Spano rushed for a reason????

[74Hunter]

With this said, why didn't Watson alter the offense to the strengths of the players he had instead of making them do things they are not suited to do?

 

Um, Watson did.

 

We opened the season being more open with our offense. Before Zac got benched, we were averaging over 28 pass attempts a game. We were being that hybrid "Spread Coast Offense" that Watson wanted us to be. Unfortunately when Zac began to crap the bed against better competition and our WRs showed an inability to get open or hold onto the ball, things had to change.

 

Even when he got Cody in, he tries to let the kid run the read-option, the only thing he really is capable of doing right now. Guy could not do it because our offensive line was so awful. As I've said before, Cody was not a quick move type of guy. He's the type of runner who builds up steam and once he gets going, he can fly. But with our offensive line opening no holes, he had no hope.

 

That idea was canned and Cody was put back on the bench since he had no chance at running OR passing.

 

When Zac came back, we relied heavily on the run. Although a bad idea since Burkhead was out and Helu wasn't healthy, we did it and were able to defeat Oklahoma.

 

Even after that victory we showed we needed to at least get teams out of the box. So for the Kansas game, we showed that we would get Zac outside the pocket to give him easier throws so his confidence wouldn't be in the crapper. Zac had back-to-back solid games (not outstanding) versus Kansas and KSU.

 

Against Colorado, admittedly our offense did not have a good game. Our ST and defense got us a nice lead, so Watson played it safe considering our offense was crapping the bed. It was safe and he did not want our offense to cost our defense. Not a sexy plan, but once the game got going it WAS the smartest thing no matter how much it wasn't pretty.

 

And finally against Texas, we attempted to use PA and those bootleg passes outside the pocket to get Lee his confidence. You watched the game, we all watched the game. Lee was running for his life. He had absolutely zero chance. And with Zac having MAJOR confidence issues, his game was over in a hurry. So again, we go back to the safe gameplan hoping Zac doesn't do anything stupid to cost us. Unfortunately he did make mistakes, which is why he was benched halfway through. But as Cody proved, his confidence doesn't match his passing abilities - AT ALL. Zac was the only QB we had, sadly. Our running game was going to need to spring a run, but our offensive line couldn't block for squat.

 

Look at it this way ..

 

QB - Witt transfers because he doesn't want to compete. Spano blows out his knee. We move a LINEBACKER to QB. We have a super stud practice play who gave us hope, but craps the bed once he got int he game. Who could have expected that?

 

RB - We kick a player off the team in Castille because he fries one too many brain cells. Helu busts his shoulder. Burkhead breaks a foot. Then we have to start a RB in Tray that was set to RS the entire season and was basically our 5th string RB. Meaning, unless some major ish happens, no way he was burning his RS. That ish happened.

 

WR - We graduate our top two WRs. Our backups had horrid hands and ran horrid routes. The rest were completely inexperienced and were not even given major practice reps until Gilmore had no choice but to bench guys like Curenski and Meno.

 

TE - McNeill has been banged up for a long time, but has manned up for a while. Young is a JAG and Cotton is still inexperienced.

 

OL - Aside from being a horrible coached technical group, we lost our best OL in Burkes. The rest of the guys were banged up throughout the season. Also guys like Marcel and Hickman had down years from what was expected of them.

 

It's like, what are you supposed to do in this situation? In all honesty, this year was absolute worst case scenario when you think of all the things that could go wrong. It all went wrong, and NO ONE could expect it. Absolutely no one.

 

To say Watson didn't try to adapt to his situation is flat out wrong. And for him to shoulder the blame in this is wrong as well which always leaves me shaking my head.

 

Watson is the absolute LAST of our worries on the offensive staff, but he is shouldering all of the blame. Sad thing is, one day he will be gone. Then when the likely replacement comes in, we will all be doing

LOL, that was f^cking hilarious. Yeah, our offense is just absolutely going to tank once Shawn Watson gets a D1 HC offer. O, wait, no D1 schools are interested in Shawn Watson? O wait, our offense already tanked? just f^cking lol, that last part of ur post is just f^cking hilarious

 

HA!

