So You're Telling Me...

[HuskerNBigD]

Ok - looks like I'm struggling with inserting an image, so i will just manually insert the numbers for each game - I provided rushing attempts, average yards per carry, passing statistics, total #of plays, what percent of the plays were runs and pass and the defensive ranking, both run and pass, for each opponent. Again, had enough financial modeling for one day so I figured I'd add some more stats to the argument. Which side it favors, not quite sure.

Damn - i can tell this will not be pretty for mobile users already.

Opponent Rush Yards YPC Pass Attempts Completions Pass Yrds Comp% YPC #Plays %Run %Pass RunD PassD

BYU 37 126 3.41 41 24 319 59% 13.29 78 47% 53% 40 49

So Ala 37 258 6.97 38 26 303 68% 11.65 75 49% 51% 112 25

Miami 32 153 4.78 45 21 309 47% 14.71 77 42% 58% 105 27

So. Miss 39 242 6.21 35 23 368 66% 16.00 74 53% 47% 45 87

Illinois 34 187 5.50 31 10 105 32% 10.50 65 52% 48% 63 14

Wisconsin 37 196 5.30 28 11 129 39% 11.73 65 57% 43% 4 5

Minnesota 39 203 5.21 26 18 261 69% 14.50 65 60% 40% 68 13

NW 38 82 2.16 48 24 291 50% 12.13 86 44% 56% 10 23

Purdue 29 77 2.66 48 29 407 60% 14.03 77 38% 62% 107 88

Mich. St 36 179 4.97 33 19 320 58% 16.84 69 52% 48% 15 92

Rutgers 38 174 4.58 21 14 188 67% 13.43 59 64% 36% 84 117

Iowa 38 137 3.61 45 25 296 56% 11.84 83 46% 54% 18 81

UCLA 62 326 5.26 19 12 174 63% 14.50 81 77% 23% 88 39

Total 496 2340 4.72 458 256 3470 56% 13.55 954 52% 48%

 

[Elf]

Per Dan Hoppen Tweet: Nebraska play calling this season:

Six wins: 56.2% runs, 43.8% passes

Seven losses: 40.7% runs, 59.3% passes

Honestly, I'm ok with either one of those ratios as long as we're winning. Give it some time and I think some of those 7 losses become wins sooner rather than later.

I should hope Purdue isn't ever a loss again.

But that said, will people be content with 3 to 4 losses a season?

No. Not at Nebraska. We should be competing for championships every year. And not just at the conference level.

 

[huskerfan74]

At the risk of getting my neck mauled by the wolves on this board, I want to ask a few questions. I want to make sure that everyone knows that I LOVE MY HUSKERS and bleed husker red ever since I was born but this last game left me wondering. Here we go:

(1) Why did we not use the RUN to open up the PASS in all our losses? I feel that our offensive coordinator thought he has Aaron Rodgers at the helm and he put Armstrong in sh**ty situations which led to interceptions and caused him to lose confidence. When Armstrong runs the ball, he is more effective as a passer.

(2) Why in God's Green Earth did we not use Ozigbo and Jano more. They got an average of 6 yards/carry every time they touched the ball. Ozigbo is a beast. In our close losses, we simply just forgot about them. We are able to keep UCLA from scoring yet we could not stop Wisconsin, Illinois, and Northwestern????

(3) Our defensive coordinator WILL NEVER CHANGE or LEARN from his mistakes as the years have proven. Do we really think that he can turn things around next year?

(4) We are losing our best defender in Maliek Collins. How are we going to recover defensively with a less than capable defensive coordinator and no chance in hell of Mike Riley ever making a switch in that position as time has shown him to be blindly loyal to his useless coordinators.

(5) Finally, if we are capable of playing high caliber football as we did against Michigan St and UCLA, why did we not do so all year long? Are these coaches capable of consistent success, especially with a very tough schedule next year? I doubt it.

I remain very skeptical about the current coaching staff (in its entirety and staring with Mike Riley), but hopeful that we have some very talented players that can be very impressive if the coaches give them the chance to do so. GO BIG RED!!

 

[Elf]

We treated the tun game as a novelty. More of a necessity to ensure the defenses wouldn't simply defend the pass exclusively every drive. It cost us at least 3 games which is severely unfortunate considering we obviously HAD the players to run an effective ground game.

UCLA has a bad rush defense, that much was clear. But with Ozigbo and Cross and Jannovich we could have been beating the hell out of defensive lines all season yet we were passing on 1st and 2nd down in the 2st quarter for no apparent reason other than we could. Also, I would like to see more stretch to the wide side of the field instead of smash up the middle.

