Guy Chamberlin

Just wondering if everyone advocating a return to power football is aware that we're down to our fourth string running back?

There is a lot of overreaction for an Iowa State loss. Teams lose. Different teams show up to play. USC lost to Washington, I guess they’ll never win another game again. Oklahoma lost to BYU, why did they even play another game this season? Last year the Huskers demonstrated an incredible mid-season turnaround. Perspective is important for a fan base. Just because you lost to a bad team does not mean you can’t beat any team better than them, just as if you beat a good team you won’t automatically beat all teams worse than them. You can’t allow one game to define a whole season or a team’s potential.

I think the Iowa State loss back to back with the even more lifeless Texas Tech loss is a legitimate reason for concern.

And by concern I mean adjustments, personnel changes and modified fan expectations.

But I'm totally game for an incredible mid-season turnaround. There's absolutely no reason this team can't beat Oklahoma and then go on to lose to Colorado.

I think we forget that mere weeks ago there were huge question marks about the skill positions on offense, and the prevailing wisdom was that the defense would have to carry the team while the offense learned under fire. So we can all pat ourselves on the back for suspecting the offense wouldn't be up to last years standards.

My attitude adjustment? I'm looking at this season as a dress rehearsal for next year. Just sorry Suh couldn't get a taste of something better.

Best Husker team ever, even without that National Championship.

Gill had a great passing touch, the best of our option quarterbacks.

Doug Dubose won a Superbowl based only on his great good fortune to sit on the 49er bench.

Irving Fryar never played for the 49ers.

Tom Osborne's decisions used to get second-guessed as much as Bo Pelini's or Shawn Watson's. We just had water coolers instead of the internet back then.

Any chance we could get Cumberland scheduled for next season?

You could totally see how this played out.

Coaches and players after the Tech game knew they weren't that bad (and as proven last week, Tech wasn't that good). Lee lobbies hard, looks good in practice. Green is very tempting, but he's still mistake-prone himself and yes, some pride is involved as the move feels a bit panicky. Let's see how it plays out.

The game starts. The Huskers are running the ball well enough. They are passing the ball well enough. But they are fumbling every opportunity away. It's not Zac Lee fumbling either. And as a coach you can't possibly anticipate that the first or second turnover will turn into 8. You're thinking the same thing as when you went into the game: we're not THIS bad. We're moving the ball. Let's not panic. Then you turn the ball over for the fourth time INSIDE THE CYCLONE 5 YARD LINE. The guys fumbling are the same guys who would be handling the ball if Cody Green comes in. You simply can't believe what is happening on the fiield. Even when there's two minutes in the fourth quarter and you're only down by two with the ball. You were determined to show that this team could win with Zac Lee, whether or not you planned on Cody playing a bigger role as the season went on.

It didn't happen.

It sure as hell wasn't all Zac Lee's fault.

But it's time to play Cody Green anyway.

All I know is that my pro team (San Francisco 49ers) and college team (Nebraksa Cornhuskers) have had mirror image seasons so far, including expectations, performance and injuries.

 

And last Sunday Mike Singletary pulled Shaun Hill out of a lifeless first half and replaced him with Alex Smith. Smith will be starting this Sunday.

 

So yes.....Cody Green will play this week and start the week after.

 

 

HA thats awesome, 49ers and Huskers are my teams also. I never thought about the similarities until now, and here is another one that probably is less significant for you.

 

At the begining of the year i was a big Zac Lee fan, and for the 49ers i was a Shaun Hill fan because i thought Alex Smith was a huge bust.

 

Now the 49ers give the Smith another shot and he performs (hopefully he has more than just 1 half of good football in him),

 

so maybe if we give Green a shot he will show us that he was worth all those stars that accompenied his name coming out of high school.

I felt the same way. Smith was a bust. Hill didn't wow you, but he knew how to win. The Niner loss in a last second miracle on the road to the Vikings felt exactly like the Husker loss in Blacksburg. Then came the redemptive win. Then two games where the wheels came off and you realized maybe the team just isn't as good as you hoped they'd be, and most of it comes down to personnel rather than playcalling. Still, both the Niners and the Huskers could end up winning their weak divisions.

We were getting a little extra Husker press here in the Bay Area because Lee came out of City College of San Francisco.

