Watson a candidate for the Miami(OH) head coach position

[huskerscott]

Riddle me this though: How is it that Rex Burkhead can run the read option effectively against OU and other good defenses, but Martinez can't. What is it that the good defenses do, and also South Dakota State did, that make Martinez ineffective, but Burkhead can run the read option and gain yards? And finally, why is it that the guy who should know the answer, Shawn Watson, doesn't seem to be able to figure that out?

That's easy. Burkhead makes the reads well. Taylor doesn't to the point that they sometimes have to take out the 'read' component. So many broken plays that went for losses were because of the wrong read. But at the same time it's Taylor's go-to strength, maddeningly enough. The one thing said at the beginning of the year consistently about Taylor? He is a streaky player who will go cold at times, but on a hot streak he will rip off some unbelievable big plays on the ground. That was what we gambled on building the offense around.

When your QB really does only a few things well and all of them are out as options, you are just screwed to begin with. Maybe running the zone read on every single play with Burkhead out of the Wildcat was going to be a viable option, or maybe that would have started to be predictable after a while. I don't know. huskerscott, we can go back to highlights but I think you are wrong that Martinez doesn't run the zone read up the middle at times. In fact, those 4-yard losses that Helu had, were up the middle for Taylor if he kept it. I also didn't realize when we wanted our offense to be rocket science all of a sudden? I thought a predictable ground game was the way to go In fact I thought Watson's problem was that he was too complex in his schemes.

When and if Watson takes a HC job somewhere else we SHOULD use that opportunity to jettison a couple of the offensive position coaches who basically suck. The problem is, some of the offensive position coaches are wired tightly into the system. No way they get canned regardless of how deserving they are. It would fly in the face of tradition.

I definitely agree with this. I think Gilmore would go with Watson though, which is a plus for us. I think Shawn is a good coordinator and playcaller and it wouldn't be impossible to at least break even at that spot if we are willing to go out and get a guy. So if we are able to break even there, almost certainly upgrade at WR, and bring in an OL guy to replace Barney, I think we should be pretty good. QB coaching will be the biggest question mark. I think you want to keep guys like Beck or Ron Brown. I suppose it would not be hard to at least break even there too with a change, but they don't deserve to be canned. That and I would like to continue recruiting Texas.

I never said our offense to be rocket science. I met that it wasnt rocket science for defense to defend it. To me its easy if you play assignment football.

On the zone read up the middle, We both know that IF Martinez had kept it on some he wouldve gotten big chunks up the middle, but he chose to hand off to Helu, we dont know if those where designed or not. The point is that I dont ever remember Martinez running a zone read up the middle, thats why i said that. Thats is why the zone read is easy to defend you know that Martinez is going to the outside everytime if he keeps it. That why defenses contain him outside-in..... you force him back to the inside, where the calavry is coming.

 

[zoogs]

I'd have to watch the OU game again, but I do recall at least one time Martinez kept it up the middle and got 6-7 yards. But the point is - if our offense is simple, it will be straightforward for the defense to defend, and we have to beat them solely be execution. I thought that was what everyone wanted. Obviously, the execution is not really there when we are hobbled. Personally, I would like a more complex offense. But that is just me.

 

[suh_fan93]

suh_fan, I think you are off the mark. One of Shawn's strengths in my opinion is the ability to utilize what he has and play to their strengths. In our case though, Taylor's imagined strengths often careen way off the charts with respect to reality.

Ganz wasn't overlooked, he was in a tight race with Keller in 2007 that he lost. Ganz had no physical talent on his side and grew up in the system, which enabled his success. A guy that was made by the staff. If he was ever snubbed, it was most notably by Bill Callahan.

Nebraska did not have the tools last year if you have any idea about the injury situation and the extremely poor depth at QB. A lot of stuff about injuries doesn't get out enough for people to know about them. How many of us knew about Ganz's injury that resulted in some wanting to shut him down in 2008? I definitely did not, until recently.

Bo is the one that has tied his wagon to Taylor Martinez and that can be his undoing, as we all see what happens when Taylor shuts down, as he is liable to do.

