junior4949
All-American
Rivals has our 2010 total offense at #28. So, you're basically saying you hope our offense is as good in 2012 as is was in 2010?
How long do you give this new regime?
- Thread starter eoltmer
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junior4949
All-American
TO listens to the fans and boosters in general or just when he became AD? Fans and boosters were screaming for years for him to get rid of McBride.
zoogs
Assistant Coach
Now hold on there junior. Nothing could be worse than 2010.
Now I'm confused if newearth is really the negative one, or if he's the anti-negativity one...
for the first year, raising it a couple notches may be all that is reasonable....no one said we had to like it or shoot for less......we were willing to except some improved offensive line play last season, but i feel we didn't achieve that either....and damned if Cotton still isn't around......so??
kchusker_chris
All-American
You've thrown that number out in numerous threads (for the record we were #35 in total offense, #28 in scoring offense). Did you feel like our offense was good this year? K-State is #26 - did you feel they had a dominant offense when they hung 13 on us? Or how about Troy, San Diego State, Kentucky, Northern Illinois, Eastern Carolina? All ranked better than us? Since ranking is what matters to you maybe we should just take their offensive lineup and give them ours? Or how about Michigan State sitting at #39 yet they still went 11-2? The difference - consistency. 38/30/34/45/34/26/35/6/31/35/28/7.
Instead, NU hangs 50 on a few 100+ ranked defenses and lays an egg 5 times to plop themselves firmly at #28 and we have to listen to crap like this. I think it's pretty obvious to everyone on this board that our scoring offense ranking this year means about as much as a festering boil on an old ladies foot.
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zoogs
Assistant Coach
We may be in for a shock, because I suspect the trend of doing less well against better defenses may continue. Let's set a dividing point at the Missouri game where Taylor and Zac both got hurt, and look at overall play.
First 8 games: 37.875 points/game
Last 6 games: 23.5 points/game
Now the overall isn't as interesting because of the schedule at the beginning, vs the schedule at the end. Let's just look at the conference games, with the same dividing point of post-Missouri.
First 4 Conference Games: 35.75 points/game
Last 4 Conference Games: 25.5 points/game
Maybe we were playing cupcakes the first four games? Not really, that field included Texas - #6 in total defense at the end of October - and back-to-back matchups against seriously high ranked teams Oklahoma State and Missouri. The last four games had A&M, but along with Iowa State, Kansas, and Colorado. On average, the final rankings of the defenses we faced:
First 4 Conference Games: 48.5 (scoring), 61.75 (total) - Missouri finished 6th in scoring D; Texas finished 6th in total D
Last 4 Conference Games: 76 (scoring), 80.75 (total) - A&M had the top scoring defense at 34, and the top total defense at 55
We dropped 10 points in scoring average per game, all while facing defenses that were on average, significantly worse in both scoring and total defense. It is far too simplistic to say that we just couldn't handle top defenses. Any team does worse against better defenses. There is a clear inflection point in the performance of the offense this year, and it happened when we lost our top two QBs to injury. Whether that was the cause, or whether other factors contributed to a late-season meltdown...there was much more at work than our offense simply not being good on some fundamental, or schematic level.
Caveat in all this: we actually finished 44th with our bowl game in total offense, so a Top 30 offense will be an improvement.
Source: NCAA.org
First 8 games: 37.875 points/game
Last 6 games: 23.5 points/game
Now the overall isn't as interesting because of the schedule at the beginning, vs the schedule at the end. Let's just look at the conference games, with the same dividing point of post-Missouri.
First 4 Conference Games: 35.75 points/game
Last 4 Conference Games: 25.5 points/game
Maybe we were playing cupcakes the first four games? Not really, that field included Texas - #6 in total defense at the end of October - and back-to-back matchups against seriously high ranked teams Oklahoma State and Missouri. The last four games had A&M, but along with Iowa State, Kansas, and Colorado. On average, the final rankings of the defenses we faced:
First 4 Conference Games: 48.5 (scoring), 61.75 (total) - Missouri finished 6th in scoring D; Texas finished 6th in total D
Last 4 Conference Games: 76 (scoring), 80.75 (total) - A&M had the top scoring defense at 34, and the top total defense at 55
We dropped 10 points in scoring average per game, all while facing defenses that were on average, significantly worse in both scoring and total defense. It is far too simplistic to say that we just couldn't handle top defenses. Any team does worse against better defenses. There is a clear inflection point in the performance of the offense this year, and it happened when we lost our top two QBs to injury. Whether that was the cause, or whether other factors contributed to a late-season meltdown...there was much more at work than our offense simply not being good on some fundamental, or schematic level.
Caveat in all this: we actually finished 44th with our bowl game in total offense, so a Top 30 offense will be an improvement.