Someone quoted Langsdorf in another thread following the game and he basically said it would've been nice if they could've run like that all season but some games they couldn't.
I challenge this mindset because saying something like that suggests they exhausted all their efforts to try and run the ball and nothing worked well enough. This can be proven false, however, by the fact that there were several games Janovich had no carries and Ozigbo had only a couple or none at all.

Then there was the 3rd and 1 play inside UCLA's 5-yard line in the 3rd quarter. They relied heavily on the rush attack this drive and the Bruins had been unable to stop yet, yet they called a shotgun pass play.

Langsdorf deserves credit for sticking to the run and calling a pretty darn good game, but there are still moments where it's clear to me he still doesn't quite trust or have a lot of faith in the run game.

In all fairness we don't know the exact reasons for that. I could be remembering this all wrong but didn't someone ask one of the coaches about Ozigbo earlier this year, I forget the exact question but the answer was something to the effect of Ozigbo was the only one holding him back, grades or learning the offense maybe... Point is, there are likely valid reasons for the running back situation we saw this year and we may never know the full extent of those reasons. I would have volunteered to be the "fly on the wall" in the coaches offices and on the practice field but with my luck someone would have used a can of Raid on my a$$.

I think you're right and I'll be the first person to say that I think a lot of things go unreported or unmentioned to protect the player a bit. That goes for injuries, grades... you name it.
But, what about guys like Jano who played every game yet sometimes didn't get thrown a bone? Or those memorable situations where we could've picked up crucial first downs using the ground game yet elected to go to the air (the UCLA play I mentioned above is a prime example).

Again, you raise a good point and there are certainly a lot of moving parts to offensive strategy and who is seeing what type of playing time. I just have a hard time believing the coaches trusted the run game enough this year.

I think you bring up some valid points especially concerning Janovich. This might be one of the great mysteries of Husker football that forever go unanswered. This is just my opinion mind you, but I think it had to do with your last sentence. People like to bring up the Purdue game and why didn't we run it? Well, we did 29 times for 77 yards. 2.6 yards per carry....I'd go air raid also if my run game sucked like that.

If I was the coach you guys would likely string me up from the nearest tree because some of those "memorable situations where we could've picked up crucial first downs using the ground game yet elected to go to the air" I would likely have done the same thing, throw the ball when the opponent least expects it, especially if the defense is stacking the box. Stack the box against me and I'm going to give you third degree burns from my aerial bombardment until you back out of the box. As soon as you back out of the box, it's Jano gashing you up the middle again.

 

[Elf]

At the risk of getting my neck mauled by the wolves on this board, I want to ask a few questions. I want to make sure that everyone knows that I LOVE MY HUSKERS and bleed husker red ever since I was born but this last game left me wondering. Here we go:

(1) Why did we not use the RUN to open up the PASS in all our losses? I feel that our offensive coordinator thought he has Aaron Rodgers at the helm and he put Armstrong in sh**ty situations which led to interceptions and caused him to lose confidence. When Armstrong runs the ball, he is more effective as a passer.

(2) Why in God's Green Earth did we not use Ozigbo and Jano more. They got an average of 6 yards/carry every time they touched the ball. Ozigbo is a beast. In our close losses, we simply just forgot about them. We are able to keep UCLA from scoring yet we could not stop Wisconsin, Illinois, and Northwestern????

(3) Our defensive coordinator WILL NEVER CHANGE or LEARN from his mistakes as the years have proven. Do we really think that he can turn things around next year?

(4) We are losing our best defender in Maliek Collins. How are we going to recover defensively with a less than capable defensive coordinator and no chance in hell of Mike Riley ever making a switch in that position as time has shown him to be blindly loyal to his useless coordinators.

(5) Finally, if we are capable of playing high caliber football as we did against Michigan St and UCLA, why did we not do so all year long? Are these coaches capable of consistent success, especially with a very tough schedule next year? I doubt it.

I remain very skeptical about the current coaching staff (in its entirety and staring with Mike Riley), but hopeful that we have some very talented players that can be very impressive if the coaches give them the chance to do so. GO BIG RED!!

So many questions, mind if I pick and choose which ones I'd like to answer? Yes? To damn bad, I'm doing it anyway!

