Why so much pessimism?

[Nebula]

Who ever thinks that Nebraska looked better than Oregon needs to go back to sleep or start pounding the coffee right now.

We won. They didn't. I'll take the result.

 

Keep in mind, our defense at the beginning of 2008 and our defense at the end of 2008 were very different units. It takes a while, takes game time repetitions, to learn the nuances of a new system. If people seriously expected our brand new offense to hum without any hiccups in our first game then I applaud your optimism but not your realism.

 

The o-line remains a concern for me, that much I have to admit. But I'm not gonna pull my hair out just yet.

[walksalone]

It's not pessimism.

 

It's the fact that the offense we saw yesterday, wasn't that much difference from what we saw in the beginning of last year. Granted, it is the first game, and the whole offensive scheme is still a work in progress, due to the fact that yesterday was the first real practical application of what we've been hearing about.

 

So not pessimism, but more careful skepticism.

[Husker66]

if we had executed well and taken the foot off the gas in the 3rd quarter...ok. we did not execute simple plays well. we did not execute at the position level well, we looked sloppy, confused,out of sync. missed blocks, mis reads on offense. Tripping our way to 40 becasue our oppoinent is weak and commanding 40 and backing off are 2 different things. i did not see much command. better teams will not be so forgiving..even the article in SI today is talking about martinez being the key to our offense...again.

 

unfortunately, I am very skeptical.

[secretasianman]

Why so much pessimism?? Because our inside run was getting stuffed by an FCS opponent! Because if you contain Martinez, this offense is stopped!! Because Martinez can't pass!! Against a better team, at least 4 of his passes would have been picked off!! Because our offense looks unorganized!!

 

You're saying NU looked better than Oregon?? Hello?! Put down your crackpipe! Oregon was playing an SEC team, we were playing an FCS team. Oregon would destroy is! Look how fast their offense is. Ours takes forever to develop a play. We had over 10 plays go for negative yardage against an FCS opponent.

 

So I can't tell but what team do you root for cause obviously Nebraska isn't doing it for ya .

 

I have been a Nebraska fan for over 30 years. I have sat in that stadium through good and bad, through all the Callahan games and never left early. You don't know me, so don't question my fanhood of this team.

The original poster asked why so many were being pessimistic of this team. I answered his question.

I root for this team through good and bad, but like many fans, I yearn for a dominant team again. I am a realist who can see NU from a critical standpoint. I do have unconditional love for NU, but that doesn't mean I have to be a blind, sunshine shooter.

[robsker]

Why is everyone so worried about our team after this game? It was essentially a glorified scrimmage in which we were obviously working on specific things.

 

I need to get a few things out on the table that need to be said.

 

1) Do you really think our defense is the same without Dennard? Dennard allows us to do many different things on D, with different defensive packages, because you know he'll lock down his side of the field. Our defense was very basic. We were obviously trying to get as many people reps as possible. Against more experienced teams, I don't think we see nearly as many people on D, or O.

 

2) We went away from our #1's frequently to try and provide experience for younger players. We did this before the fourth quarter. I highly doubt we see that many substitutions against, say, Wisconsin. This shouldn't be surprising as Bo or possibly Carl said, they need to get people game reps to see how people react in games vs. practice.

 

3) Offense was very basic. I struggle to believe thats our entire playbook. Beck, was obviously, trying to perfect plays. After the game, he admitted he stuck to the same play to execute it correctly. Which was dumb. But like I said, thats something you do in practice, and it appears the staff was using this as a scrimmage more than a game to crush the opponent.

 

4) Both teams were rusty. We got the win, yet people are complaining we didn't score 40+. LSU, Oregon, tOSU, Wisconsin, are all better than us because they (Wiscy and OSU) just reamed their opponent. - whoever thinks Oregon looks better than us is kind of silly... 4 turnovers, multiple penalties... At least we didn't get flagged left and right. LSU - Look at that offense... even ours looked better than that. They clearly play offense to not lose...

 

5) POSITIVES. Our penalties looked to be fixed, our turnovers fixed as well - those fumbles on the pitches were obviously sloppy - a work in progress, which I believe is something Beck wanted to work on. The option seemed to be huge.

 

6) Our D looked good. Our secondary is only going to get better with Fonzie, which I mentioned above.

 

7) Our WR played well. They didn't -lose- the game for us. Which is huge.

 

8) Wish we saw more Carnes and the 3 RB's, but oh well.

 

9) Stafford is a baller.

