Coach Riley Press Conference Transcript

[cm husker]

I always like these because not everyone has time to listen:

 

http://journalstar.com/sports/huskers/life-in-the-red/read-all-about-it-riley-presser-transcript/article_6d02fcde-81b0-11e5-91c9-db7aff2531d4.html

[84HuskerLaw]

Other than the typos and the lack of correcting - spoken words don't always read like carefully drafted, proofread and corrected prose - seems like a reasonably good discussion by Riley. Not sure the exact questions as they are not given. But interesting. Reads like something provided by a coach with 40 years of experience. Nothing surprising there. Only real news is the recruiting item and of course only time will tell on this. I have to believe Riley will do reasonably well in recruiting based on his personality and demeanor. I have not met him in person nor of course had any long conversations so I don't know him in that sense. Based on all that I have seen from his pressers and the many articles and so on, he comes off to me to be a very good and sincere and honest and decent man. Someone that almost rational parent and kid would feel comfortable being around. I can't imagine any recruit or his parents or coaches saying after a recruiting visit "I don't like the man and would not want to play for him!" He should have some success based on that - at least he won't repel the recruits being some kiind of jerk or ass personally.

 

He will recruit as well as anyone in the circumstances, in my opinion. Now, can he go out and recruit the nation's top class? I don't think so. However, based on the way Obrien and a number of the current commit such as the Spielman kid in Minneapolis where I currently live are doing, he is doing well. We have two of the best from California and the best from Minnesota. I suspect a few others are doing well. Now, we need about 8 more of this caliber to have a 'great' class. I doubt we can do that with the negativity associated with the program. Hopefully, all the talk of firing Riley doesn't scare away these guys because he was doing pretty well all things considered.

Let's see what he can do. Fire him without the big time 'splash' hire (there are NONE available guys) and you will do much more harm than good.

[Jeremy]

Yeah, I have pretty much resigned myself to this. He'll be here one more year, so the most we can do is hope for the best. This OBrien kid better light the world on fire, though.

[cm husker]

Some thoughts:

 

“Who wants to talk about the Royals? (laughs)

 

Have to laugh for crying? I get the wry humor, but that fell flat, in my opinion. A little too trite considering the situation.

Well, I’m going to do my norm, I’m going to talk about some things that were good first. I thought red zone offensively was good. We were 6-for-6 (in red zone opportunities) and 5-of-6 (scoring) touchdowns. Third-down conversions were pretty good, 7-12. Those are some positive things.

 

I like that he starts with the positives, but this sort of statistical stuff is not useful. I do like that he gets into individual play and effort later.

Defensively, there’s not much to talk about there, except a big focus for our staff has been doing better on first down. That’s been a big issue, and actually, that was one stat defensively that we (liked). I think we gave up 3.2 yards per play on first down, which should give you a fighting chance through the series.

 

I think he could have given a better review of the D and admitted they were put in some awful positions by the offense (play calling). I don't like that he talks about "containing the big play" later in the PC. College football, on both sides of the ball, is about creating the big play.

This is a philosophical concern I have about this staff. They don't think with that killer instinct, or at least it doesn't appear that way.

They also don't disguise defenses, which is what makes it so much easier for opposing teams to convert and to take shots at big plays. I'm not sure why they don't do a better job of that, but it's awful right now.

Sam Foltz has really gotten hot and consistent. Lately, he had a 48-yard net the other day, which is a pretty incredible stat. Kickoff return, we finally had a little bit of a glimmer of success. It was nice to see our drive start was the best this year, starting at the 29-yard line. Drew (Brown), I think Drew is doing a good job. He had a nice field goal and the kickoffs were good.

 

I remember during a preseason presser, when asked about what parts of the team he was excited about, Riley led off with "we have a real weapon at punter." What??? That's scary that he led with that. The players downers will say "well, that's because we have no talent" but my concern lies in that it even comes to his mind as a reply to that question. This team has plenty of offensive firepower, as he's said previously when he tlaks about overall production. The special teams in general has been miserable, and a 29 yard starting position is not good (4 yards better than just taking a knee).

Individual players, I think, that need to be mentioned, I was proud of Ryker (Fyfe). Lots of players, every game, you’d like to have some plays back, but for his initial start with us and the way he played and made a bunch of nice plays, I was proud of him. Stanley Morgan Jr., one of our freshman, is just doing a great job, really, I’m kind of amazed at his workload playing receiver. He went in on kickoff return when we needed him, he went in on punt return when we got injuries and got down to it. You would never know he’s a freshman. Jordan Westerkamp continues to be Jordan. Alex Lewis played a solid game, as did Sam Cotton up front. Defensively, two of our freshmen I thought played good games. Aaron Williams and Dedrick Young, good football players. The defensive line in general was solid. Another freshman, Antonio Reed is solid and as of late, one of our best special teams players, very savvy, good football stuff with Antonio, good IQ of playing the game. He’s had a couple issues with penalties, but as far as playing football, he does a nicejob. Andy Janovich had another good game. Special teams, Chris Jones (did a nice job). Brad Simpson, a young walk-on player that plays on all the (special) teams, is doing a good job of playing football for us.

