Guy Chamberlin

Does anyone remember a time when the winner of the NU-OU game wasn't ranked in the Top 25? Or when there was a lone representative from the old Big 8 in the Top 25 and they only ranked 17?

Missouri was a wake-up call for the offense. Tech was another wake-up call, but they didn't answer. Iowa State was just a nightmare. Baylor confirmed that the offense was awake, but groggy. Oklahoma suggested that this may be as awake as this offense can get. Still, sheer mathematical probability says the Husker offense will put together one surprisingly good game out of the next three. This week seems reasonable enough. It's definitely not a trap game for the offense as they have no reason to over-celebrate converting a grand total of one third down conversion. It may be a trap game for the defense, though. They gave up 31 to Texas Tech and a skilled passer like Reesing, even with a touchy groin, might catch them napping.

As I recall, Pelini explained the comment as being about team chemistry and unit discipline which improves with experience, and enough key players are returning next year that the overall discipline might be even better to start next season than this season.

Wonder what they're saying on the Oklahoma boards, given that their clearly superior offense racked up all of three points. Who gets the blame over there?

It's not just the defensive play-calling. These guys just flat out know how to tackle. I'm not sure I've ever seen a Nebraska defense that does a better job of open field and team tackling than this '09 squad. It's truly amazing how many guys go down right at the spot of contact. Or ever get picked up and pulled back by the blackshirts. That's the good news and it's pretty great and it's late and I feel better than I did this morning, but since I'm in this particular thread I gotta admit that Zac Lee just isn't very good. The O line may not be great but they gave him enough time to be indecisive.

Just curious.....when the polls put Nebraska at #15 after the Missouri win, did anyone here feel we hadn't earned it yet?

No, Vince. It's pretty accurate. And it's not really an assessment of QBing and football as much as it is an observation about the people who pretend to know everything about QBing and football on internet bulletin boards.

This may be a stretch, but then I've been drinking heavily this morning. 1969. Nebraska has lost two early season games and appears headed to a third 6 - 4 season under a coach named Bob Devaney and his new offensive coordinator, Tom Osborne. The Huskers can't decide on a quarterback, switching off between Van Bronson and Jerry Tagge. Their top running back, Jeff Kinney is averaging only 3.5 yards a carry. Osborne wants to pass more, but his quarterbacks have more interceptions than TDs and some folks think he's getting too fancy. But after a loss to Kansas, the team finally gels and doesn't lose a single game for the next two and a half years. I think you know what this means: Huskers win the national championship next year. And the year after that. Money in the bank. Did I mention I've been drinking?

Yeah, saw the replay the next day and Johnny Rodgers immediately came to mind. Thought I might be the only one to notice.

I'm not crazy about the horizontal passing game, but I saw Pete Carroll running these plays on Saturday and half the NFL doing it on Sunday. And Tom Osborne was a lot more fond of that Incredibly Slow-Developing Screen Pass than I was. I think some coaches treat it as a misdirection play to loosen up defenses that are stacking the box. And some coaches definitely use it to get an easy completion for a young and/or shaky quarterback looking to get into rhythm. Even Brett Favre gets a lot of mileage from the horizontal passing game.

This is exactly the kind of team that could lose to Iowa State and beat Oklahoma. But I was shocked when I saw the spread, too.

Uh...yeah. That WAS the point.

You never know. When I was at NU we had a starting quarterback named Mark Mauer. We had a couple early losses and he didn't look sharp. Mauer got a lot of hate, even before the internet. Everyone wanted young Turner Gill to take over the team. Which he did, until he got hurt. So Mark Mauer had to come in and start against Oklahoma on the road. No one expected the Husker to win, but they not only won, they absolutely smoked Oklahoma. Mauer was totally poised and even completed several passes in between handing off to Mike Rozier and Roger Craig. Could Zac Lee play Mark Mauer this week? I don't know. Can we get Mike Rozier and Roger Craig back? Still.......stranger things have happened.

Geez, I think our whole offense is an X-factor. You don't know who it is or what they will do, but if they dig down and play out of their friggin' minds they can change the equation. In some ways the pressure is off. People don't expect much from this offense and they don't expect us to beat Oklahoma. That's a good time to play out of your friggin' mind.

You don't think I watched the last three or four games? Of course I did. Through my fingers. But Shawn Watson has been calling plays for a few years now. Matter-of-fact he was highly regarded for getting a lot out of the spare parts he'd been handed, right up until three games ago. I do believe both Tom Osborne and Bo Pelini, given the motive and mandate to fumigate everything Bill Callahan related, agreed that Shawn Watson should be kept on. They probably know a little something about the game. On most teams, the mental breakdowns, poor execution and generally lifeless play of the Tech and Iowa State games would be hung around the neck of the head coach. But for some Nebraska fans, anything bad that happens in Nebraska football has to be traced to Bill Callahan. The wheels came off of this young team. The offense looks lost, they scare no one. But by the logic of the dump Watson crowd, Bo Pelini should have fired Carl Pelini six games into last season. There are a lot of problems with this offense that can't be cured by a different set of plays.

