Husker in WI

I know the 28th seems like it's a long ways away, but it's just a few weeks!

I would guess higher on the kick probability, but even giving you 10% I don't think a 15+ yard completion or a defensive penalty would be more likely than that. Maybe on a random play, but not with the momentum and Colorado knowing we need that many yards. Add in the confidence loss from the missed block/taking a sack the play before, and I'll trust Frost had seen enough in practice to believe it was a makeable kick for Armstrong. I absolutely have issues with the playcalling leading up to it though.

After the game he said he didn't know which odds were better, the 48 yard field goal or 4th and 14 or whatever it was. Gut was the field goal, and I would bet the odds of a D1 punter making a field goal that long are better than converting a 4th and 14+. The fact that it was an absolutely terrible kick makes it look worse, but I guarantee Armstrong can make a kick from that distance.

Yeah, and I'm curious why. Like are these plays that they were just expecting Colorado to go for Martinez, and they were trying to give him one less thing to think about? Or they're trying to correct a tendency of Martinez to keep the ball when he should give it? That's directly on the coaching staff either way IMO, if it's a read let him read it. If it's not a read it's a different play and you don't have to tell him to hand it off, that's just the play call.

It's fine if that's not a comfort to you, but what would you suggest they do instead?

I mean I get it - but if you don't want to hear the talk until you see it on the field, the press conference thread on Monday after a loss may not be the place to be.

He said it wasn't him, was another staff member. Bumped a ref who was running up to pull players off the pile I think.

I don't think I'll be able to re-watch this one for a while, it stung pretty bad. And I re-watched the Michigan game last year the week after it happened. But that pretty much matches what I remember, just still a step short when it counts.

I dunno. If we finish strong and Colorado isn't a Pac-12 contender, the lasting memory from this game is going to be the stands full of red. We have to prove we're on the upswing, but if we do that even in a loss him visiting for that game could be a positive.

I think the killer instinct is one of the hardest things to develop in a team, and we definitely don't have it yet. Even when we were winning last year we didn't, we let teams like Illinois and Minnesota have a little life before finally slamming the door.

Too much work, sorry.

Well it's hard for them to do anything else at a press conference. I agree we have to see it on the field, but would you rather them just not answer questions?

I didn't see a culture problem yesterday anyway. Yeah there was the sense of "here we go again" as a fan, and coverage busts and poor tackling are also frustratingly familiar. But no one quit and I am confident the other things can be fixed.

It just sucks that the biggest adjustment they made was get the ball to their guy one on one and force us to tackle. I feel like that's what our offense is supposed to be, because it works. A lot of over pursuit and just whiffing in the second half, we clean that up and they don't get close. I actually like the scheme more and more, we just can't blow coverages looking for a safety and we have to at least slow guys down one on one even if you can't make the tackle. To their credit, it was a combination of gutsy play calling, getting the ball to their athletes, and a couple incredible throws from Montez. I would say he couldn't make that throw again if you gave him 10 attempts, but I said the same about his TD last year so obviously he can. Jackson even got a finger on it I think, but that's just perfect placement. And I wish we had a back like Fontenot - I'd still take Washington for this offense, but that physical slasher style is something I wish we had.

It says if you're in Nebraska or Colorado fox will switch at kickoff. FML

Refs will bail them out, that's a bs targeting call. No idea how that defender was supposed to avoid that.

The rumors are a hip flexor, and Frost had sarcastic comments about warming up. MY impression is he was messing around kicking without being loose, which is pretty dumb. Dunno if anyone with actual sources knows more, but that's how I read it.

I think they'll come down to earth a bit, I think Syracuse is overrated. But Maryland is explosive, definitely better than I expected so far. I figured they would be a better version of Illinois, good at running the ball and nothing else. That seems to have been selling them short.

Colorado's line was atrocious last year, and I'm skeptical of their "improvement" this year. I'm sure they're a bit better, but no sacks given up to CSU on ~20 dropbacks isn't terribly impressive for anyone, that's the expectation. I think Chins will let the D loose and we'll get some decent pressure. They actually appear to have a running game this year which makes them a little scarier, but I think they'll have to throw and we just have to cover long enough for blitzes to affect the throw.

Definitely agree, and I think a lot of Martinez's problems last week were similar. The pick he did throw he was staring down Washington all the way, similar to his pick in the Iowa game. Maybe trusts the play design a little too much and just assumes the primary read will work when it's theoretically a mismatch in our favor.

Pretty bold for a secondary that looks really really bad. If Martinez plays like last week that might work, but if he plays like he can making him pass will not help them.

Yeah, it's a pretty weird response. I get saying emotions got the best of you if you just deck a guy late, but twisting a knee is a conscious choice. And "cowards?" First of all plenty of people would say it to his face, they just don't have an opportunity to do so. I'm sure there are some morons making threats, but the majority of comments I've seen are just letting him know it was a cheap move and we don't like him. Social media is pretty much the only place to call out people who publicly do something stupid, I don't think that makes people "cowards." I wish Callier was starting honestly, because regardless of exactly how many husker fans show up I guarantee it would be a very loud negative crowd reaction when he was announced. That would be weird in your own stadium - he'll probably get booed anyway. But again, I don't think that's inappropriate. Very different from booing players based on performance.

Maybe I missed it, but I don't think the coaches ever said anything about being too vanilla. The "too schemey, too much, etc" has been pretty consistent, the fans thought it was vanilla. And as others have pointed out, things that look vanilla to us may be very complicated for the players. So yes a little concerning that in year 2 some gameplans are too complicated, but it sounds like the poor week of practive was as much a factor as the complexity. And I haven't heard any mixed messages from the coaches - it's all been bad practice and making things too complex.

Ah, gotcha. Didn't re-watch it to look at that - is it not under the RPO rules where they can block 3 yards down field though as well? I hate that, at most it should be 1 yard like the NFL. That may only apply to the interior blockers as well though.

The play on Bootle wasn't a pick, it's a screen. If the pass is behind the line of scrimmage they can block before/while it's caught. He clearly expected Sullivan to switch once he was blocked, you can't just watch your receiver block the other DB - either needed to switch onto Bootles man or do a better job warning him of the impending block. The other TD was a good play call, I think Barry was actually in zone but was the only guy close. He not great in coverage man or zone, and that play looked to target our ILBs specifically. Hard to call defense without ILBs having some coverage responsibility though.