WHOSE TO BLAME? COACHES OR PLAYERS....

[bigred4life]

play calling on offense was ok for the osu game....i've realized that after watchin bc call plays over the last 3 years, that it can just drive you insane trying to figure out why the hell he would call plays as he does sometimes (i.e. throwing the ball a billion times with joe dailey 3 years ago and then like none against usc when it mattered the most w/ zach taylor). anyway, my question would be the defensive schemes that cosgrove has been implementing...we may not have as much team speed or talent as we did during the championship years, but i still think our defense has top 25 talent on it. so...how the hell do we give up crazy numbers against teams like state and kansas (i know they have good offenses, but giving up 490 yards?...thats absolutely tarnishing the legacy of the blackshirts and what they have stood for under mcbride and even under the year under pelini). i seriously think we have talented defensive players...but an un-talented defensive coaching staff (cosgrove) that dont seem to be able to make "in game" adjustments. the year under pelini, the defense practically carried the huskers to a 10-3 records. the year after, virtually the same defense was back with the bullock brothers & co. , but they just got lit up with cosgroves new schemes. at the time, coaches were saying it was a new system and all that bs...but 2 years later, its the same inconsistency from week to week. play good one week, then get blown up against teams like osu and kansas. folks, i'll always stick with the huskers through no matter what, but seriously, with this much inconsistency its hard to make a read on the programs future. our front 7 i think is one of the best in the country....and they just got blown up. i know some people say its the players on the field that make the plays and not the coaches...but at some point, you gotta look at the coaches and their ability to teach, motivate, and creativity in designing offensive/defensive game plans that can be adjusted to game changing situations! uggg, anyway, thats my 2 cents....just frustrating, but i'm still hoping like i do every year that something good will come out of it.

[rawhide]

Welcome to the board bigred4life,

 

 

If you find out the answers to your questions only let the Husker coaches know. No one else.

 

Great post and again Welcome.

 

GBR

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

Well....I've never really been a big fan of Cosgrove. His defenses at Wisconsin were routinely mediocre. But...I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt and the opportunity to prove my assumptions about him were wrong....for now. Some of the players he's using were recruited during Solich's time. I still wish to this day Callahan would have considered keeping Pelini as DC

[EbylHusker]

I think our front 7 has been overrated by a lot of people. They're good, but they're not the gods they were made out to be. Our secondary is full of players who were not recruited to play in the secondary, not to mention inexperience at the I-A level.

 

What does all that mean? I think Cosgrove is suspect, but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for a couple more years. I'd like to see what he does after Callahan and crew get all their recruits in and get things fully in order on both sides of the ball.

 

To be honest, I think Cosgrove is average at what he does. When combined with our problems in the secondary, which have nothing to do with coaching, and the inflated view of the front 7, you get a defense that isn't great. Like I said, I want to see what he does over the next couple years before I decide he's bad. I haven't seen enough to convince me it's all his fault, because I know our secondary is just poor.

[BigRedMike]

To the post a couple up, I can't believe that anyone would still be blaming Solich or his recruits. That is ridicules!!! By now, if they are using any of Solich's players they must think they are good enough to play! If they are wrong, that is their fault!

[bigred4life]

I think our front 7 has been overrated by a lot of people. They're good, but they're not the gods they were made out to be. Our secondary is full of players who were not recruited to play in the secondary, not to mention inexperience at the I-A level.

 

What does all that mean? I think Cosgrove is suspect, but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt for a couple more years. I'd like to see what he does after Callahan and crew get all their recruits in and get things fully in order on both sides of the ball.

 

To be honest, I think Cosgrove is average at what he does. When combined with our problems in the secondary, which have nothing to do with coaching, and the inflated view of the front 7, you get a defense that isn't great. Like I said, I want to see what he does over the next couple years before I decide he's bad. I haven't seen enough to convince me it's all his fault, because I know our secondary is just poor.