Word up to any Husker fan feeling down in the dumps. You can always fall to your knees and thank God your favorite team isn't the Oakland Raiders.

All I know is that my pro team (San Francisco 49ers) and college team (Nebraksa Cornhuskers) have had mirror image seasons so far, including expectations, performance and injuries.

And last Sunday Mike Singletary pulled Shaun Hill out of a lifeless first half and replaced him with Alex Smith. Smith will be starting this Sunday.

So yes.....Cody Green will play this week and start the week after.

What good is an offense that is so difficult to learn but so easy for opposing DC's to predict?

 

No wonder why Lee is checking out of so many called plays. The opposing DC already knows what NU is going to call and has his D all set to go.

 

No kidding. The one time we go under center in a singleback formation...we hand it off to Helu. Every defense has keyed in on it and you can see it. The zone read can be effective, but not 20 times out of 23 run plays called and certainly not when they don't respect our QB, because they know he won't get far with it. Plus we can't run the ball, because the defense has 8 guys in the box and we try to run it with 3 WR's on the field. But why not stack the box when our passes are little short passes and nothing is run downfield?

 

The best thing Bo could do is try to establish a power run game. In that I mean more power sets with 2 TE's and a FB lead blocking. We need to let our running backs get into a rhythm. Adrian Peterson usually has like 80 yards until he busts a few big ones after they have worn down the defense...and they try to establish the run. Watson does not establish the run in the least. We might get 30 rushes in a game, but it is so randomly called it's retarded. Granted AP is a freak and exception, but it's the concept Bo needs to start establishing. Bo just needs to put his foot down and not cradle Watson...it is his team and he needs do what is best for Nebraska. I know Watson is probably a friend and he shouldn't throw him under the bus in the media or in public. But he has to set him straight in private. Bo needs to tell him what he expects and what he wants to establish for his offense.

 

 

I have to agree with this post. Why the hell do we have to disguise everything instead of just loading up the line and powering it at them. I guess the new term is "getting big". Maybe this crap of taking what the defense is giving us is exactly that..... crap. It puts to much pressure on the qb to get the right play called. Then the defense disguises what it's doing and so much for that. Taking what the defense gives you is letting them dictate the game.

I'd also like to see us run more to set up the pass. But a couple series of three and outs trying to establish a power-running game gets the faithful nervous, too. The idea of old-fashioned smashmouth football always sounds good, but you can't snap your fingers and have the '95 Huskers at your disposal.

I'd also like to see Quentin Castille and Rex Burkhead spelling Helu, who isn't always fully healthy himself.

As for the pressure on the QB to get the right play called? That's his job. And there were plenty of plays called last week in which receivers were wide open and Lee declined to pass it to them, and others where Lee and Green got the ball to them exactly as designed, and they declined to hold on to it.

Helu having 18 carries for 68 yards wouldn't be considered an abandonment of the running game if the passing game had worked better and the Huskers weren't digging out of a three touchdown hole.

I also don't think it's so much "taking what the defense gives you" as it is having multiple weapons that let you exploit the different weakeness in each team.

And I'm pretty sure both Bo Pelini and Shawn Watson were really, really hoping Zac Lee would get better quicker, so they wouldn't have to dump everything on Cody Green's shoulders this season. But it looks like that will happen and Cody might work really well in a WCO modified to his skills.

What good is an offense that is so difficult to learn but so easy for opposing DC's to predict?

 

No wonder why Lee is checking out of so many called plays. The opposing DC already knows what NU is going to call and has his D all set to go.

 

No kidding. The one time we go under center in a singleback formation...we hand it off to Helu. Every defense has keyed in on it and you can see it. The zone read can be effective, but not 20 times out of 23 run plays called and certainly not when they don't respect our QB, because they know he won't get far with it. Plus we can't run the ball, because the defense has 8 guys in the box and we try to run it with 3 WR's on the field. But why not stack the box when our passes are little short passes and nothing is run downfield?

 

The best thing Bo could do is try to establish a power run game. In that I mean more power sets with 2 TE's and a FB lead blocking. We need to let our running backs get into a rhythm. Adrian Peterson usually has like 80 yards until he busts a few big ones after they have worn down the defense...and they try to establish the run. Watson does not establish the run in the least. We might get 30 rushes in a game, but it is so randomly called it's retarded. Granted AP is a freak and exception, but it's the concept Bo needs to start establishing. Bo just needs to put his foot down and not cradle Watson...it is his team and he needs do what is best for Nebraska. I know Watson is probably a friend and he shouldn't throw him under the bus in the media or in public. But he has to set him straight in private. Bo needs to tell him what he expects and what he wants to establish for his offense.

