OWH: Huskers Reliant on Bombs, Not Basics

[Elf]

Here is my problem with yesterday's game and the argument that our coaching staff sucks. I only watched the first half, so I can only speak to that time frame. Only twice, did I see the defense out of position. Both were pass plays that we were bringing the house and the CB got beat from the jump. Otherwise, we had 1 or 2 guys right on top of the offensive player every time. So scheme was sound, thus coaching was sound. All the talk about Banker being horrible is funny, he had the guys in the right positions, the guys crapped their paints. The problem was the crappy tackling. It seemed like the guys just didn't want to tackle. I won't call out any player personally because that isn't right, they live and die as a team.

Thats what I saw yesterday. A lot of guys with half effort. Jogging after the ball carrier, playing timid, bringing back the ghost of Deion Sanders and that shoulder roll tackle........It really looked like a completely different team.

At some point though it becomes the coaches job to notice poor effort. There were a few guys that should have been on the bench thinking about it.

As we continue to rebuild our depth, I can see that happening again.

 

[lo country]

I have said before: I like Mike Riley and I definitely want him to win/succeed. But, after seeing our running game dwindle through the course of the season, I am losing faith in him.

Teams that struggle against the run look like Alabama when they play Nebraska. That's NOT talent.

That's coaching philosophy and focus.

Mike Riley is a passer. He comes from the Pac 10/12 where the running game is an after thought.

That is 100% fine and dandy for the Pac 12. But in the Big 10...not having a dominant running game gets you 5th place or lower in the conference standings.

Mike Riley seems incapable of learning that.

Riley had lots of 1,000 yard rushers at OSU. Jacquizz Rodgers 4 times. Yvenson Bernard 4 times. Ken Simonton once. "Mike Riley is a passer" and "Mike Riley seems incapable to leaning that" is total BS based on HIS HISTORY. His HISTORY has shown that when he has the horses, he uses them.
As for UNL's running backs, neither Newby nor Ozigbo would have started at OSU when Rodgers, Bernard or Simonton were there. In fact, neither of those guys would have started at OSU this season.

I'm sure some Stanford and Oregon fans would laugh at your assessment that rushing is an after thought in that league, not to again mention that Riley had 9 seasons where he had a 1,000 yard rusher.

First, the Pac-10 (at the time) has never been known for their outstanding defenses.

Second, if Riley was calling plays here, that would be applicable. Since he's not calling plays - nor designing the offense - it doesn't really make much difference what they did at Oregon State. I kind of doubt they were mainly an Inside Zone team during those seasons.

If it was up to me, and I understand its not, I'd run traps, counters and sweeps as my bread and butter running plays.

Plays that can assist in negating a "more athletic/talented" defensive front........That would be my choice as well...

Yep. And you can use those plays to help create favorable matchups also.

Holy crap, we agree again.

Haha. Seriously though, are the OL now and in the future athletic enough to run the traps and pass block effectively?

IIRC, Langs was asked about using those plays more in the early part of the year and he said that the health of the OL prevented him from doing it going forward. I think this was after like the 6th or 7th game... That might be true, but it could also be that our earlier games (save Oregon) we could "out speed" most of them....

If our guys can't, we need to really recruit guys who can. (along with every other FBS team that wants to win)

 

[Vitalis Jackson]

I'm incredibly surprised our offense put up 24 points yesterday. It was not very functional nor consistent.

It was entirely a personnel issue. Coaching was not the problem. Talent was the problem. Tennessee was simply much faster, stronger, and more motivated with their home crowd. Our seniors continued to be a disappointment, and the MSB was no exception.

 

[Saunders]

I'm incredibly surprised our offense put up 24 points yesterday. It was not very functional nor consistent.

It was entirely a personnel issue. Coaching was not the problem. Talent was the problem. Tennessee was simply much faster, stronger, and more motivated with their home crowd. Our seniors continued to be a disappointment, and the MSB was no exception.

 

[Saunders]

I didn't realize that Vanderbilt, Mizzou, and South Carolina were top 15 teams in the talent department.

 

[shyndy]

Here is my problem with yesterday's game and the argument that our coaching staff sucks. I only watched the first half, so I can only speak to that time frame. Only twice, did I see the defense out of position. Both were pass plays that we were bringing the house and the CB got beat from the jump. Otherwise, we had 1 or 2 guys right on top of the offensive player every time. So scheme was sound, thus coaching was sound. All the talk about Banker being horrible is funny, he had the guys in the right positions, the guys crapped their paints. The problem was the crappy tackling. It seemed like the guys just didn't want to tackle. I won't call out any player personally because that isn't right, they live and die as a team.

