J-MAGIC

1 hour ago, FrantzHardySwag said:

So far Luke has more yards per attempt, a better passer rating, a better completion %, more yards per carry. He also showed the ability to get the ball to Betts and Fleming. The starting RB also said they move better tempo wise when Luke is in the game. It's time to see what he can do with a full game at the helm, not just coming in cold the last quarter of the game. We know what we're gonna get with AM at this point.

You're comparing 42 pass attempts to 21, with 10 of those 21 coming on the final drive against a Northwestern defense playing off man and happy to give up easy, short throws. If you take away Luke's long pass in garbage time against the OSU backups, he is only slightly ahead in YPA (and even with that pass included Luke is still currently lower in YPA that Adrian's career average), and if you take away Luke's 47-yard run as a tailback against OSU (i.e., plays where they're both playing quarterback) he is averaging fewer yards per carry than Adrian. They have the same number of turnovers. If you apply context here, there has been no significant statistical difference between the two.

Adrian played a bad game against the No. 5 defense in the country; that doesn't mean he deserves a hook. I understand that people want quick fixes, but that is not how the incredibly complex and team-dependent game of football works. The biggest problem in our passing game right now is that we have no one who can get open downfield. Adrian has looked extremely skiddish to put the ball in harms way this season, and that coupled with no one being able to create separation leads to the over- and under-throws we saw Saturday. I am not in the meeting rooms; maybe Adrian is not getting the ball where it needs to go, and if so, sweet, let's make a change. But I do not think QB is the main problem with our passing game right now, and if Luke takes over I think you are going to see him struggle with a lot of the same things that Adrian is struggling with right now. 

44 minutes ago, Undone said:

Thinking that McCaffrey makes us a team that does a 180 degree turnaround and would make all the difference sort of confuses me. He also threw a really stupid interception that also cost us the game.

 

Martinez was our leading rusher with 102 yards. He at least moved us into the red zone, but we just suck at punching it into the end zone.

Luke really wasn't doing anything Adrian already wasn't. His numbers look better because NW was playing prevent on the last drive and giving him stuff underneath. He certainly wasn't pushing the ball downfield anymore than Adrian was. 

If coaches think the ball isn't going where it needed to with Adrian and need to make a change, then let's do it. But I think way too much blame is being placed on the QBs for our passing game right now and I think Adrian gets one more chance from me. 

So with the news of the Illinois positives (presumably from playing Wisconsin last Friday) ... glad we aren't exposing our team to that this weekend. 

5 minutes ago, teachercd said:

Yes, I do.

 

 

Then for all of our sake I am glad you are not in control of our athletics department.

12 minutes ago, teachercd said:

Well, it is that simple.  Because the regulations the conference have in place have made it that simple.  

 

We know the testing is not 100% accurate and they have accounted for that by saying that if you have X number of positives, you can't play.

 

Wisconsin does not have X number of positives but they are still quitting.  Fine, no problem BUT if they are worried about more players having it and possibly bad testing...they need to cancel all their games now.  It can't magically be better in 10 days.

 

Secondly, what do you think the players are going to do for the next 7 days.  Sit in their rooms, alone?  They are not.

You're not reading what anyone is saying in response to you. Wisconsin doesn't know who has it and who doesn't. These tests giving people false negatives allowed it to spread there in the first place. It's not "keep the sick kids home" because they don't know who the sick kids are, and the only way to know is to get everyone away from each other and test for a period of time.

Real question: Do you really want Nebraska to play Wisconsin this week, knowing Wisconsin has an uncontrolled outbreak that would then put Nebraska's next three games in jeopardy? Because I don't! Let's just punt this one and play eight total games  instead of for-sure playing this week and potentially only playing six.

1 hour ago, teachercd said:

Stem it how???

 

THEY HAD RULES IN PLACE AND THEY BROKE THEM.  But now, by giving them a week off to "stay inside" they are going to follow the rules?  That is dense.  

 

I am mad but not dense.  I know why they are doing it, it isn't because they are scared it is because they think it benefits them...it benefits them at the expense of others that HAVE followed the rules.