Anyway, I know I will not change any minds here.

Everyone has got that Chatelain article COMPLETELY wrong, though, so I will bring this up every time it is brought up. Dirk wrote that article to blast Bo, which is evident from his tweet introducing the article, in which he explicitly said that the loss was Bo's fault.

I agree that Ganz was in a tight race with Keller. I remember that one especially after the spring game. I thought Ganz looked really, really good and I was hoping he would win the race. I also agree that Callahan had a huge role in Keller being our starter. Spot on assessment there.

I disagree with the Chatelain article being written to blast Bo however. That article was basically directed solely at Watson. I remember Shatel's article that came out the same day basically stating the very same things.

If we have Watson next year, our first year in the Big 10 then so be it. I will give this guy one more year to see what he can do. Like I have a choice anyway! Let's face it though. Next year is pretty much in my opinion a make it or break it year for Shawn Watson. That much I do know.

 

[huskerscott]

Everyone has got that Chatelain article COMPLETELY wrong, though, so I will bring this up every time it is brought up. Dirk wrote that article to blast Bo, which is evident from his tweet introducing the article, in which he explicitly said that the loss was Bo's fault.

Dirk was right though. At some point you got to blame the head coach(CEO) for the teams(company) failure. Bo is in charge of this team, at some point it his fault that the team isnt performing on one side of the ball even it isnt his expertise.

 

[ladyhawke]

Heard Tom Dienhart on the radio a couple days ago and he said Watson is a candidate for HC at Miami(OH) and haven't seen anything on here about it.

Anyone have any info???? Thanks.

I visited the Miami (Ohio) message board and they were talking about the following:

>Mike Leach

>Florida State assistant head coach/defense Greg Hudson

>Head coach - Ohio Northern Dean Paul

>Mt. Union Larry Kehres

I think Watson would be a great fit there.

 

[zoogs]

Everyone has got that Chatelain article COMPLETELY wrong, though, so I will bring this up every time it is brought up. Dirk wrote that article to blast Bo, which is evident from his tweet introducing the article, in which he explicitly said that the loss was Bo's fault.

Dirk was right though. At some point you got to blame the head coach(CEO) for the teams(company) failure. Bo is in charge of this team, at some point it his fault that the team isnt performing on one side of the ball even it isnt his expertise.

That type of thing is often a scapegoat type reasoning for pinning something on a guy. It is more than that though. It was specifically, Bo stubbornly stuck with Taylor and it cost us.

Maybe the backups were injured, I've heard that Green may have been. I also heard that Green could have gone in but Bo wouldn't have it.

I disagree with the Chatelain article being written to blast Bo however. That article was basically directed solely at Watson. I remember Shatel's article that came out the same day basically stating the very same things.

Is this the article we are talking about by the way? If so...

 

[huskerfan333157]

In over his head as OC in a BCS division? Ha!, although probably 90% of other OCs who aren't get the same treatment any time they have a single bad game, such as Tom Wilson of OU last year, or Greg Davis at Texas, or a litany of other guys other than some elite buzz names like Chip Kelley, Dana Holgorsen, or Mike Leach.

Maybe wholesale change is the only thing to get this offensive unit out of its funk, but we are seriously getting carried away with view on Watson.

I have faith in Bo, but the next guy has a much better chance of being in over his head, depending on how much we are willing to spend on him. And I think Husker fans are going to realize soon enough that there does not exist a single good playcaller in the world unless they coach a different team.

Once again, you will ignore my questions but so be it. Isnt it the OC's job to get the whole offense disciplined? Why has our offensive always had mental breakdowns? Why does all of our qbs look consistently at just one Wr? Why do we always have fumbling problems? Why do our wrs always ddrop the ball? Why does our offensive line play inconsistently and make stupid penalties? Isnt it the OC's job to get the whole offense mentally prepared? I mean, he controls the whole offense. Its not like this is the only year we have had those problems, they consistently have happened here and when he was at colorado. But apparently its not watsons fault are offensive always plays incosistent or that our offense always has mental breakdowns? Yeah, he may be smart guy but id rather have our offense play sound and smart football.

