3rd and long

Yes, I do think we have to use the playbook, but I'm not saying all the different plays, just show some different looks on a more regular basis. I think you'd have to agree the majority of the early part of the season was a very steady diet of zone read. That's fine when you have a QB who is constanstly a deep threat, which then (in my opinion) really opened up the receivers for the passing game. I'm certainly not taking anything away from Martinez here, but most of his passing yardage comes to wide open receivers, they are not spectatular throws. I like the diversity we finally showed against Colorado, we finally got away from the zone read and gameplanned something that fit Cody better. I really do respect what your opinions are in regards to Watson, they are well thought out. I'm not a fan and think we can do better, but again, that's just an opinion. I do have a question though. I've seen mentioned several times that Bo instructs the offense to go ultra conservative and let the defense win games. Has he come out and said this or is it board speculation.

Since when did anyone expect the offense to get better with Callahan's departure? We had good offenses under Callahan. OL technician, masterful with screen passes and always good for some trick play packages within our multiple offense, which was very demanding on the QB. Guy is basically a genius in this regard. The problem was our defense. Everyone was saying we just need a good defense to win championships, and a strong running game and that was it. Well, now we have a running game and a good defense, and we have been winning games, including being dang close to a BCS bowl last year and having a good shot at one this year. All of a sudden though, that's not enough, people want to ring up flashy eye-candy stats and points, instead of playing smart, conservative, and grinding it out. For example, was the KU game ever in doubt? Not really. 49 rushes for 230 yards (4.7 avg), that's stout running. Against ISU, 52 rushes for 235 yards (4.5 avg). 48 rushes for 205 yards (4.3) against SDSU. As you can see, running it 70% of the time in a game and pounding it on the ground real well on a team might not result in the total yardage and touchdowns fireworks people expect, but it's a certain philosophy to a game and the one that seems to suit Nebraska fans' stylistic preferences most...except they are complaining about it. I'm not complaining about pounding the ball with the running game, that's what I've been wanting all year. A fullback leading one of our two outstanding RB's. But we seem to get away from that because we are obsessed with the zone read (which I admit at times has been spectacular, because of Martinez)and questionable calls. Third and two in the A&M game after we've marched it down the field with Helu and Burkhead and we drop back pass (and yes I do admit, if it goes for a big play, we're probably all saying what a great call, yes we're all fickle). I would really love to see us get Helu and Burkhead 20 carries each against OU. But our OL really has to step up, and we HAVE to eliminate the procedures and illegal formation penalties, and not burn timeouts because we can't get the play in on time. that is a real concern, getting plays in on offense and defense....a hurry up offense kills substitutions and kills a defense set for the next play. at one time earlier this year i thought our offense was going to run a hurry up sequence or 2, but we fell back to the same, boring or methodical huddle and time consuming march up to the ball.....what the hell happened to varying the tempo? what the hell happened to mixing things up? To me, that simple sentence really sums up what we need to do. Just try to not be so damn predictable. This chain of comments made me laugh. So we want Watson to pound the ball, but not be boring or methodical, and still be unpredictable and mix things up. Yes, you can "pound" the rock and not be predictable. I said I'd like to see 20 carries apiece for both backs. Thats pounding. Mix it in with a little playaction (preferably early in the series, not always 3rd and long), some misdirection, show some verticle passing game. Combine that with a few QB carries, which we always have and what do you have? A predomnatly power running game with enough "other" stuff thrown in to not be predictable. I'm not asking for 40+ points, just some sustained drives of which at least a couple lead to TD's. Combine that with what Henry and it should produce 20-24 points, and hopefully that is enough for our D.

Since when did anyone expect the offense to get better with Callahan's departure? We had good offenses under Callahan. OL technician, masterful with screen passes and always good for some trick play packages within our multiple offense, which was very demanding on the QB. Guy is basically a genius in this regard. The problem was our defense. Everyone was saying we just need a good defense to win championships, and a strong running game and that was it. Well, now we have a running game and a good defense, and we have been winning games, including being dang close to a BCS bowl last year and having a good shot at one this year. All of a sudden though, that's not enough, people want to ring up flashy eye-candy stats and points, instead of playing smart, conservative, and grinding it out. For example, was the KU game ever in doubt? Not really. 49 rushes for 230 yards (4.7 avg), that's stout running. Against ISU, 52 rushes for 235 yards (4.5 avg). 48 rushes for 205 yards (4.3) against SDSU. As you can see, running it 70% of the time in a game and pounding it on the ground real well on a team might not result in the total yardage and touchdowns fireworks people expect, but it's a certain philosophy to a game and the one that seems to suit Nebraska fans' stylistic preferences most...except they are complaining about it. I'm not complaining about pounding the ball with the running game, that's what I've been wanting all year. A fullback leading one of our two outstanding RB's. But we seem to get away from that because we are obsessed with the zone read (which I admit at times has been spectacular, because of Martinez)and questionable calls. Third and two in the A&M game after we've marched it down the field with Helu and Burkhead and we drop back pass (and yes I do admit, if it goes for a big play, we're probably all saying what a great call, yes we're all fickle). I would really love to see us get Helu and Burkhead 20 carries each against OU. But our OL really has to step up, and we HAVE to eliminate the procedures and illegal formation penalties, and not burn timeouts because we can't get the play in on time. that is a real concern, getting plays in on offense and defense....a hurry up offense kills substitutions and kills a defense set for the next play. at one time earlier this year i thought our offense was going to run a hurry up sequence or 2, but we fell back to the same, boring or methodical huddle and time consuming march up to the ball.....what the hell happened to varying the tempo? what the hell happened to mixing things up? To me, that simple sentence really sums up what we need to do. Just try to not be so damn predictable.