 

 

This isn't about breaking or following the rules. You can follow the rules perfectly and still have an incredibly infectious disease get in anyway. That's the reality of how pandemics work! With COVID's long incubation period they clearly feel the spread is bad enough on their team that the only solution right now is stop gathering in large groups until they can get a handle on whom they need to isolate and whom they don't. I wish this didn't happen either because I think we could have beaten them at full strength, but I'd also much rather miss a game now than get our team exposed to them and miss three.

1 minute ago, teachercd said:

We know the answer...

 

One school (Wisconsin) CAN play this weekend according to the rules that they helped to write.

 

They are CHOOSING not to play.  That is the answer, they are choosing not to play.  How would playing create an outbreak?  Germed players stay at home, rest of the non-germers practice.

 

But now...now they are going to give 18-22 year old guys 7 days off with nothing to do?    Guess what...they will find stuff to do.

They are choosing not to play one game voluntarily in an attempt to stem a burgeoning outbreak and not go above the threshold that would make them cancel three games. Don't be intentionally dense because you're mad.

The tests are giving false negatives; that's how the outbreak at Baylor happened. Wisconsin can't be sure of who has it and who doesn't, so they are choosing not to gather in a large group to limit the spread. I would hope our coaches would do the same thing.

People buy into conspiracies because it's easier to do that than accept a bleak reality: That there's a surging pandemic going on, and that playing sports during it was going to be difficult and unwieldy at best.

Ask yourself what's more likely: 1) That one school that has kicked our asses for 10 straight years without really passing the ball wanted to duck us and coordinated with a massive, de-centralized corporation in a couple of days to intentionally screw only us over, or 2) That one school just had some players make a dumb decision during a pandemic and are trying to stem an outbreak before they are forced to cancel a third of their season.

Constantly playing the victim any time something bad happens is getting really old. Sometimes you just get unlucky.

37 minutes ago, CAHusker said:

  

Its possible, but its kinda ironic that they are down to there fourth string quarterback.  I am pretty sure if the shoe was on the other foot, we would be playing this game.

 

They're down to their fourth-string quarterback ... because they're having an outbreak

There's no conspiracy and they're not scared of us. It seems as if they're having an outbreak (possibly their players' fault, or possibly just bad luck) and are trying to get ahead of it so that they only have to miss one week voluntarily instead of three mandatorily. Get mad at the Big Ten for bungling this season and providing no flexibility with this asinine half-measure of a schedule. 

12 minutes ago, talaricohusker said:

Doesn’t matter. I’m pretty sure Coach Frost told his team in the beginning of this that of you want to play keep each other in check don’t go to parties and large gatherings. If you don’t want to play by all mean go do those thing and cancel football for the other 100 guys who worked hard to play. Agin it’s all about being selfish and Paul Cryst should know better as a head coach of a D-1 football program 

Personal responsibility is great and I agree, but you can be as responsible as possible and this stuff can still find its way in.  That's how pandemics work and why trying to play sports in one without any spread was never realistic, even with the best intentions. One of your equipment managers gets takeout from Chipolte and pulls his mask down in line for a second and spreads it to three players as he's passing out laundry, and you've got an outbreak going. Wisconsin could have been irresponsible or they just could have gotten unlucky. We don't know so it seems uncharitable to judge when the same thing could happen to us.

50 minutes ago, hskrfan4life said:

Doesn't matter if they play their 4th string. As others have said we didn't get any slack playing fyfe, vedral, kellogg, bunch. So f them

Minnesota faced like seven backup quarterbacks last year and then talked endless trash about the season they had, we should be able to dunk on beating Wisconsin with one, too.

13 hours ago, huskerfan702 said:

Miller just doesn’t have the instincts for the position. I give the staff credit for being patient with the depth chart and letting guys grow into themselves but he’s one person I just don’t see the reason he’s been able to stick around so long he’s a special teams player at best

He was recruited here as a 4-3 defensive end, so he is probably not going to be good in space. But he is playing because coaches feel he is the best option. When people talk about a rebuild and lack of talent, this is what they're talking about -- not having to play 4-3 ends at inside linebacker because you have no one else. 

