Bye Bye Watson

[shyndy]

Look, I'm not pleased with what we have seen on offense, but coaching personnel is not our decision, its Pelini's. And I really like Pelini, so whatever he does is fine by me, I just hope that he and whoever is able to get at least a mediocre offensive system installed.

[Zaimejs]

What I couldn't understand was that Watson seemed to forget that Zac Lee was his QB. Every single time he calls a deep pass or an option run... it's like he thinks he has a real Division 1 QB to run those plays. He has been watching and coaching this idiot all season... doesn't he realize that he can't do anything? He is completely incapable of making a read, pitching on the option, or throwing a decent pass. The only reason any passes have ever been caught down field is because Paul gave us such a mismatch on size and speed that he could GO GET THE BALL. Texas showed how that can't work if the QB can't put the ball where the receiver needs it to go.

 

That pass to the sideline in the endzone was indicative of Lee's ineptitude. He couldn't lead his big receiver to the corner for a free TD. We couldn't score after being given a gift by Paul on the 10 yard line. We didn't throw a single bootleg to the tight end.

 

It was the single worst offensive game I've ever seen. Ever. Oh wait... Iowa State. Maybe that was worse, but that was fumbles and miscues.

 

Did anyone else notice that it was Cotton's son who was guilty of two offside penalties inside the ten yard line? Does that tell us something about his lack of discipline when his own son can't fricking stay still until the ball is snapped?

 

And yeah, Cody Green getting shafted like that? If I were him, I'd transfer. "You want to put me in now? We're on the 1/2 yard line against the best defense we've ever faced, and you want me to do what?! How about putting me in on the 40 one time... just one time? Let me run an option. Let me do a QB keeper. Let me do something!"

 

GAAAHHH!!!!

[Husker_x]

Does anyone on this board still believe Watson is the answer for our offense? I would be really interested to hear one of his supporters explain his playcalling tonight, especially the lack of passes all night long.

lol, go talk to HuskerTrucker. Im sure he'll come up with some excuse as to why Nebraska absolutely needs to keep Watson

i can explain his lack of passes, he did not want to give up interceptions. the 'o' had to keep the ball and waste time, that is all you can expect from this 'o'.

Yes, I agree with you that that is all you can expect from this 'o'. But the fact that this is all we can expect from this 'o' goes back to Watson, he is the offensive coordinator. No, I dont expect our offense to be world beaters but we've had too many offensive performances this year that have been downright pathetic (Texas Tech, Iowa State, Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas). That falls on the man with the 6 figure salary (Watson) & he's gotta go

yeah, i was not making excuses, i was just saying that if the 'o' does not turnover the ball and gets a few first downs, well then they had a good game. something is seriously wrong with this 'o' and it does need to be fixed. i think bo and TO will have a long (or short) conversation of how to fix it. i do not think bo wants to fire anyone, he just wants to coach, but TO will give him sound advice of how to manage his staff. (it would be hard to manage a staff for the first time, especially when bo's specialty is coaching, not necessarily managing)

If I'm Bo Pelini and I think that your performance is costing me my bonus for getting to a BCS bowl, I'm not going to be nice to you. You're taking money out of my pocket, and even if you're the nicest guy in the world, I'm going to drop you on your head for someone that I think can get me that payday. Nothing personal. Business is business.

if watson was so bad,,,why would the alabama coach try to hire him... the offense does really stink,,,not sure what the problem is , could be the players, not good enough. ....but it all starts in the line,, if the line cannot mover the oppostion, nothing will happen...you can have the best back in the world, but no line, he is worthless.

I addressed this in my long post further up. Here, rather than get in a circular conversation, I'll just post it again. It addresses everything that you question. If you'd like to disagree with me on those points, feel free and we'll discuss them, but I'm not going to go around in circles:

 

Nebraska is one of the premier names in college football. This isn't a cellar-dweller school with low expectations. As such, one can expect a certain level of performance and competence from its players and its coaches. A totally-inept offense falls entirely on the coaching staff. Why not the players? I'll tell you why: The coaching staff recruits those players as well as coaches them. These are their players that they recruited and selected for their system. Their players are only playing to the level of coaching that they received (see Defense).

 

Anyone who thinks that it is tolerable for Nebraska's offense to be the laughingstock of Division I football for even ONE year does not know the expectations for championship football. If this defense was not what it was, we might have lost ALL of our Big 12 games this year. You can thank the Pelini brothers' defensive genius for saving this season for us.

 

For those of you that think Watson's or any other offensive coach's job is safe after this season's performances, you're completely naive. High-level people are going to have to fall on their swords after this season ends. These types of offensive performances are absolutely inexcusable at Nebraska or any other Division I school for that matter. A poor performance here and there can be tolerated, but it is absolutely inexcusable for the offense to play like this through virtually all of our conference schedule. This is a big business--not HS football. People don't get second and third chances.

 

If our offense would have even been "competent" this year, we would be playing in a BCS bowl right now, either after beating Texas or as an at-large selection. We might even be playing for a national championship. Don't you think Bo is thinking that very same thing? Hmm.....what to do....what to do.....

 

Excellent post. I wake up this morning to find a few people with the gaul to claim that 106 yards and 5 first downs comprises a sound game plan for a championship level football team. Lest we forget, Texas got gashed for a few miles by a sickly aTm team a week ago. In order, the issues are: Line, Receiving Corps, Quarterback. The first two are decidedly coaching issues, and we have multiple seasons worth of evidence to prove this. As for the QB, we're stuck between Zac Useless and a true freshman who hadn't even had the benefit of playing the cupcakes on our schedule to start his learning curve.

 

The dirty truth that nobody on the team will want to face is that if we had an offense that could even reasonably be called crap-but-servicable, we're BCS bound and maybe more. Our defense will stay top 20 from here on, I believe, but the Herculean play we've seen this season may have been a window that shuts as Suh heads off to fame and fortune. And all eyes turn to Watson and his staff.

[zoogs]

No, that's not the dirty truth.

 

If we had a high caliber OFFENSE, we could do that.

 

We don't have a high caliber offense and the best OC in the world couldn't make it that way.

 

If our team was the kind that had to win games by getting into shootout contests, that is what we would do, or try to. That's not our team! It was last year, and two years ago (5-7), but no more.

 

Our team this year is grind it out and play a low-scoring, defensive contest.

 

I usually like the high scoring variety better (who doesn't?), but I've quite enjoyed watching our D this year.

[Paul in WI]

No, that's not the dirty truth.

 

If we had a high caliber OFFENSE, we could do that.

 

We don't have a high caliber offense and the best OC in the world couldn't make it that way.

 

If our team was the kind that had to win games by getting into shootout contests, that is what we would do, or try to. That's not our team! It was last year, and two years ago (5-7), but no more.

 

Our team this year is grind it out and play a low-scoring, defensive contest.

 

I usually like the high scoring variety better (who doesn't?), but I've quite enjoyed watching our D this year.

Huh? The point Husker_x is making (as was I) is that this team would be sitting in a BCS game if we had even a crappy to modest offense mated with our current defense. That is the dirty truth (and bitter shame) that he is referring to. Right now, our offense couldn't even be rated as crappy. "Crappy" is still several levels above us.