I cannot be the only one thinking this...

[Landomatic]

This thread just cements the fact that people are not happy unless they are unhappy with something.

Exactly.

Even if we played the most perfect game in the history of cfb (maybe something like a 127 - 0 win) NU fans would still find endless things to b!^@h, whine & sob about. It's simply our DNA.

I don't agree with this. I don't ever remember bitching during the 95 season but I'm bitching now. I think people as you described are the extreme minority. There are also equally as many people who are such homers that no matter how the season goes, all is great with the Huskers in their mind no matter what. Its a bell curve really, with the bulk of the fans being pretty realistic and level headed about things. I do think Nebraska fans have high expectation because we are Nebraska and football is what we are all about. But I don't think those expectations are unrealistic.

I think this season was just a letdown overall for that middle part of the bell curve...the vast majority of the people. We had one good win offset by three bad losses. The rest were just games that had pretty much equal parts negative and positive to take away from them. I've seen as many posts about things like how great Rex, David and Dennard played as I've seen about what a snoozer the game was or how T-Mart can't hit the broad side of a wet paper bag even if he's standing inside the bag.

if your measuring stick for all teams is the '95 team then you will be complaining an awful lot in the future...that was the best football team of all time. We have had a good year. Not great but good. We don't have the horses yet to be great.

Agree completely and I'm not using 95 as a measuring stick. I was simply trying to illustrate that our fans don't just b!^@h to b!^@h. The post I responded to claimed we'd b!^@h even if we won 127-0 and I just simply don't think that is the case for most fans.

And we've had an okay year.

 

[The Snork]

Am I the only one absolutely in love with the direction the offense is going?

I think it shows promise a few flashes of brilliance. Fix the O line and a lot more will happen.

First year of a new OC ... what did people expect?

 

[3rd and long]

Mavric, it's obvious you think game-time snaps, regardless of what the back-up QB is doing, doesn't gain the player "anything." In fact, you said that point blank. You're entitled to your opinion, but I completely and fundamentally disagree with that assessment. Practice reps and game reps, in-front of 85,000 fans, are two completely different things. The game is faster, the snaps are more critical and they provide experience. Even if Carnes is simply handing off, he is still required to get the call from the sidelines, line up the players, snap the ball cleanly, watch his footwork and then hand the ball off effectively. It may look simple, but it is extremely easy to screw even that up.

You mention all those passing stats for those teams, four of which I think are more talented than we are. You also don't consider how many running plays those backs ups have done, which I'm sure is a lot more than how many passing attempts they have. The point is simple - you gain depth and experience by playing in actual games. Regardless of the situation, game snaps are fundamentally different than practice snaps, and they are much more valuable. I'm not upset that Carnes didn't see time, just disappointed.

True enough but there's a huge difference in pressure & action between garbage time and a knife fight with the game on the line. 20 - 7 sure wouldn't have me throwing in backup qbs unless it's down to the final minute or so & with the ball deep on their side of the field.

No way is garbage time the same thing but it would take a riverboat gambler to throw in backup qbs with the game in question. I don't blame Bo one single iota for not taking that chance.

I agree there's "something" to be gained by playing at garbage time but it's really not much, imo. Obviously the qb position is much, much more critical than any other position, right? That's probably why other back-up position players see more play than Carnes. Playing in that scenario when both teams know the game is done is over-rated imo. Certainly not worthless, but roughly equivalent to getting some more practice reps is my guess. That's all.

Now, if we had a mid 90s team where we're streamrolling opponents into the dust then I'm sure Bo or whoever would have our backup qbs playing more. But we're nowhere close to that. We'll just agree to disagree about this one my friend.

In summary, if you really, really want lots of backup qb play in the heat of battle you'll first & foremost want a dominate team. It's easy as pie for us fans to demand backup qbs play more but the HCs realize winning is far, far more important.

Bo knows the quickest way to get publicly beheaded is to lose a game due to backup qb mistakes. Heh.....Enhance, I know that you know full well what would happen in HuskerNation if that event ever happened.

GBR!!

