seaofred92

Honestly I think the biggest challenge that this staff faces is that while there is talent on the roster, a lot of it still has refused to fully buy in to what this staff wants to do. These players don't listen to the current staff with 100% certainty because they are for whatever reason still caught up on Bo being let go as an indictment on themselves rather than something that naturally happens in business. One of the most difficult things in coaching changes is getting older guys to buy in- and I think you're seeing a lot of that now. There will be turnover at the end of this season and not all of it will be from players who's eligibility is up. Grad transfers, regular transfers, will be a part of it. And that is okay. There are clearly a decent amount of players who are currently on this roster who have little interest in remaining on this roster- to which I say good riddance. THIS above all other reasons, is why it was important for us to let Bo Pelini walk. There are few players that play for Nebraska (Gangwish bless his heart is one and he deserves all the credit in the world for what he is trying to do as a captain on this team) but there are far more players that are clearly just playing for themselves. Until there is acceptance with this new staff from 100% of the players moving forward, this team will be hampered by things like penalties and seemingly "giving up on routes and plays" because those are effort plays. And if you're not 100% bought in to the university and to the program, you do not make those effort plays. Football at its core comes down often times to who makes these effort plays on a more consistent basis throughout a game, and I believe that it is extremely important to give Riley time to get his guys in here who will fight for both him as a coach and the program as a whole to make every effort play they can and produce W's on a consistent basis.

I live in Charlotte and have watched the Panthers for the last 15 years. While I agree it was awesome to see such a powerful running game last night against a stout D, the Panthers have been doing this for years. This is their offensive identity. The #1 receiver is Ted freakin Ginn. They've drafted/signed linemen with the power run mentality in mind. Nebraska seems to have recruited linemen all over the place, with no real purpose in mind. It also helps to have RB's like Stewart and Tolbert who will run over defenders and fall forward for an additional 2-3 yards instead of try to side step them (Newby) up the middle and get tackled backwards. Simply falling forwards on runs completely changes the down/distance by more than many realize. Agree. IDENTITY. We haven't had one in years. They have a system and draft/trade for it. On both sides of the ball. Rex spoiled us with the bolded. I don't think he rarely lost a yard if he got to the LOS. I have complained about this mismatch crap at NU for years. No system, means no specific recruiting. How do you effectively target guys when you run hodge lodge of a scheme. Lived in Charlotte when they got Panthers and left in 2002. I have followed them ever since. Been back in NC the last 8 years. They look good right now. GB will be a huge test. I agree completely, and hopefully we are seeing this change soon here at Nebraska. To run this scheme effectively that Riley wants to run we are going to need really good Tackles. Getting Farniok and Nathan Smith would be a HUGE coup for this team. Athletic tackles that can pass block are essential to the pro style team that Riley envisions. With the amount of screens that we're going to be running, all linemen must be able to get out into space and make blocks. This is part of the issue with our screen game now, many (if not all) of our starting offensive linemen simply don't have the athleticism or ability to get out in space on a screen and make a legal, effective block down the field. While drops from the WR's have been the #1 issue for me the past 6-7 games, the inability of the O-Line to seemingly do anything is #2.

I live in Charlotte and have watched the Panthers for the last 15 years. While I agree it was awesome to see such a powerful running game last night against a stout D, the Panthers have been doing this for years. This is their offensive identity. The #1 receiver is Ted freakin Ginn. They've drafted/signed linemen with the power run mentality in mind. Nebraska seems to have recruited linemen all over the place, with no real purpose in mind. It also helps to have RB's like Stewart and Tolbert who will run over defenders and fall forward for an additional 2-3 yards instead of try to side step them (Newby) up the middle and get tackled backwards. Simply falling forwards on runs completely changes the down/distance by more than many realize.

I'd rather donate the $500k to the Louisville basketball recruiting budget than pay Read to stay again next year

This x1000000

Not meant to be a mockery of him just pointing out the atrocious throwing form on this play. Not picking on him personally just criticizing something that can be fixed. If TM can make drastic improvement from Sophomore-Junior year in footwork why can't TA?

