Wistrom Disciple

He’s becoming one-dimensional and struggling to trust his eyes & arm together unless the receiver is wide open. Better line play and coaches sticking with backs that run well (Stepp) would greatly help his confidence and play I think.

Dismuke graduating will be addition by subtraction. Sadly, thinking more of the same for Stille, Williams and Martinez at this point.

I’d imagine few outsiders understand the politics that surround the football program. Even fewer understand both the politics and the Big Ten (ie- Mike Riley). We hurt our credibility nationally by running off two of our past five coaches coming off 9-win seasons. For most, 9 wins a year and playing in the conference title game every other year merits a contract extension. Although other factors were at play, our decisions certainly didn’t make us any more desirable. I believe Frost is still the right coach to rebuild the program long-term. I believe this because of the learning curve that has been painful to watch the past few years. Obviously on the field success has been very hard to come by and this process has been slower than anyone would want. But at some point we need to commit to coach and see it through. He spent the first three years turning over the roster and getting the right body types (tall, big dudes) into the program. I think they're trying to get more committed to an offensive philosophy change by running the ball more but they struggled yesterday to stay on it once we got down. Time will tell but always looking for who we can throw money at next is not a good exercise for anyone’s well being. Gotta suck it up and ride with Frosty and hope it all comes together as the year goes on.

He also got burned on their TD pass near the goaline so I have a feeling that’s why he didn’t get much PT after. I’ve wondered for awhile now how long the coaches will be able to keep Farmer, Clark and NPG on the sidelines. Dismuke is average at best and never gets his head around to break up or intercept passes. Jojo being quiet all game was also frustrating. If energy drain is a problem, they have to find ways to sneak in Wright or Gifford to spell him a bit. The defense not generating turnovers much is an issue that needs to change if we want to win regularly

Unfortunately, our big plays tended to get blown up by penalties or the line mixing up their assignment. Mixing up the assignments caused Adrian to either get sacked or to scramble instead of keeping his eyes down field. I think Cam's poor decision was important as it gave Illinois hope and started the groaning with fans (and possibly some of the team). I don't know how to rank the importance of certain plays but that was an error that was important. At the time, Illinois' best plays were the punts as their offense was getting stuffed by the defense for the most part.

I wondered where Stepp was after the TD. Can’t get a flow if we aren’t allowing him to roll. Only three carries on the day… and the one 30 yard catch. I think the run was tried but after we fell in the hole in the scoreboard and penalties, I think Frost abandoned that for the most part. Really thought that fourth quarter was solid but too little, too late.

I thought that confusion was solely caused by the refs. They have been pretty bad this game.

No… we don’t have a punter that can pin punts that deep

At what point do you put blame on the individual committing the boneheaded play? I tack that play on CTB trying to do too much.

Pretty sure they didn’t coach catching the ball trailing back towards the end zone inside the five. More likely a Captain trying to make a play with a poor, poor decision. Can’t imagine that is taught.

Major (Payne) with the sack. Could be a good year for the dude. I like him

Hope we stay committed to the run. Will pay off in the 2nd half if we can stay committed to wearing them down. Also nice to see them commit to controlling the clock more

I’m an optimist, *when*

Wishful thinking. I do think this issue and several other topic threads on the board will hit the graveyard once we start winning. A long off-season has made for quite a few discussions with little substance.

Last summer for workouts and last season for Rutledge. Should be a footnote, non-story

What scenario are you offering? If Osborne stays as AD, Pelini would likely stay as HC unless Ohio State came calling. If Osborne were included in picking an AD, Eichorst would have never been hired. Harvey trusted the opinion of Barry Alvarez more than his own staff or Tom Osborne. Harvey's ego has been a major aspect of the downfall of Husker athletics over the past 20 years (thank God for John Cook's resilience). For perspective, we played in conference championship games in three of the seven years of his tenure in two different conferences. Did we win? No. But to argue we weren't close? Please stop and take whatever data you're using out to the trash.

Yes, that's when Harvey hired Eichorst without even the courtesy of letting the sitting AD (Osborne) know. Osborne & Pelini were tied together in a sense, as were Harvey & Eichorst. Harvey had it out for Osborne and especially Bo, his ego couldn't handle those two being bigger than him. Pelini's job security left with Tom's retirement. It was a cloud over the staff, players and recruiting the next few years as neither weasel would commit to acknowledging Pelini remaining as head coach beyond one year. Hence the "if they want to fire me, fire me" comment, openly admitting to the media he didn't know whether he was getting a job extension or being let go and the general negative atmosphere surrounding the program during those few years. I'm not denying Bo didn't hurt his own cause quite a bit. However, the true issues with the athletic department stemmed from Harvey & Eichorst, Harvey especially as that guy had no backbone.

@BigRedNYour word choice and punctuation make your talking points rather difficult to understand. Woods, Jackson and the Bell West players did rule Nebraska out pretty early on. Had Nebraska been a serious consideration, they would have made the top 5-10 lists for these kids and taken some visits this spring/summer. I'm not knocking the kids, go to college where they want, but I'm not sure what more the staff could have done (besides winning) to catch the attention of the four metro players in question. I hope for the best for each of the players and really hope they get their degrees.

I disagree, he quickly ruled out Nebraska, as did the other top prospects in the metro area. Variety of factors but the draw of leaving the state was obvious when Nebraska was left off all the Top 3/5/10/X lists. Hoping the best for the four but I'd be surprised if more than one stays at his chosen school throughout his college career.

Exactly correct @BIG ERN, excellent example of click bait by Mitch Sherman. Unfortunately, as is so common anymore, twitter users take a tweet at face value instead of reading more deeply into the context of the quote. Thank you @Farms for posting the full quote, no context needed. I don't view the McCaffrey brothers or family in a poor light whatsoever. I am all for them finding the best opportunities for themselves, however I do wish they would have received the full quote instead of relying on a sports writer's click bait spin. Can't help but think they would be removing the posts if they took the time to read Frost's answer and not assume every transfer quote is about their brother.

I was wondering how Arizona State was making such a big impression on so many kids, especially the top in-state Nebraska recruits, in a year without visits. Will also be interesting to see how long Herm Edwards will want to remain a college coach.

Also a pretty decent baseball player too. Could be quite a popular name as we get closer to 2024

This type of reporting doesn't fit their narrative sadly. Unfortunately, journalism has taken on quite a different meaning over the past 10-20 years. Sad because it makes those who do a great job be overshadowed far too often. Really hoping this is the last notable case of serial abusers in college athletics as it seems like this past decade has brought to light too many scumbags.

Disagree Though I too wish Luke would have stayed here, I can also see his perspective in leaving. Say he sticks it out here... Best case for Luke, Adrian moves on after 2021 season and Luke has up to three years to potentially be the starter by beating out two freshman project QBs. Alternative outcome: Adrian uses the Covid waiver and comes back to be the starter in 2022 as a fifth year senior. Luke's likely starting opportunity window drops to two seasons and the freshmen project QBs (presumably) get more even with practices and seasoning. At that point (2023 season), Luke would not have been a full season starter at QB since his senior year of HS in 2018. Add into this puzzle the assumption of not taking transfer QBs in today's transfer happy era. Though the fan in me says to stick it out and earn the starting spot, the realist in me understands wanting a better opportunity if one is available. Seeing how many times some of my friends switched majors and flipped between colleges, I can understand a 20 year old changing his mind on more than one occasion.

Bingo, I agree. The tweet from the ESPN radio personality did have a bit of sensationalism to it, but the coach going to the media saying they still need a safety, QB, RB and WR is a weird move. If I were a current player in the program, I can't say that publicized recruiting wish list would instill confidence.