Your first question is easy. If you recall, Riley talked about using the pass to open up the run earlier this year. (I forget exactly when this happened, might have even been last spring.) This is their philosophy. Riley is always going to have passing as a big part of his offense. He's recently been on record as saying he'd like to be in the 60/40 run pass ratio. That doesn't always mean that he can do that. We don't have an offensive line that has consistently shown the ability to enforce their will on our opponents. Against UCLA they did, but we kinda need to take that with a grain of salt because while those defenders are certainly quick and talented, they lacked size in a big way so we wrecked them. I am certainly excited at how well the line played in the bowl, I think that was their best game all season but I also want to see them do that to everyone we meet. I'm also realistic enough to know that their success might have been in large part due to the size difference between lines.

In regards to Armstrong. If you dvr'd the game, go back and watch his throws. (If not, go watch on youtube.) Watch how he sets his feet on each pass play and then look at his accuracy for that play. I think you'll find that when Tommy throws off his back foot he's absolute crap as a passer. Otoh, when he sets his feet properly and steps into his throws he is VERY accurate. Go look at games he did well in and you'll generally see him with time to set his feet. Then look at games where he did poorly. I think you'll find just the exact opposite.

I got kinda windy on #1 so I'll pass on the rest and let someone else take them up.

 

[knapplc]

Ok - looks like I'm struggling with inserting an image, so i will just manually insert the numbers for each game

I don't even care if your numbers are accurate or not. That was a lot of work. Have an upvote.

 

[HuskerNBigD]

Ok - looks like I'm struggling with inserting an image, so i will just manually insert the numbers for each game

I don't even care if your numbers are accurate or not. That was a lot of work. Have an upvote.

Thanks knapp! Wish it would've formatted better.

 

[Elf]

Ok - looks like I'm struggling with inserting an image, so i will just manually insert the numbers for each game - I provided rushing attempts, average yards per carry, passing statistics, total #of plays, what percent of the plays were runs and pass and the defensive ranking, both run and pass, for each opponent. Again, had enough financial modeling for one day so I figured I'd add some more stats to the argument. Which side it favors, not quite sure.

Damn - i can tell this will not be pretty for mobile users already.

Opponent Rush Yards YPC Pass Attempts Completions Pass Yrds Comp% YPC #Plays %Run %Pass RunD PassD

BYU 37 126 3.41 41 24 319 59% 13.29 78 47% 53% 40 49

So Ala 37 258 6.97 38 26 303 68% 11.65 75 49% 51% 112 25

Miami 32 153 4.78 45 21 309 47% 14.71 77 42% 58% 105 27

So. Miss 39 242 6.21 35 23 368 66% 16.00 74 53% 47% 45 87

Illinois 34 187 5.50 31 10 105 32% 10.50 65 52% 48% 63 14

Wisconsin 37 196 5.30 28 11 129 39% 11.73 65 57% 43% 4 5

Minnesota 39 203 5.21 26 18 261 69% 14.50 65 60% 40% 68 13

NW 38 82 2.16 48 24 291 50% 12.13 86 44% 56% 10 23

Purdue 29 77 2.66 48 29 407 60% 14.03 77 38% 62% 107 88

Mich. St 36 179 4.97 33 19 320 58% 16.84 69 52% 48% 15 92

Rutgers 38 174 4.58 21 14 188 67% 13.43 59 64% 36% 84 117

Iowa 38 137 3.61 45 25 296 56% 11.84 83 46% 54% 18 81

UCLA 62 326 5.26 19 12 174 63% 14.50 81 77% 23% 88 39

Total 496 2340 4.72 458 256 3470 56% 13.55 954 52% 48%

Why did we suck so bad running against NW and Purdue? Even BYU and Iowa were substandard performances in the run game. I'll take the rest of them though.

 

[HuskerNBigD]

Ok - looks like I'm struggling with inserting an image, so i will just manually insert the numbers for each game - I provided rushing attempts, average yards per carry, passing statistics, total #of plays, what percent of the plays were runs and pass and the defensive ranking, both run and pass, for each opponent. Again, had enough financial modeling for one day so I figured I'd add some more stats to the argument. Which side it favors, not quite sure.

Damn - i can tell this will not be pretty for mobile users already.

