My Burning Thoughts

[CFHusker]

Teams that lose QBs and seem to still move the ball

 

Texas AM

How did Washington and Zona do when their QBs went down? i have no idea off the top of my head.

 

Northwestern, they just scored liek 35 points with their backup.

 

Not sure of any others and I dont even know now how those teams did. I was just tossing out some. Didnt the Ducks lose a QB for a game this year?

 

Tannehill won the starting job, and was not that impressive. CG probably had just as good of game. Although he threw no picks but he rarely tested our dbs. Washington lost, and the Zona Qb backup was the starter prior to Foles taking the reigns from him. I think Northwestern lost, but I think that for the most part overall the Big 10 is not as sound defensively as most in my area would like to believe. Kind of a petty discussion, the point is that back ups are back ups for a reason. You cannot name any team in football that does would not have a drop in production if they lost their starter. Tom Brady is a once in a lifetime situation.

[Hujan]

EZ-E, with you on all counts. Especially #6. Good summary.

 

Any chance you were one of the dozen or so Husker fans who (silently) protested Callahan's departure? Genuine question; not rhetorical.

 

You are an idiot and not worth our time.

 

My God. Struck a nerve, much? I'll put you down as a "Yes."

[bball_backer]

 

You have no idea how banged up we were on offense in 2009. I can think of an example of an OC gameplanning around his best QBs set of skills as well . Watson and Zach Lee had a few pretty good looking drives going in that UT game only for them to end in a WR dropping the ball. So he can do it with other players, just not with third string QBs that drastically hamper the number of plays that can be called.

 

If Green is so bad, why is Wats not realizing this and leaning on one of the greatest NU running backs ever and his backup, a guy who put the team on his back late in the game, drove them to scoring position, only to have Wats get cute, call a pass and get a pick thrown? Especially when it was so obvious that a field goal could easily win that game.

[EZ-E]

Well, the defensive coaches did make changes by benching guys that were not getting the job done. I mean that is taking responsibility.

 

We have depth on defense. We do not have the same WR depth as we do defensive positions. We have a lot of young WR talent, but none that we can throw out there quite yet.

[bshirt]

EZ-E.....are you serious about #6??

 

The "results" difference between the offense and defense has been MASSIVE the last couple of years. The defensive side amoung the best in the nation....the offensive side amoung the worst.

 

I don't know if i'd call the difference massive, a decent difference, sure, massive? No

 

Scoring Offense- 40th average

2010- 28th

2009- 75th

2008- 17th

 

Scoring Defense- 28th average

2010- 3rd

2009- 1st

2008- 80th

 

I was referring to this and last year.

 

Total offense

 

2010 - 32

2009 - 99

 

Total defense

 

2010 - 9

2009 - 7

 

Given the utter free fall our offense is in currently and has been steadily getting worse since the injury to Tmart (Iowa St, Kansas & TAM) it would not be surprising in the least to see the current "respectable" 32nd in Total Offense fall a long ways by season end.

 

Tmart is 99% of the offensive improvement from last year and with him hurt.....it's 2009 once again.

[teachercd]

Well, you get depth by playing guys. It is the only way you build it up. If not, you just have a bunch of seniors that never played. Again, that is on the coaching staff. Heck Cotton builds depth on the Oline, why not at the other spots?

 

I know that Green is the back up back up, but he does have live game experience, its not like he had never played.

 

I dont know, I dont hate wats, I just think he is average. All teams deal with hurt guys.

[zoogs]

EZ-E, with you on all counts. Especially #6. Good summary.

 

Any chance you were one of the dozen or so Husker fans who (silently) protested Callahan's departure? Genuine question; not rhetorical.

 

Not really. I argued not so silently against it, and the circumstances under which it seemed like Bo was coming here, but I never wanted Callahan back over Bo.

 

I didn't think he should have been fired. I was sad that he was, as I thought he just needed a different DC, and that '07 was a breakdown/collapse of a season. I understand why a HC needs to take a fall if that happens on his watch, but I didn't think he was the root cause of it either. I still don't, but I do think he was in a position to take care of the program better, and didn't. I welcomed Bo with pretty open arms and he has exceeded all my expectations since. Appreciate especially the way he has taken control over the program as a HC. It's a style I appreciate more out of a college HC.

 

I didn't think Solich should have been fired either...