This honestly looks like Taylor Martinez throwing the ball

Missed the game yesterday but just saw the pick 6 for the first time. Going to go ahead and say this isn't exactly the form you're looking for when throwing a football:

Didn't watch the game yesterday (was buying a car- which from the sounds of the game might've been the more enjoyable of the two options) but this is just pathetic. Been seeing these kinds of missed opportunities all year post BYU. The best our receivers played was in week 1 and it has seemingly been down hill from there

There is also a tendency to compare Riley's Nebraska career to Pelini's full Nebraska career, however nobody seems to compare their first years. There were big losses in Pelini's first year (notably Missouri at home under the lights) but there were also far more reasons for hope and encouragement than there were for despair. The team clearly had fight every week and had a purpose on both offense and defense, while also progressing mightily throughout the year. Remember this was a team that beat Clemson in the Gator Bowl in Dabo Swinney's first year there, and Pelini stood on the stage at the Gator Bowl and made the famous "Nebraska is back and were here to stay" announcement. This season feels much closer to Callahan's first/last year than it does Pelini's first year. The team is close in all of the games they play, but it doesn't feel like there is a purpose or reason for anything that is happening. I want Riley to succeed because it means Nebraska succeeds but when people were asking for change in the head coaching position at Nebraska they wanted a team that would 1. Win and 2. Not get blown out. This staff seems to have brought a 1. Not get blown out 2. Win mentality.

Its just sad because with as much creativity as you see with route patterns and progressions and reads in the passing game you see the complete opposite of it in the run game. Its like they took the passing plays from the NY Giants and the running plays from the Lincoln Pop Warner League

All of our eggs are in the 2017 class. If 2016 can finish top 25 and they have the big 2017 class that there is real potential for then there is a lot of reason for optimism. Starting off 2017 early with guys like Gebbia, Johnson, Holmes, etc would be HUGE for the recruiting momentum.

Well you take a 12 win championship team and go ont to lose 12, you deserve to be fired. Riley is taking a 9-3 team and is on track to finish 4-8. The guy can recruit so he deserves another year. But if 2016 cant net 10 wind, I would be open to another try at getting our guy. Eichorst said we wanted to compete for titles and that 10 wins wasn't enough. Hope he stands by that. I'm not one of the fire Riley after 1 year people but was just providing info for the thread. Riley will get 2-3 years, if he goes Eichorst hopefully will be out with him. Whoever the new president of UNL ends up being has some interesting decisions ahead of them.

It will be really really interesting to see what happens if Ole Miss wins the SEC Championship. If Temple beats ND next weekend and Memphis finishes 13-0 I don't know that you can leave them out.

Southern Miss fired Ellis Johnson after one year in 2012. Team was CUSA champions the year before and went 0-12 under his regime. http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8682876/ellis-johnson-fired-coach-southern-mississippi-golden-eagles-following-0-12-season

The saddest part is that this staff actually has very nice plays- especially with deep routes- off of play action. If there was a sincere interest in running the football they could really show off some of the beautiful play designs that they have installed in both the play action game and the deep passing game. Tommy to his core is a 0-8 yard or 25+ yard passer. Run the ball with consistency and purpose and you have a great opportunity for success with those deep balls/play actions Langsdoof

You and I just posted the EXACT same thing at nearly the EXACT same time. I couldn't agree more. Besties forever? Great minds think alike

IF we don't make a bowl this year, and even if we win 6-7 games next year, i'd be fine with moving on. Honestly, I don't see the issue with just accepting the bad decision and moving on now because we all know we will be moving on in a year or two from now and will just have to begin the rebuilding process AGAIN. So why not accept the mistake, admit this as a lost season and start rebuilding now. SE can simply come out and say, "Look folks, I made a mistake, I apologize, but I am not going to allow Nebraska football to be Purdue" It's like any scandal, you always look so much better in the media if you just come out and admit it first rather then deny deny deny. I'd have so much more respect for the guy if he did come out and admit his mistake and take action, rather then trying to hide this awful wart for 2-3 years and the agree it was a mistake. The longer we have this, the deeper we dig our hole. I believe Southern Miss did this a couple years ago with the coach that led them to 0-12. Only thing we can pray for is that USC makes Riley an offer he can't refuse and he takes it. What has happened here has been an absolute train wreck so far. USC is NOT going to offer Riley. Who in their right mind would hire Riley after the debacle he's created here, and they way he was on the verge of getting run out of Oregon State....USC offered Riley a HC job almost 20 years ago, they realize Riley is now approaching mid 60s and well past his prime. Plus his overall coaching record is 2 games below .500.....................And if Southern Miss did this, I have already forgotten they did such a thing. Also, I can't think of any other job where you can consistently under perform for 8 weeks and not get talked to or get the risk of losing your job. Man, if I went to work for 8 straight weeks of just under performing I am sure I would have been talked to several times by management, and probably would have never seen week 8. We're on the same team here. I completely agree its better to rip the bandaid off instead of slowly taking it off bit by bit. But it just isn't how college coaching works these days. What're we Kansas? We'd be paying 2 coaches upwards of 7 million dollars a year to NOT coach Nebraska. Just won't happen. What we really need is someone "not affiliated with the program" to go to Herman privately and tell him that if Riley does not perform in year 2 that the job is his.

