Watson...what's your opinion now?

[HuskerGBR]

Does anyone remember the banter about Watson that was going on after the 2008 season? The banter then was what school was he going to go to for a head coaching position. This season the banter changed to when should we fire him. No wonder Urban Meyer has stress related health problems.

 

That's what I find so amusing. It was at the start of this season that Watson was being called one of the best OC's in the country. You couldn't pull all the leg humpers off him even if you had Suh trying to help you!

 

I never said that just to let you know. I have always had a problem with his dink and dunk passing game that is supposed to be an extension of the running game. I have always had a problem with the complexity of his offense. He has always had a problem with scoring touchdowns in the redzone and I believe that is a by-product of his offense being too soft.

 

However, it would be unwise to get rid of people on your coaching staff on whims. This year was awful, but maybe next year he will have figured out some things. You have to keep some type of continuity. Plus I know Bo has said exactly what he wants out of the offense so we have a goal setup there and now it is up to Watson to move it in that direction.

 

I still have a problem with guys being banged up excuse. I mean lots of teams have a ton of guys banged up and they still get the job done. I remember Iowa State having their QB and RB out for our game. They won.

 

Then you have other things like Kansas State was supposed to be a bad team talent wise and their coach got them close to winning the North. And Georgia Tech...what Paul Johnson has done there with his offense is pretty inspiring. I think this is his second season? And Bo and Carl...what they did with our defense in two years is crazy. But Watson fielded one of our worst offenses since the 60's...something isn't right about that.

 

Mainly just saying between Watson's playcalls, kids not being coached up right, and not being able to score from 10 feet then I can't say he is a great OC. He is good, but not great. If it takes a lot of talented players or very experienced players to make his offense work then its not a good one.

 

But lets just see what he does this next year, because if he can't produce next year with practically everyone really returning...then there is a huge problem. I think he will get it done though...I have faith in next year.

[HuskerGBR]

I never thought he should be canned. Does he get any credit from last year? or is it just what have you done for me lately? His playcalling earned 450yds/game in 2008. 281 passing and 169 rushing. 919 plays totaling 5860 yds. 6.38 yds/play.

 

2009(pre Holiday bowl): 317yds/game. 141 rushing and 175 passing. 803 plays totaling 4123 yds.

5.13 yds/play.

 

Both seasons represent 13 games.

 

Passing went way down(torn tendon anyone?) Rushing went up, marginally. over 100 less plays in 13 game span.

 

I think our whole coaching staff did a good job of finding ways to win, getting the players to buy in and believe and give maximum effort. Va Tech, Ia St. and UT all could have(should have?) been Ws. I saw plenty of mistakes in those games that cost us those wins. I don't think blame can be laid at Watson's feet for Va Tech(blown coverage late) or Ia St. (fumblerooski gone awry). Big 12 championship? I've been keeping my eye on the grassy knoll, somethings up there.(puff of smoke) Possible nefarious conference shenanigans? There was one second left, but so many other things missed(I think Suh is still being clutched by UT center), to have an eagle eye on that raises my bullsniffometer.

 

Anyway, long post longer, I think Mr. Watson should be retained and believe that our offense next year will be more akin to 2008 than to 2009. A healthy and deeper O-line will solve many issues.

 

You have some good stats there, but my thing is he can't score in the redzone. It's not a what have you done for me lately...its more of why can't you score from 4 yards away? VT all we needed was a FG when we were on the 4 yard line. Not blaming Watson, because the penalties got us out of FG range. So I dont see Matty's blown coverage as much when our D did more than their fair share that game. IA St...not Watson's fault at all. That was just the weirdest game ever, but you have to wonder if that is part of them not being coached up right which is on Watson.

 

All in all I agree he should be retained for as long as he likes. It's up to Bo to be the boss and get the most out of the other coaches, so Watson will be fine with guidelines and expectations and what not. I hope the O-line is tons better next year though. Even in 2008 we had some major redzone problems though so please can we just get that figured out for crying out loud and then I will be happy.

