Some Positives....To Keep You Sane

B.B. Hemingway

B.B. Hemingway

All-American
The offense.... I don't see why everyone is so upset with the performance of the offense last night, and more specifically Taylor Martinez. I noticed that some seem to think he is the same QB as last year (are you high?). Even last night you could see the improvements in his game, and I am excited about his future in this offense, and this program. Does he have things to work on? Sure he does, but there is NO doubt that he has dramatically improved. He performed quite well with defenders in face all night long. We have also found a future #1 back in Abdullah. That kid has some wiggle, and will run the ball inside pretty well. He also has good hands out of the backfield, and can pass protect well enough for a sophmore. We are stacked at WR. Bell, and Enunwa have incredibly bright futures (especially Bell). I am impressed with their toughness (especially Enunwa), and their willingness to block downfield. I think that Wullenwaber, and Evans good be pretty good in the future as well. How about Braylon Heard, that kid has fantastic vision, and should be very useful in the years to come. I think people are forgetting that we were missing our best player last night (Burkhead). I think that we might have won that game with Burkhead, because we could have went to him on those late drives for reliable, hard-nosed playmaking. I was not real excited about Beck's playcalling last night, but he put the ball in his best available player's hands (Martinez).

The defense.... There were not a whole lot of positives here, but I do think that the secondary has some potential. Specifically, Josh Mitchell has emerged as our best cover corner, and the fact that he is only a sophmore is fairly exciting.

One last thought.... The loss is hard to take, but I don't think people are realizing how good/athletic that UCLA team was. They had some athletes that are going to be some of the best we see all year, and I think that offense might be the best we see all year period. The defense played bad, but I don't think this will look like a bad loss in November, UCLA should easily be the third best team in the PAC-12....

 
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We fault the offense because he committed the two worst mistakes Shawn Watson used to commit:

1) No adjustment. UCLA made adjustments and started bringing pressure. Beck never adjusted.

2) Went away from what was working and tried to make Martinez a pocket passer. The only scoring drive in the 2nd half relied heavily on I-formation power running, and yet Beck had Taylor throw 7 consecutive pocket passes with no play action. The 7th pass was intercepted.

Where was Cross? Why did Heard only get 3 carries? Beck could have rotated fresh backs and wore down UCLA. Beck could have called plays to capitalize on UCLA's blitzing. Beck has had 4 games (UCLA, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Michigan) where the defense adjusted at the half and he did nothing. Giving the number of poor teams NU has faced, that is a bad percentage against good competition.

 
Next game the Weinerslinger will be back in business.....you could be one of the lucky ones to catch a weiner.

I'd play Abdullah and Heard about 40/40 and Cross about 20.

 
Michigan pointed it out I've been trying to as well, it wasn't any player on offense that I'm upset with but the play calling. I know Beck wants up tempo and fast pace, but when you get into a tight high scoring game you need to slow things down and think about ball control. Which means not trying to sling it all over the place but pound them with the run and mix in a pass or two to keep them off balance. It'll not only let you control the flow of the game but give your defense time to refresh and regroup.

And your last statement I pretty much agree with spot on, I wouldn't be surprised to see UCLA give USC a run for their money this year. People need to remember that things are never as good as they seem and they are never as bad as they seem, the truth lies somewhere in between.

 
Rollin Rock-thank you! I was going to post asking for people to list the things we did well last night. Here is my list:

>Our Fans: They are amazing! We had more people in red in the Rose Bowl than the Bruins! Excellent to see that 'mini sea of red'!

>Offense: We started out solid. I felt for Taylor-he was playing in his own backyard as were several other Husker players from California! Ok, so he made a couple of mistakes, but for the most part he did well. SOOOO much better than in the past. Hang in the Taylor!

>Abdullah! Whoo Hoo! That kid can move! Except for the one fumble he played well and is a star on the rise.

>Defense: Ankrah had some good plays as did Compton. The defense seemed to get better during the second quarter. (I do wish the offense and defense could get synchronized so that they BOTH play well at the same time!)