13 minutes ago, teachercd said:

I have never been to college practice but at the HS level the 4th string QB is not getting any reps besides just drill work.  I would guess that at a D1 program, once the season has started, the 4th string QB has not taken a live snap in at least 3 weeks now.

No. 4 would probably running the scout team offense each week.

10 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

I would love to see an explanation on this. There's only 4 in the back field and he doesn't move that I can see.

His back foot comes up a split second before the snap. I've seen a lot worse go uncalled but he did move early. 

22 hours ago, Undone said:

 

Yep. We did have a perfect punt and touched it down on their 6 - nice to see those better special teams moments.

 

Our fourth drive:

 

1. Wide screen to Wan'Dale, +4 yards.

2. QB Wrap up the middle by McCaffrey for 3 yards.

3. Awesome pass protection by our line, Martinez hits Stoll over the middle for 15 yards and a first down.

4. Play action deep 50/50 ball to the sideline by Martinez to Vokolek, incomplete.

5. Inside zone handoff to Mills across the B gap, Farniok & Benhart both own their assignments and big hole for Dedrick, +8 yards.

6. McCaffrey in the shotgun runs a draw for +5 yards.

7. I-formation with Mills as FB and Wan'Dale as I-back, FB Trap to Mills for +4 yards.

8. Martinez in the shotgun, designed roll out to his right, Austin Allen springs wide open for +27 yards. Perfect play call here by Frost as we were muscling them inside and they probably thought we were just going to keep doing that. I wish I could create a GIF of this play because it's a thing of beauty; Allen starts out on the left side of the line, sort of in the Pistol almost and then sweeps across the right, chips a quick block, then gets wide open down the sideline.

9. Martinez zone read keeper outside, good speed by Adrian, +8 yards.

10. Martinez zone read keeper again, picks up the first down, +3 yards.

11. 1st & goal from the 3. We shift into this formation but then run Mills up the middle for the TD:

 

 

You don't need to know X's & O's to know what happened on this drive - our offensive line kicked their a** and drove 'em back on every play. On our passing plays, Adrian didn't have a guy in his face about to sack him.

That literally makes all the difference in the world.

The Stoll play here worked because that motion is used a lot to run split zone. The motion guy typically cleans up the edge defender on the backside, so when the LB saw that motion he crashed inside. Heupel at UCF runs that play all the time. 

9 minutes ago, gobiggergoredder said:

That’s a combination of things in my opinion.

 

There wasn’t a lot of pressure that forced fields to move around.  They had several routes that were like pics/rubs.  I saw a few times were the DBs seemed to be in zone and they lost guys in between zones.  There were a few times where there were post like routes and the DB either had no help or the help was late.

Our gameplan going into today was very clearly to load up against the run and not get beat deep. Since we aren't really a competent enough defense to stop everything Ohio State can do I thought it was a smart to pick things to take away. OSU's eight NFL receivers made us pay for that but I'm not really shocked or upset by that.

2 hours ago, deedsker said:

Real games against other opponents. Watching highlights and games "in 60 minutes" you quickly see certain formations over and over just baiting defenses into show this, then this, and then gotcha. Most plays are easy reads or one option reads that I don't know how well he could handle a full playbook for 60 minutes and really stretch a defense. Not saying he can't, just seems odd at this point.

 

One part of Martinez struggles last year was a deeper playbook that asked more of him with less veterans to execute the plan. Those growing pains had to further expand his grasp on being a "full" quarterback.

I'm not saying this to slight Luke or say that he can't have drastically improved to the point he could win the job outright. If he really has improved to that point as a passer, then we should be ecstatic because we are going to have an excellent quarterback.

