robsker Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 I just think it sucks that severa peoplel are ready to not only give up on our coaches but the season as well. Maybe Bo isnt the perfect coach whether you dont like his demeanor or his schemes. But he is our coach right now. Yes the UCLA loss stung, as well as the growing pains on defense. But Im willing to bet the team doesnt give up on this staff or the season. Whether we finish with 9 or 12 wins Im predicting we need to spread some optimism whether you believe in it or not. Dwelling on our poor showings will do nothing but crush the spirit of any young Husker who happens to read our criticism of the unit. Win lose or draw Im choosing to be optimistic for the good of the season. Go big red. Very good points. You are correct. I would imagine a huge subset of the players view posts here and the other site as well. Guys like me who are really critical of the coaches and the outlook... well we probably do not help much. None of us should bash players personally. But you are right, some optimism would be nice. Quote Link to comment
Shockley03 Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 I'll mention the defense. Actually, I really liked what I saw in the South Dakota St. game especially with the play of the 6-5 Randy Gregory. Coach Pelini's defense uses a lot of speed and quickness---but the guys are real young as evidenced in the shellacking they took in the 2nd half against UCLA (9/14). They are athletes though. They got flagged with some penalties at crucial moments in the UCLA game, but I see that as maybe being more of an aberration. Randy Gregory is going to be a star. I'll comment on the defense. I say they'll be fine. They've had a tough beginning, but I'm sure they'll be fine. Again, I really like the swagger I see in Randy Gregory. I hope he records a few more pic 6's this season! 1 Quote Link to comment
It'sNotAFakeID Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Good post BBB12. +1 While yes, part of it is a mentality thing, another part I think is an Xs & Os thing. At least an inability to consistently adjust in-game. Once the game plan ceases to work, it's almost as if there's no contingency plan many times. Which does nothing to help player mentality. It's like when they score against us, and we can't answer back on offense, our defense is a little more timid their next time out. They get scored on again, they are even more timid. A while ago (about 3 weeks or so), knapp and I got into a big argument about how the defense doesn't influence the offense and the offense doesn't influence the defense. I'd like to bring that argument back to the forefront. Taking a look back on those blowouts, when we started surrendering unanswered points, our offense didn't hardly do anything to get the momentum back. We couldn't get a field goal, heck most of the time we could hardly move the ball. That has to frustrate the defense. Anytime our offense did respond, the defense responded accordingly. This is partly why we get such inspired performances (1st half against UCLA or any one of our comebacks). But it is also why we get such devastating performances (Ohio State, 2nd half against UCLA). The team right now, is not mentally tough when things aren't going their way. So either we have to ensure that things never don't go our way, or we need to get them more mentally tough when the chips are down. Quote Link to comment
The Dude Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Obviously when a team gives up X number of unanswered points, the offense has pretty much everything to do with the unanswered part. That's literally what that means. Quote Link to comment
It'sNotAFakeID Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Obviously when a team gives up X number of unanswered points, the offense has pretty much everything to do with the unanswered part. That's literally what that means. My bad, I forgot to clarify what I meant by that. Our offense, not only didn't answer the score, they didn't even put up a response. Rarely did we have an offensive drive after an opponent score where we took it a good way down the field, but stalled out outside of field goal range. More often than not, we went three and out or turned it over. That's what I meant by not helping the defense out at all. Where we are in terms of talent and experience on offense, and unproven talent and inexperience on defense, it's imperative that the offense does it's job by staying on the field. They don't have to necessarily score, they just have to give the ball back to the other team in a position where they have to go a long way to score again. Quote Link to comment
True2tRA Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 Words... The blowouts, they are incredibly frustrating. We'd all be more content going 9-3 if the 3 losses were by a combined 10 points to respectable teams (Georgia, Wisconsin, Michigan, etc...) But that hasn't been the case. We got blown out by Wisconsin by 39 points. We got blown out in Ann Arbor by the tune of 28 points. Those suck, and they hurt. And it makes us very prone to just ignoring the really important numbers and facts about those games. But there's a common trait shared by all the games in which we have been embarrassed. Take a look: 2011 Wisconsin: Nebraska eventually lost by 31 points, but held the lead against Wisconsin 14-7 in the 2nd quarter before surrendering 35 straight points. 2011 Michigan: Nebraska started 10 points down, rallied to tie the game in the 2nd quarter before surrendering 21 unanswered points eventually losing 45-17. 