Husker in WI

9 hours ago, Husker_Bohunk said:

 

So we're probably realistically looking at 2 to 3 years before our linebacking corp gets up to speed.

 

I might need some whiskey along the way.

It'll be at least 2-3 years before we have a great linebackers across the board, but I think they can be solid next year. Next year ILB will be Barry and Honas with a year of experience in the defense, and a rotation of Miller, Weinmaster (also with another year of S&C and growth in the defense), and a couple really talented recruits makes me feel a lot better inside. Outside is still a question for sure, but we've got the bodies - someone just needs to step up. That being said I don't think there is a game changer at LB on the current roster, and that's what might take time.

I don't even know if it's directed at us, I see it as "F yeah motherFer." Which is pretty funny from someone as low key as Chryst usually is, but otherwise not a crazy reaction to a big momentum swing. If it was at us I'd lose a little respect for him, but we're going to be personally offended at coaches swearing on their own sideline? 

Larkin retired from football due to a neck injury:

https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/jeremy-larkin-injury-retirement-football-northwestern-cervical-stenosis/

Thorson doesn't tend to run a ton but he's had a few long runs against us in past, similar to what Blough did but worse. Actually ran for 126 against us as a freshman.

1 minute ago, teachercd said:

It isn't really a standard list.  The standard list is no list.

I guess I don't have a source to back me up, but I'm pretty sure most places give these restrictions. I'm sure it was the same with Gebbia, Lindsey, Roberts, etc - it is a little weird to post your letter with the restrictions, but that doesn't mean others don't have them. I think I remember reading about a school that waived all restrictions, but I believe they were pretty much the exception to the rule. In this case I think it's a formality anyway, he's from the west coast and wasn't considering any of those schools before signing with us.

1 minute ago, teachercd said:

Not a fan of the restrictions.  Let the kid go. 

It doesn't get a whole let less restrictive than "anyone we don't play." I'd be surprised if he was interested in any of the schools listed other than some Big Ten schools anyway, it's a standard list.

12 minutes ago, cheekygeek said:

 

If true, then I'm not sure why he wasn't ahead on the depth chart all along. In any event, has he done so in a GAME? (Serious question).

Urbach has been the long snapper for the past 2 weeks, so far so good. From what I recall from a random weekly interview - Ober's snaps are measurably faster but Urbach is still within the acceptable range and covers better. I haven't paid attention too closely, but I would assume the LS/SS are Long/Short snapper, so Ober probably still does field goals and extra points.

I don't think our overly optimistic game threads have any effect on how we play. Doesn't mean we're not delusional, but fans have no effect on the game outside of the stadium noise/atmosphere.

42 minutes ago, ArcticHusker said:

It's so refreshing to see a Nebraska QB set his feet and step into a throw. Watching guys fall away all these years, even when it worked out, just killed me. 

That TD throw is up there among the best from a Nebraska QB, really excited to see Martinez develop. The interception was pretty much exactly what you mentioned, but we should see more of the great throws and fewer poor ones over time. He throws a really pretty ball when it all goes right for sure

A little surprising since I assumed he was one of the receivers Frost was talking about practicing better this week. Maybe it was guys like Woodyard, Williams, and McQuitty. Either way best of luck to him, hopefully it works out somewhere. I'd be unhappy if a walk-on freshman beat me out too, but it's like the coaches have been saying - are you going to work harder and earn it back or stay down? Lindsey answered it his way, we'll see what the others do.

6 minutes ago, Crusader Husker said:

Is Tanner part of the solution or the problem.  Should he be calling people out?  I think at times his play is subpar.  I know he has a good attitude, but geesh.

He hasn't been committing penalties, at least that I've noticed. Gives him some room to talk in my mind - the line as a whole was a lot better last week, although chalk a lot of that up to Purdue not being Michigan. Even the penalty on Foster was extremely questionable, every o-line coach in the country would tell you to fall on the guy if he's down and you don't need to go block someone else.

Also I stand corrected - Frost at least implied Conrad would start if healthy, and Farmer does in fact do Center drills during the week.

28 minutes ago, Undone said:

The Farmer-for-Conrad swap is due to injury. So then if you move Farmer to center, obviously a new guy comes in for Farmer at right guard. So it's not like earth shattering news.
 

Do we know that for sure? Conrad is still on the depth chart - I know he got hurt Saturday, but the only thing I've heard since is something along the lines of "he'll be fine." Don't know if that means he's limited but is still the 2nd best option, or he's healthy but they're making the move to Farmer.

2 minutes ago, Lyons in the Sea of Red. said:

It wouldn't matter if we had deion sanders at corner, only reason Wisconsin is going to need to throw is if they get a personal foul or something that makes it 3rd and 25. And even then they still would have a fairly decent chance at running for the first down. 

True. I'm disappointed Honas isn't playing, this feels like his kind of game. But to your point, we could have Ruud and Lavonte David could at LB and it doesn't matter if their line dominates.

2 minutes ago, StPaulHusker said:

I was referring more to Dismuke falling off the depth chart when he had a PF called against him but the Davis twins have a couple called against them and nothing has changed.

And I think the depth explanation still holds. We have other safeties, but Freedom and Stille can't play the whole game on the d-line. Practice could be a factor as well, but I doubt Dismuke is lighting up teammates or anything. He's probably still 3rd string anyway, so cutting that off the depth chart could be trying to send a message - that's just pretty much the only public-facing option when he's already 3rd string. We'll find out Saturday if he plays or not I guess.

2 minutes ago, r06ue1 said:

With the depth chart changes, any possibility we make it close?  

