How to win

[ActualCornHusker]

With all the talk about "What's wrong with the team?" I think the most important answer gets left unsaid. While people point to the run game (big problem), AM not finding open receivers (big problem), O-Line under-performing (big problem), I'd say the biggest thing this team has to figure out is...

 

HOW TO WIN

 

Anyone who has played and/or coached at a high level in any sport knows that WINNING is a skill that has to be learned, and it's maybe one of the most difficult things to instill in a team. To get from where we are now to where we want to be, it's going to take a group of real leaders who can drag the team through the mud at difficult stretches in games so we can start winning close games again, as well as instilling a killer instinct so they can go for the jugular when we're up by a couple scores and not let the other team get back into to game.

 

Obviously the technique, scheme, and controlled aggression of the players need to continue to improve and that will create more wins in the future, but in games when things aren't going as well as they should, the will and skill to win games needs to come through. I believe we've finally got the right coach & staff for the job - Let's remember where this program was at 20 months ago, and not over-react when things aren't turning around quite as fast as we'd like.

[DevoHusker]

it's definitely a mind-set and a culture...and we lost sight of both for a while

[BigRedBuster]

I agree and it's plainly evident in Farniok's comments that they let up in the 3rd quarter.  You absolutely can not let up until you're sitting on the bench and the back ups are in because you're up so far.  

 

Where the hell is the killer instinct that makes you want to go out and totally demoralize the other team so bad they want to go home and call mommy?

 

THAT is learning how to win consistently.  

[CapoValley]

18 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

I agree and it's plainly evident in Farniok's comments that they let up in the 3rd quarter.  You absolutely can not let up until you're sitting on the bench and the back ups are in because you're up so far.  

 

Where the hell is the killer instinct that makes you want to go out and totally demoralize the other team so bad they want to go home and call mommy?

 

THAT is learning how to win consistently.  

The weird thing is, the motivation to do that WAS there. They were all talking about how this game needed to be a lesson for the Buffs after what they did to Martinez last year, seeing how much their coach doesn’t like them, etc. 

 

Then, they just stopped. It’s strange 

[Crazyhole]

Gotta have both the skill and the will.   

[Undone]

I made a bunch of posts yesterday in one of the threads where somebody had posted the 40 minute version of the game. I set the video to the specific time of specific plays (can't remember which thread it was now).

 

On the re-watch, I didn't see any kind of lack of effort. Martinez had a couple of missed passes on our second possession - how in the hell is that any kind of example of "not knowing how to win?" Same goes for the pass that went through Wan'Dale's hands. You think that kid isn't laser focused and playing with intensity to go out there and do whatever he can to win the game?

 

A couple series later, our receivers make a tremendous effort to block on the edge and Washington makes an incredible display of individual athleticism to scorch CU for a long touchdown. 

 

I think it was just a small run of bad luck on two or three series in the opening of the third quarter. If the team had no idea how to come out with intensity, being focused on winning, would we have been 17-0 at half? Probably not; we probably would have been down 17-0.

[BIG ERN]

Nebraska hasn't won a conference title since 1999.....that is 20 years ago gentlemen 

[Undone]

1 minute ago, BIG ERN said:

Nebraska hasn't won a conference title since 1999.....that is 20 years ago gentlemen 

 

It's extremely painful. As a fan, I'm fine with taking periods of time as if they're in one continuous pattern.

 

But the more analytical side of me knows it's probably more fair to Frost to isolate his era as its own thing. 

[CapoValley]

5 minutes ago, BIG ERN said:

Nebraska hasn't won a conference title since 1999.....that is 20 years ago gentlemen 

Hey not until December of this year it isn’t!

 

Ugh. That stat is just unreal. 

[WyoHusker56]

1 hour ago, BigRedBuster said:

I agree and it's plainly evident in Farniok's comments that they let up in the 3rd quarter.  You absolutely can not let up until you're sitting on the bench and the back ups are in because you're up so far.  

 

Where the hell is the killer instinct that makes you want to go out and totally demoralize the other team so bad they want to go home and call mommy?

 

THAT is learning how to win consistently.  

 

I feel like none of the players on this team have ever been in a blow out big enough for the back ups to come in so they probably have no idea what that's like.

[Nebfanatic]

6 minutes ago, WyoHusker56 said:

 

I feel like none of the players on this team have ever been in a blow out big enough for the back ups to come in so they probably have no idea what that's like.

It is interesting. Even looking back to last year when we trounced Minny and Illinois, there seemed to be points in both of those games where we 'let off the gas'. Now you can chalk that up to inconsistency or whatever but regardless this team can't put together 4 quarters of good football yet and unfortunately they typically struggle at really bad times. I would rather of had the 3rd quarter offensive performance Saturday in the 1st quarter, that alone could have changed the game.

[Undone]

3 minutes ago, Nebfanatic said:

It is interesting. Even looking back to last year when we trounced Minny and Illinois, there seemed to be points in both of those games where we 'let off the gas'.

 

Just remember that when a team is down, they're probably going to start bombing the ball downfield. Despite our secondary being hugely improved over what we had in say, 2017, it kind of seems like our safeties continue to struggle a bit on recognizing when to stay home in the backfield and where to be.

 

Sometimes an opponent gets lucky there when they start airing it out. Like I've said - that last TD pass by Montez to the corner of the end zone - that's just one of those plays where there's not much you can say. It's an NFL throw to a good receiver. 

[BigRedBuster]

3 minutes ago, Undone said:

Sometimes an opponent gets lucky there when they start airing it out. Like I've said - that last TD pass by Montez to the corner of the end zone - that's just one of those plays where there's not much you can say. It's an NFL throw to a good receiver. 

I would also say that the flea flicker was simply a perfectly executed play and their WR was faster than our CB.  I watched it several times. I'm not sure how the CB should have played it any different.  He just simply got beat by a fast receiver.  

[Husker in WI]

2 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

I would also say that the flea flicker was simply a perfectly executed play and their WR was faster than our CB.  I watched it several times. I'm not sure how the CB should have played it any different.  He just simply got beat by a fast receiver.  

 

He could have stayed back, but the route was really good too. Looks like he's coming in to block the other Safety, so Taylor-Britt creeps up to fill the gap. By the time the receiver cuts back up field it's too late - but I think it was Taylor-Britt or Bootle who mentioned knowing the situation, teams like to take shots and you've gotta stay home. Super tough play, but when you're lined up 8 yards off the ball "he was just faster" doesn't fly. Taylor-Britt recovered well, and it's a good lesson in situational football.

[Jeremy]

8 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

I would also say that the flea flicker was simply a perfectly executed play and their WR was faster than our CB.  I watched it several times. I'm not sure how the CB should have played it any different.  He just simply got beat by a fast receiver.  

He was peaking, just for a split second, and that was enough to get beat. Lost focus. Dismuke absolutely bought everything and just blitzed after coming up for premature run support. I'll give tucker and cu credit - it was a good call that fooled most of the defense. If Cam was focused on covering the receiver, and getting ahead of the route, he wouldn't have been trailing so badly.