Source: NCAA.org
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kchusker_chris
All-American
One of the great mysteries of 2010 will be what in the hell happened to the MU defense when they played Nebraska. Haven't seen anything like it since...well, since they played us in 2008. 
I don't want to take away from our offense in that game...but I still can't accept the fact that it was a #6 defense we played on that day.
I know you want to put so much emphasis on the injury zoogies - and understandably so - but the OL went to crap those last 4 conference games as well. Maybe that was because they were being asked to pass block more? I don't know...but there was a parasite embeded into this offense the last half of the season that extended well beyond t-mart's ankle.
I don't want to take away from our offense in that game...but I still can't accept the fact that it was a #6 defense we played on that day.I know you want to put so much emphasis on the injury zoogies - and understandably so - but the OL went to crap those last 4 conference games as well. Maybe that was because they were being asked to pass block more? I don't know...but there was a parasite embeded into this offense the last half of the season that extended well beyond t-mart's ankle.
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zoogs
Assistant Coach
I see most games as a battle of coaching wits, which sets the tone for the game. But you still have to execute. Mental preparation, game (scheme) preparation, and execution are the three legs of the triangle IMO. The article I linked above that quoted Texas as having the #6 defense at the end of October was actually a pre-Missouri piece interviewing Watson and a pretty good read. It was just another one of the games earlier in the year where Shawn Watson ate the opposing DC for lunch. It talks about how he did it against Oklahoma State. One week later, against a tough defense, he switched the focus from both Taylor's arms and legs and pounded it straight at them.
There are some games where you just athletically outclass the opponent, but other games where you just bring a great gameplan and execute the hell out of it. We did that against Washington, Kansas St., Missouri, and Oklahoma State, and we did it in some very different ways. We had the gameplan part against Texas...but not the execution. We had Oklahoma early...and then completely fell apart in all three phases - mental focus, chess battle vs the OU DC, and execution.
Latter half, I really feel like being undermanned had a lot to do with it. Nagging OL injuries caught up too - Mike Caputo's injury is not really talked about, but he played through something nasty for much of the latter part of the year and we didn't have the depth behind him to replace him. Maybe there were other weird factors to explain the funk, but Watson suddenly losing half his brain cells - or half the support of the players - is one I'm not buying.
Definitely the great mystery of 2010.
There are some games where you just athletically outclass the opponent, but other games where you just bring a great gameplan and execute the hell out of it. We did that against Washington, Kansas St., Missouri, and Oklahoma State, and we did it in some very different ways. We had the gameplan part against Texas...but not the execution. We had Oklahoma early...and then completely fell apart in all three phases - mental focus, chess battle vs the OU DC, and execution.
Latter half, I really feel like being undermanned had a lot to do with it. Nagging OL injuries caught up too - Mike Caputo's injury is not really talked about, but he played through something nasty for much of the latter part of the year and we didn't have the depth behind him to replace him. Maybe there were other weird factors to explain the funk, but Watson suddenly losing half his brain cells - or half the support of the players - is one I'm not buying.
Definitely the great mystery of 2010.
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The Dude
Heisman Trophy Winner
He most certainly listens to the fans and boosters. Doesn't mean he'll do what he's told.
TemporarySaint
Three-Star Recruit
Barney Cotton hate isn't anything new here, so I won't dwell on it. However, some have argued (and I tend to agree with them) that the o-line play was spotty all year. It seemed to really be feast or famine, either huge gains with proper blocking or crash and burn. I don't remember an awful lot of sustained drives this past year and the overwhelming number of our tds came from 1. long runs from taylor 2. long runs by helu 3. bombs to Reed. Our line execution was iffy all year and a lot of this was covered up by Taylor's atheletic ability. Once he was injured it just further exaccerbated problems we'd had all year IMO.
EZ-E
All-American
Who knew John Papuchis or Mike Ekeler before Bo hired them? Not a damn sole on this board I am willing to wager. Both of these guys were taking their first paying gig.
Bo knows something that we don't and that I will garuntee.
I flat out love what we have going on in Lincoln and I am very excited about the new staff.
Bo knows something that we don't and that I will garuntee.
I flat out love what we have going on in Lincoln and I am very excited about the new staff.
The Dude
Heisman Trophy Winner
I'm a little less worried about Bo going out and getting guys off the street to fill defensive spots. As long as Bo's around, the D will be fine.
Asking Tim "Who's Tim Beck?" Beck to turn a horrid offense around is another thing completely.
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EZ-E
All-American
Every single person in this world before they are hired to do something new has "never done it before." Tim Beck knows football, that I promise you and he knows what Bo wants.
bshirt
Banned
Good idea. Bo only wins ten games (like the last two years), even with a horrible offense we should can him. Heck we fired Frank/Bo for a 10 - 3 season so why not?
Last change brought us the superb Callahan years that brought us to within an eyelash of turning into Minnesota. I can't wait to see what NFL reject we bring in this time.