ColoradoHusk

Freshman Pierre Allen was pretty good. Not sure what happened after that, but his production ramped way down. Seemed to be more or less the same story with Meredith and Turner. Wasn't Turner a Freshman AA? Yeah, Turner was a Freshman AA when he was used as a pass-rush specialist and got a number of sacks.

They are actually both quite good. Over last year and the beginning of this year, UCLA and Oregon have a combined win loss record of 21-11. We account for two of those losses. I'll take that as they were good teams. Yeah, I don't think we should be poo-pooing the wins over UCLA and Oregon. Those were good wins.

You think this Oregon team isn't very good? You've got to be kidding. The only Oregon fan that regularly appears on this board thinks they are headed for a 3-9 season (I think Oregon is very good though).

I like the momentum the team is gaining, but if NU loses any of the next 4, it pretty much cancels out the Oregon game in my positive vibes.

Definitely will not be sorry he won't be there next year. He didn't blow me away throwing the ball, but he had a knack for escaping from sacks. I rewatched the game last night via the BTN 1 hr cut, and he dodged at least 3 sacks and got big pickups on the ground or via the air. Prukop had an uneven game. There were plays where he looked totally flustered by the pressure that was being put on him, and there were plays where he dodged the pressure and made nice plays. Oregon didn't have many big gains in the passing game, although they did have big gains in the running game.

There shouldn't be a letdown against Northwestern, and I don't think NW is a very good team. NU should have the talent alone to go out and beat up the next 4 teams and get to 7-0.

Exactly. Plus, Iowa's offense just sucks. It's unbelievable that the USA Today poll kept them in the rankings. Depends what you think of NDSU. I think NDSU could beat most of the top 25, and I'd put them somewhere around #15. That's why some people aren't going to be too down on the Hawkeyes. While NDSU has been amazing at the FCS level, and they have won 5 or 6 in a row when coming up to play FBS teams, I don't think they would be able to sustain that success if they had to play FBS teams every week.

Was just about to post this. Riley likes himself some Ross.

I still don't get how Pat Fitzgerald gets so much love at Northwestern. Yes, he has had good seasons on occasion there, but he hasn't had back-to-back winning seasons since 2010.

Isn't this a trait we want in most Defensive players? Right? I'd rather have guys in the right place/right time than otherwise. Ross has been VERY solid this year. Far better than I thought he would be playing. I think we all want our guys to be in the right place/right time. However, I think we all want guys who are "super talented" AND be in the right place/right time. Ross is doing the best he can, and that's solid. But, long-term if NU wants to be back to championship football, NU needs better talent at DE. Agree. While Dzuris has been pretty solid and played better than I expected, yet another qb had all day to throw when we weren't blitzing. I disagree with this. I think the d-line was able to get decent pressure at time in the 3 and 4 man rushes. It's hard to do that on a regular basis though. Being a DE is difficult when playing a mobile QB like Prukop and other QB's NU has seen this year. The d-line has to rush the passer and play contain at the same time. That's very hard to do. The D-Ends can't pin their ears back and play "meet you at the QB" with a mobile QB because if that QB breaks contain it can lead to a big play. I get that and maybe it was more from trying to contain and more of a credit to Prukop's talent than anything. I was pretty close to the field at about the 50 so it was a little harder to tell but just seemed like when we weren't blitzing Prukop had a ton of time to throw and that was when he completed most of his passes. We need DE's that are fast enough to consistently pressure the qb. Agree with that. Did I just flip-flop in this thread?

Oregon is still plenty good, but Mariota was able to keep the engine running after Chip left. It will be interesting to see if Helfrich can bring in a QB that can bring in QB's that were as good as they were under Kelly (they had some good ones before Mariota). It's crazy to me that Oregon has had to go to 2 FCS transfers the past 2 years. I think Prukop is good, but they have no QB depth/experience behind him.

Other than Randy Gregory, what Husker DE has played better than Dzuris in the last decade? (I know it's only a 3 game sample.) Freedom is a better DE than Dzuris. Ross has the stats, but Freedom is the better DE.

Plus, Iowa's slow tempo offense is going to automatically lead to a "better" defensive ranking. Iowa's 12-0 start last year was a good year for them, but it was also a mirage. They didn't have tough cross-division opponents and they were able to beat Wisky and NU due to opponent mistakes.

