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Rumored play calling swap at half..??


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This was lifted from Mike Farrell’s blog entry the other day, about his take on the reasons SF is failing as HC of Nebraska:

 

Tight coaching — Frost was never overly aggressive and that was a knock against him from the start. Now let’s clarify — aggression is not an  onsides kick up 28-17 with all the momentum on his side like we saw against Northwestern. Aggression is playing to win and he just didn’t do that — to the point where opposing coaches knew it. Everyone bragged about how close Nebraska was in their 9 losses last season but the overlook that it seemed like a team trying to stay close rather than actually win games. This is a rut Frost got into early in his tenure and he overcompensated this past weekend with a foolish decision. I call this right coaching and Pat Fitzgerald read him like a book. And others have before him.

 

Loyalty — Nebraska is about loyalty. Trev Alberts was loyal to Frost and has given him another season despite his failures. And Frost has been too loyal to defensive coordinator Erik Chinander. Chinander worked with Frost at UCF and followed him to Nebraska and has been his coordinator for every game. The defense hasn’t been the main problem according to fans, but it hasn’t helped a lot either. Giving up 31 points to a hapless Northwestern offense and making Ryan Hilinski look like Tom Brady at times is the latest example. When Frost was brought back the Blackshirts were supposed to be back with him but the defense has been average. The pass rush has lacked, tackling hasn’t been great and they’ve given up just enough points to average teams to be a failure. While Frost has changed the offense to his dismay, he hasn’t had the guts to make a change on defense. Chinander hasn’t done a horrible job, but a change was probably needed in the off-season.

 

Physical play — When Tom Osborne was winning with players like Frost there was one thing Nebraska fans could count on. Their team was going to be tougher and more physical than the other team. And it was never in question. Now? Northwestern bullied the Huskers around the field last weekend and this has been a pattern since the beginning of the Frost era. This team has to be physical to compete because they will be outmatched in speed in many matchups. And it’s clear that Frost has been hearing this over and over again as his dumb “15-20 vomits per practice” statement showed. This team could honestly be labeled as soft compared to the Big Ten under Frost.

Adrian Martinez — Martinez is the poster child for the offensive issues for Nebraska but more importantly he shows a lack of player development. Martinez showed promise as a true freshman and Frost’s reputation as an offensive genius and QB developer was intact. Since then? Martinez regressed, Frost has replaced coordinators a couple of times and his reputation as an offensive genius is now fodder for social media trolls. Name an offensive player who truly improved under Frost? Wan’Dale Robinson and a few others are examples of talent who just weren’t utilized properly.

 

Media stupidity — This doesn’t really lose you games on the field but let’s face it, Frost has been awful in front of cameras since he arrived. And how does this impact a program? It leads to a general perception and opinion of buffoonery on a national stage which can bleed into the confidence of your players on the field. Outsiders respect the Kirk Ferentz and Paul Chryst types of the world who are deadpan but very calculated and smart about what they say and they love the rah-rah guys like PJ Fleck because of their enthusiasm. Frost is neither smart or enthusiastic and that’s become the narrative for Nebraska football. 

 

Dang that's pretty long.  Oh well, maybe someone will get something out of it. 

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11 hours ago, Hagg said:

This was lifted from Mike Farrell’s blog entry the other day, about his take on the reasons SF is failing as HC of Nebraska:

 

Tight coaching — Frost was never overly aggressive and that was a knock against him from the start. Now let’s clarify — aggression is not an  onsides kick up 28-17 with all the momentum on his side like we saw against Northwestern. Aggression is playing to win and he just didn’t do that — to the point where opposing coaches knew it. Everyone bragged about how close Nebraska was in their 9 losses last season but the overlook that it seemed like a team trying to stay close rather than actually win games. This is a rut Frost got into early in his tenure and he overcompensated this past weekend with a foolish decision. I call this right coaching and Pat Fitzgerald read him like a book. And others have before him.

 

Loyalty — Nebraska is about loyalty. Trev Alberts was loyal to Frost and has given him another season despite his failures. And Frost has been too loyal to defensive coordinator Erik Chinander. Chinander worked with Frost at UCF and followed him to Nebraska and has been his coordinator for every game. The defense hasn’t been the main problem according to fans, but it hasn’t helped a lot either. Giving up 31 points to a hapless Northwestern offense and making Ryan Hilinski look like Tom Brady at times is the latest example. When Frost was brought back the Blackshirts were supposed to be back with him but the defense has been average. The pass rush has lacked, tackling hasn’t been great and they’ve given up just enough points to average teams to be a failure. While Frost has changed the offense to his dismay, he hasn’t had the guts to make a change on defense. Chinander hasn’t done a horrible job, but a change was probably needed in the off-season.

