huskerstag

herbie leads by 101 votes!!!!

I thought a big part of it was to try to run the football and protect the quarterback. We don't exactly have a lot of studs at WR waiting to come in either. Kind of a pick your poison situation.

Like was said by the announcers, and this is probably the first time i've thought musberger said something intelligent, it seems on offense we don't really have anyone to put out there who scares the opposing defense. Its nice to have a quarterback who can make a read and a throw, and Taylor made the two biggest plays for the offense, both diving into the end zone and then later diving out of it, but he hasn't looked like a superstar. I personally thought if the receivers were ever going to have a big day it was saturday. they were left in man converage for a good portion of the game and they just didn't get open. You can blame the protection, or that the routes took too long, but come on, no one really beat their man except for the one play to Nunn. I thought sooner or later one of them would step up and make a play. I won't even talk about our TEs. It appears that not only are they lacking talent but also a fully functional brain. Seriously, we learned how to line up on the LOS back in JV. Our O-line struggled again, and the tough part about that is that it takes a year or two longer to restock the O-line than it does to reload other positions. I'm not sure what happened to those guys after last season. Ross ran hard and to his credit he's been the heart and soul of the offense. But Pitt had a freshman with the speed to outrun our D to the corner and Ross either didn't make those cuts or doesn't have that speed. He's the man for our team, but he might be one of those players who looks like a superstar simply because he's on a team with no talent around him. Again, patience is needed because as we saw on Sat. the horses just aren't there. The announcers were complaining the whole second half about how we stuck with the 2 tight ends and weren't getting anything out of it. Sticking to just a few formations makes me think the offense is being simplified. Due to the controversy of the coaching changes and the losing season too many people automatically blame the coaches and their complicated pro-style offense. I'm afraid the sad fact is that the cupboards are awfully bare and switching offensive styles at this point would be like switching from a skateboard to a scooter to try and win a drag race. If there's any reason for optimism so far this year, it would be that last year we all recognized we needed a quarterback and a defense with some heart. I feel we've addressed those two problems pretty well so far. This year we can see already we need some stud wr's and a nasty o-line. Instead of being a player or two away from being a killer team like we were in the past we're an entire UNIT or two away. It sucks, but more patience is needed.

Personally I look for Lucky and Glenn to contribute more as the year goes on. Putting a trick play in for Lucky wasn't a bad idea IMO, and we finally saw Glenn in there to pound the ball ahead like we'd anticipated. I'd imagine as the season goes on we'll see these guys get more comfortable with the offense. Personally, I wouldn't be a bit surprised to see Lucky in the slot a handful of times in two weeks against ISU. IMO Callahan is trying to work these guys in where he thinks they can succeed. As far as playing Beck, I really don't know. I'd imagine at the beginning of the season the coaches thought there would be a few more games with some mop up duty to play him and the other freshmen as well. Considering that hasn't happened so far, I'm doubtful we'll see him soon unless we find ourselves on the wrong end of a lopsided score or someone gets hurt.

I think Illini is right on. IMO we're doing ok "running" the WCO. There have been plays here and there that have been busted or shut down from the start, and some audibles and check downs have likely been missed. But so far I haven't seen any of the panicked throws or general confusion on the field that was so prevalent last year. It seems to me that the players on the field for the most part are on the same page. However, I would say that we're indeed having some serious trouble "executing" the WCO in terms of OL play, catching balls, and making some cutbacks. To me it seems to be more of an execution/concentration problem so far, rather than an intelligence - grasping the concept- problem. What do y'all think?

NU-24 Pitt-10 Rushing yds-185 Passing yds-260

was it some sort of clever way to incorporate two messages into one? was it in a sign the writer was trying to use to get on TV at a sporting event?

I suppose we should have run an option to the short side of the field in those situations huh? Nothing against FS but we weren't exactly an offensive machine his last few years here either.

I'll agree that if you don't have at least some concerns about the team's offensive play then you may be a bit too optimistic. I was really pleased last night at one thing specifically. It seemed to me that both offensively and defensively we wore Wake down. I know in the first half that their O-line opened some huge holes and our O-line really got pushed around. But by the midpoint in the 3rd quarter Taylor had much better protection, by no means perfect...but better. It also appeared that before the reserves came in the D-line and backers had things nicely under control. That may be because we had 8-9 buys within 5 yds of the LOS, but I don't remember any part of our team taking control of the LOS at all last year. That alone gives me optimism. I thought the 3rd quarter was by far the best football we've played so far, hopefully we'll see some of that rhythm earlier next week.

