InOmaha

KU needs NU to beat UT so the NU fans will come to the game in Lawrence. Otherwise, they may not sell out Homecoming.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that Notre Dame will not be in a bowl game this year. Don't they have some sort of exemption from every rule in the BCS system?

Look at the comments below the article. Funny stuff. I liked this one. The option is very technical and hard to understand when you've never seen it before. Best to leave it to the experts, like the 85,000 people in the stadium. They ran an option to the right and my section saw the defender take the pitch man instead of hitting the QB and forcing the pitch. The RB had taken a bad angle to the sideline on the play. Everyone in the section all yelled "Take the QB", almost together while the QB was still behind the LOS. The defender turned his back on McGee to take the pitch man and McGee cut up and ran for 5 or 10 yards. Force the pitch, force it hard (who in their right mind would pass up a free shot at a QB?), and force it quickly so the other defenders can go to the ball. Callahan and Cosgrove should have read this Monday before the game. Football 101: Option

Can you be our next DC?? I don't think any competent coach would consider me Coordinator material. Sadly, given NUs 2s on O & D for a couple of weeks, I'd like my odds against this staff. It only took A&M 3-4 plays to beat this D. On O, I could come up with at least 5, maybe 6. Plus, I would have Castille. On D, I would play tight coverage, fake the blitz or blitz often, and look for the safety valve; focusing on man coverage and open field tackling for 2 weeks.

Maybe he wants to join the UT staff. Brown is always looking for someone who can can show him up at under using talent and become the next scape goat.

Given what I've seen on the field lately and the fact that I'm 6'2" and 235lbs, I'd take my chances holding my ground. Probably, wouldn't even spill my beer.

Don't know if I should laugh or cry over that statement. I have to laugh now considering the beatings coming in the future and the fact that CU will be NU's bowl game. I hope I'm wrong, but given the performance against sub-par defenses lately and NU's dead last in college football D, I think CU is the only outside chance at a win for the rest of the year. Stoopid contract extensions.

You'll likely win against UT and OU and loose to KU and MU. Then you'll be the south champions with a KU or MU rematch in the Big 12 title game. Loosing that you'll end up in a mid-level bowl at 7-5 against Notre Dame and finish the season 8-5. You'll be stuck with Fran for the remainder of his contract. By then, NU will be 4-8, have a new coach will have a salvaged top 20 recruiting season. Sorry for your 8-5 season.

I also remember getting a linebacker in the backfield in the first half which in turn also led to a D-lineman or two in the backfield. I think they would have done better in the second half just blitzing on every play and trying to get 2-3 players to the QB/RB exchange area to overload the hand-off. They couldn't have done worse. That's the main problem with this staff. They don't make small changes to things that work with the personnel they have available.

College football is about scheming mismatches. The staff in charge doesn't get that. Watson does. He ran a freaking reverse that almost scored. Hardy is fast, the A&M D isn't. Watson would have had a much better chance of keeping the game respectable in the second half. He made a couple of errors here and there, but not enough to warrant taking away the play calling. He understood that Helo could get to the edge and Castille could get 5 yards with or without blocking. On D; they should have loaded up the box and forced McGee to throw. That was the mismatch staring them in the face. The 4-3 was ok, with an extra linebacker roaming the line or two larger hitting safeties moved in closer for run support (one set up to spy the QB and another to look for the TE over the middle on play action). Maybe a 5 man front occasionally with a 5-3. I liked the Defense being set this week and not out of position on the snap. But the front was getting pushed around, so I would have put them in a little closer and minimized the gaps to force the runs more to the sideline and hope for safety run support to string the play out of bounds. This staff doesn't adjust the schemes to get the best mismatches as the game progresses. It's frustrating. Like I said in the other thread, my 9 year old looked at me and asked, "Why don't they tackle that one guy who keeps the ball all the time?". I don't know dear, 85,000 in the stands wanted to know the same thing. Send Potter for Lane on each play like they were and run blitz the linebackers and safeties to try and get McGee in the backfield with a LB or Safety spy at the line. Do that until McGee passes the ball and assume he can't based on his 55% completion percentage and the wind.