I get where you guys are coming from bshirt. 20-7 doesn't seem like much of a lead, but it all honesty, did the game really feel that close. They only scored with the help of several questionable calls, other than that, they really weren't much of a threat offensively. And the way we packed in it offensively in the last 10 minuetes, did he really matter who was taking the snaps and handing off? I strongly disagree with you on the bolded statement. Snaps during the game are vastly different than practice snaps. It's a entirely different mindset when it's for real. But from reading through all the replies on this thread, I think this is just another thing that many disagree on and no one is going to change anyone's mind.

As to your earlier question (I think it was yours), I love the direction our offense is going. I think we have a wide array of sets and looks, and it's got to be difficult for a defensive coordinator to prepare for us. And the two long TD drives were a thing of beauty, isn't it amazing how much better the defense looks when they are not on the field for the majority of the minutes. Even though the big plays are exciting, I think those long, time consuming drives are more beneficial for the entire team.

 

[Red Tape]

Any game that we are in control of like that...is an enjoyable game. I don't need flash and points. I love solid defensive smash mouth football. I guess i was born right before the generation that has a low attention span and constantly needs "pizazz"

+1

Signed, RedTape

 

[3rd and long]

He said he didn't care if he just hands it off. You apparently didn't see that part. Since you're busy digging up stats, why don't you look at the total snaps those QBs have taken. Most teams don't sling the ball around the field when their backup gets in. Darsh.

Um, I believe I said TWICE that just getting him in there to hand off doesn't really gain anything. All those other teams (except maybe Wisconsin) throw the ball a lot more than we do. So they would really have use of getting their backups some game-speed reps throwing against live competition. And now I have to look up more stats to prove your point? If you'd like to look up how many snaps they've actually taken to prove they are getting into the game, go ahead.

So you site Western Kentucky and then Okie State (115th ranked pass defense in 2010) as your 2 data points that Carnes must live up to? Very solid argument. Once again, people are just wondering why our backup never sees the field when there have been several occassions in which he could have gotten some snaps. Not sure why that's so hard for you to understand.

So I give you examples of how Martinez didn't need any mop-up snaps to play well and you dismiss it? And I'm the one who isn't responding to people's points?

Mavric, you've proven one thing to me.....you how how to look up stats.

All myself (and others) am saying is that if we were just going to hand off for those last three series, why isn't that something Carnes could have done? No one is calling for him to replace TM, just to to have a few reps in a live game. Because even though you apparantly chose to ignore my point and not resond to it, game time snaps are a whole lot different than practice. And if something does happen to TM, the more comfortable Carnes feels with the overall in game experience the better for us.

So you dismiss my points as "just stats" - without responding to them - then accuse me of ignoring people's points. Interesting. I did respond to your point - I don't think meaningless handoffs gain anything. If you think game-experience is critical, at least run the offense. Are you going to respond to my point about how it doesn't seem like other programs feel it's that necessary either?

You can find stats to justify just about any point you want to make, Enhance asked you, why don't you also list the total amount of snaps those backups have taken, not just their pass atempts. Try to give a more complete look, not just the numbers you can find that fit your argument. Trust me, I really wish we would run the offense with backups in. Not just hand off left and pitch right to one of the freshman backs when the defense knows exactly what you're going to do. But guess what, at least those freshman backs are getting some snaps. I do realize too that we really haven't had an abundance of opportunities to get that game time, but that's another issue. As to the meaningfullness of game type snaps compared to those of practice, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree on their importance. I just hope in the bowl game that nothing happens to TM and we have to insert a "deer in the headlights" looking backup QB.

 

[JJ Husker]

Three things;

1-20-0 or 20-7 is not a put away game. Carnes didn't see the field and shouldn't have.

2- Our offense, while boring to some, did all they needed to with little risk. We controlled the clock and the pace of the game. If you wanted to see something other than toss sweep left or right, which was working, then you don't want what is best to secure a win. Taylor was not throwing well, his ankle was tweaked, and our line was not exactly blowing people off the ball. What the he'll do you want them to do?