 

I'll just say that it's nice to see Alex Lewis continue to get the praise he deserves. Is he a Weigert? No, but he's a very solid player who has been put in some very difficult positions.

The bad stuff, it’s like the good, the bad and the ugly. The bad stuff, I was disappointed in our inconsistency, I guess is the best way to say it. Lack of production and inconsistency in the running game. I thought we were the same way overall pass protection. It wasn’t very clean that way. 77 yards rushing doesn’t cut it.

 

Discussed ad nauseam, but if you don't commit to the run game, you're not going to get much out of it.

Take away Ryker's carries, and you had 112 yards on 22 carries. That's a 5.1 yard average. You get Janovich 1 carry (in fact, you get him only 1 touch). Unacceptable.

Coach Riley talks about knowing how to fix these things, but when the heck is the going to? Is he going to demote Langs? Or at least take over play calling?

I'm baffled by what NU is trying to accomplish on offense, but it's very very clear that the "we'll focus on power running" was a line of bull run by the apologists looking to justify the hire. This is a pretty passing offense, and unless the staff radically changes their philosophy, NU will be, at best, a 9 win team, and that will be inconsistent, too.

Turnovers is the storyline for the game, right? When you look at that bottom line and it says points off of turnovers and it says 0 (for us) and 28 (for Purdue), that’s pretty telling right there. We had four special teams penalties, which is disappointing, we’re doing better, except in that area. I know you’re going to want to know about all those things on the field goal/extra point. I think that it wasn’t really movement by the other team that was causing it, it was some sort of a cadence that drew our guys, which is not an excuse. That was the reason. We had a defensive holding in the secondary. We had a facemask and an illegal procedure offensively, which I thought we’d cleaned up pretty well, but we had the one on Saturday.

 

This is such trees for the forest stuff. Focusing on some random penalties that were ultimately inconsequential? Glossing over the turnovers and 28 point swing caused by an awful game plan? This is where I started wondering if Riley was going to stand up and take some responsibility, because so far he hasn't.

Another big issue, obviously, that with the turnovers, the other issue for us is giving up big plays. We have a couple of good looking series to start the game off defensively, then we gave up a long run to the quarterback, and we gave up a long pass play when it looked like we had a shot to get back in it. As we were trying to fight back, we gave up a big shot on the bootleg.

 

When rewatching the game, there actually weren't that many big plays given up. The first long QB run where a LB and whole D was out of position on an unexpected call. Then a long pass play. But those were hardly the reason why NU lost this game. The D, overall, didn't play that badly, except that they were put in horrendous positions and don't run "a take away D." For all the talk about this being a one gap, disruptive style of D, this team is extremely vanilla and the playcalling is anything but disruptive.

5 TD drives of 22 or less yards... unacceptable to put your defense in that situation.

Purdue started 10 drives in its own territory and came away with only 3 scores on those drives. By contrast, on drives they started in NU territory, they came away with 5 touchdowns on 5 opportunities.

NU's staff should have been looking to grind out this game. With a "weapon" like Foltz and the struggles of a first time starter at QB, it's unbelievable they didn't try to play a field position game. Really, it's inexcusable.

Before I get into questions, I just want to say, because I know this is just a general statement about the state of affairs, I think that, like I’ve said many times, this is just a great place with great people, and we’re extremely fortunate to be here. (We have) the greatest fans in the world

 

And here we go... eye rolling time. Anyone else think he has marching orders to soft glove the Husker Nation at every opportunity?

Talk about damaged psyches... those who think Bo was an abusive coach toward the fans are far more fragile than the players today.

and the greatest administration, the people that I get to work with, their involvement, their help. I think they give us every opportunity to be the best and be champions. Shawn Eichorst, Steve Waterfield works closely with football, fabulous people that are always there. I’ve noted this from the beginning, every meeting I go to is ‘how can we help?’ Every meeting ends with that, which is a nice thing, always, to hear. But in the other part of it, what is done here through them at Nebraska is special. The student-athlete here is in good hands with all the programs and with all those things that enables them to have, not only an athletic career at a great place like Nebraska, but a life in academics and life skills. And then the administration of the school, they’re amazing. From the beginning, (Chancellor) Harvey (Perlman) has been involved. (President) Hank Bounds comes to practice often, I think he’s an ex-football coach and he likes to come out for recess, but it’s also just nice to see him. There’s lots, lots of people that care and that’s the other general statement about Nebraska that I wanted to make.

