McKewon: Talent isn't Nebraska's issue, it's focus, edge and savvy

[StPaulHusker]

Perhaps Sam is missing the point of this "talent" issue.

We have the talent to compete. Which we have in the 2 losses. We lost those games by 8 total points with a Hail Mary and OT FG.

What we lack is the talent to dominate.

 

[NUinID]

Nebraska doesn’t have junk talent. Enough of that. That’s the past, too — the old recruiting lament. Hey, 9-3 talent isn’t junk, it’s 9-3 with a shot at better if you play it right. Waiting several years to “restock” is a risible argument and Riley, to his credit, wants no part of it. Nebraska had enough talent to beat BYU and Miami. And it has more talent than any team not named Michigan State left on its regular-season schedule. And even that talent gap isn’t as wide as you might think.

I think this is right, or at least pretty close. Again, we have a spot or two that are lacking. But overall I don't think we're nearly as bad off as some are trying to make it out to be. We struggled against McNeese State last year but other than that only Miami's garbage TD in the last seconds kept every other win from being at least three scores. Three of our losses were by a combined 12 points and we had the ball with a chance to win in each of them.

We had one "bad" win and on (really) bad loss. But other than that we were dominating in our wins and very competitive in our losses. We haven't dropped off that far in one year.

I would definitely agree with this. While we could use more talent in spots (and who couldn't? it's kind of a silly lament), we have the guys to win. We seem to be lacking mentally, something that was a hallmark of the Pelini Era. Is this current malaise a holdover from Bo, is it something this staff puts in/is reinforcing, or is it a random series of unconnected issues that combine to make this team lack fire?

Whatever it is, it's this staff's job to break the team out of it. If they don't, we're in for a few more years of this.

The lack of fire of to start the game is probably what doomed NU more than anything. That combined with 2-3 dropped balls that would have kept drives alive. That first drop by Hovey at the start of the game hurts more than anyone knows.

The reason for the lack of fire at the beginning of the game is always baffling to me. After coaching 20+ years I still don't know why sometimes teams come out flat. Trust me a coach can see it in the way a team warms up and how they look and sound before the game. They can try to get things going, but it is tough. My best guess is that our players walked out and did two things before the game which effected their reediness.

1. They saw how few people were at the game and that effected them.

2. They went "man it is hot, it is really humid out here"

The speed of Miami at receiver was a big factor, but not one that should have effected the game that much. The defense played way better after the first quarter.

 

[zoogs]

Perhaps Sam is missing the point of this "talent" issue.

We have the talent to compete. Which we have in the 2 losses. We lost those games by 8 total points with a Hail Mary and OT FG.

What we lack is the talent to dominate.

Yes. I agree with this.

And this is the difference between a team that should be expected to win 10, 11 games and a team that needs to fire on all cylinders to do so.

 

[cornographic]

I'm almost overwhelmed by the artistry of the "nature" metaphor--unusual for a sports writer.

Anyway, talent? Yeah, who doesn't need or want more talent? Talent always welcome, I'd welcome Leonard Fournette on our team any day of the week--might even pay him some... However, overall IQ, mental and physical toughness, maturity of coaches and players can compensate for a relatively undertalented team: just ask Stanford last weekend(well, I would say that Hogan has an edge over Kessler at this point and he was the biggest difference in that game). I think NU had those important elements in their favor over The U, but unfortunately, well, too many key dropped passes and INTs spelled doom.

I do think NU could use more talent and speed at certain positions, namely DE, but overall basic execution is what this team needs most to take it to a higher level. If they want to compete with teams like Bama, FSU, tOSU for the big prizes, yes, we're going to have to have a significant bump in the recruiting.

I certainly think we have enough talent to win the West, it's just a matter of putting it together and executing the new system. I pretty happy with how well they're doing within it already. I had expected many more gliches of execution thus far, but they seem to have absorbed it pretty well--and I really like Langsdorf's offense and play calling.

