Talent Gap

[Hunter94]

man, i can't believe all the goddamn whining for the past 2 days now! fire this guy, fire that guy!

 

sh#t, don't you think the doomers are pissed at Charlie Weis by now too! let's fire him too!

 

look, hello........WE JUST GOT BEAT BY SOME OF THE BEST TALENT IN THE COUNTRY!

we probably don't have more than 3 or 4 guys that could start for SC, what did everyone expect?

sure, maybe Carroll is a better overall coach and maybe he has better assistants too, but he has one intangible we aren't even close to, a huge talent pool and great athletes, some of the best in the country. period!

 

quit the goddamn sniveling, suck it up like REAL fans and move on! we have the rest of the season to learn and get better. we accomplish nothing by throwing the whole team and all the coaches under the bus!

 

before we hang the coaches let's see the play against Texas, Missouri and A&M. in terms of talent, we are much more evenly matched.

[Huskerfan55]

Yeah we got beat by a great team but we are not even close! Their 2nd and 3rd team would beat us! I want a coach who appears to give a damn! Carroll is fired up on the sideline or coach is looking over his glasses wondering what the hell to do next!

[HuskerBob4]

man, i can't believe all the goddamn whining for the past 2 days now! fire this guy, fire that guy!

 

sh#t, don't you think the doomers are pissed at Charlie Weis by now too! let's fire him too!

 

look, hello........WE JUST GOT BEAT BY SOME OF THE BEST TALENT IN THE COUNTRY!

we probably don't have more than 3 or 4 guys that could start for SC, what did everyone expect?

sure, maybe Carroll is a better overall coach and maybe he has better assistants too, but he has one intangible we aren't even close to, a huge talent pool and great athletes, some of the best in the country. period!

 

quit the goddamn sniveling, suck it up like REAL fans and move on! we have the rest of the season to learn and get better. we accomplish nothing by throwing the whole team and all the coaches under the bus!

 

before we hang the coaches let's see the play against Texas, Missouri and A&M. in terms of talent, we are much more evenly matched.

 

 

Just curious to know who those "3 or 4 guys" are? One of the things that is so difficult about being a Husker fan that doesn't live in Nebraska, is that we get blasted for pointing out obvious things that the rest of the country are seeing without their "Husker" colored glasses!

 

I agree totally that Coz is WAY too passive in his schemes and lacks good adjustments, or even adjustments at all! Why not stick 8 or 9 in the box, and make them show you they are well balanced! Not saying this would have necessarily changed the outcome of the game, but at least we would have known that we threw the kitchen sink at them, and they answered. Booty struggled, their wideouts are still unproven on a consistency level, cause everyone knows the talent is there, and we were giving up 8 or 9+ every run.

 

Back on topic now....We are a solid, top 15 or 20 program in the country, but beyond that, we still don't have all the pieces to make the jump into the Top 10 tier....(at least not on the field YET)! I really like Keller and his swagger, but his gun slinger low release is not great for the WCO and he will continue to have alot of tipped balls at the line! The O Line is getting there but still lacks the big All Pro type NFL talent we became accustomed to. The wideouts are inconsistent, and the most talented ones must not understand much of the playbook (Purify, Paul, Holt...) because they aren't on the field enough!!!

 

Let me take a break to point out that I am not breaking down all these players and saying they are terrible, I am simply stating that if we want to knock off Top 10 teams, we have to have more playmakers....

 

On the defensive side....I am sure I will probably get kicked off the site for this blasphemy, but here goes anyway...Ruud and McKeon are NOT that good. As this season wears on I continue to be amazed on how bad they are at shedding blocks and wrapping up. They benefited tremendously from teams having to double our D Line last year and had alot of easy tackles, this year teams like USC and A&M won't have to double the D Line and therefore the LB's will have to get off blocks, pursue harder and make plays. The only one truly capable of that is Super Steve! Another thing killing us, is the aggressiveness of Asante the Assassin! Don't get me wrong, I love aggressive mistakes opposed to passive ones (see Shanle!!!), but the staff has to help him make some adjustments or switch his role with Tierre, a much better open field tackler!