 

I agree with Willie in that Watson DID try to change our offense. From my vantage point, Watson's "multiple offense" really means "I have no idea what to do, lets just throw some crap out there and see what happens."

 

Really, look at what he has done. When he DOES find something that works (running against MissU or completely under-utilizing our tight ends) he goes away from it, and when NU was down by 3 TDs to T Tech, he shows no sense of urgency in his play calling and runs zone read, after zone read, after zone read, after freaking zone read with Zach Lee. His play calling is quizzical at best.

 

Willie, seeing how Watson's offenses have fared at CU and here, what make you think that he is the "least of our offenses problems?" I think that are woes start with him. Like I said, Brown and Beck are the only 2 O-coaches who haven't proven to be at the very least questionable. As far as Cotton, the jury is still out on him, but I don't remember our offensive lines being any better than average when Wagner and Callahan were here. Even though the O-line has been pretty bad, maybe the injuries and re-programming these guys into tough-nosed players isn't gonna happen overnight. Remember, he didn't recruit these guys to be the type of OLs he wanted.

 

Just seeing the history of Waston as an OC, if he goes, I for one will not be face-palming, I'll be doing cart-wheels.

[74Hunter]

With this said, why didn't Watson alter the offense to the strengths of the players he had instead of making them do things they are not suited to do?

 

Um, Watson did.

 

We opened the season being more open with our offense. Before Zac got benched, we were averaging over 28 pass attempts a game. We were being that hybrid "Spread Coast Offense" that Watson wanted us to be. Unfortunately when Zac began to crap the bed against better competition and our WRs showed an inability to get open or hold onto the ball, things had to change.

 

Even when he got Cody in, he tries to let the kid run the read-option, the only thing he really is capable of doing right now. Guy could not do it because our offensive line was so awful. As I've said before, Cody was not a quick move type of guy. He's the type of runner who builds up steam and once he gets going, he can fly. But with our offensive line opening no holes, he had no hope.

 

That idea was canned and Cody was put back on the bench since he had no chance at running OR passing.

 

When Zac came back, we relied heavily on the run. Although a bad idea since Burkhead was out and Helu wasn't healthy, we did it and were able to defeat Oklahoma.

 

Even after that victory we showed we needed to at least get teams out of the box. So for the Kansas game, we showed that we would get Zac outside the pocket to give him easier throws so his confidence wouldn't be in the crapper. Zac had back-to-back solid games (not outstanding) versus Kansas and KSU.

 

Against Colorado, admittedly our offense did not have a good game. Our ST and defense got us a nice lead, so Watson played it safe considering our offense was crapping the bed. It was safe and he did not want our offense to cost our defense. Not a sexy plan, but once the game got going it WAS the smartest thing no matter how much it wasn't pretty.

 

And finally against Texas, we attempted to use PA and those bootleg passes outside the pocket to get Lee his confidence. You watched the game, we all watched the game. Lee was running for his life. He had absolutely zero chance. And with Zac having MAJOR confidence issues, his game was over in a hurry. So again, we go back to the safe gameplan hoping Zac doesn't do anything stupid to cost us. Unfortunately he did make mistakes, which is why he was benched halfway through. But as Cody proved, his confidence doesn't match his passing abilities - AT ALL. Zac was the only QB we had, sadly. Our running game was going to need to spring a run, but our offensive line couldn't block for squat.

 

Look at it this way ..

 

QB - Witt transfers because he doesn't want to compete. Spano blows out his knee. We move a LINEBACKER to QB. We have a super stud practice play who gave us hope, but craps the bed once he got int he game. Who could have expected that?

