ESPN B1G Blog: Three questions for 2017- Nebraska Cornhuskers

[Saunders]

There was something very familiar about Nebraska's 2016 season.

The Cornhuskers were in the running for the Big Ten West Division title until the final weekend. But they also got blown out in two of their biggest games (Ohio State and Iowa) and lost the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl game to Tennessee by two touchdowns.

The final tally was 9-4 ... which was basically the same record Bo Pelini put up every single year before he got fired. Of course, it sure beats last year's 6-7 mark in Mike Riley's debut season.

Is Nebraska forever destined to have four-loss seasons and come up short in the conference race? Or can Riley get this team to the next level? The answers to those questions depend largely on how they answer the following three queries in the 2017 offseason.

http://www.espn.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/140631/three-questions-for-2017-nebraska-cornhuskers

 

[VectorVictor]

#3 is what I'm worried about the most, because a strong running game impacts not just our offensive versatility, but helps the defense as well (eats time off clock, limits potential offensive plays from other team). Last time we tried a passing-first defense, the running game was left to the side, and ultimately teams that we should have been in a close battle with ended up curb-stomping us, or losses were exacerbated because of a pass-first mentality (see tOSU this year and second quarter/half play selection post-Tommy injury). If we aren't able to upgrade our DL significantly for next season, then a strong running game is a MUST in order to even come close to having success.

Problem is, based on the past two seasons, it doesn't seem as though Langsdorf has the chops to implement a basic, yet consistent running game and stick with it. I hope this proves to be wrong this season...but if it isn't, we're not going to sniff the Division title, and likely not even sniff north of 9 wins...which, I suppose if that were the case, it means we'll be flight tracking and talking to socks again.

 

[B.B. Hemingway]

I'll be curious to see what Riley does in 2018 if Banker, and Cavanaugh don't fix their respective situations in 2017.

 

[VectorVictor]

I'll be curious to see what Riley does in 2018 if Banker, and Cavanaugh don't fix their respective situations in 2017.

If they don't, there's little chance we get to nine wins, especially with Wisky, tOSU, Penn State, Oregon, and Arkansas State on the schedule. At that point, I don't think Riley gets a chance to fix the situation, because the situation will fix him instead.

 

[B.B. Hemingway]

I'll be curious to see what Riley does in 2018 if Banker, and Cavanaugh don't fix their respective situations in 2017.

If they don't, there's little chance we get to nine wins, especially with Wisky, tOSU, Penn State, Oregon, and Arkansas State on the schedule. At that point, I don't think Riley gets a chance to fix the situation, because the situation will fix him instead.

If Eichorst is still the AD, I don't see him letting Riley go after 3 years. He seems to really believe in him.

 

[VectorVictor]

I'll be curious to see what Riley does in 2018 if Banker, and Cavanaugh don't fix their respective situations in 2017.

If they don't, there's little chance we get to nine wins, especially with Wisky, tOSU, Penn State, Oregon, and Arkansas State on the schedule. At that point, I don't think Riley gets a chance to fix the situation, because the situation will fix him instead.

If Eichorst is still the AD, I don't see him letting Riley go after 3 years. He seems to really believe in him.

Of course he does, considering he didn't bother to interview any other coaches for the job.

Eichorst hitched his wagon to Riley by doing this--had there been a legitimate search by Eichorst, then people may be more inclined to separate the AD from the (football) hire.

 

[knapplc]

Eichorst kicked the tires on several coaches before hiring Riley. Don't lets kid ourselves on that.

If I had to put a date on it, I'd say Eichorst's coaching search began November 30th, 2013. He had plenty of time to "chat" with other candidates.

 

[B.B. Hemingway]

Eichorst kicked the tires on several coaches before hiring Riley. Don't lets kid ourselves on that.

If I had to put a date on it, I'd say Eichorst's coaching search began November 30th, 2013. He had plenty of time to "chat" with other candidates.

Exactly. From what we know of Eichorst, he is a measured individual, and impulse decisions wouldn't seem to fit his style.

And Bo REALLY didn't fit into his leadership vision.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

Eichorst kicked the tires on several coaches before hiring Riley. Don't lets kid ourselves on that.If I had to put a date on it, I'd say Eichorst's coaching search began November 30th, 2013. He had plenty of time to "chat" with other candidates.

I have to hope this isn't true...

