What did we learn? Northwestern Version

Heretic Husker said:
I really don't like to name names but the one player we seem to target who is a tight end, rated as a 4 star, often hurt, is not impressive- too many drops, never seems to be that open and rarely shows any running skills after the balls he does catch.- off that topic, do we ever throw to a running back outlet, instead of trying to fit the ball into a TE who is covered running across the middle? it might be a better option.
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Football fans are great. Not calling you out specifically, but some have said Fidone and the TE’s need more targets, while some say they are being targeted too much.

Regarding Fidone, he’s being targeted, because for Haarberg, that the first target he’s looking for. Haarberg is not a good QB,

so he just passes to someone he is looking for first. I’m not sure how much running after the catch you are expecting from Fidone when his routes are mainly curl or comeback routes where he is stationary while catching. Haarberg struggles with identifying open receivers running through defenses, and hitting them accurately. It’s tough to get yards after catch when the QB is who we have. 

 
MyBloodIsRed16 said:
I learned I don't remember the time a Nebraska defense had two games with 7+ sacks in the same year.  I would have to guess back to when Randy Gregory played or back to Suh's years.  
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This is the thing to start talking about and focusing on. Forget lamenting about the offense.

I just can't believe how much disruption the line is causing to move the other team's OL out of position. And I think Butler is a very underrated player, it's like he's around the QB on most of the sacks.

 
Undone said:
This is the thing to start talking about and focusing on. Forget lamenting about the offense.

I just can't believe how much disruption the line is causing to move the other team's OL out of position. And I think Butler is a very underrated player, it's like he's around the QB on most of the sacks.
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Great post. What I have enjoyed so much about the defense is that it has gotten so much contribution from so many different guys. It feels like there has been 20-25 guys who have played and played well on that side of the field. This gets guys excited to play, keeps players fresh and healthy, and keeps guys from transferring from lack of playing time. 

 
ColoradoHusk said:
Football fans are great. Not calling you out specifically, but some have said Fidone and the TE’s need more targets, while some say they are being targeted too much.

Regarding Fidone, he’s being targeted, because for Haarberg, that the first target he’s looking for. Haarberg is not a good QB,

so he just passes to someone he is looking for first. I’m not sure how much running after the catch you are expecting from Fidone when his routes are mainly curl or comeback routes where he is stationary while catching. Haarberg struggles with identifying open receivers running through defenses, and hitting them accurately. It’s tough to get yards after catch when the QB is who we have. 
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If HH’s first pick was out in front of Fidone where it should have been, I think he had a chance to make on move and be gone.

 
Sims and HH seem to me to be the same QB in terms of strengths and weakness's. Still, I’m not sure why you don’t try Sims-unless you have a silent agreement to let him leave Lincoln with 2 years of eligibility left. And that is probably the right thing to do by him. 

what about Purdy?  Why not give him a try if healthy. Northwestern is terrible- and I’m very happy we won- but good god It’s embarrassing 

 
funhusker said:
If HH’s first pick was out in front of Fidone where it should have been, I think he had a chance to make on move and be gone.
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Yes, and as others have pointed out, there were other guys more open on that play, as well. I know if your first read is open, it’s tough to not throw it to him, but it makes me wonder if Fidone is being thrown to even when he’s not the first read on the play. 

 
JJ Husker said:
Or those people realize our offense is sputtering at best and the QB play is pretty dang bad. Take Michigan out of the equation because neither QB was going to win that one and you’re left with Sims playing against our 2 hardest (at the time) opponents and Haarberg playing against 4 incredibly bad opponents.
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Can we please stop with this narrative? Colorado is DFL in Total Defense - Dead Frickin Last.  There offense is good so they've won some games but their defense is literally the worst defense in FBS.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
Football fans are great. Not calling you out specifically, but some have said Fidone and the TE’s need more targets, while some say they are being targeted too much.

Regarding Fidone, he’s being targeted, because for Haarberg, that the first target he’s looking for. Haarberg is not a good QB,

so he just passes to someone he is looking for first. I’m not sure how much running after the catch you are expecting from Fidone when his routes are mainly curl or comeback routes where he is stationary while catching. Haarberg struggles with identifying open receivers running through defenses, and hitting them accurately. It’s tough to get yards after catch when the QB is who we have. 
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In defending the player, not named, you seem to divaricate the situation to basically a walk on QB? If so, then ok, but my main point is the player not named at TE was a highly recruited player, while getting hit with the injury bug might have hurt his athletic ability to move like an elite player, did he break his hands? Or I should say, crack his hands, because they seem to be made of stone. On the play selection portion of your player not to be named, defensive analysis, i'd say that must be the coaches quixotic play calling, if he is back to his 4 star athletic ability, they should put him in better positions to maximize that athleticism- all speculation I know, but I felt the need to add depth to the conversation.

