brophog

Last year this board talked and talked and talked about how badly Texas was going to get beat. You take it one game at a time for a reason.

It may be popular, but it is honestly the worst fantasy sport there is from a construct standpoint.

The combination of the offense being on the field a short amount of time and the defense being on the field a long amount of time can lead to fatigue for a defense.

He's the same in person. Sometimes I forget there is an 'r' in his name.

Good observations. There are several counters, as you mention, that we didn't run to what they were doing (though we did do some things, such as some motion). Paul Johnson is amazing at changing his blocking schemes to account for the Safety, who gave us problems most of the day. Here's one example: He does it with a flex look there, but that could easily be a TE and we have a couple capable ones. We did some of that with the TE on a Backer and tried to option off of the Safety. Sometimes we'd pull a guard around and bring the tackle down. How Beck adjusts those things series to series is something I'm watching for as he gets more experience. That's when the option becomes really powerful. All of that stuff out of the way, a lot of it was simple blocking as well. We really did have the right numbers most of the game, but we just need to tweak a few things. I really felt, overall, that this was a good play calling debut from Beck. I may be the only one saying that, considering the result.

I don't know. Could have been a confusion at a lot of levels. Watching it again, I wonder if Rex thought it was a running play. The backside O-line makes me wonder that, too.

A lot of it is at the micro level still. We had one post route in the first half that was a sure TD that Taylor threw behind the receiver and he dropped it. The middle of the field was open on that play. A nice playcall in the context of what we were showing to that point. The play Rex ran into Taylor on the WR screen pass........Rex never should have had protection responsibilities to that side. That has to be a protection call to protect that playside with a slide protection and let Rex take backside. It doesn't really even matter if that backside gets blocked, as long as you get the hands down on the playside. The blocking schemes on those option plays. A good option offense has to have several blocking schemes to handle that playside Safety coming down in the box. You can't give up force to the playside backer and let that Safety run free, or as we saw you don't get numbers in the option game and we spent most of the first half in that kind of situation. We made one adjustment on that here in the second half on Taylor's long run by bringing motion back towards the formation, which was nice. It's little things on most plays, but it is a lot of little things and it is at every position right now. I think what upsets me most of all, though, is that we're not winning more one on one battles.

I think I counted one play in the first half that was run clean. I had relatively low expectations, but I was disappointed overall.

During the week, the BTN channels can be in flux for a bit. These are the current channel lineups from BTN's site. If you set a timer earlier this week, they may have changed. BTN Gamefinder

So an entire fanbase can't figure out this offense, and yet you get all of that out of the statement that Barney will be in the press box. This is why I post almost nothing on this board, nor any other board these days. Far too many fans are out of their damn minds. The tiniest little things get fans riled up these days. One wonders if humans have evolved their sense of judgement far enough to handle the instantaneous transmission of information. I'll give it another try next year.

I don't. I see it as a new play caller having someone with experience with him in the booth.

I bet some of you were hell on Santa Claus.

........which isn't nearly as innocent as it once was, sadly to say. Many of the problems filter all the way down into pee wee programs. The sport as a whole has lost a lot of innocence over the years.

In what ways? The biggest benefit of sacks is the higher tendency for fumbles and the higher tendency for those fumbles to be recovered by the defense than on most other parts of the field. Otherwise, they're glorified tackles for loss that, mostly due to poor public stats, have become the only perceived statistic for pass rushing defensive linemen. Guys make millions based solely on this one number. Sacks are not synonymous with pressure, though that fact makes it seem so. We don't rate total pressures highly (hits, hurries) because they aren't public stats, nor do we rate TFL because it isn't seemed as glamorous. This is important in Pelini's defense. Measuring a player by how many sacks he gets often runs counter to what the player is supposed to be doing on that given play in this defense. For this reason, you'll often hear defensive coaches suggest that sacks are overrated. That shouldn't be confused with the idea they aren't trying to achieve pressure on the QB, in the appropriate situations. Finally, like any summation statistic there is an error with efficiency. Sack Rate is a more useful measure, and more specific still is Sack Rate combined with down and distance. Across all forms of football, as would be no surprise, 3rd and long produces far more sacks than any other down and distance. If one is using stats as a measurement, as they normally are, such considerations should be noted. Furthermore, though against conventional thought, the role of the sack is far more a resultant of the QB than it is line play, though because of a lack of offensive line stats they are normally a principle measure for line play.