2011 South Carolina: Nebraska leads 13-9 nearing the end of the half before again surrendering 21 unanswered points in the eventual 30-13 loss. 2012 Ohio State: Nebraska held a 17-7 lead into the 2nd quarter before begin outscored 28-7 to trail at half 35-24. The Huskers got the game to 31-35 before surrendering another 21 unanswered points in the 63-38 loss. 2013 UCLA: The Huskers lead 21-3 halfway through the 2nd quarter before surrendering 38 unanswered points in a 41-21 loss. In every Pelini blowout (sans Wisconsin Big Ten Championship Game), we have been tied or holding the lead before losing it badly. That doesn't necessarily point to a talent or depth issue. If that was the case, we would've been blown out from the start. That speaks to a mentality issue. Which makes it all the more frustrating. Mentality should be the easiest thing to change, yet we still struggle. Bo has always been an excellent Xs and Os guy. But he needs to start becoming a coach who can constantly keep his players fired up and motivated to fight back when the going gets tough. To expand. These moments where the game starts getting away from us, I'm more than willing to bet most of them start going downhill after a turnover by the offense on a key drive. Its very deflating for a defense. Especially in a hard fought close game. Though Taylor is not always responsible for these crucial turnovers, he has been reonsible for some. This also plays into the same type of explanation of the effect of blowout losses. The timing of these turnovers, and not so much the number of them, seems to cloud over all the positives you can take from things. Much like the timing of the losses and how they occur. Sometimes, timing is everything. Quote Link to comment
skersfan Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 When you are getting your teeth kicked in like our defense, the longer the O is on the field gives them the breather they need and possibly (questioning here) could receive changes to plan and coaching of what is happening and going wrong. Have yet to see that from this staff, but we can always hope. It seems it happens almost instantly and has no change until half time or in the second half and no adjustments are made. The O is at fault for not holding on to the ball, moving the chains at least. The defense needs the breather normally and some how get the look of disbelief and lost off their faces. Would help if the staff did not have the same look though. Quote Link to comment
Shockley03 Posted September 30, 2013 Share Posted September 30, 2013 It's been a tough month of September for our Huskers. I think the tension is due to what is going on at the present. Maybe 2013 is somewhat similar to 2010 because of Taylor Martinez' turf toe injury and whatnot. Quote Link to comment
Whistlebritches Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Obviously when a team gives up X number of unanswered points, the offense has pretty much everything to do with the unanswered part. That's literally what that means. My bad, I forgot to clarify what I meant by that. Our offense, not only didn't answer the score, they didn't even put up a response. Rarely did we have an offensive drive after an opponent score where we took it a good way down the field, but stalled out outside of field goal range. More often than not, we went three and out or turned it over. That's what I meant by not helping the defense out at all. Where we are in terms of talent and experience on offense, and unproven talent and inexperience on defense, it's imperative that the offense does it's job by staying on the field. They don't have to necessarily score, they just have to give the ball back to the other team in a position where they have to go a long way to score again. Well said. I think most of us saw the avalanche coming in the UCLA game and the offense did nothing to slow it down. The offense has got go out and move the ball, even if they don't score, and give the defense a chance to catch their breath and let the coaches see what's happening. It's a perfect example of momentum in regards to a football game. This is an area that our offense, and Taylor in particular, is really poor at. 1 Quote Link to comment
junior4949 Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 How in Hades can we possibly lose 4-5 games and still make the B1G Championship? Why are some predicting this? I have no doubt that Ohio State would mop the floor with us. I'd even say Wisconsin would mop the floor with us. However, we don't play either one. If we lose two more games, I don't see any way we make the B1G Championship game. I'm not worried what Ohio State or Wisconsin would do to us because I don't think we'll play either one. Michigan and Northwestern are the two that concern me. Quote Link to comment
Haspula Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 We're 3-1. SEASON'S OVER, EVERYONE, PACK IT UP, NO CHANCE NEBRASKA CAN WIN 7 MORE GAMES, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE WHAT A SHAME. Which one of those wins were against a decent opponent? 1 Quote Link to comment
Redux Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Michigan no longer scares me as a team. Playing in Ann Arbor however terrifies me. Northwestern is not the world beater they are made out to be but theyll play like it against us. Northwestern is turning into a real rival already. Both of these are winnable games if we focus and give it 110%. PSU will be rough but Id be willing to say depth can win that game for us. MSU could be interesting but we should be able to outscore their talented D just enough to win and its in Lincoln where they dont tend to play well. If we can win this weeks potential shootout Ill be happy. Iowa Minnesota and Purdue are all wins. Again I think we can get over the 4 loss hump. Were not the only team with problems. Look how beat up some of the teams we face could be when we play them. Quote Link to comment
Mavric Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 We're 3-1. SEASON'S OVER, EVERYONE, PACK IT UP, NO CHANCE NEBRASKA CAN WIN 7 MORE GAMES, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE WHAT A SHAME. Which one of those wins were against a decent opponent? Which one of those losses was against a terrible opponent? 1 Quote Link to comment
kchusker_chris Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 We're 3-1. SEASON'S OVER, EVERYONE, PACK IT UP, NO CHANCE NEBRASKA CAN WIN 7 MORE GAMES, IT'S IMPOSSIBLE WHAT A SHAME. Which one of those wins were against a decent opponent? Which one of those losses was against a terrible opponent? how many terrible opponents are left on the schedule? Quote Link to comment
Redux Posted October 1, 2013 Share Posted October 1, 2013 Even if it isnt pretty, out of NW, UM and PSU we should only lose 1. Two if dont focus. Finish 10-2 or 9-3. Depending on the finish we get an SEC Bowl and lose or a Big 12 Bowl and win. Either way we only lose 3 total games. #Progress # BoLieve...Again Quote Link to comment
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