An outsiders view

[bigg10]

So first off welcome to the B10! I really thought you all would keep it closer than that, but I also thought a 10 point spread was about right.

So with that said, the spread doesnt work in the B10 and neither does the option. It is to one dimensional. I was here awhile back and got hammered for bringing up such things and was met with "we have speed", "we have more talent", so what do you think now?

I am not here to rub anything in as I had no dog in the fight. But what you as Husker fans must realize, is this is'nt the B12 where trickery can get you by. It will take Bo a few years and as I have said before, give him time. He knows what it takes to compete in the B10 every week and will be fine, it may not come soon enough for the fans, but it will come in time. You will win some this year, but you will lose some more as well. All you have to do is look at the hole Mich dug for themselves, because that is about where you are.

It's a game and not the end of the world, so lighten up and enjoy it. Don't take any team for a cup cake, as that would be your first mistake. Have fun and enjoy your season as a Husker fan AND a B10 fan, it is bound to be a heck of a ride, just like every year is.

[n.e.husker]

You must not have seen our defense play last night. That was a big part of the loss, that and turnovers and penalties.

[shyndy]

meh we didnt even stick to the option and i wouldnt label us a "spread" team.

[Treand3]

Thanks for the welcome, but I have to disagree that our offensive scheme will not work in the B1G, there were chances to hurt their D, just didn't executive. It doesn't matter what scheme you run as long as there is a physical run game and the personnel to do so. As mentioned earlier, if the defense would've played like they cared NU wouldn't have looked so bad. Anyways, I look forward to competing in the B1G.

[irafreak]

The offense looked just fine on the first two TDs. You will see how well this offense functions when our OC doesn't have to keep up the pace with a talented offense. Michigan may give us a repeat but the rest of the season this offense will work and work well as long as we stick to running the football. And watch the option work. It would have crushed Michigan in 97 and will give them fits this year as long as the D can hold up its end. One game means little...

[bigg10]

My point was, all you can do is run. Thats going to be a hard row to hoe in the B10, as most teams gear up to stop the run, where as in the B12 most everybody was sold on stopping the air attack.

I know you are all new to the conf and do not know what to expect and it showed in WI, but please dont feed Buckys ego by saying they are NC or top 5 team, as they are not. I suspect you will see some B10 teams give Bucky a run for the money and they may be teams that you guys hammer, thats kind of how it goes around here.

You all had/have alot on your plate this year and every week is going to be tough, it's hard to get ready for all those new teams. Anyway keep your heads up and take it week by week.

[HuskerGBR]

I have to say Bigg10 is making a lot of sense here. Thanks for the kind words too!

[HuskerGBR]

Oh and this year will be an adjustment year for us. We have all new teams with different offensive philosophies then the Big XII. We may have to recruit different players for this conference so right now we just have to get by. The only problem I have is what we saw from that game was a defense that we haven't seen since Cosgrove and something we never expected to see from Pelini. I know I am willing to give it a couple of years for an adjustment in regards to the defense and we will be dominant on that side of the ball again. For now the Huskers are just going to have to make due and I think I have accepted that. I feel like this year is close to the 2008 team (minus a freak in Suh). This year is going to be an adjustment year though.

[Count 'Bility]

With all do respect, we had Wisconsin's D on their heels just as much if not more than they our D on their's. We hurt ourselves with penalties and a 100% abandonment of what was working, which was spread and option. Wisconsin has an incredible offense. Nebraska's problems right now are running deeper than scheme and talent.

[bigg10]

With all do respect, we had Wisconsin's D on their heels just as much if not more than they our D on their's. We hurt ourselves with penalties and a 100% abandonment of what was working, which was spread and option. Wisconsin has an incredible offense. Nebraska's problems right now are running deeper than scheme and talent.

 

I dont know, I have not rewatched the game and had other things going on during it, but it looked to me like your first drives were ok and yes you may have taken them by surprise, but it looked like they adjusted after that and committed to stopping the run and sort of said, go ahead beat us thru the air. Now that the week has started I will rewatch it and pay more attention to the details. Penalties will kill you, but your coaches know that and have been trying to address it. Sometimes that happens if you are just over matched (again I need to rewatch it) Wisky has big lines and that happens to alot of teams they play, Heads up for this week, I know OSU looks really bad right now, but they are fast, I know you guys are as well, but I think most of you are surprised at how fast WI was compared to your own speed, and I am telling you OSU is WAY faster than Bucky. Your lines will have to play a clean game which will be hard again because they come off the ball with extreme speed. Just something to look out for. WI tries to collapse the pocket with size and OSU tries to speed rush you and most years are one of the better schools in the nation at doing it. If OSU is even half what they normally are, I think you will be amazed at just how fast the whole team can play. (not huddle time but play time).

