True2tRA

I didn't ask if he hoped for anything. I hope I win the lottery. But I certainly don't expect to. If you really think Riley is going to turn anything around, that's is some damn fine blind optimism. We have yet to play an opponent of the caliber that dominated Pelini. Wisconsin. Oh and Minnesota beat Nebraska the past two years as well. Both of those teams are much worse than they were the last two years. Serious question . . . are you really still holding out hope that Riley can turn things around?

Bo Pelini is 3-4 at Youngstown State right now. Looks like he's got his own transition struggles. How could somebody not be hoping Riley turns things around? Of course Husker fans hope he does. He's the head coach of the football team we root for. Until the day when he's not the HC, then hell yes I'm hoping they get it turned around.

Overall good post. The bold part is a good point. Over the last couple of years I wasn't a Bo guy anymore. However, after watching the games this year it definitely seems like the problem is deeper than either coaching staff. Perhaps, I shouldn't always blame the coaches including Bo as well. The team has been soft in the past and is still soft. Apparently, Bo's "us against the world" mentality was good enough to inspire our guys just enough to beat teams like Illinois- the games we have inexplicably lost this year. These couple of crap games that we won in the past due to this mentality are the only real difference between last year and this year. It's still the same uninspired, mistake-laden football as in the past. Our record is different, but the games still look the same- the few games when our guys play to their actual potential, they look pretty stinkin' good (Miami 14, Minny 15), but this is rarely the case. The big difference between '95 and now (beyond the running vs. passing debate which has been beat to death on this board) is the accountability. You weren't going to take a play off like some of the kids do now. You didn't want to let your teammates down, and besides, they weren't going to stand for that crap anyway. As a last point- definitely agree with the football smarts idea. I swear it's like some of the kids have no idea how the game of football works when it comes to decision making. They almost need a class or something. Heck, maybe even just watching more actual football games would help. Yeah, soft is a tough word for a football player to hear but it's hard to argue when you break down these games. There's a weak mentality that is pretty obvious. I've never seen so many guys try to avoid contact or let up when they think a play is over. And the lay on the ground on your belly and look up as the play continues, that's a new philosphy we've adopted. Haven't seen that one before. There was a quote here last week about a former Nebraska walk on who wanted to make it clear that regardless of how the season went, nobody would be able to look back and spot him giving a half assed effort. I can tell you right now, I can go back in every game this year and find 10-15-20 plays a game between the offense and defense where an individual could be questioned on their effort. To me, that's the saddest thing about all of it.

Nope. I'm leveling the field. All I've read here yesterday and today is Langsdorf this and that. I figure maybe some visual evidence would remind people that Langsdorf stands on the sideline, he wasn't in uniform yesterday. So you are defending the coaches and blaming the players. smh I don't know that we have to blame anyone. If blame is the word to use though, I'd say both players and coaches have ownership in that. Like I said, I wasn't hearing much about execution, only about Langsdorf and his playcalling. It's pretty easy to make .gifs and show that there is plenty of mistakes being made by both players and coaches.

Nope. I'm leveling the field. All I've read here yesterday and today is Langsdorf this and that. I figure maybe some visual evidence would remind people that Langsdorf stands on the sideline, he wasn't in uniform yesterday.

Anyone have a take on this one? It doesn't look like we ran straight into a stacked box again like I hear so many claims to today. So was #57 supposed to block on this play?

With pass blockers. Truth.

Blackshirts run defense did great aside from the two runs by Thorson. I thought this one was actually kind of funny. Slowest kid on the field looked like the best athlete to enter Memorial Stadium this season. Great game by the Blackshirts overall though. To give them credit, at this point Thorson had 2 carries for 117 yards, but the rest of Northwestern had 19 carries for 11 yards total.

