O-Line

[zoogs]

Here are the 3rd down and ___ yards to go we faced last night, in chronological order.

11

13 (originally 8; penalty)

12

10

15 (originally 10; penalty)

16

17

10

19 (originally 14; penalty)

10

Pretty incredible. That's 10 third downs of ten yards or longer, and we converted one of them.

We had 17 drives in total (not including end-of-half knee), and nine of them ended on third down and 10+ (technically, one of those ended on a 4th down attempt where we snapped the ball early).

 

[SouthLincoln Husker]

I have been saying for a long time that the S&C coach needs to go. We used to build our line in the weight room.

T_O_B

Well, to your point... we now have Boyd Eppley back in the athletic department in a full-time position. I was so relieved upon hearing this, because he should have an immediate impact on strength and conditioning I would think? If the football staff were smart anyway they would take any suggestions he has to heart! Not to, would be very dumb. Let's just hope certain people's ego's are set aside for what's best for the team.

His job is not with football team.

His job is to oversee the entire strength program, but not directly with football. I there are issues, he will be involved!

 

[T_O_Bull]

I have been saying for a long time that the S&C coach needs to go. We used to build our line in the weight room.

T_O_B

The Offensive Line has more problems than just the S&C coaching.

That's where it starts.T_O_B

 

[Atbone95]

I have been saying for a long time that the S&C coach needs to go. We used to build our line in the weight room.

T_O_B

Well, to your point... we now have Boyd Eppley back in the athletic department in a full-time position. I was so relieved upon hearing this, because he should have an immediate impact on strength and conditioning I would think? If the football staff were smart anyway they would take any suggestions he has to heart! Not to, would be very dumb. Let's just hope certain people's ego's are set aside for what's best for the team.

His job is not with football team.

And Bo doesn't coach the defense.

 

[CPT Blackshirt]

I just hope we pull it together on the o line and get another shot at MSU. I think they come out firing on all cylinders vs. NW which is exactly what we will need for that game.

 

[BigRedBuster]

This group had better go out and make Northwestern D linemen wish they had never set foot on the same field. This is for pride in this group now. Honestly, this problem on Saturday night was mostly between the ears. That can change with two weeks and an attitude change.

 

[epocSoN]

Here's what I will say about the O-line. Honestly, I can handle our guys going head to head against a great D-Line and losing the battles. Physically, their D-line was just flat out better than ours.

Here is what bothers me though... Watching Lewis, Sterup, etc get blown off the ball, and getting the edge over and over was causing AA and TA to get repeatedly hammered. Over and over again, they would just slowly walk back to the huddle. If it was my O-line, those guys would be running over to TA or AA after every play to pick them up. These guys were not mentally in this game. No mental toughness at all. Their lack of support of TA and AA im sure really messed with their mental game as well. Not only is your O-line getting you blasted, but they aren't even rushing over to scape you off the ground after.

This has to change.

 

[Enhance]

Over and over again, they would just slowly walk back to the huddle. If it was my D-line, those guys would be running over to TA or AA after every play to pick them up. These guys were not mentally in this game. No mental toughness at all. Their lack of support of TA and AA im sure really messed with their mental game as well. Not only is your O-line getting you blasted, but they aren't even rushing over to scape you off the ground after.

This has to change.

Unfortunately, this mental toughness (mainly, lack-there-of), has been prevalent in major road games under Pelini, especially against higher ranking opponents. This year's MSU, 2012 tOSU, and 2011 Wisconsin stand out in my mind. The 2012 B1G title game is another major head scratcher we'd all rather choose to forget.

Nebraska didn't completely lay an egg Saturday to the tune of some of those blowouts, but they still embarrassed themselves save one quarter. The offensive line is without question the biggest disappointment. I've heard criticisms thrown towards AA, Armstrong, and Beck. Some of them are fair. But, Nebraska's o-line just straight up did NOT come to play. And while it certainly would've helped had a few plays gone our way, what would've helped A LOT more is an o-line that was getting the job done. Had they played better, we wouldn't have needed to rely on a couple of bad plays instead going our way.

And epocSoN is right - the o-line look frazzled from damn near the beginning, and MSU was feeding off of that. I listened to former Husker Matt Vrzal explain how Jake Cotton was playing with bad footwork, poor leverage, and at times looked just lost (like on the 2-point conversion play and that ridiculous false start).

To me, it doesn't matter who your QB, RB or how great your OC is at calling plays if your offensive line is getting embarrassed that badly. The sad thing is, they shouldn't have been. We have guys that can makes plays on that o-line. I don't think we have a great o-line, but, what we've got is better than what we showed. It's very frustrating to see us lose games because we just can't compete like we should be able to, and, it seems like it all comes back to mental preparation and fortitude.

 

[Husker66]

I have been saying for a long time that the S&C coach needs to go. We used to build our line in the weight room.