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

You have some good stats there, but my thing is he can't score in the redzone ...

I won't say I agree or disagree, but there was a definite drop off in this years Red Zone offense

 

Red Zone Offense-Nebraska (national ranking)

 

2008-27th

---21 Rush TD's

---21 Pass TD's

---12 FG's

(tied with the following teams: Tulsa, Texas Tech and Memphis)

 

2009-77th

---14 Rush TD's

---9 Pass TD's

---12 FG's

(tied with the following teams: Ark St, FIU, North Texas, Syracuse, Miami (FL), Southern Miss

[bshirt]

As to the OP, my opinion of Watson is the same as it was all year. We will be glad to have him in the coming the seasons and I'll be laughing as all these haters do another flip flop and get back on the Watson bandwagon. Is he perfect? Of course not, but we'll do very well with him.

 

Perfect?? 102 in total offense you "admit" he's not perfect. Well, that's awful big of ya.

 

I was shocked that our offense looked halfway coherent vs AZ. But as that's the 1st time they've looked well coached since leaving the Sun Belt teams count me as unimpressed for 2009.

 

I know a SW apologist like you will gladly endure any amount of gross incompetence and NU losses to keep your boy employed with us. To each their own.....

[Husker1995]

The better question would be: should Barney stay or go? Most of the offensive problems this year were caused by poor OL play. Watson's play calling was suspect at times, but I believe it was because he was trying to do something or create something despite the poor OL play.

 

 

 

Coach Cotton has had to alot of shuffling of the offensive line with injuries this year.

 

Hickman has played hurt all year.

 

Hickman battling through injuries

 

Offensive line coach Barney Cotton had some good things to say about his gutsy senior center, who's set an ideal example while battling through countless injuries.

 

First it was an ankle for Jacob Hickman. Then a bruise. Cotton's sure that his starting center probably has more ailments that he's not sharing.

 

But Hickman, who played his final home game Saturday, has been a gamer, Cotton said.

 

“He's still battling through some stuff,” Cotton said. “The guy doesn't miss a beat. He's one of our most intelligent players. (I've) been really proud of his efforts.”

 

Joneses keep plugging the Husker line

 

Cotton usually tries to get offensive tackle D.J. Jones some playing time as a reserve in every game. He didn't anticipate using the junior so much Saturday, though.

 

But starting right tackle Marcel Jones left Saturday's game with an ankle injury suffered on the third offensive play from scrimmage. So D.J. Jones replaced him and played the rest of the way.

 

There was no dropoff, Cotton said.

 

“I told him I was so proud of him — for him to just go in there, never miss a beat, never change any of the calls,” Cotton said. “(He) did a good job in pass protection as well. He's really battled all year.”

 

The extent of Marcel Jones' injury is still unknown.

 

 

Marcel Jones and DJ Jones both played hurt this year and Marcel is only a sophomore.

 

 

We lost Javario Burkes before the season even started.

 

We also have the following offensive lineman redshirting this year: Nick Ash (6-5, 270), Jesse Coffey (6-7, 300), Brent Qvale (6-7, 330), and Jeremiah Sirles (6-6, 310).

 

 

 

The offensive line played a great game last night!

 

I was proud of our big boys and I look forward to next season.

[EbylHusker]

As to the OP, my opinion of Watson is the same as it was all year. We will be glad to have him in the coming the seasons and I'll be laughing as all these haters do another flip flop and get back on the Watson bandwagon. Is he perfect? Of course not, but we'll do very well with him.

 

Perfect?? 102 in total offense you "admit" he's not perfect. Well, that's awful big of ya.

 

I was shocked that our offense looked halfway coherent vs AZ. But as that's the 1st time they've looked well coached since leaving the Sun Belt teams count me as unimpressed for 2009.

