McKewon: Offensive play-calling did Husker defense no favors in second half of blowout loss to Ohio State

[Mavric]

Just to add on to that, Count, generally speaking, when looking at one game I tend to agree with you. Football is a crazy game. Some times you get beat worse than you should. Some times you don't win by as much as you should. Some times you lose a game you shouldn't. That's how it goes for 95% of teams in any given year.

Now, if there is a trend of that in a short amount of time, I think that's cause for alarm. I would consider within a season or possibly a calendar year to be a short amount of time. I think we've consistently not played as well as we should this year. And I think that's been happening for large parts of basically every game this year - the exception probably being Wisconsin. So it's not really surprising that we didn't play well against Ohio State. Not that I was expecting it to get as bad as it did but tOSU also has much better athletes than we've seen the rest of the year.

That being said, there have been many, many people I've run across on this board and in person who have claimed that they would be fine with more losses as long as there weren't any blowouts. I'm not sure if they really felt that way or it was just a convenient excuse but it's been brought up over and over again.

So I guess you and I are in the minority.

 

[Count 'Bility]

Just to add on to that, Count, generally speaking, when looking at one game I tend to agree with you. Football is a crazy game. Some times you get beat worse than you should. Some times you don't win by as much as you should. Some times you lose a game you shouldn't. That's how it goes for 95% of teams in any given year.

Now, if there is a trend of that in a short amount of time, I think that's cause for alarm. I would consider within a season or possibly a calendar year to be a short amount of time. I think we've consistently not played as well as we should this year. And I think that's been happening for large parts of basically every game this year - the exception probably being Wisconsin. So it's not really surprising that we didn't play well against Ohio State. Not that I was expecting it to get as bad as it did but tOSU also has much better athletes than we've seen the rest of the year.

That being said, there have been many, many people I've run across on this board and in person who have claimed that they would be fine with more losses as long as there weren't any blowouts. I'm not sure if they really felt that way or it was just a convenient excuse but it's been brought up over and over again.

So I guess you and I are in the minority.

My whole point is that if we had just run the ball to three and outs all second half, and burned up maybe 2 more minutes per possession, resulting in a 45-3 loss instead of what it is, folks would be no less angry whatsoever. None at all. Yes, this is my opinion. But we both know deep down it's fact. So this notion that we coulda "saved something" or made it "less bad" is just bullsh#t. The coaches and players continued to play the game they wanted. What happened is that it resulted in an even worse beating. Us fans are just upset by that. me as a competitor is how i'm speaking. i dont really care. 20/40/60. a$$ whippins are a$$ whippins.

this game falls under my buzzsaw effect. lots of times in sports a game plays out that is just simply not nowhere near indicative of either team. Nebraska is not that bad. Ohio St is not that good. But sometimes intangible circumstances (mentality, injuries, illness, etc etc etc) fall perfectly into place where one team just doesnt have it and the other plays in prime form. You run into a buzzsaw.

This was a buzzsaw game.

Last year Purdue was a buzzsaw game.

The Florida Fiest bowl (as much everyone wont want to admit to discredit) was a buzzsaw game.

 

[Kernal]

I'm not sure burning more clock to limit the final score is the type of adjustment Husker fans want. I think some people, including Sam, are misreading that. So sure, maybe Riley and the Huskers could have changed the strategy from trying to compete and win the game to trying to paper over the a$$ whipping by burning clock, but I don't think that would have changed people's opinion.

Husker fans don't want to get blown out because we want a team capable of competing with the teams we play. Gaming the stats (in this case the score) by burning more time with running plays doesn't make us more competitive. If anything it's worse, because it's equivalent to giving up.

If the Huskers had been running the ball they'd be getting criticism for that because they were down by several scores. So this whole discussion is pretty stupid. People are mad, and they're going to find something to criticize.

 

[Xmas32]

I agree that the play calling wasnt great. However, when you lose 62-3, play calling should be the LEAST of your concerns. there is a foundational problem with a 62-3 loss, not an in-game strategy problem.

we helped them get to 62-3 with the playcalling though. At some point you have to concede the game, and try to run some form of an offense. Seemed every play in the 2nd half was launch it downfield on a prayer. That stops the clock, and allows your defense to continue to get run over.

Bingo. Game was over at halftime. Slow the bleeding, get outta town. What happened on Saturday was Callahan v Texas Tech 2.0.

Agreed, and it's why I put the loss vs. Wisky square on Langsdorf's shoulders, and I'm putting this blowout on his shoulders too. His playcalling is reverting back to his 2015 style, and what's troubling is that Riley isn't putting the hammer down on it from the sidelines. Sam's article, while two games tardy, is on point.

