Bad, stupid or scheme

[lo country]

Like most I have calmed down (a little) from the debacle that was Saturday night. I did some thinking. Are we simply, bad, stupid or are schemes at fault.

 

Initially I really started to buy into the whole "Hard to recruit at NU", but then I looked at the most recent top 20

USA Today Poll RK TEAM RECORD PTS 1 Alabama (58) 5-0 1474 2 Oregon (1) 6-0 1411 3 South Carolina 6-0 1345 4 West Virginia 5-0 1296 5 Kansas State 5-0 1216 6 Florida 5-0 1165 7 Notre Dame 5-0 1152 8 LSU 5-1 961 9 USC 4-1 940 10 Oklahoma 3-1 872 11 Florida State 5-1 819 12 Georgia 5-1 761 13 Clemson 5-1 759 14 Oregon State 4-0 691 15 Texas 4-1 663 16 Louisville 5-0 628 17 Stanford 4-1 577 18 Mississippi State 5-0 558 19 Rutgers 5-0 410 20 Cincinnati 4-0 365 21 Texas A&M 4-1 208 22 Boise State 4-1 197 23 TCU 4-1 194 24 Louisiana Tech 5-0 131 25 Iowa State 4-1 73

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The schools highlighted in RED do not exactly strike me a destination hot spots or programs with a storied history or even nationally recognized programs or facilities. I figure that it can't be we are bad as our talent and recruits should easily be on par with those listed above in red. Our O is putting up a crazy amount of points per game. Generally we have scored enough to win every game we have played. I figure elite programs do not give up 60+ points EVER, but then I looked at WVU against Baylor and UT. SC hanging 30+ on UGA and UGA only getting 7 IIRC. So comparatively speaking, we are not bad. Even on D I think we are 49th overall D so far this year.

 

We make an incredible amount of penalties. Another poster showed that we are basically a bottom feeder when it comes to discipline. Against lesser opponents it doesn't hurt as bad, but against BCS or ranked foes, it is a death sentence. Some from the stupid, I will say we are as it relates to discipline and mistakes.

 

Bo was heralded as a Defensive guru when he was brought here. With his time so far, that reputation has slipped. Having SUH, Haag, Gomes, Prince, Dennard, David etc has helped and now their absence makes the scheme look bad unless we have a 1st rd pick somewhere on the field. This year we do not IMO. No can can "stop" a mobile QB, but majority of teams have schemed to "slow" them. I think in Bo's tenure he has shown the inability to scheme properly. As another poster stated ref the O and D not being on the same page again goes to scheme. D needs a breather and Beck decides to go big or go home and call plays that result in either a quick score or a quick 3 and out. Again scheme. Same with playing slower guys across the board because they "know the scheme". IRCC, Bo's scheme is predicated on every person knowing their position and responsibilities and that of every other player on the D. If one person misses a shift, motion or signal then the entire D falls apart. One person "fails" the whole team suffers. Again, scheme. Reading about Bellicheck bringing in "smaller and quicker D lineman against Denver to get to Peyton. Again he changed the scheme to win.

 

IMO, it is not talent. We easily have talent to compete with 75-80% of the teams in the top 25 above. We make mistakes that kill us and that hurts, BUT the biggest issue I see is the scheme on both sides of the ball. beck calls plays that work and then stops or calls plays that do not go to the strength of the guys we have on the field. Same with D, we continue to play a 2 gap without the horses or the speed to do it. We do not blitz or apply pressure when needed and choose guys who "know" the complex system over perceived play makers.

 

Bo is at a cross roads. I really think that a simplification of schemes would pay huge dividends immediately. IIRC, we supposedly went to a 1 gap against Wisky and it worked. Get the athletes on the field. Go with speed over size and athleticism over knowledge. Go to a more simplified gap style over the 2 gap. All during the off season I heard about this new "attacking D" and have yet to see it.

 

Bo and Co are not "bad coaches", they are bad managers. They need to change the schemes to get the guys in a position to play and get the athletes on the field.

[AFhusker]

Can you vote for all 3?

[dergibog]

D Line just stood there and pushed against their O Line. No swim moves, no stunts, just contain the mobile quarterback while he picks the secondary apart. We saw the same thing in Bo's earlier years against Tyrod Taylor and Va Tech. What happened to the first quarter D?

[airboose]

To me, it's not the players. I happen to think we have some decent talent on defense. I believe it's all scheme. It's the wrong template for this team. NU is not capable of playing a 2-gap system against solid teams. NU gets away with it against the creampuffs and that tends to validate the successfulness of it in the eyes of Pelini.

 

It takes a monster on the D-Line (which we lack) to make the 2-gap work. In the absence of a dominant D-Line you have to come up with a different plan. Play a 4-3 but blitz frequently with a fifth guy or mix in some 3-4 occasionally. But don't continue to use something that obviously is not tailored to this team and expect different results.

[gratefullred]

I think its talent. Poor recruiting classes in year 1 and 2 for Bo are playing now as juniors and seniors. Steinkuler can be a good player, and will probably be drafted to play DE next level, but to be a DT he needs to get to 290 and cant seem to get over 280.

 

Merideth enough said.

 

Compton is a run stuffer, and could blitz more. He is also a liability in pass D. I don't think he can make an NFL roster.

 

David is a fun player to watch, but his only skill is coming off the edge.

 

Fischer hasn't been playing consistently. he looks OK, always wonder if he recovered from that leg injury.

 

Whaley, enough said.

 

The rest of the guys are young. They could still develop, but arent quite ready to be counted on.