 

RB - We kick a player off the team in Castille because he fries one too many brain cells. Helu busts his shoulder. Burkhead breaks a foot. Then we have to start a RB in Tray that was set to RS the entire season and was basically our 5th string RB. Meaning, unless some major ish happens, no way he was burning his RS. That ish happened.

 

WR - We graduate our top two WRs. Our backups had horrid hands and ran horrid routes. The rest were completely inexperienced and were not even given major practice reps until Gilmore had no choice but to bench guys like Curenski and Meno.

 

TE - McNeill has been banged up for a long time, but has manned up for a while. Young is a JAG and Cotton is still inexperienced.

 

OL - Aside from being a horrible coached technical group, we lost our best OL in Burkes. The rest of the guys were banged up throughout the season. Also guys like Marcel and Hickman had down years from what was expected of them.

 

It's like, what are you supposed to do in this situation? In all honesty, this year was absolute worst case scenario when you think of all the things that could go wrong. It all went wrong, and NO ONE could expect it. Absolutely no one.

 

To say Watson didn't try to adapt to his situation is flat out wrong. And for him to shoulder the blame in this is wrong as well which always leaves me shaking my head.

 

Watson is the absolute LAST of our worries on the offensive staff, but he is shouldering all of the blame. Sad thing is, one day he will be gone. Then when the likely replacement comes in, we will all be doing

LOL, that was f^cking hilarious. Yeah, our offense is just absolutely going to tank once Shawn Watson gets a D1 HC offer. O, wait, no D1 schools are interested in Shawn Watson? O wait, our offense already tanked? just f^cking lol, that last part of ur post is just f^cking hilarious

 

dup

[HuskerBOliever4life]

That was one heck of a post; BigWillie.

 

I completely agree, a lot on this board are not happy with Watson at the moment. Look what he had to work with, his previous offenses were wonderful. It wasn't too long ago Huskerboard was worried about him getting offered a Division 1 head coaching job.

[74Hunter]

his previous offenses were wonderful.

 

Did you miss the previous post on how "wonderful" his offenses are? In 9 years of being an OC, he has had 2 years in which his offenses finished in the top 25.

 

That is not "wonderful" IMO.

[zoogs]

So thats ur big excuse? 1 guy on our offensive line gets injured & thats ur big excuse at to why our line has sucked all year? Injuries happen they're part of the game. Why is our O-line having a down year? Poor coaching. Our offensive line play has been embarrassing all year, our offensive line is clearly poorly coached. Barney Cotton needs to go. But who approved of the hiring of Barney Cotton as Nebraska's O-line coach? Thats right, ur hero Shawn Watson

 

 

Ha, that's funny. Shawn Watson decided to bring back Barney Cotton?!

 

If you're going to point fingers for Barney's hiring, point them at TO and maybe Bo. Dang right the OL is poorly coached. How you managed to put that on Wats is a little beyond me.

 

And Willie has been consistently Barney's single biggest critic since day one. Critic may be a light way of putting it.

[AngryHusker88]

So thats ur big excuse? 1 guy on our offensive line gets injured & thats ur big excuse at to why our line has sucked all year? Injuries happen they're part of the game. Why is our O-line having a down year? Poor coaching. Our offensive line play has been embarrassing all year, our offensive line is clearly poorly coached. Barney Cotton needs to go. But who approved of the hiring of Barney Cotton as Nebraska's O-line coach? Thats right, ur hero Shawn Watson

 

 

Ha, that's funny. Shawn Watson decided to bring back Barney Cotton?!

 

If you're going to point fingers for Barney's hiring, point them at TO and maybe Bo. Dang right the OL is poorly coached. How you managed to put that on Wats is a little beyond me.

And Willie has been consistently Barney's single biggest critic since day one. Critic may be a light way of putting it.

Shawn Watson is the offensive coordinator. I highly doubt 1 of his offensive assistants wouldve been hired without his approval.

