Nebraska vs Purdue (talent discussion)

[Nebhawk]

Right now, its hard to say anything positive about coaching or players playing. The effort by the players in the last two weeks bothers me as much as some of the ugly play calls. Right now, we are a bad football team. Fundamentals........sure, but these are recruited players, recruited to play at a D-1 school/program.........fundamentals I would hope were taught in High school and for those here for more than one year.

I just hope, pride kicks in this week, a we give Sparty a run for the money. Right now focus needs to be on Sparty. Lets see some pride.

We can blame coaching for everything, but these players haven't executed fundamentally. Hail Mary.........never let a guy get in front of you! Little league football.........So on and so forth. Not giving the coaching staff a free pass, but I read comments on here like we must have recruited idiots who never played the game. Come on.........the coaches aren't good, but if you can't see that the players aren't very coherent either, your blind.

 

[Igetbored216]

Why are the same players still playing if they're not giving the effort? Riley said he couldn't fault them for their effort... that can't be it then...

I wouldn't think a coach would ever call out their players publicly. At least not at the college level. However, if they aren't giving full effort I would think they would no longer be playing, but we haven't seen any rotation at the positions (other then for injuries). So, we can assume that: 1) players are giving 100%, or 2) coaches are continually using players that aren't giving 100%. So, which one is it?

 

[Decked]

I'm not ready to give up on Riley. However, certain staff changes need to be made if coach Riley would like to save his job. Or he can ride off into the sunset when he gets canned after next year with another horrible repeat of a season.

 

[ZRod]

I can't help you see the forest... I can only tell you it's there, and the trees are all around you.

 

[True2tRA]

Why are the same players still playing if they're not giving the effort? Riley said he couldn't fault them for their effort... that can't be it then...

Should he bench them?

I thought you fans want to win NOW!

How the hell can he win NOW if he benches the starters? Or do we think the guys behind them are better? Do you know that better than this coaching staff does? Or do you think they just don't want to win?

You think Riley should call out any players on this team publicly? I mean, if we question whether he "has" this teams trust or not, then how would that go over? If a new coach comes into a shaky situation, on a team with some players that resent their situation, a roster full of guys he didn't recruit, do you think the Head Coach should weigh the options of how much he rocks the boat and what could result from that?

What do you think the result would be? If we go 3-9 with even our "best" players on the field, then how would it go without them? Does the coach owe it to the team, the University and their fans, to put the best product he can on the field?

Or are you telling me we would have been a patient enough fan base to understand if Riley swapped in a new depth chart full of youth and inexperience, and we'd have been patient as he rebuilt this thing. horsesh#t.

Let's hear the argument how we put less capable guys on the field and failed, but at least they had a positive attitude and built toward the future.

 

[Igetbored216]

Btw if you want a break down on those gifs...

the int: keep your feet moving, shoulders square to the defender, and for godsake stay in front of him. That's technique it should be coached.

The passing td: hard to say but looks like the corner should have turned his hips sooner, technique, and ther was no safety help over the top (an ongoing philosphy/coaching issue)

The rushing td: pursuit angles, basic coaching on assignments.

He gets caught flat footed and his head isn't on a swivel.

Should Cavanaugh have this player playing better? Is it Cavanaugh's fault his technique is weak and the player clearly wasn't focused? Has this player been a good player in the past that has been getting worse, not better? Has this player proven to execute consistently in the past?

So Stewart taught the corner poor technique? The corner is in position to make the play. He doesn't need safety help over the top. That's not the scheme we play in. Lots of teams don't put safety help over the top. The corner should be able to cover a Purdue WR right, I mean, as much more talented as we are and all?

The rushing TD, basic pursuit angles is basic coaching? Ha! That's basic football man. If you've been playing this game you either understand it or you don't. Don't be lazy and don't jog after the play how about that? Don't let a WR reach out and completely take you out of the play if you're a DE that outweighs him by 80 lbs.. How about #25 on that rushing play? What was he up to?

He didn't look back to see where the ball is. That's the way they are coached now. Hard to make a play on the ball when you don't know where it is. Is it overthrown, underthrown, right on the money, toward the center of the field, toward the sideline? Not easy to know when you aren't looking for the ball.

 

[alwayshusking]

Right now, its hard to say anything positive about coaching or players playing. The effort by the players in the last two weeks bothers me as much as some of the ugly play calls. Right now, we are a bad football team. Fundamentals........sure, but these are recruited players, recruited to play at a D-1 school/program.........fundamentals I would hope were taught in High school and for those here for more than one year.

I just hope, pride kicks in this week, a we give Sparty a run for the money. Right now focus needs to be on Sparty. Lets see some pride.