[lo country]

I think its talent. Poor recruiting classes in year 1 and 2 for Bo are playing now as juniors and seniors. Steinkuler can be a good player, and will probably be drafted to play DE next level, but to be a DT he needs to get to 290 and cant seem to get over 280.

 

Merideth enough said.

 

Compton is a run stuffer, and could blitz more. He is also a liability in pass D. I don't think he can make an NFL roster.

 

David is a fun player to watch, but his only skill is coming off the edge.

 

Fischer hasn't been playing consistently. he looks OK, always wonder if he recovered from that leg injury.

 

Whaley, enough said.

 

The rest of the guys are young. They could still develop, but arent quite ready to be counted on.

I think talent is an easy area to "see", but doesn't always tell the whole story. Did they just not pan out? Did the staff fail to develop them? I look at some of the teams in the top 25 and can't believe they have better talent and recruiting classes than we do. If that is the case, we are doomed.

[HuskerT]

Slow would be the word I would add. Bad, stupid, slow or scheme. I'd vote for slow and scheme. The defensive scheme seems to be a problem because apparently its so hard to learn that we're forced to play the players who can learn the system rather than the best athletes.

[BigRedBuster]

I personally think it is scheme. Players look slow if they are out of position to make a play. Against UCLA, we had players in position to make a play and they simply wiffed on tackles. This game it appears to me that we simply didn't have anyone in the area code of Miller when he was running.

 

That is scheme not physical speed. There are teams that have the same or slower speed than what we have on defense and they are are not getting 63 points put on them by OSU.

 

Something is fundamentally wrong with our defense. UCLA found it and OSU built upon it.

 

Bo has got to get it figured out because other teams are going to watch film and scheme the same way.

 

Honestly, I can not believe Bo defenses are the way they are right now.

[Joe_5700]

I think in 2008, Bo was exactly what this program needed. He was able to bring our football program back to respectability. What Bo has not figured out is how to get the program to the next level. We have come so close with near Big12 championships with a close loss to Texas and letting a big lead slip against Oklahoma. I think the promotion of JP is costing us in the now. The decision however may pay dividends in the future. The players and coaches need to find a way to stop the stupid, silly mistakes that let games get out of hand. The turning point in the OSU game was where we settled for a field goal instead of going up 21-7. That was huge and I think when the team only came away leading 17-7, it was a defeat. OSU quickly scored and made it 17-14. The coaching staff needs to find out how to fix this problem. I don't think a wholesale change in coaching staff is going to imporve matters at all. It will actually make things worse. We have the players and at times the scheme to win. We just lack the attitude and execution when things get a little tough.

[Ringer02]

I think in 2008, Bo was exactly what this program needed. He was able to bring our football program back to respectability. What Bo has not figured out is how to get the program to the next level. We have come so close with near Big12 championships with a close loss to Texas and letting a big lead slip against Oklahoma. I think the promotion of JP is costing us in the now. The decision however may pay dividends in the future. The players and coaches need to find a way to stop the stupid, silly mistakes that let games get out of hand. The turning point in the OSU game was where we settled for a field goal instead of going up 21-7. That was huge and I think when the team only came away leading 17-7, it was a defeat. OSU quickly scored and made it 17-14. The coaching staff needs to find out how to fix this problem. I don't think a wholesale change in coaching staff is going to imporve matters at all. It will actually make things worse. We have the players and at times the scheme to win. We just lack the attitude and execution when things get a little tough.

 

The turning point was when we responded to the 17-14 score with a turnover that led to more points. Kicking the field goal was the correct call, I can't imagine what the backlash would have been like here had we gone for it and failed...

[True2tRA]

My vote right now has to be that the scheme needs changed. Bo kind of put a giant foot in his mouth with the comments he made after the Wisconsin game. I tend to remind people that although I like Bo as a Head Coach, he has never sold me on his scheme being so "fantastic". Any scheme looks fantastic with guys like Glenn Dorsey and Ndamukong Suh playing on your defensive line. In my opinion it's been more so proven that the scheme does not work. The question is, does Bo have the intellect and the guts it takes to change the scheme he has sworn by for so long? I believe it's definitely time for an entire overhaul of how he approaches the college game. This is not the NFL.

 

As far as the lack of talent idea, I don't buy it. I think we have plenty of talent. If there is lack of talent though, I always use Nick Saban as a great example of a true genius when it comes to scheme. One of the greatest assets a coach can possess is the ability to understand the talent you have, and use that talent effectively. To understand the strengths and weaknesses of each individual player and fit them to your scheme according to those strengths and weaknesses. I add that Saban doesn't do anything very complicating either. They have a 2 deep roster that can come in and play anytime needed. Very simple scheme on both sides of the ball. Great coaches go anywhere and have success. It baffles me how in Bo's 4th and 5th year, he is having some of the absolute worst looking performances in his career. If it comes down to recruiting, unfortunately this once again falls on his shoulders. Stop trying to force a square peg into a round hole. Ask your players only to execute what you believe their ability allows them to execute.

 

[strigori]

I think its the coaches. I honestly think if we had a better staff we would be 6-0 right now. Just imagine a couple of things. If Snyder and Pelini switched places, I can see each coach being ranked where they are now, but the teams swapped. Same with a number of other coaches, who quite frankly are doing more with less (Paul Rhodes for example)

[Count 'Bility]

Nick Sabans defense makes an NFL system look easy. At least that's according to player that have played for him. Tho he does have incredible talent at his disposal, so complex or not, they probably cover up a lot of outpositioning.