For Watson Supporters

[carlfense]

The primary difference being that Watson is not Osborne and that Osborne's record gave him the right to call "cute" plays when he wanted to do so.

Yeah, but Osborne took a lot of heat for his play calling during those first 20 seasons when he didn't win a national championship.

It was before the internet, but second guessing the coach has always been our national pastime.

Maybe so . . . but how many games a year was he winning in those non-championship seasons? Apparently our standards have been lowered considerably. Just an observation.

Osborne was winning 9 games a season. And fans were complaining because he was often outcoached in the big games and the rap was that the Husker offense was too predictible.

If our standard is winning three national championships in four years, yes, our standards have been lowered considerably. If our standards are a return to respectibility in an NCAA that boasts more competitive football programs than ever, this is exactly the track we are on. We are currently ranked #6 in a Top 25 littered with talented offenses that sputtered and underperformed in the first two games of the season. And people are talking about the crazy talented freshmen we're starting at qb, a kid who is guaranteed to make awesome plays and hair-pulling mistakes. I don't know what's going to happen next but I'd rank it as the most exciting season in years.

I forget. What were you guys complaining about again?

Winning 9 games a season (at least!) in seasons with fewer games. And generally doing so with offensive production that wasn't ranked among the worst in the country.

I've said it before . . . I hope I'm wrong about Watson but I will NOT be sad to see him move on.

 

[kansas husker]

The primary difference being that Watson is not Osborne and that Osborne's record gave him the right to call "cute" plays when he wanted to do so.

Yeah, but Osborne took a lot of heat for his play calling during those first 20 seasons when he didn't win a national championship.

It was before the internet, but second guessing the coach has always been our national pastime.

Maybe so . . . but how many games a year was he winning in those non-championship seasons? Apparently our standards have been lowered considerably. Just an observation.

Exactly.

Also, for his five years as OC for Devaney & 25 years as being the "real" OC as HC, how many years did he have an offense even remotely as bad as last year?

If your trying to make the point that osbornes offense was better than Watson's gongratulations you are correct. I would like to flip the coin in the first two games the team has rushed for 287 and 360 yards respectively. How much more would you like, do you expect 500 rush yards. Seriously what could he do to show you that he is a good oc. It obviously isnt enough to have t.o.'s backing, it isnt enough to have been Saben's first choice. What will it take to get the support of husker nation. Other than pulling the crap he did last week in which he ran on to the field and fumbled 8 timies, and tricked cotton and henry into commiting stupid penalties

Well, the NFL Vikings wanted COZ so I guess we should have kept him too. Putting N. Paul (the human fumble machine) at "qb" was something I really doubt TO would do. Especially as we already have greased lightning there with Tmart. Oh heck, I could go on forever.....but we're probably not going to change each other's mind, right?

I'll leave it at this.....I honestly REALLY hope you're correct and he'll become a great OC. He's got some serious tools to work with this year in Roy/Rex/Tmart/etc.

Lastly, I LOVE those running numbers bigtime. Kudos to SW for them. However, having a putrid power game (at best) is a very, very serious problem. Laugh it off if you want (which you'll surely do) but getting stuffed by bloody "Idaho" on 4th & 1 and 3rd & 2 is pretty downright ugly. Now if that's on Barney or SW I really don't know. But it doesn't look good.

I'm only going to comment on the bolded part, as for wats we will have to agree to disagree. I'm concerned with the lack of power game too, I watched a video blog with sipple and he made an interesting point. The splits are much smaller in "power" situations and it may be the cause for the lack of runnig lanes or gaps. At midfiled the splits betweeen linemen are huge and look at them on the 4th and 1 or on trey's fumble from the 4 almost toe to toe. Not sure how to remedy it just something that maybe accounts for the lack of a power game.

 

[Enhance]

My only problem with Watson is this: if it is going to take guys till their Junior or Senior season to excel in the offense (like it took Ganz), then something needs to be revamped. Thankfully, having a running quarterback gives you the option to slowly ease him in to the passing game.

 

[Husker Z]

My only problem with Watson is this: if it is going to take guys till their Junior or Senior season to excel in the offense (like it took Ganz), then something needs to be revamped. Thankfully, having a running quarterback gives you the option to slowly ease him in to the passing game.

I think you'll see/have seen that gradually change since Callahan left. Pelini came in here to fix our D, which he has done. I FULLY expect him to turn a lot of his attention to the offense now, so we'll see what happens.

One thing I do strongly believe is that these coaches have a VERY tight bond and are all very much on the same page, which goes a long ways, more than people think!

 

[sd'sker]

My only problem with Watson is this: if it is going to take guys till their Junior or Senior season to excel in the offense (like it took Ganz), then something needs to be revamped. Thankfully, having a running quarterback gives you the option to slowly ease him in to the passing game.