Maybe closer since Lee has a shot at not letting receivers run free, but we might surprise. Against Wisconsin we seem to either completely implode and give up 400 rushing yards or keep it way closer than it should be. But based on this season, the former seems more likely - I don't want to watch Young try and tackle Taylor, and he's going to have to do that.

11 minutes ago, TheSker said:

Farmer may be an improvement at C, but he had issues on a couple of snaps.

He did, but I don't think he'd been working at Center since early in fall camp. He's got a week to shake the rust off, and honestly I'll take a rolled snap or two if it means having the right line calls and a decent blocker in the middle. A lot of people have been saying the best 5 are (in order of talent, IMO) Jaimes, Farmer, Wilson, Foster, and Farniok so it's nice to finally see that group. Some people debating Foster, and Farniok really only because we're so thin at tackle.

11 minutes ago, tmfr15 said:

No one is saying Martinez should be benched for the next two years. What I am saying is that a JUCO should be brought in to compete with Adrian because 1) Luke is developmental and should red shirt. 2) Bunch probably isn't going to push Adrian and there's no guarantee he comes back next year. 3) Noah is an unknown factor.  And, finally, 5) If we don't have a JUCO and Adrian gets hurt again next year, we might end up repeating the trouble of 2018 in 2019.

 

Tough to find a JUCO QB who is 1) good, and 2) willing to transfer to a school with a returning starter with more eligibility than him remaining.  The odds of coming in and unseating the returning starter are low, and when they're transferring (JUCO or not) it's to start.Transferring into an open competition is one thing, transferring to be the competition for a starter has very little upside.

I guess I knew we were the underdog, but that did not prepare me for seeing the majority of the picks being Purdue..

27 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

c)  If Martinez would have simply made contact with the LB instead of turning away, he would have easily blocked him from making a play on the RB.  The RB would have then had a running start to try to get past the safety.  Frost has said you need to be tough to plat QB for him.  That wouldn't have even been much of a hit and it would have made a big difference in the play.

 

These are all little things that can be coached.  In this game, unfortunately, we had things like this happen on almost every play.

In general I agree with you, but that's not a linebacker. That's the 280 lb DE who would love an excuse to rip the QB's head off. Add in the fact that we have 2 walk-on backups and Martinez has already been hurt this year and I doubt the staff would encourage him to do that. If that was a LB maybe, but you do have to be a little smart with your QB.

I haven't seen these posted like the Husker Chalk Talk articles, but Michael Rose-Ivey has some pretty good posts  including a Purdue preview. I really liked his Colorado write-up as well.

https://back7skillz.wordpress.com/2018/09/26/purdue-offensive-preview/

2 minutes ago, ZRod said:

Which is why I think we need a change at the center position. Our blocking schemes have been all jacked up. There are too many similarities to last year not to believe it's player dependent.

I agree. They asked Farmer who was responsible for making the line calls after he mentioned them being wrong a lot, and while he did try to deflect the blame it comes down to the Center. Said everyone needed to do a better job calling things like overloads out, but it is the Centers job to make the call. We don't know how many things were called out and not changed versus completely missed by all lineman, but the change to Decker last year was pretty noticeable and that makes me suspect the former.

Maybe they're fantastic in practice, but they can't/won't get it right in the games. Guess we'll find out how many mistakes it takes to actually get benched, but the coaches are also limited by a lack of depth. Farmer and Miller have even less experience than Conrad making line calls, although you'd hope Farmer would know from playing Guard. Regardless of how this one should have been blocked, a 1 on 1 between our RB and their ILB trying to cover a lot of ground is what you want from this. It worked as designed, they just had the better player.

They can't play this year anyway, and it's going to be Martinez's team as long as he's healthy. I don't know why you would bench him for a year, assuming one of those two beat him out in a new offense for them. They're both going to go places that essentially promise them a starting job.

I suppose you don't want to tip your playcalls based on personnel, but I totally agree. Everything on that play worked perfectly, and if the RB doesn't have the speed maybe he shouldn't be in there. I love Ozigbo, but this is exactly why people questioned his fit in the offense.

Credit to 10 as well though - he's a stud and there aren't many LBs who are going to make that play, even on Ozigbo.

I think the worst announcing was neither announcer knowing why they called ineligible receiver downfield on Lindsey's TD that was called back. It was clearly the right call, but Tillman literally says "not quite sure why that was called," and Brando says "well it had no effect on the outcome of the play" before trailing off. All after referring to Woodyard as "Goodyard" for good measure. It definitely did affect the play, the DB wasn't expecting Woodyard to run a route because he was ineligible and so he didn't really cover either player.

I know we had all lost interest at that point, but still - it's not a complicated rule. He was on the line of scrimmage, wasn't the outside guy on the line, and ran downfield on a pass.

Gotcha. I do think plenty of players don't care if the offense isn't a perfect fit for them though. Instead of looking at it as they won't use him to the best of my abilities, it's however they use him he's going to win a lot. And it will probably prepare him better for the NFL, although that's a little more strength and conditioning than scheme IMO.

1 minute ago, Nebfanatic said:

I don't see it that way at all. This staff has seen what championship practice looks like. If they are stressing it, it is important. And it is. We have to actually get better day by day and not just say it. The more you practice the game plan the more it should click as the week goes along. Sure there will always be a step back here or there, but the way they talk about it, it seems as if its been a consistent issue. You want to build toward the game and if your best practice was Monday, confidence levels have likely regressed since that Monday practice. 

The practices are also very different on Monday and Thursday. Monday is really installing the gameplan, so you can expect mistakes but you have time to correct them. By Thursday they need to be gone, you can try to address things in the Friday walkthrough but obviously not with full speed reps. So it may or may not be fixed in the game, most likely not fixed. I guess it really depends on what they mean by "better," but the 4th practice for the same team should be objectively better than the 1st.