ColoradoHusk

We have talked to a bunch of your former teammates and we have yet to hear anybody say a good word about you. That is painful...even to us...and we are just two guys with a podcast. Why don't you come onto our show next week and set the record straight? Do you really think I am Tommie?? You need to relax. Wow!! I appreciate you sharing the news, but it was a bit painful to listen to Marlon. You mean you're not Tommie Frazier? I feel like I have been told a big fat lie this entire time!!! Wait. Next you're going to tell me you're not the husk of Colorado. Well I am not THE Husk of Colorado.

We have talked to a bunch of your former teammates and we have yet to hear anybody say a good word about you. That is painful...even to us...and we are just two guys with a podcast. Why don't you come onto our show next week and set the record straight? Do you really think I am Tommie?? You need to relax. Wow!! I appreciate you sharing the news, but it was a bit painful to listen to Marlon. You mean you're not Tommie Frazier? I feel like I have been told a big fat lie this entire time!!!

Oh my. I'm not going to say I would do any better (but I am not releasing weekly podcasts), and I am sure I have a verbal crutch that I use when I talk a lot, but all the "ya knows" are so freaking annoying. I made it about 2 minutes before I had to stop it.

The guy was fired nearly 10 years ago. I don't think he would have been able to sustain the necessary success to keep coaching at NU for that time period. Also, if he was able to have great success for a 2-3 year period, that dude would have fled back to the NFL in a heart beat. He had no compelling reason to stay at NU long-term. Shoot, the only reason he took the job in the first place was that Pedeyshine offered it to him.

Love Chalk Talk. It's been my go-to for awhile now. Yeah, it's a pretty cool site.

Here is the chalk talk for the NU offense against Oregon. They break down the play referenced above and a couple others. https://huskerchalktalk.com/2016/09/22/oregon-behold-tommy-armstrongs-evolution/

I'm actually assuming TA is the one who saw it and was able to take advantage of it. RPO, man. It's killer. The RPO is a huge part of Baylor's offensive scheme, and it's been copied all over college football. Many teams will utilize RPO's in an uptempo, no-huddle setting and have the same play call multiple times in a row.

The reason NW gives NU fits is because they are a team that relies on opponent mistakes. NU has been very mistake-prone the past 5 years. They also do a good job of taking away the run game, and force teams to pass, which can lead to mistakes by NU QB's the past 5 years.

Northwestern is an average program. They have a track record of having a 8,9,10 win season, followed by 2-3 seasons of mediocre seasons. They aren't able to get a roster full of great athletes, so they have beat the stronger programs on their schedule by opponent mistakes. That happened last year for Northwestern. This year is a regression to the mean for them.

Nebraska 34 Northwestern 13 Rushing 175 Passing 260

On Oregon's first TD, NU had 2 LB's stacked on the left side of the defense and Oregon ran to NU's right. Obviously, one of the LB's was out of position. Oregon does that to teams with their tempo. On Oregon's 3rd TD (50 yard run after NU turnover) Banderas was lined up as MLB, but he appeared to be lined up over the right guard. Where he lined up, he was giving the offense way too much room on the wide side of the field. Sure enough, Oregon ran an outside zone to the wide side of the field and Banderas got caught inside and was easily blocked by the Oregon lineman. The Oregon RB was off to the races after that. Unless you are speaking on a different play I remember Bando in good position, but completely missed the tackle. I thought Freedom set the edge well on these plays but some people didn't fill correctly. I am speaking of a different play. Bando's complete whiff of a tackle was on the 4th and 1 play from NU's 42. That was Oregon's 4th TD. Bando should have made the tackle for a 3 yard gain, but the RB went right through him. The play I am referencing was Oregon's 3rd TD to make the score 20-7. I could be way off but I didn't understand why Bando was lining up on the boundary side of the center, giving up the wide field. To me, if he was lined up on the wide side of the center, he would have been in position to make the play. Just watched the play you are speaking of. I am not sure why we were over playing the short side of the field. Bando got a little sucked up, but Kieron also made a bad read on the play. Yeah, I am not sure what Kieron is reading on that play. It appears he has outside responsibility. Bando can't let the center (who is pulling on the play) get him stuck on the inside. Maybe I am way off on the alignment issue, because the back is lined up on the boundary side of the field. Banker did say after the game that the D came into the game doing heavy preparation on the inside zone, so maybe Bando is guessing this play is going to be an inside zone read to the boundary. This play is an outside zone play to the wide side, and the D is a complete bust, as NU doesn't have enough defenders on the wide side. The only way Kieron's read on that play makes sense is if he's got outside contain. His angle makes absolutely no sense. He should be filling that hole immediately upon reading run. Instead, he's running right towards the slot receiver that is already engaged by AWill. There isn't even anyone in motion towards the outside that he would be responsible for. In terms of alignment, we're in a Nickel against 4 wides. Bando is lined up A gap on the boundary side, with Young in C gap on the slot receiver. We have comparable numbers on the boundary side; it's just a misplay by Bando. He takes an angle to the center's inside shoulder instead of taking outside lever; it's almost like he's expecting help from the secondary towards the outside. I am not a football coach, but it just seems odd to me that Bando is lined up on the A gap on the boundary side? Why not line up in the A-gap on the field (wide) side? By the alignment on the field, there is a HUGE gap created between Bando and Aaron Williams. Also, Aaron Williams and Kieron Willams go the the outside of the slot receiver. I know Aaron is playing coverage on his man, so it looks like Kieron is expecting Bando to get to the inside gap and flush the RB outside. Again, I have no idea what the defense was called, and how they were supposed to line up. It's a complete bust all around.

