What did we learn-Fresno St edition

[krc1995]

At the end of the game I was satisfied and I like the way Riley started -very vanilla and then opened it up some in the 2nd

We had a couple of penalties that were head shakers, but nothing like in previous years. I though the refs left the boys play for the most part

I'm not a huge fan of the extra point formation except when we need 2 and I'm guessing that is what it is designed for.

I'm not even sure what to think about punt returns. It was so awful that maybe it was an aberration. What the EP formation so important that we couldn't work on returning punts?

Westerkamp! Not sure what's going on there. Looked scared to catch the ball. Is he still gimpy? Also, was DPE time limited? He had that snafu and then seemed to sit for most of the game. I really wish he could have been successful. He's likely to extremely rusty and I hope it doesn't make him a mental case. We need him

Loved seeing the Fyfe and Bryant in. Its been quite a drought of lack of playing time for reserves. As mentioned last night, what a great way to show recruits that they can play as freshman.

The offensive line held up pretty well

The Williams boys are special in a good way

 

[HuskerNBigD]

I'm going to get flamed for this, but the targeting rule was the right call. Gifford hit the QB with his helmet, it doesn't matter if it was not intentional or if it wasn't severe. It's targeting and was enforced according to the rule.

Nope.

Target—to take aim at an opponent for purposes of attacking with an apparent intent that goes beyond making a legal tackle or a legal block or playing the ball.

http://www.afca.com/article/article.php?id=2342

The officials are supposed to put intent into their judgement, aka "vicious" hits.

The officials are also supposed to referee the game with their head out their a$$, but we don't always get that.

 

[84HuskerLaw]

Did anyone else have the uncomfortable feeling that there were times that we kind of needed to complete a couple passes but were afraid to try them? Maybe it was just me. I could only listen to the game via the Husker radio broadcast crew and you often don't get a very true picture or sense of things.

The good thing is we seemed to run the ball very effectively with nice big chunks of yards against an inferior opponent but much like the UCLA game.

There were far too many big penalties, the punting was poor, the punt returns were NONE (why can't we at least catch the ball? - let's put two guys back or something), and there were some times when the pass coverage was the time tested "chase and tackle" scheme. It seemed to help when their QB missed his receivers by a bunch and or they dropped them. LOL I suspect and tend to want to think we lacked some key starters that will really help things this next game.

I was most disappointed (I had been very optimistic before the game) that we regressed so far from the bowl game and had a lot of deja vu (2015) which I really thought we would have finally 'passed' like a bad meal after the spring and fall camps. It just seems to me we don't scrimmage and game prep in live, real time mode. I know the injury fears but we are just not well organized and using the non-conference games as 'preseason" or throw aways is not Husker football.

 

[3rd and long]

I'm going to get flamed for this, but the targeting rule was the right call. Gifford hit the QB with his helmet, it doesn't matter if it was not intentional or if it wasn't severe. It's targeting and was enforced according to the rule.

Nope.

Target—to take aim at an opponent for purposes of attacking with an apparent intent that goes beyond making a legal tackle or a legal block or playing the ball.

http://www.afca.com/article/article.php?id=2342

The officials are supposed to put intent into their judgement, aka "vicious" hits.

The officials are also supposed to referee the game with their head out their a$$, but we don't always get that.

I don't mind when the official calls the play on the field. They need to err on the side of safety. But the replay officials have to have the stones to overturn the call. To me, both of the targeting calls looked very similar. They both had their head up, neither led with the helmet. It seems like most instances it's as much on the ball carrier lowering his head and shoulders as much as the defender.

 

[macroboy]

You can't push QBs too hard.

You can't spin a football in celebratory fashion.

Rush defense is still stout as f#*k.

Fresno's QB would qualify for the "graveyard".

Offensive line continues to improve.

Armstrong and Newby have hit their ceiling.

Future looks bright at runningback. Would like to see Ozigbo-Bryant as 1-2 by midseason.

Still far too penalized.

Still far too many miscues.

Dude hit most of mine. I'd add:

Lamar Jackson looked like a freshman.

Pass D was very medoicre

I think Kieron Williams earned a blackshirt.

Alonzo Moore might play himself into getting drafted

I still don't know why we have a full time special teams coach?

 

[Saunders]

I'm going to get flamed for this, but the targeting rule was the right call. Gifford hit the QB with his helmet, it doesn't matter if it was not intentional or if it wasn't severe. It's targeting and was enforced according to the rule.

Nope.

Target—to take aim at an opponent for purposes of attacking with an apparent intent that goes beyond making a legal tackle or a legal block or playing the ball.

http://www.afca.com/article/article.php?id=2342

The officials are supposed to put intent into their judgement, aka "vicious" hits.

The officials are also supposed to referee the game with their head out their a$$, but we don't always get that.

I don't mind when the official calls the play on the field. They need to err on the side of safety. But the replay officials have to have the stones to overturn the call. To me, both of the targeting calls looked very similar. They both had their head up, neither led with the helmet. It seems like most instances it's as much on the ball carrier lowering his head and shoulders as much as the defender.

This right here. The whole point of the original targeting rule was to stop spearing, launching, and intentionally vicious hits. My wife lost rightfully her sh#t with the call on Williams, and said they're ruining the game.

I even loved how they called a PF on him for flexing, even though Fresno had been doing it multiple times, including on our previous drive when a guy tackled Tre Bryant (after a 12 yard gain) and flexed over him right next to a side judge.

 

[huskered17]

Fyfe is #2. Where is PB. Isn't he next years air apparent.