Thats what I saw yesterday. A lot of guys with half effort. Jogging after the ball carrier, playing timid, bringing back the ghost of Deion Sanders and that shoulder roll tackle........It really looked like a completely different team.

At some point though it becomes the coaches job to notice poor effort. There were a few guys that should have been on the bench thinking about it.

As we continue to rebuild our depth, I can see that happening again.

one of the guys I am thinking of was at a position we had depth

 

[MichiganDad3]

I have said before: I like Mike Riley and I definitely want him to win/succeed. But, after seeing our running game dwindle through the course of the season, I am losing faith in him.

Teams that struggle against the run look like Alabama when they play Nebraska. That's NOT talent.

That's coaching philosophy and focus.

Mike Riley is a passer. He comes from the Pac 10/12 where the running game is an after thought.

That is 100% fine and dandy for the Pac 12. But in the Big 10...not having a dominant running game gets you 5th place or lower in the conference standings.

Mike Riley seems incapable of learning that.

Riley had lots of 1,000 yard rushers at OSU. Jacquizz Rodgers 4 times. Yvenson Bernard 4 times. Ken Simonton once. "Mike Riley is a passer" and "Mike Riley seems incapable to leaning that" is total BS based on HIS HISTORY. His HISTORY has shown that when he has the horses, he uses them.
As for UNL's running backs, neither Newby nor Ozigbo would have started at OSU when Rodgers, Bernard or Simonton were there. In fact, neither of those guys would have started at OSU this season.

I'm sure some Stanford and Oregon fans would laugh at your assessment that rushing is an after thought in that league, not to again mention that Riley had 9 seasons where he had a 1,000 yard rusher.

Wait.....he had TWO different backs have four 1000 yard rushing seasons each?
If true, that's an impressive stat. I can't imagine that happening anywhere.

technical Rodgers left after his junior year so he had 3 not sure about the other guy

Rodgers and Yvenson Bernard has three 1000 yard rushing seasons.

 

[Enhance]

I have said before: I like Mike Riley and I definitely want him to win/succeed. But, after seeing our running game dwindle through the course of the season, I am losing faith in him.

Teams that struggle against the run look like Alabama when they play Nebraska. That's NOT talent.

That's coaching philosophy and focus.

Mike Riley is a passer. He comes from the Pac 10/12 where the running game is an after thought.

That is 100% fine and dandy for the Pac 12. But in the Big 10...not having a dominant running game gets you 5th place or lower in the conference standings.

Mike Riley seems incapable of learning that.

Riley had lots of 1,000 yard rushers at OSU. Jacquizz Rodgers 4 times. Yvenson Bernard 4 times. Ken Simonton once. "Mike Riley is a passer" and "Mike Riley seems incapable to leaning that" is total BS based on HIS HISTORY. His HISTORY has shown that when he has the horses, he uses them.
As for UNL's running backs, neither Newby nor Ozigbo would have started at OSU when Rodgers, Bernard or Simonton were there. In fact, neither of those guys would have started at OSU this season.

I'm sure some Stanford and Oregon fans would laugh at your assessment that rushing is an after thought in that league, not to again mention that Riley had 9 seasons where he had a 1,000 yard rusher.

First, the Pac-10 (at the time) has never been known for their outstanding defenses.

Second, if Riley was calling plays here, that would be applicable. Since he's not calling plays - nor designing the offense - it doesn't really make much difference what they did at Oregon State. I kind of doubt they were mainly an Inside Zone team during those seasons.

If it was up to me, and I understand its not, I'd run traps, counters and sweeps as my bread and butter running plays.

Plays that can assist in negating a "more athletic/talented" defensive front........That would be my choice as well...

Yep. And you can use those plays to help create favorable matchups also.

Holy crap, we agree again.

Haha. Seriously though, are the OL now and in the future athletic enough to run the traps and pass block effectively?

In my opinion, no, they're not. Nebraska's line struggled to consistently block well in general, even with the running plays they called regularly. Typically, if a line is inconsistent between the tackles (which they were) then you need to think outside the box a bit more (i.e. wildcat formation). Nebraska's offense also liked to call quick throws to receivers on the edge in single coverage to get them in space to make a play. Those particular calls are very similar to run plays and I believe we would've seen less of them this season had they had a more consistent rushing attack.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

I didn't realize that Vanderbilt, Mizzou, and South Carolina were top 15 teams in the talent department.

Must be the toxicity again… Remember that just kind of pops up when it's convenient

 

[beorach]

How's the running game supposed to click when the passing game is lousy? Vandy's talent level exceeds that of the average B1G school also (per recruiting rankings as discussed here recently).