Husker in WI

There's no way Young is faster than Barry - he's looked a little slow ever since his freshman year in my (admittedly amateur) opinion. I do agree overall though, after whiffing on the tackle and giving up the touchdown early Honas started laying the wood. Young hasn't made many splash plays that I can remember, Honas at least seems like he could.

On the second watching (although it's not always easy to see the corners), I thought Jackson was fine. His mistakes just seem to always show up - the complete whiff on their first offensive play looked like last year, but I'm sure he was a little too amped up and Nixon is not an easy guy to tackle in the open field. He bit hard on the flea flicker, but based on Bottle and the Safety being in position to make the play I don't know what Jackson's responsibilities were on that play. He had a holding call in the 3rd quarter, but that was pretty questionable IMO. Huard blamed him for the 3rd and 19 conversion, but I'm not sure if that was his zone or Williams'. Bootle was much more physical getting off blocks and tackling, and is without a doubt our #1 corner. But Jackson doesn't worry me nearly as much as last season, and he definitely wasn't a huge problem on Saturday.

I can buy the first part, but not the second - our non conference opponents for 2020/2021 (they'll have to sit out 2019) are Cincinnati, Central Michigan, SDSU, Northern Illinois, Buffalo, and Oklahoma. If it's Martinez who transfers you could add North Dakota and Georgia Southern in 2022, and there are always bowl games. I'm assuming they don't sit out the extra year to stay in the big ten, but AJ Bush did end up back at Illinois so who knows!

Interesting to see Newell ahead of Daniels and Vaha, although Daniels is still a freshman and Vaha hasn't played in a while. Maybe all he needed was a coaching change, it would be great to see him put it all together and become a solid player.

I've got to go with Frazier, he just had IT. Accuracy would definitely be the weakness, but it's also worth pointing out he wasn't being asked to make high percentage throws. We didn't pass to move the ball, we did a lot of deep shots so nobody was going to complete 70% in the mid 90s offense. Most of the QBs would be great fits though, and then it's just a matter of which strength (accuracy, decision making, athleticism) you like best or which weakness you dislike the most. It's totally unfair because for most of his career the decisions were great, but the OT interception Ganz threw against Texas Tech always comes to mind so I don't tend to consider his decision making a strength. He'd do well in this offense though.

True, I forgot about that so not a great comparison. I just don't think 16 reps is that terrible - not an amount any OL is going to be proud of, but some successful lineman have had similar performances. Pro football reference says Russ Hochstein only did 16 reps at his combine, and he did fine. Not claiming Knevel was a great lineman but I don't think he's close to the worst OL we've had.

Eh, it's not great but it's not the worst we've ever had. Marcel Jones only did 13 reps at his combine, and he was pretty solid. From other schools, Orlando Brown did 14 reps after he weighed in at 345, although it is being talked about as one of the worst recent combine performances. He was fine in college though. A couple years ago a Wisconsin lineman (Havenstein) put up 16 reps, and I didn't hear anything about Wisconsin's S&C or Havenstein's personal effort, plus he was still a second round pick. It's not a good number, but long arms are not a benefit for bench and some taller guys don't do as well as their weight would suggest. I know Knevel wasn't great, but I'd chalk that up more to playing hurt because Cav "didn't have time to prepare backups to play." I didn't tend to notice him when he was playing healthy, which is better than I can say for some other lineman.

Where's the Bubba Starling option? Milton was the 3rd quarterback to play his freshman year, although once he played they definitely didn't look back. I'd be really surprised if it was Martinez - he's the future but it could be a long year if he starts right away. I've gotta think both Gebbia and POB are better than the non-Milton options were at UCF, so as long as they both stick I'd bet Martinez will redshirt. Wouldn't be shocking if the number 2 guy transferred though, and if that's the case he would definitely play.

Soo... White? He's nowhere near as quick as Edelman, and I love Westerkamp but Hogan is a much better athlete. Hogan had 28 bench press reps at the combine and ran a 4.50 at his pro day, Westy did 12 and ran 4.73 both times on his pro day. I agree in the right system Westerkamp could play (and probably play well), but Canada might be a better fit. Reminds me of Nate Swift - great college receiver, just not quite quick enough to stick in the NFL. Hope he gets a chance to prove me wrong and does, but I do think he can be really good in the CFL.

