It's the offense Not very good

[Billyball]

The only honest evaluation is that we sucked on offense. Helu had a good game but that was because they keyed on Lee and shut him down.

 

On the positive side--this is one of the better defenses we will face--probably not as good as Oklahoma but better than Misery or Kansas. On the other hand--all three of those teams and most of the others we play will hang a lot more points on the board. What do you think we need to do to improve our offense???

[I See Red People]

I thought our RED ZONE offense sucked.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

We need to get faster and that's not an easy fix, we seemed very slow today. Also, we need to get violent when we hit the holes, some guys are tip toeing way too much.

[EbylHusker]

Just execution. They didn't execute the passing game well today and it hurt. I think the experience against VT will help them a lot as the season goes on. I don't expect out offense to play that way again.

 

Edit - And yeah, I'm mainly referring to the red zone offense here, though passing in general was really hit and miss.

[Husker_x]

Frankly I started to wonder why we bothered passing at all. Lee couldn't hit his wideouts and even if he could, they couldn't catch them. I could understand the futility game if our running backs were getting stuffed, but they weren't. A few drives got killed by diverting resources from a hot running game to a frosty passing game.

 

Watson's a hell of a coordinator, but whatever was going on today was something beyond me.

[zoogs]

Why we bothered passing?

 

...because...one-dimensional?

[EbylHusker]

Also, I'd like to add that as much as they "keyed on Lee" they didn't shut him down. Lee made plenty of plays, and missed plenty of plays. But most of the ones he missed he just missed, and some were dropped. They really didn't shut him down, we just didn't make the plays we needed to. Huge difference.

[knapplc]

People seem to also be forgetting that Lee threw the ball away - wisely - several times. He had one pass picked off in real game-play, and one in what amounted to garbage time.

 

People also seem to be forgetting that VA Tech is a pretty good DEF, probably the best we'll see all year, and we still had 343 yards of offense. We bogged down in the Red Zone, and we'll have to fix that, but it's not as if they shut us down. Quite the opposite, actually.

[Billyball]

Also, I'd like to add that as much as they "keyed on Lee" they didn't shut him down. Lee made plenty of plays, and missed plenty of plays. But most of the ones he missed he just missed, and some were dropped. They really didn't shut him down, we just didn't make the plays we needed to. Huge difference.

 

If you call 11 for 30 getting it done---I'd be an NFL QB

[knapplc]

Also, I'd like to add that as much as they "keyed on Lee" they didn't shut him down. Lee made plenty of plays, and missed plenty of plays. But most of the ones he missed he just missed, and some were dropped. They really didn't shut him down, we just didn't make the plays we needed to. Huge difference.

 

If you call 11 for 30 getting it done---I'd be an NFL QB

You're focusing on those completion stats, and they aren't pretty, but Lee played a wise game and had us in position to win the game.

[zoogs]

+1 to that. Receivers not being open, dropping well-thrown balls, and having to just flat out throw it away hurt his stats considerably.

 

also, I think it was sad that Lee possibly hurt his hand?

 

That first interception, though - boy, I was shaking my head at that one.

[HuskerTrucker]

You also need to remember that this is one of the higher ranked defenses in the NCAA. This was also Lee's 3rd start, and this is Bo's 2nd season as a head coach. We are relatively a young team...like it or not.

[treeeman]

Helu got tired in the second half. Had castille still been on the team, how many of the third and shorts would have been picked up for first downs? That was the difference between winning and losing

[knapplc]

+1 to that. Receivers not being open, dropping well-thrown balls, and having to just flat out throw it away hurt his stats considerably.

 

also, I think it was sad that Lee possibly hurt his hand?

 

That first interception, though - boy, I was shaking my head at that one.

Agree. And the interception - a mistake. But nobody plays error-free all game long. I seem to recall even the great Tommie Frazier, and the great Turner Gill, fumbling or tossing picks once in a while.

 

Lee is a good game manager, solid, and knows when to pack it in and get rid of it, too. Lee was sacked 0 times this game.

[TheKiD]

Watson may well have over-thought himself in the way that Pelini did in the Mizzou game last year.

 

You keep analyzing everything that's happening and trying to piece it together to find a way to exploit it. Sometimes you just need to play the situation more and let a well-executed play do its work, rather than trying to come up with a magic play that will exploit them.