 

[StPaulHusker]

Perhaps Sam is missing the point of this "talent" issue.

We have the talent to compete. Which we have in the 2 losses. We lost those games by 8 total points with a Hail Mary and OT FG.

What we lack is the talent to dominate.

Yes. I agree with this.

And this is the difference between a team that should be expected to win 10, 11 games and a team that needs to fire on all cylinders to do so.

You also need enough talent to hide deficiencies in other areas. Which we are close but not quite there.

 

[Mavric]

Our starting LBs are one of the top units in the country -- that's an interesting claim. Or by most, do you mean "north of 50th in the nation?" How many of our units are Top 25 in the country? We might have a few. If there are a lot, I'd say there's some overrating going on. But overrating our own talent is something we are prone to do as fans.

Not necessarily playing like the top unit in the nation. We are as "talented" and athletic as anyone we'll play. I don't know what "most" is - Top 25 at least.

Being the most athletic doesn't make you the best. But we are athletic. Banderas ran all but step-for-step with USC's blazing WR in the Holiday bowl. Young's numbers from one of the Nike Combines last summer would have mostly been Top 10 among LBs at the NFL Combine. We are definitely athletic. That needs to translate to the field but we're not lacking for athletes there. We just haven't gotten to see much of our LBs yet because no one runs against us and our scheme has rendered the LBs basically useless in pass coverage.

 

[Red Five]

Our starting LBs are one of the top units in the country -- that's an interesting claim. Or by most, do you mean "north of 50th in the nation?" How many of our units are Top 25 in the country? We might have a few. If there are a lot, I'd say there's some overrating going on. But overrating our own talent is something we are prone to do as fans.

Not necessarily playing like the top unit in the nation. We are as "talented" and athletic as anyone we'll play. I don't know what "most" is - Top 25 at least.

Being the most athletic doesn't make you the best. But we are athletic. Banderas ran all but step-for-step with USC's blazing WR in the Holiday bowl. Young's numbers from one of the Nike Combines last summer would have mostly been Top 10 among LBs at the NFL Combine. We are definitely athletic. That needs to translate to the field but we're not lacking for athletes there. We just haven't gotten to see much of our LBs yet because no one runs against us and our scheme has rendered the LBs basically useless in pass coverage.

And they keep getting hurt...

 

[Undone]

We just haven't gotten to see much of our LBs yet because no one runs against us and our scheme has rendered the LBs basically useless in pass coverage.

And here's where I see the glass as half-full on defense also - Banker has his safeties play much closer to the line than Bo did. Banker wants to see his safeties in to help fill running lanes.

So in the games that really matter for us in our division, I feel much more confident in our ability to stop the run. Stave and Stave's receivers, for example, are NOWHERE close to what Kaaya is/has. Even Connor Cook probably isn't as accurate as Kaaya. Meaning that in the games that matter, we're going to have the personnel and FINALLY the scheme to actually not get blown out against Wisconsin. And we should even be very competitive against MSU as well.

All of this in theory should translate into much better Big 10 defensive play than what we've seen against Wisconsin when we've played them these last few years. Scheme-wise, I think our defense has a lot of potential to actually win our division this year.

 

[Bowfin]

How much talent does it take to reduce penalties and turnovers...roughly speaking...four stars and above??...

 

[knapplc]

We just haven't gotten to see much of our LBs yet because no one runs against us and our scheme has rendered the LBs basically useless in pass coverage.

And here's where I see the glass as half-full on defense also - Banker has his safeties play much closer to the line than Bo did. Banker wants to see his safeties in to help fill running lanes.

So in the games that really matter for us in our division, I feel much more confident in our ability to stop the run. Stave and Stave's receivers, for example, are NOWHERE close to what Kaaya is/has. Even Connor Cook probably isn't as accurate as Kaaya. Meaning that in the games that matter, we're going to have the personnel and FINALLY the scheme to actually not get blown out against Wisconsin. And we should even be very competitive against MSU as well.