T_O_B

Well, to your point... we now have Boyd Eppley back in the athletic department in a full-time position. I was so relieved upon hearing this, because he should have an immediate impact on strength and conditioning I would think? If the football staff were smart anyway they would take any suggestions he has to heart! Not to, would be very dumb. Let's just hope certain people's ego's are set aside for what's best for the team.

His job is not with football team.

And Bo doesn't coach the defense.

we spent last season with a beat up team, this season we have started with how many kids hurt and out for the season... a dozen key players?...seems like a LOT more than use to be

 

[The Dude]

There was a play in the Miami game where Sterup pulled around to try to lead block, it might have been the Peirson-El reverse. I couldn't believe how impossibly slow he was. That's not something that's just going to get coached out of him. He'll be a liability every time he goes up against a speed rusher. It's on film now and teams will exploit it. Cotton and Lewis are victims of absurd undeserved hype, and that's not really their fault. We all know why Pelini is starting. Moudy played a bad game by most standards, missed a lot of blocks and was overpowered a lot, but was probably the best of the bunch, sadly.

We lost a lot on the line last year, I was expecting maybe a little drop off, but that was just bad. We need to figure something else out if we expect to ride Abdullah to a conference championship. A healthy dose of mental toughness never hurts, but the problems on the line go well beyond that.

 

[PaulCrewe]

My biggest gripe with the Oline is the left side. All summer we heard teammates, coaches, media etc say that is a nasty combo and would be the anchor. I think Jake and Alex have yet to back that talk up at all this year. Before the game Saturday, all oline penalties up top that game belonged to those two. For every time I saw either one of them dominate a guy there is just add many examples of them chasing a defender into the backfield or not blocking anyone. Remember all the talk of stalemates between Lewis and Gregory?? Really thought about Saturday night when Alex looked like he's never seen a rush end before when going up against Calhoun or Rush.

These two need to step up their game the rest of the year. Especially the one with the "C" on his jersey

 

[Enhance]

I don't think a lack of strength or really even speed is as big of a problem. Miami's defense was pretty stout against the run coming into the contest against us and we found ways to make plays. While MSU is certainly better, I don't think our o-line is incapable of making plays against them because we're simply slower and weaker.

If some of you get the chance, listen to Nick Bahe's interview with Matt Vrzal on 1620 the Zone's show Game Time. Here's a link - click on Segment 10 from Oct. 6th. http://www.1620thezone.com/common/page.php?id=451

When you're trying to diagnose problems at a position group, no better person to ask than someone who fought battles in the same position group. Vrzal talked about a lack of mental toughness, but then also spoke about individual players. As I mentioned already, he called out Cotton for bad technique/fundamentals, when Cotton looked lost on a 2-point conversion play and pointed to five-or-six snaps where Pelini looked jumpy and hiked the ball before TA was ready.

On a broader scale, I think Nebraska has really had bad luck and bad development on their o-lines. We've missed on recruits, had players transfer, lost players to injury, lost players to other issues and haven't had really good players pan out. Andrew Rodriguez was one of the best linemen in the state about five years ago in high school and he was never really a difference maker like he should've been, for example. And, while the NFL is certainly not the end-all-be-all for how great a player is, I do think it says something that we haven't seen a lot of o-linemen head to the NFL and be successful since the last six years.

Again, I don't think a lack of talent is our biggest problem right now. But, overall, I think it's an area we could still use a lot of help in.

 

[TheSker]

My biggest gripe with the Oline is the left side. All summer we heard teammates, coaches, media etc say that is a nasty combo and would be the anchor. I think Jake and Alex have yet to back that talk up at all this year. Before the game Saturday, all oline penalties up top that game belonged to those two. For every time I saw either one of them dominate a guy there is just add many examples of them chasing a defender into the backfield or not blocking anyone. Remember all the talk of stalemates between Lewis and Gregory?? Really thought about Saturday night when Alex looked like he's never seen a rush end before when going up against Calhoun or Rush.

These two need to step up their game the rest of the year. Especially the one with the "C" on his jersey

Agreed. I'm not sure we have an All Conference OLman this season.

 

[Minnesota_husker]

Speed kills.

MSU sending pressure from different spots showed our glaring weaknesses and that is dealing with speed.

At this point, i just dont get how you keep Barney or even Garrison at this point.. Gotta change something around.

 

[T_O_Bull]

Speed kills.

MSU sending pressure from different spots showed our glaring weaknesses and that is dealing with speed.

At this point, i just dont get how you keep Barney or even Garrison at this point.. Gotta change something around.

Barney is a former o-lineman and obviously learned nothing from the experience. All of the coaches from his days on the team are now gone. Eply is coming back and it is time to excise the Cotton Curse from this program. Please let Sean be the last of the line.

T_O_B