Watson...what's your opinion now?

[Hunter94]

Could very well be true, but I think that's a little speculative. Almost a bit of just where you want to hand the credit to, or where you want to keep it away from. Pelini can do no wrong right now so that's an easy option.

I spend a lot of time defending Watson from what I feel is unwarranted criticism, so I have a tendency to want hand all the credit to Watson. Equal speculation on my part, I s'pose

But in any case, it worked and it seems like the staff and program are all on one page, so...hand me some kool-aid. :koolaid2:

and having said that, it is pretty obvious that Carl, with Bo's help, has the defensive strategy, techniques set.

hence, it is time for Bo to get into the offense in a bigger way........you can just see how this is developing and Pelini made the comment he would be more involved in the spring......Bo is about to put some marks on the O, after he has made his signature D.

 

[junior4949]

Does anyone remember the banter about Watson that was going on after the 2008 season? The banter then was what school was he going to go to for a head coaching position. This season the banter changed to when should we fire him. No wonder Urban Meyer has stress related health problems.

That's what I find so amusing. It was at the start of this season that Watson was being called one of the best OC's in the country. You couldn't pull all the leg humpers off him even if you had Suh trying to help you!

I never said that just to let you know. I have always had a problem with his dink and dunk passing game that is supposed to be an extension of the running game. I have always had a problem with the complexity of his offense. He has always had a problem with scoring touchdowns in the redzone and I believe that is a by-product of his offense being too soft.

However, it would be unwise to get rid of people on your coaching staff on whims. This year was awful, but maybe next year he will have figured out some things. You have to keep some type of continuity. Plus I know Bo has said exactly what he wants out of the offense so we have a goal setup there and now it is up to Watson to move it in that direction.

I still have a problem with guys being banged up excuse. I mean lots of teams have a ton of guys banged up and they still get the job done. I remember Iowa State having their QB and RB out for our game. They won.

Then you have other things like Kansas State was supposed to be a bad team talent wise and their coach got them close to winning the North. And Georgia Tech...what Paul Johnson has done there with his offense is pretty inspiring. I think this is his second season? And Bo and Carl...what they did with our defense in two years is crazy. But Watson fielded one of our worst offenses since the 60's...something isn't right about that.

Mainly just saying between Watson's playcalls, kids not being coached up right, and not being able to score from 10 feet then I can't say he is a great OC. He is good, but not great. If it takes a lot of talented players or very experienced players to make his offense work then its not a good one.

But lets just see what he does this next year, because if he can't produce next year with practically everyone really returning...then there is a huge problem. I think he will get it done though...I have faith in next year.

The dink and dunk isn't necessarily Watson's thing. Colorado was one of the first teams in D1 to have 3 RB's run for over 1000 yards when Wats was the OC. They had the best fullback that year. He came from a power running scheme. He has been forced to use the pieces of the puzzle that were given to him. He didn't get a dominating OL. We managed to get our #1 and #2 running backs hurt this season running behind our porous OL. The dink and dunk was a way for the QB to get the ball out in a hurry before being crushed.

 

[HuskerTrucker]

I still think the line has to be shored up, if it doesn't work, then nothing works. So all the talk about Watson in the red zone or anything else for that matter in my mind is null at this point. If Barney and Bo don't do something about this offensive line, and they don't come around next year, then someone has to go (Cotton would be the logical conclusion), and maybe before the end of the season.

Then Watson is on the hot seat, if his offense is not producing, Watson can expect to be next. I don't think we can go another season and not have any offense before people really start getting riled up and calling for heads...

With Lee being hurt, it is sad that for all the QB's we had that we didn't have another QB that could be plugged in and be successful. That was a real good indicator that we have some problems with the ones that we do have if they don't start stepping up.

When you have a starting QB with a bum arm, and he looks that much better than the rest - there is a real problem. And, the problem is experience. I am not sure that I wouldn't have taken Green, and plugged him in, and taken our lumps this season, getting him some experience for next year...like Texas did with McCoy his freshman year. He got the crap beat out of him, but look where he is now (even though that last play makes me wonder about his head since he didn't just spike the ball). They had an O-line that was woeful his freshman year. I think Green is a tough kid, and if he could handle it mentally, I think he could have come back with a better line and go places. The problem with keeping Lee in, and not getting anyone else any experience, is that next season if Lee goes down we are in the same position we were this year. If Lee does not go down, then we have unexperienced QB's going into 2011, and the best option will probably only have 2 years of eligibility left. I would like to see a starter that we could count on for at least 3 years, getting better each year, then when possible throw a younger kid in for some experience (when we have a good lead).

