Guy Chamberlin

I think Tim Beck should be night watchman at Morrill Hall, guarding the mammoth skeletons. Then he could still work for the University, wouldn't have to talk to anyone, and he wouldn't have to worry about the mammoths changing things up on him faster than he could cope. That's all I have on this subject, you can have the last word. Thank you! He was talking to me! (lock the thread! lock the thread!)

We tried. A LB'er was waiting and drilled Ameer before it got to him. Hindsight is always "money"

No. He kept using the old one and couldn't find a fix when the wheels fell off because Michigan schemed to stop it. Any semi-competent coach can take away one aspect of a game to the exclusion of all other concerns, and any semi-competent coach can burn him for doing so...and then we have Beck and what we saw last Saturday... Are you sure that if Tim Beck had adjusted by calling more pass plays earlier, and stopped giving Abdullah his ineffective touches, you wouldn't be screaming for the head of Tim Beck? Maybe just out of habit? Do you remember that Beck actually didn't rely on one aspect of the game, ran our multiple offense, and found that a wide variety of plays didn't work so well with an offensive line on its heels? Were you one of those guys who cringed at the world "multiple" craved the word "identity" and now want an OC willing to shift gears the moment something doesn't work? I don't know about semi-competent coaches, but it's always entertaining how guys sitting on couches have so many simple solutions for totally vexing the likes of Mark Dantonio. Again, Tom Osborne had offensive days like Tim Beck's Saturday. Actually, some of TO's were much worse. The common denominator was an opposing defense that was physically superior. I wish we could upset a superior team one of these days. Wish we were that superior team. But until we are, I'm not convinced Nebraska is just a diamond formation or outlet pass away from "burning" a team like MSU. Wait a minute. We did almost burn them. WTF?

You mean from this game? Because the offense sucked and the defense was decent. If you mean overall in the last few years, well then Pelini has gotten a ton of criticism. Overall. Last few years. Wouldn't dream of suggesting Pelini hasn't been criticized, but the vitriol at Beck seems very different than the vitriol aimed at Carl Pelini or John Papuchis, even though he's delivered a statistically better unit.

Because he took one of the best running backs in the nation and build a scheme around him that nets less than two yards a carry against a competent (but not great) defense. Really? The offensive coordinator who ran the offense that made Ameer Abdullah the most prolific player in Nebraska history, suddenly drafted a new scheme that netted Ameer less than two yards a carry? You sure he didn't give a fair shot to running the same offense that had worked extremely well the last two outings, the very offense these same critics begged him to stick with? Is a struggling offensive line being pushed around by a superior defensive line really a scheme? Did crazy ol' Tim Beck make Ameer Abdullah fumble, Jordan Westerkamp drop a touchdown, or Kenny Bell get hurt? Is a defense that gives up 27 points to competent (not great) offense totally off the hook, so we can concentrate on flaming Tim Beck?

By the way, if any of you think this would never happen to a Tom Osborne team, it did. Pretty much every time he went up against the best defense in the conference. For the first 20 years or so. Honest question: given how historicallly bad the Nebraska defense has been the past few seasons, and Bo Pelini's reputation as a defensive guru, why is the bulk of criticism reserved for the Offensive Coordinator?

Nope. Well....maybe squeezed in at 25. But however freakish it was, people saw Michigan State on its heels, inches away from losing on maybe the craziest day in college football history. It seemed like we belonged at the party. That wouldn't have been the case at 27 - 3.

Jesus guys. He's the same offensive coordinator who ran one of the top five rushing offenses in the country. Do you honestly think he didn't do the math? Or make adjustments? Or that he failed to give up on the running game soon enough? Did it look to your eyes that another tight end might have sprung Ameer Abdullah for serious yardage? Or did it look like a faster, stronger Michigan defense -- one of the best in the nation -- committed to stopping the run and succeeded? That they dared us to beat them passing — as anticipated — but with far less time to plant and throw and on a crappy day when veteran Conner Cook fared even worse, Tommy Armstrong couldn't loosen up the secondary? That as sh**ty and ineffective as they played all day, the OC and his beaten up Sophomore QB, minus their best receiver and without the luxury of a running game managed to take the #10 team down to the final play, inches away from the greatest comeback in Nebraska history, on the road? Question Tim Beck if you want. But #FireTimBeck? Please. When teams have an ongoing history of big game meltdowns, it's not about playcalling. That's why most people don't throw coordinators under the bus.

You don't always need a dedicated quarterback coach. You can hire one of the respected quarterback gurus to spend a couple weeks with a player over the summer. I'm not sure the team can pay for it, but it can be arranged. The best qb whisperers don't care so much about the arm. They say it's all in the footwork. How you set your feet. Where they're pointed. Weight distribution. Etc. They say you can teach a lot in very little time.