[Creed]

My take as a Buckeye fan: Wisc O-line reminded me of the old Nebraska lines in the 90s - big, dominating and would wear down the opponent. Throw in a good passing, mobile QB and decent WR and that offensive is very good. Nebraska's offensive showed signs of life at times but Martinez just made too many errors or got happy feet in the pocket . I think OSU can hold them under 17 this Saturday but I am not sure they can score more than 17 even with the players back.

[Saunders]

With all do respect, we had Wisconsin's D on their heels just as much if not more than they our D on their's. We hurt ourselves with penalties and a 100% abandonment of what was working, which was spread and option. Wisconsin has an incredible offense. Nebraska's problems right now are running deeper than scheme and talent.

 

I dont know, I have not rewatched the game and had other things going on during it, but it looked to me like your first drives were ok and yes you may have taken them by surprise, but it looked like they adjusted after that and committed to stopping the run and sort of said, go ahead beat us thru the air. Now that the week has started I will rewatch it and pay more attention to the details. Penalties will kill you, but your coaches know that and have been trying to address it. Sometimes that happens if you are just over matched (again I need to rewatch it) Wisky has big lines and that happens to alot of teams they play, Heads up for this week, I know OSU looks really bad right now, but they are fast, I know you guys are as well, but I think most of you are surprised at how fast WI was compared to your own speed, and I am telling you OSU is WAY faster than Bucky. Your lines will have to play a clean game which will be hard again because they come off the ball with extreme speed. Just something to look out for. WI tries to collapse the pocket with size and OSU tries to speed rush you and most years are one of the better schools in the nation at doing it. If OSU is even half what they normally are, I think you will be amazed at just how fast the whole team can play. (not huddle time but play time).

They didn't commit to stopping the run. We simply stopped doing it, and went all Mike Leach.... and it blew up in our faces.

[The Dude]

Big10 - I think the biggest flaw in your reasoning is you act like every Big Ten team is as good as Wisconsin. They're clearly the best team in the conference. They're the defending champs and are even better than they were last year, with Wilson giving them a huge boost and a whole new dimension to an already lethal offensive attack. Not to mention, most of the rest of the league is down.

 

Any style of play can work as long as it's ran correctly. If this was still Osborne's option offense it would steam roll anyone in the league. Option football is one of the hardest types of offense to defend. It's also one of the hardest to run. You can't expect them to be running it to perfection 5 games in, with a bunch of inexperienced underclassmen. And the notion that it's one dimensional couldn't be further off base. Running the option properly gives you a whole other dimension to your running game. We're just not running it properly yet. Dismissing it with your only evidence being that one game is asinine.

[VectorVictor]

My point was, all you can do is run. Thats going to be a hard row to hoe in the B10, as most teams gear up to stop the run, where as in the B12 most everybody was sold on stopping the air attack.

I know you are all new to the conf and do not know what to expect and it showed in WI, but please dont feed Buckys ego by saying they are NC or top 5 team, as they are not. I suspect you will see some B10 teams give Bucky a run for the money and they may be teams that you guys hammer, thats kind of how it goes around here.

You all had/have alot on your plate this year and every week is going to be tough, it's hard to get ready for all those new teams. Anyway keep your heads up and take it week by week.

 

Thanks for the welcome, but I disagree with the "all you can do is run" comment. We've got young, talented, and hungry WRs, but we just don't have a competent QB to get the ball to them. Martinez's accuracy drops off severely after 10 or so yards, and we've known that for some time.

 

I think as soon as we get our secondary locked down, our entire defense will become better rather quickly. That, and if we figure out how to utilize our WRs more effectively, our upcoming round 2 between Bucky and Herbie will be a different and better event.

[bigg10]

For those that disagree with me, how many rush yards did you have at the first part of the 2nd Q? (low 30's) I think you were on track to avg 120 rush yards for the whole game at the rate you were going. Pass yards, was almost 3 times as much. They shut down your run game and said beat us thru the air, and lets face it option football is NOT for teams that have an air attack. Like I said look at Mich and their record last year, and I hate to tell you this but their air attack is 10 times better than yours. You will struggle alot in the B10 playing that kind of ball. Plus, and again I got hammered for saying this, but even the annousers said it during that game, option qb's take a beating, Which increases the odds of an injury.

So it was not play calling. What was called WAS what was working. That first scoring drive tmart fumble, rex fumble. I think the only reason you got a score on that drive was because Wisky coughed it back up and gave you great field position. I know none of you want to hear this, but these are the facts.

 

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/playbyplay?gameId=312740275

 

http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/playbyplay?gameId=312740275&period=2