2014 vs 2015 - What's different?

[gobiggergoredder]

The obvious one everyone goes to is that the coaches are different. I think that's the easy answer.

For several years, especially 2014, this team was about huge individual plays/performances.

GONE

#80 Kenny Bell - As talented as Westercamp is, Kenny had a knack for winning the match up downfield. As fans, we would cover our eyes after seeing the back foot heave only to watch KB go full David Copperfield. He was able to get so much separation that he could adjust to a poorly thrown ball.

#15 DPE (big play) - yeah DPE is back, but he has missed most of the season. He flipped the field in multiple games on his way to becoming one of the most dynamic players in the country. He was the catalyst in winning games despite stagnant performances by his team.

#4 Randy Gregory - There is no doubt that he changed what other teams did on offense. I really wasn't a huge fan of Gregory but you can't deny that he had an impact.

#8 AA - An NFL starter as a rookie (at least for a few weeks) that needs to be considered as one of the best running backs in Nebraska history. Much like the others listed previously, AA had moments where he put the team on his back and willed them to victory.

2014 -

McNeese State - #8 won this game. This would have been one of the most embarrassing losses in school history.

Miami - #8 ran for 200+ yards and the team had 14 points off TO's to win by 10.

Northwestern - After a dismal first half, #15 got everything rolling and the rest of the team followed as they steam rolled NW.

Rutgers - #8 ran for 228 yards.

Wisconsin - Meh

Minnesota - Meh

Iowa - At one point the team was +3 in turnovers and losing. Won in OT.

USC - The team played great, not many complaints here, but it was a loss.

In my opinion, this team looks almost identical to 2014 with a few exceptions:

1. No big plays

2. They stop the run/give up huge pass plays.

There is no depth and we don't have the right players. It is also reasonable to have the injuries as part of the discussion. The injuries keep players off the field and also hampers chemistry. I don't know whether Riley is the guy or not, but he got a used car with a beautiful paint job and a full detail (9 wins). We've put 500 miles on it and it leaks, knocks, pulls to the right and dies at stop lights (Reality). We have a wreck with a salvage title and we're still trying to convince ourselves that our mint car is ready for Barrett Jackson.

We don't have the players that are currently able to play at the level of the playmakers that we lost. It may be on the roster, but it's not at that point yet. I think we are a solid recruiting class away.

[HuskermanMike]

I don't think that you can say one player won the game when this is a team sport. The team wins and the team loses together as one team at the end of the day.

[Hunter94]

 

The obvious one everyone goes to is that the coaches are different. I think that's the easy answer.

For several years, especially 2014, this team was about huge individual plays/performances.

GONE

#80 Kenny Bell - As talented as Westercamp is, Kenny had a knack for winning the match up downfield. As fans, we would cover our eyes after seeing the back foot heave only to watch KB go full David Copperfield. He was able to get so much separation that he could adjust to a poorly thrown ball.

#15 DPE (big play) - yeah DPE is back, but he has missed most of the season. He flipped the field in multiple games on his way to becoming one of the most dynamic players in the country. He was the catalyst in winning games despite stagnant performances by his team.

#4 Randy Gregory - There is no doubt that he changed what other teams did on offense. I really wasn't a huge fan of Gregory but you can't deny that he had an impact.

#8 AA - An NFL starter as a rookie (at least for a few weeks) that needs to be considered as one of the best running backs in Nebraska history. Much like the others listed previously, AA had moments where he put the team on his back and willed them to victory.

2014 -

McNeese State - #8 won this game. This would have been one of the most embarrassing losses in school history.

Miami - #8 ran for 200+ yards and the team had 14 points off TO's to win by 10.

Northwestern - After a dismal first half, #15 got everything rolling and the rest of the team followed as they steam rolled NW.

Rutgers - #8 ran for 228 yards.

Wisconsin - Meh

Minnesota - Meh

Iowa - At one point the team was +3 in turnovers and losing. Won in OT.

USC - The team played great, not many complaints here, but it was a loss.

In my opinion, this team looks almost identical to 2014 with a few exceptions:

1. No big plays

2. They stop the run/give up huge pass plays.

There is no depth and we don't have the right players. It is also reasonable to have the injuries as part of the discussion. The injuries keep players off the field and also hampers chemistry. I don't know whether Riley is the guy or not, but he got a used car with a beautiful paint job and a full detail (9 wins). We've put 500 miles on it and it leaks, knocks, pulls to the right and dies at stop lights (Reality). We have a wreck with a salvage title and we're still trying to convince ourselves that our mint car is ready for Barrett Jackson.

We don't have the players that are currently able to play at the level of the play makers that we lost. It may be on the roster, but it's not at that point yet. I think we are a solid recruiting class away.

 

ever team has to deal with injuries, when you have no depth it shows.......big time.

