Pedro Guerrero
Team HuskerBoard
Here are my not so expert opinions on the State of the Nation after Saturdays measuring stick game. I do know one thing that I do find very disturbing about Saturday is how flat we came out and how unprepared we appeared coming off a bye week. If you ask me that was absolutely terrible and that is all on the coaches for the way we looked early on.
Anyway these are the things that I believe need to be addressed for us to have a successful season.
Safety play - This is terrible. I’m not singling out one guy like some on here (no pass for the Walk-on Nebraska kid) this has been a collective turd being dumped by these guys. They are way too concerned about stopping the run that they totally forget how to pass defend. After watching the game again the only guy that appeared to be a playmaker was Thenarse. Asante and O’Hanlon haven’t shown anything ALL year to prove that they should play let alone start. Culburt did alright in his time out there but was still a liability at times in pass coverage.
OL play - Aside from Murtha these guys have stunk it up big time. Slauson misses so many blocks or is just standing around, Huff is a total non-factor and Smith is NOT a LT. He isn’t quick enough and in my non-expert opinion isn’t strong enough. Hickman has been alright I guess and Burkes has shown flashes. For allegedly being the strength of the team the have totally under performed so far.
Barney Cotton – This guy has proven time and time again to be an average coach and we can’t afford to have an average coach if we want to “Get Back” to where we should be. You can cry and say that these linemen were brought in to pass block which is complete B.S. They were brought in to run a balanced do whatever is necessary to win offense. If you ask me these guys have taken a step back from previous years which I know may be hard for some to hear. Also I wasn’t too pleased with his quotes after the game.
Special teams – For being something that is emphasized by this staff it sure looked like a bunch of J.V. kids running around out there on Saturday. What we have learned so far, Adi and Titchener aren’t booting them like he did last year, Henrey is money, Swift is the only guy that should return punts, Paul needs to realize that he can’t just out run GOOD teams to the corner on Kick Returns, and the coverage teams stink. If this doesn’t get better by Saturday MacLin is going to eat our lunch. The blocked punt was one of if not the biggest play of the game Saturday. Granted Va Tech may be the best Special Teams’ that we play but the mistakes can’t happen.
RB play – I don’t know how much of this is on the Running Backs as opposed to being on the OL. Like has been documented on this site at noisome Helu needs more carries but on the same note Lucky needs to see more passes. One thing that I’ve noticed is Ganz would much rather sit inside the pocket and hop around instead of dump it off to the RB. Sorry but if the RB is open get them the damn ball. How do we get Helu more carries and Lucky more catches? Play them at the same time. The FB is literally taking up space out there so why not play both? Bush and White saw action together, the Clemson kids, McFadden and Jones. What I’m saying is it can be done.
Watson play calling – At times Watson seems like he can do no wrong but as was the case on Saturday I think he believes way to much in the Right Arm of Ganz which if you ask me is a mistake. Sometimes he gets to cute with his plays as well. I in no way think we should just line up and run, run, run like some think because the truth is we can’t do that. If you ask me and I may get guff for this I think we should just spread people out shotgun with Helu as a single back, Lucky in the slot and get creative. It is painfully obvious that we can’t run the power game at this moment in time so we not give Ganz a little more time from the gun. It sure works for most of the Top 10 in the Nation.
Defensive Calls – Are these to complicated for some of the players? I don’t know how many times there are guys standing around or are late getting on the field for some reason or another. It is obvious that some of the DB’s get lost in the shuffle and play a different type of coverage then what was called, so what is going on here? Is Bo’s system to hard for these kids to grasp?
Bo’s “fire” – Some love it, some hate it, if you ask me Saturday was a bit much. How come he can get these guys all fired up but can’t get them to do so in a controlled fashion? They come out of the tunnel ready to destroy people but then on the first series look completely lost. For the record he can’t have anymore of those stupid penalties either. It is inexcusable and not what a Head Coach is supposed to do. Some cut him slack for this yet chastised Billy C. for the Hillbilly or throat slash thing. Double standard, who knows just interesting?
Ganz – Was that the real Joe Ganz appeared on Saturday? I hope not but this was the first real game, aside from KU last year that he faced pressure and he looked really uncomfortable out there. He is a fine player and a good kid but I just don’t think he is what we need to lead us to where we need to be. He still throws bad passes and makes questionable plays. He is supposed to be a scrambler but on Saturday it appeared he would much rather run to the sideline then run up field. He holds on to the ball way to long and like I said before needs to check down to his RB from time to time when the deep balls aren’t there. Also the way I feel about his option play has been documented on this site numerous times. Hopefully Saturday was just in off night and not what is to come.
The rest of the way – What happens if we go in the tank the next 2 weeks? We will be sitting at 3-3 with only ISU and Baylor as should be wins. You can throw KSU in there as well but with the way our safeties play Freeman would have a field day going deep on us. I’m an optimist and believe we can win the rest of the games (maybe not OU) but if we continue to make stupid mistakes like we did on Saturday we could possibly end up below .500 again. Is this really what Pelini was brought in for? I’m sorry but we are Nebraska we need to be in a bowl game. The whole as long “as they play with fire and still lose I’m ok with it” is a bunch of crap. Never be happy with a freaking loss, never. Also I know it is year 1, game 4 but this staff talks about being disciplined and fundamentally sound yet we don’t see it on the field. Will we get better? I believe we will, but there is always the chance that we end up with the same record as last year sitting at home in December and January.
No I don’t think the sky is falling or people should be fired, I just find some of these things very disturbing and a lot of them appeared against the J.V. squads we played the first 3 weeks as well. We are getting into the meat of our schedule and it doesn’t get any easier from here on out. We play the #1, 4, 8, 15 ranked teams and on top of that we have the “Rivalry” games against KSU and CU (not ours theirs). It should be interesting the rest of the way.