 

[huskerscott]

Everyone has got that Chatelain article COMPLETELY wrong, though, so I will bring this up every time it is brought up. Dirk wrote that article to blast Bo, which is evident from his tweet introducing the article, in which he explicitly said that the loss was Bo's fault.

Dirk was right though. At some point you got to blame the head coach(CEO) for the teams(company) failure. Bo is in charge of this team, at some point it his fault that the team isnt performing on one side of the ball even it isnt his expertise.

That type of thing is often a scapegoat type reasoning for pinning something on a guy. It is more than that though. It was specifically, Bo stubbornly stuck with Taylor and it cost us.

Maybe the backups were injured, I've heard that Green may have been. I also heard that Green could have gone in but Bo wouldn't have it.

Is this the article we are talking about by the way? If so...

Yes... Im not saying the whole game was Bo's fault that we lost. But the fact that Bo's stubborness could possibly hurt NU in the future, I think pulling Martinez for even a series wouldve helped especially in the 2nd half. I thought it was kinda funny on Wednesday before Coach Brown was interviewed and he gave the impression that Martinez wasnt a 100% and that he still kinda limping around. But after the game Bo said Martinez was a 100% all week and their was no question he was gonna play. Things that make you go Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..........

He believes in staff cohesiveness which isnt bad but when the parts of the puzzle arent matching up is Bo gonna get rid of the failing pieces???? Prob not because of his stubborness. Thats why I never believe watson/gilmore/cotton will never be fired from this staff. If they leave it will be on the own terms or landing a better gig somewhere else.

What could Green still be injured from???? The mild concussion from ISU game a month earlier???? He rarely got touched in CU game, IIRC.

But we know how Bo is about injuries anyway???

 

[zoogs]

Once again, you will ignore my questions but so be it. Isnt it the OC's job to get the whole offense disciplined? Why has our offensive always had mental breakdowns? Why does all of our qbs look consistently at just one Wr? Why do we always have fumbling problems? Why do our wrs always ddrop the ball? Why does our offensive line play inconsistently and make stupid penalties? Isnt it the OC's job to get the whole offense mentally prepared? I mean, he controls the whole offense. Its not like this is the only year we have had those problems, they consistently have happened here and when he was at colorado. But apparently its not watsons fault are offensive always plays incosistent or that our offense always has mental breakdowns? Yeah, he may be smart guy but id rather have our offense play sound and smart football.

Man, I can't respond to everyone's posts. Don't take it personally.

Yes, our offense has had discipline troubles, mental breakdowns, etc. It's hard to explain away. Pinning it all on the OC and saying getting rid of him will change everything is a copout in my opinion.

Taylor looks at one WR because he came in that raw as a passer. Taylor and Green were both complete projects that had very little to offer in the passing game and I can't believe more people don't realize this.

The coordinator's job isn't to do the job of the WR and OL coach, whose job it is to get those players coached up and ready to play. It's not as if we have one offensive coach here. Bo isn't doing this by himself on defense, he has the benefit of one of the top secondary coaches in the nation, for example. Watson has a good TE coach and guys like Reed and Cotton have emerged to become cogs on the offense.

There are a variety of issues with the offense that I think at best are hard to pin down. A few guys on the staff do not pull their weight by accounts, but Watson isn't one of them. I think the offense has lived and died by a streaky QB this year, and that is a large part of it. But it's just my take.

I have no idea what Green could still be injured from, just throwing that out there as a contrasting report to 'Green was gonna be ready to go in, but Bo wouldn't have it.'

 

[irafreak]

In over his head as OC in a BCS division? Ha!, although probably 90% of other OCs who aren't get the same treatment any time they have a single bad game, such as Tom Wilson of OU last year, or Greg Davis at Texas, or a litany of other guys other than some elite buzz names like Chip Kelley, Dana Holgorsen, or Mike Leach.

Maybe wholesale change is the only thing to get this offensive unit out of its funk, but we are seriously getting carried away with view on Watson.

