husker07

As Damon Benning said, I can't support stupidity. And I'm seeing a whole lot of stupidity and mediocrity.

At first, very little. Then I talked myself into some optimism. Now, less than ever.

Before the season I would have said 7, which is really pushing it because why exactly did we fire our last coach? Because we were looking for someone to take us to the next level. I maintained there was enough talent on this team to win the Big 10 West the last couple of years, and felt that with the right hire we could maximize that and immediately make a push this year with 10-11 wins. Sadly, guys who performed well in the past appear to have regressed and few look as though they have gotten better. It's now looking like a complete rebuilding job, and one that has us moving away from what Nebraska has traditionally done, which is a darn shame. As things stand now, I'll say 5 wins, only because I find it hard to believe the higher ups will fire a guy after only one year. That's pathetic. When you can't beat Illinois, a team not even in the same stratosphere as Nebraska in terms of talent, you are in a sad position indeed.

Armstrong left a solid 70-80 yards and 2 tds to Westerkamp on the field with shizznit throws.

As much as I dislike the man, its Harbs and it's not even close. He's in my opinion probably one of the top 10 coaches NFL/NCAA combined. Maybe higher.

There was nothing wrong with the defense called for the final play. That is how every team, since the beginning of time has played it in those situations, and more often than not it works. We had like 6 guys just standing there. No one played the ball that hung in the air like a punt. Dare I say it... they just didn't execute.

The run game wasnt working well in the first half so they went with what worked. I thought we passed a little too much today but you cant fault the play call when they went with what was working The same Stanford that lost today to Northwestern? I agree that in the first half the run just wasn't there. It was evident that we miss Abdullah, who had that knack for getting the most out of a play. I think our OL needs a bit more experience before we can completely rely on the run. Teams lose sometimes. How many BCS games have they been in the past few years? How about Wisconsin? Alabama same offense, though they are different beast. USC same thing during their run. I think Armstrong would be a great quarterback in a 60-40/55-45 run pass offense, making most throws off play action. Better than Hogan and Stave for sure. What they asked him to do today will not work. First game and things may change, but it's just the generally feeling I get about the style of offense Langsdorf and Riley want to go with.

The run game wasnt working well in the first half so they went with what worked. I thought we passed a little too much today but you cant fault the play call when they went with what was working True on the surface, but why couldn't we run the ball to begin with? Yes Ameer Abdullah is gone, but we should still be able to run the ball effectively, especially against a team like BYU. I saw very little emphasis placed on trying to get the run game going. It was Callahan, pound the rock-esque, where we run the ball a few times and if it doesn't gash em we abandon it to start throwing. You've got to stick with it.

Done with what? Like others have said all realistic goals remain with reach. Still, it may have been even unrealistic to expect a division championship this year. All one can hope for is improvement as the season goes on.

How do you only run for 120 with a 3.4 avg against BYU when you're Nebraska? And on the flipside throw it 41 times with Tommy Armstrong? Staff obviously could give two sh*** about running the ball. The blueprint for Nebraska if they want to go pro style should again be Wisconsin, along with Stanford. You can still throw, but it should really be set up by the run and play action. When Wiscy had Russell Wilson the most attempts they had in a game was 32. When Stanford had Andrew Luck, they averaged 31 attempts per game. That's balance in a pro style offense. Those teams are still pretty successful with the scrubs they've trotted out the past few years. While Armstrong is no Luck or Wilson, he's better than Stave or Hogan. Plus he's got the ability to run.

Ya, Nebraska should ALWAYS have at the very least an above average run-blocking offensive line and the ability to run the ball. Wisconsin took our strategy and has been incredibly successful. We also have the ability to get better guys at skill positions than Wisconsin, so ipso facto should be always better than they are, which is usually pretty good. That bugs me greatly.

Wisconsin by far. I got over this one about 5 minutes afterwards.

Speed on defense. Speed, speed, speed. They looked slow with the exception of Nate Gerry. Some of that's probably due to playing a new scheme, but still they looked slow.

With just very minimal research: one against MSU that would've probably went for a TD, and one against Minny w/ under 2 min. to go in the endzone (was tougher but went right through his hands).

As a resident Jordan Westerkamp lover, so much so I prognosticated he would live Nebraska as it's all time greatest receiver, I want to see him master the non-circus catch. By my recollection, he dropped a few makeable ones last year, a few of which we really needed.