We can blame coaching for everything, but these players haven't executed fundamentally. Hail Mary.........never let a guy get in front of you! Little league football.........So on and so forth. Not giving the coaching staff a free pass, but I read comments on here like we must have recruited idiots who never played the game. Come on.........the coaches aren't good, but if you can't see that the players aren't very coherent either, your blind.

Start benching guys that aren't giving effort. It's pretty simple. They just gave up 55 to Purdue it can't really get worse.

Players aren't correcting mistakes as the season goes on, they are making more of them. There are no consequences for it when they do make repeated mistakes. Reminds me of 2007.

Cav comes off as a complete stooge with his only play the top 5 when the top 5 have stunk it up. Provides no motivation to the top 5, which you need when you've already posted a bunch of losses.

 

[True2tRA]

Btw if you want a break down on those gifs...

the int: keep your feet moving, shoulders square to the defender, and for godsake stay in front of him. That's technique it should be coached.

The passing td: hard to say but looks like the corner should have turned his hips sooner, technique, and ther was no safety help over the top (an ongoing philosphy/coaching issue)

The rushing td: pursuit angles, basic coaching on assignments.

He gets caught flat footed and his head isn't on a swivel.

Should Cavanaugh have this player playing better? Is it Cavanaugh's fault his technique is weak and the player clearly wasn't focused? Has this player been a good player in the past that has been getting worse, not better? Has this player proven to execute consistently in the past?

So Stewart taught the corner poor technique? The corner is in position to make the play. He doesn't need safety help over the top. That's not the scheme we play in. Lots of teams don't put safety help over the top. The corner should be able to cover a Purdue WR right, I mean, as much more talented as we are and all?

The rushing TD, basic pursuit angles is basic coaching? Ha! That's basic football man. If you've been playing this game you either understand it or you don't. Don't be lazy and don't jog after the play how about that? Don't let a WR reach out and completely take you out of the play if you're a DE that outweighs him by 80 lbs.. How about #25 on that rushing play? What was he up to?

He didn't look back to see where the ball is. That's the way they are coached now. Hard to make a play on the ball when you don't know where it is. Is it overthrown, underthrown, right on the money, toward the center of the field, toward the sideline? Not easy to know when you aren't looking for the ball.

Is that the way they're coached, cause if so, I agree that is an issue. We could get better at reading the receivers eyes and body language though, and why are our DB's so hands off and unaggressive? I mean, every team in the country is getting more physical with their DB's than we are.

When is the last time Husker Defensive backs ever turned to look back for the ball when it was in the air? Now nobody lie to me and tell me we did when Bo was here, because no we didn't. The only times our DB's have looked at the ball that I can remember in the last 8 years is when the are playing so far off and the pass is in front of them, which was typical in Pelini's "bend don't break" pass defense.

 

[ZRod]

You can tell me to f#*k off, and I'm full of sh#t all you want, but that is exactly what should be done if these guys aren't giving it full go. And yes the fans would tolerate that, maybe not like it, but at least it was a change and not the definition of insanity. All the coach has to say is that we needed a change, and we weren't seeing the "things" we wanted to from the previous starter, there's a chance for them to earn their job back.

 

[huskerfan92]

Btw if you want a break down on those gifs...

the int: keep your feet moving, shoulders square to the defender, and for godsake stay in front of him. That's technique it should be coached.

The passing td: hard to say but looks like the corner should have turned his hips sooner, technique, and ther was no safety help over the top (an ongoing philosphy/coaching issue)

The rushing td: pursuit angles, basic coaching on assignments.

He gets caught flat footed and his head isn't on a swivel.

Should Cavanaugh have this player playing better? Is it Cavanaugh's fault his technique is weak and the player clearly wasn't focused? Has this player been a good player in the past that has been getting worse, not better? Has this player proven to execute consistently in the past?

So Stewart taught the corner poor technique? The corner is in position to make the play. He doesn't need safety help over the top. That's not the scheme we play in. Lots of teams don't put safety help over the top. The corner should be able to cover a Purdue WR right, I mean, as much more talented as we are and all?

The rushing TD, basic pursuit angles is basic coaching? Ha! That's basic football man. If you've been playing this game you either understand it or you don't. Don't be lazy and don't jog after the play how about that? Don't let a WR reach out and completely take you out of the play if you're a DE that outweighs him by 80 lbs.. How about #25 on that rushing play? What was he up to?

He didn't look back to see where the ball is. That's the way they are coached now. Hard to make a play on the ball when you don't know where it is. Is it overthrown, underthrown, right on the money, toward the center of the field, toward the sideline? Not easy to know when you aren't looking for the ball.

