Monday after Purdue is going to be interesting

JJ Husker said:
t's obvious the team quit today very early in the process. More than one Michigan player has stated as much and we all saw what happened with our own eyes. Are Frost & Co. not seeing what is really going on? Is he just giving us coach speak in these pressers? 
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Is this really a serious question?

 
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knapplc said:
Sounds like there's a contingent of guys just not on board with what Frost & Staff are doing, and there's at least some internal speculation that they're going to leave. 

Since we missed the Akron game, looks like next Monday, after our fourth game, could see a small exodus.
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I will add, that getting up in front of the podium talking about leadership and buy in, does not necessarily translate to on field leadership. 

Personally, I would be fine if they closed it down “the player podium talk” and take care of the family business behind closed doors. 

Frost and his assistant coaches have a plan, and I believe it will come around. But the players, need to hold each other accountable on and off the field. The best teams, are the ones where the players lead, so the coaches can coach. 

 
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It's weird because this is the same team and same personnel who were playing a completely different, more aggressive brand of football against Colorado — a surprisingly good Colorado team we were assured — including great push from both OL and DL, a rejuvenated run game, a revelation at freshman QB and our two best-in-conference wide receivers -- total beasts!  We blamed the loss on a single play or two and marveled at all the good things Scott Frost had already gotten out of the same players he inherited from Riley.  What happened to that narrative? 

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
It's weird because this is the same team and same personnel who were playing a completely different, more aggressive brand of football against Colorado — a surprisingly good Colorado team we were assured — including great push from both OL and DL, a rejuvenated run game, a revelation at freshman QB and our two best-in-conference wide receivers -- total beasts!  We blamed the loss on a single play or two and marveled at all the good things Scott Frost had already gotten out of the same players he inherited from Riley.  What happened to that narrative? 
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There are still many elements of what you wrote that have truths to them.

Your use of superlatives pushes it in the direction to call it a "narrative".

The loss to Troy ended up coming down to taking your pick between a special teams blunder or a dropped pass.

Michigan is a buzz saw.  Harbaugh hasn't done what he's expected to versus Urb, so it's gotta be a lights out year for Michigan.

I'm gonna trust Frost to do his thing.  As much as the "culture" issue was referenced under Pelini, in my opinion what Riley left behind is much worse.

Frost has his hands full.  I believe he's more than capable.

 
TheSker said:
.  As much as the "culture" issue was referenced under Pelini, in my opinion what Riley left behind is much worse.
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That may be true. It's genuinely hard to find the blame at this point. The Michigan blowout looked much like the blowouts from Riley, Pelini, and Callahan: the entire team didn't look like it wanted to be on the filed, or on the sideline, and it had little to do with scheme and everything to do with things like basic tackling and poise and focus. Those same coaches and teams also fell asleep against lesser opponents, whether McNeese State, Northern Illinois or Troy. That's always been on the coach historically.  None of those teams lacked the talent, as they proved in other games. It's been at least 10 years that opposing teams could get inside Nebraska's head. Not being afraid of the vaunted Huskers was a novelty at first. Now it's SOP. Maybe we just  have to hit bottom. I just keep thinking the week before was bottom.  

 
84HuskerLaw said:
Just speculating here but Frost and Co likely looked forward into this fall's schedule and divided it into segments with the first three games being 'preseason' and barring injury and lots of bad luck, winnables although not gimmes.   The middle section with the big boys of the big ten being a football guantlet fraught with peril and most likely more losses than wins in the best case, again absent devastating injuries to key players/positions.   We have little or no real depth in half the major positions it seems.  Then November with more challenges but the finished would be dictated by the success or fail degree of the first two parts.   Gebbia may have been Frost's 'wild card' that would have allowed him more flexibility in the short and medium passing game as a counter punch to the run /option / features he could use with Martinez.  I don't think he planned on playing Bunch for half the snaps of the first three games nor did he plan on Michigan being one of those games.  

The team was clearly not ready or able to compete with Michigan on any number of levels (talent, preparedness, etc).   I don't think there is ANY scheme (wishbone to air raid to fun N gun) that would enable to Frost to score 5 TDs on Michigan's defense yesterday.   Our O line can't handle their front.  Period.  They mauled us.   