 

 

I have to agree with this post. Why the hell do we have to disguise everything instead of just loading up the line and powering it at them. I guess the new term is "getting big". Maybe this crap of taking what the defense is giving us is exactly that..... crap. It puts to much pressure on the qb to get the right play called. Then the defense disguises what it's doing and so much for that. Taking what the defense gives you is letting them dictate the game.

I'd also like to see us run more to set up the pass. But a couple series of three and outs trying to establish a power-running game gets the faithful nervous, too. The idea of old-fashioned smashmouth football always sounds good, but you can't snap your fingers and have the '95 Huskers at your disposal.

I'd also like to see Quentin Castille and Rex Burkhead spelling Helu, who isn't always fully healthy himself.

As for the pressure on the QB to get the right play called? That's his job. And there were plenty of plays called last week in which receivers were wide open and Lee declined to pass it to them, and others where Lee and Green got the ball to them exactly as designed, and they declined to hold on to it.

Helu having 18 carries for 68 yards wouldn't be considered an abandonment of the running game if the passing game had worked better and the Huskers weren't digging out of a three touchdown hole.

I also don't think it's so much "taking what the defense gives you" as it is having multiple weapons that let you exploit the different weakeness in each team.

And I'm pretty sure both Bo Pelini and Shawn Watson were really, really hoping Zac Lee would get better quicker, so they wouldn't have to dump everything on Cody Green's shoulders this season. But it looks like that will happen and Cody might work really well in a WCO modified to his skills.

 

 

Next time I'll draw you a picture if it will help.

Gosh Paul, I drew you a great big post refuting a whole bunch of kneejerk assumptions and you've offered reasoned rebuttal on....hold on....let me go count....

.....right. None of them.

But I did draw you and Vince a picture.

Cheer up!

Bill Walsh worked it perfectly and figured out that Nebraska players were ideally suited for the system. He had the closest thing in the pros to a running QB in Steve Young, but with a college player like Cody Green who can add a dozen designed QB rushes a game the WCO can be a bitch to defend.

 

While he was running the WCO with the 49er's he had a lot more than 20 hours a week to get his players to learn and know it. When he was at Stanford his playbook was minimal compared to what he brought to the NFL.

That's why I said a WCO playbook doesn't have to be huge to be effective.

Last year's team appeared to handle it better than this years team.

So yes, adjustments will be made, tailored no doubt to Cody Greeen.

Seriously? Packer fans NEVER thought Ahman Green was good?

 

Cause everyone from John Madden to Brett Favre would disagree.

 

Or is it hindsight based on anyone who spurns the team?

 

All of them I've asked think Favre walks on water(which I don't) and though Green sucked. Not my opinion, but that's what they all think. Keep in mind, these are all people who work at a manufacturing facility and also believe that they know how to fix problems and I don't(and they'd be wrong about that as well).

Wait. These are all Packer fans from the place you work, who know you like Nebraska and that Ahman Green is from Nebraska?

Any chance they might be busting your chops?

I actually think Grant is a perfectly decent everydown back, but it would be fun to see both Ahman and Brandon Jackson getting heavy rotation.

Seriously? Packer fans NEVER thought Ahman Green was good?

Cause everyone from John Madden to Brett Favre would disagree.

Or is it hindsight based on anyone who spurns the team?

 

In my new world of fuzzy math, i just had a Eureka Moment! If Pelini's defense would have held Tech scoreless for the game, we would have actually won the game 10-7! It is clear that it is the defense's fault for losing. You just can't allow 259 yards of total offense to teams like Texas Tech and expect to win football games.....

Hey Paul? I wasn't blaming the defense. Merely suggesting there was so much blame to go around that it was ludicrous to lay it all on the OCs play calling. And actually a bit weird that people think throwing Watson under a bus will keep Pelini's nose clean. He's our firey head coach. And the team wasn't fired up. For the whole. Damn. Game.

