Jason Sitoke

Rhoads is obviously doing a great job. That being said, I was perplexed by his decision to fake the PAT for a couple reasons: 1) If you're going to gamble, the time to do it was with 40 seconds to go, all 3 TOs, and the ball at your own 20. You've got an offense that is confident, a big leg kicker, and the wind at your back. 2) Okay, so you take a knee, which told me that he thought ISU was the better team at that point and was willing to take his chances with a 0 - 0 game essentially. So his team answers score fairly easily and all indications showed that we were in for a long OT session until someone made a mistake. My money would have been on the offense with the 3rd string QB to make the big mistake. Instead, he goes gimmick with his holder and it fails. 3) To echo what has all ready been stated. If you're going to take one shot on offense to beat a team, do it with your OFFENSE. Win or lose, put it in the hands of the starters that got you to that point.

Nah wouldn't have been able to snap his neck. You need speed to beat the muscles protecting the structures. In human dissection it took several big boys in the class with a pulley system set up to snap the corpses' neck and this is without the muscle guarding (dead) and deterioration of tissues over time (I do realize rigor mortis sets in but gradually weakens over time). However rex may be a little sore and stiff for a few days... That will be Beebe's explanation VERBATIM as to why there will be no reprimand. No intent to injure because 'in absence of rigor mortis, the structural muscles are too strong and will prevent the neck from breaking'.

On a similar note, did anyone catch the play by play guy use the theme word of the season 'targeting' when Osborne bumped a receiver after an incompletion? It was the LaVonte David interference play. The color guy, to his credit, diffused it by calling it a 'love tap' by his standards. Osborne even jumped, like he was bound and determined to NOT let his helmet make any contact with the ISU player.

+1

I think that the time for this thread has definitely come. No one is saying that our defense sucks or that it's time to rethink what in the hell we're doing out there. However, what we are seeing is how this scheme can be exploited. When everyone in your back seven pretty much has the look of a DB, you're going to get pounded in the run game, unless you've got a couple special lineman that can shed blocks and stuff the run themselves. Last year, we had a man child that wreaked havoc up front. He often times single handedly took away an opponents ability to run. This year, we'd be doing that again, except for the fact that Jared Crick appears to be merely a good, not great and certainly not All-American caliber, interior lineman. His counterpart is a sophomore. The 2 ends are fairly average IMO (some could argue that Meredith shows some real promise I suppose). Many times, we've got LaVonte who's in the only position to make a play on the running back. If an O lineman or fullback get on him, we're looking at a 5 - 8 yard gain before the safety or peso back can fill the gap. I think that in these types of games, where the opposition moves the ball consistently and runs clock, it magnifies each mistake by the offense (or Niles Paul on kickoffs for that matter) because the game is shortened. When your defense is consistently facing 2nd and 4, 3rd and 2, etc, drives are easily extended. I'd like to see a little more blitzing on early downs. TFL and sacks are not coming with any regularity this year. We are very much a defensive cliche (bend but don't break). Sacks and TFL are drive killers, and they force teams to take chances to extend drives. That leads to turnovers. Blitzing is not a long term solution to a defense's struggles. The shortcomings are very real. However, like I said, it's not like this unit is deplorable. They're just not dominant. And with all the pub that Crick and Pierre Allen were getting before the season started, I bought into the hype, even though I really hadn't been starstruck by either at that point. Bottom line is that the offense needs to put up points and extend drives of their own. Iowa St. seemed fairly happy to give up 5 yds a run today. They were bound and determined not to give up the huge play and made us earn each score. I thought the only times we stifled ourselves on offense was when CG was fumbling handoffs and snaps, or the backs got greedy (Helu tried the outside too many times when he probably should have lowered his shoulder and fell forward for 5 more yards) They'll need to be patient and possibly win a couple more high scoring games (with aTm and a possible rematch with OSU in the CCG on the horizon).

Anyone but Larry the Cable Guy

I find it hilarious that the word 'flagrant' is being thrown around by Beebe concerning Martin's hit. When you've got 20 yr old kids going around 220 lbs with 4.4 speed running full speed into each other during a kickoff, I would think the situation itself is pretty over the top and outrageous. And you better have a f'ing knack for the flagrant if you find yourself out there amongst the 22. They don't call it 'suicide squad' for nothing.

Man, I remember that so vividly. Most every bit of animosity and heartbreak I ever had with respect to watching my sports teams play has melted away. Except for that play. I'm livid to this day about that f'ing no call. The least nefarious explanation for it is that they saw the facemask, and just didn't feel like calling it.