 

So, even if Bo & TO "hired" Barney Cotton, if Bo's offensive coordinator (Shawn Watson) wouldve said "no, this guy is incompetent, I do not want him on my staff, find me some1 else" I'm sure Bo wouldve found a different O-line coach for Watson to work with. So IMO that makes Watson every bit as guilty as Bo & TO for the hiring of Barney Cotton

Edited December 10, 2009 by AngryHusker88

[zoogs]

OK, I'll admit to not knowing what went on.

 

But when TO fired Shawn's boss (Callahan), hired Bo and made strong staff suggestions to Bo (Wats being one of the suggestions), I don't think Watson was the one TO went to asking "Hey. We should bring in Barney. You cool with this?" And even if he did, what do you think Watson is going to say? "Thanks for recommending me to Bo, but I don't trust your judgment in recommending coaches."

 

Watson probably had as much say in that as Gilmore, Beck, or any of the new members.

 

Then, both of us are speculating. I really don't feel that I'm wrong, and if I am, then every single one of the woes suffered by the offense that is a direct result of the O-line's poor play falls on Bo's and Tom's shoulders, too. So...is that supposed to advance the case for firing SW somehow?

 

Feel free to correct/illuminate me if you have a better understanding of that situation, by the way.

[HuskerBOliever4life]

his previous offenses were wonderful.

 

Did you miss the previous post on how "wonderful" his offenses are? In 9 years of being an OC, he has had 2 years in which his offenses finished in the top 25.

 

That is not "wonderful" IMO.

 

 

When I meant 'previous', I was referring to his past couple of seasons. These seasons had very good offensive production.

 

Watson is a decent offensive coordinator; he's not the problem.

[BigWillie]

 

LOL, that was f^cking hilarious. Yeah, our offense is just absolutely going to tank once Shawn Watson gets a D1 HC offer. O, wait, no D1 schools are interested in Shawn Watson? O wait, our offense already tanked? just f^cking lol, that last part of ur post is just f^cking hilarious

 

Um, Watson did have an offer last year that he blew off to stay here. Guess you knew all about that, didn't ya?

 

Oh, wait, you didn't because instead of addressing any points I made you just decided to e-rage and looked silly in doing so.

 

Watson .. GRR, DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE! RAGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEE!

 

to you, sir.

 

 

HA!

 

I agree with Willie in that Watson DID try to change our offense. From my vantage point, Watson's "multiple offense" really means "I have no idea what to do, lets just throw some crap out there and see what happens."

 

Really, look at what he has done. When he DOES find something that works (running against MissU or completely under-utilizing our tight ends) he goes away from it, and when NU was down by 3 TDs to T Tech, he shows no sense of urgency in his play calling and runs zone read, after zone read, after zone read, after freaking zone read with Zach Lee. His play calling is quizzical at best.

 

Willie, seeing how Watson's offenses have fared at CU and here, what make you think that he is the "least of our offenses problems?" I think that are woes start with him. Like I said, Brown and Beck are the only 2 O-coaches who haven't proven to be at the very least questionable. As far as Cotton, the jury is still out on him, but I don't remember our offensive lines being any better than average when Wagner and Callahan were here. Even though the O-line has been pretty bad, maybe the injuries and re-programming these guys into tough-nosed players isn't gonna happen overnight. Remember, he didn't recruit these guys to be the type of OLs he wanted.

 

Just seeing the history of Waston as an OC, if he goes, I for one will not be face-palming, I'll be doing cart-wheels.

 

Um, went away from running against Mizzou? Say what? We didn't run on Missouri at all, until that last drive.

 

TBH, I quit reading after that. Some are going to criticize Watson unfairly and to me, with you just saying that, it is all you are doing. If you are going to throw barbs, at least be correct in doing so. If not, it's not even worth addressing further because you are going to criticize just to do so regardless.