If there was a Eureka Moment in Husker nation, it should be that the same plays we loved when the Taylors & Ganzs and Swifts and Purifys were pulling them off simply weren't working as well on a team of Lees and Pauls.

(in fairness, these were also plays we loved only five quarters ago when the resilient Husker offense struck for four TDs against Missouri, putting the entire college football media on the Husker bandwagon. A lifetime ago, eh?)

If adjustments are not made, it could get ugly.

I predict adjustments will be made. And Watson and Pelini will agree on them.

Knowing how he likes to point fingers at everyone but himself, I'm really surprised that Pelini took the blame. Being the spineless coward that he is, I would have thought that he would have blamed the loss on someone else and then said that he was excellent in every area.

Yeah. Hard to figure out where the sarcasm ends and your point begins, but we seem to agree that Pelini was justified in taking the blame himself, leaving only Internet second guessers with extremely short memories to start screeching for Shawn Watson's head.

Well, Kevin cosgrove, that's simple. How many points did the NU offense score and give up?

Well there was that opening Tech drive that immediately put us in the hole.

Why did Watson allow that to happen?

And why he instructed Niles Paul to kick a fumble like a sullen schoolboy, I'll never know.

Watson should have known not to trust college players in only their sixth game of the season to understand snap counts and clock management.

I don't actually know what Shawn Watson did to piss off the refs, but his play calling is the most likely culprit. As always.

Somehow that Pelini defense allowed another seven, making it 21 - zip. Damn you, Watson!

Then when the offense salvaged a sliver of pride with a late first half field goal, that Pelini defense let Tech march right through and get those three points back in seconds. And again in the second half when Nebraska actually racked up a 7, Tech walked right back through Pelini's defense to negate it, clearly hoping to get Watson fired.

Most observers noted an entire team out of synch, executing poorly and lacking motivation. Those are problems that go directly to the head coach who led the team out of the locker room.

Know who agrees with me?

Bo Pelini.

So nyah.

Watson is playing chess at a level of football that plays checkers.

 

fyp

 

He is overcomplicating and overthinking things... thus playing chess when everyone else is lining up and playing football (checkers).

 

the old KISS theory (keep it simple, stupid)

 

 

I see your point and thank you for the correction.

Now I'd love to hear your reasons why the T.T. loss hangs at the feet of Shawn Watson but not Bo Pelini.

The notion that the WCO is an over-complicated, pass-happy wine and cheese offense also misses the point.

The WCO worked by introducing a low-risk/high percentage passing component where running backs could get the ball on the other side of the d-line, wide-receivers ran short crossing patterns and turned them long by running after the catch , tight ends and even fullbacks could go deep, and the QB could run a naked bootleg every now and then. And you still ran a smashmouth running game. The actual playbook doesn't have to be huge. Just enough variety to drive the linebackers nuts and let you exploit what a defense is willing to give you.

Bill Walsh worked it perfectly and figured out that Nebraska players were ideally suited for the system. He had the closest thing in the pros to a running QB in Steve Young, but with a college player like Cody Green who can add a dozen designed QB rushes a game the WCO can be a bitch to defend.

Dr. Tom Osborne had at least two losses in most of his first 20 seasons. And in most of those losses, things went south much the way they did for Shawn Watson's team last Saturday: an opponent that could match Nebraska's physical strength was able to shut down Nebraska's predictible offense. Having committed to a simpler smash-mouth game, those Osborne teams often got flustered and fumbly and weren't able to adapt when things didn't go their way.

Wait. Did I say Shawn Watson's team?

I thought this was Bo Pelini's team.

Funny how that works.

Shawn Watson is a good offensive coordinator. Fire him from Nebraska and you will soon be losing to a Shawn Watson coached team.

He has called some great games the last few years under miserable conditions with spare parts thrown into a new offense. Last week was not his best. But Lee was overly cautious, recievers dropped balls (and kicked fumbles), the O-line showed once again it is not among NUs best and we're still missing the two best running backs to spell Helu, who still had 18 carries for 68 yards in yet another game where miscues forced the offense to dig out of a deep hole.

The bigger problem is that top to bottom, offense and defense and for all four quarters, the Nebraska team looked rattled, mistake prone and unable to dig deep and fight for itself. At home.

And that one you hang on Bo Pelini. Who shouldn't be fired anymore than Shawn Watson.