I'll preface this by saying that neither Green or Lee make me very comfortable when they line up under center. They will start Lee next week if Martinez can't go. That's a fact. Another point of contention: Lee had 3 passes against Mizzou. The first was an ill-advised decision that could have been picked. The second was not off Reed's hands. It was 10 feet over his head. The third was a nice throw on a crucial down. Green has not looked good, but how can some of you say Green sucks, and in the same breath say that you can't judge Lee because he hasn't played much? Last year, Green and Lee were pretty interchangeable in my opinion. Lee got the edge because Green was a freshman. Yeah, Lee has experience in big games, but how much experience does he have playing WELL in big games. Not much. I'm not a Lee hater, but I do find it somewhat puzzling when people speak of him as if he's Major Applewhite with a knack for coming up big in big games. He's just not that guy. And I think the myth about Lee being a markedly better passer than Martinez has been busted these past 2 weeks. That being said, Lee did run the offense against Mizzou, and with the way the offensive line and defense were playing, that's all he was being asked to do. If Martinez can't go, it should be Lee because with the upcoming schedule, we just need a guy that knows the playbook and executes the play.

It's in Lincoln. We could lose by 30 for all I can guess.

F**K YOU!!!!!!!! jk

Reed has got some SERIOUS speed from the TE spot. Love to see him on some seam or wheel routes, in addition to the post he runs off the PA.

Compton was on the field for at least a couple of those big run plays by OSU

I give the game ball to Zac Lee. Great senior moxie and composure shown with that headset on. :-) Offense: Martinez, Paul, Helu (tough running today), Kinnie (no TDs coming in. Now he's got 3) Defense: Ummmmmm...........how about that Husker offense huh?

That's it for this thread.

I don't think those that bash Watson (I'm among them) are all that reactionary. I give Watson credit for continuing to go to the PA corner route. I don't think OSU covered it all day.

It was an ill advised pitch. Reminiscent of his little flip pass earlier. It was a forward pass, but replays were not conclusive.

What's stupid about Thenarse is that when you duck your helmet like that: A You can't wrap up B You can't see anything and a good stiff arm will send you to the turf C You have a great chance of hurting someone. Most likely, yourself.

Ecstatic to see this thread. I checked in on HB after the hit and some of those that post were berating Martin for his 'cheap shot'. f#*k YOU PEOPLE and you know who you are. Yes, someone was hurt on the play. And ABSOLUTELY concussions are very SERIOUS matters. I'm not one of those old school callous a$$hole$ that think EVERY hit is legal and answer every question with 'this is FOOTBALL'. Eric Martin is a man among boys on ST. He's been that way since he got on campus. His hit was LEGAL. It was a block. It looked bad because the guy who got hit was not aware of his surroundings and got LEVELED. f#*k Franklin! How does Martin's family, friends feel about Eric being singled out as a cheap shot artist as they watch him play? He gave a high five on the sideline. NO ONE knows what the context of that was. I'm pretty sure it wasn't "nice work #46. Hope that guy never walks again. HIGH FIVE!" I absolutely concur. Unbelievable unprofessional behavior by the color guy.

This is a good point. Much of Martinez' problems passing have been the result of dropped passes. Yes, he's had bad throws, but so has Lee. Martinez' good throws are being dropped, making his stats look worse than they should. Martinez is a competent passer - not Joe Montana, but he's not Tommie Frazier, either. Qualitatively, having Martinez in there is exactly nothing like having Lee. We've seen very little on Lee, keep in mind. And the biggest problem here is we are treating passing as a single simple ability. Martinez is nowhere close to Lee in the footwork or mechanics of throwing, and he is especially nowhere close in being able to read defenses, meaning both before the play (checking to other plays based on what the defense shows, and other adjustments) and during the play (going through progressions). Last year, at the beginning of the year, Lee was limited in his progressions. Martinez is as well, currently (breakdown is from the Rivals free board). When TMart is asked to go through multiple progressions on a play, they are usually in the same zone of the field - left, middle, right. Against Texas, when we opened it up and progressions were in different areas of the field, Martinez struggled making them, resulting in broken plays. Lee, right now, opens us up to having these wrinkles in the passing game, where his first progression might be in the left middle of the field, his second might be right deep, and his third might be middle short. Or something like that, I'm no expert personally. That's funny because my biggest problem with Lee in the passing game last year was that he never seemed to look past his 1st read. He looked like he knew from the minute he broke the huddle that he was going ONE place with the ball, whether it was there or not. I know you and I tend to go round and round on this issue, so I guess I'll just respectfully disagree with your assertion that Lee is a better passer. I only have what I saw for the entire season last year to go on, and he wasn't a very good passer in those games. when you have no pass protection, it makes it hard to go through your progressions. just saying. I think it's fair to say that I'm considering those situations in which he had time to throw. Just saying.

