Here is why we lost

[Hammerhead]

We lost because of two turnovers well into Wildcat territory (one of them right at the goal line) and non-existent defensive play. Play calling was in infinitesimally tiny part of why we lost today.

[Blackshirt39]

8 guys all night in the box. How do you succeed with that? T mart played a hell of a game. This was the defenses error.

 

Misdirection!

[AFhusker]

Burkhead was injured and we had no o-line. Tough to get a running game going

 

This is why I was disappointed as to why the freshmen didn't get more touches. It was obvious that Rex was hurt/worn out from the MSU game and we have burned all of the Freshman's red shirts to stand on the sideline. But the OL had a big part of it again. Which is why Barney needs to go now.

[CheeseHusker]

Absolutely no creativity on offense.

 

No diamond. No reverse. No jailbreak screen.

 

The situations were just BEGGING for these plays. Where were they?

 

Why do you go more vanilla when you are BEHIND?

[JTrain]

First half offense.

Second half defense.

Burkhead fumble.

[chamrocck]

All we heard from Beck in the offseason was how this offense was going to "Attack." His predictable running game was stuffed early and he gave up. Taylor did a great job in the passing game today, which is why we scored points. We didn't see one single misdirection running play. Counters, Traps, Reverses, Naked Boots, and HB passes. All of those would have stopped NW from over-pursuing Burkhead.

We are very easy to defend against with keying on our predicable run calls for Burkhead and TMart. I think Wisconsin said as much when they beat us. I am amazed our offense hasn't evolved especially since everyone on this board knows the formations that would help us. I find it disturbing that when I watch games, myself and other Husker fans often have no difficulty predicting our play call.

[krc1995]

the coaching staff had zero respect for opponent and decided to take the week off

[HuskerBCS]

Beck takes what the defense was giving him...which came in the passing game. Sometimes the runs not going to be there. And you have to be able to pass, which he called, and which Taylor did well. I was hoping he would've called a few more passes, but I don't think it was his playcalling that did us in.

 

We lost because we coughed it up twice, dropped 5 passes and didn't execute defensively. Those are things you can blame Beck on, right...

 

This is what people around here just aren't understanding. Martinez had arguably his most effective day passing since he became qb at NU.....and we LOST. We lost because we had 5 drops???? So you're telling me in order to beat Northwestern, yes Northwestern, we must go 34/38 in the passing game (89%) and have 0 turnovers? We should be able to overcome 2 turnovers and not have to be near perfect in the passing game. We should also be able to move the ball on the ground, at will, against the 98th ranked defense in the country.

 

We shouldn't have to "take what the defense gives us" against such a pathetic team like Northwestern.

 

The defense played bad but we have known all year that they are bad. They played terrible today but only gave up 28pts. Again, our offense should be able to put up more than 28 against the 98th ranked defense out of 120 total teams.

 

We have no identity and are multiple every game which is why we suck. People who don't think we need an identity or who enjoy being multiple or agree with "taking what the defense gives us".....better get used to being very average....we are not good.

[epocSoN]

the coaching staff had zero respect for opponent and decided to take the week off

 

You literally have no idea what you are talking about. Please turn your computer off and walk away. I'm glad you could make that assessment by watching 60 minutes of football.

 

Had you been at practice, or spending the late nights that the staff and players did to prepare for NU, perhaps you wouldn't say something so foolish.

[HuskerNMO]

We lost because we didn't run it enough? I think we lost because we didn't pass it enough. It was effective all day long, yet we continued to go back to a failing power run game. I think we lost the game for the exact opposite reason that you said in the OP.

 

Go be a fan somewhere if you call for a coaches head EVERY single loss. We can't go undefeated every single year, and guess what the college football world is much different than it was 15 years ago. Teams are much more balanced now then they were back then.

 

Not to mention, NORTHWESTERN HAS A GOOD TEAM. We knew they were good all week, and if this loss surprised you than you don't know wtf you are talking about. I'm sick of these "fans" that know absolutely nothing about our program other than what the listen to on the radio and see on saturdays.

 

The University of Nebraska doesn't want you as a fan anymore, please go be a fan of Boise St, where you only have to pay attention to 1 game a year like we did 10 years ago.

 

I usually don't consider teams that are 3-5 headed into a game good teams, they lost 5 straight games at one point. Their defense gave up 38, 42, 41, 34 and 38 in their first 5 Big Ten games this year and we somehow only managed 25 points?

 

This game was lost in the first half by mistakes and an attitude across the entire team of playing passive, they never attacked Northwestern's defense until really late in the 3rd quarter and the defense just let Northwestern run the ball down the field in the 4th while playing Peso or Dime the majority of the time.

 

Here's a scary stat, not counting the final kneel down, Northwestern ran 16 plays in the 4th quarter, 15 runs and 1 pass- they ran 15 times for 71 yards, or 4.7 YPC in the 4th when everyone knew what they were going to do. The lone pass was of course the 81 YD TD pass, in that situation you have to stack the box and stop the run, yet we primarily played 4 down with 1 LB, against 5 linemen, a TE, a QB and a RB. Northwestern was able to block everyone in the box and constantly gain positive yards because of Bo's decisions not to stack the box. Add in the clock management and it was a pretty poorly coached game.

[HuskerBCS]

we continued to go back to a failing power run game.

 

I think you and I were watching different games. We had a mere 14 rushing attempts in the second half. Not sure what you are referring to about going back to the running game. We threw the ball nearly every down in the second half.

 

Not to mention, NORTHWESTERN HAS A GOOD TEAM.

 

Youre right, Northwestern is really a sweet football team. They were 1-4 in the conference going into today today and 3-5 overall. Their wins are over Boston College, Eastern Illinois, Indiana and now us....yeah....they're really good.

[HuskerBCS]

Had you been at practice, or spending the late nights that the staff and players did to prepare for NU, perhaps you wouldn't say something so foolish.

 

The players sure didn't show up or play with any passion in this game. They sure wasted their time all those late nights. You would think if they cared enough to put in extra hours that they would care enough to play with some passion. Bo Pelini teams seem to be lacking this several games a year.

[NU5XChamps]

It is plain and simple. We lost because our "D" could stop them.. You can blame the "OC" all you want, but when push came to shove, our defense couldn't make a play to stop the Northwestern Offense. That is why they were able to score the last TD. TMart played one hell of a game and we needed the "D" to show up like last week, and for some reason they weren't ready. That is on the coaches. WE LOST BECAUSE OUR COACHES WEREN'T PREPARED!!!

 

This is my first posting, but I have been on this site for a couple of years and for the most part it is very informative, however, you can't blame Beck for this loss, it is BO and Carl on this one. Plan and simple.

[I am I]

Burkhead was injured and we had no o-line. Tough to get a running game going

 

This is why I was disappointed as to why the freshmen didn't get more touches. It was obvious that Rex was hurt/worn out from the MSU game and we have burned all of the Freshman's red shirts to stand on the sideline. But the OL had a big part of it again. Which is why Barney needs to go now.

 

 

this. we pushed around MSU after basically having 2 weeks off. Burkhead had what, 38 touches?

we have young talented blood behind him against a team that ranked 98th in rush D.

 

GIVE THEM THE BALL at least 12-13 times to see what might have been. I love Rex and our new O, but today was a bit baffling why we didn't run some of our toss sweeps and misdirection diamond formation with our healthy backs.

[GBRsal]

coughed it up twice + a turnover on downs in the redzone + gave up 500 yards = derp