Dear Husker offense, QUIT FUMBLING!

[ESPY]

Read a solid OWH article today. Begs to question why our offense hasn't been able to translate the work they've done in practice to the field on gameday. All these fumbles are just ridiculous, and it's only a matter of time before we really get killed by them because IMO there is luck involved in recoving fumbles...and our good luck is bound to run out.

 

Huskers trying to get grip on fumbles

 

By Rich Kaipust

WORLD-HERALD BUREAU

 

LINCOLN Wondering what possible good you could find when dissecting the nation-high 33 times that Nebraska has fumbled the football this season?

 

Well, at least the Huskers have picked up or fallen on 21 of them.

 

It could be dumb luck, it could be hustle .... I don't know, center Mike Caputo said. It's one of those two. Maybe both.

 

Caputo scrambled for a ball that quarterback Taylor Martinez lost against Texas. Tight end Ben Cotton picked up after his quarterback at Kansas State. Martinez hit the turf to get a ball that I-back Rex Burkhead bobbled at KSU.

 

Good for us, NU receiver Niles Paul said, but we shouldn't put it on the ground in the first place.

 

The fact that Nebraska has recovered 63.6 percent of its fumbles has not only minimized the damage but probably masked some of the problem.

 

A real problem.

 

Consider this: Air Force has 183 more rushing attempts than NU with 14 fewer fumbles. Of the nine teams that have run it as often or more than the Huskers, only Georgia Tech is close to NU with 26 fumbles (12 lost).

 

Nobody else in the Big 12 has more than 23 fumbles and six teams have 16 or fewer.

 

Coach Bo Pelini said this week that it isn't for a lack of Nebraska emphasizing or drilling it.

 

You've got to take it to the field, he said. We went a couple weeks where it really dramatically improved I thought our execution improved then it kind of crept up the other day again.

 

Some of those things have been exchange problems, out of the gun and in the read game, but it's an area we have to continue to clean up.

 

Martinez has been charged with 11 fumbles, losing four. The redshirt freshman has recovered five of his bobbles, including a 20-yard touchdown run against Idaho when the ball was poked loose at the 14 and bounced twice before he picked it up and carried it into the end zone.

 

It was maybe symbolic of the Huskers' uncanny knack for getting it before the opposition.

 

Ever since last year, we've really focused on just going down there and making the extra effort and always following the ball, because no play's guaranteed, Paul said. We're always around the ball.

 

Austin Cassidy recovered one of Paul's fumbles on a punt return against South Dakota State. Jay Martin got one back for Cody Green when the backup quarterback fumbled at Washington.

 

Left tackle Jeremiah Sirles said there always should be an incentive to get the football if players realize the offense's livelihood depends on it.

 

You can't do anything when you're off the field, so you do everything you can to get back on that ball, Sirles said. You play hard, you see the ball on the ground, go down there and fight for it, scratch for it, claw for it.

 

If you're in the area, you got to do everything you can to get that ball back. I've been in a few piles, but I haven't gotten one.

 

If the Huskers had their way, there won't be any to find Saturday night at Texas A&M. But they've had at least two in nine of 10 games, and as many as eight against Idaho, five against Iowa State and Texas and four against South Dakota State.

 

Not all have had happy endings, either.

 

I-back Roy Helu has fumbled in three of the past five games, and his first-quarter turnover against Texas led to the Longhorns' 10-0 lead. Paul's fumble on a kickoff return at ISU fed the Cyclones' momentum as they pulled even at 24-24 after trailing 24-10.

 

To put the 33 fumbles in perspective, Nebraska had 21 in 14 games a year ago (losing 11).

 

The funny thing is we work on it all the time, receiver Mike McNeill said. It's something we've got to fix. Obviously we haven't been very good at it. We're leading the country and that's probably not a good stat, but we are working on it.

 

Probably? Umm Mike, this problem warrants much more than "probably."

[Lyons in the Sea of Red.]

This is probably an article that niles should have kept his hands away from. Pun intended.

[Pedro Guerrero]

Martinez has been charged with 11 fumbles

 

Yet Cody Green is known as the QB with ball sercurity issuses.

[Lyons in the Sea of Red.]

Martinez has been charged with 11 fumbles

 

Yet Cody Green is known as the QB with ball sercurity issuses.

 

But I think if you would compare their rations of snaps/fumbles, cody would probably be worse than taylor. Just guessing.

[Husker Z]

Martinez has been charged with 11 fumbles

 

Yet Cody Green is known as the QB with ball sercurity issuses.