3-We didn't dominate anybody. A hapless Iowa team wandered into our stadium and we did enough to beat them. If you think this means we are all of a sudden much better you are mistaken. It does mean that our OC may actually understand that his job is not to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.

 

[hskrpwr13]

WTH, I'm here, so I'll jump in. I remember many thinking TO's offense was boring. I thought it was beautiful. Nothing better than watching the option run to perfection or the FB trap busting off a long one up the middle. Like earlier said, I'll take the win over style. I wonder if the toss sweeps they ran yesterday were busting off 10-20 yards a pop with a couple of long TDs, if some would still think this style is boring. I wonder if some of the younger members of the audience are too conditioned to think that the pass happy NFL is what only makes for exciting offense.

 

[Danny Bateman]

Wow this thread took off on me. Anyway, after a day and reading your replies, I've realized some things.

I was not aware Taylor tweaked his ankle, somehow. Odd. Anyway, that definitely changes our gameplan. I thought he threw the ball somewhat well though. I guess my point was just that we seemed to run all of two plays the majority of the time, which kept the offense very vanilla. I loved when we ran the same plays (Iso lead, Toss sweep) all the way down the field against Washington to our heart's desire and punched it in the endzone. That's absolutely demoralizing to an opponent, and hopefully we can continue it from here on out and eventually break some opponents' wills that way.

The toss sweep was working OK, JJHusker. It was fluky. I remember one particular sweep to the left where it was blocked BEAUTIFULLY by the O-lineman. They had an awesome hole for Rex and we had two men working downfield, giving him a nice wall to run behind. Only problem was the TE, who totally whiffed on a block on the DE, who blew Rex up a little behind the LOS. Anyone remember this play? Funny thing was, I don't think that TE was Kyler.

I do however still find it very odd that that's our "money" play that we call when we absolutely have to get a yard on 4th down. There's so much opportunity for missed blocks, fumbled pitches, etc... that could end up screwing that up in the backfield for me to question it. We have some strange kind of confidence in that play. Why not just sneak it with Taylor? I've always wondered this. I wouldn't be comfortable following Caputo for a sneak, either, but that's a whole nother topic I don't even want to get started on.

I was bitching about how boring it was to run for a yard or two over and over again to end the half, but I understood Beck was killing the clock to snuff out any chance Iowa had to score if they got the ball back. But I truly thought the floater to Kyler to cap that off with a TD was beautifully set up. No one respected the past and we busted their chops.

Anyway, we did enough to win the game, which is the most important thing. But it's about time the Huskers got some swagger back. I think lo country said it best on the first page... "It's time to make teams scared to play us again." This is how we start to get some national respect back, and start to convince people we're more than just a Top 25 team. If you want to be considered a top 10 or top 5 program ever again, you've got to strive for more than beating Iowa by 20. You want to roll teams, blow them out, ala LSU. That's where I want to be. This game was not as close as 13 points, and the scoreboard DID NOT reflect that. When you looked at TO scores, you could tell by the score alone we were far and away the better team most days. He didn't run a flashy offense, but he ran it well, and piled up points. That's where we can get eventually. Yesterday, we didn't run a flashy offense... and I have absolutely 0 problems with that. But we only managed to put up 20 points. We need to get to the point where we plod up and down the field time after time, punching it into the endzone and breaking the other team.

I don't know, I know it's not like it was back in the 90's and there's a much different distribution of good teams and talent throughout the country now. But THAT ^^^ is eventually what I want to get to. Perhaps not flashy, but an offensive juggernaut nonetheless.

 

[bshirt]

This thread just cements the fact that people are not happy unless they are unhappy with something.

Exactly.

Even if we played the most perfect game in the history of cfb (maybe something like a 127 - 0 win) NU fans would still find endless things to b!^@h, whine & sob about. It's simply our DNA.

I don't agree with this. I don't ever remember bitching during the 95 season but I'm bitching now. I think people as you described are the extreme minority. There are also equally as many people who are such homers that no matter how the season goes, all is great with the Huskers in their mind no matter what. Its a bell curve really, with the bulk of the fans being pretty realistic and level headed about things. I do think Nebraska fans have high expectation because we are Nebraska and football is what we are all about. But I don't think those expectations are unrealistic.