It'll be whatever you had last year. If you have 120+ or better, you'll get a single BTN channel, which means you'll get the feature game only. Pay $7/month extra for the sports package and you'll get all the games they broadcast, which is just about every Big 10 game not on ESPN/ABC, or NBC at Notre Dame. Or in our case, Versus for the Wyoming game. Also with that sports package you get NFL RedZone (very cool) and all of the Fox Sports and Comcast regional networks, which basically means seeing a Big 12 game on Fox Midwest/Southwest and a late night Pac 12 game on Fox West or whatever it's called. That's the way I understand it anyway. Get the sports package. You'll spend less for that for the entire fall and see just about every Husker game than you did for a single PPV game last year. Here's a tip for anyone thinking of getting Dish Network, or already have it but don't have the 120+ or sports package: 1. Go to Dish Network's site. 2. Start a live chat with customer service. 3. Ask them if they have anything that compares to the free NFL Ticket that DTV is offering, and that you are considering leaving/or signing up with them. 4. They will send you to the customer loyalty dept. and will offer you a few things. - If you are in a package below the 120+, they will give you the 120+ package + the sports package (ton of extra sports channels and all BTN and BTN alternates) + NFL redzone for only $5 more a month through January. - If you are already in the 120+ package, they will give you the sports package, BTN (and alternates) + NFL Redzone for free all the way through January. http://slickdeals.net/forums/showthread.php?t=3250429 Good tips. I'd also add that you should call again if you don't get terms you like. They're not as inconsistent from customer rep to customer rep as they once were but there still tend to be differences.

Milt knows well how to play the PR game.

Amen. Too many of these large and/or newer stadiums around the country have terrible seats. The NFL keeps wanting to build all of these new stadiums, and yet I consistently hear negative reactions by common fans to them. And then the NFL wonders why those fans are staying at home.

Bo gets a bad rap from some fans and the local media who don't understand one important concept: time. The local media tends to deal with Bo right after games/practices, when he's still hyped up. The national media often gets him before he gets hyped up. You'll often hear people ask why Bo is a certain way on an interview with ESPN, versus an interview with the local paper. That's why. If Jim Rome only got to interview Bo Pelini right after practice, he'd get a different side of him, too.

I don't blame Time Warner. It's BTN's fault. It's neither's 'fault'. Sports networks get charged huge fees by the program providers. They pass those fees onto the cable operators. They pass those fees onto the customers. Everything is allowed to go up and up and up in the name of competition. Eventually it will hit a point of saturation.

It's all part of the chain of complain. Cable operators get put in a no win situation with the sports networks. They make up an enormous percentage of the broadcast cost.

Unfortunately, I have to agree, and it is getting much worse. I don't know if the past season's disappointment is just getting to everyone, or if it is something else, but every time I drop in I find myself wanting to drop in less often than the time before.

Any time you think you won't lose is when you do. Much better Nebraska teams have lost to much worse Texas teams in stakes that were every bit as important.

I'll just take a win in Lincoln.

The media are chopping that thing up and misquoting the kid. Its nothing Bo Pelini doesn't say 14 times every media session.

Some of these statements about Bo being paranoid or operating in some kind of underhanded fashion to that regard really bother me. In past years, it was always something else.......the 'Blackshirts' was a big one.......everyone just got in a fit about when they were going to be given out. This year, it's QB. It's always something that gets latched onto that everyone needs to know about and blows into this great big, ground breaking issue. There are several positions we don't know who the starter will be. QB is an important position, and before it is all said and done we'll have that answer. We've seen this staff fiddle with positions throughout the season before and the QB position may just be in a such a shape this year that it can't be completely determined coming out of camp. That happens sometimes. Sometimes you come out of camp in such a hurry to name one guy that you make a mistake and feel obligated to stay with it longer than you want. When you name a guy really early, it's hard to foster competition, particularly if you name him and then proceed to treat him like that guy. Everyone begins settling into their role and you can lose the opportunity for that #2 guy to fill the potential he may have had otherwise. There are advantages and disadvantages to waiting. The reason we didn't have these issues the past few years is because there was no mystery.......there was no depth. When Bo says we're built on a foundation of competition, that's what he means. This isn't coachspeak. This should be the way it really is, and yet there are so, so many people who are name calling out of nothing more than their own greed. It's not about the program, it is about them and what they feel they are obligated to know and on what timeframe.......and that's just petty and unnecessary. None of these things Bo has done that has gotten this backlash has been for anything but the program and the welfare of these athletes. He's not obtuse, he knows these things are being said, and yet he goes up there to field questions every time standing behind the same message, with the same purpose in mind. That's not easy. It would be a whole lot easier to just name that starter and let that player field that avalanche......but he doesn't. He takes it on the chin for what he feels is the best interest of the program. He wants to sell that message to his players that it really is all about competition and every day is an evaluation. Nobody is a finished product and you can be replaced at any time. That's what he believes in, and that's how he's going to build his program. If a media member or fan can't accept that, and they want to put their interests ahead of the program, then he's got to take the steps necessary to protect the program and its athletes. That's all I'm going to say on that.