 

The ass kissing commences. Would have been nice if this same sort of support had been rendered to Bo. Eichorst and his boss are total snakes. Clearly.

From the beginning, I’ve also said that the notable thing is people here care. When you’re disappointed, caring comes out different ways, and sometimes different ways in the same person. Some are sad, some are mad, some go the other way and are encouraging. Like I said, you probably get it all. You have to know, from our perspective, if you’re realistic, it’s all real, so it’s not surprising. We certainly want to win and we want to do this for everybody and everybody’s used to it, so we understand that situation. But it all comes from a good thing, which is caring and you don’t want it any other way. We wouldn’t want to have it any other way. My biggest focus is the 135 players I have. So with all of this going on we can’t be distracted, we I know are doing good things, good things in the program and good things in solidifying what we know to be good football. We have to spend our time and our focus to make sure those kids are growing and OK because as we have said before it is a mental battle as much as anything that we encounter in these situations.

 

These are the types of moments that make me like Riley. He, like his predecessor and Solich, really cares about the welfare of his players. They are not just commodities to him. Not just an means to an end, which is how I always viewed Callahan's "pro" mindset.

 

 

[cm husker]

But we can’t be distracted by that. We have to stay the course and do what we think is right and keep doing it. And know that there are better days ahead. I am more confident about that even in a bad situation than ever as to where we can go. And we are excited to get to do that and we are excited about the challenge, but also the opportunity that is presented this week and the following weeks in the games. We will see how we do, but to me it is exciting. There is all different kinds of challenges to get ready for a team like Michigan State. They are obviously good and there is obviously the challenges of where we are. Like I said, our biggest battle is probably ourselves mentally. We can overcome that and we can get ready to play and have a great opportunity to win."

 

I don't want to nit pick language, but this was his prepared portion. "We'll see how it goes"? Really? Comeon man. I know you are a competitor and want to win, but language and attitude matter. You can't be a "lead by example" guy as a coach, even if that worked as a player. What you verbalize is internalized. And we aren't in a "see how it goes" situation. The message should be that they need to go out and take it.

I also don't like that he doesn't really build the team up at all. he talks about the challenges and overcoming mental errors, but he doesn't really instill a lot of confidence that they can get it done. His tone is always one of "let's do the best we can and see where the chips fall." I actually get and respect that in a sense, but it needs to be coupled with some steely-eyed determination. Some real "want to" kind of attitude. Every great coach is process oriented, but the goal needs to be clear, too. I just don't see a lot of fire in Coach Riley, and I haven't seen it from one of his "lieutenants" either. Someone needs to step up and be the "screw" so to speak.

On the program seeing better days ahead

“I just have a feeling, as I have gone through the season Dirk, and actually looked right at our games and look at what we can do. I have always felt confident that through the course of time that I can watch film and look at players with the help of the staff and make things better. And as I go through a season in this league the teams that we play, how we play, what we have to do better, it is an assessment as we go and I just feel good about that. I know this is such a powerful place that we can recruit to, and try to make it better in years to come. There is an immediate picture of a game and there is a long-term picture of where we have to go. All these things are always in evaluation and in gathering information. So as I gather information and I watch and learn I feel really good about it."

 

I know that using a person's first name is relationship building 101, but it just comes off as contrived. As far as the substance of his comments, every coach can look at tape and identify ways to improve. It's really about translating that read from film to the field. And so far, across his career, I just haven't seen much evidence that he can do that, at least not consistently across a team and in a way that generates wins. He can say that, but where is the improvement this year? Where's the evidence across other years?

I also HATE that he's subtly eluding to a talent deficiency by immediately going into recruiting.

This last sentece: what does that even mean??? "So as I gather information and I watch and learn I feel really good about it."?

On how he goes about fixing the program

"I think it comes through, now going back and evaluating our season and situationally looking at things we can improve five games right now. Can we defend that Hail Mary a little better? Can we teach it a little better? And that’s what it is because you’re asking really now specifically football stuff and that’s the part I feel really good about. We also want a culture. It is like I told all of you before, I don’t want to do this without a program that we think has a good substance for kids, and I also think the residual of that is better football, better discipline, better looking. I am excited about that, too. None of this is actually brand new to me. You go through 40 years of coaching and there’s all different kinds of seasons, great ones, hard ones, intermediate ones. Hopefully you learn the one thing you can do is make it better."

 

More missing forests for trees. The fact is, NU should not have been in a situation where a hail mary or a last ditch play could lose them the game. I made this point previously.