Opponent Rush Yards YPC Pass Attempts Completions Pass Yrds Comp% YPC #Plays %Run %Pass RunD PassD

BYU 37 126 3.41 41 24 319 59% 13.29 78 47% 53% 40 49

So Ala 37 258 6.97 38 26 303 68% 11.65 75 49% 51% 112 25

Miami 32 153 4.78 45 21 309 47% 14.71 77 42% 58% 105 27

So. Miss 39 242 6.21 35 23 368 66% 16.00 74 53% 47% 45 87

Illinois 34 187 5.50 31 10 105 32% 10.50 65 52% 48% 63 14

Wisconsin 37 196 5.30 28 11 129 39% 11.73 65 57% 43% 4 5

Minnesota 39 203 5.21 26 18 261 69% 14.50 65 60% 40% 68 13

NW 38 82 2.16 48 24 291 50% 12.13 86 44% 56% 10 23

Purdue 29 77 2.66 48 29 407 60% 14.03 77 38% 62% 107 88

Mich. St 36 179 4.97 33 19 320 58% 16.84 69 52% 48% 15 92

Rutgers 38 174 4.58 21 14 188 67% 13.43 59 64% 36% 84 117

Iowa 38 137 3.61 45 25 296 56% 11.84 83 46% 54% 18 81

UCLA 62 326 5.26 19 12 174 63% 14.50 81 77% 23% 88 39

Total 496 2340 4.72 458 256 3470 56% 13.55 954 52% 48%

Why did we suck so bad running against NW and Purdue? Even BYU and Iowa were substandard performances in the run game. I'll take the rest of them though.

Well northwestern did have a top 10 rush defense, but I'm not wanting to make excuses. And honestly, I was on bourbon street for the Purdue debacle so I don't remember much of that - which is probably a good thing.

 

[Waterloohusker26]

Per Dan Hoppen Tweet: Nebraska play calling this season:

Six wins: 56.2% runs, 43.8% passes

Seven losses: 40.7% runs, 59.3% passes

Honestly, I'm ok with either one of those ratios as long as we're winning. Give it some time and I think some of those 7 losses become wins sooner rather than later.

I should hope Purdue isn't ever a loss again.
But that said, will people be content with 3 to 4 losses a season?

All of the BOlievers were apparently content with it. Had a conversation with one of the relatives tonight who still wishes we had Bo. I asked him why, and the response was well the team never gave up on him. My response was the big ten title game vs Wisky or last year vs Wisky. He merely said that it wasn't bad coaching that it was just superior players.

Once again I asked how could a walk on from GI be the back up QB for this team. His response well that's not the coaches fault. I find myself having conversations with people like this more often then I'd like to. Not sure if they will ever get it.

Did he ask you about the 4 backup QBs + 1 starter on UNLs National Championship teams?
1970 - Van Brownson: Shenandoah, Ia.

1971 - Steve Runty: Ogallala, Nebraska

1994 - Matt Turman: Wahoo, Nebraska

1995 - Brook Berringer: Goodland KS

1997 - Scott Frost(STARTER): Wood River, Nebraska

But I suppose you're not a Devaney or Osborne supporter either.

Not always where you're from, it's how you party when you get there.

How many of those guys threw 4 INTs in a game? To compare Ryker with those last two guys is pretty laughable. Love the story but I doubt he'd be starting for many D-1 schools

 

[cm husker]

Per Dan Hoppen Tweet: Nebraska play calling this season:

Six wins: 56.2% runs, 43.8% passes

Seven losses: 40.7% runs, 59.3% passes

Honestly, I'm ok with either one of those ratios as long as we're winning. Give it some time and I think some of those 7 losses become wins sooner rather than later.

I should hope Purdue isn't ever a loss again.
But that said, will people be content with 3 to 4 losses a season?

All of the BOlievers were apparently content with it. Had a conversation with one of the relatives tonight who still wishes we had Bo. I asked him why, and the response was well the team never gave up on him. My response was the big ten title game vs Wisky or last year vs Wisky. He merely said that it wasn't bad coaching that it was just superior players.

Once again I asked how could a walk on from GI be the back up QB for this team. His response well that's not the coaches fault. I find myself having conversations with people like this more often then I'd like to. Not sure if they will ever get it.

Did he ask you about the 4 backup QBs + 1 starter on UNLs National Championship teams?
1970 - Van Brownson: Shenandoah, Ia.

1971 - Steve Runty: Ogallala, Nebraska

1994 - Matt Turman: Wahoo, Nebraska

1995 - Brook Berringer: Goodland KS

1997 - Scott Frost(STARTER): Wood River, Nebraska

But I suppose you're not a Devaney or Osborne supporter either.

Not always where you're from, it's how you party when you get there.

How many of those guys threw 4 INTs in a game? To compare Ryker with those last two guys is pretty laughable. Love the story but I doubt he'd be starting for many D-1 schools

Nor is he at Nebraska.

Where are you trying to go with this?

