Husker Reorpt Card for Game1

Aint we supposed to run the BALL even more this season or sumthin?? Could have seen sumthing on the news and Bo was talking about running more this season becuzz they said sumthin about the option or sumthin like that .They didnt look that bad thoe in my book i seen the 30 yard option run which was COOL dont knoe if their gonna do more plays like that alott this year but I think they should ,and run more maybe?? :dunno

 
IMO, we did not show very much in the running game. We ran a couple of zone reads and a few different options out of the shotgun formation. Then it looked like we just ran two or three different lead plays from under center. My guess is we ran about six or seven different running plays from different formations throughout the game. In the fourth quarter, it looked like we just tried to get the oline comfortable and familiar with running the zone read or lead plays. I think we will see more variety going forward and more success as well.

 
QB- B....Ganz showed mobility but I thought he made some questionable throws besides the 2 INT's. I think scrambling is great but at times he wasn't able to see open receivers soon enough if ever. Not bad though.

RB's- C....Lucky still not hitting the hole. Power running is non existant. Decent blocking from the backs during pass protection. Good recieving backs

WR's - A-...No complaints. Only 1 dropped pass by Holt. Decent blocking

OL - C+....Run blocking was poor.....Pass protection was good, but Ganz helped save sacks by his scrambling ability. Not the performance I was looking for from the "supposed" strength of the team.

DL- B+ ....Good run support and decent pressure from really just a base defense almost the whole game.

LB- C+.....Decent effort. Glenn showed athleticism, but the LB's, especially Glenn bit every time on play action and had to play catch up to cover. Solid tackling was nice to see

CB's- B....Decent coverage.....Turned for the ball (finally)......need to play a little more physical and smarter

Safety's ....C+.........Good run support...A little slow on the help over the top........Not as physical as I'd hoped.

Punter- C........Dan didn't start off the season that well

Kickoff (Adi)- A.......strong leg

Field Goals A+....what can you say, 4 for 4 from 44 and 5 PAT's

Punt return - B.......tough to say, but I like Niles Paul back there....

Kick off Return- B-........looked better once Asante was replaced

Kickoff Coverage C-........When Adi didn't kick it out of the end zone, the coverage looked very suspect..fortunately Adi slowed a return so it didn't result in 6

Coaching- B......Team played with effort and a very vanilla defensive package....I liked that we pretty much played base and told the boys to beat their guy. Offensively I expected more from the line and RB's.....

Solid win........I think we can find 6 more.......possibly better with some improvement. LB's scare me.....not enough depth and experience and athleticism won't make up for out of position or mental mistakes in the big 12.

 
there is much work to be done.......the next game better feature a determined running attack and get some rhythm established. this team must improve dramatically as we move forward. the competition is going to get much stiffer...

 
You know you can't get graded on a running game if they throw the darn ball all the time, so I think it is hard to judge the running game at this point...that is a work in progress yet. Offense gets a B+ as a whole in my book. We need more balance, the run speeds up the clock when we come up against a good offensive team.

Defensive line and linebackers did fairly well....maybe a B. Safetys get maybe a C+, but only because it was a first game. No blackshirts should be even dreamed about yet...there is a lot of work on defense, but I can see a time that isn't too far where we might be starting to hand out a few...but only a few.

Special teams gets A's all the way around.

 
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Once again, you can thank the previous regime with the lack of a power running game. These players were recruited for a passing offense, and they have been taught for their time at Nebraska to play in a passing offense. Offensive linemen are usually suited for either run blocking or pass blocking, and are taught that way(probably since junior high). Remember how Solich's run blocking line looked in Callahan's first year?

I'm sure that Pelini would like to run the ball more and better. He is bright enough, however, to make the best of the players that he has and will play offense in the way that best suits his players and their talents.

 
the plays, as i recall were almost 50/50.....run/pass. the production in the run game was poor, 138 yards is not normally going to be enough to win and balance the offense successfully. we should blow up next week in the run game, or try like hell to......

 
Hunter94 said:
the plays, as i recall were almost 50/50.....run/pass. the production in the run game was poor, 138 yards is not normally going to be enough to win and balance the offense successfully. we should blow up next week in the run game, or try like hell to......
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Well close to 50/50 (31 runs and 36 pass attempts ncaa stats), but it sure felt like more because the last 2 drives brought this closer to even. After the last Ganz interception, the final 2 drives had a total of 6 runs and 2 passes. Also keep in mind that sacks in college count against the rushing total. So some of that could be sacks I guess. (Did they have any?) :dunno

Anyway, Helu looked pretty good running the ball at the end of the game.

 
Hunter94 said:
the plays, as i recall were almost 50/50.....run/pass. the production in the run game was poor, 138 yards is not normally going to be enough to win and balance the offense successfully. we should blow up next week in the run game, or try like hell to......
Click to expand...
Barney, for the most part, liked what his guys did:

Cotton sticks up for the O-line
Barney’s backing his boys.

Offensive line coach Barney Cotton on Wednesday responded to some media and fan criticism of Nebraska’s running game against Western Michigan — 138 yards on 31 carries.

“I’m sticking up for my guys,” Cotton said. “They played real hard, they played very physical. I’m disappointed in eight mental mistakes, but I’m absolutely proud of their effort and how physical they were Saturday night.”

A big problem, as has been noted, was WMU’s defensive plan of stacking the line of scrimmage with eight or nine defenders.

“When you have seven blockers and there’s nine guys to block, or we have six blockers and there’s eight guys to block, we’re going to throw the football,” Cottons said. “That’s a sound offensive philosophy.”

It worked for NU, which had 11 plays produce 321 yards.

But if loading the box so easily stops the run, how did Nebraska run for 300, 400 yards every game back in the day when teams crowded the line?

That’s why Tom Osborne used the option, Cotton said. It gets those defenders out of the box.

In fact, NU tried two option plays against WMU. One resulted in a mental error, Cotton said, “and we should’ve pitched on the other.”
Click to expand...
 
Offensive B

There was a fairly good mix of run and pass, and for the most part, pretty effective.

Defensive C

There were times where I saw the greatness that the D potentially could have. But, with that being said, I saw a few things that reminded me of last year. It is the first game of the year, so mistakes will be made, and they will be corrected.

 
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