Making Chimichangas

24 minutes ago, 84HuskerLaw said:

 

Both of these seem about right.   I think this team would beat last year's by 10 points or so around 34-24 in a rather ugly, sloppy, penalty infested affair.  But I think Husker fans would sell out the stadium twice!   

That is not the craziest thing I've heard today...

1 hour ago, 3rd and long said:

I used to think everyone had it out for us too.......then I turned 13. 

 

We’re so irrelevant on the CFB scene now, why would anyone feel the need to conspire against us?

And I used to think everyone played by the rules and cheaters never win, then I turned 13.

To keep us down.  The refs in the game today probably went to the schools we were beating 56-0 back in the day.  People can, and do, hold grudges for a lifetime. 
 

2 minutes ago, 3rd and long said:

So the difference in this game between the two teams was almost exactly what the difference is between their season averages?

 

imagine that

1. If a team is averaging 4 penalties a game...

2. They play Nebraska and get flagged once--or not at all...

3. Then the following weeks they're back up to their average...

That doesn't strike you as a bit...odd?  

Just now, 3rd and long said:

The most complicated thing going here is people thinking there is a conspiracy going on. 

 

Watch some of the replays, we commit a lot of penalties that are also going uncalled. We’re lucky that we’re only averaging a dozen or so a game.  We are a very poor team fundamentally. That, along with the discipline issues, leads to an inordinate amount of penalties. 

 

The officials are missing calls both ways. That’s becasue Big 10officals are poor.

If they're missing calls "both ways" then how come Northwestern was flagged once while Nebraska was flagged 8? 9 times?

Seems fairly disporportionate to me.  Again, if it happens once, not really a big deal.  But this stuff happens literally every time Nebraska plays.  We get called for 8-10 penalties a game and our opponent who is averaging 3-4 penalties a game will have none or at most 1 when they play us.  Then, next week our opponent playing another team will be back up to their 3-4 penalties a game.  Strange how that plays out every single week.

14 minutes ago, 3rd and long said:

Have you ever officiated?  It’s a automatic reaction when you make a call. If there’s a conspiracy they would have to stop and think about if they are throwing a flag or not. That’s not happening. 

Not all.  All a zebra who is in on any potential conspiracy would have to do is throw a flag against Nebraska on anything that remotely seems like a penalty.  Point is, it isn't as complicated as you're making it out to be. 

Disclaimer: I would say probably 75% of the penalties we get called for are legit.  But there have also been quite a few ticky tack penalties that go against Nebraska.  Questionable penalties that Nebraska gets called for, but other teams don't.  

4 minutes ago, Landlord said:

 

Based off what evidence?

 

Also, what boosts ratings more - a good Nebraska team, or an 0-6 Nebraska team?

Close games, that go down to the wire, boost ratings regardless of who is playing.  And, Big 10 Commissioner Jim Delaney has said many times he wants competitive balance.  Which could in fact include that any game that is close going into the 4th Q could be open to some officiating to help maintain the close game. 

Just to be clear, not saying that is happening, bit it wouldn't surprise at all if it was.

19 hours ago, Thurston from Pender said:

We will be lucky to beat that hyphenated team in that make-up game. 

And Frost said we “deserved” to win that game! Ha! We sucked at multiple levels. We deserved to lose.

I am despondent. 

Was this thread really necessary?  I think we've extensively covered, and collectively come to the conclusion, that the 2018 edition of Husker football sucks.  There is even a mega-thread dedicated to all sucky things Nebraska football related.

Next caller you're on the air...

13 minutes ago, Mavric said:

 

I love me some Mo Barry.  But I don't really remember him making many plays in pass defense.  Not sure what his responsibilities are supposed to be but he hasn't done much.  He has one sack and one pass break up all year.  And he wasn't getting to the QB yesterday.  So perhaps he's a great run defender but there are other guys who are better in pass coverage.

I dunno...I don't think we have anyone good in pass coverage.  

Here is what I know and have seen play out in every game this year:

1. Nebraska gets flagged disproportionately compared to who ever our opponent is.

2. Nebraska DBs get called for pass interference at a much higher percentage than probably any other team in the BIG.  For example, last night during the Michigan v Wisconsin game, I saw DBs for both schools doing exactly what Nebraska DBs do...one hand on WRs back and the other trying to swat the ball away and no call.

3. I see DBs and WRs from every other school jostling each other and there is usually no pass interference called.

4. I see "late" hits on QBs from every defense in every game and most are no calls.

Is Nebraska sloppy and undisciplined?  Yes.