All of this in theory should translate into much better Big 10 defensive play than what we've seen against Wisconsin when we've played them these last few years. Scheme-wise, I think our defense has a lot of potential to actually win our division this year.

Yep, I agree with this analysis of our future opponents. We've already seen the two best passing offenses, top-to-bottom, that we're going to see this year.

Bo's scheme was great at shutting down the pass, which served us well in the pass-first Big XII North. It's crap at shutting down the run, which did not serve us well in the run-first Big Ten West. We'll see if Banker's scheme will shut down the run and give us a puncher's chance in this division. Design is one thing, getting it done is another.

 

[NUinID]

We just haven't gotten to see much of our LBs yet because no one runs against us and our scheme has rendered the LBs basically useless in pass coverage.

And here's where I see the glass as half-full on defense also - Banker has his safeties play much closer to the line than Bo did. Banker wants to see his safeties in to help fill running lanes.

So in the games that really matter for us in our division, I feel much more confident in our ability to stop the run. Stave and Stave's receivers, for example, are NOWHERE close to what Kaaya is/has. Even Connor Cook probably isn't as accurate as Kaaya. Meaning that in the games that matter, we're going to have the personnel and FINALLY the scheme to actually not get blown out against Wisconsin. And we should even be very competitive against MSU as well.

All of this in theory should translate into much better Big 10 defensive play than what we've seen against Wisconsin when we've played them these last few years. Scheme-wise, I think our defense has a lot of potential to actually win our division this year.

Yep, I agree with this analysis of our future opponents. We've already seen the two best passing offenses, top-to-bottom, that we're going to see this year.

Bo's scheme was great at shutting down the pass, which served us well in the pass-first Big XII North. It's crap at shutting down the run, which did not serve us well in the run-first Big Ten West. We'll see if Banker's scheme will shut down the run and give us a puncher's chance in this division. Design is one thing, getting it done is another.

Listen to the S & B Podcast I posted. Aaron Samm really was a good listen. He is basically saying the same thing you guys are thinking.

 

[knapplc]

Listen to the S & B Podcast I posted. Aaron Samm really was a good listen. He is basically saying the same thing you guys are thinking.

I'm going to, just haven't started yet. I really like listening to DB, the guy has a great head on his shoulders & he puts things out there so that a layman like me can understand them.

I've never heard of Aaron Samm. Probably, again, because I'm a layman.

 

[Undone]

We've already seen the two best passing offenses, top-to-bottom, that we're going to see this year.

Yeah. I'll take the opportunity to praise Kaaya again - dude has to be the best QB in the ACC, and is probably better than anyone in the Big 10, also (although it's a bit of an apples to oranges comparison with Barrett, probably). He really is pretty incredible.

 

[cornographic]

We've already seen the two best passing offenses, top-to-bottom, that we're going to see this year.

Yeah. I'll take the opportunity to praise Kaaya again - dude has to be the best QB in the ACC, and is probably better than anyone in the Big 10, also (although it's a bit of an apples to oranges comparison with Barrett, probably). He really is pretty incredible.

Uhm, does the name "Conner Cook" ring a bell? He's already torched Oregon.

 

[knapplc]

Oregon is not a benchmark for anything. To wit:

Eastern Washington vs. Oregon
Jordan West
23/34, 293 yards, 3TD, 1 INT

Reilly Hennessey

14/21, 141 yards, 2TD, 1 INT

Michigan State vs. Oregon

Connor Cook

20/32, 192 yards, 2TD, 1 INT

Georgia State vs. Oregon

Nick Arbuckle

25/35, 318 yards, 3TD, 2 INT

First, Cook didn't "torch" Oregon. He had the fewest yards of all three QBs with at least 30 attempts. He had fewer TDs than the Georgia State QB.

Nobody's saying Cook is bad. He's just not as good as Kaayaa or Hill. And his WRs aren't as good as either BYU or Miami as a team.