ColoradoHusk

So, since Collins doesn't dominate every single game, he isn't playing hard and not giving 100% effort every single play? I don't know if he is, and I don't know if he isn't. But, DT is one of the most thankless positions on defense, and Collins can't be expected to be the entire defense. The guy was frustrated at the end of a frustrating game. Give him a break.

All this criticism of Collins makes me think of this.

I'd much rather have 22 players playing every weekend with the heart of Gangwish. The mythical powers of Gangwish are strong!!!

I don't think that is the case...I think they feel like they fired a "good coach" and brought in an "average coach"...that was (in their minds) mistake one. Mix in losing a bunch of games and it only validates that. If a stud had been brought in OR a guy with no proven track record...there would be (I think) a very different vibe. Exactly. There were numerous fans who had no idea who Mike Riley was, so I am sure the players were thinking "we hired who?". Then they think "the Oregon State coach? Don't they usually suck?". Then a few players send a mass text with a link to Mike Riley's wikipedia page where it shows his career record, and it is basically .500. So, the players are only thinking about the win-loss record. Then when losses start to mount for the Huskers, the doubt in the coaches just grow further. They probably even think "man, we won a bunch of close games under Bo, but now we seem to lose every close game under Riley". Yep basically this. If we hired a rock star like Urban Meyer or Saban the players reaction would be, "Hell yeah we're going to win a championship!". The Riley hire was like...."Why?". That said there was less than a 0% chance we could've hired Meyer or Saban, but to say it doesn't matter what coach came in, we would still be terrible, is flat out wrong. It didn't even need to be Meyer or Saban. It could have been Frost or Herman (who I think had already taken the Houston job) or even another name coach, and it would have created excitement. When Bo was hired in '07, I am sure the players were thinking "sweet, LSU's defense is awesome. They are gonna win the National Championship this year." With Riley, the thought is "huh?"

What about Gallagher without smashing watermelon?

I don't think that is the case...I think they feel like they fired a "good coach" and brought in an "average coach"...that was (in their minds) mistake one. Mix in losing a bunch of games and it only validates that. If a stud had been brought in OR a guy with no proven track record...there would be (I think) a very different vibe. Exactly. There were numerous fans who had no idea who Mike Riley was, so I am sure the players were thinking "we hired who?". Then they think "the Oregon State coach? Don't they usually suck?". Then a few players send a mass text with a link to Mike Riley's wikipedia page where it shows his career record, and it is basically .500. So, the players are only thinking about the win-loss record. Then when losses start to mount for the Huskers, the doubt in the coaches just grow further. They probably even think "man, we won a bunch of close games under Bo, but now we seem to lose every close game under Riley".

Alonzo Moore got hurt in the first series of the game, and wasn't able to come back. That's why guys deeper on the WR depth chart saw more snaps.

Ha ha! And I always though Jason was the crazy one! Christian was the crazy one. Jason was the one who (allegedly) pleasured himself with a hot piece of liver and was forced to miss the 1994 Kansas State game due to a "groin" injury.

That's not what McKewon is saying. McKewon has been in Riley's corner and has said that Riley's approach (build trust through remaining positive) takes a long-term investment approach. The only issue is that Riley and his staff are making the hole deeper for themselves. To me, Riley is in over his head and he hasn't ever had to been in a place where wins and losses mean so much. It is certainly a big picture article, and he is not calling for Riley to be fired...but he does say this, with which I agree.. Like most of you, the Banker hire was a huge let down and a red flag for me. Riley, more than anyone else, knows Banker and what to expect from his defenses...and he brought him here. We should be looking for a new DC at a minimum at year's end, but Riley won't be doing that. Riley is who is because of decisions like that. He presumably had the option to open up the checkbook and attract some innovative coordinators. Maybe the clash of personalities would be a challenge, but getting the talented minds in a room together should make everyone better. I mean, the mantra on Riley is how positive and easy to work with he is, so he's a perfect candidate to lead a room full of coaching egos to relevancy. Instead....he hires the guys he's 'comfortable' with. I wonder if, when he handed out assistant jobs to his friends , he thought about how that comfort level might change when he loses more than he wins in Lincoln....which is not Corvallis in terms of College Football landscape. Throw in Langsdorf being allowed to flat out fail on the job as he learns, Cavanaugh trotting out the same 5 guys over and over to the tune of 2.2 yards a carry, and Stewart's dead last pass defense contribution......I mean...if you're a CEO of a company and these are the guys you've hand picked to run the operation...how safe can you, SHOULD YOU feel in your position? I haven't been one to call for Riley's job, and until I wrote this post, I thought I was willing to give him some time...but the early returns are so discouraging. I don't want him fired, I guess. Not yet. I suppose I'm just reserved to watching this slow moving rain cloud settle over the team for a couple years, minimum. And then starting over again. It initially sounds crazy to call for a guys head 8 games in. Then when you think he has a lengthy resume to review and you see what you have written above, it seems a lot more logical. And really worse than it appears... IMO. Riley and his staff are the coaches who they are. They aren't going to change their philosophies or strategies. They were average coaches at Oregon State, and their record reflects that. Yes, Oregon State is a historically bad Power 5 conference program, but all that means is that the fans and alumni are more willing to accept "averageness". Being average won't cut it at NU, and this year they have taken the fine line of being average to downright bad. If NU wins half of the close games, they are still an average team.

Who knows why Collins was so mad? Maybe he agrees with most of us here and thinks Banker's D is a complete joke. I know it's the player's job to do what the coaches tell them to do, but Collins isn't dumb. I also don't think it's a big deal if he is arguing with another teammate. That happens all the time in the heat of battle. Are people upset that he is arguing the the golden child, Gangwish?