 

[SuperBigFan69]

Eichorst kicked the tires on several coaches before hiring Riley. Don't lets kid ourselves on that.

If I had to put a date on it, I'd say Eichorst's coaching search began November 30th, 2013. He had plenty of time to "chat" with other candidates.

Exactly. From what we know of Eichorst, he is a measured individual, and impulse decisions wouldn't seem to fit his style.

And Bo REALLY didn't fit into his leadership vision.

It wasn't impulsive, he said he wanted to hire Riley at South Carolina like 10 years ago when he was an asst AD.

 

[VectorVictor]

Eichorst kicked the tires on several coaches before hiring Riley. Don't lets kid ourselves on that.

If I had to put a date on it, I'd say Eichorst's coaching search began November 30th, 2013. He had plenty of time to "chat" with other candidates.

Exactly. From what we know of Eichorst, he is a measured individual, and impulse decisions wouldn't seem to fit his style.

And Bo REALLY didn't fit into his leadership vision.

It wasn't impulsive, he said he wanted to hire Riley at South Carolina like 10 years ago when he was an asst AD.

And while I don't believe tunnel vision is a hallmark of impulsive decision making, it isn't known to be a successful trait in an AD, either.

And since I said Tunnel Vision, here's a random Tunnel Vision throwback to Oklahoma 2009, because...reasons?:

 

[Thanks_Tom RR]

#3 is what I'm worried about the most, because a strong running game impacts not just our offensive versatility, but helps the defense as well (eats time off clock, limits potential offensive plays from other team). Last time we tried a passing-first defense, the running game was left to the side, and ultimately teams that we should have been in a close battle with ended up curb-stomping us, or losses were exacerbated because of a pass-first mentality (see tOSU this year and second quarter/half play selection post-Tommy injury). If we aren't able to upgrade our DL significantly for next season, then a strong running game is a MUST in order to even come close to having success.

Problem is, based on the past two seasons, it doesn't seem as though Langsdorf has the chops to implement a basic, yet consistent running game and stick with it. I hope this proves to be wrong this season...but if it isn't, we're not going to sniff the Division title, and likely not even sniff north of 9 wins...which, I suppose if that were the case, it means we'll be flight tracking and talking to socks again.

This guy talks about the running game and does not even mention the need to get better on the OL, particularly from guard to guard? When Nebraska plays a team like Tennessee, I think you should expect they will be out-gunned in the skills position and on the edge, but if they were solid at the Guard-Center-Guard, you would have an offense that could dictate tempo with the run game.

 

[VectorVictor]

#3 is what I'm worried about the most, because a strong running game impacts not just our offensive versatility, but helps the defense as well (eats time off clock, limits potential offensive plays from other team). Last time we tried a passing-first defense, the running game was left to the side, and ultimately teams that we should have been in a close battle with ended up curb-stomping us, or losses were exacerbated because of a pass-first mentality (see tOSU this year and second quarter/half play selection post-Tommy injury). If we aren't able to upgrade our DL significantly for next season, then a strong running game is a MUST in order to even come close to having success.

Problem is, based on the past two seasons, it doesn't seem as though Langsdorf has the chops to implement a basic, yet consistent running game and stick with it. I hope this proves to be wrong this season...but if it isn't, we're not going to sniff the Division title, and likely not even sniff north of 9 wins...which, I suppose if that were the case, it means we'll be flight tracking and talking to socks again.

This guy talks about the running game and does not even mention the need to get better on the OL, particularly from guard to guard? When Nebraska plays a team like Tennessee, I think you should expect they will be out-gunned in the skills position and on the edge, but if they were solid at the Guard-Center-Guard, you would have an offense that could dictate tempo with the run game.

Supposedly we stockpiled talent via redshirt on the OL for 2017, which is why our 2016 OL made do as a walking MASH unit. Again, comes down to a coaching decision that had better pay dividends in 2017. IIRC, we should see a significant improvement in at least three of the five positions on the OL in 2017.

But if you're referring to 2016 and running the ball, then I ask why we didn't employ a FB to help block/change tempo when our OL wasn't up to snuff this season? How many times did we see FB play out of this offense this year?

 

[GBRFAN]

Maybe we didn't have a FB on the roster that was going to help much - We will see what happens with a FB that was recruited and plays at a high level.

 

[GBRFAN]

Nice article..... I liked the part about Nathan Gerry "graduated" - Writer must have missed the part about needing to go to class to graduate.