I would love to beat Texas too, but I just watched a team with a marginal defense and a 3 play offense beat us at home. A&M will have a hard time beating any of the teams left on their schedule. The Texas D is a little on the soft side this year, but they have more than 3 plays on offense. If we're lucky they will hand the ball off and keep the score down. I've never gone into a game without thinking we had a chance until this week. In Austin, TU will easily score over 40 on this NU team. BC will run the ball to try and eat the clock to keep the score down like he did at Oklahoma. But it won't work unless Castille has 30 carries.

I thought Osborne said no coaching changes will be made until after the season is over. There is difference between that and "until the end of the year".

At the last minute my neighbor called and offered 4 tickets to the game. We took the girls to their second Nebraska game. Here's my take. It's a summary I may add to as I think of more things. The D came out solid in the first half and it looked like a winnable game. The O and special teams hung them out. The D gave up 190 yards in the first half but A&M only had one drive of substance. The fumbled punt was a killer before half. It was a very even game. Watson called the first quarter and was pulled from playcalling duties soon after. With him we ran reverses, misdirection and Castille at the goal line. Duh. You could tell when he was calling the plays because the would tell Ganz who would signal it in to Keller. Keller runs to the side when Callahan calls the plays. Callahan and Cosgrove spent most of their time working the defense together while Watson was calling the plays. The second half, the first drive by A&M was easy. One 3rd and nine to stop them and McGee ran for 19. He ran 95 percent of the time, yet the linebackers took Lane on every play and would not force McGee to pitch. The 4-3-4 was ridiculous in the 3rd quarter. 5-3-3 with Octavian run blitzing the QB and safety support for run/TE would have made more sense after the first A&M scoring drive stuffed down our throats. I don't think McGee threw a pass on either 80 yard drive so 4 backs 5-15 yards from the line in coverage was beyond dumb. A&M had 3-4 plays all day. McGee keep 75-80%, Lane 5%, receiver in the flat 5%, incomplete pass 10-15%. The Nebraska offensive play calling after Watson stopped was offensive to say the least. Anything remotely misdirection or creative disappeared. There are athletes on the team since we got almost the exact same yardage as A&M with the crap plays they called, but we blew chances to get into scoring position. Castille should have run the ball 30 times in the game. Starting when we were down by 9 in the second half. He made holes when they weren't there and punished people. He should have been the lead blocker for Helu on the pitch plays. Keller is under too much pressure and checks down to0 quickly. 3rd and 8 and they throw 3 yard patterns to the side line or to Lucky. Send someone down the middle on a post pattern on first down once and a while. Our deepest throws are always to the TE in coverage. A&M played close to the line of scrimmage and we should have put in 4 wides and beat them down field when we had the wind. Play action to Castille roll Keller right and a hitch and go pattern to Mr slant Purify with Nunn running a 10-15 yard crossing pattern from the left as the check down. Overall, I'd give the Defense a C and the Offense a C. We made A&M punt several times when we needed to and the Offense moved the ball but choked when they need a basic play. The D still gave up 455 and 36 points, but the Offense didn't help them in the second half even with almost 475 yards total themselves. A couple of long drives and scores would have kept the game in reach until the D could step up again. If the O would have worked the D would have given up 24-30 and 350 yards. Winnable. I thought Callahan's offense moved the ball and scored in the red zone much better in the past. This year it keeps getting worse. 5 - 4 downs from the 10 or less when going in to score in the last 2 weeks and only one score. The talent is there on offense so next coaches will be able to move the ball. The Defense will take some time on the D-line (they need some bulk), but I think the backers and secondary can turn around quickly. McKewon had a couple of good plays and a couple of hits. But he needs to sit. His arm talking, whiffing plays, and pushing instead of hitting was noticeable from the upper balcony. My wife made me calm down. The kids loved it; but the 6 year old did ask why Nebraska stunk. Once the 6 and 9 year olds start questioning the playcalling you're done as a coach. My 9 year old asked why they didn't just tackle the QB for the other team since he always had the ball. My 6 year old wondered why they kept running that guy into the back of the other guys (Lucky up the middle). I'll be interested in seeing who gets hired next.