:boxosoap :rant :moreinteresting
Anyway these are the things that I believe need to be addressed for us to have a successful season.
Safety play - This is terrible. I’m not singling out one guy like some on here (no pass for the Walk-on Nebraska kid) this has been a collective turd being dumped by these guys. They are way too concerned about stopping the run that they totally forget how to pass defend. After watching the game again the only guy that appeared to be a playmaker was Thenarse. Asante and O’Hanlon haven’t shown anything ALL year to prove that they should play let alone start. Culburt did alright in his time out there but was still a liability at times in pass coverage.
OL play - Aside from Murtha these guys have stunk it up big time. Slauson misses so many blocks or is just standing around, Huff is a total non-factor and Smith is NOT a LT. He isn’t quick enough and in my non-expert opinion isn’t strong enough. Hickman has been alright I guess and Burkes has shown flashes. For allegedly being the strength of the team the have totally under performed so far.
Barney Cotton – This guy has proven time and time again to be an average coach and we can’t afford to have an average coach if we want to “Get Back” to where we should be. You can cry and say that these linemen were brought in to pass block which is complete B.S. They were brought in to run a balanced do whatever is necessary to win offense. If you ask me these guys have taken a step back from previous years which I know may be hard for some to hear. Also I wasn’t too pleased with his quotes after the game.
Special teams – For being something that is emphasized by this staff it sure looked like a bunch of J.V. kids running around out there on Saturday. What we have learned so far, Adi and Titchener aren’t booting them like he did last year, Henrey is money, Swift is the only guy that should return punts, Paul needs to realize that he can’t just out run GOOD teams to the corner on Kick Returns, and the coverage teams stink. If this doesn’t get better by Saturday MacLin is going to eat our lunch. The blocked punt was one of if not the biggest play of the game Saturday. Granted Va Tech may be the best Special Teams’ that we play but the mistakes can’t happen.
RB play – I don’t know how much of this is on the Running Backs as opposed to being on the OL. Like has been documented on this site at noisome Helu needs more carries but on the same note Lucky needs to see more passes. One thing that I’ve noticed is Ganz would much rather sit inside the pocket and hop around instead of dump it off to the RB. Sorry but if the RB is open get them the damn ball. How do we get Helu more carries and Lucky more catches? Play them at the same time. The FB is literally taking up space out there so why not play both? Bush and White saw action together, the Clemson kids, McFadden and Jones. What I’m saying is it can be done.
Watson play calling – At times Watson seems like he can do no wrong but as was the case on Saturday I think he believes way to much in the Right Arm of Ganz which if you ask me is a mistake. Sometimes he gets to cute with his plays as well. I in no way think we should just line up and run, run, run like some think because the truth is we can’t do that. If you ask me and I may get guff for this I think we should just spread people out shotgun with Helu as a single back, Lucky in the slot and get creative. It is painfully obvious that we can’t run the power game at this moment in time so we not give Ganz a little more time from the gun. It sure works for most of the Top 10 in the Nation.
Defensive Calls – Are these to complicated for some of the players? I don’t know how many times there are guys standing around or are late getting on the field for some reason or another. It is obvious that some of the DB’s get lost in the shuffle and play a different type of coverage then what was called, so what is going on here? Is Bo’s system to hard for these kids to grasp?
Bo’s “fire” – Some love it, some hate it, if you ask me Saturday was a bit much. How come he can get these guys all fired up but can’t get them to do so in a controlled fashion? They come out of the tunnel ready to destroy people but then on the first series look completely lost. For the record he can’t have anymore of those stupid penalties either. It is inexcusable and not what a Head Coach is supposed to do. Some cut him slack for this yet chastised Billy C. for the Hillbilly or throat slash thing. Double standard, who knows just interesting?
Ganz – Was that the real Joe Ganz appeared on Saturday? I hope not but this was the first real game, aside from KU last year that he faced pressure and he looked really uncomfortable out there. He is a fine player and a good kid but I just don’t think he is what we need to lead us to where we need to be. He still throws bad passes and makes questionable plays. He is supposed to be a scrambler but on Saturday it appeared he would much rather run to the sideline then run up field. He holds on to the ball way to long and like I said before needs to check down to his RB from time to time when the deep balls aren’t there. Also the way I feel about his option play has been documented on this site numerous times. Hopefully Saturday was just in off night and not what is to come.
The rest of the way – What happens if we go in the tank the next 2 weeks? We will be sitting at 3-3 with only ISU and Baylor as should be wins. You can throw KSU in there as well but with the way our safeties play Freeman would have a field day going deep on us. I’m an optimist and believe we can win the rest of the games (maybe not OU) but if we continue to make stupid mistakes like we did on Saturday we could possibly end up below .500 again. Is this really what Pelini was brought in for? I’m sorry but we are Nebraska we need to be in a bowl game. The whole as long “as they play with fire and still lose I’m ok with it” is a bunch of crap. Never be happy with a freaking loss, never. Also I know it is year 1, game 4 but this staff talks about being disciplined and fundamentally sound yet we don’t see it on the field. Will we get better? I believe we will, but there is always the chance that we end up with the same record as last year sitting at home in December and January.
No I don’t think the sky is falling or people should be fired, I just find some of these things very disturbing and a lot of them appeared against the J.V. squads we played the first 3 weeks as well. We are getting into the meat of our schedule and it doesn’t get any easier from here on out. We play the #1, 4, 8, 15 ranked teams and on top of that we have the “Rivalry” games against KSU and CU (not ours theirs). It should be interesting the rest of the way.
:boxosoap :rant :moreinteresting
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