+1

Isn't this a trait we want in most Defensive players? Right? I'd rather have guys in the right place/right time than otherwise. Ross has been VERY solid this year. Far better than I thought he would be playing. I think we all want our guys to be in the right place/right time. However, I think we all want guys who are "super talented" AND be in the right place/right time. Ross is doing the best he can, and that's solid. But, long-term if NU wants to be back to championship football, NU needs better talent at DE. Agree. While Dzuris has been pretty solid and played better than I expected, yet another qb had all day to throw when we weren't blitzing. I disagree with this. I think the d-line was able to get decent pressure at time in the 3 and 4 man rushes. It's hard to do that on a regular basis though. Being a DE is difficult when playing a mobile QB like Prukop and other QB's NU has seen this year. The d-line has to rush the passer and play contain at the same time. That's very hard to do. The D-Ends can't pin their ears back and play "meet you at the QB" with a mobile QB because if that QB breaks contain it can lead to a big play.

Isn't this a trait we want in most Defensive players? Right? I'd rather have guys in the right place/right time than otherwise. Ross has been VERY solid this year. Far better than I thought he would be playing. I think we all want our guys to be in the right place/right time. However, I think we all want guys who are "super talented" AND be in the right place/right time. Ross is doing the best he can, and that's solid. But, long-term if NU wants to be back to championship football, NU needs better talent at DE.

I wasn't starting "Sh!t". It was normal banter. Your comment of "Begging someone to get after me" sounds like you are being a drunk, mid-to-late 20's guy with too much testosterone and trying to start SH!T. Maybe it was playful banter, and I wasn't there. But, when you word it that way in your original post, it sounds like you are being an ass. I don't have a problem with drinking before the games, I do it almost every time I go to Husker games. But, it doesn't give you an excuse to be an ass (which you may not have been). Is there a "come at me, bro" GIF out there on the interweb?

That's why I brought up Freedom earlier in the thread. At least 2 of Dzuris's sacks this season (including the one against Oregon) has been a result of Freedom shoving the OT into the QB's face from the other side. So, Dzuris is in the right place at the right time, but he's still making the play. This is still a team sport, right? Yes. My comment isn't made to knock Dzuris. He's been there to make plays and he's made them. For all the recruiting busts and transfers (shouldn't the guy who showed his dong still be here?) that have happened, Dzuris has stepped up and been a solid DE.

That's why I brought up Freedom earlier in the thread. At least 2 of Dzuris's sacks this season (including the one against Oregon) has been a result of Freedom shoving the OT into the QB's face from the other side. So, Dzuris is in the right place at the right time, but he's still making the play.

Yes, I would love a guy with awesome speed on the rush end. But, if you are saying he's slow based on his Oregon play, I think he was asked to hold the edge and play contain on the outside and let the LB's and DB's come up and make the tackle. On some of the big outside zone plays, it was the LB's who were mis-aligned that caused busts on those runs.

That also seemed odd to me. Why would you leave when your team was within 1 score and in the 3rd quarter.

I understand you are an Oregon fan, but you are from Nebraska and were trying to start SH*T with other Nebraskans? That doesn't sound very smart. Yes, you might have been a little tipsy and it could have been "playful", but it still doesn't sound very smart.

He has played very well. I saw in other threads that our DE play has been poor, but I have liked what I have seen from Freedom and Ross so far this year.

Honestly I was more scared of that speedster that got that first td and 2 more than Freeman. He looked a lot like Ozigbo to me where he wouldn't go down at first contact and great vision but he wasn't a burner by any means. Me too. Those backups were speed demons. I think their offense runs better when they have those burners out there like they used to. Freeman is a better pro prospect than those guys but in that offense, that speed really makes it go. Losing Freeman had a big impact in the game. While the backups were speed demons and made big runs, Freeman would have been used as Prukop's security blanket and probably would have ground out more first downs throughout the game. That could have changed the dynamic of the ebb and flow of the game.

I wouldn't say POB "can run". Yes he is not exactly a statue and has decent movement, but the QB run game will be drastically reduced after Armstrong leaves.