Jeff Sims, the Offensive Struggles, and Overall Physicality

[Cornbred]

16 hours ago, skers83 said:

I believe you are thinking of Malachi Coleman. He is from Lincoln though. Not sure if he is ready yet. 

Thanks! Why not put him out there even if your not throwing it to him? He's not going to stick around for long if he has that much talent. Put your best players on the field and stretch the back end. Look at all the weapons Sanders has around him. Put all your talent on the field even if their just decoys.

[krc1995]

17 hours ago, skers83 said:

I believe you are thinking of Malachi Coleman. He is from Lincoln though. Not sure if he is ready yet. 

I thought I saw his name on the participation report. Not sure if I trust the one listed in the Boxscore on the Huskers app tho. 

[Mavric]

1 hour ago, FrantzHardySwag said:

Sims career to date against FBS teams. 7-18 record, offense averages 22 points/game.
 

He’s scored 42 TD and turned the ball over 33 times. And that was in the ACC. 

Expecting him to be more than a 15 TD/15 INT guy, with a decent ground game, seems like pipe dream. 

 

I mean ... I wasn't sold on him before and less so now.

 

But he's been better than 1:1 each of the last two years.  So calling it a "pipe dream" is pretty over-dramatic.

[Hayseed]

We had their defense sucking air and refused to keep running. We had plenty of physicality, too bad we didn't use it. Is running your QB a recipe for success in the Big? Hell no. Neither is throwing the ball to the other team and having zero field vision.

Situational awareness seems to be a problem. Playing like a high school kid in Division 1 is a problem. Coaching like you're not aware of that problem is a problem.

[FrantzHardySwag]

30 minutes ago, Mavric said:

 

I mean ... I wasn't sold on him before and less so now.

 

But he's been better than 1:1 each of the last two years.  So calling it a "pipe dream" is pretty over-dramatic.

17/10 in the ACC, but not being a homer - the secondary’s in the ACC are not the same as the B1G. ACC has had 4 4000 yrd passers the last 2 years. Good QBs pick that league apart. Maybe slightly dramatic, but he might struggle reaching that 1:1 ratio playing a full B1G schedule. 

[Mavric]

Just now, FrantzHardySwag said:

17/10 in the ACC, but not being a homer - the secondary’s in the ACC are not the same as the B1G. ACC has had 4 4000 yrd passers the last 2 years. Good QBs pick that league apart. Maybe slightly dramatic, but he might struggle reaching that 1:1 ratio playing a full B1G schedule. 

 

"Might struggle to" is quite a ways from a "pipe dream."

[FrantzHardySwag]

13 minutes ago, Mavric said:

 

"Might struggle to" is quite a ways from a "pipe dream."

I really don’t want to get into a back and forth about the verbiage. You’re right in the  30 seconds it took me to write the post I could have used better terms. My point is/was Jeff Sims might just be the guy he was at GT. Sometimes a change of scenery doesn’t help. 

[Nebhawk]

1 hour ago, Mavric said:

 

"Might struggle to" is quite a ways from a "pipe dream."

 

1 hour ago, FrantzHardySwag said:

17/10 in the ACC, but not being a homer - the secondary’s in the ACC are not the same as the B1G. ACC has had 4 4000 yrd passers the last 2 years. Good QBs pick that league apart. Maybe slightly dramatic, but he might struggle reaching that 1:1 ratio playing a full B1G schedule. 

My issue with all of these posts that refer to Big 10 as this juggernaut conference and comparing to other conferences is bothersome.  Sure Ohio St, Penn St, and Michigan are Top 15 caliber teams, but the rest are well below those.  WE as fans assemble all these reasons why and why not players can or can not perform here.  It has been a talent issue, and will continue to be a talent issue.  I watched so many games this weekend, and honestly KU, KSU, Colorado, TCU , USC, UCLA, and ETC all have 2nd team WR that are better than anything we have.  Simple.  Pelini, Riley, and Frost couldn't bring in enought skill position talent here to compete week in and week out.  Rhule has his work ahead of him to build a full roster with skill players and linemen.  This all starts with bringing in a capable QB who can throw the ball, and WR's will follow.  We keep bringing in someone else's QB who has a book wrote about them already.  Most of those chapters are telling us what they are before they arrive. 

Key stretch in this season, and a stretch that will define this years team is coming : October 6 thru November 4.  Illinois, Northwestern, Purdue, and Michigan ST.  WE have to win 3 out of those 4, if not all 4.  Those programs right now are not good, and ripe for the taking, but in one month who improves more, them or us?

[thatguy]

On 9/1/2023 at 1:27 PM, Dr. Strangelove said:

The coaching staff had to make the choice they made. Scott Frost also figured out that with the line quality and his inability to recruit and develop receivers, the only way to move the ball was to run the QB.

 

Our staff is smart - they quickly realized this. With very little talent at receiver and a running back room that is mostly average, they got the best dual-threat they could get from the portal and they're going to try and win with his skillset.