I think you'll see/have seen that gradually change since Callahan left. Pelini came in here to fix our D, which he has done. I FULLY expect him to turn a lot of his attention to the offense now, so we'll see what happens.

One thing I do strongly believe is that these coaches have a VERY tight bond and are all very much on the same page, which goes a long ways, more than people think!

on thing i have been wondering about, who wanted t-mart to start. was it mutual, or did one coach favor one guy and the other favored another, and then who made the final call. i know it is just speculation and it really does not matter. it was probably mutually decided on, but the politics of a coaching staff intrigues me.

 

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

My only problem with Watson is this: if it is going to take guys till their Junior or Senior season to excel in the offense (like it took Ganz), then something needs to be revamped. Thankfully, having a running quarterback gives you the option to slowly ease him in to the passing game.

I don't think that's entirely Wats' fault. Remember who his boss was and wanted to call most of the plays. When he finally let up on the reins a little and started allowing Wats' to do his job, Ganz started to really excel.

 

[zoogs]

My only problem with Watson is this: if it is going to take guys till their Junior or Senior season to excel in the offense (like it took Ganz), then something needs to be revamped. Thankfully, having a running quarterback gives you the option to slowly ease him in to the passing game.

I don't think that's entirely Wats' fault. Remember who his boss was and wanted to call most of the plays. When he finally let up on the reins a little and started allowing Wats' to do his job, Ganz started to really excel.

I don't think that is the case either. I think it's on Ganz really turning it on his sophomore and especially going into his junior year (with the battle against Keller) and senior year.

This isn't an issue with the system: it just takes a lot, mentally, to be a quarterback in a college program. A world of difference from high school and that's why all but the best are ready. Things like pre-snap reads, reading defenses, being able to go through progressions...those can take time for most to absorb and when you stick in a freshman, you do so with the knowledge that you have to limit certain areas of your game. A QB with speed could offset that liability to an extent, but not nearly completely (JMO). The more time and QB and smarts a QB has, the more equipped they are to be a QB in any system, IMO.

It usually means guys that have spent years in the program, but not always (Zac Taylor, Taylor Martinez...)

 

[Husker Z]

My only problem with Watson is this: if it is going to take guys till their Junior or Senior season to excel in the offense (like it took Ganz), then something needs to be revamped. Thankfully, having a running quarterback gives you the option to slowly ease him in to the passing game.

I think you'll see/have seen that gradually change since Callahan left. Pelini came in here to fix our D, which he has done. I FULLY expect him to turn a lot of his attention to the offense now, so we'll see what happens.

One thing I do strongly believe is that these coaches have a VERY tight bond and are all very much on the same page, which goes a long ways, more than people think!

on thing i have been wondering about, who wanted t-mart to start. was it mutual, or did one coach favor one guy and the other favored another, and then who made the final call. i know it is just speculation and it really does not matter. it was probably mutually decided on, but the politics of a coaching staff intrigues me.

Well, what ended up coming out publicly, which we know isn't always the truth, is that Watson made the call, but Bo had to agree with it, and they both wanted TM to start.

 

[mnhusker]

None of it. It's all terrible. We should hire Kevin Cosgrove to run the offense, he obviously knows how to exploit defenses.

Great Post :laughpound

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

Winning 9 games a season (at least!) in seasons with fewer games. And generally doing so with offensive production that wasn't ranked among the worst in the country.

I've said it before . . . I hope I'm wrong about Watson but I will NOT be sad to see him move on.

Yeah, last year's offense was one of the worst in the country. And the year before that, it was one of the best in the country. And the year before that it was pretty exciting too, but unable to cover the 50 points the defense was spotting every opponent. Same offensive coordinator. The one both Bo Pelini and Tom Osborne wanted to keep.

What happened last year? One quarterback got injured. Another was too green to start. And so it fell to Zac Lee, who word has it always looked better in practice than he did on game day. The offensive line was being retooled. And then suddenly the OC didn't have Quentin Castile, Roy Helu and Rex Burkhead to work with. Husker nation was screaming for Cody Green. And then they weren't. It was a perfect sh#tstorm, but it wasn't just about the playcalling. It's interesting: against Texas Tech the entire team came out flat. Against Iowa State the offensive scheme was fine, but 8 fumbles killed it, and again the players seemed out of sorts. On most teams you'd question the head coach about not getting his team's head in the game. That's what head coaches do. Bo coaches the whole team. But Husker fans, being so vested in Bo Pelini, figured they had to blame the lone Callahan hold-over.

With three extra weeks and healthy players, Watson hung 33 points on a highly touted Arizona defense. I'm gonna root for him to succeed. Come join me.

 

[HuskerNCo]

Winning 9 games a season (at least!) in seasons with fewer games. And generally doing so with offensive production that wasn't ranked among the worst in the country.