 

I know a SW apologist like you will gladly endure any amount of gross incompetence and NU losses to keep your boy employed with us. To each their own.....

 

Don't worry, I'll be sure to mark down that post of yours and bring it back up to toss in your face in a season or two. Normally I wouldn't bother, but that post was just hilariously special.

[colosilverado]

Well, I know I've called out Watson many a time this season. I wanted him tossed out on his ear and I woulda gladly picked up the fare to the airport.

 

With that said, everyone has mentioned and made a deal nationally about how much OU lost to injury. Did we lose AS much as they did? No.

Consider:

-We lost Q before the season.

-We lost Spano

-We lost Helu (who was considered as a potential longshot Heisman candidate and certainly All Big 12 hopeful)

-We lost Rex who was just starting to come into his own

-We lost Burkes, even though I'm sure it was somewhat expected

-We lost Qvale, who I believe was thought to be pushing for starting time by the end of non conference play at latest.

-We had Hickman hurt pretty much all season

-I believe I read that Keith Williams has a torn tendon somewhere in his upper body early on

-We had our starting QB playing with an injured finger, then wrist which caused a tendon tear in his throwing arm. Have you ever had tendinitis in your elbow? That hurts and aches like a mother and that isn't a tear. What do they do? They tell you to ice it and then heat it and not throw. Not an option for Zac. Did he lack some progression reads?

 

 

We lost our 1-2 punch at IB, and even our "sucker punch" in Rex. We basically lost our starting QB after Arkansas St. in which Zac made "all the throws" according to the commentators. I believe that Keith Williams was considered to be the best lineman next to, who was it, Hickman?

Remember Suh and Williams battling in fall camp and the players saying how much fun it was to watch those 2 go at it?

 

Now add in receivers who might be great athletes, but must not be able to grasp the complexities of the position, at least not yet. Hell, NP was suspect as hell and really had to step it up to give the offense any deep threat and luckily Kinnie finally came along and caught on. Is that Gilmore's fault or Watson's? Where in the hell was Zac supposed to throw if he could manage to keep his arm from flying off?

Mike McNeil still had a ways to go in the blocking realm early and I don't know if he has it yet, but it seemed as if when he came in, it was obvious where the ball was going because nobody else could catch the ball consistently.

 

 

I hated the play calling at times...a lot of times. I now totally see why they had to throw it all on the table and start over. What they threw on the table wasn't much in terms of known quantities.

 

 

I think that if Zac/Roy hadn't gotten hurt so early, you might have seen the RS come off of some other guys on offense. I haven't heard how the injury situation with Sirles is (or Qvale for that matter) so I might be wrong.

 

The timing just sucked. To head into Blacksburg with Zac hurt really cost us. I think that was the end of any confidence he had because the receivers couldn't catch crap when Zac managed to get it to them.

I think they were still antsy about Rex enough to where they did ride Roy too much and he was gassed at the end. He didn't have any moves whatsoever and plowed headlong into the backs of the linemen, IIRC.

 

 

I am pretty confident that next season, we will see:

1. A much deeper, powerful and MEAN OLINE

 

2. As powerful a punch at IB as we've had since the we-backs and depth behind them like we had during some of TO's finest years. Maybe some thunder and lightning again...

 

3. Improved WR play...whether by coaching change, talent influx, reps, new players or all of the above. What the hell happened to Will Henry and Antonio Bell? Injuries? I think Bell was....

 

4. Monster TE play. We have too many talented bodies there to not have someone be a really dangerous receiving threat AND blocker.

 

5. Zac Lee to have a Scott Frost -esque senior season. OR, another QB might have to step up, but we have a long time to get CG, KS, LW and maybe TM some meaningful reps.

6. A mean Wildcat/Joker/Schmoker/RedHotPoker scheme at times. Zac(?), CG, Rex, Roy, TM, LaTravis....yeah!

 

7. I think and hope (man, do I hope) that the offensive staff uses what they've learned here at the end, combine it with the offseason and perhaps some picking of Tom's brain, to be a beast at BOTH throwing and running and be truly 2 dimensional on offense.