Unfortunately, 35 points in the first half is an improvement over last week. Hopefully they will start setting real goals that would allow a more realistic chance at winning a game like <20 points, 5 or more punts, <300 yds/game total offense, a tackle on 3rd and long, etc. They can work the goals down each week if/when/maybe they meet these goals.

At first I thought he was talking about my extended family. But he weren't cause they doesn't read so gud.

They practice??? Well you can't expect them to practice against the traditional option when it's not in the NCAA Football 07 for Xbox. I blame EASports for our messing up our defensive practices for the last couple of games.

Castille and Helu run the best between the tackles. Lucky is better out in the open and is supposed to be the speed back but has not been making it around the corner this year. There have been several plays where he could have had big gains but just couldn't get around the edge and was dragged down for little or no gain. He doesn't cut back very well. Put Castille in as the blocking back and pitch the ball to the kid and see what happens. I see some potential wingback sets and reverses with him if he's a speedster. 6 games into the season is not that unrealistic a timeline to get a freshman on offense to ready to contribute. Unless you were TO, then it was at least a year and likely two. Even the great Tommie Frazier didn't start until game 6 in 1992.

The guy is having a really bad month and is probably sleeping 1-2 hrs a day. I'm willing to give him some slack. I once had his schedule for a couple of weeks and at the end would have answered any question that took time with "FU". He should just answer "Yes" and "No" for the rest of the season and out cut the press conferences to focus on the team or take a nap. The year will play itself out and Osborne will do whatever is best.

On defense Nebraska will come out in a 3 man front with the linebackers 5-10 yards behind the line of scrimmage. A special defensive scheme thought up to stop A&M's power running game. On offense Nebraska will run Lucky up the middle 2 plays in a row. On 3rd and 6 they'll put in Castille so they can check down to Erickson standing on the sideline and throw the ball 3-4 yards short of the first down hoping 1) He runs for the first and 2) He didn't step out of bounds. Given that game plan and Franchione's game calling abilities I give us a 50-50 chance. I sent Coach Fran a $1200 check for his game plan so I'll fill you in when I get it.

I sort of agree but not entirely. The problem isn't the players. The problem isn't the schemes. The problem is the personnel and the schemes don't match. One week after we got torched on defense using a 3 man front, there was Oklahoma shutting down the same Missouri Offense using the same 3 man front defensive scheme 75% of the time. The difference was they identified the 3 primary targets that account for the majority of MU's yardage this year and matched personnel to neutralize the tight ends, cheated the outside linebackers up to the line of scrimmage to randomly blitz Daniels and throw off his timing (effectively a 5 man front with 2 standing 2-3 yards back), and shut down Daniels ability to scramble. We used a 3 man front and blitzed safeties from 10 yards back while using our LB to cover the TEs without jamming them up at the line. Then if the coverage was good, Daniels could run through where the outside LBs vacated for big gains. I would have lined Octavian opposite of Rucker and had him hit Rucker at the line of scrimmage then go to the QB. Rucker would have been off time and forced into the decision block the rush or get open really quick. Put McKewon on the other side and do the same, randomly blitzing and using a larger free safety to pickup the tight end running free. Leaving the Middle LB to cover the run/spy Daniels. Cosgrove has the right schemes but would make a better NFL DC where the players are more equal and schemes matter more. This staff doesn't properly understand that college football is as much about mismatches as it is about scheme. They need to move people around within the scheme and change players game to game to get the best mismatches.

