A Long Road

[walksalone]

After seeing what transgressed this season, and remembering what Bo said about "us being back", I think we may be a bit farther away from being back than originally thought.

 

Defensively, we're fine. For the most part our defense may have exceeded expectations, in how good we were against the pass. I know there are some Debbie Downer's out there, that will say that the Defense was a weak point, and I have to ask, what are you guys smoking, and more importantly, why aren't you sharing. In the past three years, we've gone back to being spoiled. The defense is once again something to be respected and feared. I'm thinking there aren't too many teams that didn't wish they had our Defense.

 

Now the crux of this whole situation, seems to be on the offensive side of the ball. We have serious questions at QB, the offensive coaching staff, and lesser questions at O-line and WR. Once again we've been subjected to lackluster playcalling and leadership from the OC. We thought we'd found the answer at QB, only to be reminded, he's just a freshman. Then there's things that I'm not sure how will be rectified, namely the fumbling/dropped passes issue.

 

But there has been one constant, that has managed to stay relatively clear of the ineptitude of the rest of the offensive problems, and those are the RB's. I mean relatively clear, because they were victims of fumblitis too. But all in all, the majority of our success came in the form of Burkhead or Helu having the ball.

 

I know T-Mart was immensely productive in the beginning of the season, but with his injury, and inability to make decisions at critical judgements at key times, his effectiveness, is a wash.

 

It seemed all but obvious that they were the strength of this team, whether watching the Rex-cat or seeing Helu go for over 3 bills against Mizzou. Seeing the obvious offensive strength of this team was the run game. In my opinion we won't truly be "back" until we can run the ball effectively and often, even with "box" stacked against us.

[mmmtodd]

its hard saying, walks.

 

i agree in principle...but mostly because i believe this season could have gone a myriad number of ways-for worse or better.

 

6 years ago if someone would have asked me if i would be happy with a 10-4 season (including the way it ended) after back to back bowl win years... i would have said F YEAH.

 

its all perspective. of course you always want it to get better. and right now. but after cooling off for awhile and generally staying away from the board, ive come to realize that this year isnt that big of a disappointment- in fact(this is where my true feelings come out), it went a lot like i expected.

 

i thought well over a year ago that texas a&m would be our toughest test. (although it was because of a qb and rb that didnt even play)

 

i wished shawn watson gone then as well.

 

he may have a brilliant offensive mind hidden in there somewhere, but he will never be able to use it under Bo. one, its pretty obvious that its not the direction of offense Bo wants to go to compliment his D, and two: hes too much of a pu&&y. their relationship is poison IMHO. Shawn Watson is the for all intents and purposes the wife that needs to get the heck out so that both sides can get on with their life.

 

i guess the fact that its a long road is what actually makes it fun. it isnt like playing a dynasty on your nintendo or whatever the heck it is in a month. (im 28 and have never owned an iPod. PS3? sounds like a part number.)

 

I look forward to the long road that is next season...every week is practically a bowl game! and if watson is still around for it, well, i have an easy target for my frustration and the hold out of hope that i will finally turn the lightswitch on for his defenders.

 

bring on the long road. makes the wins and triumphs that much sweeter. remember how you felt that first year under pelini? the fistfight of the gator bowl? the win in the rain in mizzou? the shootout in stillwater? there has been plenty of sweet moments. the huskers dropped a honey of an opportunity this year, for sure. but lets not go screaming to the wall about it.

[walksalone]

I concur with you, that the season went about as I had expected. (I thought we'd win one more game than we ended up with)

 

I agree with you, about the whole 6 years ago deal. Which from now until the end of time will be referred to as the "Age of Discontent".

 

Looking back on it the three games I thought we'd have trouble with (UT, Ok St, A&M) we lost two of them.

 

I guess I just got wrapped up in the hubris of the post game of last years Holiday Bowl, when we just looked like a f'ing juggernaut.

 

I'm not sure if I can subscribe to the whole Bo/Watson husband-wife angle. I have a problem with Watson's inability to "adjust fire" during adverse situations. It's the same thing I railed on about, during the previous administration. He is a great offensive mind, I just wish he'd use it on a more consistent basis.

 

As for next season, I can't wait for it to get underway. But, with that being said, there are several things that need to be sorted out. And they happen to all be on the offensive side of the ball.

[n.e.husker]

Barney can coach run blocking.

 

He seems to struggle coaching pass blocking and discipline.

[junior4949]

People can give the running backs a pass if they want, but Helu's fumble against Texas is what ultimately put us behind the 8 ball. The entire year basically had the same theme. The offense would do something bad at the exact worst time whether it be a penalty on third and short or a fumble inside our own 20.

[Lincolnite]

It's hard to win games when your offense scores on your defense. How many times did the offense screw up and give the defense no margin of error? Hell, they outscored themselves in the bowl game, 9 to 7.

[kchusker_chris]

I'm sure Washington's backs really feared the Nebraska run defense when they hauled off for nearly 300 yards against that "dominant" 53rd ranked run defense.

 

Don't take this as me hounding on the defense, but it had it's fair share of holes this year. It certainly wasn't "5 times better" anyway. Having the 7th ranked pass defense helped a lot, but that rush defense cost us a number of times. It doesn't exactly make me feel all warm and fuzzy going into big10 play that's for sure.

[kchusker_chris]

PS: While our offense was fumbling the ball 45 times, losing something like 22 of those - our defense only managed to recover 4 fumbles landing them almost dead last in that category.

 

And we might have had 19 interceptions, but 10 of those came in the first 4 games. In conference play - I'd be willing to bet Nebraska wasn't even in the top 100 in turnover margin.