 

[zoogs]

That was a real good indicator that we have some problems with the ones that we do have if they don't start stepping up.

Nah, I think it was just an indicator that we had a guy transfer just before Spring and another guy blow his knee twice, both of whom would have been in the mix.

Raw deal, because we couldn't get anyone in to replace them. Would've been really hard anyway given the timing. And nobody here wanted Paulus either. A lot of 'we don't need him' sentiment at the time.

 

[junior4949]

What good would Paulus have done? It was just like bringing in Keller. When a player only has a year of eligibility, it doesn't make a lot of sense to bring them into the program. On a side note, it will be interesting to see what happens to Adam James and where he goes.

 

[knapplc]

Paulus? We're still talking about that guy? This is the same Greg Paulus who led Syracuse to a 4-8 record, right?

The same Greg Paulus who threw for one less TD, the same yards per attempt and four more INTs than Zac Lee, right?

If anything, Paulus would have been a lateral move talent-wise for Lee, and that's presuming he could pick up Watson's offense in 12 or 16 weeks or whatever he would have had when he made his decision, which is doubtful. And as we saw with The Sam Keller Experiment, bringing in a "hired gun" to QB your team for one year isn't always successful, although comparing Keller to Paulus is not fair to Keller.

 

[zoogs]

Sam was a premiere talent who was a poison to the team. Paulus was by all accounts a marginal stop gap but a good kid.

I mean, I eventually got around to the 'we don't need him' idea, but if we can credit him to being a lateral move, then Green probably redshirts and Spano probably does not get rushed back. Weren't coaches going to bring him in for a visit? I forget if that ever happened or not. This was what I was responding to:

Then Watson is on the hot seat, if his offense is not producing, Watson can expect to be next. I don't think we can go another season and not have any offense before people really start getting riled up and calling for heads...

With Lee being hurt, it is sad that for all the QB's we had that we didn't have another QB that could be plugged in and be successful.

It is hardly anyone's fault that we didn't have another QB to be plugged in when we did, they just left/got hurt by which time we didn't really have any options to add QBs. We went with LTW and considered (or maybe made a run for, I don't know) Paulus.

I'm not trying to say we would've had a better season with him! Just that we lacked depth and he was pretty much one of the only options we had to plug in immediately. And the fact that he had one year, even better - it's not like he would have been an option building up for the long term.

I've been one of the biggest Zac Lee fans on this board over the course of the season, so if the sense you are getting is that I'm saying Paulus would have started, please dispel that. But we should all know looking back that our QB depth was paper thin this year. I think if it had afforded Green a redshirt and Spano more time, it could've helped this team tremendously.

Paulus? We're still talking about that guy? This is the same Greg Paulus who led Syracuse to a 4-8 record, right?

The same Greg Paulus who threw for one less TD, the same yards per attempt and four more INTs than Zac Lee, right?

I don't get the stats comparison. Quentin Castille ran 107 times for 349 yards and a single TD this year - does that tell us we weren't really missing much with his dismissal?

 

[knapplc]

If there's a better way to compare players in disparate conferences than by stats, I'm eager to learn. We could go by shoe size, but I don't think that's a good barometer.

My thinking with Paulus is that, like Keller, he is only coming in if he's guaranteed the starting job. There's just no other reason for him to go to a school. Keller was actually better at the offense we were running than Ganz, which is good because he was going to start no matter what.

Also with Keller, I hear a lot of fans talk about how he was "poison" or damaging to the team. I get that the circumstances surrounding Keller were bad for the team (or at least, not great), but Keller as a person and a teammate was fine from everything I could tell. If there's someone here who has an account or info about Keller's poor locker room persona I'd love to hear about that. But everything I saw from him on the sidelines, while he was playing and after when he got hurt, seemed to me that he was a team-first kind of guy. He was always right there congratulating Ganzy when we scored, or talking to him (giving advice?) when the defense was on the field. He gave a lot of interviews and was always pro-Nebraska. I thought Sam represented us very well while he was here, aside from that parking lot incident (hardly a swerving-to-avoid-the-dog moment, though).