 

 

My take on why there is so much pessimism is simply this ---

 

generally speaking, the posters on this board are nostalgic and have a view of Husker football that was more past than present --- they think the NU has always been and is currently nationally relevant --- and they have bought into the media hype that NU is at a level of play that is top 10 worthy. As such, the posters here, generally, place way too high of expectations on this team -- and when they see the actual product that is on the field, they get angered and pessimistic because the team does not (because it cannot) meet their unrealistic expectations.

 

Last night I watched Oregon & Boise State and LSU play --- NU is not even close... not even close to the caliber of play of these teams --- but posters here, at least some of them, think we should be --- and when they see what NU does on the field they are wildly dissapointed.

 

In actuality, I am not overly pessimistic about what NU did --- they are what they are, a fringe top 25 team. Forget the hype... we know what this team can and cannot do (or, at least we should)... and fringe top 25 is about right --- and we are maybe taking baby steps in the right direction. We had less penalties. We had some new guys show promise (Stafford, Roach, Abdullah, Turner). The play calling on offense was tough to assess --- was it a glorified practice and so we went to the same plays over and over again to work on execution.. or what?

 

Watch the top teams out there and you will see that they are at an entirely different level than NU. Adjust your expectations accordingly. Then... and maybe only then, will you see that we may actually be getting somewhat better. Yesterdays game was not a downer.. it was pretty much precisely what I (and I think we all should) have expected. Our offense will struggle... all season. Our defense will keep us in most games. And we pray for a big play or two to take us over the top and maybe take down a team or two that we shouldn't beat. That is what we should expect. Temper your expectations and enjoy the season... it should be really entertaining.

[robsker]

Who ever thinks that Nebraska looked better than Oregon needs to go back to sleep or start pounding the coffee right now.

 

Correct. Oregon is superior to NU in the offensive line, in their WR'ers, in their RB's and at QB. They have more team speed. They have much, much superior an offensive system/game plan. They play with much more aggression. They are far more focused and play game in and game out --- all the time --- with passion and fire (NU does not). They are consistent (NU is not). I will take our defense over the Oregon D --- but they have a good defense too.. And special teams... not sure how to compare --- both seem solid. No... I'd guess Oregon would beat NU 9/10 times or, perhaps 8/10 times. This Oregon team is probably a legit top 10 team (time will tell... we'll see). NU is more realistically a #20-25 type team (again time will tell).

 

In any event, Oregon is well, well beyond what NU could handle at this point. LSU and Boise State as well. Have 100 unbiased observers watch the NU, Oregon, LSU and Boise State games and 95 of the 100 would agree with the assessment that NU is not at the level of the other three.

[It'sNotAFakeID]

The offense will always be scrutinized because of what we've seen over the past 3 years. People want to see immediate changes and when that doesn't happen, they get all up-in-arms about "this is the same crap as last year" and blah blah blah.

 

Hopefully, these same people can come to understand that this was the first actual game under a completely different offensive scheme. Sure you can say, well they've practiced it enough and this and that until the cows come home but at the end of the day, those practices are nothing compared to an actual game day experience.

 

Am I a little worried about how our O-Line played yesterday? Yes, there were some plays where they got pushed around. But getting pushed around is good for them. In a game like this against Chattanooga, they could get pushed around and the team is still going to wind up winning the ball game. Their performance should motivate them to come out and perform better in the next game.

 

Am I worried about how the option looked? Not at all. How many times did Taylor have to pitch the ball last year? You could count it on one hand. And sure, practice should've worked out all the kinks, but again, there is nothing like actual game reps to clean up a play. But when Taylor and the O-Line execute that option correctly, you can see how devastating it is for the opposition (a la Burkhead 55 yard run followed by Taylor's 7 yard TD)

 

I'm under the philosophy that you can't judge an entire season based of an OPENING game. I can only name a couple of teams that looked in mid season form yesterday. Oklahoma, Alabama, Boise State, and maybe LSU. Oregon had 4 turnovers, and most of those were not caused by LSUs "SEC defense". They were caused by sloppy play by the RBs. Notre Dame lost to USF. South Carolina, spotted ECU 17 points before deciding that they wanted to play. So because Oklahoma dominated Tulsa or because Alabama dominated Kent State, that means they've already locked up their places in the National Championship? It shouldn't, and neither should Nebraska's play be indicative of how they're going to perform for the rest of the season (which many of you must be predicting us going 1-11, because, Minnesota played USC and only lost by 2 yesterday so they must be better than us).

