Guy Chamberlin

Maybe I missed it, but isn't Jeff Sims eligible to play another year? And doesn't everyone agree, Jeff Sims included, that he probably should never take the field again? And can we congratulate Hendrick Haarberg on stepping in, having to learn quick, and getting three wins while also agreeing there's probably no place on the QB depth chart for him? And for that matter, give Chubba Purdy props for playing pretty well for 2.25 games while hoping he is not our best hope for next season? If so, when and how does Rhule give these guys his honest appraisal of their chances next season? He said all the diplomatic things to the press, but does he really think HH or Purdy can still be groomed, or should any QB coming through the portal get the job by default?

Sports Illustrated used to have some of the best writers and reporters in journalism, period. Now there's this. https://deadspin.com/sports-illustrated-ai-generated-content-arena-group-1851051847

I don't know about Russell or the other bigs, but Wilt Chamberlin never fouled out in his career. Averaged less than 2 fouls a game. Speculation is that refs were afraid of making the call.

The UCLA fans I know are really pissed about this.

When you decommit or enter the portal, you always say the right thing and never burn a bridge. The people around you make sure of that. But it can't simply be that Colorado didn't live up to early season expectations. It was always a rebuild story, like Nebraska, and you were committing to seasons two and three of the turnaround. So there's something unsaid by the players ---- and the people around them -- about what they saw in Deion's first season that suddenly makes Colorado a bad career choice. Wonder if anyone will go on the record.

It seems like every team in college and pros operate a screen-heavy offense these days. They're not going away. They are either quick screens to catch the defense off guard, or slow developing screens that get the linemen to overcommit before the late drop off pass. Nebraska does something in between that lets the defense sit there and wait for it.

That's pretty much where I've landed.

But we did rush on first down. More often than we passed. Occasionally the pass worked. Sometimes the run got stuffed. The same things that worked for a couple series didn't work on the third series. It's hard to say this offense needed to get safer and more conservative. I do know what you're talking about, though. My NFL team is the 49ers, and Shanahan operates an incredibly complex playbook, but he likes nothing better than getting that three or four yards on first down. With Christian McCaffrey. Running behind perennial All Pro Trent Williams. Even then he'll call a first down pass a couple times a game, which tends to soften up that first down defense. We just need to do everything better. Here's a fun rabbit hole if you have a few hours to kill: go back and read HuskerBoard from the Pelini years. We had two offensive coordinators named Shawn Watson and Tim Beck, and virtually every exasperated criticism you find here about Marcus Satterfield is identical to the criticism of Beck and Watson from those years we yearn to get back to.

I don't think anyone is arguing that our rushing stats weren't sad and unfulfilling, just that Satterfield never abandoned the run. Yeah, there were plenty of QB scrambles, but there was also a higher number of called QB runs, probably the most since Jammal Lord. Those got scaled back a tick during the season and given to the RBs, the most prolific of them, Grant, getting 413 rushing yards for the season. That's one homely mirage. And yet....that magic combo of 4.4 yards per rush and 6.2 yards per pass attempt might have won all but two games this year if Nebraska didn't lead the world in turnovers.

I wondered if this was a function of QBs who weren't the best decision makers, good defensive secondaries, or young receivers who just weren't skilled at getting open. Then figured it was probably all three. We forget that the passing game actually did keep us in a lot of games, and on a yards per attempt basis it was hard to recommend any play as the obvious choice. Passing on first down and running on third down are slightly less expected, so that can work when everyone executes well. But we just weren't that good. Good enough to string together three or four solid series of downs before sputtering out. People wonder why we don't stay with what's working, but nothing works consistently. I also think opposing DCs consistently make better adjustments than Nebraska's OC, and that feels like it's been going on for awhile now. When Nebraska gets in the Red Zone, or god forbid Overtime, defenses seem to know exactly what we're going to attempt.

We've had the "what is our offensive identity discussion?" for years, often led by people who think it should come with a nice clean label, like "Air Raid" or "Triple Option" although they really don't want Air Raid and just want our identity to be 1995 Nebraska. The word "multiple" gets tossed in like it's a cop-out or weakness, when in fact it's what every good offense does. Schemes are great when they work, but you need to make adjustments when the other team does, and scheme games differently against certain defenses every season. Rhule's first season was always going to be an experiment based on whatever talent stepped up or got carted off the field. I was a little surprised that he went all in on featuring a running QB, although it played to our history and perhaps had an advantage in this particular Big 10. Although we started off horribly, we did get to see our QBs break off big runs while getting a dozen or so called QB keepers. Those QB draws work great when you have a drop back pocket passer to sell it. I think it still could have worked with a 50% passer, but no offensive identity works when you lead the entire NCAA in turnovers. I don't know how coaches coach turnovers. It's not like the schemes and playcalls themselves are demanding and risky. It's not like just one player is the culprit. But as mentioned, a s#!tty 1-11 Northwestern team is now 7-5 and going to a bowl game, having cut turnovers down from 30 to 9. What do you do in the off-season to make that happen?

