49

[Enhance]

49.

 

The number of passes Tommy Armstrong Jr. through against Northwestern. 24 - the number he completed.

 

The result is 25 plays that meant nothing.

 

And this is all from a team that was only down by 9 points at worst.

 

Andy Janovich, a staple of this team's rushing attack, had two carries for four yards. Devine Ozigbo was nowhere to be seen. Imani Cross made a resurgence after weeks of doing nothing.

 

Nebraska is not this bad, but these coaching decisions are why Nebraska is 3-5 and on the verge of not going to a bowl game for the 2nd time in less than 10 years. There is no common vision or goal. There is no rhythm. There is nothing about this team that says 'we know what we want to do and we're going to go do it.'

 

I have refrained this whole season from starting my own thread to discuss these problems. But, today, it's painfully obvious that Nebraska's coaching staff is not working to put their players in a position to win and this apparently is not going to get better until their own players are here, if they're given that time. Because right now this team is not built to play the way the coaches want them to play, and the result is devastating losses that look terrible and keep our program down.

 

49.

 

Tommy Armstrong is not as bad as he is being made out to be. He is not as bad as his stats suggest.

 

This is 100% on the coaches and their inability to do what's best for this team. I don't want to hear about 'no running lanes' or an inability to run when Jano gets 2 carries. 2 carries. That tells me there's no dedication to the run game.

 

49.

 

Unbelievable.

[Red Five]

2.16

 

Nebraska's yards per carry.

[huskerfan92]

"We're going to use play action to set up the pass"-Mike Riley. Yep, it's like they took what they saw against Minnesota and said "never again". They are not playing winning football

[brophog]

 

 

Start simple: what play is executed well. Ignore what category it goes in on the box score.

 

Here's what I see....bad snaps, improper timing on motion, improper timing on running back screens, pulling guards not hitting the edge....

 

Just simple examples, and too many to name. The question should be about execution, not pointless categorization. It misses the point. What you do isn't as important as doing what you do well.

 

So what actual play do we execute the best? Whenever you're struggling, it goes back to fundamentals.

[huskerfan92]

2.16

 

Nebraska's yards per carry.

 

Wisconsin was struggling to run the ball against us, then was able to wear us out in the 4th quarter. All it takes is a couple of big runs to boost that average. Also we kept calling runs up the middle, when our strength is the outside run. I don't believe I saw a single stretch play all game

[Redux]

3-5 is the more concerning stat for me.

[NUinID]

I was actually thinking the same thing. DL and MR sat down and watched the Michigan and Iowa tapes and saw that they both ran for over 200 against NW and said.......... I think our best chance of winning this game is to throw about 50x.

[Malth]

During the game, I heard one of the announcers say that they talked to Riley, and he said the run wasn't working so they were going to have to pass more.

 

And I thought, "of course, excuses to pass more".

 

I wtf'd at the 49 passes too. It's like it seriously doesn't matter how much the pass isn't working, they'll just keep doing it. But if the run doesn't immediately work, we have to change to tactics to air raid. I do not understand what this staff is doing.

[NoLongerN]

MR can do what he wants. He is the coach and the administration put him there. With each loss both he and the administration get one game closer to the "faithful" who already believe the run sets up the pass turning on them. If you are going to throw 49 times you better make damn sure you win the game. Execution falls on the players but it's the coaches that are suppose to get them ready and in the right play.

 

At the end of the day, Nebraska fans will not tolerate losing. You best get this figured out boys.

[TheSker]

Many in Husker nation have already run out of breath from literally begging Mike Riley to run the ball.

 

His offensive philosophy is simply not a fit for what is successful.

[84HuskerLaw]

The problem we had running is that Northwestern had a dam good front seven that could run well enough we really weren't going to succeed running wide. We are not fast enough in the backs to turn the corner, except now and then on counter actions and reverse type things. I don't recall EVER once failing to get a first down on 3rd and short when we ran the ball because I don't think, except for Tommie's option TD run, we ever ran on a third down. We had several times when were clearly in 4 down territory where we only need to get 2.5 yards per carry to ram it through for first downs. Our success rate throwing on 3rd and short is poor at best!

[84HuskerLaw]

You live by the pass and you die by the pass. today, we died, again! It seems most Husker fans believe (with many decades of experience to support it) that you win more games when you run the ball alot as opposed to passing alot. Run yards count for twice as much as passing yards. I believe statistics for the past 50 years would prove without question that the winningest teams RUN THE BALL the best.

 

Mike Riley may KNOW this and he may even admit it in interviews but the problem seems to be that he does not really believe it in his gut. I believe he has coached too much in the pros and the pass happy years of the PAC TEN.

 

I believe Nebraska has won almost 100% of its games for many decades when rushing for 400 or more yards in the game. I believe we win about 85% or more when rushing for over 300 yards in the game. Many teams will pass for 300 and lose. Passing for 400 means you will win a majority but we expect to win more than 55%.

[ZRod]

2.16

Nebraska's yards per carry.

Like 92 said, how many rushing plays did we call outside the tackles I can only think of 4. 2 QB powers (1 for a good gain), one flysweep (it got stuffed), and the one speed option (Tommy's forte).

 

Enhance you're on point. Langs and Riley are borderline idiotic at times. They said they couldn't run the ball at half time, yet they refused to commit to the run to begin with. I think we passed on 5 or 6 third and shorts, and converted none of them. That's just insane! We refuse to use the speed option more than once every 4 games, yet Tommy excells at it, and has scored twice with it I believe.

 

Coaches also said at half that they could not get in a rythm on offense, yet you're play calling shows no rythm. You know your QB is struggling, but you keep pushing the long ball... why not give him a couple slants or out routes to build him up. And in Tommy's case get him a few more runs, it seems to make him focus better. If your going to show a fly motion to make the defense honest, well you should probably honor the motion with a sweep more than once a game. You dont trash a play just because it didn't work one time. Set it up better next time. Roll your QB if his line isn't blocking well. Heck roll him if he's good on the run, which Tommy is...

[Kernal]

Forty-nine is too many passes, but the problem is that our running game isn't effective. If it were, we would be more balanced- which is what Riley and Langsdorf have been saying all year they want.

 

Northwestern has a good defense. Give them some credit too. Especially as long as they were on the field today.

[ZRod]

Forty-nine is too many passes, but the problem is that our running game isn't effective. If it were, we would be more balanced- which is what Riley and Langsdorf have been saying all year they want.

 

Northwestern has a good defense. Give them some credit too. Especially as long as they were on the field today.

It isn't effective because we don't commit to it, and it becomes insanely vanilla when games are close.