True Talent Level ?

[LumberJackSker]

Every fan base thinks their teams talent is better than it actually is that's why people on this board where calling for burkhead to be a first round pick. In my opinion there are several areas on this team that lack talent. First offensive line no one on the two deep is any good zero all conference guys. Linebacker is terrible lack of guys that cab play sideline to sideline and there were times last night were they were also two guys filling the same gap leaving holes that a truck could have gone through. Quarter back is atrocious TA is the worst starting qb at Nebraska I've seen in my life time. Even talented guys like Gerry were making bone head plays yesterday. This team is a middle of the road big ten team talent wise elite teams don't have that many weak spots. Damn this posy is long

In your assessment, it sounds more like it is a coaching issue than a talent issue. The statements, "two guys filling the same gap", "talented guys like Gerry were making bone head plays," sound more like a coaching issue. We've seen this defense play at a high level....many times this season actually against fair/not so good competition most of the time though. The coaches didn't have this team prepared when they got hit in the mouth. No plan B. It's on the coaches.....

or these players just don't have the head on their shoulders to be good enough. Gerry is still young so I'll give him a pass, but Santos, Roach, Cooper, Davie and Mitchell have all been here long enough to know how to do the basics. I think intelligence factors in to talent these guys have been here long enough to get it

 

[jjamuss]

Gerry can tackle, hire him after he graduates?

 

[LumberJackSker]

I think we have decent talent but coaching is just flat out bad.

I have said this before and got ripped by someone on this board that follows recruiting much more closely than I do, but...when we are only a handful of schools looking at a guy, and he's being recruited by Indiana, Bowling Green, Akron, Ohio, and Purdue....we aren't going to be gathering much "elite" talent. Unless we develop it into elite talent.

I think of the Oregon coaching staff in this regard. They don't recruit stellar 5 star kids, they develop 3 stars into them. Just look at Mariota.

there is definitely a coaching issue but you can only get so much out of a player. Look and our linebackers and offensive line play and then watch Ohio state and tell me we have the same kind of athletes we don't

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

It's a very complicated relationship between talent level and scheme, to the point where you can't really tell which one contributes more to the success of a team, nor can you really tell which one contributes to weak-a$$ performances like we've seen yesterday.

However, I think most of us agree that this year's team is more talented than 2012, when Wisconsin ran all over us and beat us 70-31 (another game in which we looked pretty good in the 1st quarter, then completely collapsed in the 2nd and 3rd quarters, but more on that in a little bit). The question is, were we more talented defensively than Wisconsin was offensively this year? I think we weren't in 2012, but were in 2014. So was it the talent level of the players in 2012, and the scheme in 2014?

Anyhow, here are the quarter by quarter scoring summaries of the 2012 B1G Championship (the only championship game Nebraska will probably ever make under BP) and yesterday's embarrassment of a football game:

That's 91-14 in those quarters, gentlemen. After being down by a combined 24-20 after the first quarter. But hey, at least we outperformed Wisconsin 21-14 in ******* garbage time. So what gives? What happens between the first quarter and the second quarter? Well, seems pretty obvious that Wisconsin made some sort of adjustment and Nebraska decided that they didn't have to adjust because the scheme is omnipotent and unaffected by the other team doing what good teams do in trying something else that works.

Defensively is bad enough, let's see what happened with Tim Beck when Nebraska started giving up points left and right.

2012: 21 pass plays, 16 run plays

2014: 17 pass plays, 16 run plays

So I don't know, it's not like we were pass-pass-pass. Someone would have to sacrifice themselves and watch the film to see if those plays were any bit effective...but it's not like we panicked and started huck-chucking the football all over the yard.

The problem yesterday, and I'm not sure if it was true in 2012, was turnovers. We started giving the ball away yesterday like it was going out of style. Now, part of that may have been due to the weather, Wisconsin coughed it up their fair share of times.

Oh, and by the way, the last time we've played any team with any semblance of a pulse (i.e, teams who are a couple of games over .500) the past two seasons, here's our record: 2-6

Those 2 wins were against Georgia last year and against Miami (who we are still on the fence about) this year. Quality football there, Bo and Co, quality football.

 

[LumberJackSker]

Elite talent can cover up a lot of coaching issues, Gene Chizik won a title and he's a bum, this team has mostly average to below average coaches, and average to slightly above average talent and its been this way for years. This is a perfect recipe for 9-4 or 10-4 but nothing else

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

Also, difference between Ball and Gordon. In the 4 additional carries Gordon received over Ball as the primary back against Nebraska, Gordon gained an additional 200 yards rushing and 1 TD.

Defensive. Genius.

 

[Something Clever]

Is it really talent or a lack of a basic vision? Look at the other successful programs in this conference and you see that they recruit and develop based on a simple, clear formula specific to their strategy. tOSU recruits based on speed and athleticism (because they can) to play their hurry-up spread & high blitz volume D. MSU recruits DB's who specialize in man-to-man coverage and LB's that are sure tacklers to play their simple, yet effective brand of defense. Wisky focuses in the trenches (especially size on the o-line) to out-muscle teams with superior talent. What exactly is our identity under Bo? It changes almost game to game.

 

[WhatDoIKnow]

I don't care if Wisconsin has superior talent, it's still not an excuse for the blowouts.

What does it say about the coaching staff when our kids are ranked higher coming into our program, but their kids have more talent after a few years in their program?