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How do we fix this Nebraska team?


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The defensive line is our biggest personnel problem(see that pathetic pass rush of ours where he averaged about 5 seconds back there to survey the field). Lack of focus and mental toughness is our biggest problem as a team. Drops, going backwards on promising drives because of penalties, etc. All trademarks of Pelini's teams. The defensive line should have their schollies taken away. They are without a doubt the worst defensive line I have seen at Nebraska since I actually started paying attention to our games (since 1991). Never in my life have a seen a team that was so good at getting in the redzone and backing up so far that we can't even make a mother f'ing field goal(see our teams since 2008). All I can say is, we're going to miss Lavonte next year. You will be missed Lavonte.

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I don't see how we can judge our players' apparent "lack of motivation or emotion in the game" Unless you are there and physically hear them say, "Man, I really don't care about that game," you have no grounds to judge motivation or emotion.

 

What would you call it? It's a semantic argument more than anything. It appears the team lacks something, whether you call it motivation, chemistry, "swagger," whatever. Choose a different word and go with that, if it's a more apt description for you.

 

I just don't think it's fair to accredit our players as having no emotion to win a ball game. Those guys give their all out there and for us to sit in our armchairs and declare that they have no desire or passion to win the game is ridiculous.

 

We had eleven penalties, most of them procedural. One of our star players got ejected for fighting in a game we needed him to play. We missed blocks, missed tackles, made mental errors galore, and we got blown out in a game where we should have, at the very least, been competitive, if not won.

 

I don't know what you want to describe that as, or what description will make you feel better, but you cannot state with any conviction that you think this team played this game with heart, motivation, whatever. South Carolina gave us many, many chances to win this game. Instead, we gave it away.

 

You call that motivated? I don't. So what would you call it?

 

And you can say with 100% certainty that we didn't want to win this game. You have some inside information as to the psyche and the drive of the players. You apply a product on the field and claim that we didn't want to win this game. Don't think for one damn second that those kids didn't want to win this game. Don't think for one damn second that they weren't committed 100% to this game. Don't think for one damn second that just because they committed 11 penalties that it was due to their lack of heart.

 

Without fundamentals and without the discipline you have no chance to see visible shows of emotion because there is absolutely no reason for them to be shown. When we started coming back against Ohio State you saw that emotion and heart because the fundamentals and discipline were there. When we thrashed Michigan State you saw that emotion and heart because the fundamentals and the discipline were there.

 

It's not entirely fair to say these guys have no emotions because they committed penalties and this and that. The heart is there, the emotion is there. Things just went wrong fundamentally today and they have in all of our losses.

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1- It starts at the line of scrimmage. We need bigger, meaner, and faster guys on the D line. I would think that comes from recruiting and coaching. We need much better O line play. They seem to be improving but we still have a long ways to go to get back to anything remotely resembling the dominating pipeline days.

 

2- Heart. Play with some pride and heart. We did not play a complete game or more than 2 good quarters as a team in one single game this year. I don't know to what to attribute that but it would appear to be a lack of motivation or a lack of team chemistry. As much as I am tempted to blame the players for this, I think this problem is fully in Bo's court. How can a team excel in 1-2 quarters and look like a poor HS team in the other 2-3, every friggin game? I am dumbfounded by this. I know these guys work hard and don't want to lose, so what's up with all the quarters of totally pathetic play?

 

3- Up until this point I have thought Taylor is our man for QB. I don't feel that way any longer. If your offense and play calling is going to require throwing the ball, then you need a QB and WR's that can get it done. No more excuses. Poor passing and way WAY too many dropped balls. Change the offense or change the QB. It won't work with the combo we have.

 

4- In the games we got dominated, it was apparent that we did not have the athletes needed to compete. If you claim we do, then somebody sure as hell needs to figure out how to get them motivated to perform up to their capabilities. SC's D line is so many light years ahead of ours that it is pathetic. Sure we had David, Dennard, and Rex pulling their weight but we need all eleven doing their job. But I am done blaming the players. This coaching staff has to figure out how to get them to perform in games cuz there was very little of that this year. A Hail Mary at the end of the 2nd quarter? I know they have worked on how to defend that. Why didn't they? Another head-scratcher.