I saw a tweet this morning saying that in NU's 5 matchups against NW, the one time NU won the turnover battle against NW was 2014. When NU turned the ball over and let NW have cheap points, it was a close game with 2 NU losses, and 2 miraculous NU come back victories. So, if NU plays clean, NU should win easily.

On Oregon's first TD, NU had 2 LB's stacked on the left side of the defense and Oregon ran to NU's right. Obviously, one of the LB's was out of position. Oregon does that to teams with their tempo. On Oregon's 3rd TD (50 yard run after NU turnover) Banderas was lined up as MLB, but he appeared to be lined up over the right guard. Where he lined up, he was giving the offense way too much room on the wide side of the field. Sure enough, Oregon ran an outside zone to the wide side of the field and Banderas got caught inside and was easily blocked by the Oregon lineman. The Oregon RB was off to the races after that. Unless you are speaking on a different play I remember Bando in good position, but completely missed the tackle. I thought Freedom set the edge well on these plays but some people didn't fill correctly. I am speaking of a different play. Bando's complete whiff of a tackle was on the 4th and 1 play from NU's 42. That was Oregon's 4th TD. Bando should have made the tackle for a 3 yard gain, but the RB went right through him. The play I am referencing was Oregon's 3rd TD to make the score 20-7. I could be way off but I didn't understand why Bando was lining up on the boundary side of the center, giving up the wide field. To me, if he was lined up on the wide side of the center, he would have been in position to make the play. Just watched the play you are speaking of. I am not sure why we were over playing the short side of the field. Bando got a little sucked up, but Kieron also made a bad read on the play. Yeah, I am not sure what Kieron is reading on that play. It appears he has outside responsibility. Bando can't let the center (who is pulling on the play) get him stuck on the inside. Maybe I am way off on the alignment issue, because the back is lined up on the boundary side of the field. Banker did say after the game that the D came into the game doing heavy preparation on the inside zone, so maybe Bando is guessing this play is going to be an inside zone read to the boundary. This play is an outside zone play to the wide side, and the D is a complete bust, as NU doesn't have enough defenders on the wide side.

While I understand a bowl win is considered a great way to finish off the season and kick off the next season, I don't get super bummed out over a bowl game loss. They are glorified exhibition games, and you never know how either team is going to be motivated for the game. Being in the playoff means the team had a great season, and more than likely won the conference championship. It also means that the team was 2 wins away from the National Championship.

On Oregon's first TD, NU had 2 LB's stacked on the left side of the defense and Oregon ran to NU's right. Obviously, one of the LB's was out of position. Oregon does that to teams with their tempo. On Oregon's 3rd TD (50 yard run after NU turnover) Banderas was lined up as MLB, but he appeared to be lined up over the right guard. Where he lined up, he was giving the offense way too much room on the wide side of the field. Sure enough, Oregon ran an outside zone to the wide side of the field and Banderas got caught inside and was easily blocked by the Oregon lineman. The Oregon RB was off to the races after that. Unless you are speaking on a different play I remember Bando in good position, but completely missed the tackle. I thought Freedom set the edge well on these plays but some people didn't fill correctly. I am speaking of a different play. Bando's complete whiff of a tackle was on the 4th and 1 play from NU's 42. That was Oregon's 4th TD. Bando should have made the tackle for a 3 yard gain, but the RB went right through him. The play I am referencing was Oregon's 3rd TD to make the score 20-7. I could be way off but I didn't understand why Bando was lining up on the boundary side of the center, giving up the wide field. To me, if he was lined up on the wide side of the center, he would have been in position to make the play.