Fair enough. But if you're a fan feeling the cumulative effect of Nebraska finding ways to lose games both big and small, it definitely stretches back to 2015. And while that might leave us yearning for the Pelini years, that just wasn't how it felt in the moment. Those were gut punches, too, where the team did well enough to matter before being blown out in all phases of the game when it mattered most, and ending the season irrelevant. Pelini teams didn't look like they belonged on the same field as their supposed peers, and that was distressing in its own way. Expectations have definitely shifted, and the next 9 win Husker coach will be greeted as a king. I know it sounds crazy, but I think we are one talented quarterback away. Just like a lot of teams.

Auspicious start, Duke. Curious to see how long you can stay in character.

Riley was at least comparable. Beating a ranked Michigan State by one point in 2015 was gritty, but that was the same season with a Hail Mary loss to BYU a loss to Miami in OT, a one point loss to Illinois and a two point loss to Northwestern, and a single possession loss to #3 ranked Iowa. I could go back and look at the 2016 and 2017 seasons, but I don't feel like it.

It may have been more than they were capable of, but it wasn't asking too much. We may not have loved Satterfield's play calling, but it wasn't a demanding scheme. Sightly better execution fewer unforced turnovers would have made a difference.

Kinda heartbreaking. And that's not even mentioning Amigos being called a Nebraska food and tradition.

The table was set for a feel good ending here. Sims turns out to be a total bust, Haarberg's three game winning streak turns into a mirage, but the guy we all wrote off, Chubba Purdy, is handed the job for 2.25 games, and looks to be the better combined runner and passer we'd been looking for. He needs to win one of the last three games to give the season a different narrative, and by God all three games turn out to be totally winnable in the fourth quarter. Is it possible that all three Nebraska QBs find their own way to make back-breaking turnovers? Yes. This just supports my Angry God theory.

Agree. At Georgia Tech he might have been very talented but a little too sloppy, and we have to assume Rhule/Satterfield thought they could coach him up and/or design a complementary offense around him. But the kid turned into a basket case. I think he was actually relieved when Haarberg took over, and terrified when he was expected to step back in. That's how skittish he played. I feel sorry for Jeff Sims. Am I to understand that Jeff Sims got some kind of NIL endorsement deal for a Lincoln restaurant prior to the season, and they were obliged to keep running his commercials even when it looked really awkward?

True. Even though I'm sad and disappointed myself, it's always entertaining to read the hair-pulling and blame-throwing in the GameDay thread. A bored God might feel the same way.

Probably all true. And while I can think of excuses for this down year (despite one game improvement) it's still weird to think how much better it would feel to be a Northwestern fan right now. They are in a transitional year after 1-11 season and program wide scandal, and they lost to Nebraska. But they end the season 7-5 and are going to a bowl. Hard to say they're more talented if they lost to Nebraska. Still..... One clue. Northwestern lead the NCAA with 30 turnovers last year. This year they got it down to 9. Maybe ball security is a talent, maybe it's something that can be coached, but I'm betting it wins games all by itself.

I didn't seen any point where it looked like Nebraska deserved to win the game, although they did a decent job of pulling together to keep it close. But going by the odds, as you do here, I'd say the odds are that Nebraska should win at least 25% of these grind-it-out one score freak show games, and anything less than that is a punishment from God. Watching the same game unfold across three coaching staffs supports my Angry God theory. Nebraska's run from 1962 - 2001 was pretty amazing. I guess this is the other side of that, although I'm not sure what God gets out of it.

And some were not fielding a clean snap or making a simple RB exchange. Not throwing the ball when the wr didn't get open is also a QB decision. I think the pass protection was generally tolerable. A good disciplined QB doesn't fix everything, but he immediately makes everyone better. We need one of those.

I learned that it's hard to rank the most soul crushing Nebraska losses in the last 10 years, but Friday is definitely in the Top 20.

Funny, but also so f#&%ing sad.

Football. I mean, there are other things. But football's pretty great and it also begins with F.