Let's say that NU should have won each of 5 of the past 6 games, 8 out of 10 times in each case. By losing all 6, Riley is defying logic and statistics. These failures are attributable to far more than one play of bad luck. They are attributable mainly to poor game planning, preparation and play calling, in my opinion. Philosophically, this offense is just poor. That's what needs to be fixed first and foremost.

But instead, he implies that the culture has been bad. I fundamentally disagree with him. The culture under Bo wasn't pretty, but it was effective and at its core, it was the same as what Riley and other successful coaches talk about: belief in the system, belief in each other and belief in yourself. Bo put a hard edge on things, but he wanted those same great things, during and after football, for his players. He produced a number of outstanding student athletes during his tenure and had a very low incidence of actual problems off the field. I just don't believe the argument that NU was a culturally bankrupt place under Bo. Therefore, I don't buy the argument that Riley has to rebuild the culture.

On Director of Athletics Shawn Eichorst coming out with a vote of confidence for you

"Well I appreciate that. It is kind of like I said in the general statement. Nothing about this surprises me, it doesn’t surprise me that Shawn has stepped out because I know what must be going on like that. That is not news to me. It is like I said, people are going to react one way or the other. It comes I think in general, I think especially in Nebraska, out of general idea of caring. I think people want to explain and to do it. There is no doubt we have failed in the eyes of what everybody that wants to do that’s a given. It is just another sign of how people do care and another reason I guess that it is important to know that everybody has got a vision of where it could go. And that is really encouraging to me."

 

I'm sure you do. All coaches would. Begs the question why Bo didn't get one ever, not even in '13 when he was retained.

On Shawn Eichorst’s message of a “brick-by-brick rebuild,” and whether there was a miscommunication from the beginning on what needed to happen in this season and seasons to come

"I don’t take jobs with that intention. My goal in taking the job was to establish good football and a program that everybody could be proud of. That has always been my intention in this deal that is what we wanted. I have taken over two different deals like that, at vastly different spots in their football lives. My personal perspective about this is that we just take what we have, look at it and our obvious goal was to win all the games and we’ve not done that. But then, it is like I said, we have to look immediate, what we want to do with our team today in practice and try to win the game this weekend. And then try to have those goals long term and then all the rest of it, whatever it is, whatever you call it rebuilding or renewing it’s different obviously. Nobody likes the different result right now. I don’t really look at it like that, this is what we were given an opportunity to do and this is how I think we can do better and to me that is an on-going process too, because I’ll find out more, so that is pretty exciting to me. We will never know till we get there, but we've got another nice commitment in recruiting today, I can’t tell you anything about it, but frankly some of the best news I have gotten in a while.”

 

This reference to recruiting is where Riley really really lost me. What a deflection. I still don't get what he's trying to say about "as we find out more." How much more do you need to know after 30+ years of coaching?

"We will never know till we get there"? What does this mean???

Sipple called him an "inspirational Monday speaker" but I'm not seeing it. I just see another guy who can talk the coach speak, but where are the results? Where's the vision?

On how far the team is away from where they want to be

“I understand that but can we just take our team and change those games in a rematch day? We can’t do that obviously. Could we make a few different plays to win those games? I’ve said, and I think everybody knows this, but your season plays out on those games. Michigan State has had those games. Iowa’s had those games. They beat Wisconsin 10-6, Wisconsin fumbles on the one yard line in the fourth quarter, but Iowa wins it. A close game. Michigan State goes one-score games against Rutgers and Purdue. They win the close games, and why is that? They’re plus-10 in turnovers, more efficient. To me, as disappointing as that is, those kind of things are encouraging, and I know we can go there.”

 

 

Again, rematches against awful teams like those played so far shouldn't be required. And the belief that "oh, we just got unlucky 6 out of 6 times" is dangerous. Not to mention that it ignores the whipping put on you by arguably the worst coaching staff in P5 football.

 

Those other teams may have had close games, but (a) they won, (b) they also had dominating games, and © most have also beaten better competition already.

 

On if they are getting worse as the season goes on

“I don’t know. Maybe those two games tell a story, but I don’t know if in general that’s a true statement all the way through. We also played probably our best overall football a couple weeks ago against Minnesota. How do you fit those two things? I don’t really have an explanation for…we certainly did give up 55 points, we also gave them 28 of them. I see the point, from the beginning to Saturday. I look at this league and I see all the time those kinds of scores. You just have to win those games and do better than that.”

 

 

I can't stand Dirk, and now we get to listen to his roll of stupid questions. Riley did a good job handling him.

