brophog

I wouldn't put it past him hiring the checker at HyVee if he thought he could turn him into a football coach. He coaches coaches.

I see it completely the other way. It's made it easier for the top teams to stack top classes year after year because it's so much easier to move guys out of your program. Some programs still did that in the past, but you faced a tremendous backlash when you pulled a scholarship. A team like Georgia now can just stack 5 stars on top of 5 stars and process them through the portal when they don't play. I don't think we've seen an era this stacked at the very top end since the NCAA scholarship reductions several decades ago. It seems like it has spread the talent out more, but in the past those guys would have started at other programs, anyhow, because they didn't want to sit behind 5 stars at the premier programs. Why even worry about that now, because half of the players either move onto the NFL in 3 years or exit via the portal. I would also say that there's generally more talent overall in college football because basically everyone has tremendous facilities now. The number of programs investing heavily in development and nutrition is vastly improved over a few decades ago due to the tremendous amount of television money now in the sport.

I dont think he's a QB. I've never thought he was a QB. In the spring I commented on him potentially being a Wildcat guy because Satterfield and Rhule have a past history of doing that. In reality, it was also because I just didn't think he should be an every down QB. I like him a lot. Great person, great competitor and a good athlete. I think he's a guy that can help the team elsewhere and maybe if he doesn't do it via switching positions it could still be as a Wildcat. The rumored incoming QB options aren't exactly mobile. Haarberg can put his head down in tough situations to get yards and throws a decent deep ball when they cheat on that.

The Big Ten doing Nebraska a favor? Can you share the drugs with the rest of the class.

I don't feel bad for him at all. He still has a scholarship to his dream school. My pitch to him is very simple. He wants to be here, we want him, and with all of the transfers and injures there will eventually be an opportunity. This is a place with a statue of a backup QB. It'll be so special to a kid like him to come in for a banged up starter to drive down for the winning TD in a big game.

Its one thing for a commit to take an official early in the season because official visits are cool. You don't do it a week before signing day just to visit your uncle after your family uprooted half way across the country. Georgia may ultimately find a way to retain him, but there's something to this.

TE coach is the entry level position on the coaching tree. Being a hybrid position, it's the easiest position to coach on the offense. I'm all for the idea of a dedicated QB coach with Satt at OC/TE. His dream is to play 4 TEs anyhow, so he may as well coach them.

I don't think that is nearly as important as it once was. You have top picks coming out of lower divisions now, entire starting offenses full of players that went to lower tier schools. Players often have their own private coaches. Games are on TV all of the time so you get exposure practically anywhere. The NFL has shown, especially over the last decade, that they'll go where the talent is. It may affect your draft stock a little bit if you did it at an SEC or Big Ten school, but the real money is in your second contract and no one will care where you went to school once you're in the league. I'd advise a guy to go where he'll have fun during his college years. If fun means competing for national titles, then you're going to have to pick that from that very selective group that can recruit enough aggregate talent to do that. If you just want to be the starting QB, you could go to Wyoming or Texas Tech.

I dont know how feasible that is as a get, but I'm just of the opinion that you should have a dedicated coach for what is disproportionately the most important player on the field. I think OCs wanting to be the QB coach is too often a control issue rather than one of efficacy.

Just think of him as a guy that's really good at learning a new playbook.

He really likes Runzas.

It was huge. He was going to be the bigger, badder Tommie. Very different guys, but that's how elevated the hype was.

As much as some of these QB names excite me, maybe the rumor I'm most excited about is the idea of dedicated QB coach being hired.

I think Kaelin stays. He's very mature for his age and obviously a big fan. Of anybody coming into this situation I think he will understand that a QB room in the era of the portal and NIL shifts rapidly.

This offense will turn a mediocre QB into a turnover machine, too. I have no faith in Satterfield's ability to develop a QB and the entire passing game needs an overhaul. A lot of these interceptions fall on Satterfield. Things like running verts with 2x2 sets against 2 high Safeties bracketing with no hots. Especially in the college game, take the thinking away from the QB. Give him actual progressions....1,2,3 release. This offense lacks routes that work off one another, lacks break timing, and has too much waiting for someone to hopefully get open. It's a nightmare for *any* QB. While we certainly had to make lemonade out of lemons from the QB position I think it's equally fair to say we completely and utterly failed to help our QBs.

We didn't have a scheme this year. You know that because if you have a scheme then half of opposing defense isn't waiting on the QB on every option play because they have to account for the other plays/components that make it an actual scheme. A big reason so many plays ended up as QB runs was the scheme as such didn't exist to force defenders to account for someone else. About the only symmetry this offense had was to hope they over-commited to the QB runs enough that eventually you could drop one over the top for a big play.

It's not near the best Husker defense, and that's ignoring relative strength of opposing offenses. But, it's a great first year, let's not let past greatness overshadow that. To get that kind of buy in on year one is something special. As time goes on we'll get pieces that fit even better and White will get more accustomed to calling the defense to better fit this league. I'd say its pretty fair to say they exceeded expectations on that side this year despite being put into a lot of really bad spots.

That's been the trend in the sport for quite some time now. It's simply far, far easier to scheme offense than recruit defense. Especially if, as you said, you have skill talent nearby and you're target is primarily to be bowl eligible or a little better every year. If you want to challenge for titles, it's all about the defensive front and pass rushers, imo, even over QBs because that's the best way in the modern game to account for the numerical binds that modern offenses can put you in. In terms of keeping White, it was probably a good year for a couple of schools to have job openings available. Pay the man and keep recruiting more defensive speed and let him cook.

