So much blame to go around on offense

[JTrain]

I was at the game today... absolutely the most frustrating game I can remember watching in 16 years. Lee is not an FBS caliber QB. Period. I don't know what evidence will convince those who think otherwise at this point. Green should have played every snap in this game and we win without question (NOT because Green would be great, but because he could at least be decent). Wouldn't have been pretty, but I have no doubt he would have seen the open receivers (they were there) better than Lee and fired with more accuracy down the middle of the field. This would've have been a 17-9 win or thereabouts under Green. I've never seen anyone lock onto his first read as consistently as Lee. This is Iowa State for god's sake! Their defense is not good. There were receivers open all game, and Lee would lock onto his 6-8 yard curl route and fire it in. One of the most painful things to watch was our second to last drive, McNeill was running a wheel route and was wide open down the right side of the field two plays in a row. A pretty easy pass for 25-30 yards (would have put us in FG range easily), but Lee was completely locked in on the other side and threw two ugly, short passes.

 

Our receivers are not good. Before this game I kept trying to convince myself the drops were just a slump, and we'd get out of it. Not anymore. The receivers just aren't talented. Paul is good for a big play every now and then, but with it comes 2-3 (often major) mistakes a game. Holt is non-existent, which is sad for someone with his physical attributes. I can not think of a group in FBS football that drops this many balls. McNeill is solid, but since he isn't the first read in most plays, he almost never gets the ball. I guess Watson needs to start adding plays where the TEs are the first read, because it's the only way Lee will ever look at them.

 

Watson, sadly, is starting to remind me of Callahan in at least one category... complete failure to modify the gameplan to your strengths. Not that we had many strengths in this game, but the little we had to work with, we weren't going back to enough. Our best chance to produce on offense is with a consistent running commitment mixed with passes to McNeill, RB screens and the occasional deep ball to Paul. Instead we get 10 WR screens, runs WAY outside, and about 15 outside curl routes. Really pathetic playcalling in my opinion. Watson is pretty good when the talent fits perfectly to his playbook (last season). But don't ask him to go outside the box and try to fit his playbook to the talent. As bad as our offense is, it is worth 20 points against a bad ISU defense, even with five fumbles. But not with Watson calling the plays.

 

The drive that really epitomized our pathetic offense was after the blocked FG. We're at the ISU 38. All we need to do is run three plays in a row, pick up 5-6 yards, kick the FG and walk out with the ugliest win since Ball St. Instead, we manage to go backwards three yards and punt. Absolutely unreal.

 

Yup, we just lost to an average ISU team, at home, with their starting QB and RB out. Completely sad.

 

Funny, the Texas Tech defense that we made look like the Steel Curtain just finished giving up 52 points to a pretty bad Texas A&M team. WOW. Even Helu looked average today (and if he was hurt, why was he playing at all?)

[Eric the Red]

Our receivers are not good. Before this game I kept trying to convince myself the drops were just a slump, and we'd get out of it. Not anymore. The receivers just aren't talented. Paul is good for a big play every now and then, but with it comes 2-3 (often major) mistakes a game. Holt is non-existent, which is sad for someone with his physical attributes. I can not think of a group in FBS football that drops this many balls. McNeill is solid, but since he isn't the first read in most plays, he almost never gets the ball. I guess Watson needs to start adding plays where the TEs are the first read, because it's the only way Lee will ever look at them.

 

This group is fairly week. Not a single playmaker out of any of them. DId anyone see the highlight from UCONN game. The short pass that turned into an 80 yard TD. Not a sinlge receiver could have done that on the team.

[Zaimejs]

Our receivers are not good. Before this game I kept trying to convince myself the drops were just a slump, and we'd get out of it. Not anymore. The receivers just aren't talented. Paul is good for a big play every now and then, but with it comes 2-3 (often major) mistakes a game. Holt is non-existent, which is sad for someone with his physical attributes. I can not think of a group in FBS football that drops this many balls. McNeill is solid, but since he isn't the first read in most plays, he almost never gets the ball. I guess Watson needs to start adding plays where the TEs are the first read, because it's the only way Lee will ever look at them.

 

This group is fairly week. Not a single playmaker out of any of them. DId anyone see the highlight from UCONN game. The short pass that turned into an 80 yard TD. Not a sinlge receiver could have done that on the team.

 

Missing porkchop about now, eh? Just someone who can do that.

 

Oh well... there's always tomorrow. And don't tell me that almost everyone didn't expect us to come out and light up the scoreboard yesterday... I know that's what I was thinking. After the first fumble... the bottom dropped out, and we all knew we were in for a long day.

 

But the sick thing about being a Husker fan is that in my heart of hearts, I believe that we will score 50 points on Baylor, beat OU, and play Texas for the Big 12 championship... I still have that sick misguided notion that these last several games have been flukes, and that the offense is just going to take off...