LJS: No Excuses for Cav's Line This Year

[Mavric]

Bottom line, it's time for Cavanaugh's group to turn up the energy and play like it has something to prove because, well, it does.

"That group is talented and experienced, and still yet has to grow for us to be good," Nebraska third-year head coach Mike Riley said in the spring.

Those comments grab your attention.

A lot of folks are watching Cav's crew closely this year. After all, Nebraska appears to have a talented quarterback in Tanner Lee and decent skill-position weapons. But will the Huskers protect Lee adequately?

What's more, Riley wants an efficient run game. Last season, the Huskers ranked 10th in the Big Ten with a per-carry average of 4.2, embarrassingly far behind Ohio State's league-leading 5.5. Even Maryland averaged 4.9.

The Huskers this season have what it takes to be more efficient in the run game and perhaps better overall offensively.

LJS

 

[KingBlank]

Good, the media needs to put the pressure on instead of feeding into the contrived excuses for this team for the last two years.

 

[Enhance]

Some outlets are better than others at applying pressure. On scale, the LJS has often been less critical and more friendly to the program, where as the OWH has probably been the opposite.

 

[admo]

"I really like this group," Cavanaugh said. "It's great in meetings. Attentive. Wants to learn. Loves what they're doing. Good guys. Fun. So that's awesome."

 

[alwayshusking]

I agree with the article, did Steve make a similar one when Cotton was here?

 

[admo]

At least he hasn't mentioned "technique" this year (yet)...or wanting them to be "a little nasty/mean streak" (yet).

And not sure why "run blocking" and "pass protect" is not in Cav's vocabulary when talking about his offensive line.

Now that would be awesome.

 

[admo]

I agree with the article, did Steve make a similar one when Cotton was here?

Not sure, but it seems the traditional fall camp article about the OL sounds similar.

 

[Landlord]

I agree with the article, did Steve make a similar one when Cotton was here?

Did he need to?

I don't understand the bad rap our OL got under the Pelini years. Some of them were certainly worse than others, but by and large, they were pretty dang solid (at least most of the time). Ameer Abdullah led the nation in yards before first contact the majority of his senior year, and in 2010 we were a small handful of yards away from having 3 1,000 yard rushers. Pass pro was sometimes a different story, but overall, I wonder if Husker fan still holds the standard to be the 90's squads or to be FSU/Bama level excellence, when reality is that we just don't have the talent and ability to be THAT good right now.

 

[shyndy]

I agree with the article, did Steve make a similar one when Cotton was here?

Did he need to?

I don't understand the bad rap our OL got under the Pelini years. Some of them were certainly worse than others, but by and large, they were pretty dang solid (at least most of the time). Ameer Abdullah led the nation in yards before first contact the majority of his senior year, and in 2010 we were a small handful of yards away from having 3 1,000 yard rushers. Pass pro was sometimes a different story, but overall, I wonder if Husker fan still holds the standard to be the 90's squads or to be FSU/Bama level excellence, when reality is that we just don't have the talent and ability to be THAT good right now.

Our blocking got better when they brought another OL coach in but it was never really good. We did have some excellent RBs though.

 

[Enhance]

I agree with the article, did Steve make a similar one when Cotton was here?

Did he need to?

I don't understand the bad rap our OL got under the Pelini years. Some of them were certainly worse than others, but by and large, they were pretty dang solid (at least most of the time). Ameer Abdullah led the nation in yards before first contact the majority of his senior year, and in 2010 we were a small handful of yards away from having 3 1,000 yard rushers. Pass pro was sometimes a different story, but overall, I wonder if Husker fan still holds the standard to be the 90's squads or to be FSU/Bama level excellence, when reality is that we just don't have the talent and ability to be THAT good right now.

For me, it comes down to offensive line performance in respect to overall program success. I believe Nebraska's offensive line is the #1 key to success for reaching and ultimately winning another conference title. I also believe Nebraska has spent far too long floating in a realm with average to above average lines. They need to take the next step if the program is going to reach its goals.

For comparison's sake, since 2007, Nebraska has had seven offensive linemen drafted. Wisconsin has had 11. There's also little room to debate that Wisconsin has had better trench play (overall) during that time frame. Wisconsin has won two and shared another conference title in the that time frame. I'm not saying line play is the only reason Nebraska has failed to win a conference title, but it has played a significant role.

To your point, I don't think we need them to be Bama excellent, but they need to be better than they've been.

 

[zoogs]

We had 9-4 OLs in the Pelini era -- at best, probably.

 

[B.B. Hemingway]

From the title, to the end of the article, it always cracks me up how Sipple's work comes full circle.

 

[KingBlank]

I agree with the article, did Steve make a similar one when Cotton was here?

Did he need to?

I don't understand the bad rap our OL got under the Pelini years. Some of them were certainly worse than others, but by and large, they were pretty dang solid (at least most of the time). Ameer Abdullah led the nation in yards before first contact the majority of his senior year, and in 2010 we were a small handful of yards away from having 3 1,000 yard rushers. Pass pro was sometimes a different story, but overall, I wonder if Husker fan still holds the standard to be the 90's squads or to be FSU/Bama level excellence, when reality is that we just don't have the talent and ability to be THAT good right now.

Our blocking got better when they brought another OL coach in but it was never really good. We did have some excellent RBs though.

This is exactly the problem with people on here. You don't have good or great running backs without serviceable offensive lines. If we were to do the real analysis let's compare how much money per year Cotton coached offensive lineman are making in the NFL vs Cav coached linemen.

 

[Enhance]

I agree that monitoring NFL draft and/or NFL success is a method of judging a college program's offensive line, but that's not a remotely fair 1:1 comparison. Cav spent ten years coaching at a far inferior program (in terms of money, talent, support) than Cotton.

Also, I don't think most reasonable fans truly believe our lines were bad or not "serviceable." I think zoogs put it best - we've had 9-4 type offensive lines. That's not going to win you many conference titles or put you in with the country's elite teams.

 

[famoustitles]

I agree with the article, did Steve make a similar one when Cotton was here?

Did he need to?

I don't understand the bad rap our OL got under the Pelini years. Some of them were certainly worse than others, but by and large, they were pretty dang solid (at least most of the time). Ameer Abdullah led the nation in yards before first contact the majority of his senior year, and in 2010 we were a small handful of yards away from having 3 1,000 yard rushers. Pass pro was sometimes a different story, but overall, I wonder if Husker fan still holds the standard to be the 90's squads or to be FSU/Bama level excellence, when reality is that we just don't have the talent and ability to be THAT good right now.

Our blocking got better when they brought another OL coach in but it was never really good. We did have some excellent RBs though.

This is exactly the problem with people on here. You don't have good or great running backs without serviceable offensive lines. If we were to do the real analysis let's compare how much money per year Cotton coached offensive lineman are making in the NFL vs Cav coached linemen.

You could have the best o-line coach in the country but if he's coaching at Akron he's not going to have a bunch of former players collecting checks in the NFL. Not an accurate way to measure.