 

There are plenty of other things I would like to get into details about, but for now I must go. And as I continue to reiterate, I think this is a quality club that can make some noise still! I also believe we will end up 9-3 at worst, more likely though 10-2, with a home loss to A&M and a big road victory in Austin!!!

 

ALSO, I wanted to point out the fact I am totally behind Callahan, because as Mack Brown has proven, you don't have to be a great coach to win consistently, because if you have better athletes than the other guy, you will win 10 games or more a year!!! Don't throw in the towel Big Red Nation, the Huskers need us more than ever right now to keep this thing rolling the right way!!! GO BIG RED!!!

[melscott62]

Yeah we got beat by a great team but we are not even close! Their 2nd and 3rd team would beat us! I want a coach who appears to give a damn! Carroll is fired up on the sideline or coach is looking over his glasses wondering what the hell to do next!

so then I geuss tony dungy and TO are out of the question

[coyeote]

ALSO, I wanted to point out the fact I am totally behind Callahan, because as Mack Brown has proven, you don't have to be a great coach to win consistently, because if you have better athletes than the other guy, you will win 10 games or more a year!!! Don't throw in the towel Big Red Nation, the Huskers need us more than ever right now to keep this thing rolling the right way!!! GO BIG RED!!!

 

Agreed. The offense showed great improvement. Keller performed admirably in the complete absence of a running game. I must also agree the linebackers have played very poorly. Even Steve O was out of position a lot. Only his speed and quickness kept him in it.

 

Just as a reminder even BC stated in preseason that the talent has improved but that we were not there yet. Guess the guy was right.

[indianahusker]

man, i can't believe all the goddamn whining for the past 2 days now! fire this guy, fire that guy!

 

sh#t, don't you think the doomers are pissed at Charlie Weis by now too! let's fire him too!

 

look, hello........WE JUST GOT BEAT BY SOME OF THE BEST TALENT IN THE COUNTRY!

we probably don't have more than 3 or 4 guys that could start for SC, what did everyone expect?

sure, maybe Carroll is a better overall coach and maybe he has better assistants too, but he has one intangible we aren't even close to, a huge talent pool and great athletes, some of the best in the country. period!

 

quit the goddamn sniveling, suck it up like REAL fans and move on! we have the rest of the season to learn and get better. we accomplish nothing by throwing the whole team and all the coaches under the bus!

 

before we hang the coaches let's see the play against Texas, Missouri and A&M. in terms of talent, we are much more evenly matched.

 

I thought that one of the reasons this staff was assembled was to bring in top-notch talent.

Is it better than it was? I believe it is, but only mildly so, IMO.

This staff has had 2 top-10 classes, and 2 mediocre ones (although their first doesn't really count).

After all the hype, I expected better talent in year 4...but as one article pointed out, NONE of the guys NU had visiting this weekend were even being recruited by SC. What gives? I've tried to be patient, but NU should have better talent by now, don't you think? I certainly do.

I haven't given up yet, I still think this team can accomplish some good things. Winning the north (although I'm sure Mizzou and KU's offenses are salivating), upsetting OU in the Championship game, and going to a BCS bowl certainly aren't out of the question.

But the Defense and running game had better improve (needless to say).

[Hunter94]

we still aren't getting the top guys out of California or Texas, not yet and it will always be an uphill battle and we have discussed the reasons many times before. but this year's class, so far, looks pretty good, maybe the best yet, so from an offensive standpoint, we are making head way. on the defensive side of things, yes we still have a ways to go, but i understand cally's priority on trying to get WCO types in here on offense to get it started. truth is, we need great talent on both sides of the ball.

[skersfan]

I personally do not think we have a single player that could start at SC or a host of other programs.

 

Most of our starters would not make the top 3 at SC, Florida, LSU, Texas or Oklahoma.

 

Your beloved Pelini told you that years ago.

 

But it takes time to get those players. Nebraska is not an easy place to recruit to compared to the above mentioned programs.

 

We are getting better but it takes time. We read to much of our own press.

 

No matter how much you hate to think it. May, Corso, Herbstreit, and yes Trev have all said it. In progress, getting there, but it will take more time. NOT close at this time. But it is happening.

