Watson haters.......Cool down and lets remember some things

I've been silent on the whole Watson and offensive staff tirade since I joined this forum because I can't pretend to know the ins & outs of such a position.

But here's my inadequate guess for what it's worth.

I don't have suggestions, but rather I have questions.

Watson was hired in '06 as a Recruiting Coordinator and TE coach, right? Then he was promoted to OC in '07, correct?

Therefore in the 4 years that he's been here, he's the reason why we have the players that we have on the field this year, since he's the one that recruited them, right?

Isn't he also responsible for developing those guys that he recruited on the offense?

Wouldn't he have been able to know who was gonna be where by the time 2009 rolled around? Afterall, they're his recruits. Surely he planned ahead and could see who was developing and who wasn't, no?

Granted he did lose some key play makers from last years team. But he knew what he was working with coming into the '09 season since he was the one who recruited the team we currently have out on the field this year, right?

So where does the axe fall? On the players or the coach? Or is it 50/50?

:dunno

 
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The blame doesn't fall squarely on Watson. Most football programs have a game plan that they go into games with. As an offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator the Head coach will dictate the type of plays and personal that he want to see. If the O.C. or D.C. deviates from the intended plan; more and more freedoms will be taken away from the play caller. Watson can't just come out and start doing all kinds of crazy stuff in a game without the permission of BO.

That's why I don't think Watson is going anywhere. This years offense is very young. We lose 6 offensive Senior two of which contributed.

We are the ones that got our hope up after losing all we lost on offense. We got jacked up during the spring and then when we played the Sun Belt and our offense was invincible.

 
At the end of the season, to see no improvement or very minimal, I don't care what he did last year. 6+ games and no signs of improvement. How is another spring and fall going to make us a lot better next season? The defense is just as young as the offense, but improved drastically each game. The offense with a QB in the system 3 years stood still and some can argue got worse? Coaching. Watson doesn't lead like a coach should. He lets the players determine what he himself does. He is great with pre-experienced players (ganz, swift, pete). He cannot coach unexperienced players to becoming effective (lee, meno, gill). Watson is Good at best, not a National Championship team caliber OC imo, which is what we are looking for. His ability peaks at good, we are looking for great and beyond (Pelini). Just my $0.02

 
knapplc said:
I wish we could get away from these bucket labels of "Watson Haters" and "Watson Supporters." It's not like you have to be 100% against the guy to realize there's something wrong. We are not scheming to our strengths. We are not developing talent. We are not progressing during the season. These are problems beyond a loss of talent and/or injury. It doesn't take someone with a grudge against a coach to realize this.
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:yeah

 
I have to say I'm done sticking up for Watson. I can't imagine the amount of frustration the defensive guys are holding in watching what could have been a dream season (12-1, Big 12 Champs, Fiesta Bowl) turn into a 9-4 heartbreaker because our offense couldn't even put a decent product on the field. It's too easy to blame it all on lack of talent. We may not have the '97 offense, but we have legitimate FBS talent and there's no way in hell we should be unable to break 40 yards passing and five first downs our 13th game of the season. It's beyond ridiculous.

 
Excuses for SW are just like the four years of endless excuses for Callahan. They just never stop.

On the field of play though, the results are remarkably the same. Simply horrific and at the same time supremely comical. Over and over glaring mistakes at almost every opportunity. Lose to Iowa State at home? Lose four games (so far) with arguably the greatest defense Nebraska has "ever" had?

How many years is NU to waste truly terrific defensive efforts?

TO put a stop to the 3 stooges performance of Callahan & staff. I'm sure Bo will do the same with SW and whoever else is responsible.

 
Nexus said:
I've been silent on the whole Watson and offensive staff tirade since I joined this forum because I can't pretend to know the ins & outs of such a position.

But here's my inadequate guess for what it's worth.

I don't have suggestions, but rather I have questions.

Watson was hired in '06 as a Recruiting Coordinator and TE coach, right? Then he was promoted to OC in '07, correct?

Therefore in the 4 years that he's been here, he's the reason why we have the players that we have on the field this year, since he's the one that recruited them, right?

Isn't he also responsible for developing those guys that he recruited on the offense?

Wouldn't he have been able to know who was gonna be where by the time 2009 rolled around? Afterall, they're his recruits. Surely he planned ahead and could see who was developing and who wasn't, no?

Granted he did lose some key play makers from last years team. But he knew what he was working with coming into the '09 season since he was the one who recruited the team we currently have out on the field this year, right?

So where does the axe fall? On the players or the coach? Or is it 50/50?

:dunno
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Yes, you are correct and he was responsible for the kids that played last year and carried the defense with a dynamite offensive output. Is your point he went from genius to idiot this year and Bo went from idiot to genius with the defense?

College ball is always about change. Our cupboard on offense came up empty. You cannot have a really good offense without a really good QB. Watson had Gabbert and he would be here today but they fired the head coach. That would have made this year a whole lot different. Witt left, Spano was hurt(may or may not be any good) Lee is no good, Green is green or not very good. Ergo we had no QB. The OL wasn't very good and neither were the tight ends. Blame Watson if you like, but then do you give him great credit for last year?