Is there a conspiracy against Nebraska?  I can't say yes, but I can't say no either.  It just seems odd that Nebraska gets a lot of penalties from things that other teams get away with.

6 minutes ago, Moiraine said:

 

 

It still isn’t relevant... each year his defenses were compared to other defenses that year... think of it as a percentile. In the post you quoted he isn’t comparing PPG now to PPG 20 years ago. He’s comparing PPG within the same season vs other teams in the same season. Chinander’s defenses have been worse than > 50% of all teams within the same season.

 

I haven’t read every post, but has anyone mentioned yards given up by Chinander compared to previous years? When people compare rankings, it’s irrelevant how prolific offenses have gotten because all defenses are facing prolific offenses.

 

The only context that I can see mattering is that the offenses on the teams he coaches for were uptempo.

OP is talking about Chinander's defenses compared to other defenses that year...true.  And that was my misunderstanding because I didn't get what OP was saying.  Apologies.

However, OP still doesn't account for the fact that not every team plays the same schedule.  Not every team plays every opponent under the exact same circumstances in a given year.  Injuries, suspensions, player motivation/focus all fluctuate week to week within a any given season.  

Also, OP's post doesn't really take into account how Chinander's defenses arrived at their rankings.  

For example, a team is up 45-10 on an opponent with 7 minutes remaining in the 4th Q.  That team can either leave the starters in and probably preserve the score of 45-10 or they can sub in #2 and #3 players to get experience.  In which case, the opponent with 10 might score 14-17 additional points making the final 45-24 which skews the defensive numbers and makes it seem not as good.

I dunno, perhaps I am grasping at straws because I want so desperately for Nebraska to finally have the right coaches in place and get that continuity with our coaching staff we so desperately need. 

2 minutes ago, Moiraine said:

 

 

MC, 1-5 are all irrelevant, because the post you’re quoting is how Chinander’s teams have ranked against other teams. All of your points apply to all teams. They are all facing those circumstances.

 

If we were arguing something line yards per game and comparing Chinander to 90s Nebraska, then all of your points would apply.

I guess my overall point was/is: I think it is slightly unfair to just look at defensive rankings without any context.  Also, I think that average yards and points per game has been increasing over the years.  I (or someone) would have to do a stat analysis to see if that is true, but that's my hypothesis. 

For example, the #1 ranked defense in PPG in 2008 would be lower than what it is in 2018.

And the #1 defense in PPG would be lower in 1998 than it was in 2008.

Again, without doing any research, that is my hypothesis...

Now if we're still seeing this type of play in year 3, then Houston we have have a problem.

Coach Frost and his coaches should be given a mulligan for this year.  

16 hours ago, HuskerNation1 said:

I am a big believer in looking at data when looking at bringing in new members of the coaching staff. When Diaco was hired in early 2017 I was pretty critical of the hire as the data did not paint a good picture of his track record outside of one standout season at Notre Dame in 2012. I was also skeptical of Frost's selection of Chinander given what the data showed, but I was willing to give Chinander the benefit of the doubt. In my mind having a dominant defense is more important to becoming a championship team than having a stellar offense. Here is a quick look at where the last 5 national champions finished in Team Defense.

 

2017-Alabama finished 1st

2016-Clemson finished 15th

2015-Alabama finished 3rd

2014-Ohio State finished 29th

2013-Florida State finished 7th

 

Now here are the finishes as an assistant in D1 football.

 

2010-Oregon finished 36th

2011-Oregon finished 96th

2012-Oregon finished 50th

2013-Went to NFL for one season

2014-Oregon finished 102nd

2015-Oregon finished 115th

2016-UCF finished 46th

2017-UCF finished 91st

2018-Nebraska is 70th

 

So the defensive philosophy Chin learned under at Oregon had one top 40 finish but spent most seasons in the bottom half of D1 defenses. His 3 seasons as a DC at UCF and Nebraska put him around 70th in D1.

 

I understand Frost has a long history with Chinander, but I think he needs to take a step back and assess whether his defensive background is what is needed to get Nebraska back to competing for championships.

 

http://www.espn.com/college-football/statistics/team/_/stat/total/position/defense/sort/totalYards

Caveat: You could be correct about Chinander.  So if you just look at the numbers, without any context, it makes sense how one could come to the conclusion, after looking at multiple years of data, he is an average or worse DC.

However, college football has changed quite a bit even in the last 10 years. 

