Husker in WI

And one of the healthy receivers is now the 3rd string RB instead...

Somebody asked about them since they weren't listed by Rhule as OL who are ready to step up (Teddy, Lutovsky, JEJ, Knaak) and he said they will likely play, but more thinking about special teams/heavy packages. Not ready to rotate in. Also thought it was interesting - Rhule said their 2 big things in the gameplan this week were Billy Kemp (which he said postgame), and heavy sets with extra OL (Think we had 7 OL on one play). Obviously when Kemp got hurt that took out that piece, but we also couldn't do the heavy stuff. Satterfield still needs to have better answers, but that does explain some of the frustrating offensive futility. Relatively limited gameplans with an inexperienced QB, and then cut out a big chunk of that and it's tough.

I don't think the offense can be a whole lot less productive than it has been (knock on wood), even with backups. It definitely hurts, but not as much as if these injuries were on the defensive side IMO.

I'd assume he's fine since he wasn't mentioned, and IIRC he came back into the game.

Corcoran and Piper done for the year, Nouili for a few weeks. Yikes..

I'd kinda be surprised if Purdy is still here next year. I know up until Haarberg got the job the coaches were saying Purdy was the better thrower, and maybe next year they can evaluate QBs differently - right now we need the QB run game to have even a little bit of offense. But regardless of the factors, Haarberg passed Purdy and it'll be hard to win that back as Haarberg keeps gaining experience.

You just need a bad offense and a home-state kicker - Ohio State 2016 (62-3) was the previous time I can find, along with that farce of a game against against A&M in 2010 (9-6). Some other possibilities (2018 Michigan where Mazour scored our only TD, 2018 MSU where we won 9-6) ruined by an out of state kicker. Now getting at least 17 points all by in-state guys and winning probably goes back a ways. I'd guess Crouch era, but would have to be games where he didn't pitch much because most of those RBs were from other states.

I don't want them to win any games or anything, I just think injuries suck regardless of who has them. So I guess to clarify - I feel bad for the players. I do not feel bad for the fanbase or coaches, every team has to deal with injuries and Ferentz doesn't deserve a narrative of "he doesn't have a lot to work with!" because he is a measurably terrible OC. Not that it's a widespread narrative anyway, but I suspect that's what Kirk would say.

I do feel a little bit bad for them, because they again had a team with 2 legitimate NFL caliber TEs (not first rounders like Hockenson/Fant, but still draft picks). Losing both of them and the only legitimate QB on the roster does suck. They weren't going to average 25 ppg anyway but losing NFL caliber players from an already terrible offense is rough. I am not particularly worried about covering Steven Stilianos.

It has been repeatedly pointed out, but again - there is no NCAA rule against stealing signs/signals. I don't like it, but why should they forfeit games for something that there is no rule against?

And that's being pulled up by McNamara's 51.1% - Hill is at 38.6% on 70 attempts. And yet, he's 2-0 as a starter.

The only reason to do it is to get information that's not in the video - so, signals. I also think it's being way overblown, but there is a reason it's not allowed.

It's not against the rules to steal signs, and I'm sure all teams try to do it during the game. It is against the rules to send scouts to future opponents games in person, especially because the only reason to do that is to steal signs before your game. It's not what they were doing, it's the when and how that are sketchy.

Because then he wouldn't have had the opportunity to hit 18 postseason HRs

Maybe, but I think it's just as likely the guys behind the starters aren't as good. Sounds like some of Raiola's recruits are doing well (Gottula, Sledge), it's just not a place where you can plug in freshmen easily. Getting one legitimate starter from the portal was big, and if we'd landed that LT from Stanford we'd be trying to nominate Raiola for the Broyles award. You can build a good line slow and steady (and I think Raiola is doing that), but the only way to drastically improve a specific position on the line in one year is the portal. And the position we need the most help with happens to be the one where every team in the country will be after any passable option in the portal.

Not at tackle, Lutovsky is 100% a guard and was also rough in early action. Gottula is currently the #3 LT. He and Goldman were brought in as OL/DL, so I don't think it was either of them. Rhule made it sound like it was a request he made out of left field, and it wouldn't have been a shock for either of those guys. Which leaves Sua Lefotu or Vincent Carroll-Jackson (Van Poppel is firmly in the DL rotation), although I'm not sure it matters since it was just for a few days.

I'd say he's playing better than last year, and better than against Minnesota. That's just a lower bar to clear for him personally. In limited action, Teddy has done nothing to take the job from him either.

Well the domestic violence happened before (and caused) the trip to Juco, so probably slightly better chance than the order you listed. If you were already on your second chance at Juco from previous mistakes and then you do that, you're done done. Maybe he has become a better person, maybe there's more to the story, and that's on the coaches to figure out. I don't know about domestic violence specifically, but there are several notable examples of kicked out of D1 school > Juco > D1 school. More inclined to give that second chance to someone who cheated on tests and stole a laptop than someone with this type of baggage, but not my call to make.

I'm honestly surprised the media haven't been asking this week by week - there have been changes before this week. It's who they expect to start each game, and we have different base looks for Michigan versus LA Tech. The fact that White said adding Reimer back has us at 12 would mean Butler took someone else's (Gunnerson?), they're not just adding guys.

I'm not opposed to second chances, but I hope (and assume) the coaches were thorough on this one.

I don't think Locke will be better, at least at this point - they pretty much hand-picked Mordecai to run this offense. Honestly I just don't think they have the receivers right now, and Longo is also realizing how much better/different Big Ten defenses are. They're also committed to not running Allen 30 times a game but no longer have a #2 RB. They'll probably have a game or two down the stretch where things click and they put up 30+ (hopefully not against us) but there might be a 4-INT dud in there as well.

Marcus Washington knocked him out of the game on our first drive last year with a block.

I don't generally buy the idea of a "must-get" recruit, but he's as close to that as I can think of. Lacy is a dude, and (pending some injury recoveries and decisions) our scholarship RB room next year is: Gabe Ervin rJr. - officially has an injury history so tough to count on, and the limited on field production hasn't yet matched what we hear about in practice Emmett Johnson rSo. - Starting to show up, but needs to prove he can be an every down guy Kwinten Ives - RFr - Time will tell but not ready for a role as a true freshman. Which isn't a knock, but I'm not just going to assume he's ready for a major role in 2024 Obviously guys develop, and we can get someone from the portal. But I don't think we could find anyone as well-rounded as Lacy if we had to replace him in the class this year, and there is a huge opportunity for a guy to come in and play right away. Hopefully that's appealing to him.

Also about what you'd expect 4 of the top 5 projected receivers have either been hurt, left the program, or moved to other positions. And the OL has been fine, we just don't have anyone capable of playing even an average LT at the moment. It's totally fine to be skeptical and want some coaches replaced, especially the ones who don't appear to have a great resume. But it's also fine for people to point out the other factors going into it and there are a lot of those. I don't think any of us really know the total impact of a position coach, but some of the problems we've had will take more than half a season to fix regardless of the coach. Satterfield is my biggest concern because he does have a resume, and it's not an incredible one. But it's just hard to gauge in year one and with this many injuries - as long as the offense looks better as we get to the end of the year I can live with it though.

Probably hoping he gets big enough to be a TE, and at this point it's unlikely he has to play for Brian Ferentz? Watch them just rehire Ken O'Keefe or something though.