DCHusker

This just occurred to me: How much do you think that BC's NFL approach attracts recruits who are looking to play in the pros eventually? I think this may be one of his recruiting advantages. Although if it means the staff doesn't get fundamentals and execution down it's like robbing Peter to pay Paul because the team can't win consistently and those players can't put up the numbers or get the kind of attention that gets them drafted.

I think the key is for him to adjust his NFL mentality to the college game. He seems to be doing that with moderate success in terms of building the offense. Although in a previous thread I've raised the point that maybe he should use different RBs depending on the defense we're facing (smaller/faster D=Glenn/Castille; bigger/slower D=Lucky). He seems dedicated to the NFL archetype of having one feature back that can do everything. Not the case at the college level. On the Defensive side of the ball he seems to have given much less thought to adapting. I think the defensive side of the ball is where there is the greatest disparity between NFL and college talent. In the NFL defenders are all rediculously strong and fast. In college, guys need to practice in full pads and get used to bringing people down. I was also surprised Nebraska wasn't doing this already.

I have to admit, in all my excitement after just going up 10-7 I looked on that injury with a lot of suspicion. I was yelling at the TV, which in hindsight was a little cruel. I think it depleted some of our momentum a bit. But at the end of the day it didn't make any difference in the outcome of the game. Who cares. Players overdo injuries all the time to give their teammates a breather.

VaTech was just as overranked at #9 as we were at #14... LSU beat an overranked #9 at home and USC beat an overranked #14 on the road....I consider those roughly equivalent. My main point was that from here on out USC has a tougher schedule than LSU

LSU's schedule tougher than USC's? The past couple years, yes. This year, I don't think so. And quite frankly, this looks like a down year for the rest of the SEC West, Auburn looks terrible, Arkansas has dropped off from last year, and although Alabama seems to be on the rise, Saban's only got so much to work with. I think the East is better than the West across the board, but still not as good as everyone anticipated. I think Florida still has it easier than USC. Plus, USC already gets to boast dismantling a #14 on the road in their second game of the year.

Part of the reason the offense sputtered is because USC was putting up points so easily that Callahan really had to go pass heavy. I think his game plan was to use the pass to set up the run, since USC's secondary is the one maybe vulnerable piece of that defense. Thats why on the second play of our first possession on 2nd and 10 BC already had them in the shotgun. Great game plan, but by the time we should have been shifting back toward the run with their LBs backing up in coverage we were so far behind that we had to keep throwing. I think Keller did the best anyone could expect against one of the top 2 or 3 defenses in the country.

When they're able to run the same play over and over and over again it doesn't much matter how loud it is

Not taking a microscope to the bad things??? Have you read any of the 10,000 posts on this board since Saturday. People are ready to fire the entire coaching staff and bench all of our defensive starters. Can we have one thread to discuss the only bright spot from Saturday: The fact that Keller came out and played well, which I had my doubts about after he lost his cool a few times at Wake Forest. Also liked that he kept plugging away after the game was lost. Shows some character that might make a difference in games down the road.

Sorry, was looking at year-old stats on Culbert that had him at 195. Good points. I knew LSU's LBs were the smaller, faster type, but never realized their DEs were also. I do think a lack of speed along the DL and LBs was the main reason our guys weren't in position to tackle effectively the past two weeks.

Yeah...I would like to hear that the coaches are evaluating Culbert for some potential PT on defense. He was recruited as a DB after all, right? He's probably too small to be a Joker LB, if we were in a 3-4 base Octavien would probably be the one rushing the passer. In any case I think he could be an effective safety or Money LB. Worth a shot after all the poor tackling Saturday. But, it seems like BC, from his comments yesterday, thinks that the poor tackling Saturday was a one time aberration and something that can be fixed with the same personnel. I hope I'm wrong. And I hope BC is right.