 

Here, he hit a great point: no two games tell the whole story. Texas beat OU and then got crushed by a bad ISU team. Do those two games tell some sort of story? Not really. Just like a bad loss to Wisconsin last year didn't tell a whole story. Reporters and fans look for too many conclusions in too few games. I'm sure if NU pulls off an upset in Lincoln this week, which they have plenty of talent to do, there will be talk of corners turned "and this is why we did what we did" but that won't be any more accurate than to say that the loss to Purdue, on its own, means coaches' heads should roll today.

 

But factually, Riley is wrong; few, if any teams, have seen Purdue score 55 points under any circumstances. And to point that 28 points were given to them, I wish Riley would just flat out state that his play calling was awful and was the cause of that meltdown.

The absence of that statement, for all the talk of him being a stand up guy, I fail to see the accountability.

 

On goals

“Well there’s no doubt we want to win the championship and there’s no doubt what we want to do inside the program. The football part of it and how you compete and what you want to do, that part’s easy and the other part is really important to me personally is this is a program that all can be proud of. Those two things are always going to be at the top end of what we do goal-wise in our program.”

 

 

ok...

 

On where the culture is compared to last year

“Part of my deal about that is I’m not going to compare and contrast. I said this right off the bat to you and I said it to the players, I never want to talk about good and bad. It will be different because we are different people. I doesn’t even matter if I replaced Bo (Pelini) or if I replaced Nick Saban. We’re going to have a program of things we believe in. That part of it, there’s no need to even compare. We’ve got some things about the way it’s going to be that are just not to be compromised and it doesn’t even matter where we are. That’s the beauty of what we can do in college. Being involved for me in college sports is a little bit different. You can have that. I think in general, I know everybody wants to win and I know in general, if you have people one on one in a corner and say what do you want here, they want that. They want what we bring and I’m proud of that and we won’t lose that. That has nothing to do with not winning. We can’t cloud that.”

 

 

Back to why I like Coach Riley a lot as a mentor of young men and why I think moving him to athletic director might make some good sense (unless we want to do something really smart like hire Meyers or one of the other NU alum that have been tossed out).

 

While I personally agree with him on his last statement, I think he's dead wrong about Husker fans in general. We know for a fact that it's not really about running a clean program that graduates successful human beings. We've fired three coaches, two of whom had great records, who all ran clean programs.

Backed into a corner, at least 50% of Husker fans would take a championship with sanctions over no championship at all. I sincerely believe that NU could run an 70s/80s style OU or 90s/00s style Miami program, and if the championships were rolling in, there'd be no complaints and lots of rationalizations.

 

On how the players have handled the situation

“I don’t know. That’s an interesting thing that probably they can only answer. We’re going to do it one way. However it’s perceived or done, it can’t…I think whatever method it is for us for sure, that has nothing to do with compromising the detail of what we do. Now you’re going to say, ‘It doesn’t look like a lot of detail.’ I get that, I’ll take that. We own all of that. We own that. We can fix that. Every one of you has a personal approach to your job. You all do. So do I. You probably study it and you maybe change once in a while, which I will do. With 130 plus kids, you’re going to encounter lots of different circumstances. So there’s just going to be ways that you do things. Maybe part of it is belief, maybe part of it is personality. I know in the end you have to win in order to have a program in order to do all that. That’s easy to say. That’s one of the reasons we do it.”

 

 

Not really clear what he's trying to say here, but he did a nice job deflecting Dirk.

 

On teaching the players the new systems

“Not good enough, obviously because of where we are. At the same time, if you look offensively, I don’t like to throw statistics to necessarily make all the points but our production offensively in the league is pretty good. We’re up there in the top three in total offense. The only thing I don’t like is we’re not running the ball enough. Our production is good. Our red zone offense is up there at the top. Our third down is in pretty good shape. Statistically, whether it’s passing, whether it’s total offense, there’s stuff that’s there. Now am I happy with it? No, but it’s not like there’s not production. (The defense) that’s a different story for sure. We have to play better defense. Our defensive stats are down. We’ve given up too many big plays. Not enough good defense in the fourth quarter to win games. We can go on and on about that. Has it meshed? I know the quality of instruction going on, and I know the work that goes in. We’re just going to keep talking about coaching our kids. That’s all I can do. We can do better. We’ll see if we never stop trying to improve even though it’s this point in the season.”

 

 

"We aren't running the ball enough." I don't understand... does he mean not effectively or that he actually is going to push his staff to force the run more?

 

What are NU's defensive stats in conference, especially controlling for this last game, which was a debacle due to offensive play calling? It doesn't seem like it's been that awful.

I really don't get him... sometimes he just seems like a spectator in all of this.