1. Rules keep getting changed to favor the offense.

2. Pass interference calls go against the defense probably 99.7% of the time.

3. Pretty much every team now runs some variation of uptempo spread.

4. Every defense, no matter how sound fundamentally, has holes which can be exploited.

5. The evolution of camps and coaching that players coming out of high school now receive could arguably be better than ever before.

6. With 85 scholarship limit, that means there are great players that end up at "lesser" schools.

So yeah while you might ultimately be right about Chinander, I think it is probably the case that we'll never see the kind of defensive dominance we did in the '90's.  Hell there are teams that put up 35+ points on Alabama's defense and they're the gold standard of talent, S&C, and depth.

17 hours ago, grandpasknee said:

There is no doubt the coaching staff made some bad decisions today.  Big picture stuff is the responsibility of the head coach and his chosen assistants, and they didn't live up to that responsibility today at crucial times.

 

There is no doubt the players made some bad decisions today.  They weren't able to fulfill their responsibilities when it mattered most.

 

I get a little sick of threads popping up "Who takes the blame for this" or "Who is to blame, the players or the coaches."  Why does there have to be any blame, in .a college football game.  Why are we so quick to be judgmental and demand blame be assigned?  It is such a negative and needless approach.  "Well, that didn't go the way I wanted, I have to blame someone!!!"

 

We've got a long way to go, on both the player / talent area and the coaching area.  After years of mediocre players (every team had some good players, but if you watch the top teams, their have high quality players at almost every position, not four or five positions) and mediocre coaching, I think we've lulled ourselves into the belief that we are just one excellent coach or a couple of five stars away from 'being back'.  As a fan, it is my responsibility to recognize that, cheer for the team and coaches and be patient as they grow into their responsibilities.

Amen.

Admittedly, I was (before the season started) one of the posters who thought, talent wise, Nebraska was much better than they are.  While I won't apologize for that, I do painfully acknowledge that the Huskers are no where near where they need to be.

Simply stated, this 0-6 start is the culmination of Nebraska's previous 10+ years downward slide into mediocrity and worse.  And that cannot be fixed in one off-season.  Nebraska has the right guy as HC.  Frost just needs time, and several recruiting classes before we start seeing the results.  And honestly, I am seeing improvement each week even though the wins aren't there.  This team is getting incrementally better.

2 hours ago, Dilly Dilly said:

How dare players 6 games into yet another new scheme not be perfect! 

 

My take is that people are assuming that the players themselves have been well coached for years and expected to know all new concepts.  Maybe the schemes we're seeing is all they know ... SO FAR.  Maybe the staff isn't comfortable with installing the more complex things that are more effective because the players haven't quite grasped the mere basics yet.  There are so many hours they can spend with them.  And maybe 3 years of laxidaisical weekly prep along with S&C can't be fixed in one off season.

 

I trust that it will all get better for BOTH scheme AND personnel, but won't be THIS year.  

Exactly.  Some of the posters on this board have literally no concept that Nebraska was in far worse shape than they will admit.

@The Dude points to the fact that neither Callahan or Riley went 0-6 and yet doesn't acknowledge that: a) Callahan came into Nebraska after Solich when, despite not much depth, S&C was still great and there were some really good players here, and b) Riley came in after Bo and there were some good players here but S&C in Bo's final three years started to wane and was getting less each year.

Then Riley comes in, no S&C at all, recruited a lot of bad player and/or players who left when they learned they'd lose their starting spots.

So yeah, Nebraska is currently in a very, VERY deep hole in terms of talent, S&C, and depth that they are slowly climbing out of.  

It is this type of denial of facts while bitterly complaining and whining about being 0-6 for the first time in program history--as if they could do better.

All the people whining about the 0-6 start should probably be put on suicide watch.

I just get so tired of people not understanding that this isn't f'ing PlayStation.  In real life you don't come into a program that has been in steady decline for 10+ years and change sh** overnight.

5 hours ago, The Dude said:

 

None of this supports your ridiculous claim that any coaching staff in America would have lead this team to 0-6.

 

Also, I'm not being negative.  I'm saying let's take it easy on the outrageous claims.

Let me ask you this: based on what we have seen from Nebraska thus far this season...do you seriously believe any other coaching staff would be better?  What rationale do you have to make the claim any other staff would be better?  