 

Physical play — When Tom Osborne was winning with players like Frost there was one thing Nebraska fans could count on. Their team was going to be tougher and more physical than the other team. And it was never in question. Now? Northwestern bullied the Huskers around the field last weekend and this has been a pattern since the beginning of the Frost era. This team has to be physical to compete because they will be outmatched in speed in many matchups. And it’s clear that Frost has been hearing this over and over again as his dumb “15-20 vomits per practice” statement showed. This team could honestly be labeled as soft compared to the Big Ten under Frost.

Adrian Martinez — Martinez is the poster child for the offensive issues for Nebraska but more importantly he shows a lack of player development. Martinez showed promise as a true freshman and Frost’s reputation as an offensive genius and QB developer was intact. Since then? Martinez regressed, Frost has replaced coordinators a couple of times and his reputation as an offensive genius is now fodder for social media trolls. Name an offensive player who truly improved under Frost? Wan’Dale Robinson and a few others are examples of talent who just weren’t utilized properly.

 

Media stupidity — This doesn’t really lose you games on the field but let’s face it, Frost has been awful in front of cameras since he arrived. And how does this impact a program? It leads to a general perception and opinion of buffoonery on a national stage which can bleed into the confidence of your players on the field. Outsiders respect the Kirk Ferentz and Paul Chryst types of the world who are deadpan but very calculated and smart about what they say and they love the rah-rah guys like PJ Fleck because of their enthusiasm. Frost is neither smart or enthusiastic and that’s become the narrative for Nebraska football. 

 

Dang that's pretty long.  Oh well, maybe someone will get something out of it. 

Great article and points made IMHO.  Regarding the D, I thought it was improving.  Until I came across the stat related to the record of B1G teams that score 28 points or more in a game and what their records are.  B!G teams are 198-41 since 2018 (83%).  NU is  8-10.  We scored enough to win.  We didn't.  I also look to last year as a better DL than now.  Experience and players perhaps.  But Tuioti vs Dawson....Maybe thats an issue...

 

Frost "No fear of failure" was just that.  Never took a chance.  No fear of failure when not taking risks.  Played to not lose instead of playing to win.  And we didn't.

 

Player development was almost non-existent on the offensive side (Cam was an exception).  Maybe Cam at 6'3 is a lot better suited to play OL in the B1G and within our scheme than guys 6'7.   I blame the staff more than Frost.  We are in year 5 and finally look to have an actual RB.  Oz was the last one.  A Pelini/Riley guy. Others didn't pan out in Bell and Mo Washington.  Poor recruiting. Mismanaged talent.

 

I do not know the last time we had a D that took over a game.  2009 and 2010 from resent memory.  OL gets blown up.  DL can't get a push.  Finally got some TFL and a sack against N, but I feel those will fade away.

 

I have no idea how to fix NU, how we can have so many issues in year 5, how staff changes (to date) haven't resulted in improvement.  

 

 

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10 hours ago, lo country said:

Great article and points made IMHO.  Regarding the D, I thought it was improving.  Until I came across the stat related to the record of B1G teams that score 28 points or more in a game and what their records are.  B!G teams are 198-41 since 2018 (83%).  NU is  8-10.  We scored enough to win.  We didn't.  I also look to last year as a better DL than now.  Experience and players perhaps.  But Tuioti vs Dawson....Maybe thats an issue...

 

Frost "No fear of failure" was just that.  Never took a chance.  No fear of failure when not taking risks.  Played to not lose instead of playing to win.  And we didn't.

 

Player development was almost non-existent on the offensive side (Cam was an exception).  Maybe Cam at 6'3 is a lot better suited to play OL in the B1G and within our scheme than guys 6'7.   I blame the staff more than Frost.  We are in year 5 and finally look to have an actual RB.  Oz was the last one.  A Pelini/Riley guy. Others didn't pan out in Bell and Mo Washington.  Poor recruiting. Mismanaged talent.