And if you get outraged about offensive predictibility, you really shouldn't worship at the alter of Tom Osborne, whose play calling was among the most predictible in college football but happened to be backed by superior strength and execution. (Except for those wild trick plays of his, which often popped up during losing efforts in big games when the bread and butter plays weren't working.)

 

Yes, the famous Aggie Yell Leaders.

 

They really just need to get regular cheerleaders. LOL!

I think if these Aggie Yell Leaders had ever gotten a cheerleader, they wouldn't be touching their tra-la-las so much.

This entire asinine discussion would be hilarious if it didn't seem like so many people were taking it so seriously.

 

Let's get one thing straight. These media people LOVE the fact that Bo is crass, hotheaded, and yes, 'boorish'. They may tell you as they take their silk gloves off over a freshly poured cup of tea that they're being mistreated ("Oh, I dare say, what is the world coming to? Quite a row he had with those zebra's, eh? And now I have to suffer!")

 

bullsh#t.

 

In the same moment that Barf sits at his computer scribbling embarrassed nothings about Bo's demeanor, his quivering jowls are dripping beneath a jagged-tooth grin. This is great press. Free column. It'll sell like hotcakes. Bo's a wildman. He's unstable. Somebody get the number for a good anger management therapist.

 

Now let's move on to this 'face of the organization' argument. Two years ago I couldn't click a link without hearing some reporter whine about Callahan's undiminished press conference smile that beamed win, loss, or blowout. Too much coachspeak, they said. He's a professional question dodger. Frankly I'm more comfortable with a man who cusses in his answers. Why? Because a cussing man never lies. Honestly, you people who are bouncing foot to foot in nervous anticipation over how Bo makes you look, what would you prefer? You ask a bulldog competitor how he feels after his offense took a sh#t all over memorial stadium at the exact moment that Nebraska seemed to be leaping forward as a program?

 

This whole conversation is a complete waste of time. You don't want to get one word answers and snippy replies? How about letting the head man sleep it off and talk to him on Sunday. Whatever the answer is, I as a fan and a paper reader could give two sh#ts and a bag of white rice what the media people feel about their access. The only thing I trust less than a politician is a journalist.

 

 

wow......

 

 

that is the best post I think I have ever seen on this board.

This one is better. And more to the point. Sadly, I didn't write it:

Revisionist History?

Commentary: Too late for coaches to play experience, media cards

by Samuel McKewon

October 20, 2009

FILE PHOTO

Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson

So now it's the media. Now it's the fans. So now it's about whether you played college football.

“No one knows what's going on in our meeting and practice room,” Nebraska quarterback Zac Lee said. “Only we know. That's how it is.”

“He feels like the whole state of Nebraska is against him,” head coach Bo Pelini said of Lee. “That would affect anybody.”

“I feel sorry for him tremendously,” competitor Cody Green said. “I wish I could take some of the pain off of him. I just don't want that feeling for anybody, that a whole state would jump on somebody's bandwagon one second, and jump off the next.”

“We won't have a split locker room at all,” Ndamukong Suh said. “I know that's what you guys are looking for, and that's your little thing, you want to see who's going to go for Cody, who's going to go for Zac.”

“Did you play?” offensive coordinator Shawn Watson asked a reporter. “If you did, you would understand what I'm talking about.”

The comments and sentiment seemed designed to rally around Lee, whom Pelini and Watson – not the fans, not the media – yanked twice from a 31-10 loss to Texas Tech.

But this is a team overreacting, frankly, to a situation that happens just about everywhere. Fans boo. The media speculates. You think this is potentially divisive? Head back to 1995, when arguably the best team in college football history was split to the core over Brook Berringer and Tommie Frazier. Head back to 1997, when Scott Frost received a chorus of boos with a 13-2 starting record. Head back to 1999, when Eric Crouch left the program for a couple hours.

It. Happens.

Nebraska's response Tuesday was to take pity on Lee, and re-frame his performance – indeed the whole offense – as part of a great rebuilding/development process. Watson actually talked about how much it hurt to lose Lydon Murtha, Matt Slauson and Jaivorio Burkes in the offseason. He hasn't uttered those first two names since last spring.