 

But for all of Callahan's failings as a head coach, I still respect his contributions on offense a lot. People will point to production and such, but this is basically a philosophical matter, and I recognize it has been a struggle to produce with the kind of guys we have been pulling in. It has always been a solid system and I was afraid that was going to fall to pieces with Callahan's departure. It didn't, really, as thankfully Watson was retained, but what has fallen a lot is the OL, thanks to our new OL coach. Didn't really realize it then, but Callahan was basically the best in the business with regard to the boys in the trenches. Regardless of anything else we have taken an unfortunately huge step back in that department. As well as in the screen pass department, but I'm not really concerned with style of play.

[bball_backer]

Teams that lose QBs and seem to still move the ball

 

Texas AM

How did Washington and Zona do when their QBs went down? i have no idea off the top of my head.

 

Northwestern, they just scored liek 35 points with their backup.

 

Not sure of any others and I dont even know now how those teams did. I was just tossing out some. Didnt the Ducks lose a QB for a game this year?

 

We are playing with our backup's backup.

That doesn't change the fact that Nebraska has two threats at running back. Get creative with the offense. You want to talk about putting Watson and Pelini on the same level: you're not mentioning what Bo has done. Bo has dealt with big injuries on defense the last two years at key spots. The difference: he's coached up guys with little to no experience and the next week had them playing well enough to win ball games.

[Jeremy]

Not ready to throw Watson under the bus just yet. Personally, I think the statistic that matters most are the bonehead penalties, like holding, tripping, illegal formation, false start, etc. If we could somehow play ONE GAME without all the mistakes, we'd see the offense move the sticks and put points on the board. It does fall on the players' shoulders to do their jobs, but it's still on the coaching staff to put guys out there that will do what it takes to score points without hurting the team with costly errors. I see the Pelini's changing things up personel-wise all the time if they have a player that will do a better job than the other players at that position.

 

I say give Watson another year. Let him mold this new read offense against some stingy Big 10 defenses in more cold venues, and see what happens. If, by December of next year we're seeing the same old penalty-plagued offense, he should be shown the door, and let Pelini decide which assistants stay.

 

I'd be willing to bet there are plenty of good offense guys out there that would jump at the chance to ressurrect what was once one of the most feared offenses across the country...

 

 

(and for the love of Pete, Martinez, INSIDE SHOULDER! That was 6!)

[zoogs]

Teams that lose QBs and seem to still move the ball

 

Texas AM

How did Washington and Zona do when their QBs went down? i have no idea off the top of my head.

 

Northwestern, they just scored liek 35 points with their backup.

 

Not sure of any others and I dont even know now how those teams did. I was just tossing out some. Didnt the Ducks lose a QB for a game this year?

 

We are playing with our backup's backup.

That doesn't change the fact that Nebraska has two threats at running back. Get creative with the offense. You want to talk about putting Watson and Pelini on the same level: you're not mentioning what Bo has done. Bo has dealt with big injuries on defense the last two years at key spots. The difference: he's coached up guys with little to no experience and the next week had them playing well enough to win ball games.

 

Bo has not had to deal with an analagous situation to losing our top 2 QBs.

[CFHusker]

EZ-E.....are you serious about #6??

 

The "results" difference between the offense and defense has been MASSIVE the last couple of years. The defensive side amoung the best in the nation....the offensive side amoung the worst.

 

I don't know if i'd call the difference massive, a decent difference, sure, massive? No

 

Scoring Offense- 40th average

2010- 28th

2009- 75th

2008- 17th

 

Scoring Defense- 28th average

2010- 3rd

2009- 1st

2008- 80th

 

I was referring to this and last year.

 

Total offense

 

2010 - 32

2009 - 99

 

Total defense

 

2010 - 9

2009 - 7

 

Given the utter free fall our offense is in currently and has been steadily getting worse since the injury to Tmart (Iowa St, Kansas & TAM) it would not be surprising in the least to see the current "respectable" 32nd in Total Offense fall a long ways by season end.

 

Tmart is 99% of the offensive improvement from last year and with him hurt.....it's 2009 once again.

 

Based on your stats would it be fair to reason that the entire coaching staff is putting more emphasis on the defense? But look at the improvement on offense? To go from 99 to 32 is a huge leap. No chance that is all due to Tmart. The O line is much improved. We have had issues at receiver. But part of that has to be turning them back into efficient blockers. That has to impact their catching ability, but that is the reality of returning back to a run first offense. If the offensive staff just keeps grinding and working towards consistency, this offense is going to be top notch. With TMart maturing and getting stronger, look out. The big 10 is going to get popped in the mouth.

[bball_backer]

Well, the defensive coaches did make changes by benching guys that were not getting the job done. I mean that is taking responsibility.