I think this season was just a letdown overall for that middle part of the bell curve...the vast majority of the people. We had one good win offset by three bad losses. The rest were just games that had pretty much equal parts negative and positive to take away from them. I've seen as many posts about things like how great Rex, David and Dennard played as I've seen about what a snoozer the game was or how T-Mart can't hit the broad side of a wet paper bag even if he's standing inside the bag.

Oh, that's just fine. Continue ranting how our qb can't hit the broad side of a wet paper bag even if he's standing inside the bag. Whatever works for ya. In the real world the kid has been throwing at a 60% completion ratio the last month & longer even with large amounts of drops but once again whatever makes you happy.

For me, I'm just a happy camper with the win as imo we're not even close to being a dominate team. Especially in the all important line play where we're at best average. Even that could very well be a big stretch with the way "very" marginal lines like Northwestern & Michigan totally dominated us.

For your bell curve scenario, I think the majority of NU fans like yourself are wayyyyy off mark of being realistic and level headed. Many of you expect Frazier/Frost results & b!^@h endlessly for not getting that despite quite obvious poor line play on both sides of the ball.

Yeah, Frazier/Frost were simply great but they would have struggled mightily with carrying the rest of "this" team on their backs too. Even as seniors. As sophs.....well, never mind.

GBR!!

 

[True2tRA]

The offense can be as vanilla as they want so long as they put up more points than the other teams.

Exactly right. These same people bitched when Watson was trying to do too many things, running a 3500 play playbook, and being "multiple". We weren't good at anything and couldn't score more than 12 points to win the Big 12 championship. Now they're bitching cuz' we average 25 points a game (or whatever it is) and we stick to a few things we do well. Geez people. I read this board on a daily basis and have realized that no matter what his staff and team do, they just can't win with most of you. No wonder Pelini doesn't give a sh#t what you all think.

 

[Landomatic]

This thread just cements the fact that people are not happy unless they are unhappy with something.

Exactly.

Even if we played the most perfect game in the history of cfb (maybe something like a 127 - 0 win) NU fans would still find endless things to b!^@h, whine & sob about. It's simply our DNA.

I don't agree with this. I don't ever remember bitching during the 95 season but I'm bitching now. I think people as you described are the extreme minority. There are also equally as many people who are such homers that no matter how the season goes, all is great with the Huskers in their mind no matter what. Its a bell curve really, with the bulk of the fans being pretty realistic and level headed about things. I do think Nebraska fans have high expectation because we are Nebraska and football is what we are all about. But I don't think those expectations are unrealistic.

I think this season was just a letdown overall for that middle part of the bell curve...the vast majority of the people. We had one good win offset by three bad losses. The rest were just games that had pretty much equal parts negative and positive to take away from them. I've seen as many posts about things like how great Rex, David and Dennard played as I've seen about what a snoozer the game was or how T-Mart can't hit the broad side of a wet paper bag even if he's standing inside the bag.

Oh, that's just fine. Continue ranting how our qb can't hit the broad side of a wet paper bag even if he's standing inside the bag. Whatever works for ya. In the real world the kid has been throwing at a 60% completion ratio the last month & longer even with large amounts of drops but once again whatever makes you happy.

For me, I'm just a happy camper with the win as imo we're not even close to being a dominate team. Especially in the all important line play where we're at best average. Even that could very well be a big stretch with the way "very" marginal lines like Northwestern & Michigan totally dominated us.

For your bell curve scenario, I think the majority of NU fans like yourself are wayyyyy off mark of being realistic and level headed. Many of you expect Frazier/Frost results & b!^@h endlessly for not getting that despite quite obvious poor line play on both sides of the ball.

Yeah, Frazier/Frost were simply great but they would have struggled mightily with carrying the rest of "this" team on their backs too. Even as seniors. As sophs.....well, never mind.

GBR!!

Maybe you just have unrealistic expectations about our lines???

You can b!^@h about our line play but we can't b!^@h about other aspects of our team???

Sorry dude, but that ball don't bounce!!