Tre Bryant is going to be special.

Newby looks a lot better and stronger

Ozigbo is a beast.

Rush D looked very good.

O-Line run blocking looked good ,Pass blocking needs more work.

I think the kids played hard all game. Few mistakes, but your going to have them every game. We won and I'm happy.

GBR!!!

 

[ColoradoHusk]

Fyfe is #2. Where is PB. Isn't he next years air apparent.

Tre Bryant is going to be special.

Newby looks a lot better and stronger

Ozigbo is a beast.

Rush D looked very good.

O-Line run blocking looked good ,Pass blocking needs more work.

I think the kids played hard all game. Few mistakes, but your going to have them every game. We won and I'm happy.

GBR!!!

First of all, the phrase is "heir apparent", and second, Riley is going to do everything he can do redshirt POB. He will only see PT if there are significant injuries to Armstrong and Fyfe. Riley has been saying this since Bush transferred, this shouldn't be a surprise.

 

[theknife]

Pros:

-Newby and Ozigbo ran with purpose and power. Ozigbo obviously had the better night, but Newby showed some grit that I think most of us have wanted to see since he got on campus. Oh and Tre Bryant is as good as advertised.

-Alonzo Moore looked great last night. Glad he has stuck with the program and hope he continues this production.

-The offensive line was able to consistently create holes in a team like Fresno State. If they continue to grow, it could take a lot of pressure off Tommy.

-The fall camp hype about the defense learning the base defense and being able to mix in more exotic blitzing appears to be legit. Thank god too, as the 3 man front on obvious passing downs will help a developing D-line.

-The linebackers are deep after just one year of development.

-The cultural change from Bo to Riley continues in year 2 in that the team doesn't have manic highs and lows after giving up a big play or taking a penalty

Concerns:

-Tommy is Tommy. I'm glad we were able to win with such a vanilla run game, but the real challenge will be managing Tommy when we have to throw 50%+ of the time in order to win. I fear we might get into a pattern of trying to run and if that goes South, a relapse to all throws like last year.

-DPE is still shaking the rust off, but I pray he does and takes over for Westerkamp on punt returns. Westy is just a fair catch machine and no real threat to break like DPE.

-The Dline looks as green as they are on paper. I hope Parella can get some development out of these young men and the davis twins realize their potential by mid year. The aforementioned blitzing should help deal with obvious passing situations, so if they can be stout against the run, that may make for a serviceable until.

-The passing yards, oh god the passing yards. Jones, Kalu, and Williams all looked good for the most part. Gerry returning and assuming Jackson comes along as the season develops may result in a strength by midyear.

 

[Bowfin]

and had way too many penalties (especially personal fouls).

My one and only concern for this game. We had one unsportsmanlike conduct and two excessive celebration penalties. I won't count the first targeting, but that is something for which we will have to make an adjustment, especially when offensive players start to exploit this rule.

 

[elephant_talk]

Newby looked pretty good. Dealt with contact decently enough. Our impression of him would have dramatically improved if TA thrown that pass a little better.

Ozigbo played decisively and with a ton of power. I'm a big fan of the running back rotation.

Liked what I saw out of the offensive line. Hopefully the success carries throughout the season.

The most vanilla offense I've ever seen. I suspect that the Oregon gameplay will be slightly different.

No edge guy has emerged yet. Front 4 seems kinda concerning still.

Linebackers seem legit. Whenever we rotate them, we don't lose a thing.

Lamar Jackson was just picked on last night. Not college ready yet. Let's see some improvement from week 1 to 2.

I'm very, very impressed with Chris Jones. Like "might be the best player on our defense" impressed. Heads and shoulders better than any other CBs.

The safety play was good. It'll get even better with our two starting strong safeties back.

Overall, we need to cut down on the stupid penalties. Those extended drives and gave Fresno extra points.

 

[ZRod]

Pros:

-DPE is still shaking the rust off, but I pray he does and takes over for Westerkamp on punt returns. Westy is just a fair catch machine and no real threat to break like DPE.

I'm not sure what you expected Westy to do. The punts were short and awful, and our strategy was to block literally no one! Jordan would have died last night if he tried to return any of those punts.

 

[theknife]

Pros:

-DPE is still shaking the rust off, but I pray he does and takes over for Westerkamp on punt returns. Westy is just a fair catch machine and no real threat to break like DPE.

I'm not sure what you expected Westy to do. The punts were short and awful, and our strategy was to block literally no one! Jordan would have died last night if he tried to return any of those punts.

True on all accounts; however, DPE is a game changer at that position and Westerkamp is our safe fair catch option historically speaking. I don't think DPE would have done anything different last night, but going forward I hope he gets his share of reps.

 

[krc1995]

Who was the last freshman to start at corner in game one? I would think it is extremely difficult to adjust to the speed of the college game for corners in particular

 

[krc1995]

Pros:

-DPE is still shaking the rust off, but I pray he does and takes over for Westerkamp on punt returns. Westy is just a fair catch machine and no real threat to break like DPE.

I'm not sure what you expected Westy to do. The punts were short and awful, and our strategy was to block literally no one! Jordan would have died last night if he tried to return any of those punts.

True on all accounts; however, DPE is a game changer at that position and Westerkamp is our safe fair catch option historically speaking. I don't think DPE would have done anything different last night, but going forward I hope he gets his share of reps.

he could have caught the punts he signaled fair catch. And honestly I can only remember the one that may or may not have hit him in the foot.