I've said it before . . . I hope I'm wrong about Watson but I will NOT be sad to see him move on.

Yeah, last year's offense was one of the worst in the country. And the year before that, it was one of the best in the country. And the year before that it was pretty exciting too, but unable to cover the 50 points the defense was spotting every opponent. Same offensive coordinator. The one both Bo Pelini and Tom Osborne wanted to keep.

What happened last year? One quarterback got injured. Another was too green to start. And so it fell to Zac Lee, who word has it always looked better in practice than he did on game day. The offensive line was being retooled. And then suddenly the OC didn't have Quentin Castile, Roy Helu and Rex Burkhead to work with. Husker nation was screaming for Cody Green. And then they weren't. It was a perfect sh#tstorm, but it wasn't just about the playcalling. It's interesting: against Texas Tech the entire team came out flat. Against Iowa State the offensive scheme was fine, but 8 fumbles killed it, and again the players seemed out of sorts. On most teams you'd question the head coach about not getting his team's head in the game. That's what head coaches do. Bo coaches the whole team. But Husker fans, being so vested in Bo Pelini, figured they had to blame the lone Callahan hold-over.

With three extra weeks and healthy players, Watson hung 33 points on a highly touted Arizona defense. I'm gonna root for him to succeed. Come join me.

You speak the truth and I'm with you. Go Big red!!

 

[bshirt]

Winning 9 games a season (at least!) in seasons with fewer games. And generally doing so with offensive production that wasn't ranked among the worst in the country.

I've said it before . . . I hope I'm wrong about Watson but I will NOT be sad to see him move on.

Yeah, last year's offense was one of the worst in the country. And the year before that, it was one of the best in the country. And the year before that it was pretty exciting too, but unable to cover the 50 points the defense was spotting every opponent. Same offensive coordinator. The one both Bo Pelini and Tom Osborne wanted to keep.

What happened last year? One quarterback got injured. Another was too green to start. And so it fell to Zac Lee, who word has it always looked better in practice than he did on game day. The offensive line was being retooled. And then suddenly the OC didn't have Quentin Castile, Roy Helu and Rex Burkhead to work with. Husker nation was screaming for Cody Green. And then they weren't. It was a perfect sh#tstorm, but it wasn't just about the playcalling. It's interesting: against Texas Tech the entire team came out flat. Against Iowa State the offensive scheme was fine, but 8 fumbles killed it, and again the players seemed out of sorts. On most teams you'd question the head coach about not getting his team's head in the game. That's what head coaches do. Bo coaches the whole team. But Husker fans, being so vested in Bo Pelini, figured they had to blame the lone Callahan hold-over.

With three extra weeks and healthy players, Watson hung 33 points on a highly touted Arizona defense. I'm gonna root for him to succeed. Come join me.

That 2007 offense got a huge chunk of their numbers due to garbage time pts/yds allowed when we were down 3 to 5 tds which sadly happened a lot. Not to mention it getting totally stuffed by Missouri (6 pts), Okie St (14 pts) & TAM (14 pts). Teams like USC could have beat us 80 - 7 if they were inclined.

The 2008 season was a vast offensive improvement over 2007 but still inept vs good teams. OU had us down 35 - 0 in the 1st qtr before calling off the dogs (28 garbage pts for us as OU sleep walked for yet another 27 pts). Missouri had us down 52 - 10 going into the 4th. We got a garbage TD vs their waterboys. Still a nice improvement though.

2009.....well.....

2010 shows the "potential" for a real offense with an explosive qb and two blue chip rbs. Here's hoping!

 

[GHOST]

I'll give him his love if he runs the direct snap to roy and burkhead. Ohh and the qb has to be in the backfield also lol. I dont think you see alotta teams do that any more. But after watching the kansas state game when they played UCLA few weeks back it wouldnt surprise me if they did that. A triple stacked I formation wouldnt be a bad thing. It seems like roy is a little bit faster then last year. He put some moves on idaho thoe moves I've never see him make. All i knoe is I like what i see so far. Only thing I can cry about is NILES fumble problems. Sure would like to see henery more this season I think hes a bigger play maker waitin to happen then paul is. I just hope they dont run the wild cat with niles again that was just stupid lol I wouldnt run the wild cat again for a while if it was me chuckleshuffle

 

[Danimal]

Wats has frustrated me at times but we had considerable injury-problems. Lee played most of the season injured. All of our O-line was banged-up. We lost Castille preseason, Burkhead broke his foot, and Helu should've been sitting for weeks after the Mizzou game. We didn't have many lost starts but we trotted-out a lot of walking wounded that would've sat if we had any depth. IMO Wats gets the benefit of the doubt for '09. This is the year he gets judged on.