1) How long have you been a member of Husker Nation? Since the early 80s. Got really serious when I moved to Kansas City for a while. 2) What/who led you to The Nation? I've never not been here. 3) Where are you from originally? Beatrice area. 4) Where do you live now? In Omaha 5) Favorite Husker memory? Gassing Miami in the 4th quarter to win. Watched the game with other Husker fans in KC when we lived there. 6) Worst Husker memory? The Brook Berringer crash. I think he would have made a great coach. 7) Number of home games attended? 30-40 8) Number of away games attended? 2 9) Favorite Husker memorabilia/apparel? Husker Illustrated magazines from the championship seasons. The only good way to get info prior to the internet taking off. I also ordered the Sunday OWH and had it delivered to KC. 10) Favorite place to watch a Husker game? (section in Memorial, bar, friends house etc.) At home on the HD TV. 11) Favorite all time player? Tossup between Kenny Walker and Toniu Fonoti. Walker being deaf probably gets the nod. Fonoti was a man among boys and would have multiple pancake blocks on a single play. 12) WCO or Option? Depends on the down and distance and who is calling the plays. A mobile quarterback that can throw accurately and deliver a hit on a safety would create an unstoppable WCOption offense. 13) Stevie Pederson or Billy Byrne? $Bill by a nose. Not much difference really. Both got/kept the AD in the black. Byrne moved and cut down the student football section to the point were the University students lose out on the opportunity to build some lasting University memories. Give the students the lower section from the 50 to the 10 on the east side like the old days and nurture your future boosters. 14) Lil Red or Herbie Husker? Lil Red. I never cared much for Herbie. Not a big deal either way because I'm normally looking at the cheerleaders. 15) Favorite Husker play? The one that gets us in the endzone. 16) Favorite game-day beverage? Summer Comfort (100 proof Southern Comfort and Lemonade) 17) How did you find HuskerBoard? (referral source) Searching the net.

This is a series of non sequiturs. For example. My wife overcooked the steaks on the grill. I told her to be careful not to turn it up too high because of the marinade. She said, "There's genocide in Darfur, how can you care about overcooked steak." Because, I like steak. It goes really good with beer. Unless you overcook it and char the marinade. You're right. It's not life and death. But if they're going to bother doing it, they might as well do it right.

Obviously you can change things up some. But I would take my chances that A&M's passing game will not be great given the wind this weekend and their history in past games. If they put another wideout or two then cover them with the safeties in man coverage and let the front seven focus on the run. If they spread it out they will likely run the QB rather than throw it. Stay in the same base defense so it's much less confusing who does what and who stands where. That way two linebackers aren't discussing alignments on 3 and 1 with the other lined up to blitz the QB sneak while half the D-line is shifting around at the snap. Once the run is slowed down have Octavian come after the QB once and a while (after he's respected the run). Tell the up safety to watch the TE. Everyone else does the same thing. Little wrinkles here and there. Not entirely different schemes. Replace players who aren't getting the job done. Adjust a series (hopefully 3 plays) at a time instead of each play.

I would start with a base 4-3. No movement on the defensive line of scrimmage period. Pull the 4 man front in close to eliminate the inside gaps and force runs to the side (Lane's weakness). Get the biggest, slowest D-linemen to jam up the middle run and tell them to focus on runs and screens, not QB sacks. Steinkuhler is too small in the middle. Leave the Middle Linebacker (ML) in the middle. Dillard in the middle to do nothing except stop the inside run. Spy the inside handoff and maintain position to force plays outside. Outside linebackers, Rudd and Octavian. Set them out a little bit wider to contain the option run. Number one priority hit the QB and force the pitch each and every time. ML flows to the outside once it's clear the run is to the outside. Man coverage, jam the receivers at the line and stick to them. Colbert 8-10 yards off the line for run support/pickup Tight end. Asante deeper support. Take the chance that the QB will miss ~50% of his passes. No blitzing. Base defense. Kill the man with the ball. Potentially one other coverage scheme for 3rd and long, but use sparingly as 3rd and long a year long weakness. The O will take care of itself given 4-5 A&M punts.