Add to all this Riley's commitment to recruiting dual-threat QBs in the future, and it's high time that our program part ways with Langsdorf at the end of the season if he can't (or won't?) fix his broken playcalling.

Also...related to this, multiple people have said our best defense wasn't what Banker had on the field, but our offense. This tOSU loss illustrates this, more than anything else, and highlights why these problems with Langsdorf need to be resolved ASAMFP, or we will have a hell of a time versus Maryland, Minnesota, and Iowa.

What are your thoughts on putting the blowout squarely on Ohio State's shoulders? Prolly a good idea. But hey, we ran boundary plays! I figured you'd be tickled pink.

 

[lo country]

I have been complaining against Langs play calling since Indiana. He initially called really good games. Exploiting what the D was doind i.e. Illinois. In Indiana, he took a step back and has continued to do so. No more using one play to set up the next. No creativity. Against a good D he really struggles. We go 9-33 on passing. Attempts to have Ryker roll out....Wilbon averaging 4.3 per carries. Gets 3 touches.....Newby averaging 4.2 gets 13 touches.....

The pass plays? TA had 4 completions. Averaged 18.5 per completion.......Going yard on every play. First downs aren't 20 yards....they're 10. Nothing wrong with drinking and dunking. Maybe he wouldn't have been at 26% had we thrown underneath routes....or screens.....or anything besides the long ball to sh!tsville.....

Time of possession... NU 22:42 OSU 37:18......Langs 3 and out didn't help the D for crap. Same thing with Beck. It was like Langs was calling a game plan with no consideration of protecting the D.........Our D is not bad IMO. But being on the field for 2.5 quarters more would kill anyone. Then throw in little death and we were screwed. This after they pulled they're starters....

So yea, I have been on Langs for several games now. As have others. Sam just has a better platform to speak his peace.....

 

[dtbugeater]

The deep pass wasn't just because they couldn't figure out what to do.

In my opinion it clearly WAS the gameplan. I seriously think they sat in meetings and that was their solution to the Ohio state problem. Yikes!

 

[lo country]

Here is a link to the 2016 stats for TA and his passing. Great info. Depressing in some parts......

http://www.espn.com/college-football/player/splits/_/id/533270/tommy-armstrong-jr

 

[Kernal]

I have been complaining against Langs play calling since Indiana. He initially called really good games. Exploiting what the D was doind i.e. Illinois. In Indiana, he took a step back and has continued to do so. No more using one play to set up the next. No creativity. Against a good D he really struggles. We go 9-33 on passing. Attempts to have Ryker roll out....Wilbon averaging 4.3 per carries. Gets 3 touches.....Newby averaging 4.2 gets 13 touches.....

The pass plays? TA had 4 completions. Averaged 18.5 per completion.......Going yard on every play. First downs aren't 20 yards....they're 10. Nothing wrong with drinking and dunking. Maybe he wouldn't have been at 26% had we thrown underneath routes....or screens.....or anything besides the long ball to sh!tsville.....

Time of possession... NU 22:42 OSU 37:18......Langs 3 and out didn't help the D for crap. Same thing with Beck. It was like Langs was calling a game plan with no consideration of protecting the D.........Our D is not bad IMO. But being on the field for 2.5 quarters more would kill anyone. Then throw in little death and we were screwed. This after they pulled they're starters....

So yea, I have been on Langs for several games now. As have others. Sam just has a better platform to speak his peace.....

Do you agree the play-calling seemed to fall off a cliff right about the time the offensive line started its rash of injuries? I don't think DL suddenly got stupid. He has nothing to work with on the line. They can't effectively and consistently pass block or run block. The other part that correlates with the line injuries is Tommy's play. It too has fallen off a cliff right around the same time the o-line quit producing. Coincidence?

Ohio State was giving us one-on-ones with the fade routes. We just couldn't make those plays. DL explained this in his post-game interview. If they're bringing their safeties down for run support and to stop the underneath stuff then what do you do? You've gotta be able to hit some of those deep balls to loosen them up, but we never could.

 

[Elf]

lot of uncertainty surrounding the future of your star qb. Youre down 31-3 at half. That game was the least of our worried. Ask any true competitor. When youre gettin your teeth kicked in, it makes no difference if its by 30 or 60, and you wanna keep competiting at full capacity. We couldnt run the ball, so what's basically being suggested is running 3 and out for the sake of burning 3 minutes and heading out. We're so damn enamored with what happened in Lubbock 12 years ago. We gotta get Fyfe ready. For a bunch that's so obsessed with getting backup qb's MEANINGFUL snaps, it's being pretty double standard with the 2nd half playcalling. At that point, you've already washed your hands of it and are looking to next week and probing and prying to find some stuff to move forward with.

We were more effective running the ball than passing it.

That's not saying much.