Fowler's take

[Army_Allen]

As long as you aren't blaming Tmart for either of those as one was the wr breaking the wrong way and the other play shouldn't have been called and should have been blown dead.

They go on TMart in the stat book. I agree with what EZ-E posted.....Cross should have carried that ball on the 4th and 1. Here's what I will say about TMart.....if I had my preference, I'd rather someone else had the ball. At this point I don't care who's "fault" it is, but TMart has a knack for the ball leaving his hands and ending up in the hands of the opponent more times than we need it to.

Oh I agree 100% that the playcall was horrendous (his shoulder was hurting which has to affect his ability to hold the ball, Cross never falling backwards), but it also should have been whistled.

 

[I am I]

i thought the fake FG were the callahan era. maybe that's why Bo doesn't call em anymore, cuz it failed him... haha.

but yeah, opening up the playbook, mixing in some trickery against lesser foes, just plain having some fun out there...even if it doesn't work, i'm kinda like, "hang it out there, smoke em if you got em"...make opponents prepare and fear that if they don't stay home or at any given moment, we couldpossiblymaybesomehow flick one across the field for a momentum swing or a big play.

to the Martinez 4th and 1,

i thought when we got the ball back up 16 we actually would see TA in the game. WYO was gassed! Run Cross and Newby for a few first downs, even a score maybe. TM was obviously in pain, if not hurt. We slam it home with mulitple runs (certainly not call a pass on their 17 w TA in the game) and score or punt. Completely deflate them and get some action for the backup. If we punt or whatever, we don't allow them the momentum swing of our 1st team QB to throw a pick and let em back in the game. I think we got the ball back w about 11 min in the game, completely in control and could've just slammed it home, which we were doing anyway until TM threw the pic, does Beck call a pass with TA in the game? No, we just put it away.

We don't get cute with trickeration, why get cute throwing the ball in the red zone? Hopefully Beck and Bo NEVER EVER let off the gas for the next 20 yrs. Down the ball at the 10 yd line up 44-21 with 50 secs to go rather than get cute in the red zone.

 

[Husker_x]

I thought the game came down to a couple of extremely stupid play calls and a Wyoming team that didn't know the meaning of the word "quit." Imani Cross > Injured Taylor Martinez on a 4th and inches play. Field goal > Martinez interception when we're already up 18.

Fowler's post was great. We do not have the experience to overlook teams, and we are not doing ourselves any favors by being secretive. I'd rather the team practices the full playbook against mediocre opponents and gains experience than tries to unleash a wave of new concepts against comparable talent.

I really don't care how many yards this defense gives up in September. If we beat UCLA by 1/2 a point, I'm satisfied. The best we can hope for is that the Wyoming game is a wakeup call and a series of quality teaching moments. Now the first game is done, the first-game jitters are worked out. Next week should be a cake walk, and yeah, UCLA should be circled on our calendar.

 

[EZ-E]

As long as you aren't blaming Tmart for either of those as one was the wr breaking the wrong way and the other play shouldn't have been called and should have been blown dead.

They go on TMart in the stat book. I agree with what EZ-E posted.....Cross should have carried that ball on the 4th and 1. Here's what I will say about TMart.....if I had my preference, I'd rather someone else had the ball. At this point I don't care who's "fault" it is, but TMart has a knack for the ball leaving his hands and ending up in the hands of the opponent more times than we need it to.

Oh I agree 100% that the playcall was horrendous (his shoulder was hurting which has to affect his ability to hold the ball, Cross never falling backwards), but it also should have been whistled.

It was the worst Tim Beck called game I've witnessed. I like TB as an OC and think he's good at what he does. But the swing play to Cross and even the zone read to him that worked on 3rd and 7 were huge head scratchers.

Had we lined up Cross in the backfield and done a HARD play action fake to him on 4th and 1 TM probably could have bootlegged into the end zone.

 

[Enhance]

IMO you run your offense full speed, full attack all game. The only thing you ever change is who is executing it. If you get up big, you substitute the backups. But, I don't see the point of limiting your best players or your offense for the sake of being secretive. Nothing wrong with throwing some wrinkles in here or there, of course.

 

[Warrior10]

We almost lost this game trying to be too secretive. It's going to cost Bo his job if he does this much more. It's just plain stupid.

If we almost lost this game from anything it was turnovers that cost us points and gave possession back to Wyoming. Pelini is not in danger of losing his job, nor should we want that to happen. We came close to running off Osborne and running off Solich cost us a bowl streak.....and a whole lot more.

It costed us/ended a dynasty. But I'll save that argument for another time.

 

[VA Husker Fan]

i was expecting chris fowler's take on this.

I was too, and was cringing when I opened the thread. This was a lot better.

 

[Count 'Bility]

Bo tried to fake a punt against Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship in 2010, but OU snuffed it out and called a timeout before the snap.

I agree with a lot of what you said, Fowler. What pisses me off the most is it seemed like these coaches felt they could beat Wyoming with the absolute basics, and they clearly can't - or can, just barely.

We simply cannot take teams for granted, AT ALL. Not South Dakota State, not Wyoming, not anybody. We have to run our offense, every play in it, from day one. If future opponents get film on what we're doing, whatever. Throw the whole playbook at the non-con schedule and make future opponents practice for EVERYTHING.

We almost lost this game trying to be too secretive. It's going to cost Bo his job if he does this much more. It's just plain stupid.