 

On his trust in defensive coordinator Mark Banker

“In the football sense of it, I know his extensive defensive football background. I know more about the character and work that goes into it and the preparation that’s done and the bases that are covered. I’ve been with him through thick and thin. Good seasons and bad, top rated defenses and not so much. I know the consistency of work and the soundness that goes into how we teach and what we do. Now obviously those are words. You don’t see it, but I know what’s behind it all.”

 

 

Scary in his lackadaisical response here. "Some good, some bad, whatever."

 

I get that coaches need to have people around them with whom they are comfortable and have trust, but come on. I'd also question what he's referring to when he talks about top rated D's.

 

 

On who can help this program in the next few years

“I don’t ever want to compromise a team’s season for thinking about playing other guys because we’re looking to all that. I don’t ever delve into that. We don’t ever talk about that in a staff room. I think you can just do that by doing the best job right now in the day that you’re in. All that stuff comes to play later on as we look at film and then look at guys during the spring. There’s plenty of time to do that. We have to do the best job that we can for this team this week.”

 

 

 

Love this statement and so glad to hear him say it.

[cm husker]

On mentality of defense right now

“I actually don’t question who they are or what they’re trying to do. I don’t think like that particular play I can measure as to kind of a breakdown in a guy running for 60 yards. I don’t want to throw that on the bus. I sense in general that this team tries. They’ve proven coming back and staying in it. I like that about them. I’ve liked this team from the beginning. I would tend to look at it more as a technical thing. We made a strategic error on that play without a guy in that gap. That was a mistake. That can be corrected. That’s how I tend to look at it. Throughout the game, if I could pinpoint a lack of effort or trying I would. I don’t even know if I would say that to you because I’m not going to tell that about anybody. I would recognize it but frankly, I don’t.”

Exactly. I really wish people would stop claiming lack of effort and lack of talent when this team has consistently shown the ability to rely on athleticism to come back and stay in games.

 

I also agree that it's execution breakdowns. But execution breakdowns often happen when a kid is put in a bad position to begin with. Kind of like what happen again Wisconsin last year. When is this staff going to fix it? Sub quesiton, when have they ever shown the ability to fix it?

 

I'm also happy that in his final sentence he specifically denied the claims of lack of effort. Too many fans believe effort is the only thing standing between winning and losing.

 

On loss of team energy

“That is a general statement about everybody. I don’t think that’s true about everybody. I think that when we were 20-something points down and I thought offensively we kept going and had a chance to get back in it. I think that what I see and watch and hear on the sidelines is continued coaching. For the most part, guys are really engaged in trying to get better. I think that it is deflating so there probably is a natural reaction to that play and the problem we have right now, it’s a little bit like, ‘oh boy, here we go again.’ You have to fight all those things. I don’t think that marks necessarily a character flaw in what we have. That’s a natural reaction that you have to fight. The interaction and coaching and the communication with the players on the sidelines has been good. It gives us a chance.”

 

 

This is oh so true and it's why I don't listen to the 90s players when it comes to talking about effort. They weren't really tested in the same way this staff has put our current players through a wringer.

 

Honestly, it might be instructive to hear some of the 1990 players talk about effort, because that's the one team that TO talked about possibly losing by the end of the season. Maybe they can speak to the idea that as things spiral, and what you're doing isn't working, it's pretty tough for 90% of humans to "stay motivated" despite what fans claim they would be able to do from the comfortable of a keyboard.

 

On facing Michigan State’s quarterback Connor Cook

“I’ve said that the balance that Michigan State has is a tough thing to deal with. They’re going to run and throw and they have a really good quarterback to throw it with. Very efficient, smart and old. Those are all valuable parts. What we have to do is we have to be very sound. That’s something that we weren’t necessarily the other day. We gave up a couple of huge plays that made big, big differences in the game. Hopefully we help the defense better by not turning the ball over and not giving Michigan State opportunities that they don’t need because they’re pretty darn good. We just have to play really sound, good defense, be in good position and we have to be ready to challenge some good receivers.”

 

 

I really really fear, but unfortunately understand, that he thinks Connor Cook is the model QB. the problem is, that guy is just as easily a hackenberg type. and he's really just a game manager. He's not a playmaker; he's a guy who helps MSU effectively lean into their defense. He's not hte kind of guy who wioiuld help NU win an actual championship.

 

Heck, he's only a few % points better than Armstrong. He has fewer picks, but he also has been in fewer difficult situations, trying to come back for example, and isn't in his first year in the system (and has far fewer attempts per game than Husker QBs).

 

NU should be trying to run an offense that would enable a playmaker like Armstrong; not emulating a system run by an average QB in Connor. And if Connor is a better than average QB/pro prospect, it begs the question why his production hasn't been much, if any, better than Armstrong's.

