Again is Sam being overly negative about this team?

[ColoradoHusk]

He is really down on the B1G West for some reason. It's not a terrible division, but it's not the greatest either. At least it's not the Big 12 North.

The B1G west sucks. That's the only reason Barfknecht is picking Minnesota to win.

 

[QMany]

He is really down on the B1G West for some reason. It's not a terrible division, but it's not the greatest either. At least it's not the Big 12 North.

I tend to agree. Top to bottom is not "great," but the top is pretty good. Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Nebraska didn't look bad against LSU and Missouri in SEC-country and USC in California.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

He is really down on the B1G West for some reason. It's not a terrible division, but it's not the greatest either. At least it's not the Big 12 North.

The B1G west sucks. That's the only reason Barfknecht is picking Minnesota to win.

true...There is not one game in the division that gets your worked up...

 

[VectorVictor]

These threads are silly. This is like me creating everytime Sipple writes and article. "is Sipple being too optimistic?"

They are media, not fortune tellers and movers of the earth.

True, but Sam typically is the voice of reason and sanity in a sea of media hellbent on using knee-jerk reactions, snap judgements, and creating mountains out of molehills to sell papers.

To hear Sam say this is a 6-6 squad should rightfully put people on edge.

 

[Dagerow]

One thing I will say is the schedule is pretty easy this year. And if the big10 didn't expand, it would have got much more difficult. (For comparison, in 2013, we had UM, Michigan State and Penn State back to back, and in 2012 and 2011, we had Ohio State, UM, Michigan State and Penn State on the schedule).

 

[True2tRA]

I listened to the McKewon-Nyatawa podcast from last week. The big reason for Sam's concerns on offense relates to the O-line. Other than Alex Lewis there is not much experience in the guys who are projected in starting. Sam said that Ameer made the o-line look pretty good last year, with the runs he was able to make. Ameer was able to make the first guy miss so many times last year, especially when there was penetration in the back field. There simply isn't that type of talent at RB this year, which will make the O-line better. Due to that fact, Sam sees the offense struggling.

He's exactly right.

 

[Saunders]

I listened to the McKewon-Nyatawa podcast from last week. The big reason for Sam's concerns on offense relates to the O-line. Other than Alex Lewis there is not much experience in the guys who are projected in starting. Sam said that Ameer made the o-line look pretty good last year, with the runs he was able to make. Ameer was able to make the first guy miss so many times last year, especially when there was penetration in the back field. There simply isn't that type of talent at RB this year, which will make the O-line better. Due to that fact, Sam sees the offense struggling.

Ameer also was at the top or near the top in the country in yards before contact.

I did not know that. Very interesting. Kind of blows that argument away.

I understand that Ameer's stats may blow that argument out of the water, but how much of that was due to play call or play design? I'm not trying to discredit the o-line, but it has more to do with the "eye test" of watching the games. In the big games, the o-line struggled mightily.

Unpossible. Beck was awful. At least, that's what I've been told.

 

[Saunders]

He is really down on the B1G West for some reason. It's not a terrible division, but it's not the greatest either. At least it's not the Big 12 North.

The B1G west sucks. That's the only reason Barfknecht is picking Minnesota to win.

Barf voted for Michigan as National Champs in 1997, that's why he's picking Minnesota.

 

[True2tRA]

I listened to the McKewon-Nyatawa podcast from last week. The big reason for Sam's concerns on offense relates to the O-line. Other than Alex Lewis there is not much experience in the guys who are projected in starting. Sam said that Ameer made the o-line look pretty good last year, with the runs he was able to make. Ameer was able to make the first guy miss so many times last year, especially when there was penetration in the back field. There simply isn't that type of talent at RB this year, which will make the O-line better. Due to that fact, Sam sees the offense struggling.

Ameer also was at the top or near the top in the country in yards before contact.

Link?

Also, does being towards the top in yards before contact mean Ameer Abdullah was extremely elusive, or that our offensive line was good?

I watched the games, I can tell you which of those two I would say......

 

[True2tRA]

I listened to the McKewon-Nyatawa podcast from last week. The big reason for Sam's concerns on offense relates to the O-line. Other than Alex Lewis there is not much experience in the guys who are projected in starting. Sam said that Ameer made the o-line look pretty good last year, with the runs he was able to make. Ameer was able to make the first guy miss so many times last year, especially when there was penetration in the back field. There simply isn't that type of talent at RB this year, which will make the O-line better. Due to that fact, Sam sees the offense struggling.

Ameer also was at the top or near the top in the country in yards before contact.

I did not know that. Very interesting. Kind of blows that argument away.

I understand that Ameer's stats may blow that argument out of the water, but how much of that was due to play call or play design? I'm not trying to discredit the o-line, but it has more to do with the "eye test" of watching the games. In the big games, the o-line struggled mightily.

Unpossible. Beck was awful. At least, that's what I've been told.

