My Thoughts

[MichiganDad3]

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.

 

We need Sanders back.

[nuhuskeralum]

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?

We've seen this Bo's whole tenure here, we bring in these guys and throw them in as freshmen like Ciante Evans and when they don't perform like stars they sit for 2 years before they get another shot

[zoogs]

Hey, nathan. A good collection of thoughts. Tackling definitely a big problem today. Oh, say hi to your father Mace for me

 

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[Hayseed]

The defensive problems seem like a recruiting problem to me. We're starting 3rd string players. I don't even see the point in discussing the specific problems when there;s such an obvious lack of talent across the board.

[MLB 51]

They seem to have better luck on the D-line when they fire out and go forward. Not so much when they stand straight up.

[Count 'Bility]

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

 

News from a very reliable source is that Maher lost his virginity night before Southern Miss game. Take it for what it's worth.

[JTrain]

Pretty reasonable I think. Here are some of mine:

 

1. The dreaded "offensive identity" topic: I was never crazy about this complaint/idea which came up a lot under both Watson and Beck, because I always thought it was altogether too vague and probably overblown. But I have to revisit it now. We have so many plays and formations and a good deal of them are very rarely executed crisply. That speed option we ran looked embarrassing. A lot of the pre-snap motion plays look a step slow. Let's figure out what our talent is suited for and practice the hell out of that subset. It's no good having 1000 plays if you can't execute every one of them at a reasonably high level.

 

2. Playcalling, offense: Sort of ties to #1, but Beck's playcalling seemed really bizarre at times. We run a pretty good-looking drive almost entirely out of the I-formation, focusing on the short toss play to Abdullah. Then we come back the next drive and, instead of building on that, we throw a bunch of straight dropback passes out of the shotgun. This was the most obvious example, but there were several others. Also, you rarely get the feeling that Beck is trying to set up anything from play to play and drive to drive. And where are the screens? Seemed to be some really obvious situations where a screen (especially a WR screen) could have been huge when UCLA was bringing six, and instead we played right into by trying to force the ball downfield.

 

3. Playcalling, defense: I know we really have very little to work with here, but it still seems like our whole bend but don't break philosophy rarely works when you don't have playmakers on defense. We need to risk a break here and there and do something to confuse the quarterback. The UCLA QB was legit, but I felt like we were making it easy on him. Where are the fake blitzes, corner blitzes, zone blitzes, etc. Rushing four and playing base defense with the LBs four yards off the line was brutal to watch. Our pass rush was non-existant and he just made his read and delivered.

 

4. Taylor: I know everyone (myself included) was ecstatic about his performance last week, but I was never conviced he was suddenly a great passing QB. Put a little pressure in his face and he has most of the same problems he's always had, and always will. Of course, Beck did him few favors tonight and the offensive line did him even fewer, but it's still unlikely that we will see Taylor come out and beat a really good team in a close game with his passing prowress. He has improved in some aspectss but I think he's just limited in lots of others and I don't see him ever being a really good passer overall.

 

5. Defensive talent: I remember in December '09 thinking about how much all this publicity on Suh and our top-ranked defense was going to do wonders for our recruiting. Here we had a soccer player that Bo and staff turned into one of the most celebrated defensive linemen in college football history, and it was all over the media for an entire month or more. Now, three seasons later, the current starters seem to be some of the least talented that I can remember. I really don't get it. I haven't followed recruiting closely lately, so maybe we have a stable of younger guys ready to come in and save us, but right now it looks ugly. Slow and ugly.

 

And then there's the offensive line, and Barney Cotton. Probably enough's been said there already...

[True2tRA]

Great comment OP. Plus one from me. I will probably just over react so I will stop here. Great win last week, tough loss this week. Hard fought game by these players. This one's on the coaches. 'Nuff said.

[Washusker]

So when does Bo go on the hot seat?

[Blackshirtsguru]

So when does Bo go on the hot seat?

If this team plays like it did tonight...he will be on there pretty damn soon. BUT....not from the AD but from the fans.