 

I do not know the last time we had a D that took over a game.  2009 and 2010 from resent memory.  OL gets blown up.  DL can't get a push.  Finally got some TFL and a sack against N, but I feel those will fade away.

 

I have no idea how to fix NU, how we can have so many issues in year 5, how staff changes (to date) haven't resulted in improvement.  

 

 

So, since 2018, the Huskers are 8-10 when scoring 28+ points?  
 

Now, how many of those games did special teams give up a TD or the offense have a turnover leaving the defense backed up to their own end zone?  Or, the offense flat out give up a defensive score with a pick 6 or scoop and score?

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12 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said:

So, since 2018, the Huskers are 8-10 when scoring 28+ points?  
 

Now, how many of those games did special teams give up a TD or the offense have a turnover leaving the defense backed up to their own end zone?  Or, the offense flat out give up a defensive score with a pick 6 or scoop and score?

Yes.  IIRC, Wisky is 18-0 in the same situation.  Unsure what respective unit caused the losses, but looking purely at the point totals I would assume 28 points is enough to win 83% of the time against P5 opponents.  NU sits at approx 44%.

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On 9/5/2022 at 10:59 AM, TonyStalloni said:

I understand the angst retaining SF has caused for some. Many were ready to move on after last year. To be fair I don't think the pieces have been in place in the four years Scott has been here. We all hoped he could turn a sows ear into a silk purse over night. Scott has never had running backs, receivers and quarterbacks this talented since he has been at Nebraska. The defense is less than effective it seems so if we are going to win games it will have to be the offense.....with an O line that still has issues. We definitely miss Cam and Noueli and I don't think Prohaska is anywhere near full strength. The line will be a work in progress to get them to average. I hope the truth is that Scott and Whip are on the same page and there is not division amongst either of them. 

Everything you wrote here is controllable by Scott Frost 

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1 hour ago, lo country said:

Yes.  IIRC, Wisky is 18-0 in the same situation.  Unsure what respective unit caused the losses, but looking purely at the point totals I would assume 28 points is enough to win 83% of the time against P5 opponents.  NU sits at approx 44%.

Yep….it’s not a good stat for Nebraska. But, there’s a lot that goes into that other than just bad defense. 

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I realize that these quotes are from somebody's blog, Hagg.

 

On 9/6/2022 at 7:42 AM, Hagg said:

Tight coaching

 

Meh. I really disagree with this assessment and it makes me think this guy hasn't watched many of our games. We lost several close games in the first two years where we were the ones that were up late in the 4th and we couldn't get those last two first downs with the run because the line didn't have any push and I can maybe see it there...but there wasn't "tight coaching" that lost nine games in 2021. That was due to stupid penalties, constant turnovers, and complete incompetence on special teams.

 

On 9/6/2022 at 7:42 AM, Hagg said:

Physical play

 

I mean...if anything Frost has actually overcompensated in this area. Arguably we went to linebackers that were maybe too tall to be agile and then put too much muscle on them. Against Northwestern we just saw poor tackling and guys getting out of position but I don't think it had much to do with being overpowered by the other team.

 

And if we weren't physical at all we couldn't have stuck so close in so many of our games last season.

 

On 9/6/2022 at 7:42 AM, Hagg said:

Media stupidity — This doesn’t really lose you games on the field but let’s face it, Frost has been awful in front of cameras since he arrived. And how does this impact a program? It leads to a general perception and opinion of buffoonery on a national stage which can bleed into the confidence of your players on the field.

 

lol, what a nitpick this one is. If you compare apples to apples, Frost doesn't even slightly crack the Top 25 of coaches that says dumb s*** in front of the cameras, IMO.

 

The buffoonery has been on the field with unforced errors and just looking like a team that's rigid, super scared to lose, and poorly coached on the fundamentals. Couple that with in-game decisions that seem to prioritize complexity instead of just sticking with what works, and that's where all the losses come from, in my opinion.

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18 minutes ago, Undone said:

I realize that these quotes are from somebody's blog, Hagg.

 

 

Meh. I really disagree with this assessment and it makes me think this guy hasn't watched many of our games. We lost several close games in the first two years where we were the ones that were up late in the 4th and we couldn't get those last two first downs with the run because the line didn't have any push and I can maybe see it there...but there wasn't "tight coaching" that lost nine games in 2021. That was due to stupid penalties, constant turnovers, and complete incompetence on special teams.