 

 

Couple that with a DEFENSE that will be a BEAST and some great special teams weapons and we will blow threw the schedule like we did in the mid 90's.

 

 

[HuskerBob4]

Without trying to turn this into a pissing match, I'd like to discuss my major issues with Wats.

 

First off, the OC's job is to put together an offense that the HC wants to implement. It was obvious that Bo gave Wats plenty of opportunities to do "his thing". When Wats proved that he couldn't manage that, Bo tightened the reins, hence the change to overwhelming high amount of run plays. It wasn't his willingness to change, it was his fear of unemployment that caused the changes. All coaches have huge egos and don't want to sink running someone else's idea of an offense.

 

Secondly, as the OC, you are the CEO, if you will, of the offense. You oversee everything that goes on in the organization. I know injuries can really derail a season, but to compare our injuries to that of OU's is ridiculous. Hell, Va Tech lost a Freshman All-American and replaced him with another. My point is, Wats has control over who we recruit and who we bring in and also has the responsibility of getting said players ready for the games. If he can not handle that, he needs to find a new profession. And it's not like the players lost were All-Americans or even All-Big XII caliber.

 

Third, if the injury to Lee was a hinderance, than why not use CG or Helu or any other number of guys to play Burkhead's role in the "Wildcat" formation. Don't feed me lines about a hurt QB and then hope I don't remember us taking shots downfield on a regular occassion to deflect my doubts about your ability to coach. There is no excuse for being creative and finding ways to get the best athletes on the field.

 

Lastly, I will not go into details on play-calling and what not, but I would like to point out that stats do a better job of telling the truth than human perception. And 102 nationally is PATHETIC....

 

 

With that said, if he is retained, I hope he uses 95% of his upcoming 100 hour work weeks to perfect "his" offense and quit living off "his" stats under Callahan....

[Hunter94]

i think the jury continues to be out on Wats, one game doesn't change the other 13. having said that, it is still obvious Lee can't make all the throws, he can't throw an out or sideline pattern worth a damn, whether his ability is injury related or not, we will see, but he winged the long ball to Paul, without a winz of pain that anyone noticed, so who knows how bad his elbow is, again we shall see this spring.......he did run the qb keeper well and i am sure Wats saw that would work pretty well, while he had 3 weeks to study the Zona D...gotta give him that and finally putting in a shovel pass and end around play.........

[Lonestar_Husker]

Without trying to turn this into a pissing match, I'd like to discuss my major issues with Wats.

 

First off, the OC's job is to put together an offense that the HC wants to implement. It was obvious that Bo gave Wats plenty of opportunities to do "his thing". When Wats proved that he couldn't manage that, Bo tightened the reins, hence the change to overwhelming high amount of run plays. It wasn't his willingness to change, it was his fear of unemployment that caused the changes. All coaches have huge egos and don't want to sink running someone else's idea of an offense. [/i]This is pure speculation, unless you are a coach involved in game planning. I think he would have been and still would be able to procure employment rather easily were he to leave Nebraska. Our former Defensive Coordinator found another job. If he can, Watson can.

 

Secondly, as the OC, you are the CEO, if you will, of the offense. You oversee everything that goes on in the organization. I know injuries can really derail a season, but to compare our injuries to that of OU's is ridiculous. Hell, Va Tech lost a Freshman All-American and replaced him with another. My point is, Wats has control over who we recruit and who we bring in and also has the responsibility of getting said players ready for the games. If he can not handle that, he needs to find a new profession. And it's not like the players lost were All-Americans or even All-Big XII caliber. And Va Tech lost 3 games this season, they need to fire someone. Va Tech #58 offense 388 yds/game 47 TDs; NU #101 offense 317 yds/game 37 TDs We have a 70yds per game deficit. They scored more TDs. We both won 10 games.