 

So thats ur big excuse? 1 guy on our offensive line gets injured & thats ur big excuse at to why our line has sucked all year? Injuries happen they're part of the game. Why is our O-line having a down year? Poor coaching. Our offensive line play has been embarrassing all year, our offensive line is clearly poorly coached. Barney Cotton needs to go. But who approved of the hiring of Barney Cotton as Nebraska's O-line coach? Thats right, ur hero Shawn Watson

 

 

Ha, that's funny. Shawn Watson decided to bring back Barney Cotton?!

 

If you're going to point fingers for Barney's hiring, point them at TO and maybe Bo. Dang right the OL is poorly coached. How you managed to put that on Wats is a little beyond me.

And Willie has been consistently Barney's single biggest critic since day one. Critic may be a light way of putting it.

Shawn Watson is the offensive coordinator. I highly doubt 1 of his offensive assistants wouldve been hired without his approval.

 

So, even if Bo & TO "hired" Barney Cotton, if Bo's offensive coordinator (Shawn Watson) wouldve said "no, this guy is incompetent, I do not want him on my staff, find me some1 else" I'm sure Bo wouldve found a different O-line coach for Watson to work with. So IMO that makes Watson every bit as guilty as Bo & TO for the hiring of Barney Cotton

 

You sure about that? I know I wouldn't be.

[74Hunter]

Lets put this into context.

 

IF Watson is that good of an OC, why does the AD (as great of a coach as he was/is) who has not coached for 12 years need to give a tape of some of his own most effective plays (from over 10 years ago) to a guy who is supposed to be a top OC and a head coach candidate?

 

Is embarrassing that of one of the top 10 all-time college football programs has an OC that needs to get hand-fed plays from a guy who hasn't wore a headset for over a decade.

[AngryHusker88]

Um, Watson did have an offer last year that he blew off to stay here. Guess you knew all about that, didn't ya?

 

Oh, wait, you didn't because instead of addressing any points I made you just decided to e-rage and looked silly in doing so.

 

Watson .. GRR, DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE! RAGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEE!

 

to you, sir.

Plz, thats been ur best excuse as to why NU should keep Watson. "well alabama offered him so he must be good". After watching Nebraska's offense in the Big XII Championship, I bet Nick Saban breathed a huge sigh of relief that he didnt end up with Shawn Watson. What if Shawn Watson changed his mind & decided he wanted to OC for Alabama. Do you think Nick Saban, who you claim so desperately wanted him, would still have a job available for Watson? My money says hell no

[BigWillie]

 

That excuse doesnt fly. #1 I think Zac Lee wouldve started over Patrick Witt anyways #2 Even if Witt was the starting QB I dont think our season (on the offensive side of the ball) wouldve gone any differently

 

You THINK that. Exactly.

 

Reality is Witt was the most polished QB we had. From a complete makeup as far as mental (understanding reads and the playbook) and ability, he had Lee beat.

 

Unfortunately for Witt, he was almost too smart. He second-guessed himself quite a bit thinking he could make a better play, even though he should make the one in front of him. Did not help he wasn't the most well liked fellow either.

 

But when Lee proved he could not even play and we have Green, who is nothing but a WR playing QB at this point, it left us with no options. Losing Witt was huge. Spano and his knee agrees.

 

Castille wouldnt have made much of a difference I dont think. Castille plays for some DII school right now & another poster posted his stats somewhere & they were very mediocre at best. Castille was a fumbling problem his whole career & really only had 1 great game (against Clemson). Also, why did it take some1 of Shawn Watson's apparent offensive genius (as you so claim) so long to figure out that we have a fullback?

 

So because Castille went to another state, another team, in a matter of weeks, and was supposed to pick up their offense immediately and struggled doing so, you are against him?

 

Castille may be a mental midget, but he is a darn physically gifted one and proved his worth in his time here. Writing him off based off of this year is silly, given the circumstances. Guy has 2 years in B12 ball to back up what he can do.