Because any other coaching staff would still have to face all the issues Coach Frost and his coaches are facing:

1. Most players didn't do S&C under Riley.

2. They had a very lazy or no work ethic.

3. Little to no depth at many positions.

When you take every factor and add it up, I seriously think that even Nick Saban's staff at Alabama could be coaching Nebraska this year and we'd probably still be 0-6.

So yeah, disagree all you want, but what I said isn't ridiculous. 

2 hours ago, Hammerhead said:

Ozigbo is a beast, and it sucks that his last season as a Husker has to be this bad.  

 

Our pass defense is only as good as the pressure we get on the QB.  The secondary is a huge liability.

 

I know Pickering is only a freshman, but I honestly can't recall us ever having such an inaccurate kicker.  

 

I'm still afraid of Martinez ending up being a slightly better version of T-Mart or Armstrong.  I know he's also only a freshman, but he has a long ways to go as a passer.  A lot of the time our O line doesn't help, but he still has a lot of learning to do.

 

This team needs to worry more about not beating itself than about beating its opponent (I learned that a long time ago, but today strongly reinforced it).

 

 

Honestly, I'm not sure what game you watched.  Of course the OL could be better, but they did open up.some nice holes for Oz to run through and they did provide Adrian Martinez time to throw most times.  Sure there were mistakes, but things are getting better.

1 hour ago, krc1995 said:

Real defensive issues persist, and it’s not just scheme. But everyone knows this and it is what it is.  And if you the coach and you have a 7 point lead with-maybe 2:30 left to play- and you decide to get ultra conservative and don’t even try to get a first down- well then this loss is deserved and you need to own it and not blame the dc 

Coach Frost said it in his presser after the game: If Nebraska throws the ball and gets an incomplete pass, then the clock stops and NW doesn't have to use a timeout.  Then he's criticized for not running it.  Damned if does, damned if he doesn't.

@KingBlank

1. I initially asked you, "How do you know?"

Then

2. I said it was moot point because neither one of us can prove we're right and honestly I wasn't going to argue the point further.

3 minutes ago, The Dude said:

 

Laughable.

 

Not even Callahan or Riley were capable of this.

Entirely different circumstances and Riley was trending down towards 0-12.

Be negative if you want, I don't care.  But you should at least be honest enough to admit that Riley left us in an incredibly deep hole.  Coach Frost said it in his post game presser: "Winning is a habit, unfortunately so is losing."

Mike Riley put a feel good about losing feeling on the team for 3 years.  Yeah this 0-6 season sucks, but changing our players mentalities takes time.  I am all in with Coach Frost.  He'll fix this mess, we just have to accept that we might be 0-12 at the end of the year.  Or we could be 6-6 or anything in between.

I am seeing this team fight.  I am seeing an 0-6 team that hasn't given up.  And I won't give up on this team either.

2 minutes ago, Jason Sitoke said:

The defense isn’t very good. That being said, they played well enough to win until the last drive. 

 

They got 2 turnovers. They gave up 3 touchdowns...one where the blitz nearly got home and the QB dropped a dime off throwing off his back foot.

 

i never felt like we weren’t in control of this game until Frost went Herm Edwards on our last full series in regulation. 

But as Coach Frost said in his post game presser, if Nebraska had thrown the ball and not completed it, he'd be criticized for stopping the clock.  He made the right call.  Run the ball and force NW to use those timeouts.  Unfortunately, things didn't go NU's way.  Maybe we'll win next week.

11 minutes ago, KingBlank said:

Do not agree, those coaches understand situational football much better than our staff at the moment.   Frost will have to get better strategically in the Big10 it's not the same as it was at UCF.  The coaches and better the players are smarter.  No they would not be 0-6

How do you know?  Honestly, it is moot point.  

24 minutes ago, HuskerNation1 said:

 

What we are doing now is not working so I think Frost needs to accept it, study defenses that are successful in the BIG, and revise accordingly.  

We could have Ohio State, Alabama, or Clemson's coaching staff right now and we'd still be 0-6 more than likely.  We just don't have the Jimmies or Joes, especially on defense.

5 minutes ago, Hayseed said:

If that didn’t happen they would’ve found another way to gift them.

You're probably right.  Our defense is just garbage right now.  As others have previously stated, we can't cover anyone on the back end and when we blitz it is from 15 yards away (hyperbole).  Chinander (and the rest of these coaches are east of the rock and west of the hard place.  Very little talent, no depth...these coaches are playimg the hand they were dealt.

The issues facing Nebraska this season can only be fixed (again, as others have previously memtioned) over time through coaching, development, and recruiting.