Chatelain: Offensive Clunker Dooms NU Again

[teachercd]

If I'm not mistaken, teacher, the offense played a pretty big role in getting us the 17-0 lead, too.

 

Taylor is credited with 7 sacks and 48 yards lost, as well as (I'm not sure if this overlaps...) 14 carries for -32 yards. QB draws? I don't think we had an easy fade route today but we can disagree on that. Screens wouldn't have hurt. Take some of the 'read' out of Taylor, too. Unfortunately I think our best days of running screens are behind us with Callahan gone. You can name other plays all you want, but all I can say is I guess we couldn't work them into the gameday package. There's only so much that is available to us with Taylor/Rex as QB. Maybe they could have done better, I don't know.

 

 

The offense had that 70 yard TD run to go up 7-0 and then the second TD came with good field position, didnt it? I dont remember where that drive started, was that the one where NU returned the pick down to the 15 or so?

 

QB draws would have been a great call because the O-line is not pass blocking but run blocking, they are going forward. Its the same thing as the wildcat, which for the most part, was working very well.

 

Fades can always be thrown, assuming there is not a two-deep safety look and OU had lots of guys around the LOS.

 

Caliwats does two things well, he does a good job in the first quarter and he does a good job getting out-adjusted the rest of the game.

[zoogs]

The offense had that 70 yard TD run to go up 7-0

 

Yes. A 70-yard touchdown run is usually what you would call an accomplishment by the offense.

 

then the second TD came with good field position, didnt it? I dont remember where that drive started, was that the one where NU returned the pick down to the 15 or so?

 

It came with great field position, at their 12-yard line. OU had an offsides that took it down to the 7. Still, touchdowns are earned. We could have had to settle for a field goal there and it's a credit to Rex (and Reed for adjusting to the ball there) that we didn't.

 

QB draws would have been a great call because the O-line is not pass blocking but run blocking, they are going forward. Its the same thing as the wildcat, which for the most part, was working very well.

 

You have more confidence in Taylor running a QB draw than me though.

 

Fades can always be thrown, assuming there is not a two-deep safety look and OU had lots of guys around the LOS.

 

They can be thrown - but by Taylor? I'm guessing that's probably why OU didn't have 2-deep safeties. They dared us to try and beat their corners with Joe and Brandon, and have Taylor get them the ball. When you miss a completely wide open Kinnie in the flat by throwing it a full yard behind him, I guess I don't have the same faith in Taylor being able to post up a well-placed fade.

 

Some of these things I think we would have and should have seen with Cody. Alas....

[teachercd]

Fades can be thrown by anyone, you just throw it up and let your WR try and make a play.

 

I think we are both agreeing that outside of the 70 yard TD run, Caliwats had another bad day.

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

Watson got smart in the fourth quarter and leaned on the Wildcat, which Nebraska had executed brilliantly in the red zone in the first half.

 

Nebraska finally got a little momentum when Burkhead cut through the OU defense for 19 yards, then 5 yards.

 

At that point on the field — the Oklahoma 33 — three quarterback sneaks would’ve given Alex Henery a great shot at breaking a 20-20 tie.

 

But center Mike Caputo made a wild snap to Burkhead in shotgun, who couldn’t handle it. OU recovered the fumble and converted it into a field goal.

 

So what does Nebraska do, down 23-20 with 8:24 to play? The Huskers could’ve gone back to Burkhead.

 

“But you get a little one-dimensional in that (Wildcat),” Watson said.

 

So instead of turning to the most trustworthy player on this offense, Watson turned to Martinez. Three and out.

 

This. This is where I decided to buy a ticket for the Fire Watson Bandwagon. This is where I threw up my thumb looking for a ride on that wagon. This is where I decided in my mind that Watson definitely needs to go. I've given him the benefit of the doubt for entirely too long.

[Glendower]

At that point on the field — the Oklahoma 33 — three quarterback sneaks would’ve given Alex Henery a great shot at breaking a 20-20 tie.