 

 

I mean...if anything Frost has actually overcompensated in this area. Arguably we went to linebackers that were maybe too tall to be agile and then put too much muscle on them. Against Northwestern we just saw poor tackling and guys getting out of position but I don't think it had much to do with being overpowered by the other team.

 

And if we weren't physical at all we couldn't have stuck so close in so many of our games last season.

 

 

lol, what a nitpick this one is. If you compare apples to apples, Frost doesn't even slightly crack the Top 25 of coaches that says dumb s*** in front of the cameras, IMO.

 

The buffoonery has been on the field with unforced errors and just looking like a team that's rigid, super scared to lose, and poorly coached on the fundamentals. Couple that with in-game decisions that seem to prioritize complexity instead of just sticking with what works, and that's where all the losses come from, in my opinion.

 

That's an interesting last paragraph (of yours) there.  It seems to contradict most of the rest of your critique of Farrell's blog post and to make some of his points well.

 

I think Farrell was doing a pretty good job of summarizing Frost's failures, over his entire tenure here, by superimposing the Northwestern game over his analysis.  A bit more than a dozen wins over several dozen games over several years showcases commonalities.. and yep, there it all was in that game in Dublin.

 

But it's the attachment to Chinander that makes me the most angry about it all;  two good friends wrecking the Huskers and fancying coming close to winning as "improvement" over several seasons of practices and on-field failings.  Farrell only brushed against that and did not talk about it enough, imo. 

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This whole topic has been blown out of proportion.  We seem to be jumping to the negatives of alternating play calls and ignoring the positives, ie an opportunity for 2 guys who have a pretty solid track record of being an o coordinator covering each other's blind spots, mixing it up mid-game adjustment wise to throw something different at the defense.  In both games thus far I would throw far more criticism on our defense then our offense yet we seem to be so infatuated with frosty/whip dynamic.

 

All of this to say, none of this matters with this porous AF defense we have.  I'm tired of the "bend dont break", for what feels like the 10th year in a row we have a lifeless defense incapable of getting the team off the field quickly, incapable of pressuring the qb, and incapable of turning the ball over. 

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8 minutes ago, gossamorharpy said:

This whole topic has been blown out of proportion.  We seem to be jumping to the negatives of alternating play calls and ignoring the positives, ie an opportunity for 2 guys who have a pretty solid track record of being an o coordinator covering each other's blind spots, mixing it up mid-game adjustment wise to throw something different at the defense.  In both games thus far I would throw far more criticism on our defense then our offense yet we seem to be so infatuated with frosty/whip dynamic.

 

All of this to say, none of this matters with this porous AF defense we have.  I'm tired of the "bend dont break", for what feels like the 10th year in a row we have a lifeless defense incapable of getting the team off the field quickly, incapable of pressuring the qb, and incapable of turning the ball over. 

Pretty much this.

 

We have two guys that are well known for being good OCs on the staff.  There hasn't been any indication they are fighting or not getting along.  Both are corroborating with each other to make adjustments. And, fans are creating this myth of problems between the two.

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10 minutes ago, Hagg said:

But it's the attachment to Chinander that makes me the most angry about it all;  two good friends wrecking the Huskers and fancying coming close to winning as "improvement" over several seasons of practices and on-field failings.  Farrell only brushed against that and did not talk about it enough, imo. 

 

I do think that Chinander's involvement in the problems has also flown under the radar in big ways, agreed.

 

But what happened was really just timing, I think. Since 2021 was this hugely improved year on defense but we went 3-9, it felt intuitive to most fans to think that meant the problems were all on the offensive staff and things like offensive play calling, scheme, etc.

 

But after just two games this season it's starting to feel obvious that Daniels, Stille, & Thomas were the linchpin to that success on defense last year. Especially Daniels.

 

So maybe we'd say that Chinander hasn't done a good job of setting up the defense for success using the players he has at his disposal. I don't know. I still don't think it's a "talent" issue, but at the same time we really need a Damion Daniels and a JoJo Domann right now.

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Game 1: Team doesn't adjust in the 2nd half, loses.

 

Fans: Why don't the coaches make 2nd half adjustments?

 

Game 2: Team makes second half adjustments, wins.

 

Fans: No, not like that!

 

But for real, even though I have a very small glimmer of hope that this will end well, whatever they did, it worked (on offense). The staff has to get creative, instead of just doing the same things that aren't gonna work.

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