What should Pelini have abided for the two seasons where the defense was such a huge liability? I was reasonably proud of the defense myself, but uhm.....Michigan State scored three touchdowns in which they walked in virtually untouched. Why the double-standard, X?

Not saying we couldn't use an NFL caliber quarterback, but if you watch the NFL on a regular basis, you hear NFL caliber quarterbacks being criticized for not going through their progressions and missing wide open receivers. Every. Given. Sunday.

Isn't this the same crowd that berated Tim Beck for not sticking with Ameer Abdullah against McNeese State, despite Ameer's 15 carries and lousy average in the first half?

The most important game of the year also happened to be against the best defense of the year, perhaps light years beyond Illinois or Fresno State. If it's obvious to the most casual fans what we could do to make it work, we should be allowed to draw up the gameplan ourselves. Oh that's right. We did. Virtually every play we ran Saturday was a play the fans had clamored for: something that worked perfectly in the past. The notion that armchair Husker fans know the play that would have worked, as if that play isn't just as reliant on proper execution and the Michigan State DC isn't as clever as an armchair fan, is laughable.

Yeah, I guess we're supposed to covet having a Conner Cook kinda quarterback, but I'm not sure you fail on 18 of 29 passes unless you're doing something worse than Tommy Armstrong. As a seasoned veteran. With better protection.

If Huskerboard could have dictated the playcalling they wanted to see for the Michigan State game, it would have been nearly identical to what Beck actually called for three quarters. Heavy diet of Abdullah running. Abdullah in the wildcat. Abdullah as deep receiver. Safe little bubble screens for Tommy. A few shots downfield to surehanded Westerkamp and uninjured Bell. Stay with what works, impose our will, yada-yada-yada. Turns out Michigan State is a lot better than Illinois. And given all the hindsight I can muster, Michigan State is simply better than Nebraska.

Would you prefer Nebraska be playing a Big 10 schedule, or an SEC schedule? Or a Pac 10 schedule? Be honest. If you're honest, there's not really an SEC conspiracy. There's just guys making guesses about football. The guys who make big money selling tip-sheets to bettors can be considered geniues if they're only wrong 45% of the time. Nobody's is very good at this. But everybody has an opinion. You can't predict much with assurity, but I will absolutely guarantee you that the NCAA's first every College Football Playoff selection will be an even bigger clusterfunk than the BCS.

I don't know. Grass field, wet turf... could minimize Abdullah's explosiveness. Not any more than the guys trying to tackle him. They'll all be running on the same field. And the defensive backs who have to react to the cutting receiver. Wet fields can lead to blown coverage. For the offense, it makes timing routes risky. Nebraska has a good combination of speed and strength, running and passing, so we're not so weather dependent. I do worry about our defensive secondary on days like this. But sometimes crappy weather brings out the best in a team. I kinda dig it.

If they score on the first drive, and that's what it takes for Nebraska to adjust and MSU to feel overconfident, I'm okay with it. At least that's how it's been working.

We ask Tim Beck to stick with what's working. The passing game is working better than the running game. So we demand Tim Beck stick with the running game. Clear? Honestly, a few more second half carries for Abdullah wouldn't have hurt against McNeese State, but abandoning the running game was not the problem. And if I recall, a pass to Abdullah solved everything. Interesting game, McNeese State. But maybe we should move on.

If McNeese State can stop the running game, Michigan State can stop the running game. It's a strategy and also a risk. If Ameer Abdullah gets 15 carries and keeps getting stuffed in the first half, ala McNeese State, do you want Tim Beck to keep doing the same thing in the second half? I want to see us running the ball in the fourth quarter because it's working and because we're winning, but I expect to see multiple weapons used. This is a big game for Ameer Abdullah, but it's also a huge stage for Tommy Armstrong. His desire to create his own big play can be an asset or a liability, and probably both. But I don't think he'll let a repeat of last year happen.

Fresno State currently has 27 former players in the NFL.

Five games in and I don't think our secondary has been tested. They THINK they've been tested and come up big, and that might be a problem.

Yeah, the NBA, NFL and MLB don't take the longer seasons into account in awarding season and career records, either, though sometimes they throw in an asterisk.

I think the media is a lot like Husker fans, still waiting for Nebraska to prove itself. Until then, you wouldn't risk your reputation on them. Even then, it's not a big risk this year. It might be called an upset if Nebraska wins, but nobody would be shocked.

All I know is that come Sunday morning, bacon always wins.