What Did We Learn: BYU Edition

[Hammerhead]

I haven't seen a "What Did We Learn" thread yet, and that's one of the things I really liked from last year, so I'll start one. Mods, if I missed the WDWL thread or one of you was planning on starting one, feel free to move my post. Anyway, here's what I learned:

 

In a lot of ways, we looked eerily similar to how we looked the last few years. When we play well, we play really well. When we don't, the wheels fall off.

 

That said, I felt like we actually made adjustments when we needed to in this game. For the most part, we looked like a different, and much better, team in the 2nd half.

 

There is a lot of young talent on this team. Dedrick Young and Aaron Williams played well. Young seemed to make a play everytime he got close to the ball and Williams made some key tackles. Mikale Wilbon reminded me a lot of a young Ameer Abdullah with his patience and shiftiness. Stanley Morgan didn't get called on a lot, but I did see good things from him when he did.

 

Tommy Armstrong is definitely not the pro-style QB we're looking for. He was solid in the first drive, made a few other nice throws, and made some really nice plays running the ball, but he still tries too hard to force the big play when it isn't there, and still has form/accuracy issues. I was optimistic after the first drive, but felt like overall he didn't look improved from last year. He's the most experienced QB on the roster and the undisputed leader, so I think instead of trying to run a pro style offense, we need to work with what Armstrong gives us. We saw in the second half that we can still move the ball doing that.

 

I have zero confidence in Drew Brown. Sorry to say it, but if we want a reliable field goal kicker, we're going to have to look elsewhere.

 

All in all, I have mixed feelings. On one hand, BYU was a very difficult opponent for the first game of the Mike Riley era, and very few people expected a blowout victory for the Huskers. There are worse things than losing by one point from a last-second Hail Mary play. Still though, it sucks losing the first game of the Mike Riley era, especially knowing that it's the first home opener loss in 29 years. There's still so much that this team needs to improve on, and I kept saying that with cautious optimism after almost every tough game of the Pelini era but never saw that improvement, so I'm hoping that Riley can do what Pelini couldn't with this team, but I'm not ready to drink the Kool-Aid again just yet.

[hskrpwr13]

Good:

Tommy Armstrong

Mikale Wilbon

Pass catchers

No quit

Much better tackling

 

Not good enough:

Both O and D lines

#23

FG kicking

Vanilla schemes on both sides of ball

'3rd and short' play calling

[onlyHskrfaninIL]

Iactually like the screenplays. We left probably 75 yards of offense out there on incomplete scrren passes which is reaaly unacceptable.

[onlyHskrfaninIL]

The o line is what I expected....not very good. But bo left the cupboard pretty bare. Oh and reeves cant snap the ball worth crap.

[Street Novelist]

field goal kicking...oh my...how I miss Henery

[onlyHskrfaninIL]

Yeah drew brown appears to be a bust....not even close

[The Dude]

Keith Williams should get a Congressional Medal of Honor for teaching Alonzo Moore how to catch a football.

 

Is there a better award than that? Nobel Prize? Kids Choice Award? Give them all to him.

[Whistlebritches]

Bad:

still WAY too many penalties.

Oline, but they should get better over the year

Prevent defense

 

Good:

They didn't come out from halftime after a really bad 2nd quarter and get steamrolled

Some of the freshman are going to be really good

[TITANIC VS LUSITANIA]

I learned that coach williams is the real deal.

Learned that the DL is not as good as advertised.

Learned that we don't like to run the ball up the middle, which is concerning.

Learned that for the defence being so "high school easy", well it sure looked like high school. I mean, we don't have a solution for the short and intermediate passing game?

On the other hand, the run D looked good.

[ladyhawke]

Good

They didn't quit when the going got tough

We were not an embarrassment on national tv because our coach was caught yelling at the players and/or officials. (Nice sense of calm and it rubbed off on the players too)

Wilbon was fun to watch. Hope to see more of him

 

Not So Good

Defense needs to be able to put more pressure on the qb

3rd downs! We should be able to move the ball and get those first downs. (Why we didn't put Imani in and let him crash through is beyond me!)

RUN THE BALL!

[gbr93]

Good:

Tommy Armstrong

Mikale Wilbon

Pass catchers

No quit

Much better tackling

 

Not good enough:

Both O and D lines

#23

FG kicking

Vanilla schemes on both sides of ball

'3rd and short' play calling

I don't get people's bashing of Daniel Davie. I thought he played a good games sans one play maybe two. Did I miss more or what?

[onlyHskrfaninIL]

The firsf 3rd and 1 in the 4th where tommy ran the sneak was a terrible spot and should have been challenged

[onlyHskrfaninIL]

 

Good:

Tommy Armstrong

Mikale Wilbon

Pass catchers

No quit

Much better tackling

 

Not good enough:

Both O and D lines

#23

FG kicking

Vanilla schemes on both sides of ball

'3rd and short' play calling

I don't get people's bashing of Daniel Davie. I thought he played a good games sans one play maybe two. Did I miss more or what?

Davie is a good example of an above average player that just plays to his ability every game. He isnt going to be great because isnt great. I have a hard time critisizing him.

[husker_fan_from_sweden]

The injury bug unfortunately has hit the team early and often

 

Josh Kalu(a) is playing lights out.

[CheeseHusker]

Losing an opener is a weird, weird feeling..... a lot of us haven't felt it or were too young to really remember it clearly.