 

 

true, the front seven may have been overrated, and the secondary is inexperienced... so time only will tell maybe with cosgrove if he gets the right recruits in, but i hope that its not too late (husker's sink even further on defensive the next couple of years) by the time we realize maybe cosgrove is the real problem. i guess my main concern is not cause we lost, but the way we lose games sometimes by such insane numbers in terms of giving up points and yards...like u said, they are good, but not gods, but i expect a well coached big red husker defense, even an average one...not to give up 495 yards against osu, and roughly the same amount against kansas. i hope your right though, if cosgrove gets the right recruits in and they start dominating on a consistent basis i'd be the first to admit that i was wrong in thinking coz maybe the problem.

[EbylHusker]

Uh, we are still playing with a fair number of Solich recruits. Just because they are playing doesn't mean they are at the level we need them to be. It just means they are as good as we've got right now. There are several reasons why they are as good as we've got right now. We've had injuries, some players have simply not ended up playing up to the level they were expected to play at, some are inexperienced at the I-A level and need maturing, and so on.

 

The point is, Solich was not a good recruiter and the general caliber of recruit he brought in was not as high as we'd like. It takes time to establish your recruiting at a college when you first get there, you just don't get all the recruits you want after the first season (especially if that season is 5-6, or whatever Callahan's first was). We have some good players from Solich and a much larger number of decent players. They are not the only problem, just part of it, along with all the other things I listed.

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

To the post a couple up, I can't believe that anyone would still be blaming Solich or his recruits. That is ridicules!!! By now, if they are using any of Solich's players they must think they are good enough to play! If they are wrong, that is their fault!

 

I'm going to assume you're referring to my post?

 

Who's blaming Solich or his recruits?? Solich's players were recruited to run different def. schemes. Then Pelini came in for a year with another set of schemes. Now Cosgrove. My point is/was, any defensive players left from the Solich era have had to learn schemes from 2 or 3 different coordinators. Unlike some of the younger players who will have the opportunity to learn from one coach, the Solich players never been able to master a defense. There hasn't been any consistency on defense and I attribute that to having changed so many coaches.

[EbylHusker]

I think we have had better than Cosgrove in the recent past, I'm not trying to say he's super great. I just think he is an ok defensive coordinator that is having to deal with a host of other problems at the same time. The next couple years will tell us for sure, though.

[BigRedMike]

Uh, we are still playing with a fair number of Solich recruits. Just because they are playing doesn't mean they are at the level we need them to be. It just means they are as good as we've got right now. There are several reasons why they are as good as we've got right now. We've had injuries, some players have simply not ended up playing up to the level they were expected to play at, some are inexperienced at the I-A level and need maturing, and so on.

 

The point is, Solich was not a good recruiter and the general caliber of recruit he brought in was not as high as we'd like. It takes time to establish your recruiting at a college when you first get there, you just don't get all the recruits you want after the first season (especially if that season is 5-6, or whatever Callahan's first was). We have some good players from Solich and a much larger number of decent players. They are not the only problem, just part of it, along with all the other things I listed.

 

At what point (# of years) do we stop blaming Solich?

[Huskerfan55]

This is on the coaches Cosgrove and Special teams coach both need to go. We also need a kicker who can kick! Hell the kid from Millard South has a better leg then or kicker!!!!!!!

 

We will be lucky to go 7-5 from this point forward. Missouri and Texas AM are a real problem for us. Plus I am noty even sure about CO. Hell we may end up 6-6 if so some major changes need to occur!

[EbylHusker]

When we have a team mostly consisting of Callahan's recruits? And by that I mean people that have been recruited as freshman, not juco's (though we have gotten a few high caliber players from them, some still need maturing at the I-A level).

 

Look, nobody is blaming Solich for all our problems. But like it or not, he left us with a bad legacy in recruiting. If we had no other problems, it wouldn't be a big deal. But that's not even close to reality. We have Cosgrove, who I think is just average, injuries (especially to our best cover man), inexperience, players recruited into a totally different system than they are playing, players being moved to positions they were never recruited to play due to injuries, etc.

 

There are multiple problems, no one thing is the source of all the problems. And to me that includes Cosgrove.

[Blackshirtsguru]

Our secondary is weak thats the bottom line! WR's were man handling them all day on run blocks!

[EbylHusker]

And yes, we need a kicker that can put it into the end zone on a somewhat regular basis. That's an issue even Callahan has admitted to.

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

Our secondary is weak thats the bottom line! WR's were man handling them all day on run blocks!

 

No argument there