 

But center Mike Caputo made a wild snap to Burkhead in shotgun, who couldn’t handle it. OU recovered the fumble and converted it into a field goal.

 

So what does Nebraska do, down 23-20 with 8:24 to play? The Huskers could’ve gone back to Burkhead.

 

“But you get a little one-dimensional in that (Wildcat),” Watson said.

 

It's interesting that he criticizes continuing the Wildcat not being safe enough and causing the turnover, and on the very next drive calls us to go back to it.

 

Don't get me wrong, I think the Wildcat was our most effective package tonight. But it's a very small package of plays. Out of that we can run: direct snap draws to Rex, zone reads of various kinds, and throws (extremely rarely - the second throw was a bad call, IMO, a bad, bad call).

 

I said this in another thread, but I completely agree with Watson's quote here that Dirk is taking issue with. You are talking about a very limited package of plays that we milked as much as we probably could out of it. It's diminishing returns: some things are effective when they are used 20-30% of the time, but grind to a half if you try to do that 60-70% of the time. I wonder if that's true about the Wildcat. I don't think it could possibly have been worse in those situations where SW called passes that resulted in sacks, though. So I disagree with those calls, but in general I think the wildcat/zone-read were neither under nor over used.

 

I like Dirk, but unfortunately it's picking on some quotes that were thrown out there to protect Taylor. You think a coach is going to come out and say "Taylor didn't perform, we should have sat him", you're dreaming. That will never happen and shouldn't.

 

--

 

Looking back, I feel Taylor should have gotten the hook for good earlier. The trouble with that though: there was no backup plan. I can see why you don't go with Cody when he's not being prepared during the week. Bloody brilliant idea, eh? There's no Bo vs Watson here, that's on Bo and Watson both, in the most charitable scenario for Pelini where Bo gets to share the blame for making the call. Reading between the lines this year, it sounds like Watson is an enormous fan/has a lot of confidence in Cody, where Bo has little. So that's my thought on whose call it really was, but I don't know. I think we should have rode Green as the starter or regardless had him ready. Bo should know his starting QB has cold streaks and that explosiveness is not there right now.

 

I think that's about what it boiled down to. We were going to sink or swim with Taylor because of the lack of backup plan (don't ask me about this, I'm quoting jliehr and others who have said this), and that led to disaster today. Would have been fine if he didn't shut down and become ineffective. When he did, we were screwed. All the playcalling nitpicks and the couple of defensive breakdowns, IMO, are really nothing compared to the approach which is what should be questioned. This game is one game and it's over. We can't approach another game with this philosophy. It's nuts! What happened to Watson's supposedly standard practice of rotating QBs with the 1st team in practices? Or am I wrong about this. Would love to get enlightened here.

 

I don't know about practice routines, and I don't know about backup plans or anything like that. I think people want to dilly-dally about a QB controversy that ended in August, and I'm kind of tired of that. I thought Martinez looked about 80-85%, and anybody who thinks Green was the answer is just going off of last week's Colorado game which is NOT a measuring stick to be used before Oklahoma. Either you trust the coaches or you don't but there's really nothing for us to actually discuss with the QB's. The coaches watch practice, we do not. We watch the game, that's all we can evaluate, and since Cody didn't play in the game, there's nothing to talk about there.

 

The playcalling, I'm completely happy to be talking about, since we actually watched that. I think Dirk's point about Watson saying, "But you get a little one-dimensional in that Wildcat," is the point he made at the end of the article. Sometimes, you be one-dimensional. Sometimes, you have to gut out a drive where it comes down to who wants it more, to who the better man is, to heart. We were moving the ball with the Wildcat, and I was screaming at the TV, "Just keep it up, just let Rex run!!!" and then Watson would pull up his anchor and try something else like a scientist with no purpose but curiosity.

 

Of course we're second-guessing and maybe the Wildcat wouldn't have worked, and we'll now never know. But I do know that Nebraska will never be Nebraska again until we can churn out that kind of drive when we need it against a top notch opponent. I don't know that Oklahoma was truely stronger than we were, or had more heart, but I don't think we got the chance to show it - instead, we dilly-dallied.

