to overcome our recent deterioration as a program, and proven team and staff building and management success. This hire is too critical. Get the guy OR get the trio (HC, DC, OC). We have pieces, maybe. But recruiting the defense and O line and developing those is absolutely priority 1. Again, if we fail to hire Urban Meyer or one of the games well established elites, then focus on defense and line of scrimmage builders.

How long does Leipold take to win a big ten championship? 10 yrs? Ever? Big Ten west? 5 ? 10? I don’t see anything about him that says he can recruit better than Pelini, Riley or Frost. Are his X & Os better? Idk. Imo Whipple/Joseph is better than Leipold. No splash. There is a reason he’s at KU. He not proven he’s a top coach.

Both at once. The whole country knows about the job. Has for a year now as a practical matter. I’m sure a bunch of contacts preceded the firing(s). But serious negotiations are a waste until the job is actually posted publicly. Trev has a shorter than 50 list of ‘interesteds’. But Trev wants a good rebuild plan to compare to each candidate’s plans. There are P5 coaches looking. The turmoil amongst conferences, media mergers, playoff talks, etc etc. Lots of moving targets and factors to weigh. Many are coaching into January. Some are not or will move before season’s ending.

I tend to think the new HC, even if it’s MJ, needs to evaluate every assistant. I put the lion’s share of fault / responsibility for all the problems on Frost. His assistants had to do what they were told. He oversaw the recruiting so I’m sure every member of the team was there upon his blessing and OK. Same with S&C crew. Im confident the new HC will make changes to fit his schemes, methods and philosophies. But the staff is pretty solid as a group. Trev and the admin already did a complete staff review before the firings last fall. Ultimately the new HC decides imo.

Congrats Guy on being inducted to the HOF Friday! Should have been a long time ago!

I think Mickey is popular enough today but between now and then, 7 or 8 games are happening. Anything can happen. Heck, MJ may get hired away along with his staffers etc. He may not want the job either. The HC needs to be a great hire OR the a great fit type with splash DC and or OC. I don’t know if Vance Hoseph is a splash or not? What kind of actual proven DC record does Vance have? If he is an option, could he come now? it may be that Trev is auditioning the entire staff not just MJ. He may have other DC guys too. It may be he has a great DC and another WRs guy for example. Or he has a complete team of coaches in mind. Some guys may want to leave at year end. So many contingencies it’s impossible to guess how it all plays out. I’ll give any new crew my support but at this point, I’m not excited about Fleck, Leopoldo, Campbell unless as assistants ? None meet my stature test. I’d keep Whipple and MJ over them. Aranda seems like my favorite but Rhule and Stoops maybe close. I prefer a defense guy as that’s what we need most with the recent O staff hires.