But last year they basically had Luke running a glorified version of the Wildcat. He had a sweep play, a read-option play, a handful of screen passes, a shovel pass, a three-step play and then a heavy play action deep-shot play off the sweep action (that he threw both his touchdowns on). Frost called it a "package" and it really was just that: a handful of plays outside of the normal structure of the offense to be run with Luke specifically in the game. He was not trusted in games to run the full playbook and was not asked to make complex reads of coverage as Martinez and Vedral were. Luke looked incredibly explosive in this limited package and it was nearly enough to beat Indiana, which is great, but this is kind of a classic example of a small sample size: a guy with nine pass attempts in favorable conditions being compared to a guy who has had over 600 attempts to show us his flaws. If Luke had been/is the full-time starter, he would have been asked to make those complex coverage reads and would have had to make some throws to receivers without three yards of separation, and he would have shown some warts, and possibly (probably, even) a lot more than Martinez. It's very easy to get mad at Martinez for the dumb interception against Purdue or the dumb out-of-bounds decision on the final drive against Iowa because we've seen it and can hold it against him; it's likewise very easy to believe Luke wouldn't do the same thing because we truly haven't seen how he would respond in that same environment so everything is theoretical. 

1 hour ago, 84HuskerLaw said:

Hm.  So, is this an admission that the staff didnt know what their basic plays were before Lubick?  What does this mean?   I remain optimistic but it is troubling to keep reading the same sorts of simplify and pare down the schemes.  Especially with third year starting QB and returning RB and O line.  New receivers I get but hopefully the offense is getting improved and more difficult to defend not easier?   

You're taking this to be a negative that our coaches didn't know what they were doing or were incompetent to this point. But I think the quote more meant that they are just going to try to have a different style of playcalling that hammers concepts that are working as opposed to the more grab-bag philosophy we've seen the last two years. Grab-bag can work; Andy Reid just won a Super Bowl and ripped apart the Ravens doing it. But there's also something to be said for just running a play until a defense stops it and then hitting them with your counters when they do. That's all Verdu meant, I think.

4 minutes ago, Savage Husker said:

Lightbulbs...shoulder pads and helmets, pretty safe unless someone decides to act tough

I assumed it was shells at first because you can see pads on people's backs but these do not look like full shoulder pads

18 minutes ago, Mavric said:

 

Are they ... tackling with no pads on?

On 9/18/2020 at 10:27 AM, Decked said:

I am okay with this. Wilson while healthy is perfectly capable of being a starter. Hixon was mediocre. 

Wilson's lateral movement was pretty bad and he seemed to get beat a ton in pass pro, but he at least seemed like a good run blocker. Hixson was bad at both.

I think the priority this offseason by the staff and the reason we're seeing Farniok at guard is to fix the interior pass blocking. Teams were getting pressure up the middle constantly last year on basic twists and stunts and I think that was a big part of why AM was skiddish even in clean pockets. Having a tight end at center making the calls for the line certainly didn't help that, and hopefully with a year of experience he'll be a lot better.

On 9/29/2020 at 10:54 AM, Guy Chamberlin said:

All I know is the Speilman passed the eyeball test, game after game, almost literally putting his life on the line on some of those crossing patterns. Go back into the game threads and remember how we marveled what a baller he was. 

 

Also, people who evaluate football talent as a profession had Speilman slotted to be drafted in the second round if he'd come out early, in an NFL draft famously loaded with receivers. I really don't see the point in dragging J.D. down, although I know why folks here are doing it. 

 

J.D. appears to have had (or is still having) a crisis of conscience with football. I wish him luck. 

Look I generally agree with the point you are making but J.D. was not even remotely considered a second rounder had he come out last year; he was projected as a Day 3 to UDFA guy everywhere serious. Tyler Johnson from Minnesota was a much better player than him and went R5. J.D. isn't even listed in any top 100 players for this upcoming draft.

I have nothing but respect for him for playing hard and making plays on three bad Husker teams and standing up for the stuff he did off the field. He was a good player who would have helped us and I wish he were still here. Our team is certainly going to need some big leaps to replace him and the fanbase is being overly optimistic about the chances of that happening. But we also didn't just lose prime Randy Moss or anything, and I think there's a likely universe where our receiving corps is a lot better this year overall than it was last year.