This is a good point. Much of Martinez' problems passing have been the result of dropped passes. Yes, he's had bad throws, but so has Lee. Martinez' good throws are being dropped, making his stats look worse than they should. Martinez is a competent passer - not Joe Montana, but he's not Tommie Frazier, either. Qualitatively, having Martinez in there is exactly nothing like having Lee. We've seen very little on Lee, keep in mind. And the biggest problem here is we are treating passing as a single simple ability. Martinez is nowhere close to Lee in the footwork or mechanics of throwing, and he is especially nowhere close in being able to read defenses, meaning both before the play (checking to other plays based on what the defense shows, and other adjustments) and during the play (going through progressions). Last year, at the beginning of the year, Lee was limited in his progressions. Martinez is as well, currently (breakdown is from the Rivals free board). When TMart is asked to go through multiple progressions on a play, they are usually in the same zone of the field - left, middle, right. Against Texas, when we opened it up and progressions were in different areas of the field, Martinez struggled making them, resulting in broken plays. Lee, right now, opens us up to having these wrinkles in the passing game, where his first progression might be in the left middle of the field, his second might be right deep, and his third might be middle short. Or something like that, I'm no expert personally. That's funny because my biggest problem with Lee in the passing game last year was that he never seemed to look past his 1st read. He looked like he knew from the minute he broke the huddle that he was going ONE place with the ball, whether it was there or not. I know you and I tend to go round and round on this issue, so I guess I'll just respectfully disagree with your assertion that Lee is a better passer. I only have what I saw for the entire season last year to go on, and he wasn't a very good passer in those games.

The line has 2-gap responsibility, which means that on at least 1st and 2nd down (most of the time), they are simply holding their ground. Agreed that in obvious passing downs, there has not been much of a pass rush, certainly not from the ends. Once in a while, they'll stunt or zone blitz. I think the scheme more or less lends itself to bigger, run stopping DEs than the lightning quick Grant Wistroms or Mike Ruckers of the world. I would say that on a couple of those Gilbert scrambles, I was disappointed at how easily he broke contain. The way the DLine is taught to get pressure in the scheme is to collapse the pocket. Not necessarily beat your one on one, but drive them back and hurry the quarterback's throw. Suh was an aberration because he could do his job AND pulverize his guy(s) to get to the QB. We will not see another one like him. Has anyone notice that we seem to bring the corner a lot from the weakside of the formation on a blitz? I guess that might be understandable, except for the fact that it seems to be a run blitz on 1st and 2nd down. It seemed against KState that they were using Amukamura to makes sure that Thomas couldn't cut back. They did the same for a spell against UT. Wish they would have done it on the last rushing play by Texas. That cutback killed all hope.

I might be inclined to agree if there was any evidence that Zac Lee is a markedly better passer than Martinez. Seems like having Martinez in there is like having Lee, except with 4.35 speed. That should be enough to keep defenses guessing.

These people are just morons. That's what you chalk it up to. I'd be willing to bet that most of those in this forum would never heckle a player. For no other reason than it makes YOU look like an idiot for doing it. Any player or coach will have to deal with a sprinkling of drunk parasites from time to time.

Okay. Enough all ready. You don't know a Husker player (hiding behind the bushes, staring as they come out of the weight room doesn't count), and you're not a player. Even if you did, you're basically asking for the internet to be purged of any and all negativity after the team laid an ostrich egg on Saturday because some of the players may get on their WiFi and see it. Treating them like they're 10 year olds looking for their Dad's porn stash doesn't solve anything, and if their psyche is that fragile, I'd be worried about them doing anything in their daily lives. Any one of us could find a forum full of people that say negative things that might offend us. Whatever are we to do? I'll spare you the suspense: we don't click on the link. I'm fairly new on this board, and I can say that this is one of the more benign forums you'll find. Most of the comments pretty much consist of people wishing the team would play better. Telling Niles Paul to 'catch the damn ball' is no different than what any of his coaches were saying on the sidelines or in practice. When the local newspaper simply reports that the receivers dropped 8 passes on Saturday, I guess that's negative. Maybe they should stay more positive and talk about the balls the DID catch. And maybe we should talk about how these kids try their best. And maybe we should give them watermelon and CapriSuns after the game. And maybe an end of the year pizza party to celebrate! But guess what? This isn't 10 year old Pee Wee football. College football is a business. What drives that business is people being fanatical about football. I'm not going to argue that this is a healthy way to follow sports, but it's not casual fans that spend $500 for a 50 yd line seat. It's not a casual fan that decorates his house in Scarlet and Cream. It's not the casual fan that shells out $30 to watch his team play a glorified scrimmage against Western Kentucky. And it's not a casual fan that joins a message board for the right to answer in essay form why his team can't run the ball against a good defense. There you have it. For the same reason these players get recognized on the street, get drinks bought for them at the pub, and get laid frequently by coeds is the very same reason they are subject to accessible ridicule and criticism at times. That's the good with the bad. And when the team is winning 10 games a year (which it should be expected to more often than not), the good times are much more frequent than the bad.