Special Teams- Were Worse When YOu Go Into More Detail

[Nebraska55fan]

Not sure if Frost actually thinks Special Teams is important- has invested more time and the coaching is awful. Or he continues to think he can win with Offense and scheme and is paying lip service  to Special Teams. Either way its not working. Was at the game- may have picked up a couple of things the camera didnt show. 

 

CTB BARELY made it out for the punt return- he SLOWLY jogged in VERY late. No sense of urgency, doing the Im important trot. 

 

He lined up at the GOAL LINE right when the ball was kicked. Had he RAN he might have been able to line up correctly. 

 

He lined up at the 1 yard line. Most guys would have lined up at the 10 or maybe the 5. The standard operating procedure is you NEVER back up, if its over your head, you let it go, expecting the ball to end up in the endzone for a touchback. 

 

CTB backed up from the 1 to about the goal line. Caught the ball, was immediately wrapped up, then like a 8 year old playing keep away with the ball on a school recess, tossed the ball out of bounds. So we luckily got a safety instead of them getting a TD, they got the ball and momentum. More of the "no fear of failure" culture Frost has instilled.

 

[Vince R.]

Don't let anyone fool you. Special teams is easy as far as how to align and what to do. If you have great athletes, that solves most of the issues. The issues we saw yesterday are mind crippling decisions. Guys pressing because things don't go well. Cam made that play thinking the moment was bigger than it actually was. Connor missed two PATs because kicking became crippling and his mind froze up. These kids are playing tense and scared. This is coming from the head man's demeanor. 

[Nebraska55fan]

On the Kickoff return where Illinois had a 15 yard penalty- and had to kick from their own 20. 

 

Their kicker had consistently kicked it 5 yards deep into the endzone. If you take another 15 yards- that would mean we could all expect the ball to be kicked to the 10. 

 

Our return guys were set up at the 20. I guess whoever is in charge of kickoffs, if there is anyone cant add very well. Our guys should have been at about the 10. 
 

One would have expected we would have gotten good field position- maybe starting at the 35 or better. 

 

Instead, the ball was hit way over the heads of our guys standing on our 20. 

[DefenderAO]

The two missed extra points were worse to me. Culp is horrific. 
 

Another atrocity - we then kickoff from the 20 after the safety. The ball lands at the 25. That’s a 55 yard kick. Pathetic. Illinois kicks from the 20 after a 15 yard penalty in the 2nd half. The ball lands at the goal line. That’s an 80 yard kick. 
 

The very worst? Our punters. I won’t even give analysis. They’re awful. 

[Nebraska55fan]

94% of PATs are made in college football. 

 

We missed 2 on Saturday. 

[Savage Husker]

Cam also botched the punt against Iowa last year. He is not a trusted PR man

[Nebraska55fan]

17 Yard Punt. We should have had Illinois pinned inside the 10. Instead we punt the ball 17 yards and leave them with good field position' 

 

[Nebraska55fan]

12 minutes ago, Vince R. said:

Don't let anyone fool you. Special teams is easy as far as how to align and what to do. If you have great athletes, that solves most of the issues. The issues we saw yesterday are mind crippling decisions. Guys pressing because things don't go well. Cam made that play thinking the moment was bigger than it actually was. Connor missed two PATs because kicking became crippling and his mind froze up. These kids are playing tense and scared. This is coming from the head man's demeanor. 

 

The punt return rule is really pretty standard across football. Really simple to situational  practice it too. We used to put about 20 guys in a circle screaming and yelling, waving at the returner. He just wasn't allowed to take a step back. If he did- he had to do 20 pushups.  This was in pre practice- didn't use up much time. 

 

Cam SLOWLY jogged out- lack of effort there<> He never got set up correctly- you don't align yourself on the 1 AND A COACH SHOULD HAVE CORRECTED HIM- on the spot. Total amateur hour. True sign of a poorly coached team.

 

We should have had the ball at the 20- instead we gave them 2 points, the ball in great field position and momentum. 

 

But we need Mario and dont need a full times special teams coach- Right. 

[Vince R.]

2 minutes ago, Nebraska55fan said:

 

The punt return rule is really pretty standard across football. Really simple to practice too. We used to put about 20 guys in a circle screaming and yelling, waving at the returner. He just wasnt allowed to take a step back. 

 

Cam SLOWLY jogged out- lack of effort there<> He never got set up correctly- you dont align yourself on the 1 AND A COACH SHOULD HAVE CORRECTED HIM- on the spot. Total amateur hour. 

 

But we need Mario and dont need a full times special teams coach- Right. 

 

Yeah he should not have done that. Easily fixable issues. At some point, the players need to be really smart there too. They can't always look to the side line to know what to do. 

[Hilltop]

It's probably been mentioned in another thread but I didn't see it.  Our players made mistakes like they were under immense pressure imo.  To me that explains how the returning B1G kicker of the year misses 2 extra points.  And how we botched the return/safety and a few other plays.  Our kids weren't playing loose to win, we played tight and terrified to lose.

[Nebraska55fan]

5 minutes ago, Vince R. said:

 

Yeah he should not have done that. Easily fixable issues. At some point, the players need to be really smart there too. They can't always look to the side line to know what to do. 

Too MANY easy to fix problems that have NEVER been fixed. Im sick of it, same stuff. 

 

The coach JOB is to MAKE SURE the kids are lined up correctly- they didnt. Thats part of what they get PAID to do. Terrible coaching on both the punt return and kick return teams. You ALWAYS check the depth of your deep guy. AND YOU ADJUST HIM. 

[Nebraska55fan]

More signs of poor coaching. 

 

On defense  THREE TIMES- dlineman come sprinting off the field at the last second because we have 12 players on the field. One time- he didnt get off. Once was AFTER A MEDIA TIMEOUT. How in Gods green earth do you have 12 players lined up after a timeout and barely make it off the field?

 

My goodness, at times this looks like an 8 year old all rookie pee wee team in game one with coaches on the field. 

[Vince R.]

7 minutes ago, Nebraska55fan said:

Too MANY easy to fix problems that have NEVER been fixed. Im sick of it, same stuff. 

 

The coach JOB is to MAKE SURE the kids are lined up correctly- they didnt. Thats part of what they get PAID to do. Terrible coaching on both the punt return and kick return teams. You ALWAYS check the depth of your deep guy. AND YOU ADJUST HIM. 

 

I agree. It should be handled as soon as he trots out there. 

[lo country]

The basics.  There are 3 basic phases of the game, Offense, Defense and Special Teams........In year 4, it is apparent that the staff is still ignoring that 3rd phase......And that shouldn't still be happening. I can't figure it out.

[Nebraska55fan]

6 minutes ago, lo country said:

The basics.  There are 3 basic phases of the game, Offense, Defense and Special Teams........In year 4, it is apparent that the staff is still ignoring that 3rd phase......And that shouldn't still be happening. I can't figure it out.

 He's either paying lip service to Special teams or- they dont know how to teach it or game day coach it. In any event, it isn't working.