I would say your spot on. The problem was Solich was'nt the answer he made the power running game a one man team (Crouch) and got rid of the RB and FB. Husker fans took the Colorado loss like it somehow was the offense fault. The same mentality that Husker fans used to hear from the news media and other fans how the option was outdated no can win with it this was even durring our NC runs. Somehow the Huskers fans became convinced that this was true and now Nebraska has lost any identity. Teams that pass for 300 to 400 usually have a worse record then teams that can run for 300 yards. And you are basing this on...................... No statitics just a theory. I can give a recent example that happened last saturday night to help my theory. If we were an option team...the score would have been 49-0 Saturday. Defenses are bigger and faster than they used to be. The option is dead. WVU mixes it in occasionally, but they use Slaton and White in a whole bunch of creative formations that make the option effective the few times they go to it. If you're going to beat a top 10 defense, you need balance. How's this. Have dominant offensive line that can both drive block and pocket protect, prevent penetration and get out to the second level of the defense on most plays and then IT DOES NOT MATTER WHAT OFFENSIVE SYSTEM YOU RUN. It will work. Sure balance is nice and is a goal. But really, a dominant OL is what it takes. The 1995 NU offense would average 50 points a game in the 2007 NU schedule. They would put up copious amounts of points even on this years USC team. That OL was that dominant. The current USC team as an OL that is overwhelming as well. Any offensive scheme ran with lines like these work. This is not to say that schemes are not important. They are. But OL execution is the limiting factor. By the way, in this perhaps the NU future is brighter. We have DJ Jones, Marcel jones, Steinkuler, Hoch, Givins, hopefully Robinson and several other young OL that may be several levels above the current line. You'll get no argument from me there...it all starts and ends with that OL

I would say your spot on. The problem was Solich was'nt the answer he made the power running game a one man team (Crouch) and got rid of the RB and FB. Husker fans took the Colorado loss like it somehow was the offense fault. The same mentality that Husker fans used to hear from the news media and other fans how the option was outdated no can win with it this was even durring our NC runs. Somehow the Huskers fans became convinced that this was true and now Nebraska has lost any identity. Teams that pass for 300 to 400 usually have a worse record then teams that can run for 300 yards. And you are basing this on...................... No statitics just a theory. I can give a recent example that happened last saturday night to help my theory. If we were an option team...the score would have been 49-0 Saturday. Defenses are bigger and faster than they used to be. The option is dead. WVU mixes it in occasionally, but they use Slaton and White in a whole bunch of creative formations that make the option effective the few times they go to it. If you're going to beat a top 10 defense, you need balance.

Ruud probably knows that if he gives his up he might not get it back... ...oh nevermind, there's no way this coaching staff doesn't start him

thats a big assumption. But yeah, I think we handle Ball State

1) How long have you been a member of Husker Nation? About 15 years, since I was old enough to know what football was. 2) What/who led you to The Nation? The 94 Championship season 3) Where are you from originally? Upstate New York (not a lot going on there as far as college football goes; Syracuse is the only game in town, ugh) 4) Where do you live now? Washington, DC 5) Favorite Husker memory? TO's speech to the team after the 98 Rose Bowl 6) Worst Husker memory? '02 Rose Bowl, what else? 7) Number of home games attended? None, but this will change soon. 8) Number of away games attended? 1. Wake Forest (9/8/07) 10) Favorite place to watch a Husker game? (section in Memorial, bar, friends house etc.) If it's a big game, at home alone. I get way to emotional to be in public. Otherwise, at Union Pub in DC. 11) Favorite all time player? In my lifetime, Tommy Frazier. Of all time, Johnny Rodgers. 12) WCO or Option? I've accepted the west coast offense, but I'm not excactly thrilled about it. 13) Stevie Pederson or Billy Byrne? ugh 14) Lil Red or Herbie Husker? HH 15) Favorite Husker play? Tommy Frazier running the option. 16) Favorite game-day beverage? bloody mary's in the morning giving way to beer in the afternoon.

Believe it!

