** 2017 Husker Previews: SBNation - How patient are Nebraska fans? **

[Huskerzoo]

I like this preview, it contextualizes things. It more or less felt like a "I don't know but here's my best guess based on what I do know".

TA is going be another one of our hotly debated QBs as to where he stands in our books. That said, when he couldn't be a play maker with his feet (or because he was concussed) our team suffered. Where we stand now, it feels like we have 3 play makers at QB. This feels like we're in a good spot for once.

Regarding other positions here's the rub more or less. If our staff can develop players, I think we're in a good position. Our whole O-line (sans center...which wasn't always a great position) is a year older. Our WRs have someone who can get them the ball consistently (we think) which means even though we're losing some great play makers, we have reason to be optimistic. We also have some young RBs that look like they can bring a lot to the field. TE seems like the one area I don't feel great about on O, but that could just be unknowns.

On D it's really hard to guess. What we know is that we've seem at best 50% of our D. DCBD (I like that) has said he wants 3 down 50% of the time and 4 down 50% of the time (or at least the article claims that). Given that we saw none of his 3-4 we really can't be sure. What we do know is that our DL is young, which means if JP can develop we should once again see growth. Again, we're frequently trading low floor lower ceiling guys (our graduated seniors, one of who got drafted) for younger guys who might have a lower floor but a higher ceiling.

Our LB group is a strength after being a weakness 2 years ago and our secondary is legit.

So what that leaves us with is a lot of "ifs". If everything plays out well, we could escape with one loss against tOSU. We'll lose our heads and claim we're back and get put in our place in 2018. Or as the author of this said, we could be seeing the start of something good. Yeah HCMR is only a 500 guy lately, but we also shed some dead weight in the coaching ranks. I think more importantly, our culture seems fixed. Bo wasn't just toxic for the players, but for our fan base. People still argue about the love of Bo, but we're excited again. Like, legit excited. How often were we super optimistic about the future with Bo? That's what HCMR has given our program, optimism about the future. As a fan, I'll take that. I love our coaching staff (even Cav to a degree, I mean he kept us in the running for Foster Serrel).

So yeah, I have no clue how this season is going to play out. My gut reaction is we could get away with 3 losses. I'm also excited about the future though. We'll have a seasoned team for our hell schedule next year and it seems like we might have some depth for our light scheduled in 2019. Just remember, patience is a virtue and HCMR has shown a willingness to adapt, something we haven't seen from a head coach since TO.

 

[Saunders]

I like this preview, it contextualizes things. It more or less felt like a "I don't know but here's my best guess based on what I do know".

TA is going be another one of our hotly debated QBs as to where he stands in our books. That said, when he couldn't be a play maker with his feet (or because he was concussed) our team suffered. Where we stand now, it feels like we have 3 play makers at QB. This feels like we're in a good spot for once.

Regarding other positions here's the rub more or less. If our staff can develop players, I think we're in a good position. Our whole O-line (sans center...which wasn't always a great position) is a year older. Our WRs have someone who can get them the ball consistently (we think) which means even though we're losing some great play makers, we have reason to be optimistic. We also have some young RBs that look like they can bring a lot to the field. TE seems like the one area I don't feel great about on O, but that could just be unknowns.

On D it's really hard to guess. What we know is that we've seem at best 50% of our D. DCBD (I like that) has said he wants 3 down 50% of the time and 4 down 50% of the time (or at least the article claims that). Given that we saw none of his 3-4 we really can't be sure. What we do know is that our DL is young, which means if JP can develop we should once again see growth. Again, we're frequently trading low floor lower ceiling guys (our graduated seniors, one of who got drafted) for younger guys who might have a lower floor but a higher ceiling.

Our LB group is a strength after being a weakness 2 years ago and our secondary is legit.

So what that leaves us with is a lot of "ifs". If everything plays out well, we could escape with one loss against tOSU. We'll lose our heads and claim we're back and get put in our place in 2018. Or as the author of this said, we could be seeing the start of something good. Yeah HCMR is only a 500 guy lately, but we also shed some dead weight in the coaching ranks. I think more importantly, our culture seems fixed. Bo wasn't just toxic for the players, but for our fan base. People still argue about the love of Bo, but we're excited again. Like, legit excited. How often were we super optimistic about the future with Bo? That's what HCMR has given our program, optimism about the future. As a fan, I'll take that. I love our coaching staff (even Cav to a degree, I mean he kept us in the running for Foster Serrel).

So yeah, I have no clue how this season is going to play out. My gut reaction is we could get away with 3 losses. I'm also excited about the future though. We'll have a seasoned team for our hell schedule next year and it seems like we might have some depth for our light scheduled in 2019. Just remember, patience is a virtue and HCMR has shown a willingness to adapt, something we haven't seen from a head coach since TO.

I agree with what you wrote, but to address the bolded, people were high on Bo, until the collapse in year 3. Remember, everyone was talking about the "toxic" culture of Callahan, and how Bo had brought the old"tough nosed" Nebraska culture back.

Of course, we said the same thing about how Solich had let the culture slip, and Bill Callahan was fixing that culture (and recruiting really well) in the 06 offseason too.

 

[Huskerzoo]

I like this preview, it contextualizes things. It more or less felt like a "I don't know but here's my best guess based on what I do know".

TA is going be another one of our hotly debated QBs as to where he stands in our books. That said, when he couldn't be a play maker with his feet (or because he was concussed) our team suffered. Where we stand now, it feels like we have 3 play makers at QB. This feels like we're in a good spot for once.

