Bradr
Starter
How did I miss that!?!? :laughpoundIs that dude pinching Crick's butt?
How did I miss that!?!? :laughpoundIs that dude pinching Crick's butt?
Yeah that was to a spread team when we were still playing a 4-3...Not worried in the least.
Last year in the opener we gave up 22 first downs, 358 yards of offense and lost the time of possession battle. Not to mention the fact that we gave up 85 yards on 18 carries to their starting halfback.
That D turned out pretty good I think.
The first game of the year for this staff, Stats don't matter AT ALL. It's all about getting guys used to the speed and flow of the game and getting their assignments down. As well as getting lots of guys playing time for later in the season.
The D will be just fine.
Exactly what I was thinking bro, but I was thinking in a bigger sense. Think about this: Steinkuhler, Cam, David, Whaley, Gomes. Five of our starting 11 have never started in the position they played on Saturday. I didn't include Rickey, although he didn't play much last year prior to injury and has never locked down a starting job for a full season, but he has started. And a ton of reserves do not have much game or starting experience either. These guys are still green. THe same thing happened last year in the first game. These guys cannot just come together and play lights out from the get go-- that'd be really unrealistic to ask them to do. They need to get some cohesiveness amongst themselves and learn to play together. Once they get their wheels greased and the rust comes off, this is gonna be a scary D. Bo demands that much from his players. Don't start to lose confidence in them based on what they showed in the first game. I thought both David and Whaley played really well at LB for both being first time starters, and when they start to get comfortable and in the flow of things... watch out. Will's return will be welcomed, but like Zac, he may find himself out of a job when he gets back if they continue improving.All this not to mention that our starting LB's, Fisher and Compton, who are essentially the quarterbacks of the defense, are out because of injuries. Their replacements played pretty admirably all things considered.
Also, I read that David and Whaley only had Thursday night and all day Friday to cram all the defensive calls. David made the calls for dime and Whaley made the calls for nickel. Two days and we played pretty decent defense. Time and a few games will do wonders for the new guy's ability to manage the d.
Exactly what I was thinking bro, but I was thinking in a bigger sense. Think about this: Steinkuhler, Cam, David, Whaley, Gomes. Five of our starting 11 have never started in the position they played on Saturday. I didn't include Rickey, although he didn't play much last year prior to injury and has never locked down a starting job for a full season, but he has started. And a ton of reserves do not have much game or starting experience either. These guys are still green. THe same thing happened last year in the first game. These guys cannot just come together and play lights out from the get go-- that'd be really unrealistic to ask them to do. They need to get some cohesiveness amongst themselves and learn to play together. Once they get their wheels greased and the rust comes off, this is gonna be a scary D. Bo demands that much from his players. Don't start to lose confidence in them based on what they showed in the first game. I thought both David and Whaley played really well at LB for both being first time starters, and when they start to get comfortable and in the flow of things... watch out. Will's return will be welcomed, but like Zac, he may find himself out of a job when he gets back if they continue improving.All this not to mention that our starting LB's, Fisher and Compton, who are essentially the quarterbacks of the defense, are out because of injuries. Their replacements played pretty admirably all things considered.
Also, I read that David and Whaley only had Thursday night and all day Friday to cram all the defensive calls. David made the calls for dime and Whaley made the calls for nickel. Two days and we played pretty decent defense. Time and a few games will do wonders for the new guy's ability to manage the d.
I like this post. Compton will play and will start. It's not to disrespect Whaley and David, but he's got the experience and had been doing very well. We need Compton back yesterday. I wasn't totally sold on Baker's play but I think he'll get there. And yeah, Pierre Freaking Allen. Imagine if he wasn't slowed by that turf toe last year. I'm not sure if anyone could have scored against us outside of TT if he would've been 100%. Crick and Allen really need to get the D-line rolling, and hopefully they can.Exactly what I was thinking bro, but I was thinking in a bigger sense. Think about this: Steinkuhler, Cam, David, Whaley, Gomes. Five of our starting 11 have never started in the position they played on Saturday. I didn't include Rickey, although he didn't play much last year prior to injury and has never locked down a starting job for a full season, but he has started. And a ton of reserves do not have much game or starting experience either. These guys are still green. THe same thing happened last year in the first game. These guys cannot just come together and play lights out from the get go-- that'd be really unrealistic to ask them to do. They need to get some cohesiveness amongst themselves and learn to play together. Once they get their wheels greased and the rust comes off, this is gonna be a scary D. Bo demands that much from his players. Don't start to lose confidence in them based on what they showed in the first game. I thought both David and Whaley played really well at LB for both being first time starters, and when they start to get comfortable and in the flow of things... watch out. Will's return will be welcomed, but like Zac, he may find himself out of a job when he gets back if they continue improving.All this not to mention that our starting LB's, Fisher and Compton, who are essentially the quarterbacks of the defense, are out because of injuries. Their replacements played pretty admirably all things considered.
Also, I read that David and Whaley only had Thursday night and all day Friday to cram all the defensive calls. David made the calls for dime and Whaley made the calls for nickel. Two days and we played pretty decent defense. Time and a few games will do wonders for the new guy's ability to manage the d.
No way Will won't get his spot back. Everyone I talked to during camp said that Will was arguably the best Linebacker in the Fall camp.
Although I think a little bit of the lack pass rush had to due with Baker. He got stood up on quite a few players and seemed to come off the blocks slow. Part of that was probably getting used to the game setting / noise, but I still think he needs to work on consistently coming out low and using his leverage to drive linemen. In order for Crick to get to the QB more often, Baker needs to improve his play to free up Crick from the double team. Also, P. Allen is an absolute beast. He is going to be the best DL player this year (even better than Crick). He was shedding blockers like no other and had an insane motor during the game. Out of everyone on the defense, I was most impressed by how he played.
why is everyone talking about KSU? Because they beat at UCLA team who was 7-6 last year? A KSU team who last year was the only contender for the North by the end of the season. And even then, when it came down to it, they were only able to put 3 on the Huskers.I'm a little spooked about playing KSU. Otoh, I'm sure Bo/Carl are right on top of it.
Daniel Thomas is why. He is a big back and they like to run it at you. He could hurt us, especially if the run D doesn't get tweaked. He did pretty well on us last year if I remember right...we still won that game of course. I know we will be fine on defense. But yeah when we think of run games on our schedule, KSU stands out right now.why is everyone talking about KSU? Because they beat at UCLA team who was 7-6 last year? A KSU team who last year was the only contender for the North by the end of the season. And even then, when it came down to it, they were only able to put 3 on the Huskers.I'm a little spooked about playing KSU. Otoh, I'm sure Bo/Carl are right on top of it.
Even in the worst years of Nebraska...we still beat KSU. f#*k the Wildcats.
I was wondering where Martin was too. Did he play at linebacker at all? I only saw him on special teams. It would be great for NU to have a guy his size at LB eventually, esp. since it seems to me that the Big 12 teams are all going to run a good bit because a lot of experienced QBs left. Also, for some teams, its the most logical way to gain yards given their skill players. I expect Texas, Oklahoma, KSU, ISU, OkSt. to focus on the run game a lot this year.I know we faced a darn good back in Rainey, but i was really dissapointed in our rush D. I also realize we startied to new LBs and had a couple new faces up front and at safety, but still, what up? I thought we would see more of Eric Martin but we say mostly daved and whaley, with some matt may.
Eric hagg did fine against the run, but i tend to think that we might need an extra LB in there against run oriented teams which would also help with our experience issues.
what say you?