 

 

On if he talked to Shawn Eichorst prior to his statement this morning

“I got a heads-up on a text this morning that something was coming out, but we didn’t talk about that.”

 

 

Odd. I'll leave it at that.

[cm husker]

Yeah, I have pretty much resigned myself to this. He'll be here one more year, so the most we can do is hope for the best. This OBrien kid better light the world on fire, though.

 

 

Who is the last prostyle QB to light the world on fire at any point, let alone as a freshman? Connor is pointed to as a prototype for Riley and Langs, but he's an average QB at the college level.

That's what I don't get about those pinning hopes and dreams on POB, who could just as easily be another Harrison Beck or Hackenburg.

[junior4949]

Other than the typos and the lack of correcting - spoken words don't always read like carefully drafted, proofread and corrected prose - seems like a reasonably good discussion by Riley. Not sure the exact questions as they are not given. But interesting. Reads like something provided by a coach with 40 years of experience. Nothing surprising there. Only real news is the recruiting item and of course only time will tell on this. I have to believe Riley will do reasonably well in recruiting based on his personality and demeanor. I have not met him in person nor of course had any long conversations so I don't know him in that sense. Based on all that I have seen from his pressers and the many articles and so on, he comes off to me to be a very good and sincere and honest and decent man. Someone that almost rational parent and kid would feel comfortable being around. I can't imagine any recruit or his parents or coaches saying after a recruiting visit "I don't like the man and would not want to play for him!" He should have some success based on that - at least he won't repel the recruits being some kiind of jerk or ass personally.

 

He will recruit as well as anyone in the circumstances, in my opinion. Now, can he go out and recruit the nation's top class? I don't think so. However, based on the way Obrien and a number of the current commit such as the Spielman kid in Minneapolis where I currently live are doing, he is doing well. We have two of the best from California and the best from Minnesota. I suspect a few others are doing well. Now, we need about 8 more of this caliber to have a 'great' class. I doubt we can do that with the negativity associated with the program. Hopefully, all the talk of firing Riley doesn't scare away these guys because he was doing pretty well all things considered.

Let's see what he can do. Fire him without the big time 'splash' hire (there are NONE available guys) and you will do much more harm than good.

 

Yeah, I pretty much agree with everything said here. Had Riley been hired six or seven years ago, he would have been a splash hire. When Rich Rod was hired by Michigan, he was thought to have been a splash hire. We've seen plenty of splash hires not work out. I do agree that there really aren't any available guys out there that would be a splash hire for here.

 

I also hope we don't scare away recruits, but I can't say I'd blame a recruit for keeping their distance from Nebraska. Most recruits will spend four to five years of their lives at the college they commit to. When one looks at our current situation, it would be a bit tough to make that sort of commitment.

[GBRedneck]

Other than the typos and the lack of correcting - spoken words don't always read like carefully drafted, proofread and corrected prose - seems like a reasonably good discussion by Riley. Not sure the exact questions as they are not given. But interesting. Reads like something provided by a coach with 40 years of experience. Nothing surprising there. Only real news is the recruiting item and of course only time will tell on this. I have to believe Riley will do reasonably well in recruiting based on his personality and demeanor. I have not met him in person nor of course had any long conversations so I don't know him in that sense. Based on all that I have seen from his pressers and the many articles and so on, he comes off to me to be a very good and sincere and honest and decent man. Someone that almost rational parent and kid would feel comfortable being around. I can't imagine any recruit or his parents or coaches saying after a recruiting visit "I don't like the man and would not want to play for him!" He should have some success based on that - at least he won't repel the recruits being some kiind of jerk or ass personally.

 

He will recruit as well as anyone in the circumstances, in my opinion. Now, can he go out and recruit the nation's top class? I don't think so. However, based on the way Obrien and a number of the current commit such as the Spielman kid in Minneapolis where I currently live are doing, he is doing well. We have two of the best from California and the best from Minnesota. I suspect a few others are doing well. Now, we need about 8 more of this caliber to have a 'great' class. I doubt we can do that with the negativity associated with the program. Hopefully, all the talk of firing Riley doesn't scare away these guys because he was doing pretty well all things considered.

Let's see what he can do. Fire him without the big time 'splash' hire (there are NONE available guys) and you will do much more harm than good.

Losing a few recruits from a 40th ranked recruiting class isn't going to do nearly as much damage as Riley will do with another season. But, we're probably stuck with him anyway.

[InOmaha]

They put the Defense in a bad position 5 times, but they still should have been able to hold them to a couple of field goals out of those 5. That would have helped a lot and kept the game in reach.