While I dont disagree with. I really do wish we'd just come out guns a blazin, end the game early and call it a day, one really cant argue that this conservative or basic plan was about to produce a 20+ point win until the guys made one little mistake. It's just a sitution where the last 6 minute flurry of ridiculous bs (Wyoming produced nearly 200 of their yards on those last six minutes) is overshadowing an entire body of work in where the team played pretty decent football, especially in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

But yeah, I'm still dreaming of the day that we just come out and crush these teams.

 

[TheSker]

As long as you aren't blaming Tmart for either of those as one was the wr breaking the wrong way and the other play shouldn't have been called and should have been blown dead.

Interesting quote from Rich Fisher (seems to me Fisher is defending his guy without specifically calling Martinez out)......"Fisher said. “Burtch was fine. He ran the right route. I wouldn’t say it’s on anybody. Burtch did the right thing.”"

 

[huskered17]

I said the same thing last year. You run Cross in short yardage situations. I can't recall him ever losing a yard, when he runs straight ahead. He didn't get enough touches doing that last year, and in my opinion it cost us a game, and it almost did again. GBR!!!

 

[NUinID]

Bo tried to fake a punt against Oklahoma in the Big 12 Championship in 2010, but OU snuffed it out and called a timeout before the snap.

I agree with a lot of what you said, Fowler. What pisses me off the most is it seemed like these coaches felt they could beat Wyoming with the absolute basics, and they clearly can't - or can, just barely.

We simply cannot take teams for granted, AT ALL. Not South Dakota State, not Wyoming, not anybody. We have to run our offense, every play in it, from day one. If future opponents get film on what we're doing, whatever. Throw the whole playbook at the non-con schedule and make future opponents practice for EVERYTHING.

We almost lost this game trying to be too secretive. It's going to cost Bo his job if he does this much more. It's just plain stupid.

While I dont disagree with. I really do wish we'd just come out guns a blazin, end the game early and call it a day, one really cant argue that this conservative or basic plan was about to produce a 20+ point win until the guys made one little mistake. It's just a sitution where the last 6 minute flurry of ridiculous bs (Wyoming produced nearly 200 of their yards on those last six minutes) is overshadowing an entire body of work in where the team played pretty decent football, especially in the 2nd and 3rd quarters.

But yeah, I'm still dreaming of the day that we just come out and crush these teams.

Account, I agree. TM doesn't throw the INT and we kick a FG the game is over. We are up by 20 at that point. The defense played a lot better ball in the second half only gave up like 65/70 yards rushing. Tackling was poor at some points.

The thing that makes me feel better is listening to BP after the game. He really was confident they will make a big jump between this game and S.Miss.

 

[Landlord]

Re: fakes and trickery under Bo:

In 2008, with Watson as OC, we ran fake field goals ala the LSU holder tosses it over his head play against Kansas and Colorado, the latter being "intercepted". We also ran a fake field goal pass against Texas Tech where Jake Wesch passed it to McNeill who was down at the 1. There was a quarterback throwback with Lucky to Ganz against Western Kentucky as well.

Don't recall any in 2009.

In 2010 Henery had his run on a punt against Okie State (possibly look for this this eason - Sam Foltz is a really athletic kid), and we tried a fake punt against Oklahoma that Stoops stopped with a timeout. I don't know if you count wildcat stuff or not, but there was the play where Burkhead tried going deep to Martinez, and he also had a few halfback passes that were out of normal sets.

 

[RedDenver]

IMO you run your offense full speed, full attack all game. The only thing you ever change is who is executing it. If you get up big, you substitute the backups. But, I don't see the point of limiting your best players or your offense for the sake of being secretive. Nothing wrong with throwing some wrinkles in here or there, of course.

I agree completely with this. I've mentioned in several threads that the "vanilla" game plan and secretive coaching just drives me crazy.

 

[TheSker]

IMO you run your offense full speed, full attack all game. The only thing you ever change is who is executing it. If you get up big, you substitute the backups. But, I don't see the point of limiting your best players or your offense for the sake of being secretive. Nothing wrong with throwing some wrinkles in here or there, of course.

I agree completely with this. I've mentioned in several threads that the "vanilla" game plan and secretive coaching just drives me crazy.

I'm not sure what all this "secretive" stuff is about. We came out in the second half and ran the ball very well. Beck stuck with that until the Martinez INT. We probably should have stuck with our ground game at that point, but I wouldn't call anything about our offense "secretive". It's widely known we have a lot of offensive weapons......and it's widely known we are quite capable of turning the ball over.

 

[RedDenver]

IMO you run your offense full speed, full attack all game. The only thing you ever change is who is executing it. If you get up big, you substitute the backups. But, I don't see the point of limiting your best players or your offense for the sake of being secretive. Nothing wrong with throwing some wrinkles in here or there, of course.

I agree completely with this. I've mentioned in several threads that the "vanilla" game plan and secretive coaching just drives me crazy.

I'm not sure what all this "secretive" stuff is about. We came out in the second half and ran the ball very well. Beck stuck with that until the Martinez INT. We probably should have stuck with our ground game at that point, but I wouldn't call anything about our offense "secretive". It's widely known we have a lot of offensive weapons......and it's widely known we are quite capable of turning the ball over.

It seems the game plans are very "vanilla". It's mostly speculation, but reason seems to point to saving things for future opponents, aka being "secretive".

This game the O seemed to use basic run plays (many times over and over the same play) and didn't throw a pass more than 15 yards down field. Why?