 

Even more, who would you have in all these short yardage situations? When we get to the goal line and struggle? Or need that extra yard on 3rd and 1 or 2? A 240lbs horse or a 200lbs Burkhead?

 

Watch Castille versus that stout Clemson defense and tell me that kid would not have made a difference.

 

 

Yeah, well Shawn Watson knew we'd be losing Peterson & Swift so why didnt he recruit better receivers? You say our backups had horrid hands & run horrid routes? Who recruited them? Shawn Watson. Anyways I think we have decent talent at WR (Kinnie is a damn good receiver IMO) & I think our receivers are poorly coached. Gilmore needs to be shown the door.

 

I'll give you two reasons ..

 

1.) Position coaches evaluate their prospects and have the most say in who they want recruited. Position coaches are also the 'closers' on the prospects at their position.

 

2.) Watson didn't go out on the road much last year (not this year). It never got reported, but the dude worked his ass off coaching the entire year, but was battling personal problems. All the while he was putting up a top 20 offense with a 2* nobody from Illinois, a slow white WR from Minnesota and a walk-on WR from Nebraska.

 

Pretty good for a bum.

 

Why didnt the offensive genius Shawn Watson attempt to throw to the tight end all game against Texas?

 

As I stated, McNeill is hurt and has been for a long time. Plus, you saw that Lee had no time each time he dropped back due to our horrid line play. So why are you even asking?

 

So thats ur big excuse? 1 guy on our offensive line gets injured & thats ur big excuse at to why our line has sucked all year? Injuries happen they're part of the game. Why is our O-line having a down year? Poor coaching. Our offensive line play has been embarrassing all year, our offensive line is clearly poorly coached. Barney Cotton needs to go. But who approved of the hiring of Barney Cotton as Nebraska's O-line coach? Thats right, ur hero Shawn Watson

 

For a man making a 6 figure salary, Shawn Watson gets a big fat F on his job performance this year

 

Take your best lineman out of your line (an inexperienced one at that) and watch the entire line go to crap. Can you imagine OSU without Okung? OU without Williams? LSU without Black?

 

As I also told you, our line was a M.A.S.H. unit. Hickman, both Jones' and Smith all are still battling ankle problems they have had all season but played through.

 

And no, I can absolutely assure you that Watson did not have anything to do with hiring Cotton.

 

In fact, that may be the biggest problem in that Watson does not have his own people here, IMO.

 

And your last part is cool. Maybe you gave him an A when you begged him not to go to Alabama. Or maybe last year when we had a top 15 offense and he was one of the best coordinators in the country.

 

Funny what will change peoples opinions so easily.

 

I'd hate for Pelini to have a down year next year. Guy will go from the next Osborne to calling Nebraska unemployment services to file a claim.

[BigWillie]

Um, Watson did have an offer last year that he blew off to stay here. Guess you knew all about that, didn't ya?

 

Oh, wait, you didn't because instead of addressing any points I made you just decided to e-rage and looked silly in doing so.

 

Watson .. GRR, DIE, DIE, DIE, DIE! RAGGGGGGGGEEEEEEEEEE!

 

to you, sir.

Plz, thats been ur best excuse as to why NU should keep Watson. "well alabama offered him so he must be good". After watching Nebraska's offense in the Big XII Championship, I bet Nick Saban breathed a huge sigh of relief that he didnt end up with Shawn Watson. What if Shawn Watson changed his mind & decided he wanted to OC for Alabama. Do you think Nick Saban, who you claim so desperately wanted him, would still have a job available for Watson? My money says hell no

 

 

Um, if you didn't notice, I was talking about a HC gig.

[AngryHusker88]

Really? What school offered Shawn Watson a HC job? I'll bet it was some crappy football school like San Jose State or Akron

[zoogs]

Really? What school offered Shawn Watson a HC job? I'll bet it was some crappy football school like San Jose State or Akron

 

And yet we had (I should clarify: some) people going gaga over the idea of a well-connected juco HC coming here to be our OC...