 

Of course, after Fife's first interception (the second turnover) I would have powered up the run like they should have from the beginning and taken the last 3 turnovers off the table. Barring any additional fumbles or the crappy snaps.

 

It was disappointing to see the big plays and turnovers again. Just like the 2 big runs by Northwestern's QB and the pick 6.

[FeelLikeAStranger]

 

Yeah, I have pretty much resigned myself to this. He'll be here one more year, so the most we can do is hope for the best. This OBrien kid better light the world on fire, though.

 

 

Who is the last prostyle QB to light the world on fire at any point, let alone as a freshman? Connor is pointed to as a prototype for Riley and Langs, but he's an average QB at the college level.

 

That's what I don't get about those pinning hopes and dreams on POB, who could just as easily be another Harrison Beck or Hackenburg.

Belief that a kid currently in HS is the "answer" (POB) is just patently insulting and putting a whole lot of belief eggs into a faulty basket. He will not coordinate the defense for MB. He will not begin rotating OL for Cav. He will not commit to the run for DL. He will not manage the clock for MR. He will not find a way to motivate a locker room. He will not win at a .300 higher clip than Riley's historical average.

 

The earliest he COULD have a positive impact is 2017. Riley will be well into his next fiasco or retirement by then.

[cm husker]

 

Other than the typos and the lack of correcting - spoken words don't always read like carefully drafted, proofread and corrected prose - seems like a reasonably good discussion by Riley. Not sure the exact questions as they are not given. But interesting. Reads like something provided by a coach with 40 years of experience. Nothing surprising there. Only real news is the recruiting item and of course only time will tell on this. I have to believe Riley will do reasonably well in recruiting based on his personality and demeanor. I have not met him in person nor of course had any long conversations so I don't know him in that sense. Based on all that I have seen from his pressers and the many articles and so on, he comes off to me to be a very good and sincere and honest and decent man. Someone that almost rational parent and kid would feel comfortable being around. I can't imagine any recruit or his parents or coaches saying after a recruiting visit "I don't like the man and would not want to play for him!" He should have some success based on that - at least he won't repel the recruits being some kiind of jerk or ass personally.

 

He will recruit as well as anyone in the circumstances, in my opinion. Now, can he go out and recruit the nation's top class? I don't think so. However, based on the way Obrien and a number of the current commit such as the Spielman kid in Minneapolis where I currently live are doing, he is doing well. We have two of the best from California and the best from Minnesota. I suspect a few others are doing well. Now, we need about 8 more of this caliber to have a 'great' class. I doubt we can do that with the negativity associated with the program. Hopefully, all the talk of firing Riley doesn't scare away these guys because he was doing pretty well all things considered.

Let's see what he can do. Fire him without the big time 'splash' hire (there are NONE available guys) and you will do much more harm than good.

Losing a few recruits from a 40th ranked recruiting class isn't going to do nearly as much damage as Riley will do with another season. But, we're probably stuck with him anyway.

 

 

 

I'm getting closer and closer to saying Frost should be hired and given a massive contract to keep the dogs at bay.

 

At least he understands NU football and runs a system that would be able to utilize our current talent (none of this, we need 3 or 4 years to recruit our guys) stuff. If we wait 3 to 4 years to make the inevitable change, then NU is required to revamp again anyway.

 

NU is dangerously close to having to gamble big or just pack up the program.

[Waterloohusker26]

 

Yeah, I have pretty much resigned myself to this. He'll be here one more year, so the most we can do is hope for the best. This OBrien kid better light the world on fire, though.

 

 

Who is the last prostyle QB to light the world on fire at any point, let alone as a freshman? Connor is pointed to as a prototype for Riley and Langs, but he's an average QB at the college level.

That's what I don't get about those pinning hopes and dreams on POB, who could just as easily be another Harrison Beck or Hackenburg

 

Jameis Winston?

[cm husker]

 

 

Yeah, I have pretty much resigned myself to this. He'll be here one more year, so the most we can do is hope for the best. This OBrien kid better light the world on fire, though.

 

 

Who is the last prostyle QB to light the world on fire at any point, let alone as a freshman? Connor is pointed to as a prototype for Riley and Langs, but he's an average QB at the college level.

That's what I don't get about those pinning hopes and dreams on POB, who could just as easily be another Harrison Beck or Hackenburg

 

Jameis Winston?

 

 

 

yeah, that's a solid example. wonder if he'd fit what Riley was looking for, though.

 

also wonder if it's realistic to expect that from just about anyone else? That FSU team had a perfect storm going for them. I seem to recall them being utterly dominant on defense and ringing up some huge scores on lesser teams (e.g., 80 points on Idaho).

[MichiganDad3]

Great job cm husker. I really enjoyed your thoughts on the press conference.