What Did We Learn - Bowl Edition

BoSolich said:
it was shocking how bad we were at 1 on 1 tackling. these guys have zero fundamentals
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I remember Barrett Ruud crediting Bo Pelini with making a huge impact in his game from spring to the start of the season by teaching him better technique and angles as well as helping him with film study. Said he was the singular biggest factor in improving his game. Watching this season and last, the D seems to take horrible angles and don't break down to make a tackle. Watching other games with more successful teams a lot of those guys come down hill in a hurry, close the gap and then drive through the ball carrier. We have very few of those hits. Watching us is like watching a team that has no concept of the basic fundamentals of the game of football and no accountability for lack of execution.

And yes we are young, but have they developed anyone to surpass guys Frost had? Maybe Knighton and White or was that just Nash and Ty being so huge. Buford, Singleon and Hartzog were Frost guys and still started/playing for Rhule. ...Or Lutovky or Corcoran....And Frost was one of the worst coaches to ever coach at NU, yet Rhule's staff couldn't develop players to pass these guys on the depth chart.

Development is the key. Also need Dudes on both sides of the ball. And an eraser or 2 on D in the back end.

I'm at a loss. Thought we'd see a more traditional 3 year bump, but did not.

If we want to compete, it's going to have to be the old fashioned way. Buy a team. But can this staff even do that correctly and put them in a position to win....
 
BoSolich said:
yea but like im not even sure how you sell fans to watch this product unless we get 10 monsters in the portal
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On both sides.....I kid. Sort of.....

I'll add this. Ekeler is a prime example of a coach who can find/develop/use talent. He took our ST's from one of the worst to a top tier unit. In one year with a lot of guys already on hand. That dude gets it. Did the same thing as NU's LB coach. Rhule might need to seek his counsel on how to replicate what he did in other phases of our team.
 
I think that the portal can do only so much for a program like Nebraska at this point. We don't offer anything other than tradition. We really need to show we belong on the field with teams like Iowa and Utah for player to take this program as anything close to a contender. We have now shown be can not compete with good programs, not great programs, be can't compete with good programs. Solid programs with direction and leadership crush us. Portal can only do so much, but we have to get coaches who can convince players that we are heading in the right direction. I would not come here if I were a difference maker looking to improve my situation. Ask yourselves how many players who are truly difference makers will consider coming here? We will get some players in the portal, but they will the rejects that Top 30 teams don't want.
 
HuskerNation1 said:
The program is in disarray and it's going to take a miracle for Rhule to get us to 9 or 10 wins next season given he struggled mightily this season against a weak schedule. As I posted in another thread, Nebraska was less competitive this season than the prior 2 Rhule seasons. There is little Rhule has done as HC to give confidence he will make the right personnel decisions moving forward. Perhaps the biggest concern is that the culture that Rhule claimed to be building appears to have collapsed the past 6 weeks. With many players leaving and new players (and coaches) coming in, I am not sure how he builds the right culture moving forward.
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Be lucky to win 5 tops
 
In the end, the season went pretty much exactly the way I thought it would after the Cincinnati game: overall no real improvement from last season. A couple things better, but just as many things worse.

But my preseason expectation wasn't that high in the first place. I only expected a small improvement over last season because we were so young at so many positions.

It's kinda weird because I feel like I already got past the emotional reaction part a few months ago. Now it's just like "alright, what's next?"
 
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We can not hire the right guys for anything. We hire a DC whose previous team got school by North Texas, not Utah. Leaves me asking one big question: How have we fallen so far that coaches who might be a somebody, someday, won't even consider coming here anymore? Its obvious that these hires were not our first choices or even second. Has beens like Dana? Regurgitate coaches who failed elsewhere. This is what we are now. Dumpster for has beens.
 
I learned my fan dual account is quite healthy wagering against Nebraska on these blowouts the back half of the season.

Next years schedule looks even better for the bottom line, but not for the huskers win column.
 
Negativity should be expected, but the results of this game were not unexpected. Utah is a good program, with good players. They play hard nosed football. We do not play like that. We have not played like that for decades. I think overall, the season could be considered a failure, but will reserve that take for now and be someone content with a bowl game. We were awful for so long and missing bowl games that getting manhandled today at least means we were good enough to get manhandled on New Years EVE!
 
In our last three games we went 0-3.
Gave up 1326 yards on defense.
Gave up 121 points on defense.
We have now lost 30 (or 32) straight games to ranked opponents.
HCMRh continues to sound more like a preacher (apple didn't fall far from the tree) and less like a winning football coach every day.
Next year is going to be ugly.
 
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