Regarding other positions here's the rub more or less. If our staff can develop players, I think we're in a good position. Our whole O-line (sans center...which wasn't always a great position) is a year older. Our WRs have someone who can get them the ball consistently (we think) which means even though we're losing some great play makers, we have reason to be optimistic. We also have some young RBs that look like they can bring a lot to the field. TE seems like the one area I don't feel great about on O, but that could just be unknowns.

On D it's really hard to guess. What we know is that we've seem at best 50% of our D. DCBD (I like that) has said he wants 3 down 50% of the time and 4 down 50% of the time (or at least the article claims that). Given that we saw none of his 3-4 we really can't be sure. What we do know is that our DL is young, which means if JP can develop we should once again see growth. Again, we're frequently trading low floor lower ceiling guys (our graduated seniors, one of who got drafted) for younger guys who might have a lower floor but a higher ceiling.

Our LB group is a strength after being a weakness 2 years ago and our secondary is legit.

So what that leaves us with is a lot of "ifs". If everything plays out well, we could escape with one loss against tOSU. We'll lose our heads and claim we're back and get put in our place in 2018. Or as the author of this said, we could be seeing the start of something good. Yeah HCMR is only a 500 guy lately, but we also shed some dead weight in the coaching ranks. I think more importantly, our culture seems fixed. Bo wasn't just toxic for the players, but for our fan base. People still argue about the love of Bo, but we're excited again. Like, legit excited. How often were we super optimistic about the future with Bo? That's what HCMR has given our program, optimism about the future. As a fan, I'll take that. I love our coaching staff (even Cav to a degree, I mean he kept us in the running for Foster Serrel).

So yeah, I have no clue how this season is going to play out. My gut reaction is we could get away with 3 losses. I'm also excited about the future though. We'll have a seasoned team for our hell schedule next year and it seems like we might have some depth for our light scheduled in 2019. Just remember, patience is a virtue and HCMR has shown a willingness to adapt, something we haven't seen from a head coach since TO.

I agree with what you wrote, but to address the bolded, people were high on Bo, until the collapse in year 3. Remember, everyone was talking about the "toxic" culture of Callahan, and how Bo had brought the old"tough nosed" Nebraska culture back.

Of course, we said the same thing about how Solich had let the culture slip, and Bill Callahan was fixing that culture (and recruiting really well) in the 06 offseason too.

That's a great point that I didn't think of Saunders. I was a bit young when we transitioned to Sollich and BC so I don't remember it well, but I'll take your word for it as it rings true to what I've read.

It seems like we're continuing to try to find the culture issue that is the problem. I think my big problem with Bo was the defeatism (especially regarding recruiting) even though we knew differently. BC for all his flaws, recruited well, at least a few years. It felt like Bo knew how to get the most out of the players he had, but it also felt like he burned players out and couldn't bring in the big fish regularly.

With HCMR, the question seems to be if he's a snake oil salesman. He can sell it, but is what he's selling any good? From a us as fans standpoint, the vibe feels different to me. I feel like the fan base is less divided, I feel like the sunshine and rainbows pitch that HCMR makes has me wrapped up as well, I feel like I can see a path forward rather than feeling stuck. The nice thing that HCMR picked up was that I had gotten used to the beatdowns. With the players we had last year, I expected them against teams like tOSU. When TA hurt his hammy, I/we knew that it wasn't going to be pretty, and it wasn't. When the O is that inept, you're gonna get your D in bad positions. Not to mention that we had a true freshman punter who was in a rough place.

I digress, my point is more or less, I'm having fun and I'm excited to see what this team can do. I'm not in a position anymore where I feel like I know what I'm going to get and I like that.

 

[Blackshirt316]

One thing that gets skimmed over is that TA was hurt or not playing in 3 of the 4 losses - only the OT loss to Wisky was Tommy healthy. Granted, we weren't beating tOSU either way, but that seems like a pretty big reason why our offense imploded down the stretch last season.

That is a good point.

It was mentioned in the article.

One thing that gets skimmed over is that TA was hurt or not playing in 3 of the 4 losses - only the OT loss to Wisky was Tommy healthy. Granted, we weren't beating tOSU either way, but that seems like a pretty big reason why our offense imploded down the stretch last season.

That is a good point.

It was mentioned in the article.

Dang it! I never read the entire thing...just the clip you put up.

As I said, he skimmed over it: "It does bear mentioning that the offense, and therefore the team as a whole, became much more scattershot late, when the schedule improved and quarterback Tommy Armstrong Jr. dealt with injury." He even goes on to say, "But it wont be a surprise if either four-star youngster redshirt freshman Patrick OBrien or true freshman Tristan Gebbia takes over the top spot before or during the season."
But never says the offense might be better because a QB injury won't derail the offense. That's what I'm saying.

It wasn't just Armstrong though. Our #1 WR, #1 TE and 2 top OL also missed significant time or in the case of Gates were incredibly limited due to injury.

Of what I would have called our top 8 key offensive players last year only Newby (who would be around 5th on the list) were generally healthy for the meaty part of the schedule.

Losing Westy and CC in particular killed the Offense last season, moreso even than having a gimpy Tommy. The entire offensive strategy to minimze the QB weaknesses we had with Tommy and Ryker were based on the formation and read calls for Westercamp and Carter.

 

[Saunders]

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