Paulus was a lot like Keller in that he was a good kid whose circumstances dictated that he had one year to walk in and play. Because of that he needed to be guaranteed to be the starter, and that wasn't happening here, as Witt discovered. I have nothing against Greg Paulus, but I don't see how he helps our team considering how complicated our offense always is.

 

[zoogs]

He was at Syracuse! Just like Q can go to Northwestern State and put up extremely subpar stats, the fact that he did at Syracuse doesn't mean he'd do the same at NU. In any case, the comparison to make ("Syracuse Paulus vs NU Paulus") isn't even for the same job - starting QB vs 2nd-string.

I agree that Paulus was looking for a starting job. Keller was just looking for the opportunity to be honest, and he did win that competition. Ganz was ultimately the better guy at QB, but it doesn't erase Keller's victory in camp.

I liked Keller alright (remember his 'sleeve' interview? I thought that was hilarious) and always thought he was well-spoken. But the team never rallied around him as they did Ganz and others have talked about how he had a negative chemistry influence on the team. I think it was Willie who bemoaned McKeon's post-Keller transformation in particular. I'll agree that I thought he represented Nebraska with class and distinction, but I've since come over to the view that his presence was a negative and maybe a not insignificant factor in that disastrous '07 run.

I don't think it would have made sense for him to come here given the circumstances, you're absolutely right about that. Still, I feel that if he had bought in and secured the #2 job (the only other guys in the running were a true freshman adjusting to college life and a LB washout, both who were almost as new to the system), it could've given us more flexibility as far as how to handle Green and Spano. Likely would not have made a difference as far as the season goes, but I see it as more of a 'depth was a big issue, and that may have been a potential solution.'

But anyways, it didn't happen, so that's that. I do think that there seems to be a bit of an unnecessary anti-transfer sentiment though here given the Keller experience. Ah, who knows.

 

[junior4949]

I'm thinking that the not having enough depth and or experience at QB should fall on the shoulders of the coaches. We came into this year even before Witt left with depth but absolutely zero experience. In 2008, Witt and Lee should have gotten a lot more experience. Look what we did this year with Washington. He played what all of about 2 series of downs? I was also a little surprised during the bowl game how they handled Green's playing time. They put him in early in the 2nd quarter when Lee had the hot hand, yet he didn't even get back on the field until the 4th quarter when the game was well in hand.

 

[zoogs]

I'm thinking that the not having enough depth and or experience at QB should fall on the shoulders of the coaches. We came into this year even before Witt left with depth but absolutely zero experience. In 2008, Witt and Lee should have gotten a lot more experience. Look what we did this year with Washington. He played what all of about 2 series of downs? I was also a little surprised during the bowl game how they handled Green's playing time. They put him in early in the 2nd quarter when Lee had the hot hand, yet he didn't even get back on the field until the 4th quarter when the game was well in hand.

We did, but so did USC. Sometimes that's just how it works out. Ganz needed his time too, he was just a first year starter still developing his game. Some years, you go in with unknowns...situations that can't be avoided.

As far as what we did with Washington, I suspect it's a lot like what we did with Tyson Hetzer. Avoid redshirting them so they don't take up a scholarship for an extra year they don't need to. I'll give you that Green's PT in the Holiday Bowl was puzzling. I felt he should never have gone in that early actually.

I actually thought with a promising RFr in Spano, a cerebral guy who knew the O in Witt and a talented athlete who had made strides in Lee, both of whom had two years in the system, along with a touted freshman coming in to probably redshirt, we were in pretty good shape at QB, at least at the 'can't complain' level. Like Texas turning to a 3-star redshirt frosh in McCoy or OU going with Bradford or any number of situations, sometimes you just don't have a guy with a ton of time under his belt waiting in the wings...I don't think that's unreasonable, esp. given what we did have. Wasn't long ago when we were all scratching our heads wondering how to divvy up the starting years for all our guys in the future without one or two or more transferring away.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

I think the offensive shortfall hit the coaches the same way it hit the fans:

How can we be this bad?

