ColoradoHusk

Ganz is disappointed that the coaches didn't call a timeout before the 3rd down. When the coaches saw the play call got in late, and Cethan wasn't going in motion the coaches should have stopped everything and regrouped. Severe is saying the coaches should have done the safest thing possible. There was no need to "trick them".

Benning and Sharpe brought up an interesting quote. For Nebraska/Riley/Langsdorf, instead of "CAN you run the ball when you need to?" it's become "WILL you run the ball when you need to?"

It's like a drug. Listen to Riley's disjointed explanation from the postgame presser. There were a few long pass plays that were close to working. He waxed poetic about the very first pass play being "playable" and how it wasn't impossible to do better than they did on long passes. It's like someone trying to get rich by buying lottery tickets instead of working hard and investing. Riley and Langsdorf saw the big jackpot out there and kept buying lottery tickets using all the losing tickets they bought as proof that they were bound to hit the jackpot soon. Yeah listening to him talk about the pass plays that were close to working had me thinking if he was even at the right game. Sure we had a couple drops, but the majority of those passes were not even close to being completed yeah, it pissed me off when he defended the play calling for long passes, saying we could have done better, that's just bullsh#t, they were the wrong calls......admit your mistaken strategy like a man and move on... when he didn't do that i lost a lot of respect for him. That's why I made my thread about the offense being Callahan 2.0. These guys think they are so smart and have all the answers, and think that the game plan was correct no matter what. BC said the exact same stuff after the iSU loss in 2004. Maybe Riley and Langsdorf didn't have to deal with sophisticated football minds at Oregon State, but NU fans are different. We know what good and smart football looks like. The football played on Saturday was not good and it wasn't smart.

It's like a drug. Listen to Riley's disjointed explanation from the postgame presser. There were a few long pass plays that were close to working. He waxed poetic about the very first pass play being "playable" and how it wasn't impossible to do better than they did on long passes. It's like someone trying to get rich by buying lottery tickets instead of working hard and investing. Riley and Langsdorf saw the big jackpot out there and kept buying lottery tickets using all the losing tickets they bought as proof that they were bound to hit the jackpot soon. I know it won't happen, and I'll qualify my next comment that I was one of the few actually excited about this coaching hire, but sadly, much like BC, this staff doesn't get it, and should be let go. The post game comments Redneck mentions tells me all I need to know about the current staff. They're going to throw the ball, throw the ball, and throw the ball some more regardless of weather, personnel, or game flow. I'm stunned that even after we've seen the result this staff still believes they managed this game appropriately. This staff has way too much experience to now expect them to change their stripes. I can admit I was wrong about this hire, I hope Eichorst can too. (No "step back from the ledge" comments necessary. I know he's not going to be fired after 5 games.) I'm not to that point yet. I still see some good things in the program that can be built on. I'm just disappointed. This game did not have to be a loss. I think that's what has most people frustrated. Stop losing games. The way Illinois was playing offense, NU should have been ahead by 3 scores after the 3rd quarter. The game plan when the team was going with the wind was just terrible. Then the pass at 55 seconds left (regardless who's fault it was) is just plain dumb. If that play is a run, there is virtually no chance NU loses that game.

Cant be that he pissed off some one or has a bad attitude.. Example I am sure Alex Lewis ahd pissed some one off and he starts and plays every down. Cant really say riley doesnt know how to use his backs cause he has had some good ones at OS and used the heck out of them. But these Rushing numbers this last game I dont get, Jano 11 for 43 / 3.9 avg T.A 8 for 38 / 4.8 avg Ozigbo 7 for 70 / 10 avg Newby 5 for 15 / 5 avg. I just dont get it.. Unless he wanted to make sure he brought down Jano's yards per carry stat from last week... They went to Jano as their power back, and to close out the game. That's why Jano got more carries that usual and his YPC were so low. Newby, 3.0 avg. Newby is not a good RB if they line isn't blocking well. We have seen that.

Cant be that he pissed off some one or has a bad attitude.. Example I am sure Alex Lewis ahd pissed some one off and he starts and plays every down. Cant really say riley doesnt know how to use his backs cause he has had some good ones at OS and used the heck out of them. But these Rushing numbers this last game I dont get, Jano 11 for 43 / 3.9 avg T.A 8 for 38 / 4.8 avg Ozigbo 7 for 70 / 10 avg Newby 5 for 15 / 5 avg. I just dont get it.. Unless he wanted to make sure he brought down Jano's yards per carry stat from last week... They went to Jano as their power back, and to close out the game. That's why Jano got more carries that usual and his YPC were so low.

As far as the running backs go, it looks like the coaching staff allowed everyone to have a clean slate and compete for the job. Going into the season, they felt most comfortable with Newby because he is the most versatile and is the best RB in the passing game (both protection and catching the ball). Newby has been ok, but he struggles to get upfield and get more yards out of the play than is there. Cross is a decent option as a short yardage back, but he isn't versatile enough to use the whole playbook with him. Wilbon must be awful at pass protection, and the coaches are so scared of Armstrong getting hit and hurt. Taylor is a guy that fans like because of his high regard coming out of high school. I would think all of his injuries have taken a toll on him, and he is very limited in what he can do. Ozigbo was not highly regarded coming out of high school, but he appears to be a decent back. He's a big back (220 lbs), but he also has some wiggle to him. I liked that he was able to get another 1-3 yards after contact and was leaning forward. Ozigbo deserves more carries going forward.

After we failed the 4th down conversion, I told my wife we'd lose. I wasn't surprised at all. When Illinois was at midfield at the start of the 4th quarter, I texted teach "Would you be shocked if NU lost this game 14-13." His reply, "Nope!!! Ha".