 

[Waterloohusker26]

Per Dan Hoppen Tweet: Nebraska play calling this season:

Six wins: 56.2% runs, 43.8% passes

Seven losses: 40.7% runs, 59.3% passes

Honestly, I'm ok with either one of those ratios as long as we're winning. Give it some time and I think some of those 7 losses become wins sooner rather than later.

I should hope Purdue isn't ever a loss again.
But that said, will people be content with 3 to 4 losses a season?

All of the BOlievers were apparently content with it. Had a conversation with one of the relatives tonight who still wishes we had Bo. I asked him why, and the response was well the team never gave up on him. My response was the big ten title game vs Wisky or last year vs Wisky. He merely said that it wasn't bad coaching that it was just superior players.

Once again I asked how could a walk on from GI be the back up QB for this team. His response well that's not the coaches fault. I find myself having conversations with people like this more often then I'd like to. Not sure if they will ever get it.

Did he ask you about the 4 backup QBs + 1 starter on UNLs National Championship teams?
1970 - Van Brownson: Shenandoah, Ia.

1971 - Steve Runty: Ogallala, Nebraska

1994 - Matt Turman: Wahoo, Nebraska

1995 - Brook Berringer: Goodland KS

1997 - Scott Frost(STARTER): Wood River, Nebraska

But I suppose you're not a Devaney or Osborne supporter either.

Not always where you're from, it's how you party when you get there.

How many of those guys threw 4 INTs in a game? To compare Ryker with those last two guys is pretty laughable. Love the story but I doubt he'd be starting for many D-1 schools

Nor is he at Nebraska.

Where are you trying to go with this?

That the lack of depth we have at some positions is just maddening

 

[Elf]

The idea that Riley and Langs wanted to do things "their way" a.k.a. The Callahan Effect isn't true at all. Coming into the job, he was asked about being pass-happy and he said no, I want people on the ground with the ball. He said the same thing following the win versus UCLA, so at this point I'm curious if people are just hearing what they want to.

What you say starts to ring hollow if it isn't matching up to what you do.

Hard to do it when you don't have the personnel who can execute it properly. We're talking about the understanding of principles and familiarity. The team's confidence and knowledge of what they were looking to do versus Miami is obviously different than it was versus UCLA. That's a ten game difference.

It's also hard to do it when you give the ball to our backs 18 times and call 45+ pass plays.

Newby averaged 5.9 yards per carry against Miami this year. Ameer averaged 6.5 yards per carry vs. Miami last year. 6.5 is better than 5.9 but not so much that one of those games resulted in 229 rushing yards while the other resulted in 82.

If the coaches are telling you can run it against certain teams but you can't run it against other teams, that's pretty much where that confidence is coming from.

There is no "sweet spot" for passing the ball. It's about the effectiveness of the passes you do throw. That's why TO had a highly effective passing game even though he often threw it around 15 times a game. "Balance" is overrated, and I hope Riley is realizing that and coaching up Langs accordingly.

I generally agree with everything here but what the bolded implies. Armstrong won the game (leading an offense to 37 points while posting 250+ yards in total offense is much better than just avoiding a loss). This just makes me wonder why that wasn't the game plan for games like Purdue and Illinois, which should have been walk off wins.

When it comes to Riley's offense, yes there is. However, you are correct when it comes to the effectiveness of the pass. You'll see passes that Tommy failed to make again only if he can't make them, someone else will.

Armstrong won the game because he was put in position not to do much damage and stay on the ground where he was more of a threat to UCLA than putting the ball in the air where he was actually a threat to his own team's success. Also, Purdue? Ryker Fyfe.

Knock Fyfe, but then admit that having a pass heavy first half and a disastrous 70% passing 3rd quarter after trailing only 21-9 at half was all on the coaches and their awful game planning.

Riley's offense has been traditionally much more than 22 passes a game. I think in his own idea world, attempts would be between 35 and 40 a game. At least based on his history. M

The absolutely most Riley'd want to see the ball passed is likely 35 and that's only in a situation where you have a passing game that can gash a defense like Nebraska's run did against the UCLA D. There's no reason to cross 30.

You know, more than once you've accused people of hearing or seeing only what they want to hear when developing/expressing concerns, but clearly that's what you're doing here. Otherwise, what could be your basis for believing that Riley would like to see the ball passed more than 30 times a game only occasionally?

Here are the last 8 seasons of Riley pass attempts:

Attempts (games) - starting QB's rating - attempts per game.