Because up through the fourth quarter of the Missouri game, the young Husker offense looked perfectly capable of carrying its weight. Plenty of improvements to be made, but nothing needed to be reinvented.

Then against Texas Tech, nothing worked. Complete failure.

Then against Iowa State it worked again. Kinda. The Huskers were moving the ball until they literally dropped it five times in the red zone and Zac Lee threw three interceptions.

What the hell was that? Can't blame the playcalling when your best receiver fumbles the ball twice on his way to an easy touchdown.

So you what....dump the WCO? Play smashmouth football with your fourth string running back? Wait for the Zac Lee, who looks sharp in practice, to look better under game pressure?

No. You make everyone in Husker Nation happy by benching Lee and getting the Cody Green era started.

Except holy sh#t....that didn't make everyone happy. That made everyone very nervous.

And you (and that means Watson, Pelini and everyone else) is forced to realize that maybe the best way for this offense to support this Very Special Defense is to Not Screw Up.

At this point there is no ego or West Coast Offense. Only ongoing experiments in designing the simplest plays for the healthiest available players. Of all the adjectives you could stick on Watson in the second half of the season, stubborn would not be one of them.

Then one day you look up and realize that your offense was one second away from outscoring the #2 team in the nation. However hard as that 102 yards of total offense may have been to swallow, the offense did enough to pull off a massive upset.

Then you look up again, and you're 9 and 4, going to a bowl game that would have been unimaginable after Iowa State. Going up against a ranked team and a very respected defense. You have extra time to prepare. You've got healthier players. It's the last game of the season so you've been given the mandate to loosen the offense back up.

The defense is awesome. The offense is inspired. They finally play off each other for a complete and satisfying win on national television.

And not a single returning coach or player isn't fully aware that it was just one game and the offense will have to forge a new and coherent identity next year.

Except now you get the feeling that it could be fun.

Watson deserves another year. He also deserves a better quarterback, but that's for a different thread.

 

[bshirt]

My two cents:

Ultimately, I'd prefer we find an identity and stick with it. Being multiple is great when you have the coaching and talent combo to pull it off. I dont want to be average at multiple things. Lets be great at running the ball, contolling the line, and I'd live with only throwing when needed or as a novelty to catch the opposing D napping.

That my #1 problem with SW's "multiple" desire. With him, we most certainly do not have "coaching" and will almost never the raw "talent" to pull off being great at everything. In fact, just like this year we end up being a country mile away from even being average.

We're simply not going to have the superb skilled offensive talent annually that the Floridas, USCs, etc will have. Why do we want to pretend we do? Even if by miracle we did, why do we want to copy them?

Bo has fixed our defense in a big, big way. I just don't want to see SW waste any more seasons where we have NC quality blackshirts. 10 - 4 is great but 13 - 1 or 14 - 0 with a average or good offense is a lot better.

 

[REDSTEEL]

My two cents:

Ultimately, I'd prefer we find an identity and stick with it. Being multiple is great when you have the coaching and talent combo to pull it off. I dont want to be average at multiple things. Lets be great at running the ball, contolling the line, and I'd live with only throwing when needed or as a novelty to catch the opposing D napping.

That my #1 problem with SW's "multiple" desire. With him, we most certainly do not have "coaching" and will almost never the raw "talent" to pull off being great at everything. In fact, just like this year we end up being a country mile away from even being average.

We're simply not going to have the superb skilled offensive talent annually that the Floridas, USCs, etc will have. Why do we want to pretend we do? Even if by miracle we did, why do we want to copy them?

Bo has fixed our defense in a big, big way. I just don't want to see SW waste any more seasons where we have NC quality blackshirts. 10 - 4 is great but 13 - 1 or 14 - 0 with a average or good offense is a lot better.

Something like good at everything great at nothing. (ok at everything good at nothing in Watsons case?) <_<

Are people overstating what this offense did in the bowl game remember the first TD only had to go 10 yards and had to settle for 4 fg making a total of 19 points.

 

[WVhuskerXX]

True ...but who knows that we could have done in the 4th Q if we hadnt pulled off the dogs