 

There were good's and bad's yesterday, and that is going to happen because it is the opening game of the season. Did the bad's outnumber the good's? Probably, but that doesn't mean the value of the bad's outweighs the good's.

 

Game film is a powerful tool. And now these guys have game film under Beck's new scheme, that's going to go a long way in preparing for our next game against Fresno State.

 

Things to watch for:

 

1) Taylor looked uncomfortable under center yesterday, which is understandable, after all, that was pretty much his first game where most of his snaps came under center.

2) There was a lot of inexperience on the OLine yesterday, we'll see if Bo plays more experienced guys the next game and see if there is more of a push against Fresno State.

3) Adjustments need to be made for Fresno State, and we'll see what happens.

 

You all may and probably do disagree with me, which is alright-that's what this board is about, but I still believe that Nebraska at the end of the year, will be playing against Wisconsin in the B1G championship game.

[T_O_Bull]

Does anyone realize that opposing coaches get film of our games? In two weeks we travel to Washington. Why give anything away? Our firs B1G game is at Wisconsin, quite possibly the most important game of theyear for The Big RED. Why give anything away? Bo and his staff now know what needs to bew done with this team. The real coaching begins now. Lets wait a few weeks before we start with all the doom and gloom.

 

T_O_B

 

[husker_99]

Why is everyone so worried about our team after this game? It was essentially a glorified scrimmage in which we were obviously working on specific things.

 

I need to get a few things out on the table that need to be said.

 

1) Do you really think our defense is the same without Dennard? Dennard allows us to do many different things on D, with different defensive packages, because you know he'll lock down his side of the field. Our defense was very basic. We were obviously trying to get as many people reps as possible. Against more experienced teams, I don't think we see nearly as many people on D, or O.

 

2) We went away from our #1's frequently to try and provide experience for younger players. We did this before the fourth quarter. I highly doubt we see that many substitutions against, say, Wisconsin. This shouldn't be surprising as Bo or possibly Carl said, they need to get people game reps to see how people react in games vs. practice.

 

3) Offense was very basic. I struggle to believe thats our entire playbook. Beck, was obviously, trying to perfect plays. After the game, he admitted he stuck to the same play to execute it correctly. Which was dumb. But like I said, thats something you do in practice, and it appears the staff was using this as a scrimmage more than a game to crush the opponent.

 

4) Both teams were rusty. We got the win, yet people are complaining we didn't score 40+. LSU, Oregon, tOSU, Wisconsin, are all better than us because they (Wiscy and OSU) just reamed their opponent. - whoever thinks Oregon looks better than us is kind of silly... 4 turnovers, multiple penalties... At least we didn't get flagged left and right. LSU - Look at that offense... even ours looked better than that. They clearly play offense to not lose...

 

5) POSITIVES. Our penalties looked to be fixed, our turnovers fixed as well - those fumbles on the pitches were obviously sloppy - a work in progress, which I believe is something Beck wanted to work on. The option seemed to be huge.

 

6) Our D looked good. Our secondary is only going to get better with Fonzie, which I mentioned above.

 

7) Our WR played well. They didn't -lose- the game for us. Which is huge.

 

8) Wish we saw more Carnes and the 3 RB's, but oh well.

 

9) Stafford is a baller.

 

 

My take on why there is so much pessimism is simply this ---

 

generally speaking, the posters on this board are nostalgic and have a view of Husker football that was more past than present --- they think the NU has always been and is currently nationally relevant --- and they have bought into the media hype that NU is at a level of play that is top 10 worthy. As such, the posters here, generally, place way too high of expectations on this team -- and when they see the actual product that is on the field, they get angered and pessimistic because the team does not (because it cannot) meet their unrealistic expectations.

 

Last night I watched Oregon & Boise State and LSU play --- NU is not even close... not even close to the caliber of play of these teams --- but posters here, at least some of them, think we should be --- and when they see what NU does on the field they are wildly dissapointed.

 

In actuality, I am not overly pessimistic about what NU did --- they are what they are, a fringe top 25 team. Forget the hype... we know what this team can and cannot do (or, at least we should)... and fringe top 25 is about right --- and we are maybe taking baby steps in the right direction. We had less penalties. We had some new guys show promise (Stafford, Roach, Abdullah, Turner). The play calling on offense was tough to assess --- was it a glorified practice and so we went to the same plays over and over again to work on execution.. or what?