 

5- Our biggest adversary would appear to be ourselves. The teams that beat us earned the wins by not making as many mistakes as we did. That has some merit but it is a long ways from flat out beating us. We are the only team that beat us. That is mental, motivation, and coaching. Some of it was lack of skill but it sure looked more like lack of desire to me. I wish I had an easy answer.

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Disagree very much with the "heart is there" analysis. Teams with heart don't give up. We had heart against OSU this year. Against Wiscy, Michigan and now SC, not so much. It comes and goes, and that inconsistency is not OK.

 

Mistakes abound in this games as well. This team freezes in the spotlight badly, and has for a decade. It's becoming incredibly strange, it's spanned coaching staffs, recruiting classes, everything. Maybe they need to sacrifice a goat or something because it's getting really eerie.

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Disagree very much with the "heart is there" analysis. Teams with heart don't give up. We had heart against OSU this year. Against Wiscy, Michigan and now SC, not so much. It comes and goes, and that inconsistency is not OK.

 

Disagree with me all you want, but its a complete difference in opinion. Nothing you say is going to change my mind, nothing I say is going to change your mind. Let bygones be bygones I guess.

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Disagree very much with the "heart is there" analysis. Teams with heart don't give up. We had heart against OSU this year. Against Wiscy, Michigan and now SC, not so much. It comes and goes, and that inconsistency is not OK.

 

Disagree with me all you want, but its a complete difference in opinion. Nothing you say is going to change my mind, nothing I say is going to change your mind. Let bygones be bygones I guess.

:snacks:

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Disagree very much with the "heart is there" analysis. Teams with heart don't give up. We had heart against OSU this year. Against Wiscy, Michigan and now SC, not so much. It comes and goes, and that inconsistency is not OK.

 

I've been saying that all along about this team. In the Bob D and Tom O eras, our teams may have been soundly beaten at times, but they never rolled over or lost their heart. How do you get that back into a program again? We can find all the faults in the x's and o's, but if your team doesn't have a heart, it can never be a champion.

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Hire qualified coordinators who have the first clue what they're doing. Pay for quality assistants with proven track records.

 

Oh...oh wait, no, that's right. Who needs to do that? We've got all the talent we need right here at home.

 

Glad you said it. I'm not a fan and should follow some other team and don't know what I'm talking about if I would've.

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Disagree very much with the "heart is there" analysis. Teams with heart don't give up. We had heart against OSU this year. Against Wiscy, Michigan and now SC, not so much. It comes and goes, and that inconsistency is not OK.

 

Disagree with me all you want, but its a complete difference in opinion. Nothing you say is going to change my mind, nothing I say is going to change your mind. Let bygones be bygones I guess.

:snacks:

 

I know, I don't think I've ever had a disagreement with knapp. New Year I guess.

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Disagree very much with the "heart is there" analysis. Teams with heart don't give up. We had heart against OSU this year. Against Wiscy, Michigan and now SC, not so much. It comes and goes, and that inconsistency is not OK.

 

Disagree with me all you want, but its a complete difference in opinion. Nothing you say is going to change my mind, nothing I say is going to change your mind. Let bygones be bygones I guess.

:snacks:

 

I know, I don't think I've ever had a disagreement with knapp. New Year I guess.

It's just nice to see someone else do it for once.

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Hire qualified coordinators who have the first clue what they're doing. Pay for quality assistants with proven track records.

 

Oh...oh wait, no, that's right. Who needs to do that? We've got all the talent we need right here at home.

 

Glad you said it. I'm not a fan and should follow some other team and don't know what I'm talking about if I would've.

 

How do you think those proven assistants got their credentials...? Someone gave them a shot to prove themselves. I agree that some may need to be re-evaluated, but lets give Beck and Pap a chance...damn.

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