What they need is a Quarterback.

That and due to our own turnovers, some of those are cases where our defense is tasked with moving them out of field goal range. The first field goal in both the NIU and Northwestern games came on drives in which the opposition had negative yards. The only two I can think of that are concerning is the end of the Minnesota game, obviously, and Colorado before half time. Both situations where they were able to drive down and score with time running out. Situations where it's either a really short field or they go on like a 10+ play drive and have to settle for a FG are winning football, most of the time. Field goals conceded is just a really situational stat.

I think this spread is way more accurate than those betting percentages suggest. Mich St is both better than their record and their stats suggest. In a small sample size, those beatings by Washington and Michigan are carrying a lot of weight. Washington in particular was 713 yards of offense! The two team's profiles are similar. Both defenses are better vs the run than the pass, both offenses struggle, and both teams turn the ball over way, way too much. While it's cliche to suggest whomever controls the turnover battle wins, in this game it may be the entire ball game. It's hard to have confidence that Nebraska can ring them up many times through the air, and if you don't do that their defense is actually fairly stout. Home underdogs against a team that not only turns the ball over a lot but has a tendency to do it in its own territory......I can't say I'm betting against that 91% of the time. This line has trap written all over it.

I wouldn't say he's a bad OC. Nebraska is putting up bad numbers this year but turnovers and injuries are playing a massive role in that. To use an analogy, we paid Ferrari money for a Toyota Corolla. That Corolla will be adequate in the day to day, but it's going to get lapped on the track. We paid a lot of money to the head coach and put a lot of resources into the program and so I'm of the opinion it's perfectly justifiable to pay top money to the coordinator positions. I'd frankly be upset if we did all of that and then tried to cheapen out on coordinators. However, if you pay a guy top money he has to show he's at least capable of something relative to that in performance. Satterfield will never justify this salary. I doesn't mean I think he's a bad OC, but it does mean I think he was a bad hire.

I'd throw a shout out to ole Pot Roast and the S&C staff, too. I said before the season that neither side of the ball was likely capable of 'carrying' the other side and that the offense in year 1 may be ahead of the defense. That was because that's typically the case. There is a reason offensive coaches get promoted so, so, so much more often than defensive coaches and that's because they can scheme around issues so much easier because that side controls the game. Even the most aggressive defensive scheme is still at the mercy of what the offense chooses to do. I also questioned, even after seeing the spring, if the defensive line and overall pass rush was capable. We were asking some guys, that let's face it haven't performed all that well, to do some things that they weren't really asked to do much. So while I loved White and I loved this defensive scheme I just thought we were probably a year away from being able to implement at a decently high level. While the whole defense has been very good, if I had to single out one unit it is the defensive line, though. I'm not going to pile on the offense, because what would be the point in that, but I will say I think the biggest draw back in terms of big picture is this season's unfortunate bad luck on that side buys Satterfield a year or two more. He's pretty much what he's always been and that's not a guy deserving of that kind of salary. I wouldn't have hired him, regardless, but for that kind of money there are a lot of options. At this point we're just hoping the offense scores more than they give up. What our defense has done on quick change and short field situations has been truly remarkable.

That was awesome. A much deserved celebration for one of the greatest programs in collegiate sports history. A fine time was had by all and the party continued well past the match end time. Nebraska could have gone out there and broke the volleyball record way cheaper than they did. The spectacle matched the accomplishment. Instead of just settling for a small record, they went big, but not just for volleyball. They took the premier program at the University and used it as an anchor point to make a statement: Nebraska can still accomplish the biggest of dreams. People have asked for years, can Nebraska football come back? We just saw through the cooperation of the athletic department, university, coaching staff and fans that a WORLD RECORD can be broken. Now, I don't expect this record to last very long. The biggest accomplishments often don't because they set the bar so high that others are inspired to break them. For all of us as fans, that's what greatness looks like. Lets go and have as much fun this season as everyone had tonight.

I've said for a while that I think this Minnesota game is very important. Not that it makes or breaks the season or Rhule's career or anything like that. But it's a momentum game. That momentum started with Iowa and has just torpedoed through the offseason. I know I just cursed us, but Nebraska is in about as good of a shape as a program heading into Week 2 of fall camp as could reasonably be expected from where they found themselves before that Iowa kickoff last fall. I have a lot of appreciation for what Minnesota has built and for that reason I think they're underrated entering the season. How many other programs would be coming off back to back 9 win seasons, and 3 of the last 4, to such mundane hype. They need a few things to go their way like everyone in this division, but I think they are clearly underrated heading into the season. Heading into Week 2 we've seen representatives from every position group now talk. Ben Scott the other day said it best, and I'm paraphrasing for effect but only slightly....hold yourself to this standard or GTFO. I don't recall in many, many years this many players with that attitude. It's pervasive throughout that team. It just seems like these guys are really, really tired of losing and they've just had enough of it. You could argue Nebraska is no longer a blueblood in the sense they once were, but when bluebloods bounce back its rarely done quietly. The dam usually breaks wide open. They may have been down for too long for it to be this year. There's a lot of talent throughout nearly every position group, but it's almost all unproven in some definition of the word. Regardless of the result of this game or this season, there is definitely a strong sense that this program is different in a way it hasn't been in an extremely long time.