 

Watch the top teams out there and you will see that they are at an entirely different level than NU. Adjust your expectations accordingly. Then... and maybe only then, will you see that we may actually be getting somewhat better. Yesterdays game was not a downer.. it was pretty much precisely what I (and I think we all should) have expected. Our offense will struggle... all season. Our defense will keep us in most games. And we pray for a big play or two to take us over the top and maybe take down a team or two that we shouldn't beat. That is what we should expect. Temper your expectations and enjoy the season... it should be really entertaining.

 

 

Sorry but we are definitely better than a fringe top 25 team. I don't think it's nostalgia just as much as why the offense isn't getting fixed? more type of question. We made the CC last two years and a down year in the Big Ten and we should expect to make it to the CC this year too. This is Bo's 4th year is coach and this is the time where excuses are no longer accepted because you had time to get your own players and staff so it should now all come together. Bo just needs to get rid of all the Callahan leftovers period. Why should Husker fans accept mediocre?

[It'sNotAFakeID]

You can't teach a dog how to sit (Shawn Watson year's) and then immediately expect them to perfect how to roll over (Tim Beck). Stuff takes time...and that's why we have non-conference games.

[Enhance]

Offense was very basic.

I'm not going to whine over the first game (other than 2 very short posts I already made) but I have to say I see this comment a lot and it always irritates me.

Exactly.

 

This is why there is so much pessimism, OP, and honestly it shouldn't come as a surprise nor warrant much misunderstanding. It's become commonplace at Nebraska for the last several years because of what we have become accustomed to seeing. The "offense was very basic" ideal is stupid for one reason and one reason alone - when we get into the meat of our schedule, it is apparent that our offense can't consistently execute the basic.

 

Now, I completely understand this was the first game, half of the offense were first time starters, it's a new system with a new coach and the depth that makes the defense so good from year to year isn't there on the offense. The experience just isn't there like it is on the defense. I'm willing to give this a lot of patience.

[Enhance]

Sorry but we are definitely better than a fringe top 25 team. I don't think it's nostalgia just as much as why the offense isn't getting fixed? more type of question. We made the CC last two years and a down year in the Big Ten and we should expect to make it to the CC this year too. This is Bo's 4th year is coach and this is the time where excuses are no longer accepted because you had time to get your own players and staff so it should now all come together. Bo just needs to get rid of all the Callahan leftovers period. Why should Husker fans accept mediocre?

Yes, we are better than a fringe top 25 team. As far as excuses go, this is the point where there really shouldn't be many on the defense, however I'm willing to accept a few on offense because of the recent changes.

[Moiraine]

In two weeks we travel to Washington.

I hope you didn't buy a plane ticket. If so you're going to be really disappointed.

[Axl_sued_me]

In two weeks we travel to Washington.

I hope you didn't buy a plane ticket. If so you're going to be really disappointed.

 

 

Lmao!!!

[Enhance]

Does anyone realize that opposing coaches get film of our games? In two weeks we travel to Washington. Why give anything away? Our firs B1G game is at Wisconsin, quite possibly the most important game of theyear for The Big RED. Why give anything away? Bo and his staff now know what needs to bew done with this team. The real coaching begins now. Lets wait a few weeks before we start with all the doom and gloom.

 

T_O_B

 

If we don't want to "give anything away" to future opponents, then how do we explain teams like Boise State, LSU, Oregon, etc., who all are probably going to have successful offenses this year despite having to give a lot away to beat an opening opponent? Granted, I know BSU isn't going to play another tough game for awhile, but people are still going to have a tough time stopping them. Furthermore, Oregon is still probably going to put together a nice offensive season and win the Pac-12. I realize I answered my own question, but that's kind of the point I'm trying to make.

 

I realize a team like Oregon has had an offensive system in place for a decade now under the same coach, they have a Heisman candidate, a returning starting quarterback and they've had time to get to where they are. I'd rather we get to the point where we don't hide what we want to do for as long as we can, as if it is the divining rod for an entire season. Fresno St. is a tough opponent and Washington is going to be tougher - we won't have much excuse to keep anything basic for those two teams. So by the end of week three our new offense should be out there on the table for people to dissect.

 

I guess my point is that I find secrecy stupid. It gives me the impression that coaches think "well, we don't have to be good at what we do yet, because we're not playing anybody important." We need to be good at what we do now. I realize that will take time, however, therefore I'm giving this year's offense some patience like I have said before.

 

A lot of this animosity is stemming from the fact that each pre-season with Watson was filled with smirks, grins, denials to share information about a new offense, etc. I'm sick of it.