Frost needs to focus on using the games remaining as "practice' scrimmages, etc. and make the team better and not worry about wins or losses.  Get snaps to younger players and keep as many healthy as possible.  Pick 4 remaining games and put plans together that give the team a shot a getting a win maybe.  The rest should be viewed as scrimmages only. 
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The bold - at this rate it is doubtful we make it to a bowl game unless there is a huge attitude adjustment.  Thus we won't have all of those bowl game practices and that extra game.  Now is the time to prepare for next year.  Get the younger guys in and give them real game experience. If they are hungry in practice then give them game time.  If TL, Speilman aren't performing, then give others a chance.   Remove the poor performing seniors from the OL and let that be their legacy if that is their choice.  Get RSF and 2 year players in there and prepare them.  Next year the schedule is much better so lets be prepared to take advantage of the schedule.

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
It's weird because this is the same team and same personnel who were playing a completely different, more aggressive brand of football against Colorado — a surprisingly good Colorado team we were assured — including great push from both OL and DL, a rejuvenated run game, a revelation at freshman QB and our two best-in-conference wide receivers -- total beasts!  We blamed the loss on a single play or two and marveled at all the good things Scott Frost had already gotten out of the same players he inherited from Riley.  What happened to that narrative? 
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This has me baffeled. My only thought is that the CU lines are bad.

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
It's weird because this is the same team and same personnel who were playing a completely different, more aggressive brand of football against Colorado — a surprisingly good Colorado team we were assured — including great push from both OL and DL, a rejuvenated run game, a revelation at freshman QB and our two best-in-conference wide receivers -- total beasts!  We blamed the loss on a single play or two and marveled at all the good things Scott Frost had already gotten out of the same players he inherited from Riley.  What happened to that narrative? 
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Whatever narrative fans concocted doesn't really matter.  What matters is what the team does. Fans can (and should) change their narrative based off the information we have.

Here's my narrative. It seems pretty plausible to me.

After nine months of hard work and raised expectations, we stumbled out of the gate and then righted ourselves. Things were going well until the 2nd half when Colorado's coaching staff made some good adjustments, and it was a back-and-forth game.  Martinez gets hurt, Bunch comes in cold from the bench, and the last-second win didn't happen. 

Just like with Riley, we start 0-1. And doubt seeps in.  These players have had three head coaches in five years.  Four defensive coordinators, three or four offensive coordinators. They're resilient but not made of stone.

Then Troy comes in, experienced in giant-slaying, and they punch us in the mouth. We get sloppy with the ball and the O Line gets whipped, and boom! we're in another deficit. We try to claw back, but Troy is game enough to hold us off. 0-2, and all the feel-good stuff from the offseason is gone.

Then we travel to Michigan, who's flat better than we are right now, and ONCE AGAIN we have a turnover, and all those doubts pile on again. Michigan's guys were clear - our guys didn't look like they wanted to be there after their first touchdown.  We lost that game physically, but the blowout was due to losing the game mentally. 

So now we're 0-3, these guys aren't robots, and it's hard to go to work every day when your work doesn't seem to be paying off. We have a tough game coming up - a tough schedule - and a bowl game is looking harder and harder to achieve. 

That's not a bunch of excuses, it's a bunch of reasons why we're seeing what we're seeing. 

 
knapplc said:
That's not a bunch of excuses, it's a bunch of reasons why we're seeing what we're seeing. 
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Oh I agree. I'm mostly commenting on how the exact same things we call reasons were often called excuses on this board — with lots of exclamations points -- under previous coaching staffs.

The second quarter against Colorado was everything we've been wanting the last 20 years. So we know it can work. It's still a mental game and I'm not ready to concede that Scott Frost was handed a talentless band of malcontents. Motivating young men is pretty much the first line of the job description. 

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
Oh I agree. I'm mostly commenting on how the exact same things we call reasons were often called excuses on this board — with lots of exclamations points -- under previous coaching staffs. 
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They have been. But it's tough to go back and discuss those without speaking at/to the specific people who said those things. Maybe you were and I just missed it.

 
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