In Fall Camp, I heard from a lot of people that going up against our strong d-line would make our o-line better. That's good in theory, but Fall Camp is also a time where coaches can see which plays will be most successful for the offense. If the offense wasn't moving the ball via the running game in Fall Camp, then I would assume Langsdorf/Riley would try passing the ball to create success. If the coaches aren't "committing to the run" in Fall Camp, then it doesn't surprise me that the coaches aren't "committing to the run" during the games. Committing to the run requires a physical mentality that I don't think the offense has. They want an offense based on deception and "tricking the defense", and don't want to say "We are going to line up and beat you off the ball, and shove this RB down your throat".

No treble

That's not what McKewon is saying. McKewon has been in Riley's corner and has said that Riley's approach (build trust through remaining positive) takes a long-term investment approach. The only issue is that Riley and his staff are making the hole deeper for themselves. To me, Riley is in over his head and he hasn't ever had to been in a place where wins and losses mean so much. The bolded was more my opinion. Not a fan of the hire and even less after 8 games. Just don't see anything is his resume to make me say "this guy gets or it" or "with his guys he'll be a winner". He had his guys for 13 years and was ranked 4 times. Never higher than 20.......... As the article said, per metrics the needle hasn't moved. Not even sure if he was hired to be a long term fix or stop gap as the anti Bo. If he does get more time some of his staff needs to get sent packing.... I got ya. I am ready for Riley to leave, too. I understand the team wasn't in great shape with Bo, but Riley and his cronies just don't have what it takes. I think it's fair to have this opinion after 8 games. I am sure Riley will get at least 2 more years to prove himself. I have serious doubts if he will ever fire his best buddy, Banker, or even make Banker change at what they do. Riley played lip-service to using more QB run game and more "read-option" style offense, but he and Langsdorf have just sprinkled those plays into their normal offense. They will never commit to those types of plays, because they don't know how to coach those plays and they aren't comfortable with those plays. They are always going to go back to the West Coast Offense plays that have been a staple in their offense for 20 years.

Our pass D did look better--for about three quarters. But then the Northwestern offense showed a little life in the 4th quarter. And our own offense didn't. Until it was too late. McKewon had a great point that the 2 long Thorson runs were against NU's pass D. Yes, they were rushing yards, but they were against the pass D. The pass rush left open lanes for the QB to run, and then the back 7 were caught flat-footed and slow to respond. That's exactly what happens when NU faces pass plays. I wonder if our leaky 4th quarter pass D was due to adjustments we made to account for Thorson's running? Just spitballin' here. I read that NU did make adjustments to play more contain after Thorson's big runs in the first half. That led to more plays from the RB and TE. Either way, it's the pass defense that allowed Thorson's big runs in the first half. The pass defense has been terrible all season long, and Banker/Riley don't seem to concerned about it.

Our pass D did look better--for about three quarters. But then the Northwestern offense showed a little life in the 4th quarter. And our own offense didn't. Until it was too late. McKewon had a great point that the 2 long Thorson runs were against NU's pass D. Yes, they were rushing yards, but they were against the pass D. The pass rush left open lanes for the QB to run, and then the back 7 were caught flat-footed and slow to respond. That's exactly what happens when NU faces pass plays.

I am amazed at how bad NU has become at home. This has been an issue for a number of years, but the team doesn't want to take advantage of the home crowd. NU's crowd is typically a crowd that feeds off great play by the team. When NU was a dominant team, the team would enforce it's will, jump out ahead of a team, and the crowd would feed off that, then the team would feed off the crowd. It was a repetitive cycle. Now, the team comes out flat with no urgency. The team makes early mistakes, falls behind, and the crowd's attitude is "well, here we go again". The crowd wants to see good football, and that's not happening.

That's not what McKewon is saying. McKewon has been in Riley's corner and has said that Riley's approach (build trust through remaining positive) takes a long-term investment approach. The only issue is that Riley and his staff are making the hole deeper for themselves. To me, Riley is in over his head and he hasn't ever had to been in a place where wins and losses mean so much.

The dude is currently winless at North Texas, for God's sake. Come on, people. We need a LEGIT coach. Someone with a proven track record, someone with championships, someone who is a top-notch recruiter. Not sure why some people cannot understand this. McCarney got fired a couple weeks ago, so he is available.

I think Riley will play O'Brien because he will want to show "the future" of Nebraska football to save his job for another year or two.

Tom Herman actually has long term potential wherever his next stop is. Riley is just an old man padding his retirement account.

In the OP, True, you say "the Blackshirts played great overall". Those are your exact words. What part of playing "great" allows a terrible offense to rack up 23 points and can't make a stop in the 4th quarter?

Come on, stop using facts and statistics to back up your posts. That's just not fair.

It's not a great performance by the Blackshirts when they can't make a stop on 3 straight drives in the 4th quarter. We got #Bankered again.

McKewon made a great point about the o-line after the game. The staff plays 10 WR's, 4 RB's, and a lot of defenders, but when an o-lineman isn't performing, his job isn't in jeopardy. He gets to stay out on the field, and stink it up all over the place, while his backup sits on the sideline. The backup linemen might as well order hot dogs and Runzas, because they sure aren't seeing the field.

The fans are supposed to be happy with a 3-5 football team? The fans are supposed to throw blind support behind a coaching staff just because it's year 1 in the program? NU fans know good football when they see it, and what we are watching is not good football. I'm not going to argue whether we have watched good football over the past 5-10-15 years, the past doesn't matter. All that matters now is that we have a very poorly coached team. It's led by a head coach who has been nothing but average over his entire coaching tenure, and his band of merry men who he brought over from Corvallis so they could enjoy a few years of nice paychecks before half of them retire and never coach again.