[jrggvlynr]

I agree that Ruud and McKeon are not good. It pains me to say that... but its so true. I'm not 100% sure its the talent or the desire and tenacity that is missing. I know this, if those guys didn't have their game faces on while that Stadium was rocking Saturday night, they never will. Ruud has even more of a reason to play his heart out with the lineage and local connection. The only conclusion I can make is that they are just overmatched. Once SC doubled Suh, they put the outcome on the shoulders of our linebackers... and they knew what they where doing.

[TX-Husker-2011]

Next year's recruiting class is a DAMN good one just for the record.

[nebraskanative]

Cally and Co. supposedly have brought in better talent. We had a ton of recruits on the sidelines watching the Huskers get man handled. I won't fault the coaches for their plans, as I feel it all comes down to execution anyway. Let's face it, USC ran a simple game plan and could have named their score with the basics: Put the best athletes on the field, block, tackle and just out execute the opponent.

 

My issue is this, and I believe Saturday was the perfect opportunity to employ this. WE NEED TO FIND A WAY TO PLAY OUR BEST ATHLETES!!!!!!

 

Offensively, Lucky is far too tentative. If you are going to make a mistake, make it at full speed. I think we have better RB's than him, at least ones who will go full speed all the time. Sit him down and play the guys willing to blast through a hole, not side step.

 

Nunn and Hardy, although no glaring issues this week, we have far bigger threats on the bench. They need to find a way to get on the field.

 

Offensive line got blown up. I'm not saying everyone of them should have been replaced, but we do have some young talent that should have been given a shot. Our veterans couldn't do it, so what did we have to lose.

 

Defensively - Not sure who we could have tried on the line. We were just over matched.

LB's - Rudd and McKeon should have been pulled. They are far from our best athletes at this position and are supposed to be playing because they know the schemes and they are fundamentally sound. Missed tackles and consistently being out of position should have put them on the bench. Not to mention we needed some speed at this position.

 

CB's - I won't complain, other than a few missed tackles.

Safety's - Why is Green playing. He isn't aggressive and he didn't look like he had any speed (although I thought he was supposed to). We have at least 2 other safeties that are better than him.

 

Special Teams - Holes were there, but we were 2 steps slow to get to them. One name: Prince.

 

My point: We can recruit better athletes, but if the coaches do not find a way to play them (before they are Jrs. or Srs.) it will hurt recruiting. If the offense or defense is too complicated to pick up, the coaches need to modify it, to get the athletes on the field. This isn't the same game it was 10 or 15 years ago, we need to get the athletes on the field.

 

It's really a simple game: Execute the fundamentals and play your athletes. Unfortunately, I think we are trying to make it far more complicating and are only ending up confusing ourselves.

 

How big of a recruiting hit would it have been to put the "Young Guns" in late 2nd Qtr or early 3rd and see how we match up athletically. Couldn't have hurt and imagine the hype if we could have stopped the Trojans and made a move offensively.

 

I think the coaches need to get back to the basics and quickly. Let's field a team with our BEST ATHLETES!

[jrggvlynr]

Next year's recruiting class is a DAMN good one just for the record.

Um... sorry, but that's getting a little old.

 

I live in St Louis.... Gabbert got pulled in the 3rd quarter a week ago after 2 interceptions. This year he's completed 43% of his passes, totaling 390 yards, 1 TD 3 INT.

[melscott62]

Offensively, Lucky is far too tentative. If you are going to make a mistake, make it at full speed. I think we have better RB's than him, at least ones who will go full speed all the time. Sit him down and play the guys willing to blast through a hole, not side step.

 

there were holes? I must have missed that

[melscott62]

Next year's recruiting class is a DAMN good one just for the record.

Um... sorry, but that's getting a little old.

 

I live in St Louis.... Gabbert got pulled in the 3rd quarter a week ago after 2 interceptions. This year he's completed 43% of his passes, totaling 390 yards, 1 TD 3 INT.

 

 

he's not healthy

[I Bleed RED]

The talent gap really is the biggest issue here.

 

We have no talent with our top 2 coaches and USC is stacked with talented coaches. If we cannot recruit better talent on our coaching staff then all the better talented teams will destroy us.

 

Talent really is the issue here! Finally we all agree on something!!!