The last thought is a question.

Do you think this TE is as good as you thought he'd be? I think an honest answer would be no, as I can't think of many reasons to say yes based what we've seen.

 
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Heretic Husker said:
In defending the player, not named, you seem to divaricate the situation to basically a walk on QB? If so, then ok, but my main point is the player not named at TE was a highly recruited player, while getting hit with the injury bug might have hurt his athletic ability to move like an elite player, did he break his hands? Or I should say, crack his hands, because they seem to be made of stone. On the play selection portion of your player not to be named, defensive analysis, i'd say that must be the coaches quixotic play calling, if he is back to his 4 star athletic ability, they should put him in better positions to maximize that athleticism- all speculation I know, but I felt the need to add depth to the conversation.

The last thought is a question.

Do you think this TE is as good as you thought he'd be? I think an honest answer would be no, as I can't think of many reasons to say yes based what we've seen.
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It’s ok to name players you are being critical of. I agree that Fidone has not lived up to the hype of his recruitment. Significant knee injuries and ineffective QB play this year are big reasons why.  He is in his first season of significant playing time, and has been a focal point of the offense so far this season. His career so far is a big reason I don’t get too jazzed up in following recruiting. I know recruiting is the life blood of college programs, but I don’t put stock into guys being studs at NU before they have played a single snap in college. It sets expectations on a player which may be unrealistic and not fair to the player.

You obviously think Fidone should have been able to make an amazing catch over the middle because he was a big recruit out of high school. I expect Haarberg to be able to be able to throw a 10 yard pass over the middle and not an easy throw, especially when he passed up an easier throw to a wide open guy in the slot to target Fidone, who was not as open. 

 
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ColoradoHusk said:
Football fans are great. Not calling you out specifically, but some have said Fidone and the TE’s need more targets, while some say they are being targeted too much.

Regarding Fidone, he’s being targeted, because for Haarberg, that the first target he’s looking for. Haarberg is not a good QB,

so he just passes to someone he is looking for first. I’m not sure how much running after the catch you are expecting from Fidone when his routes are mainly curl or comeback routes where he is stationary while catching. Haarberg struggles with identifying open receivers running through defenses, and hitting them accurately. It’s tough to get yards after catch when the QB is who we have. 
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I think the problem in the past is our Qbs constantly missed a wide open TE running a seam.  They weren't finding the TE when they were open.  Now they are actively trying to get the ball to the TE and other teams know it.  So now they are missing wide open WRs for a covered TE.  It would help if the Qbs understood who should be open based on route combos and the way the defense is lined up 

 
ColoradoHusk said:
It’s ok to name players you are being critical of. I agree that Fidone has not lived up to the hype of his recruitment. Significant knee injuries and ineffective QB play this year are big reasons why.  His career so far is a big reason I don’t get too jazzed up in following recruiting. I know recruiting is the life blood of college programs, but I don’t put stock into guys being studs at NU before they have played a single snap in college. It sets expectations on a player which may be unrealistic and not fair to the player.

You obviously think Fidone should have been able to make an amazing catch over the middle because he was a big recruit out of high school. I expect Haarberg to be able to be able to throw a 10 yard pass over the middle and not an easy throw, especially when he passed up an easier throw to a wide open guy in the slot to target Fidone, who was not as open. 
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I think you are right about Haarberg, he's not a good QB, but they think he's our best option, and that is another topic that continues in many other threads. You also seem to agree with me that Fidone is not that good of a TE- My biggest surprise is my "hands of stone" analogy, which seems to be true- not only today, but previous games he's dropped balls that seem more than catchable- anyway that's all I've got on the subject thanks for the comments

 
Mavric said:
Can we please stop with this narrative? Colorado is DFL in Total Defense - Dead Frickin Last.  There offense is good so they've won some games but their defense is literally the worst defense in FBS.
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And northwestern beat Minnesota. Who (checks notes) beat Nebraska, ironically I think the quarterback who played that game had a couple detrimental turnovers. 

 
cornheadnation said:
And northwestern beat Minnesota. Who (checks notes) beat Nebraska, ironically I think the quarterback who played that game had a couple detrimental turnovers. 
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Yeah.

Now I wouldn't really want either guy being the QB that's trying to throw on that 2nd & goal from the 6 at the end of the first half against Minnesota where Sims throws the INT.

But that game was pretty win-able regardless if Grant doesn't fumble in the 4th quarter. We're a fumble and a false start (in the same game) away from being a 5-2 team right now because of how good our defense is.

Different train of thought: Chinander consistently flew under the radar as a huge problem in Frost's program because so many people expected Frost, the offensive expert, to win games on offense. Our program was so overdue on getting a good defensive coordinator that it wasn't even funny.

 
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