Is that the way they're coached, cause if so, I agree that is an issue. We could get better at reading the receivers eyes and body language though, and why are our DB's so hands off and unaggressive? I mean, every team in the country is getting more physical with their DB's than we are.

When is the last time Husker Defensive backs ever turned to look back for the ball when it was in the air? Now nobody lie to me and tell me we did when Bo was here, because no we didn't. The only times our DB's have looked at the ball that I can remember in the last 8 years is when the are playing so far off and the pass is in front of them, which was typical in Pelini's "bend don't break" pass defense.

Riley has said his philosophy is for the secondary to not look back at the ball because he believes it slows them down....so, hard to make a play on the ball when you're being taught not to look at it. It would also explain why we were getting so many pass interference calls early in the year because if you don't look back at the ball and make any contact with the receiver, the ref is going to call it every time.

 

[zoogs]

Nebraska this year has lost to a lot of teams this year that were not as talented. Mentality, injuries, poor play, a lot of things are going into it. Purdue should never have been up in this game, but NU gave it to them -- and this was *not* the kind of Husker squad equipped to fight back. Not with Fyfe making his first start, losing Newby, losing Pierson-El, missing Alonzo, missing Gates, missing Cockrell, missing Rose.

Somehow, they did start to mount a comeback. Purdue is just not very good, after all. But a combination of more handing them points and collapsing on defense put this game away.

The finisher was that Purdue RB who dragged the entire Husker defense 10 yards Tommie Frazier style before breaking loose. Mentality is how this happens. Even when you're shorthanded, if you have the right swagger and belief and culture, you can work with it. Nebraska hasn't had that for years.

 

[cm husker]

From the thread about B1G West talent last week

We are basically even with Purdue on the 2 deep

http://www.huskerboard.com/index.php?/topic/77151-unsportsmanlike-conduct20151027how-talented-is-nebraska/

No, they aren't. Or, if you want to use that jacked up methodology, so is Mich St.

And so was NU most of the previous 10 to 15 years.

 

[cm husker]

Good God, you seriously sound like you're OKAY with everything. Like we should be okay with 2 more seasons of this. How long do we give this staff, and why do you think they'll produce any better results than what we're seeing?

It's realistic to believe with fewer of the upperclassmen that are currently causing the locker room issues as well as better depth across the board you will see improvement starting next season. If we are below 500 next season you have to fire them all including SE.

.500 coach doing what a .500 coach does. But fans blame the players.

It's ok to admit your faith in Pederhorst and Riley was misplaced.

 

[True2tRA]

We started 6 guys without a single power 5 offer on Saturday...

Why does this not matter to people?

I thought stars (or lack of) did not matter?

I don't think you can have it both ways...

If you really think Purdue had better talent on the field you must also think that Coach Riley is going to get a few "Coach of the Year" awards for managing to get 3 wins with a team filled of players that basically less athletic than Steven hawking.

You completely missed the entire point about " stars don't matter".

I said stars don't make you a good Division I College Football player. I never said being a good player wasn't important.

Too many people are completely overlooking the lack of playmaking on this team. I don't think Purdue had the better talent on the field, I'd say we don't look too far apart but we were playing with our backup QB and we lost our most talented offensive player in Pierson-El. Westerkamp did a damn great job out there. Purdue looks like they execute their systems a little bit better than we do ours. They also got a couple lucky bounces that went their way. Their TE made a great catch and their QB had some good runs and throws.

Players got to make plays. Purdue did, we did not make enough..

 

[cm husker]

Or are they not capable? It looks to me like we struggle in some very basic aspects on a regular basis. Most good teams don't struggle on the offensive line the way we do. That's very hard to overcome.

If they aren't capable or struggling in a scheme, why in the world would you continue to stick with something that isn't working? A large part of coaching is finding something that works and putting players in the best position to succeed. I'm not seeing that at all. Throwing 48 times with ANY QBs currently on the roster is a really good way to lose a game. They weren't recruited to sling it all over the field, so why do we continually do it? Why not create a run heavy game plan one week to see how it works? It's not like there is a lot to lose at this point.
The o-line is a total joke this year. I have seen three o-linemen consistently whiff blocks or just get flat out dominated, yet there isn't even an attempt to switch it up to see if a different combination works better. Am I to believe these things don't happen in practice? I have a really hard time believing that these things only happen on game day.

I don't wholly disagree with you. We seem to be in between what we want to be and what we actually can be. It just doesn't seem like we are good at much of anything. That can never be entirely on a coaching staff. Especially not in their first year here, at least, not in my opinion.

If we want to be a 40+ attempt per game WCO, NU will be sub .500 from here out under this staff.