[84HuskerLaw]

I dont think we lack in the WR area and in fact, I think I would tip the scales for this year's bunch as being overall better. We missed DPE as it would have been so helpful to have him in September. I think one of the things that is hurting now is the losses earlier when our injuries were so critical to key areas and truly impacted the gameplans. I believe our coaches felt that early on we would have to outscore opponents to win. (by this I mean it would require the offense to do more than its share to win as the defense was going to struggle). This perception by the coaches led them to approach games with the idea that it would require even more passing that perhaps even a passing oriented crew would want. Riley repeatedly said, before the first game even, that our running game was going to be 'ify' and inconsistent and we would have to rely more on the pass that he wanted or would be ideal. Whether this was in fact true or just a self fulfilling prophecy ( Riley subconsciously wanting to throw a lot) is debatable.

 

I think we are getting BETTER play from the WRs and QB. Running back is big drop off as all would likely agree and this in turn makes our running game unreliable.

I actually feel the offensive line play is pretty comparable or perhaps slightly better this year. I think we lack depth or Riley lacks confidence in the back ups and this results in the line play getting weak in the 4th quarter as fatigue sets in which has hurt our ability to finish drives, get first downs when we desperately need them, etc.

I think our excessive reliance on the passing game has produced too many 3 & outs and 'brief' drives where our time of possession has been very abreviated. This has led to our defense getting worn down by late in the game as well, thus hurting us in those do or die periods when we can stop the opponent and they win in the last minute.

LB play has been OK and comparable to last year but injuries have really decimated us there and we have hardly ever started the same bunch in back to back weeks. This has led to a lack of faith by coaches and a feeling of desperation and the need to try to force things offensively to seek to 'out score' teams vs. physically dominate.

With the lack of faith in the LBs, I think we have had to limit our pass defense and put too much pressure on the secondary to assist in the run stopping department. this has led of course to giving up WAY too many passing yards. I think the coaches believed going in to the season that most Big Ten teams' strengths were running so we'd be OK if we gave more effort and scheme to run stopping vs. passing defense. Sadly, we've made our opposing QBs look like all pros and setting records. Hence, we are dead last in the nation in passing yards given up.

 

On the plus side, our scoring defense is NOT terrible even with the defense issues cited.

 

Bottome line: I believe I would pick this year's team in a game against last year's team. But it would be a toss up really. Won loss records aside it would be a battle.

[gobiggergoredder]

I don't think that you can say one player won the game when this is a team sport. The team wins and the team loses together as one team at the end of the day.

You can when their individual effort made the difference. McNeese was an individual effort.

 

DPE had 200 more return yards than anyone in the country. In one year, one guy turned a team from one of the worst at punt returns to the best.

[lo country]

Players and scheme.

[swmohusker]

2014 we used Tommy's legs as a weapon in the Qb read option run game and between him and #8 we could consistently run the football against most opponents opening up some play action game and taking some shots down field. 2015 we have either QB designed runs or RB runs. NW stopped our QB counter play that had been gashing teams all year. Once we lost that play from our arsenal our run game is pretty poor.

 

2015 defense can not stop a team when they need to. At the end of the game if we are down all the other team has to do is pass the ball and they will drive down the field and score at will. Sell out to stop the run and we are average at that and be abysmal at pass defense. Mitch Leidner threw for 300.

 

2015 team can be very good at all 3 phases of the game but for some reason they are not consistently good at them and usually are not good at the same time as the other. What we have is a talented team that can not put 4 quarters of football together and beat below average football teams.

[Warrior]

I think no #8 and DPE injury are the 2 biggest things. We've been spoiled by Rex and AA. These guys weren't one man wrecking crews, but they opened up sooo many other things! DPE flips a field in a heartbeat that was HUGE last year too.

[beorach]

Zaire Anderson was the leading tackler last year - also gone. Ahead of the BYU game, there was reasonable talk that JW was our best player. I don't have anything against JW but that concerned me...until he reversed field and scored in the first half of that game.

[swmohusker]

I think no #8 and DPE injury are the 2 biggest things. We've been spoiled by Rex and AA. These guys weren't one man wrecking crews, but they opened up sooo many other things! DPE flips a field in a heartbeat that was HUGE last year too.

I agree with #8 but I think RG4 is more important. We can score points without AA we cant defend the pass without a rush and Gregory would have helped greatly in that area. The lack of DPE in the return game is frustrating and why Stevenson is our KR with all the weapons we have is kind of puzzling. I hope he breaks out but has pretty consistently below average.

[2ndNnine]

We could have used Avery Moss and LeRoy Alexander too.

[RunRedRun]

Its all about scheme and talent, especially with a new staff. This staff said they understood that going in, they either lied or don't know how to utilize the talent they have.

[Warrior10]

Lack of play making ability.

[Joe_5700]

It seems to me that even when the scheme is executed fairly well, we are not ahead on the scoreboard as far as we should be. This allows teams that are not playing particularly well or less talented teams to still be in the game. I don't know a better way to articulate this other than saying I am not a fan of our schemes on either side of the ball...

[ColoradoHusk]

Regardless of the talent that's still on the team in 2015, this year's team aren't going out and beating up on teams that they really should. NU shouldn't have kept BYU, Illinois, and Northwestern in the game. They let those teams hang around, and then poor game management/execution cost the team in the end. The Wisconsin game was always going to be a toss up, but NU could have put them away in the 3rd quarter and again didn't do it.