Husker in WI

Fair enough, makes more sense than I initially thought. I always assumed the past rumors were just because he's quiet, but I'm really not connected so if there was legitimacy to those that would make this more believable. Good to hear on Domann, he was a little up and down this year but we have no one else like him on this defense.

I love being pedantic as much as the next guy, but is there really a difference between committed but not announcing it (silent commit) versus not committed but verbally committed to committing?

Yeah, that's true. But as many people have pointed out, he's one of the most prolific receivers in Nebraska history, and assuming he comes back he'll stand alone in that regard by quite a ways. Weird how a thread about a random tweet by a Minny fan asking him to transfer turns into "well he's bad at perimeter blocking."

No, but I don't like the "JD is our perimeter blocking issue" narrative either. He's part of it, as are the other guys. Singling him out like the article seems like trying to come up with reasons it would be ok if he left. Which, for the record, I still haven't seen any real evidence for. Obviously checking your draft stock is smart, but the transfer to Minnesota is just wishful thinking from a few of their fans.

That's been blown way out of proportion. Every clip in that article other than the first one shows one of the other receivers doing the same thing - even (gasp!) Kade Warner. It's a bad look on the first one, but he's trying to not get a block in the back call. Should've been more aware and tried to pick off the next guy, but it was a bad block more than a lack of effort. Next one he and Warner are stalk blocking, neither get to their guy and are both jogging. The bubble screen is as much on Warner for getting blown up. Final clip neither he nor Williams really get their blocks, and again you don't want to get them in the back. His perimeter blocking could absolutely improve, but this is grabbing a few clips and insisting on a specific narrative. If we're picking 4 plays from Iowa to decide whether guys are giving enough effort, I bet we can find 4 like that for any given player. I'm not saying he doesn't need to work on anything but I've never heard anyone actually close to the program question his effort.

People just tend to have a knee-jerk reaction to out of the blue offers late in the cycle. But seems like you actually watched the film, so I'll trust your judgement! This is the time when some late blooming Juco guys pop up too, so hopefully we're just in early.

We're going full sideline psychologist, huh? These are all huge stretches IMO. And there's your problem - despite having almost no data, you have high confidence in something that if true, would mean the coaches are either stupid or knowingly sabotaging the team's success. I know there are people who believe the coaches are sticking with Martinez when they shouldn't be, but I see zero reason they would do that. So maybe instead of being very confident in something with no data to back it up, the answer is the coaches have more data and Martinez was in fact the best option. Just maybe.

I haven't even heard a rumor yet, just fans theorizing. Best of luck with whatever he does, but I've heard no sources on any of this - just "it could make sense" stuff.

We were after Lakia Henry pretty hard IIRC, but most of their kids aren't leaving SEC territory.

I'm hoping this is referring to the Kaden Johnson CBs we're getting. But who knows!

Different statistics stabilize at different numbers, and QBR does not stabilize at 30 or so snaps from the original "McCaffrey would have an 85+ QBR with 95% certainty!" post. 30 is the minimum mentioned in basic statistics, but it depends on what is being measured. In the case of QBR (itself an imperfect measure of QB play), 30 snaps is not nearly enough to draw a conclusion. The bold part isn't really about sample size, it's about choosing the right sample.

Can you imagine the game thread against Miami in the '94 championship? Starting Frazier, then switching to Berringer, then switching back?

I have to disagree for the most part. I don't think Colorado outschemed us, we shut them down for almost 3 quarters and then our guys imploded. We did alright against Purdue until the end, although the ending was very concerning given the backup QB and no Rondale Moore - but way better than we played Purdue last year. And honestly we played Illinois better this year - the defense was put in bad situations. Definitely a problem that they never seem to get a stop after a sudden change, but that's a different issue - our offense and Illinois' receivers bailed the D out last year. We played them better (but still bad) this year. I liked our plan against Iowa for the most part, just can't have mistakes that lead to 40+ yard TDs. Minnesota I'll give you, and I can't call Wisconsin an improvement when we gave up 200+ to Taylor yet again. It felt better for some reason, but the numbers really don't bear that out. Back on the Spielman note, I don't see him going anywhere.

I'd call 45 fewer yards per game and 4 fewer points more than slight statistical improvement. Still not good enough, and the defense deserves it's share of the blame without a doubt. But if statistical improvement "proves nothing," what does? Just fans feeling better about what they see?

I enjoy reading opposing fans' perspectives, and this one made me laugh. https://www.blackheartgoldpants.com/2019/11/27/20985094/matchup-to-watch-nebraska-cornhuskers-adrian-martinez-vs-iowa-hawkeyes-run-defense-aj-epenesa-bhgp Particularly the line: They've played one running QB, from Middle Tennessee State. You can argue Clifford from Penn State and Purdy from ISU, but Clifford's 52 yards against Iowa are 3 off his season high. And Purdy can run a bit, but he also has games of -15, -11, 1, 3, 7, 8, and 9 yards rushing. And they gave up 76 yards to Illinois' QB, although some of that is because you don't expect him to run. In any case, they have not seen a decent running QB yet this year - hopefully that's an edge for us.

If they want to pull a 180 on their offensive style and go hurryup, I would be thrilled. Maybe I'll eat my words if they do and it works, but they're usually happy to take time off the clock and do a slow grind. Even if you stop them a drive in 3 plays they take a couple minutes off the clock, where a team like us can go 3 and out in 30 seconds game time throwing the ball.

Is that actually a concern? And McCaffrey has played 3, so he should be available.

11.5 sacks his best year. I get it, it's heretical to compare anyone to Suh. But Young and Suh are/were as dominant as any P5 defensive players in recent memory.

The Hudl clips look like their from camp, so I'm guessing he's made some strides since then. But yeah, seems to be a gamble on athletic ability.

Right, but Suh's the only reasonable recent comp as a defensive Heisman finalist. Wistrom had 20 TFLs and 9.5 sacks his best statistical year - he was great, but not really Heisman level. There are huge differences between Suh and Young and comparing is imperfect, but it's easier to compare them than Young and someone like Christian McCaffrey.

His numbers are pretty crazy. Hard to compare edge rusher to DT, but: Suh: 85 tackles, 20.5 for loss, 12 sacks, 1 INT, 10 PBU, 1 FF, 3 blocked kicks, (14 games) Young: 38 tackles, 19.5 for loss, 16.5 sacks, 1 PBU, 7 FF (9 games) So obviously Suh had some things like the blocked kicks and number of tackles going for him. But Young has missed a few games and could still break the sack record. I'd say they're comparable in level of dominance, which is crazy. One edge I'd (totally biased) give to Suh is he was a huge factor against both the run and pass. I really don't know how good Young is against the run, but he is a bigger factor than Suh was against the pass.

Actually might be more on Held - at least one of those games it was sort of the McCaffrey situation where the RB had to come out for a play and Rahmir went in. I don't think Frost decides who is next up, although you can argue he has to make sure Held understands. Quite possible they just called for an RB and Rahmir went, I dunno. But it was not handled well.

I wouldn't say that at all. He may have similar speed to Mills, but definitely not the same power. Mazour is shifty but not overly fast, Mills doesn't seem to have any moves but he'll run through tackles. I agree Mazour probably isn't the answer Friday, but saying him and Mills have the same style is a stretch.

I'd guess at least a little bit - we're still not going to have Noa, and seems like maybe no Wan'Dale. I think Frost mentioned other guys being sick so maybe they can step in instead, but if he can run good enough routes/get in the way of defenders on run plays I don't see why not. Still super thin there.

Sounds more like a game manager that having "it."