 

being afraid of one-dimensionality for the sake of one-dimensionality is shallow, shallow thinking. But that's sort of what I've thought of watson for the last couple seasons-- he "mixes things up" for the sake of mixing them up, not because the run game doesn't work or because some other aspect that he's calling no longer works. He is afraid of looking uncreative so he stops a consistent, methodical drive and calls an absurd pass from a running back into coverage to a quarterback (someone who is not used to throwing in to Div I coverage to a receiver who isn't used to fighting through Div I coverage). It was more like a play that you call on 4th and 6 with 25 seconds left in the game... it was really odd and unnecessary, but, hey, it MIXED THINGS UP! Don't want to be one-dimensional even if that one dimension is the only thing that seems to consistently work... being called "One-Dimensional" is bad! He seems to be more afraid of that label than anything.

[Sparker]

It's interesting that he criticizes continuing the Wildcat not being safe enough and causing the turnover, and on the very next drive calls us to go back to it.

 

Zoogies... really? It was a bad snap! If Taylor was back there, would it have been a good snap?

[zoogs]

You missed my point. I felt like Dirk thought we went away from the Wildcat because of that bad snap which I thought was not the case. I liked the Wildcat a lot this whole game and the zone read out of it.

 

As others have noted, he wasn't criticizing. Just chronicling a series of events.

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

Watson is at fault as both offensive coordinator and QB coach. Martinez is actually worse at his decision making. That has nothing to do with injury. Being this far into the season it doesn't have much to do with being a redshirt Freshman. It has to do with preparation or lack there of. Why hasn't Watson drilled into Martinez's head when to throw the ball away rather than take a sack? That has been a problem all season and has not been corrected. Whose problem is that? The coaches--specifically the offensive coordinator and QB coach. In the case the same incompetent wears both hats. Part of that lays at Coach Pelini's feet and the quickest way to correct that is to let Watson go.

[Hercules]

Hercules if you don't want to try to get into the coaches heads regarding QB decisions, why get into their heads regarding playcalling? By the same measure, we saw Cody not go in and should be able to question that when Taylor was clearly not hacking it. Or we have heard that there wasn't a backup plan for Taylor for this game which is why Cody was not ready, which you can disregard, but it comes from usually reliable sources. I think this should all be fair game to be discussed and questioned, and we can wonder what coaches are thinking here; at least, if we are going to start characterizing Watson as seeming to calling random plays to satisfy his own curiosity now.

 

If you want to ask the coaches themselves whether they had a backup plan, that's fine. But getting it from someone who posts on this board is about as reliable as the "Taylor has quit the team" rumors. That's why I don't see any point in discussing it. The QB controversy ended months ago, that's the end of the story. Taylor is the best we've got. Anybody who thinks that Green should have gone into this game is deluding himself into thinking Cody's performance against Colorado actually meant something. You can question QB decisions, but there's nothing to discuss - we don't have any real evidence we can argue about, as Cody has never shown that he could do any better than Taylor did against that kind of defense. Do you switch QBs on a whim? Maybe, but that's all it is for us message board posters. The coaches obviously had more confidence in Taylor, so why not just move on to other issues?

 

As far as questioning playcalling - there we have some evidence. We all watched the game unfold, we knew what was working and what wasn't. Watson will go away from what's working in order to avoid being "one-dimensional." Like HuskerfaninOkieland said, that's where I lost it with Watson. The Wildcat is working, then you throw the ball on 2nd and 8 and put your freshman QB in a 3rd and long situation which he couldn't handle all game. That was a bad decision, from a 51-year old coach who gets paid several hundred grand a year. The next series we came in and didn't even show the wildcat. Taylor Martinez is going to learn from his mistakes and get better. Is Shawn Watson?