Since when did anyone expect the offense to get better with Callahan's departure? We had good offenses under Callahan. OL technician, masterful with screen passes and always good for some trick play packages within our multiple offense, which was very demanding on the QB. Guy is basically a genius in this regard. The problem was our defense. Everyone was saying we just need a good defense to win championships, and a strong running game and that was it. Well, now we have a running game and a good defense, and we have been winning games, including being dang close to a BCS bowl last year and having a good shot at one this year. All of a sudden though, that's not enough, people want to ring up flashy eye-candy stats and points, instead of playing smart, conservative, and grinding it out. For example, was the KU game ever in doubt? Not really. 49 rushes for 230 yards (4.7 avg), that's stout running. Against ISU, 52 rushes for 235 yards (4.5 avg). 48 rushes for 205 yards (4.3) against SDSU. As you can see, running it 70% of the time in a game and pounding it on the ground real well on a team might not result in the total yardage and touchdowns fireworks people expect, but it's a certain philosophy to a game and the one that seems to suit Nebraska fans' stylistic preferences most...except they are complaining about it. I'm not complaining about pounding the ball with the running game, that's what I've been wanting all year. A fullback leading one of our two outstanding RB's. But we seem to get away from that because we are obsessed with the zone read (which I admit at times has been spectacular, because of Martinez)and questionable calls. Third and two in the A&M game after we've marched it down the field with Helu and Burkhead and we drop back pass (and yes I do admit, if it goes for a big play, we're probably all saying what a great call, yes we're all fickle). I would really love to see us get Helu and Burkhead 20 carries each against OU. But our OL really has to step up, and we HAVE to eliminate the procedures and illegal formation penalties, and not burn timeouts because we can't get the play in on time.

He may want to play (obviously), but if thant knee is sprained or something similar as seriously as it looked, there's just no way. You can tape it up and do all the right things, but if the joint isn't ready, you just can't perform. Just look at Martinez for a perfect example.

The problem I see is if Martinez is less than %100 and we play him we are really putting ourselves in a hole. His game is predicated on breaking the big play off the zone read, and defense's fear of that allows receivers to get open and (in my opinion) make him look like a better passer than he really is. Look at how open his receivers generally are, he usually isn't fitting a throw into a tight spot. If he can't run at %100 it's usually pretty obvious and it takes away a huge chunk of our offense. I think you gameplan for Green and he goes unless Martinez is very close to %100.

Sorry, I didn't get the quote correct. What I was trying to do was show the quote "our offense has made a freshman quarterback a heisman canidate". What I was trying to say is that the player made the offense, not the other way around. Of course it matters who takes the snaps.

[ Oh yeah, and the star quarterback goes down at the end of the first half of the Missouri game, his backup is unavailable and the third string option does not appear to have the confidence of both Bo Pelini and Shawn Watson, forcing an emergency amending of the playbook that puts a once promising season at risk. The Huskers, who were high in every offfensive category, dropped a couple notches without their Heisman hopeful quarterback. Let's also take a moment to appreciate an offense that was able to elevate a Freshman to a legitimate Heisman candidate. Every major college recruiter knew about Taylor Martinez but nobody else thought he'd work as a quarterback. I think that's backwards. That was an incredibly talented freshman quarterback making a mediocre offense look better than it was. If the offense was elevating the freshman quarterback, if the offense was making the player, it shouldn't matter who is taking the snaps.

True, but take away Roy's three big runs, which I know you really can't because they are part of that games offensive production, and our offense really didn't do much after. That also speaks to another facet of our O, we seem to be only a "big play" offense. If we don't have the big play, 50-60 yards, we don't have much. I would be curious to know how many drives we've had this year in the 70yd range that have culminated in TD's and not FG's.

Good points. It seems like we seldom bring extra pressure on third and long, give the QB time to throw and then get hit with those PI's. Here's a thought, lets get aggressive on third, bring the heat and finish the sack. Can't have a PI when the throw doesn't get off (course when it does then we can have the late hit penalty).