Here kids, this is the most effective way to blow two o-rings at once.

Does it have something to do with a date (ie. a palindrome)? Does if have something to do with the KC Royals having a winning record?

NU - 20 WF - 7 NU Passing Yards - 215 NU Rushing Yards - 180

I hope the U really does let the scoreboard be sponsored by Miller Lite. They seem to have some top notch referees in their commercials.

I think it was mentioned earlier that Wake Forest was scheduled in place of Houston. I also think it was Houston that dropped the ball on the game as they couldn't get their crap together in a month plus so Pederson got tired of waiting around. It was then their AD who started crying about it. Our non-conference schedule is pretty much middle of the pack for the rest of the NCAA. Besides, getting a warm-up game in and giving the team a chance to build some momentum isn't a bad thing for this year.

I'm dizzy

I saw on cnn this morning that gas prices in Atlanta were pushing $5.00/gallon. Haven't heard much on how it will affect this area though.

Trev Alberts seemed to be a little down on the team last night at the end of the 10:00 SC segment about Nebraska. He predicted 7-4 saying we may not be a better team but will have a better record. I don't thing 7-4 is an unrealistic expectation, though I do expect 8 wins. However, my feeling is that we will be a much better team than last year, maybe not talent wise just yet, but in terms of execution and attitude I'm looking for things to be much improved.

Maybe by "other" he/she meant -1 as in Taylor actually coming in on defense and intercepting a pass. It could happen.

Anyone know of any cheap places for gas in N. Lincoln or W. Omaha? My wife is starting her first job with the AP in Omaha after Labor Day. Her car gets pretty good mileage but the gas station outside our apt. had E10 at 2.799 as of last night. Thank goodness I can ride my bike to work.

There's no doubt its a flawed system, but I agree with those who say its what we have and so we'll go with it. There is a complaint that I think will almost certainly be made if a playoff system were implemented, and ironically its pretty much the same complaint we hear now. There's no good way of deciding who to put in the NC game if more than 2 teams are qualified. Now imagine instead of trying to decide from among 3 unbeaten teams you have to decide from among say 3-4 1 loss teams for the 4th playoff spot, or if you use 8 teams then there could plausibly be 5-6 2 loss teams with a legitimate claim. The problem with implementing a playoff IMO is that NCAA D1 football is too big for it. Things aren't broken down into nice little conferences and subconferences. In the NFL the teams all play against the other teams they're competing against for a playoff spot, and there are more spots to go around. I could see each major conference getting a playoff spot, but then again we'd have the "non-playoff" conferences just as we now have the "non-BCS" conferences. You could throw in the at-large bids, but what do you do if say Texas loses to OU and doesn't win the conference, but Boise State or Utah or Bowling Green or whoever goes undefeated. Again we'd be facing the same situations we've had in years past. Along with that I do feel some of the mystique of major college football would be lost because it would be such a radical departure from what its always been. But who knows, maybe it'll be that much better after its all said and done anyway.

I'm against all bands at football games.

Were the 7 employees dwarves?

NU-48 Maine-10 NU Passing-270 yds NU-Rushing-240 yds

I personally share the same viewpoint as Armistead but with some qualifications. I'm not too confident that we'll have that much more talent on the field this year. The D-line is deeper and that gives me confidence. But other than that, we haven't seen anything proven on the field in the way of developing a pass rush. Carriker is healthy, that's an upgrade in talent i suppose...but while Smith and Adams were strong against the run last year, they didn't pressure the qb much, maybe that wasn't their primary concern though. The speedy rush ends in Muhammad and the recruit from Tenn. (his name escapes me and I'm too lazy to look it up) may help, but again, I'm concerned this aspect won't be much better than last year. I have the same concern with the WRs. Frantz Hardy has had some good things said about him and it appears the guys from last year (Nunn, Fluellen, etc.) are finally grasping the system, but again...until these guys prove they can make the reads and make the plays I'm still fearful that they won't be able to overcome the loss of Herian at TE. That being said, I look for marked improvement on both sides of the ball, if for no other reason than more familiarity all the way around and a much improved attitude to start with. If things crumble early though, we'll see if the team's attitude holds up or if they take the mentality i fear many of the fans will take against the new staff. I'm pumped to get it all started.

Are you one of those guys on the capital one commercials that only says "No"?