Excellent observations, Captain Obvious. We have two true freshman in Green and Robinson who stepped into the system and stepped up. Neither seem daunted by the supposed complexity of this offense. I seem to remember the slam on Cosgrove was that he kept it TOO simple because he didn't trust young defensive players with anything more sophisticated than high school formations. Same slam on Callahan when he put the clamps on the NU offense against USC. Tell this offense to "keep it simple" and you just might be surprised how much uglier this could get. You just have to find gamers and that's what the rest of this season is going to be about. Once we find them we can play to their strengths. Gotta find them in recruiting, too. Can't tell yet how Pelini grades out. Also, whether you call it a Power I or a WCO, you will still have Zac Lee or Cody Green handing the ball to our fourth string running back and sending him into a mediocre offensive line. We ran the ball 38 times against Baylor, passed it 21 times. The notion that we simply have to return to smashmouth football and small playbooks for the simplminded is hazy nostaliga. As someone else pointed out, we've had a hard time getting younger players real game experience because these Nebraska teams haven't had the luxury of huge leads. Years ago all the Big 8 teams had Junior Varsity squads that played each other. Kinda like the minor leagues of baseball. Great experience and the coaches got to grade the up and comers. Two years ago it felt like the Nebraska defense was the Junior Varsity thrown into the bigs. This year the offense feels like the Junior Varsity. Next year? That's a pretty good defense coming back. And if we start the year committed to Cody Green and the players who step up this year, it will be.....uhm......better.

Also, when certain receivers seem to go missing from the game, it's not always because the OC refuses to call his number. A lot of times it's a chemistry and comfort thing with the quarterback. Mo Purify was our big game receiver when Sam Keller was quarterback, but Keller never seemed to find him. Keller goes down, Ganz takes over, and suddenly he and Purify are on a wavelength. Same guy was calling the plays. I suspect Cody Green will have different favorite receivers than Zac Lee.

Huh. He played to the strengths (and generally avoided the weaknesses) of Zac Taylor, Marlon Lucky, Brandon Jackson, Nate Swift, Joe Ganz, Quentin Castille and the healthy Roy Helu, Jr. Come to think of it, Taylor and Ganz set records throwing passes to a fairly undistinguished corps of receivers. And it's not like Taylor and Ganz were considered blue chip studs themselves. He inherited Lucky, who really couldn't hit a hole very well, and made him into an offensive threat anyway. Anyway, Vince, what are the strengths of the players on this team that me and Watson are missing? And what's your call?

Do you really think the problem here is the playcalling? Art Briles is a very good coach and playcaller, and he just lost to Nebraska. The talent level and confidence just isn't there yet. They've already stripped the offense down to match the young team's comfort level and everyone here still wants to blame the WCO. You wanted smashmouth football? We sent our fourth and fifth string running backs right into the line. Sometimes it worked, but they couldn't get the 3rd and 2s when it really counted. Would you have prefered another pass in the flat? Or a quick slant route? The ol' Fumblerooski? What's YOUR call, football genius?

Well........it happened last week. That was the joke.

Stats available on HuskerPedia under "stats" '83 Huskers punted 36 times in 12 games. '95 Huskers punted 29 times in 11 games. '04 Huskers punted 64 times in 11 games. '09 Huskers punted 32 times in 7 games. (so far) Maybe not as interesting as the field goal stat.

Also, I certainly take Castille at this point, but I didn't think he had the temperment to be the featured running back and I thought the team benefitted from getting Burkhead in place.

Really? You think this offense would be better with a non-mediocre QB and receivers who could hold onto the ball? Maybe a rushing attack that wasn't down to its fourth string running back? No, the offense wasn't the problem in the Callahan years. After two years of watching Jamaal Lord get 4.3 yards on a busted play, it was actually pretty fun to watch. If you choose to remember, the 30 - 3 beatdown in Boulder and the comeback bowl win against a superior Michigan team in Callahan's second season felt pretty good. When the same offense was handed to the good but not exactly legendary Joe Ganz it clicked pretty well, too. I pretty sure that Bo Pelini along with everyone in here was concerned about the talent drop-off on offense this season. Even then I don't think Pelini or Watson -- or any of us in here -- saw the last two games happening. We were warned this offense was a work in progress. Next few games will tell a lot.

How could we possibly lose to a bottom-dwelling Big 12 team playing without its best player? Still......I think the Huskers will be more focused on the road and win convincingly. Baylor has more quit in them than Iowa State right now. What a convincing win would mean, I have no idea, especially since we don't know which quarterback would lead that win. Just for perspective, we're pretty much exactly where we were last season at this point, simply switching the hand-wringing from the defense to the offense.

You know who would be a great offensive coordinator? Shawn Watson. Especially if he gets talent like he had the past two years, or hopefully better. He did a helluva lot with spare parts under both Callahan and Pelini. Oh yeah, and if his top three running backs aren't out of the game. And if people understood that the short screens are a reaction to a compromised running game. And if the receivers who got open on those WCO routes don't drop the ball. And if the quarterback who has open receivers on those WCO routes doesn't get the yips. And if the two touchdowns his quarterback threw in Blacksburg weren't called back, or if the defense made one last stand in Blacksburg, or the players made six or seven fewer fumbles in Lincoln. Also, Tommy Frazier's Doane team was pretty terrible. So the only possible explanation is that he's actually a bad offensive play caller.