 

Not sure if serious or not, but you might want to consider the number of touches for Martinez vs. Green and see how those percentages come out. Bottom line is, neither of them have been too secure with the rock in their hands, but Martinez is a big play waiting to happen, Green is not.

[ESPY]

This is probably an article that niles should have kept his hands away from. Pun intended.

And pun accepted. The last thing I thought we'd see in this article was...

“Good for us,” NU receiver Niles Paul said, “but we shouldn't put it on the ground in the first place.”

 

Well, at least he admits we have a problem. That's the first step, right?

[Pedro Guerrero]

Yes I know the amount of touches is different between the two. My point was Taylor can be pretty loosy goosy with the ball yet it isn’t held against him as much as it is Green. 11 fumbles by one play in 9 games isn’t something that can be over looked. IMO

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

I remember an article the last time the Huskers led the country in fumbles ('99?) that Solich didn't notice that RB coach Gillespie had the players carrying the ball wrong until after the season.

[GM_Tood]

Can't help it if they have small hands.

 

Signed,

 

Dan Alexander

[308_Husker]

Yes I know the amount of touches is different between the two. My point was Taylor can be pretty loosy goosy with the ball yet it isn’t held against him as much as it is Green. 11 fumbles by one play in 9 games isn’t something that can be over looked. IMO

 

Taylor does have a problem with holding onto the ball, no doubt about that. I think the biggest reason Green gets blamed more than Martinez is due to confidence issues. With Martinez in the ball game, even if he does fumble the ball, the next series he could explode for an 80 yard run or complete a 75 yard touchdown pass. With Green, there isn't that same big play potential, which may factor into the finger pointing in Green.

 

This whole year-and maybe all of Watsons' Nebraska career-has been marked by inconsistency. We have no idea what offense will show up from one week to the next. We have the offensive explosion at Washington, then the offensive is almost nonexistent playing SDSU. We run for over 400 yards at K-State, then dig our own grave against Texas. We have two weeks where our offense is great, winning both in Stillwater then running all over Missouri, and now we're stuck in the midst of two straight weeks where our offense has failed to show the same big play ability that it possessed in the first half of the season.

 

It still baffles to me to no end how many times we've put the ball on the ground this season. To have it happen this many times, I truly don't believe McNeill when he says that they work on it all the time. If they worked on it all the time, and actually tried at the drills, we wouldn't be having this discussion. If they really do practice this all the time, then they're just going through the motions and not getting any better at it, like we have seen the whole year. (at least this part of our offense has been consistent )

[ESPY]

I remember an article the last time the Huskers led the country in fumbles ('99?) that Solich didn't notice that RB coach Gillespie had the players carrying the ball wrong until after the season.

I remember that. And I remember being completely frustrated when I read it. How does a head coach not figure out what's going wrong during the season? At least our current team is working hard to correct the issue in practice right now. Hopefully they're showing the correct way to carry the ball...or at least how NOT to hold the ball (cough cough Niles Paul...and Kinnie for that matter).

[HuskerNMO]

Fumbles are tough, sometimes they just happen, see Trey vs ISU last year, or Helu at ISU when they held him up for 10 seconds pulling on the ball.

 

But in general Taylor runs with the ball out in one arm without tucking even in traffic, he's a fumble waiting to happen. I think the problem is a lack of accountability, when a defensive player screws up he's lit up on the sidelines and might be made to sit. On offense they just head right back in and have nothing to make them focus more (Niles).

[Lyons in the Sea of Red.]

Our players are not smart with the ball. See Brandon Kinne OSU. His touchdown reception where he is carrying the ball in one hand down by his hip? WTF! Idc if your hand is large enough to go around the entire circumfrence of the ball, when you carry it like that, disaster is bound to happen, even without being hit.

[ESPY]

Our players are not smart with the ball. See Brandon Kinne OSU. His touchdown reception where he is carrying the ball in one hand down by his hip? WTF! Idc if your hand is large enough to go around the entire circumfrence of the ball, when you carry it like that, disaster is bound to happen, even without being hit.

Kinnie is one of my favorite Huskers, and I love seeing the success he's had this year. But, there's no mistaking it - he is a fumble waiting to happen almost every time he touches the ball. I believe there was at least one article earlier this season about how he carries the ball, and it sounds like he still gets coached about that even from his old JUCO coach.

 

In spite of all this, I will say he at least knows when to tuck it. And there's definitely something positive to be said considering he's one of the few guys on the offense who hasn't fumbled once this entire season.

[The Dude]

Bo needs to see Remember The Titans.

 

/thread