That's very easy to say Zoogs. I'm curious how people expect it to just get fixed. The issues we are seeing have been issues for a long, long time. The last staff had multiple seasons to attempt to fix it. Never did. There really isn't an argument going on here about "who" is to blame. Most have jumped Langsdorf's ass already and I think it's stupid. Langsdorf called a pretty strong game. Execution, mental toughness, and a desire for contact seems to be a glaring issue. It's amusing to me to see how the argument changes each week on how we can blame the coaches, but the same issues show up week after week, and it's not the coaches I'm talking about.

You mean like this? Now this wasn't in the run game, but this was a heck of a play called back because of just plain laziness and a horrible effort. There's no reason this offensive linemen needed to go low. What was the purpose? This blocker could've easily kept his feet and drove his hands and body straight into the defender. With a full head of steam it should have easily been a devastating block. Now I believe #57 took the heat on this one? Maybe, maybe not? I know the cameras go straight to #57 following the play, but I think thats a #55. Again, really hard to see with these ridiculous jerseys that make us play so much better.

Langsdorf called a really strong game. The throws to the outside, WR screens, we even ran HB screen and a TE screen to back the Northwestern defense off the run game.

You think this was drawn up like this? Hard to see the numbers on the jerseys' but blocking usually doesn't include reaching out with one arm and trying to grab a guy as he runs by you. Looks like we tried to create a little bit here. A few blocks and this thing is a huge run. Langsdorf didn't make a single block on this one though. Freakin' Langsdorf. Who is the Husker offensive linemen that makes the tackle on Tommy and pile drives him into the ground? Nice!

First run from scrimmage in the Northwestern game. Tommy's one of the best runners on the team. They didn't run straight at Northwestern. Northwestern didn't stack the box. #84 was stood straight up and shoved backwards 5 yards straight into the play. The Northwestern defender not only man handled Nebraska's #84, but he then pushed him to the ground like a rag doll and made the tackle on Tommy. Freakin' Langsdorf, what's wrong with him?

When you run the ball straight ahead into a seven man box - which is seemed like we did about 30 out of 36 carries today - you're going to struggle running the ball. There isn't a team in the nation that wouldn't "struggle" to run the ball doing that. Their defense is decent. But their MIKE had 13 tackles today. He had 13 in the previous three games COMBINED. Their one DT had 10 tackles. He had 9 in the previous three games COMBINED. We basically did nothing but run straight at them. And apparently the coaches can't figure out why we can't run the ball. Like I said a couple weeks ago, Langsdorf doesn't get it. I think that is more of an indictment on our RB's than anything else. Newby will always string himself out on stretch plays and gets tackled on first contact. Even then when running up the middle, there were holes but Newby constantly missed them. The best example was the first play of the second half. If he cuts right there was a huge running lane, maybe one big enough for him to score on, but he cuts left right into contact and we get a yard at most. That is why Andy has has the success that he has had, he just hits the holes that are there, Newby doesn't have the vision to see those holes or if he does is thinking too much which is making him hesitate while they close on him. The problem is that Imani is just a short yardage back and apparently Ozigbo doesn't practice very well and doesn't know the playbook and isn't good at pass blocking. At this point if he can at least do what the other two are not doing, then give the kid a shot. It isn't going to cost us any wins, I know that and it may help us win a few down the stretch. We left a bunch of points on the table today. This game shouldn't have been close. Tommy's pick 6 is probably a 10 point swing alone since we were already in FG range. We had dropped TD passes. Overthrowing Newby on the wheel route could have been a TD. Turner pausing on his route instead of running it out would have been a TD instead of overthrown. Reilly's dropped pass. Taariq's drive killing drop. Lot's and lot's of opportunities today to put this game away and for whatever reason the players simply don't execute whether it's TA not making the throw or receivers not catching it. I can't fault DL when the plays he call actually would work if it weren't for players choking. AFHusker nailed it with that post. Absolutely nailed it.