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Hindsight is 20/20, but I would've given Henery a shot at a 62-yarder compared to what we did on offense. That 50+ yarder had TON of distance on it. *sighs* I totally disagree with keeping Taylor in there and going away from the wildcat. You don't become one-dimensional until the opposing defense makes you one-dimensional. If you run the same play or package over and over again and keep getting 5 or 6 yards each time, keep running it until they stop you. Make them stop you, don't stop yourself! The coaching staff outthinks itself constantly, I don't get it and it pisses me off!

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

Hindsight is 20/20, but I would've given Henery a shot at a 62-yarder compared to what we did on offense. That 50+ yarder had TON of distance on it. *sighs* I totally disagree with keeping Taylor in there and going away from the wildcat. You don't become one-dimensional until the opposing defense makes you one-dimensional. If you run the same play or package over and over again and keep getting 5 or 6 yards each time, keep running it until they stop you. Make them stop you, don't stop yourself! The coaching staff outthinks itself constantly, I don't get it and it pisses me off!

So simple but so true! But when will that sink in?

[Hercules]

Hindsight is 20/20, but I would've given Henery a shot at a 62-yarder compared to what we did on offense. That 50+ yarder had TON of distance on it. *sighs* I totally disagree with keeping Taylor in there and going away from the wildcat. You don't become one-dimensional until the opposing defense makes you one-dimensional. If you run the same play or package over and over again and keep getting 5 or 6 yards each time, keep running it until they stop you. Make them stop you, don't stop yourself! The coaching staff outthinks itself constantly, I don't get it and it pisses me off!

 

Yeah, I was actually yelling at the TV at the time, "Kick it Bo, it's only 62 yards!" But, can't really argue with the reasoning to punt. Even though Henery is maybe the best kicker of all time, people have got to stop pretending that 62 yards is a chip shot. Bo's great kicker made a great punt, his great defense got the ball back, and then his offense tripped over the football.

[BIGREDIOWAN]

Hindsight is 20/20, but I would've given Henery a shot at a 62-yarder compared to what we did on offense. That 50+ yarder had TON of distance on it. *sighs* I totally disagree with keeping Taylor in there and going away from the wildcat. You don't become one-dimensional until the opposing defense makes you one-dimensional. If you run the same play or package over and over again and keep getting 5 or 6 yards each time, keep running it until they stop you. Make them stop you, don't stop yourself! The coaching staff outthinks itself constantly, I don't get it and it pisses me off!

 

Yeah, I was actually yelling at the TV at the time, "Kick it Bo, it's only 62 yards!" But, can't really argue with the reasoning to punt. Even though Henery is maybe the best kicker of all time, people have got to stop pretending that 62 yards is a chip shot. Bo's great kicker made a great punt, his great defense got the ball back, and then his offense tripped over the football.

Oh, and I totally agree with you, I knew our defense could stop them. I had no faith in our offense to move the ball outside of the wildcat so I hated to see us pass up a small chance for points. I mean the percentage goes way down outside of 50 and even lower outside of 60, but we were sucking it up pretty bad on offense. If you're thinking of going with a fake punt, damnit Stoops for catching that, why not stay ballsy and go for the points? I see what you're saying though, only a small amount of kickers can make that kick.

[Hunter94]

Hindsight is 20/20, but I would've given Henery a shot at a 62-yarder compared to what we did on offense. That 50+ yarder had TON of distance on it. *sighs* I totally disagree with keeping Taylor in there and going away from the wildcat. You don't become one-dimensional until the opposing defense makes you one-dimensional. If you run the same play or package over and over again and keep getting 5 or 6 yards each time, keep running it until they stop you. Make them stop you, don't stop yourself! The coaching staff outthinks itself constantly, I don't get it and it pisses me off!

So simple but so true! But when will that sink in?

 

this is the part of Wats that sucks, whenever he is having success he screws himself....idiot!

[mmmtodd]

i reverted to last year, hoping for a field goal. looking at a couple of third downs like "they should just kick it now."

 

there is something really wrong with that.