I think Lee, Brown, Jones, and maybe Gates and Kalu are draftable, all in the late rounds though. Somebody will try to fix Lee, and a few kickers usually get selected late. Jones/Gates/Kalu all have questions they'll have to answer, but they have talent. Jones and Kalu need to run well, and Gates needs to explain his effort level and regression - I don't know how much you can pin on having a terrible coach, but he does have that excuse.

He did get a carry early on a reverse, but I'm pretty sure that was just to prove he's still alive. Sounds like he was the player that cut Brady's hand, so a disappearance wouldn't be shocking. In all seriousness though, probably had more to do with being out for a few weeks. They have a lot of talented backs, and you never know who they're going to use - hopefully he's used more in the super bowl, White didn't impress me a ton. Lewis is clearly the top back at the moment though.

I wish we would drop this one, the past few years there hasn't been a contributor, mostly IR or practice squad. Really not something to be proud of, IMO. At least both Gerry and Sirles on active, but they're a special teamer and a backup lineman. XLVIII (2013) - Stewart Bradley, LB, Denver Broncos On injured reserve before the year even started XVLIX (2014) - Alfonzo Dennard, CB, New England Patriots Actual contributor XVLIX (2014) - Eric Martin, LB, New England Patrios (PS) 50 (2015) - Zaire Anderson, LB, Denver Broncos (PS) LI (2016) - Vincent Valentine, DT, New England Patriots Don't think he played many snaps, but was at least on the active roster I believe.

That was definitely good to see, but they do have at least some NFL talent. Their corner (Hughes) is going to be an early round pick, we don't have anyone in the secondary that's a better NFL prospect. Either way, more creativity and aggression on defense will be nice.

Chongo Kondolo! Although I'm not sure it qualifies as a significant contribution. I agree overall, some more developed athletes on the lines would help. I really don't think nose tackle was our problem last year, but it would be nice to keep Stoltenberg fresh.

I think he could have a Charlie Whitehurst-type NFL career, and he's been around for 12 years. Look good in the preseason against guys who won't make rosters, stick around as a third string QB for a while, maybe get a regular season chance once in a while. Most fans won't have any idea who you are, but it's not a bad way to make some money if you have the arm talent.

It's really not what we ran in the 80's and 90's, and I think a Georgia Tech-level of success is the best you can hope for with it. We ran power football with a solid dose of options thrown in, not mostly triple option with some gimmicks. The Navy/GT offense is a couple different formations, a few different motions, and a set of plays off of each motion. I think Niumatalolo (and Johnson) are good coaches, but you're settling for a peak of consistent 8-9 win seasons and occasionally contending for B1G West titles if we find a great QB. I will be very disappointed if that's the route we go, I just think it limits our ceiling. I wouldn't mind Shaw or Patterson, but it seems like the Patterson ship has sailed - he has TCU positioned to be a perennial top-20 team with playoff potential. Why leave, especially when that means recruiting Texas would be much harder? I also don't know if we're considered a step up from Stanford, we'd have to pay Shaw a lot.

The real question is why would Oregon St. be interested in Les Miles? Rumor has it their greatest head coach in program history will be available in a few weeks!

I don't think having a WR with more yards than an RB is inherently a problem, but definitely a shift from the previous philosophy. Surprisingly never happened with Callahan, although you can give him some of the credit for it happening in '08 as well. Obviously more likely to happen with RB rotations, but in this case the run game just sucks as well. In 2015 the top 4 rushers had 765, 444, 400, and 265 yards. In 2008 they had 803, 517, 467, and 258 yards. So 1,800-2,000 between the top 4 rushers, which I would be fine with. This year it's 431, 299, 259, 65. We do have 3 games left (and likely no bowl game, where the other years did have to boost the stats), but we're not running for 800 yards in the next 3 games anyway. It's not the rotation, it's just a pathetic running game.

More recent than you think - 2015, Westerkamp led the team with 918 receiving yards, Newby led in rushing with 765.