 

Third, if the injury to Lee was a hinderance, than why not use CG or Helu or any other number of guys to play Burkhead's role in the "Wildcat" formation. Don't feed me lines about a hurt QB and then hope I don't remember us taking shots downfield on a regular occassion to deflect my doubts about your ability to coach. There is no excuse for being creative and finding ways to get the best athletes on the field.I'm sure the only reason we threw deep on occasion was to deflect your doubts. It had nothing to do with trying to move the safeties back off the line a few yards. I have to disagree with your assertion of no excuse for being creative and finding the best athletes. It seemed to me we were trying to use the best players available for whatever task was at hand.

 

Lastly, I will not go into details on play-calling and what not, but I would like to point out that stats do a better job of telling the truth than human perception. And 102 nationally is PATHETIC.... What about top 15 nationally? see 2008. If you can remember the '90s(it seems that's all most can remember) surely you can remember last year.

 

My bottom line is I think we need some coaching stability. Who carried the team last year? Ask Bo, he said it himself. I like Nebraska being a versatile team. We can win many different ways. Take the last 2 years as a whole and I like the direction we are going in. I like the fact that we did what we had to do to win games. We scrapped an unproductive(counterproductive?) offense in mid-season and found a way to win games. Lemonade out of some lemons if you will. After the Iowa St. game, I guarantee nobody was predicting 10 wins, some were even looking for us to miss out on a bowl game. I know that wasn't anyone on this board, but there were some out there. I also get the impression that there is a lot of potential for the next few years, I prefer to remain optimistic. If anything, offensively at least, this year was the anomally. We've been pretty good, offensively, since '06. 06=414yds/game. 07=468yds/game. 08=450yds/game.

I know, I know....Callahan's plays, stats etc. 2008 was Watson. Joe Ganz was productive for 2 years. I think we will be back on track next year with either Zac or Cody.(Is there a disney show with that name?)

 

 

With that said, if he is retained, I hope he uses 95% of his upcoming 100 hour work weeks to perfect "his" offense and quit living off "his" stats under Callahan....

[cscott2win]

Lets just state that the jury is still out but having seen a glimpse of improvment leaves us all with some optimism for the upcoming year. Watts had a lot of question marks coming into this season and they became evident. Next years offense should be markedly better. It will be a better question to ask after next season.

[zoogs]

It was obvious that Bo gave Wats plenty of opportunities to do "his thing". When Wats proved that he couldn't manage that, Bo tightened the reins, hence the change to overwhelming high amount of run plays. It wasn't his willingness to change, it was his fear of unemployment that caused the changes. All coaches have huge egos and don't want to sink running someone else's idea of an offense.

 

WOW, nice speculation there.

[craigsker]

I was sitting on the fence thinking it might be a big premature to throw him out. I think the jury is still out on him. I'm rooting for him to succeed.

[WVhuskerXX]

I was sitting on the fence thinking it might be a big premature to throw him out. I think the jury is still out on him. I'm rooting for him to succeed.

 

Im betting that a lot of people are in the same boat as you are

[knapplc]

It was obvious that Bo gave Wats plenty of opportunities to do "his thing". When Wats proved that he couldn't manage that, Bo tightened the reins, hence the change to overwhelming high amount of run plays. It wasn't his willingness to change, it was his fear of unemployment that caused the changes. All coaches have huge egos and don't want to sink running someone else's idea of an offense.

 

WOW, nice speculation there.

Well, I have it from "a source" that the part I bolded is actually true. So take that for what it's worth.

 

I was sitting on the fence thinking it might be a big premature to throw him out. I think the jury is still out on him. I'm rooting for him to succeed.

 

This is where I'm at. I understand that we've had a LOT of injuries coupled with a LOT of offensive production graduated, but at the same time, I expect to find a way to move the ball more. These injuries/player losses are real, but we also need to be able to overcome stuff like this.

 

I guess I'm still on the fence.