Boy, that Northwestern defense is that good huh? I don't think so. So now we are blaming Langs for running straight at a 9 man front by Northwestern? Well typically when a defense stacks the box, then Langsdorf goes to the air to back them off. We threw it 49 times. Then fans complain about how much we threw the ball. So how does Langsdorf win? I don't get it. What the f#*k do you people expect the guy to do? A few weeks ago it was, "we don't run the ball enough". We ran it 38 times, coincidentally the same number matching Rex Burkheads Nebraska record. So now that we ran it 38 times in the game and it went nowhere, we've moved from bitching about not running it enough to now "it's not how much we ran it, but HOW we ran it". Nebraska can't line up and run straight at Northwestern for more than an average of 2 yards? And that's Langs' fault? I'll tell you the only place I see any fault is in the personnel decisions these guys have made. I don't think our best offensive linemen are playing and I don't think our best RB's are even seeing the field. Regardless of who is out there though, when you can't line up and run straight at Northwestern for more than a 2 yard average, then there's some sincere question marks about the abilities of your running backs and your offensive line.

No matter how much people say "Let it Bo", it's still about Pelini vs. Riley for a lot of people. Some of them just really struglle admitting they miss their boy.

Rex Burkhead set the Nebraska record for most carries in a game on 11/25/2011. He had 160 yards. Nebraska ran the ball 38 times today against Northwestern. Nebraska had 82 yards. Yet according to many Huskerboard members, Nebraska didn't "commit" to the run.

We ran the ball 38 times today.

Sometimes he looks really bad and sometimes he looks really good. I'd be honest and lay blame on him if it were his fault we lost this game. But it's not. Plenty of other issues in this one. Crazy how an offense can possess the ball 18 minutes more than another offense and still lose the game though. The Cornhuskers have to be one of the most baffling teams I've ever watched. The ways we have found to lose football games, not just this year, but for quite a few years now, it's truly strane stuff. It's never just "one thing" either. It seems we find a new way all the time. When you see it with one coaching staff you could directly relate it to the staff, but a whole new staff and we still have the same kind of dumb stuff creeping up. I think we've got some sort of unexplainable lack of football smarts in this team. We just seem to really do some dumb sh#t and we do it at the worst times. It's become a common theme and it's effected every aspect of the game. Offense, defense, special teams, penalities, decison making and situational understanding. You still see a lot of players half assing it out there too. I literally watched Banderas quit on a few plays in the first half before I went on to doing more important sh#t. I mean, the guy just quit playing right in the middle of a play? I'm like.....WTF? I can't allow myself to get to beat up about this stuff anymore. I can't lay it all on the coaches either and maybe I shouldn't have with Bo. We will either find a way to inspire kids to want to do better, or these things will continue. Accountability still seems to be an issue and for me it always will be a problem regardless of the staff. I said it about Bo and I'll say it about Riley if he refuses to make some changes. When the same guys make the same mistakes over and over, or the same players show the same lack of effort day after day, and nobody does anything about it, then it tells you your coaching staff and the core of your football team is weak. Now maybe Riley needs some time to establish a level of accountability in the program and it may be too early to expect it from a bunch of players that are not "his", but my God man, at some point you've got to start looking toward the future and stop letting the same people kill what you're trying to build. Unless of course he doesn't see any issues in this aspect and if that's the case, it's unfortunate for Husker football. Stop f'ing around and start at the heart of the problem.

The personnel decisions are the red flag. Everything else just seems like the guys aren't executing and some of them don't seem to be all that concerned about when they let their team down. Burning the redshirt off that Stevenson kid seems like another head scratcher so far.

I'd like to see Tommy throw less as well, but if the running game isn't working I'm not sure what these coaches are supposed to do. I don't understand the fascination with Newby. He's not the best back on this team in my uninformed opinion. I'd like to see some other backs getting more opportunities.

Screw creativity in the run game. To hell with that. We move the goal posts every week around here. We should be able to line up and move the ball more than two yards. Period. 38 times is more than ample opporuntiy for the guys to find a rhythym and establish some dominance.