But I think most people can see through the smoke of records and 1000 yd rushers. To me, it's not difficult to see that this offense has racked up big numbers against really, really poor defenses. It has yet to be efficent against quality opponents. I still have not watched the Texas game, so I can only go by what I hear, which is dropped passes. But if we don't drop those passes, how many TD's do we put up? And it still doesn't explain away the other games where our offense has look completely inept. My opinion (for what its worth..exactly nothing) is kind of a compilation of what others have said. I think he gets too cute at times trying to outsmart someone, doensn't seem to adjust well when one aspect of his gameplan is taken away, and linked to that, doesn't adjust his play calling to his personel (Cody in the Zone read, he looks like a fish out of water). Hopefully, like the Colorado game, he'll have a gameplan taylored to Cody which hopefully means 20 carries apiece for Rex and Roy and some unpredictable play calling. Not zone read for two, zone read for one, incomplete pass on third.

I have to say the 71 game, I would have been eight and it's the first Husker memory I have. I think the reason it stands out so vividly is I can remember my very reserved and stoic grandfather(who just passed away last year) jumping up and down on our old green couch. Every time I see the return I also recall that.

I have kind of a different take on it. I think not having Martinez foreces Watson to be a little more creative in his gameplan. With Martinez in, I have this feeling that something like the Texas game happens, a good defensive coordinator takes the zone read (and Martinez's big plays) away and it really stagnates our offense. And Watson doesn't seem to adust well in-game when that happens. With Green in there (from the start), it seems like we have a little more variety in the offensive gameplan. I hope we see a real mix of formations and do run some play action on first down, try to keep the defense from loading up in the box. Hopefully Carl will be aggressive with our D to force some turnovers and most importantly, we have to minimize our penalties. If we can keep it clean, I think it stays close and then we have Henry to hopefully be the deciding factor.

Thanks for the information everybody, appreciate it.

Title pretty much says it all. Is there someplace that is the best option for purchasing tickets. Also, does anyone know which side Nebraska is on (would hate to find tickets and have them be on the wrong side). Also, what is face value for a mid range ticket. Thanks for any info.

I did get sick of him harping that Kinnie pushed off and should have been called for PI on the touchdown pass from Burkhead. They never did show a definitive replay so you could tell. Also never showed the personal foul against Crick. I mainly got sick of the constant promotions for the Big XII next year, good riddance ABC. Interesting: Watching the Michigan -OSU game on ABC right now, three personal fouls on one play, and not one single replay.

NO, no thanks to them. Under Callaghan, I was finally safe from that fatal heart attack brought on by watching the Huskers, you went into games expecting the worst. Now that we're back to playing competitive Husker football, I know the inevitable is just waiting for me. Oh well, I hope the play that brings it on is a good one.

I think all the constant preseason posturing got old, but it worked. They bitched and moaned constantly about not getting the respect they "deserved", and this year it worked for them. They started high enough in the preseason polls that as teams got knocked off, they continued to climb towards the top. But they couldn't take care of business in their own mediocre conference. I don't know how many watched the end of that game last night, but neitehr team looked anything like an elite team. Way to go Nevada. And lastly, if you want to be a premier program, you don't demand a million dollars to play someone.

I am SO sick of them plugging next years Big XII. Good Bye ABC, almost as good as saying goodby Big XII.

They just said on the Huskers broadcast that it WOULD NOT BE THOSE GUYS> They are at the OU/OSU game in case come fixin needs to be done. Never been so happy to be so wrong.

This has no credence whatsoever, but I'll post it anyway. I just read on Facebook that it is the same crew as at A&M. But there was absolutely nothing to back that up, so take the information for what it's worth (probably nothing).

NU 20 CU 10 Rushing 256 Passing 75

That's Watson's problem. Cody is ineffective at the zone read, yet the OC continues to try to run it. He isn't making Cody any better at it, so either try a different method of coaching, or don't run it. Watson prides himself on being multiple, so he should have plenty of options other than zone read. Early this season, Bo talked about David missing calls, so they refined it, ironed out the kinks, and made progress. With Wats, we watch the same thing every week. Cody failing to run the zone read. At least 90% of the plays that you think are zone reads with Cody are actually pre-called plays in the huddle as far as keep\give. Give Cody a lead blocker on a draw, run a power play for Cody with a lead blocker and get him on the edge and he'd look better than he does now. The kid is very fast when he decides to run and goes, it may not mean much in pads, but he is faster than Martinez to 10 yards (Martinez killed him in the agility run though). Cody just doesn't step on the field with confidence and it's unfortunate. I love this idea, a lead blocker on a power play, but why not run it with one our two very good RB's behind our very good blocking FB. Thats interesting that you say Greene is faster than Martinez to 10 yds (I'm assuming thats from preseason testing)because Green looks really, really slow getting started, and Martinez's acceleration is what is most impressive to me. I agree 100%, Green needs confidence, how about some play action, let him throw when maybe the defense isn't looking for pass. Just my thoughts

What I don't understand is when our OL is getting driven back off the ball, it tells me that the DL is coming hard off the snap. Why don't we do something to take advantage of that, it seems they would be vulnerable to screens and misdirection. Maybe some playaction on first down, anything to break up our pattern of zone read on first down. We just seem so precictable.

If we beat Colorado, can you imagine what the championship game will be like. Scary to even think about.