To be honest it almost feels like every run play they call is as conservative as humanly possible just to be a F U to the fan base. "You want us to run the ball? Fine. Heres 41 dive 20 times" Zero creativity in the run game. Almost every time we run a QB power, QB sweep, Option, etc we gain positive yardage. But we run one of those and seemingly scrap it so we can run Cross up the gut for no gain 15 times later in the game.

IF we don't make a bowl this year, and even if we win 6-7 games next year, i'd be fine with moving on. Honestly, I don't see the issue with just accepting the bad decision and moving on now because we all know we will be moving on in a year or two from now and will just have to begin the rebuilding process AGAIN. So why not accept the mistake, admit this as a lost season and start rebuilding now. SE can simply come out and say, "Look folks, I made a mistake, I apologize, but I am not going to allow Nebraska football to be Purdue" It's like any scandal, you always look so much better in the media if you just come out and admit it first rather then deny deny deny. I'd have so much more respect for the guy if he did come out and admit his mistake and take action, rather then trying to hide this awful wart for 2-3 years and the agree it was a mistake. The longer we have this, the deeper we dig our hole. I believe Southern Miss did this a couple years ago with the coach that led them to 0-12. Only thing we can pray for is that USC makes Riley an offer he can't refuse and he takes it. What has happened here has been an absolute train wreck so far.

ok then who would you rather have kept Pelini or Eichorst and Pearlman? I don't want any of them. I explicitly said it was time for Bo to go. As much good as he did for Nebraska in his first 3 years he clearly developed a high level of frustration with both the state and university- presumably Eichorst played a major role in this as Bo is on tape having said as much. The issue isn't that they went outside the box to hire their coach. The issue is that instead of looking for a proven winner the AD chose the nicest guy in CFB and completely ignored his record as a coach. If you were going to take a chance on a guy, take a chance on a young assistant a la Herman, Chad Morris, Kirby Smart, Scott Frost, etc. Even if Riley would've been told he can't bring his gang of friends with him this would've been at least more tolerable. I respect his loyalty to his staff but this is a business, if you don't produce you will be let go.

You can't fire a coach after 1 year, but you certainly can after 2. We miss a bowl next year and we should start a $6m go fund me to get Herman here and Riley out of his contract. I'm half kidding.

Pelini's firing had almost nothing to do with his record and almost everything to do with the severe hatred for his job that he seemed to develop the longer he was here. It wasn't healthy for either party to be in that relationship anymore, and that is okay. If Pelini had Riley's personality I'd be willing to say he would still be here. Riley seems completely inept. There should be staff changes made at the end of the season- again I am going to continue to beat the Todd Orlando drum for DC- but there won't be changes. Nebraska can afford any real coach they want for the most part, the money is there. The biggest issue isn't that they chose an out of the box candidate, it's that they chose an out of the box candidate that has proven to be mediocre over an extremely large sample size and has a philosophy on football that does not mesh with how Nebraskans believe the game should be played. The man for this job is Tom Herman. His emphasis on developing a strong running game while playing to Greg Ward Jr's strengths on offense is simply amazing. If we are lucky enough to have Herman remain at Houston for another 2 years (allowing Riley to have 3 seasons) and Riley still hasn't produced, I don't see how Nebraska won't make him an offer. To think that we could've had an ace recruiter in the south on this staff in Ed Oregeron and instead we chose Mark effing Banker and Hank effing Hughes is laughable. I'm a UConn fan and I love Hughes but to think that he would bring more to Nebraska than a coach like Oregeron is absolutely ridiculous. I will give Riley credit for Trent Bray. Pay that man.

Would love to see us go after Todd Orlando as DC or kick the tires with Oregeron to see if he is still interested

Imagine if Courtney Love would've stayed. Simmons, Simmons, Simmons, Love, Rose, Valentine