You are exactly right on that. If there was a game to be committed to the run, it was the Illinois game. NU got the ball a few minutes into the 4th quarter, going against the wind, up 13-7. NU runs the ball 2 straight times and gets a first down. What happens then? 3 straight incomplete passes. NU takes no time off the clock with the lead, and has to punt the ball away. That drive is a microcosm of what Riley/Lansdorf are.

Yes, the staff probably thought they could throw the ball against Illinois, and there were open receivers deep. However, they also need to be able to adjust the game plan when things aren't working and the weather doesn't cooperate. All week prior to the Illinois game, Benning and Severe both said "North Carolina and Middle Tennessee state have killed Illinois on the QB run game and zone reads. Will NU run enough of that to burn Illinois on those plays." Of course that didn't happen.

Do you not understand math? All of those teams have a higher % of running the ball except for Wisconsin, and Wisky was down the entire 2nd half so they had to throw the ball around late in the game. Also, it was the long passes that were thrown that made most everyone crazy. It was TA was throwing 500 out there. There were 9 passes over 25 yards in the air thrown. That's just foolish.

You just answered your question, there were probably other big games going on at that time. ESPN isn't going to go to Lincoln just because they like O Street.

There is no reason to come to NU in the past 8 years. The team has been average and they haven't played in many big games at home.

The only thing Riley has proven is that he could have a couple good years with ok talent. Other than that he has been average-bad.

Did Eichorst hire Golden? I thought Golden came in before Eichorst was named AD at Miami. Then Eichorst left after it was revealed Miami was a dumpster fire. Edit: this link shows that Kirby Holcutt hired Golden. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=5912786

No double standard, I gave 408 four years before I knew there was no hope of improvement, Riley will get the same. Bo's first year was much better than this, and Bo inherited a 5-7 team, not a 9-4 team 408 inherited talent he left very little. Steve Taylor said as much last night on the radio. He must have been a great coach then if he was able to squeeze that many wins out of this untalented group. And Riley must not really have much of an eye for talent if he took this job with such crappy players. He already said he did not look at the roster until the day after he was hired, he was shocked at what he saw. He will need time to fix this mess he inherited He's making this a bigger mess than it was. Talent had nothing to do with yesterday's loss that was entirely on the coaching And anyone who thinks otherwise is a fool. One could say Tommy Armstrong cost us all three games. BYU - Tommy snaps the ball consistently with 12-15 seconds on the play clock in the fourth qtr. Miami - throw an ill advised pass that is intercepted, throw it away Illinois - Goes rogue and throw a pass when a sack would have ended the game This is a 3 year starter,, not on the coaches I remember reading these exact same quotes back in '04 except the names have changed. You copied your OP from bigredboard, didn't you? The Big Red Board? Oh man, that place was so crazy. If you think the Riled Uppers were crazy, they basically wanted to have sex with Pedeyshine and BC.

Commitment to the school, team, and program doesn't mean blind faith. I am a proud alumni of UNL, and will always support the team, and cheer them on to victory. If I lived in Nebraska, I would probably go to a number of games each season. I can be supportive of the team, and be critical of the coaching staff at the same time. I don't think I am being overly critical. The coaches have been in place for 5 games and the results are 3 losses to pretty average teams. One of the wins was a lackluster win. It hasn't been fun to watch these games.

I am always committed to the team and the program. I don't have to stay committed to a coach and staff who have shown nothing but poor decisions and incompetence.

Illinois did a novel concept and double-teamed Westy on short pass routes. The ball that "went through his hands" was slightly overthrown. It would have been a great catch, but I guess we have seen that on a regular basis out of Westy. TA also overthrew a wide open Westy when Westy juked the CB out of his jock. It was a 40-50 yard pass, but Westy was wide open by 10 yards.

I was pretty happy with the way that Riley/Langsdorf's offense played the first 4 games. They were a pleasant surprise to me. But, watching yesterday's game showed me that they are Callahan 2.0. The new version has a slight upgrade with jet sweeps and a few QB run calls. After the offensive coaches got a lot of praise this past week, there were a lot of doubters saying "what will happen when they enter conference play" or "what will happen when the weather turns poor". Well, we saw it on full display yesterday. Illinois' defense isn't even that good, but Riley and Langsdorf thought it would be a great idea to chuck it around all day with an inaccurate passer. What a complete joke. The only thing that kept NU in the lead for so long was Illinois' own incompetence on the offensive side of the ball.

I haven't seen a replay yet. But sitting in the stands it looked like Ozigbo whiffed on his block. And Tommy improvised by throwing over the guy. Do people in this thread really think Mike Riley would sit there in a press conference and lie about a play called? If it was a lie then we'll have players coming out today with the truth. All the players on the field, and probly a handful on the sidelines, know what play was called. I don't believe that Riley lied about the call in the press conference. I still say it was a terrible play call. Hand the ball off to Janovich or Ozigbo and run it into the line. Taking a knee would have been a better option. You can't even put the ball in a situation where it could be thrown like that.

Great, now we can include religion in a discussion about football? Ugh.

I wasn't bummed about the decision to go for it on 4th down. The FG would have been long, and against the wind. Yes, Foltz could have punted and pinned them inside the 10, but that's not guaranteed. The play call was another dumb play call though. Another bootleg pass to Jano, where he would have had to go at least 5 yards on his own? Jano is good, but that's a lot to ask for from a fullback. If he's gonna go for it, might as well tried a normal pass play, even though TA was struggling making throws.

One can only hope. He is taking the losses very hard, which he should. Maybe he will realize he's not cut out for this.

It's so ironic that Langsdorf and Riley didn't want to have Tommy run most of the game, even though Illinois has sucked all season stopping the QB run game, but on that 3rd down, Langsdorf called a QB run and they still couldn't execute that!!!!