I wondered as well. Glenn seemed more effective than Lucky against the big boys of USC and I think Castille would've been better than Lucky as well. it was one of those in game adjustments that seems obvious that never happens. I was hoping to see a lot of Castille and Glenn. USC's defense is definitely on the smaller, faster end of the spectrum (although they're pretty big too). The best way to counter that was to hand it off to our bigger backs who can run through people (as long as its not Sedrick Ellis). Lucky is effective against the bigger, slower defenses that he can blow past or around. I think BC is just devoted to this NFL idea that you have to have one feature back who gets the vast majority of carries every game regardless of who you're playing. That was really my only complaint about our offensive game plan Saturday. USC is just good.

Are you suggesting we should be starting Lee or Witt?

Give me a break, USC is a dynasty. If you want to compare Nebraska in the 90's to USC in the 00's, I'll take Nebraska (screw you Kirk Herbstreit), and the 95 skers are better than any single team USC has fielded, but if USC continues amassing this level of talent for the next three years, it's going to make for one heck of a decade. There's no denying it.

We will beat Texas this year. They are struggling big time. I think we play OU agian in the Big 12 championship. I think we are still a few years from a NC type team. We are going to need to get some major talent on defense as well as a better defensive play caller. I think NU should go out a break the bank trying to get a defensive guru in there as coordinator. Texas is going to turn the jets on starting this weekend. Mark it down. They'll edge OU in a VERY close game (31-28). PLEASE, return to real life. It's possible that Texas will beat OU, but I seriously doubt it. They are the fifth best team in the Big XII after OU, Nebraska, Texas A&M, and Texas Tech. I don't know if UT is below Nebraska aTm and TT, but OU is definitely head and shoulders above them...no way Texas wins that game

Wll...Lincoln was a tough place for #5 Texas to get a win last year. For all intents and purposes they lost. And I dont think there is a place on the planet that's tough for this USC team to get a win. We'll see how they do against PAC-10 opponents. Those are the only two home losses in 06 and 07. Also, I don't see how you can say our recruiting classes aren't getting better. Maybe we're not rivaling USC for recruits and maybe all those recruiting rankings are worthless, but I'll take the incoming classes we have now over the ones we had 3-4 years ago. I'm frustrated we no longer have "elite status" too, but you can't expect to turn a program around from where this one was in 2002-2004 in a matter of a few years. Competition for recruits is more intense than ever. I know I sound like Bill Callahan, but as long as we stay headed in the right direction, I'm confident that in less than five years we can be back to elite status.

I'm certainly willing to see how things go the rest of the year. We got eaten up by USC's O-line, but they're one of the best units in the country up against our defensive line, which is starting only its third game together. It was clear they were going to run all over us. There was no coaching fix to such a huge disparity in talent and experience in the trenches. The more disturbing thing was the missed tackles by our LB's. Like others have said in this thread, it wasn't only that our guys were out of position, they just couldn't tackle anyone even when they were. Certainly some blame falls on the coaching staff, but I think the main cause is simply a lack of talent. I think the best test of this coaching staff's worth will be to see how our D-Line play progresses over the year, since this is a new unit. If we can improve there, take some of the pressure off of our LBs (like the easy time they had last year behind a great front four) I think we can play some consistent defense the rest of the way and challenge a team like Texas. But you can forget about trying to play with the USCs of the world until we recruit the kind of players that can compete athletically with them. If our D-line play continues to be terrible (with the exception of Suh), then I think the blame falls squarely on Coz and we think seriously about dumping him.

The one thing we have going for ourselves is that nobody else in the North plays defense either.

Agree completely. It was abundantly obvious Saturday night that we need to accumulate more talent on both sides of the football if we're going to compete with the USC's of the world in the coming years. We were outmatched at just about every position. BC is the best man we have to recruit that kind of talent, but its gonna take a few more years. As far as season predictions go, I think we win the North, get trounced by OU in the Big XII championship game, and win a close Cotton Bowl over Alabama.