My Thoughts

[nathanwindu]

First off, congrats to UCLA, I think many of us thought this was going to be a relatively easy win. They simply outplayed us, no ifs, ands, or buts.

 

Now, moving on to Nebraska. The 1st half offense was looking like the one we saw against Southern Miss, then UCLA made adjustments, and we didn't. We abandoned the run and became very one dimensional, with a QB that, even though he's improved his mechanics, is still not the best option to simply throw it around. Going away from Abdullah wasn't the right move, in my opinion, but with how the O-Line started to play (very 2011-esque), maybe it was the right decision. Hit and miss game for Beck.

 

The Defense played very undisciplined. FINISH YOUR TACKLES!!! There were no adjustments made, I can't believe how many times we saw UCLA use that wheel route/hook screen, and it worked EVERY SINGLE TIME! There were too many blown coverages, the D-Line didn't get any push, and the LB's kept missing tackles. a poor performance all around for everybody.

 

Special Teams was up and down. I think Maher's confidence is shaken this season, he almost got it back with the 54 yarder, but then missing another simple 35+ yarder later just crushed it again. The coverage was better this game, that's for sure.

 

I also think there was a lack of effort and heart from the players. That shouldn't be the case, there were arguably more Husker fans than Bruin fans in the stadium, and this was as good as any road game to come out fiery and inspired. And I think the team fell flat in that area. Some players showed a lot of heart, especially Compton. But even with all the effort in the world, the fundamentally unsound play on both sides of the ball will get you beat.

 

So while I think the players are lacking in talent (can we please just get some speed on the defense?), I think a lot of this comes down to coaching. All these fundamentals problems can be fixed with proper coaching. I'm starting to have serious doubts about this staff...with the amount of talent we've pulled in with the last couple recruiting classes, sometimes it feels like 4-star talent with 2-star coaching.

 

I'm willing to chalk this game up as an aberration, move on, and come out strong the rest of the season. But 2 games in, the defense has serious questions, the D-Line specifically, the Offense is on and off, and the Special Teams are struggling. If this doesn't improve, I think some of these coaches that have questionable resumes that Bo hired for familiarity reasons need to be evaluated. Papuchis is a great recruiter (and from the looks of it, a good special teams coach), but when he took over the whole D-Line last season, the level of play dropped off. I have little faith in Els so far, Kaczenski seems to have changed nothing, Cotton/Garrison are still inconsistent, though getting better, etc. I'm not putting it all on the coaches, obviously the players have to make the plays, but it's quite obvious to me that the coaching is not top-notch, and I'm sorry, but I refuse to accept consistent 9-4 seasons, because I know we can be better than that. I thank Bo Pelini for bringing us out of the black hole known as Callahan/Cosgrove, but if we can't get it together, it might be time to find somebody that can take us that next step.

 

Just my .02

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

I'll agree with this.

[Chumpy34]

I'll agree with this.

 

I agree too, well said. But if we can all see that they should go back to the run in the 2nd half with Martinez struggling and the o-line breaking down, why doesn't the coaching staff? That last drive was all penalties, we barely moved the ball...

[MichiganDad3]

NU was beaten soundly on both lines. This is cause for major concern. Beck panics and relies on drop back passing with no play action. My alcohol bill will be high this year.

[MichiganDad3]

Does NU have any interceptions this year? What did Bo do differently in 2003? I hate bend but don't break.

[lo country]

Does NU have any interceptions this year? What did Bo do differently in 2003? I hate bend but don't break.

Super D, the Bullocks, attacking secondary. Need to go back to the Peso and bring up SJB as the Super D stand up hybrid LB/DE. Kid plays with heart and is a beast. And Marvin Sanders. (serious drop off when he left)

[Goal-line]

I also think there was a lack of effort and heart from the players.

 

There was a thread here recently where a number of folks who posted in that thread said that passion, intensity, determination and emotional play were over rated and had nothing to do with winning. Ask yourselves that now!

[MLB 51]

I think the problem with Maher was more on the holder than on him. I do agree with the rest of your post though.

[HuskerShark]

Does NU have any interceptions this year? What did Bo do differently in 2003? I hate bend but don't break.

Super D, the Bullocks, attacking secondary. Need to go back to the Peso and bring up SJB as the Super D stand up hybrid LB/DE. Kid plays with heart and is a beast. And Marvin Sanders. (serious drop off when he left)

 

I hope you're kidding. I mean, the secondary played SO well last year.

 

In coverage, the secondary is fine. Not good, not great. Just fine. The biggest problem is TACKLING! Coaching issue. Absolutely 100% coaching issue. Go back to 1s-on-1s in practice and HIT each other like they're your biggest rival. Absolutely inexcusable football by the Huskers tonight.

[Nobody]

The problem is that I think Bo thinks that he has "the process" down and its all about the "the process." They may be all about the process, but it's not the right process. I honestly think that.

[IllinoisHuskerFan]

here is the scary version....we start 5 seniors in the front 7! how are we suppose to expect this defense to be better in the future when players within the system for their entire college football career get embarrased by an Oline full of freshman! get rid of the 2 gap! and you wonder why its so hard to recruit 4-5 star defensive players...

[lo country]

Does NU have any interceptions this year? What did Bo do differently in 2003? I hate bend but don't break.

Super D, the Bullocks, attacking secondary. Need to go back to the Peso and bring up SJB as the Super D stand up hybrid LB/DE. Kid plays with heart and is a beast. And Marvin Sanders. (serious drop off when he left)

 

I hope you're kidding. I mean, the secondary played SO well last year.

 

In coverage, the secondary is fine. Not good, not great. Just fine. The biggest problem is TACKLING! Coaching issue. Absolutely 100% coaching issue. Go back to 1s-on-1s in practice and HIT each other like they're your biggest rival. Absolutely inexcusable football by the Huskers tonight.

 

Answering the question about 2003. Led the nation with 29 INT's IIRC. The secondary was balls out that year. Sanders wasn't here last year. We had Raymond. Sanders last year was 2010 and IIRC we were like #3 in pass defense efficiency. Yea, last year and this we are lacking.

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

I think the problem with Maher was more on the holder than on him. I do agree with the rest of your post though.

Disagree. Henery never had problems. Something is going on with Maher and he needs to figure this out. He improved, yes, but his mojo is messed up right now for some reason.

[NebraskaHarry]

Josh Mitchell, the smallest guy on the field, was our best defender!

[MichiganDad3]

here is the scary version....we start 5 seniors in the front 7! how are we suppose to expect this defense to be better in the future when players within the system for their entire college football career get embarrased by an Oline full of freshman! get rid of the 2 gap! and you wonder why its so hard to recruit 4-5 star defensive players...

 

That may be the problem. Better talent on the bench. If its not the problem NU is in for a tough few years. By the way, where are the juniors & sophomores? Why are the backups freshmen?