I have faith in Bo, but the next guy has a much better chance of being in over his head, depending on how much we are willing to spend on him. And I think Husker fans are going to realize soon enough that there does not exist a single good playcaller in the world unless they coach a different team.

Are you saying Watson is only getting criticism after having a single bad game?

 

[zoogs]

No. People will quiet down after a performance like Missouri, or OK State, or Colorado, or Kansas State, or Washington, or Arizona, but then Oklahoma happens and it's like it's been SDSU all year. If you want the biggest storyline for this year's offense all you need to do is draw a line after Missouri and look at before and after, when our top two QBs got hurt.

 

[huskerscott]

No. People will quiet down after a performance like Missouri, or OK State, or Colorado, or Kansas State, or Washington, or Arizona, but then Oklahoma happens and it's like it's been SDSU all year. If you want the biggest storyline for this year's offense all you need to do is draw a line after Missouri and look at before and after, when our top two QBs got hurt.

Guess what the teams that are bolded have in common??????? They are all terrible defenses, with the exception being Mizzou which average at best. that was basically a first quarter explosion. Washington is rated 98th in total defense, Kstate is some where in 100ths, Ok State is around 80th. My biggest problem is not against the whole season its when we play a team that has a defense and faster more physical players. Watson has nothing go with other than the zone read. Thats my only problem with Watson. We cant do anything offensively against good all around teams.

 

[CornKing]

I realize it wouldn't be if OC but maybe QB coach.....didn't we bring Ganz back. I would love to get Scott frost back from Oregon he has done a great job.

 

[huskers1]

At what point do we stop making excuses for Watson and his offense? 2008 was Wats best year, but how many good defenses did we play?

I don't even need to mention 2009 because we were horrible in every aspect for the entire season.

This year he did swallow his pride against Washington and actually stuck with what was working. KSU has a terrible defense. Okie state was a well called game. Mizzou we scored 7 points in the final three quarters so I don't even really count that game. Then after that game it just turned into the typical offensive performances that I am now used to. Does this offense have to have a superstar 5th year senior at qb in order for his offense to click? Hell Lee was in the system for 3 years before he started last year, but his excuse was he didn't play a lot. Isn't it his job to get the qb ready? Then this year when Martinez is doing well it's "I didn't go stupid over night". Oh wait then when he's hurt it's oh well he's a freshman so we need to be patient with him.

I see teams like Stanford with Luck, Oregon with Thomas, Auburn with Newton, OU with Bradford, Texas with Mccoy, Mizzou with Daniel, USC w/ Barkley, Okie State w/ Weeden, I could go on and on and on. Teams have injuries, teams start young players, even at qb, and are still successful. Every year OC's find ways to insert young players are just keep on ticking. I'm sick to death of hearing excuses.

 

[zoogs]

No. People will quiet down after a performance like Missouri, or OK State, or Colorado, or Kansas State, or Washington, or Arizona, but then Oklahoma happens and it's like it's been SDSU all year. If you want the biggest storyline for this year's offense all you need to do is draw a line after Missouri and look at before and after, when our top two QBs got hurt.

Guess what the teams that are bolded have in common??????? They are all terrible defenses, with the exception being Mizzou which average at best. that was basically a first quarter explosion. Washington is rated 98th in total defense, Kstate is some where in 100ths, Ok State is around 80th. My biggest problem is not against the whole season its when we play a team that has a defense and faster more physical players. Watson has nothing go with other than the zone read. Thats my only problem with Watson. We cant do anything offensively against good all around teams.

I will say yet again that health is the real common denominator in the struggles.

We put 454 on Missouri, but you want to discount that because of the timing of the yards? We went into garbage time by the 3rd quarter, after Helu's score, and didn't try anything other than to punt and hold on for the win. Arizona was not a terrible defense either.

Lee's excuse was he got injured, pretty early on in the year. Ark. State, IIRC. Not that the kid ever used that as an excuse. Sorry - we are not in a spot, roster wise, to even compare with these other teams you are bringing up. It is a pipe dream to expect anything different next year. If Watson goes, we are going to be in bad shape at QB once again.