On Oregon's first TD, NU had 2 LB's stacked on the left side of the defense and Oregon ran to NU's right. Obviously, one of the LB's was out of position. Oregon does that to teams with their tempo. On Oregon's 3rd TD (50 yard run after NU turnover) Banderas was lined up as MLB, but he appeared to be lined up over the right guard. Where he lined up, he was giving the offense way too much room on the wide side of the field. Sure enough, Oregon ran an outside zone to the wide side of the field and Banderas got caught inside and was easily blocked by the Oregon lineman. The Oregon RB was off to the races after that.

Tanner Lee is starting in 2017. Don't get your hopes up with POB.

The conference championship (and making the playoff) is always better.

Dude, watch your language. Who do you think you are, Mark Banker?

I don't really care if it's a close win, provided it's close because both teams played well or there were some bad breaks for Nebraska. If it's close because we tried to work certain passing packages into the game plan for the sake of passing and not for the sake of winning, that would be frustrating to me. My biggest concern with this staff last year was that they failed to "manufacture" wins against teams that were of equal or lesser talent. Too many games were closer (and eventually ended up as losses) than they should have been simply because we seemed more worried about a play calling profile than about hammering out an "ugly" win. Obviously even a close loss to this NW team would be an awful step back and more evidence that Riley coached teams simply aren't consistent from game to game or season to season - which would be something we'd have to evaluate to determine if that's ultimately acceptable or a change would need to be made sooner than later. CM, I understand that you think NU needs to focus on being a running team. I actually think that NU needs to attack Northwestern threw the air early, which will open up the running lanes later in the game. Northwestern really sells out to stop the run, especially with its LB's. NU should use play action passes and RPO's to hit Carter and the slot receivers behind the LB's. If NU is successful doing this, this will loosen up the LB's and then NU can turn to the run game.

Part of it is definitely that there is a hunger for success that didn't use to exist back in the glory days. Part of it is also that for most of Osborne's tenure, at least, the majority of games were all blowouts and were frankly pretty boring from an excitement standpoint. Playing closer games without the entitled attitude makes for a much more raucous Memorial Stadium. There were times during Osborne's peak years where there wasn't the crazy, fun atmosphere like we saw against Oregon, but the crowd was in a frenzy from the opening kickoff and the team dominated the opponent. Off the top of my head, these games would include: 1991 Oklahoma - not a domination, but NU came back in the 4th quarter for the W. It was a freezing cold game, but the crowd was so amped and excited to be going back to the Orange Bowl. 1992 Colorado - Halloween night game where the crowd was going crazy from the opening kickoff. Koy Detmer for CU was picked off on the first CU play and the rout was on. 1992 Kansas - the week after the CU game, and another fun atmosphere with another night game on ESPN. NU kicked KU to the curb. 1994 Colorado - 200th consecutive sellout against the one team that could stand in NU's way for an undefeated regular season. The crowd was out for blood the entire game and Kordell Stewart was rattled the entire game 1995 Kansas State - KSU brought a top ten team into Lincoln on Homecoming night. NU dominates early. This game includes the bone crushing block by Mike Rucker on Mike Fullman's punt return for TD. 1997 Kansas State - pretty much a repeat of the '95 game Yes, the fans expected NU to win those games, but Memorial Stadium has always had the ability to get loud, crazy, and fun for big games.

I would agree with most (if not all) of the OP. While "just a win" will be nice, I expect more out of this team and these coaches against a very bad Northwestern team. I would like NU to establish itself as the superior team in the first half, get a comfortable lead in the 3rd quarter, and coast to an easy win in the 4th.

Since we are defining things. Please define a "Blowout" win by terms? 30 points? Oh geez, are we really going through this exercise again? I know a blowout when I see it.

To me, NU has to go out and win the next 4 games for me to think they have "turned a corner". The next 4 games are against bad opponents, so they are games that NU should win. I want 4 victories and 2-3 of them should be blowout wins.

Yep, the sea of red will invade Evanston, but blend in well with other red Cardinal fans at the Wrigley Cub game, and Kirkwood, before the night game at Ryan Field. Will be a tough one for NU to beat UNL who is on a roll after Oregon, maybe for the Western B10 title. But the Purple did beat the Red at year at Lincoln. We'll see. There is only one NU and they wear RED Calling Nebraska "NU" is a giant misnomer, because the university isn't known as "Nebraska University". Whereas, Northwestern's title is "Northwestern University". Calling Northwestern University NU is a giant misnomer, because Northwest is abbreviated NW. They should be NWU. But it's not "North Western University"'. I call them NW just to avoid confusion with NU (Nebraska), but they have called themselves NU forever, and there wasn't another NU in the conference then.