I don't know the answer to our offense obviously, but I think Bo has to decide what he wants to run and who he wants to run it. Then recruit for that scheme and let the OC do their thing and stay out of their face and the players faces on national TV. If you want to run a GTech option which I think would make Bo much happier, go for it. But then recruit those type of offensive players. But don't let the uncertainty of who is going to be OC and what the offense is going to be run kids away.

 
corncraze said:
So Im gona piss some fans off here but

Im sick of the constant attacks on Watson,

First of all do we remember how it was our offense last year that carried us?

second do we remember how Saban (yes the coach who managed to take the Crimson tide back to the promise land in just 3 years) went directly after Watson for his offensive coordinator and offered double his salary.

third, Tom Osborne recommended to Pelini to keep only Watson and Gilmore from the Callahan coaching staff

fourth, Osborne and Pelini have both been nothing but supportive and encouraging of Watson

and fifth he can recruit (and if we do get rid of him there goes Gabbert, and maybe our hopes for Andrew Green next year)

Our two biggest problems this year were depth at the offensive line and experience and depth at the Quarterback position.

Lee would probably not have been the starter if Witt never transfered, and Green would have recieved a red shirt. Were forgetting how hard it is to start as a freshman, especially for an offense whose play book is about a half a foot thick.

People have forgotten how much depth we have lost at the QB position this year, Witt transfered, Spano was sidelined to ACL problems and that left us with a QB who only had 2 pass attempts all of last season, a QB fresh outa highschool, and LB converted to QB because we were so lacking in depth and he played the position in highschool.

Throw on top of that a battered offensive line (Burkes was a huge loss) of Callahan's last and lowly rated recruits, who give our QBs little protection, and you have a major problem.

People seem to be forgetting how our offensive line has been the root of most of our offensive failure. Helu has been battered from the process (and also probably because we over rode him), Lee (who can't make decent decisions to begin with) has no time, and our backs have no holes. We are such a one dimensional offense it ridiculous!

But Cotton is already bringing in the big boys, we have Arod coming this next year and Moore the year after that

So don't do for Watson's throat just yet, give him another year or 2 before we do anything, this year was a hard deck to play with.

If we continually suck on offense the next few years, the Il change my mind
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I do agree with you on your points. The O line is sad at this point, and it is clear that while Lee may have been the best we had after the Spano injury, he clearly is not ready to play D1 QB (which is sad cuz next year is his last shot). Cody was not ready either this season, and I REALLY wish we would've found a way to RS him. Maybe next year if Spano comes back. Or, hell, just play him. Let him start in the Holiday Bowl. Don't waste this year of eligibility. Get dude some game experience.

On a side note, I do not think the departure of Wats would hurt recruiting, specifically Aaron Green's recruitment. Wats is good at bringing in his hand picked QB every year, but does not help very much directly with any other positions. Burkhead was a Tim Beck pickup, I believe. It won't hurt with Aaron's chances of coming because he wants to run in an I formation with a leadblocker, and I've got to think if Bo booted Wats, he'd want to build the new offense around a power runinng game and ball control. It would definitely be much simpler than our current WCO, which may allow for freshman offensive recruits to contribute earlier.

 
Here's the thing . . . you don't give passes to someone who has had the reins of the offense for years. I did the same thing with Callahan. I made excuses . . . said the talent isn't there, etc. etc. The reality of the situation is you either get it done or you do not get it done. Watson is not getting it done. Time to clean house on the offensive side of the ball. No excuses.

 
I'm undecided on what should be done. But if a change was to be made this would be the best year considering we really don't have any top recruits on Offense. We need to get it in gear before next year when Green makes his choice.

 
NoKoolAidForME said:
I'm undecided on what should be done. But if a change was to be made this would be the best year considering we really don't have any top recruits on Offense. We need to get it in gear before next year when Green makes his choice.
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Here's the way I see it. Is our talent level on offense 100th overall in NCAA? I don't think it is. Therefore, if the production isn't equal to the talent level, the coaching is poor. Our offensive production is around 100th, and the talent level (while probably not great) is not that low. That falls on Watson. I don't want Pelini to make a Callahan error of refusing to fire assistants who under perform.

 
JTrain said:
I have to say I'm done sticking up for Watson. I can't imagine the amount of frustration the defensive guys are holding in watching what could have been a dream season (12-1, Big 12 Champs, Fiesta Bowl) turn into a 9-4 heartbreaker because our offense couldn't even put a decent product on the field. It's too easy to blame it all on lack of talent. We may not have the '97 offense, but we have legitimate FBS talent and there's no way in hell we should be unable to break 40 yards passing and five first downs our 13th game of the season. It's beyond ridiculous.
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exactly....when we only needed to score more then 20 points in one game this season to win and we couldnt even do that? thats the breaking point for me... no progress shown is what hurt him...he knew what type of talent we had mid way through the season you have to adjust to it and he didnt

 
carlfense said:
Here's the thing . . . you don't give passes to someone who has had the reins of the offense for years. I did the same thing with Callahan. I made excuses . . . said the talent isn't there, etc. etc. The reality of the situation is you either get it done or you do not get it done. Watson is not getting it done. Time to clean house on the offensive side of the ball. No excuses.
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This is only the 3rd year he's been the OC for the Huskers. Prior to 07, BC called all the plays. Watson was just OC by way of a title.

 
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