Went to the game. Didn't have a great view for a lot of it, but it seemed that Wahoo made a concerted effort to not let Stille beat them on D (doubles, running to the opposite side etc.). When the game was winding down and AG was on D, Stille was just blowing through his guy, though he didn't finish on a couple free runs at the qb. To be fair, Wahoo's qb was pretty athletic. On offense, they could've went to him a lot more imo, even though their rb is very very good. I know he's pegged to play DL here, but I really like him at TE. While he lacks some of the finer skills of a pass catcher, when he gets out and runs it's a sight. Legit 4.5 at 230-240 lbs or so. Would be a scary mismatch in a flex/h-back role.

Stille is a different level of athlete than Ott, and a better player at the HS level. One thing that Ott has/had over Stille though, is an incredible level of strength and a great frame that really compliments his type of game. Stille is much more explosive, and I'll be interested to see how gaining 30-40 lbs will affect his game.

Awesome offer by Nebraska. Have had a chance to work with Ben and he's a legit talent. Incredible combination of size and athleticism. He's very fast and very quick for his size. D End will probably be his position, but I do wonder how much weight he can handle. He's pretty well filled out at 230 right now. 250 might be his max.

Ya that was pretty embarrassing. DT made him look like a little kid, just flailing about.

1. Ganz- Dude was a beast and a gamer. With him in 09 we're talking BCS maybe MNC. 2. Martinez- Incredible individual talent. 3. Taylor- Really, really solid. 4. Armstrong- Maybe a bit of a surprise but he's been above average I'd say Who really cares after that.

If you think Darlington can only the throw the ball 40 yards you're crazy. Also, when talking about arm strength coaches/evaluators aren't really talking about the deep ball. Deep throws are a skill for sure, but any quarterback of any college caliber can throw at least 55-60 yards, though most deep shots are generally shorter anyway so what does it matter. "Arm Strength" is more how much zip a guy can put on intermediate throws, especially in tight windows in the middle of the field or on deep outs. I've always been of the opinion that there is a level a guy needs to be at, and anymore than that is whatever, sometimes even a hindrance due to overconfidence. I think Darlington has enough arm strength, plus it looks like he has much more in other areas that are actually way more important to good qb play. Footwork, anticipation, ability to change speeds, and a clear knowledge of offensive and defensive concepts that translates from the classroom to the field. I do like Armstrong and Stanton, but they really struggle in those first three areas. Stanton moreso. I've seen enough of them going back to high school to feel comfortable saying that. Bush I know very little other than what I've heard, although he looked dreadful today imo. He appeared to be way over his head from the shoulders up.

Of all the qb's currently on the roster, I was most impressed with Darlington as a recruit (followed by TA). After the injury and what I thought a really poor showing in the spring game last year I thought his chances were slim and none. Hopefully he shows well tomorrow.

To answer some questions about the 40, first off, clock always starts on the athlete's first movement. At the combine, and I'm not 100 percent sure of this, but they may have a manual start (i.e. some guy starts the clock) with a laser finish. They do have what appears to be sensors at the line, which if anything is probably going off the movement of their down hand. As far as times are concerned, despite being laser timed I don't find much in the way of difference between official times given and what I get doing a handheld time. Certainly not the much reported +0.2 seconds, usually I find +-.05 seconds difference. As far as correlating times to the 100 meters, there's obviously some carry over, but a guy who runs a faster 100 may not run a faster 40 than someone with a slower 100. There is some technique involved, as well as what part of the race an individual is particularly good at. Some really fast 100 m guys don't get to max speed until 50 or so meters, in the 40 you want to hit max speed at the 20 yard mark. In my experience though, a guy who runs mid to low 11's in the 100 will run somewhere in the range of 4.5-4.7 in the 40 depending on a couple factors. Guys in the low 11's to high 10's will run in the 4.4-4.5 range, with the really great times (and this isn't always obviously) being guys who run around mid 10's. Sometimes the guys who run national level 100 m times will only be around 4.4 for the aforementioned reason of not reaching max speed until later in the race, while a great accelerator lacking the ability to maybe reach/maintain the top speed of the national level sprinter can run 4.4 with a 100 time even into the 11's. Kind of long and convoluted but there you go.

Those verts are ridonculous. I may be wrong, but it usually seems like 0-2 guys break that 40" mark each year. That UGA wideout also did 45".