458 (13) – 128.6 – 35 attempts per game (Fyfe was at 140.8 for a rating, which reveals the value of these QB rating stats)

472 (12) – 128.3 – 39 attempts per game

625 (13) – 146.5 – 48 attempts per game

504 (13) – 138 – 39 attempts per game

503 (12) – 127.1 – 42 attempt per game

375 (12) – 126.4 – 31 attempts per game

478 (12) – 141.9 – 40 attempts per game

448 (13) – 128.4 – 34 attempts per game

What you see here is that (a) Armstrong performed as well as any other QBs during their first season in a Riley offense, so arguments tha the didn't have a good enough QB fall flat, and (b) Riley NEVER had a season where his QB averaged less than 30 passes per game. Were all those OSU teams just gouging their opponents like NU did against UCLA with the run?

People need to stop deluding themselves with the belief that Riley is a power run minded coach.

+1 solely for your last sentence.

 

[PTPer]

Per Dan Hoppen Tweet: Nebraska play calling this season:

Six wins: 56.2% runs, 43.8% passes

Seven losses: 40.7% runs, 59.3% passes

Honestly, I'm ok with either one of those ratios as long as we're winning. Give it some time and I think some of those 7 losses become wins sooner rather than later.

I should hope Purdue isn't ever a loss again.
But that said, will people be content with 3 to 4 losses a season?

All of the BOlievers were apparently content with it. Had a conversation with one of the relatives tonight who still wishes we had Bo. I asked him why, and the response was well the team never gave up on him. My response was the big ten title game vs Wisky or last year vs Wisky. He merely said that it wasn't bad coaching that it was just superior players.

Once again I asked how could a walk on from GI be the back up QB for this team. His response well that's not the coaches fault. I find myself having conversations with people like this more often then I'd like to. Not sure if they will ever get it.

Did he ask you about the 4 backup QBs + 1 starter on UNLs National Championship teams?
1970 - Van Brownson: Shenandoah, Ia.

1971 - Steve Runty: Ogallala, Nebraska

1994 - Matt Turman: Wahoo, Nebraska

1995 - Brook Berringer: Goodland KS

1997 - Scott Frost(STARTER): Wood River, Nebraska

But I suppose you're not a Devaney or Osborne supporter either.

Not always where you're from, it's how you party when you get there.

How many of those guys threw 4 INTs in a game? To compare Ryker with those last two guys is pretty laughable. Love the story but I doubt he'd be starting for many D-1 schools

How many of those guys were coached to throw 48 times against a conference bottom feeder?

You don't have a clue about Ryker's abilities until he's led by a coach that can actually win more games than he loses.

 

[Elf]

Per Dan Hoppen Tweet: Nebraska play calling this season:

Six wins: 56.2% runs, 43.8% passes

Seven losses: 40.7% runs, 59.3% passes

Honestly, I'm ok with either one of those ratios as long as we're winning. Give it some time and I think some of those 7 losses become wins sooner rather than later.

I should hope Purdue isn't ever a loss again.
But that said, will people be content with 3 to 4 losses a season?

All of the BOlievers were apparently content with it. Had a conversation with one of the relatives tonight who still wishes we had Bo. I asked him why, and the response was well the team never gave up on him. My response was the big ten title game vs Wisky or last year vs Wisky. He merely said that it wasn't bad coaching that it was just superior players.

Once again I asked how could a walk on from GI be the back up QB for this team. His response well that's not the coaches fault. I find myself having conversations with people like this more often then I'd like to. Not sure if they will ever get it.

Did he ask you about the 4 backup QBs + 1 starter on UNLs National Championship teams?
1970 - Van Brownson: Shenandoah, Ia.

1971 - Steve Runty: Ogallala, Nebraska

1994 - Matt Turman: Wahoo, Nebraska

1995 - Brook Berringer: Goodland KS

1997 - Scott Frost(STARTER): Wood River, Nebraska

But I suppose you're not a Devaney or Osborne supporter either.

Not always where you're from, it's how you party when you get there.

How many of those guys threw 4 INTs in a game? To compare Ryker with those last two guys is pretty laughable. Love the story but I doubt he'd be starting for many D-1 schools

Nor is he at Nebraska.

Where are you trying to go with this?

That the lack of depth we have at some positions is just maddening

This is true. When it's next man up do we really want to call on Ryker again? Ryker completed 60% of his passes after you account for interceptions, dropped balls, and near interceptions. This kid could be a fantastic pocket passer if he made better decisions with the ball but until then, I hope he only gets mop up duty.