 

We have depth on defense. We do not have the same WR depth as we do defensive positions. We have a lot of young WR talent, but none that we can throw out there quite yet.

 

Give me a break. It's on the coaches to develop depth. Wats has been runnin the show for four years, he should have some depth developed by now. Look at Bo throwing out all sorts of guys who've never played, they do fine cause Bo has TAUGHT them and TRUSTS them. Where is Wats? Why is he not developing players and trusting them? Sit Niles during the TU game after his 4th drop, surely he's worked with some other WRs, hasn't he? If he has, they should be ready, give them a shot, trust them.... if he hasn't, then shame on him.

[HuskerNMO]

EZ-E.....are you serious about #6??

 

The "results" difference between the offense and defense has been MASSIVE the last couple of years. The defensive side amoung the best in the nation....the offensive side amoung the worst.

 

I don't know if i'd call the difference massive, a decent difference, sure, massive? No

 

Scoring Offense- 40th average

2010- 28th

2009- 75th

2008- 17th

 

Scoring Defense- 28th average

2010- 3rd

2009- 1st

2008- 80th

 

I was referring to this and last year.

 

Total offense

 

2010 - 32

2009 - 99

 

Total defense

 

2010 - 9

2009 - 7

 

Given the utter free fall our offense is in currently and has been steadily getting worse since the injury to Tmart (Iowa St, Kansas & TAM) it would not be surprising in the least to see the current "respectable" 32nd in Total Offense fall a long ways by season end.

 

Tmart is 99% of the offensive improvement from last year and with him hurt.....it's 2009 once again.

 

Exactly that, the injury to Martinez. Before Martinez was injured we averaged 38 points and 459 yards of offense. The 3 halfs of football we'd played prior to Martinez saw us score 31, 20 and 24 points, we had Martinez throw for 323 yards and 5 TD's and run for 112 against OSU, Helu ripped off 307 yards against Mizzou.

 

Shawn Watson and this team were setting records for offensive output by individuals at a school with a great history on the offensive side of the ball. Then Martinez got hurt, Bo told Watson to strip down the offense again and here we are.

 

Watson is doing what Bo tells him to do, Bo doesn't have much faith in Cody, despite Watson having plenty. If you don't think we're in vanilla mode again, I don't know what to tell you.

[bball_backer]

Bo has not had to deal with an analagous situation to losing our top 2 QBs.

HAHAHAHAHA! Really? So in a defense that is built like an offense (in that it has ONE linebacker that makes ALL the calls), Bo losing his top 2 linebackers is not like losing the top 2 qbs??? Give me a break! Bo did what a good coordinator does. He worked his ass off to teach the scheme to the guy, really coached him up, built his game plan around what his guys could do that week and what they couldn't do. That is what a good coordinator does.

[CFHusker]

EZ-E, with you on all counts. Especially #6. Good summary.

 

Any chance you were one of the dozen or so Husker fans who (silently) protested Callahan's departure? Genuine question; not rhetorical.

 

Not really. I argued not so silently against it, and the circumstances under which it seemed like Bo was coming here, but I never wanted Callahan back over Bo.

 

I didn't think he should have been fired. I was sad that he was, as I thought he just needed a different DC, and that '07 was a breakdown/collapse of a season. I understand why a HC needs to take a fall if that happens on his watch, but I didn't think he was the root cause of it either. I still don't, but I do think he was in a position to take care of the program better, and didn't. I welcomed Bo with pretty open arms and he has exceeded all my expectations since. Appreciate especially the way he has taken control over the program as a HC. It's a style I appreciate more out of a college HC.

 

I didn't think Solich should have been fired either...

 

But for all of Callahan's failings as a head coach, I still respect his contributions on offense a lot. People will point to production and such, but this is basically a philosophical matter, and I recognize it has been a struggle to produce with the kind of guys we have been pulling in. It has always been a solid system and I was afraid that was going to fall to pieces with Callahan's departure. It didn't, really, as thankfully Watson was retained, but what has fallen a lot is the OL, thanks to our new OL coach. Didn't really realize it then, but Callahan was basically the best in the business with regard to the boys in the trenches. Regardless of anything else we have taken an unfortunately huge step back in that department. As well as in the screen pass department, but I'm not really concerned with style of play.

 

Callahan need to go because he turned away from what makes Husker Football great. I think he is a genious at details. He is proving it with the Jets. The best thing about Pelini is that he embraces Husker Football. It just feels right with him as the HC.