I don't think Minnesota was ever considered a blue blood, most of their championships were from the '30s and '40s, not the modern era. I think we're at the point where it's a toss up for the average fan whether we're still in that category, but the all time numbers are in our favor. Problem is, the current athletes have only been around about as long as our conference championship drought.

Aside from things we already knew - coaches are bad at both game planning and managing, we lack speed on defense and consistency on offense - there were some things that keep me a little excited for the future with a new coach. - Spielman will be really fun to watch with gameplans that actively try and get him the ball. Same with Lindsey - he's actually a solid blocker, but it's frustrating watching him come in to block and get one (poorly) designed play a game. - The o-line desperately needs a shakeup, but guys like Decker, Jaimes, and Farniok give us some hope for the future. Seems like a lot of the blown up plays were Gates/Foster/Conrad, which should not happen. - Weber will be missed. For all the talk of this being a "block destruction" defense, nobody other than some of the lineman and Weber ever take on a block aggressively. Newby actually played well I thought, although his 'setting the edge' was at times more 'run upfield to give them a seam.' But he looked much better than early in the year. - Lamar Jackson has actually improved, but when he makes mistakes they are really bad. A couple penalties and one tackle attempt where he basically laid down in front of the guy were ugly plays, but outside of those he wasn't bad. I really believe the pieces are there for us to be a division contender, there are just a lot of baffling decisions being made across the board. Hopefully whoever we hire will have enough time to salvage some of the recruiting class and convince current underclassmen to stay and play for him, because I don't think we're far from Pelini territory at least. Obviously the goal is to move past that, but I'll take steps in the right direction at this point.

Who else plays Center - Raridon, Brokop? I liked Conrad last year, but the difference between the line with Decker vs Conrad at Center is huge. Not that it's a great line with Decker, but it's better. I think Conrad has a place on the line, but not making calls when that's something he's never done before.

Bradley is our best bet at a consistent running game, so we better hope the injury mentioned today isn't bad. I love Ozigbo, but we can't block the opponent's big guys and he can't consistently get to the edge. I'm trying not to read too much into a few carries, but Bradley has the most functional athleticism of the healthy backs. I guess Wilbon is pretty athletic too, but he's just really tentative. Lee has dramatically improved, but our complete lack of creativity holds the offense back. I don't know if it's predictable playcalling or what, but we make DBs look good - they're all over the receivers most of the time. Lee can put it where the receivers have a chance, but there a lot of our throws are into coverage. I don't know what the deal is with our o-line, but it has to get better and I don't see that happening. Overall Gates/Foster/Farmer are solid, but there are way too many mistakes for a relatively experienced group. At this point a full reshuffling is not going to happen, but (injuries taken into account) honestly I'd try: LT - Jaimes - Better fit than Gates LG - Foster C - Raridon? Wasn't he practicing at C? Just not Conrad, C is not his position. RG - Wilson - Don't know why he disappeared. Farniok may be better at G than T, but the only positive for an OL with a club on his hand is it makes holding difficult. RT - Gates/Conrad - Gates has been mostly fine, and at least here Lee won't get blindsided when he whiffs. I though Conrad was decent at T last year if the holding/misses continue from Gates.

Ozigbo keeps his streak of 100+ yard games. I think he breaks a couple decent runs, and even with Wilbon back he's the guy right now. Nebraska covers, but I just can't see a path to us winning. Closer than people think, but even at my most optimistic I can't see a W here. We find out who our 4th string (I think?) safety is. Sounds like we might be starting Kalu/Dismuke with Kieron as the backup - I'm gonna say one injury and one (probably bogus) targeting penalty, and I have no idea who we send out there. If Aaron can play this probably doesn't happen, but seems like he's been beat up all year.

That's super helpful - I there might be some debate about whether it's truly incapacitating since he's already getting close to back, I don't know how picky they are about that. I'm not sure the NCAA will buy "knee issues" as a season-ending injury, but I'm sure they get more details than we do. If 'season-ending' just means he doesn't play again that year, barring a setback sounds like it's up to him and the coaches. It would really suck if they denied it because it shouldn't have stopped him from coming back though.