>Special Teams: They looked better this week and Maher played better too. 54 yard field goal! Wow! Nice job Brett!

I'm just as disappointed as everyone else that we lost. BUT! It's a non-con game and it gives us plenty of time to get ready for the REAL season. I would much rather lose early in the season in our non-con games then lose in the B1G.

For all the Husker players who read this board: Hang in there!

 
I'm sorry those two passes Taylor threw, weigh heavely on me. One he got lucky and his knee was down, the other pass on the saftey, was just unexplainable, really over your shoulder toss...smh, you're a junior now.

 
>Special Teams: They looked better this week and Maher played better too. 54 yard field goal! Wow! Nice job Brett!

Did you catch is shanks his 13 yr punt or his 23 yard punt, or his shanked FG ?????

 
Husker no ka oi said:
>Special Teams: They looked better this week and Maher played better too. 54 yard field goal! Wow! Nice job Brett!

Did you catch is shanks his 13 yr punt or his 23 yard punt, or his shanked FG ?????
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Sure I did but this was a 'some positives' thread. We have pages and pages of the other. But you will admit that the 54 yarder was excellent-right?

 
MichiganDad3 said:
We fault the offense because he committed the two worst mistakes Shawn Watson used to commit:

1) No adjustment. UCLA made adjustments and started bringing pressure. Beck never adjusted.

2) Went away from what was working and tried to make Martinez a pocket passer. The only scoring drive in the 2nd half relied heavily on I-formation power running, and yet Beck had Taylor throw 7 consecutive pocket passes with no play action. The 7th pass was intercepted.

Where was Cross? Why did Heard only get 3 carries? Beck could have rotated fresh backs and wore down UCLA. Beck could have called plays to capitalize on UCLA's blitzing. Beck has had 4 games (UCLA, Wisconsin, South Carolina, Michigan) where the defense adjusted at the half and he did nothing. Giving the number of poor teams NU has faced, that is a bad percentage against good competition.
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Maher missed that field goal.

 
ladyhawke said:
Husker no ka oi said:
>Special Teams: They looked better this week and Maher played better too. 54 yard field goal! Wow! Nice job Brett!

Did you catch is shanks his 13 yr punt or his 23 yard punt, or his shanked FG ?????
Click to expand...
Sure I did but this was a 'some positives' thread. We have pages and pages of the other. But you will admit that the 54 yarder was excellent-right?
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The best part was how it hooked in after the 1st perfect kick was nullified by a bush league time out.

 
I would say that when we were using the run to set up the pass, we were effective as an offense, and perhaps we need to go to that again. Our offensive line actually wasn't that bad, all things considered, but they did have their share of problems.

Defensively, Stanley Jean-Baptiste and the rest of the secondary played very well, especially considering they were being asked to play linebacker for half the game. SJB will likely be another first/second round pick by the time he's through here at DoNU.

I also think that the positives are what Beck said after the game...if the man is humble enough to admit mistakes and figure out how to fix them, he (and our offense) will go far.

 
He's mentioned in the OP but not getting nearly enough love....Kenny Bell is the best receiver we've had in quite some time. The biggest hit of the day goes to Enunwa on the interception-sack. He just unloaded on the guy with the ball.

 
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Besides an undefeated season and a national championship (which I don't think anyone realistically believed was attainable) all our goals for the season can still be achieved. The offense should be improved once Burkhead returns and our defense has a history of showing steady improvement over the course of the season. The UCLA loss is tough to swallow but I still believe we are capable of putting together a great season.

 
Lil said:
Besides an undefeated season and a national championship (which I don't think anyone realistically believed was attainable) all our goals for the season can still be achieved. The offense should be improved once Burkhead returns and our defense has a history of showing steady improvement over the course of the season. The UCLA loss is tough to swallow but I still believe we are capable of putting together a great season.
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Which season are you talking about where the defense showed improvement through the year? It certainly wasn't last year, maybe a year that involved N'Suh?

 
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