 

I agree with OP - the staff wants to develop a certain pro-style foundation which I understand. However it's evident that this just isn't Jeff Sims skillset. They probably need to limit the receiver route trees, simplify the RPO reads, and roll the pocket a bit more. I know this might run counter to the developmental process for the physical, pro-style offense they want to run. But it's pretty obvious that Sims doesn't see the field (and the OL doesn't protect) well enough to be a pocket passer. We're simply going to have to Iowa our way to 6 wins - grind out games, punt, let the defense keep us in games. Try to be risk averse on offense and see what happens.

While I don’t support calling a player garbage, there’s simply no excuse for having zero quarterbacks on the roster. There’s no excuses for not having someone who can read a defense and look a safety away, the line play notwithstanding. 

[skers83]

5 hours ago, Cornbred said:

Thanks! Why not put him out there even if your not throwing it to him? He's not going to stick around for long if he has that much talent. Put your best players on the field and stretch the back end. Look at all the weapons Sanders has around him. Put all your talent on the field even if their just decoys.

Well I might agree with you and admo I can't say why he isn't playing. I should have said I've read he is not ready yet.

[Savage Husker]

We don’t have great WRs yet and Sims seems to be late on reads and just overall not an effective passing QB. Turn this offense into an Iowa offense for the season and pound the rock, eat the clock, and protect the football. Mix in some option run and pass plays, and let Sims and Ervin bruise some tacklers for Johnson or others to slash through. Few back-7 defenders have the size against Sims, they don’t want that in the open field at all. If the defense maintains and somehow develops a pass rusher or two, they could get on track for 6 wins, maybe steal 2 more if things go right. 

[Undone]

One other thing that sticks out to me is that our max potential on offense in that game was probably 21 points. We scored 10 and left 11 on the board (took the one field goal, pissed the touchdown on the 1 yard line down our leg with the false start).

 

So what's really depressing is that if our defense hadn't been on the money all game we really wouldn't have had any chance because of how inept the offense was from start to finish. Fans tend to focus in on those last 6:00 of the game, but the sobering thing for me is how one-dimensional we might wind up being this season on offense.

 

I'd like to see one division conference game where Gabe Ervin gets like 15+ carries and we just see what happens in that scenario.

[Guy Chamberlin]

So what exactly is Big 10 football? Is it really a pound-the-rock conference, is that a memory from when Keith Jackson was announcing, or does it change from game to game? 

 

Minnesota has been a run-first team for a few seasons now, and in a ball control game against Nebraska they threw 44 times. You'd think Utah State would be a pound the rock game for Iowa, but Iowa threw 30 passes and only rushed for 88 yards.

 

If you're playing "take what a defense gives you," Nebraska gives teams a lot of time to stand in the pocket and watch receivers get separation. 

 

I gotta think Colorado will be easier to run against, especially if they spend all week planning a spy strategy on Sims and we mix in our RBs a lot better. But if they're willing to stack the box against the run and count on speed to contain Sims, we will be looking at a scheme a lot like last week. Then again, the same scheme with 30% better execution, and let's say two fewer turnovers might not look so bad. 

[Undone]

2 minutes ago, Guy Chamberlin said:

So what exactly is Big 10 football? Is it really a pound-the-rock conference, is that a memory from when Keith Jackson was announcing, or does it change from game to game? 

 

Minnesota has been a run-first team for a few seasons now, and in a ball control game against Nebraska they threw 44 times. You'd think Utah State would be a pound the rock game for Iowa, but Iowa threw 30 passes and only rushed for 88 yards.

 

If you're playing "take what a defense gives you," Nebraska gives teams a lot of time to stand in the pocket and watch receivers get separation. 

 

I gotta think Colorado will be easier to run against, especially if they spend all week planning a spy strategy on Sims and we mix in our RBs a lot better. But if they're willing to stack the box against the run and count on speed to contain Sims, we will be looking at a scheme a lot like last week. Then again, the same scheme with 30% better execution, and let's say two fewer turnovers might not look so bad. 

 

Good stuff, Guy. Especially "what exactly is Big 10 football" at this point.

 

"Physical & talented defenses" sticks out as being on the list. But as you mention, in recent years a lot of spread offense and snaps from the shotgun have come into play for most teams.

 

But another that sticks out to me is good coaching. I really didn't expect Barthel & Rhule to do something late in the game like put Grant in over Ervin, really didn't. I'm big on not focusing only on a late game error but rather the game as a whole, and obviously our offense f***** up for pretty much four quarters straight. But if we're even going to be a team that makes a bowl game most seasons, the in-game coaching gaffes have to stop.

[Comish]

2 minutes ago, Undone said:

 

Good stuff, Guy. Especially "what exactly is Big 10 football" at this point.

 

"Physical & talented defenses" sticks out as being on the list. But as you mention, in recent years a lot of spread offense and snaps from the shotgun have come into play for most teams.

 

But another that sticks out to me is good coaching. I really didn't expect Barthel & Rhule to do something late in the game like put Grant in over Ervin, really didn't. I'm big on not focusing only on a late game error but rather the game as a whole, and obviously our offense f***** up for pretty much four quarters straight. But if we're even going to be a team that makes a bowl game most seasons, the in-game coaching gaffes have to stop.

Not to mention the pre-fumble series where we were obviously tiring their run D out, and we (despite all the off-season blather about the importance of the physical 4th quarter 4 minute offense) throw it on all 3 downs, not only going counter to our preferred style, but taking virtually no time off the clock? Baffling.