Now, suddenly, Lee's “logging time” at the quarterback position, making up for lost reps he didn't get last year because Patrick Witt was the backup. Huh? A month ago, after a dazzling performance vs. Arkansas State, Watson called Lee “lights out, a cool customer.” Two weeks ago, after a 27-12 win over Missouri, Watson said “this is the moment we've been waiting for.”

Tuesday, when a reporter rightly pointed out that Lee is not a new player in the system – he's been at Nebraska for two years now – Watson touched off this exchange:

“But they're playing for the first time. You don't get it. Did you play?”

Not at this level, the reporter responded.

“OK. Well, if you did, you would understand what I'm talking about. It takes time to develop those things. It just doesn't come natural.”

Watson's trying to set the boundaries for his authority and leadership, which is fine. He's taken his share of shots across the bow in the last two weeks; he's allowed to dish a few out.

But his argument doesn't jibe, especially when Nebraska is considering starting Green, an 18-year-old who's admittedly become a “new quarterback” in the last month.

“I'm not going to lie, all I wanted to do is run,” Green said. “If I get in the game, just give me the ball, tell them get out of the way, I just want to take off running. Now I've learned how to manage an offense, when to take chances and when not to. Learn how to be a complete quarterback.”

Reporters tend to read into media performances too much. Joe Dailey, for example. But Green is smooth, assured, and smart for such a young player.

“I'll always tell Coach Watson just let me get hit one time,” Green said. “Whenever I get in, just let me run the ball, let me run right into somebody, let them try to break me, and then the butterflies will be gone, all that, and I'll be focused in. With the run, if I get in there, and we get the called play for me to run, I'm pretty sure y'all be able to see my smile from the press box.”

That kind of spirit is infectious.

Lee can have it, too. His smile after getting thwacked on an option play at Missouri said a lot about him. But that confidence was missing Tuesday. Lee's still the starter, technically, and although he wouldn't be my choice for Saturday vs. Iowa State, he's going to get every chance, I sense, to hold on to his job.

Curiously, he didn't own his mistakes vs. Texas Tech. Or, at least, he didn't own them in a way that suggested he played out of the ordinary.

“That's your opinion,” Lee said. “I didn't necessarily feel like that. There were some decisions that maybe looking back weren't the best decision. There were two or three of those, which is every game. For whatever reason, we didn't have breakout plays. That's kind of the black and white of it. We didn't have plays we needed to make. And I'm the guy up front. That's just how it is.”

The “black and white of it” is that Lee didn't push the ball downfield to open receivers, and he didn't run for first downs that were available to him.

I'm surprised Lee didn't dimiss Pelini's “whole state of Nebraska” comment out of hand, especially when Lee claimed he didn't even hear the boos, most of which were aimed at the referees anyway.

The comment simply isn't true anyway. After practice Monday, some kids milled around Memorial Stadium, and asked to take a picture with Lee. Were they against him? Of course not.

And while Lee is able to articulate that, he did not Tuesday.

“It's not easy, being in this state and being in this situation,” Lee said. “It is what it is.”

True. It's also a job a lot of kids would kill to have for 12 seconds. Would Lee?

http://www.omaha.com/article/20091019/SPORTS/710199852

 

I'm sure a lot of people will rip into Barfknecht, but I thought it was a good column.

Tom and Frank never acted like that...!!!!!

Neither did Bob Devaney, who could get very hot-headed on the field and in the locker room, but knew how to be your favorite Irish uncle with the press.

Frankly I like a coach who swears and gets pissed off. And the questions they have to answer are often asinine and obvious. But part of the job is being the face of the franchise and that requires some PR instincts. Bo Pelini is learning on the job. I think he'll be okay.

Still......kinda funny being on a fan site where people parse every Husker word and action into dust, then pretend they don't care what the media has to say.

Opinions are cheap, but beat reporters know more than we do. Whether you like it or not.

 

Yeah it's such crap that they're just dying to give him the award and call him their "best player ever", it'd be different if he had better stats or something but they are very average to below average.

Tommy Frazier never had the stats but got a lot of Heisman votes for being a winner.

 

Also, I didn't see a let down in our players last weekend.

Maybe we weren't watching the same game.

Even the sportscasters were commenting on the Husker's almost bizarre lack of urgency in the second half.

To go along with poor execution and mistakes you just shouldn't be making six games into the season.

It was the offensive equivalent of a Callahan defense.