Sometimes he was.

I can tell you this much, I'm glad he's no longer our problem.

 

[Tomhusker64]

There wasn't top 15 coaching on the team last year. I think he is a pessimist.

 

[BigRedBuster]

I listened to the McKewon-Nyatawa podcast from last week. The big reason for Sam's concerns on offense relates to the O-line. Other than Alex Lewis there is not much experience in the guys who are projected in starting. Sam said that Ameer made the o-line look pretty good last year, with the runs he was able to make. Ameer was able to make the first guy miss so many times last year, especially when there was penetration in the back field. There simply isn't that type of talent at RB this year, which will make the O-line better. Due to that fact, Sam sees the offense struggling.

Ameer also was at the top or near the top in the country in yards before contact.

Link?

Also, does being towards the top in yards before contact mean Ameer Abdullah was extremely elusive, or that our offensive line was good?

I watched the games, I can tell you which of those two I would say......

I don't have a link. I remember it being mentioned in games later in the season.

I personally think it's a lot of both. AA was really good. No question about that. However, our O line wasn't bad at run blocking. They had their issues with pass pro at times and the entire cluster f*** that was most of the MSU game. But, at run blocking they were pretty good.

Sorry, you don't rack up the stats like we did last year even if AA is as good as he was without a decent run blocking O line.

 

[Landlord]

I listened to the McKewon-Nyatawa podcast from last week. The big reason for Sam's concerns on offense relates to the O-line. Other than Alex Lewis there is not much experience in the guys who are projected in starting. Sam said that Ameer made the o-line look pretty good last year, with the runs he was able to make. Ameer was able to make the first guy miss so many times last year, especially when there was penetration in the back field. There simply isn't that type of talent at RB this year, which will make the O-line better. Due to that fact, Sam sees the offense struggling.

Ameer also was at the top or near the top in the country in yards before contact.

Link?

Also, does being towards the top in yards before contact mean Ameer Abdullah was extremely elusive, or that our offensive line was good?

I watched the games, I can tell you which of those two I would say......

I don't have a link. I remember it being mentioned in games later in the season.

I personally think it's a lot of both. AA was really good. No question about that. However, our O line wasn't bad at run blocking. They had their issues with pass pro at times and the entire cluster f*** that was most of the MSU game. But, at run blocking they were pretty good.

Sorry, you don't rack up the stats like we did last year even if AA is as good as he was without a decent run blocking O line.

Before the MSU game Ameer was #1 in the country in yards before first contact. Also remember hearing about it during broadcasts as late as week 10/11.

 

[NUinID]

I listened to the McKewon-Nyatawa podcast from last week. The big reason for Sam's concerns on offense relates to the O-line. Other than Alex Lewis there is not much experience in the guys who are projected in starting. Sam said that Ameer made the o-line look pretty good last year, with the runs he was able to make. Ameer was able to make the first guy miss so many times last year, especially when there was penetration in the back field. There simply isn't that type of talent at RB this year, which will make the O-line better. Due to that fact, Sam sees the offense struggling.

He's exactly right.

Really?

I don't know if this is against board policy to link to another board but this is an article from a very well respected elevator of talent. He thinks the line will be better than last year. He sees it as addiction by subtraction.

http://forum.huskermax.com/vbbs/content.php?933-Pernell-Nebraska-Position-Preview-Offensive-Line

 

[Enhance]

These threads are silly. This is like me creating everytime Sipple writes and article. "is Sipple being too optimistic?"

They are media, not fortune tellers and movers of the earth.

True, but Sam typically is the voice of reason and sanity in a sea of media hellbent on using knee-jerk reactions, snap judgements, and creating mountains out of molehills to sell papers.

To hear Sam say this is a 6-6 squad should rightfully put people on edge.

Sam is just very clearly in a wait-and-see mode with this team, and I'm fine with that. He has good reasons for thinking the way he does. People may not agree with his conclusions, but, he usually outlines why he feels the way he feels and has fair arguments. I also wouldn't get too worked up about the 6-6 thing, personally. All he's saying is it COULD happen in a different divison and, in fairness, the Pac 12 South is a better division than the B1G West. There's just a lot of hypotheticals there, and with actual games less than a week away, I'd say now is the best time for everybody to just reel it in a bit and look forward to seeing some football again. Let the chips fall where they may.

In terms of the o-line, I think it's fair to say that Nebraska's o-line has been "decent" at run-blocking, but decent doesn't win championships. Decent to me is OK or borderline average. The line often struggled against good teams to the point that we'd have to try and play catch-up sometimes (MSU '14 is a good example). Sure, you'll say 'well, duh, of course they'll struggle against a good defense.' That's true. But, it needed to be better than it was.

And, just about every analyst I've listened to over the last few years has said the line is average to above average. Very few times, if ever, have I heard someone say Nebraska had a really good or great offensive line.