What NU used to be

lo country

lo country

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As I look back on this season, two things are clear. We lost to two teams with equal to "lesser talent" and one team that flat out classed NU from its athletes to its coaching staff.

Wisky and Iowa are obviously the two with equal or lesser talent. They beat us by playing old NU football. Disciplined, aggressive, controlled the LOS, fundamentally sound and have a friggin identity on both sides if the ball. They have the same "disadvantages" NU has as it relates to recruiting. i.e. city, in state athletes, distance etc..... Wisky owns us an Iowa is getting that way......

I think NU needs to get back to its old ways. I'm not talking about the alleged "option football", but going back to developing a power run identity based upon the talent we can recruit. Not the talent we want to recruit. Counters, traps, dives, mixed with the option and PA passing. A mobile QB (not to be confused with dual threat) i.e.one who can pass and move in the pocket with the ability to make a few designed runs per game. For all the crap he took Zac Lee wasn't bad in the read game IMO. An offensive line that can road grade and plays nasty. Same with the DL. Recruit D like McBride, Speed, ability to tackle and size last..... To paraphrase, if they can't fly we don't recruit them.....

If Iowa, Wisky and Minnie can recruit these kind of players, NU should be able to. NU will NEVER recruit the talent to consistently compete at the level we all want with a pass first O. Not gonna happen IMO.

I look at some of our incoming recruits and I think they can be that power run first kids. POB is mobile. He can run. BUT you help him by establishing a smash mouth run game. Run to set up the pass. Not the other way around....

We need to embrace a the style of football that typifies the culture of Nebraska and the Midwest.......... Most teams that have come back from the netherlands, went back to what got them there in the first place. NU needs to as well.

 
husker_fan_from_sweden said:
Spot on. Wisky and Iowa looked more like the NU of years past than our team and it's eerie.
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And we continually lose to them......As we move further away from a proven system, we move further down the ladder of respectability in the B1G..... And others who have embraced the "old traditions" are on the rise and own NU....

 
Wisky and Iowa run very similar programs around power offense, stout and disciplined defense, and solid special teams.

What made NU so great when they ran that type of program was the talent that Osborne was able to recruit and develop. Don't underestimate the amount of talent that came to Nebraska in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. NU was pumping out NFL guys all the time. Throw in Osborne's great in-game play calling and that made NU very tough to beat.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
Wisky and Iowa run very similar programs around power offense, stout and disciplined defense, and solid special teams.

What made NU so great when they ran that type of program was the talent that Osborne was able to recruit and develop. Don't underestimate the amount of talent that came to Nebraska in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. NU was pumping out NFL guys all the time. Throw in Osborne's great in-game play calling and that made NU very tough to beat.
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Now there is no one to develop the talent they have.

 
Iowa has decent talent and is fairly well coached, espeicially in the trenches. Ferentz is too conservative to ever win big though.

Wisconsin had a miracle when Andersen left them after 1 year. Christ is a much better fit for them. They are able to get very good players in the trenches, and sprinkle in some good/great skill players every few years.

 
We need more talent and depth upfront that's for sure. Unfortunately OL take time to develop but hopefully Gates/Foster/Farmer can give us a nice foundation to add the younger guys into next year.

Before the season it looked like our weakness would be in the trenches and it's played out that way. Don't think we need to change the offense bc our OL stunk this year though. We'd have struggled to run any offense this year.

 
alwayshusking said:
We need more talent and depth upfront that's for sure. Unfortunately OL take time to develop but hopefully Gates/Foster/Farmer can give us a nice foundation to add the younger guys into next year.

Before the season it looked like our weakness would be in the trenches and it's played out that way. Don't think we need to change the offense bc our OL stunk this year though. We'd have struggled to run any offense this year.
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Exactly .

Quality o-line play allows a team to run about any kind of offense it wants .

I miss our old power football identity too; and it hurts to get beat by teams that use our old formula.

As Riley recruits his style of players , I think NU's offense will become more finesse and throw the ball 40+ times per game routinely . This will be our new identity . Callahan part 2.

We also need a hard hitting defense. Notice how often Nebraska offensive players slowly got up and limped off the field after a tough Iowa hit?

 
alwayshusking said:
We need more talent and depth upfront that's for sure. Unfortunately OL take time to develop but hopefully Gates/Foster/Farmer can give us a nice foundation to add the younger guys into next year.

Before the season it looked like our weakness would be in the trenches and it's played out that way. Don't think we need to change the offense bc our OL stunk this year though. We'd have struggled to run any offense this year.
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The reason Wisconsin and Iowa are better than us is because of the line play. They both have taken away our program's prominence on the OL. We need to take this back. When you think of both those teams you think OL is going to be good. I don't think their starting QB is better than ours but their OL's are way better. Give me an A O-Line with a B- QB and I will beat your C- O-Line with your B+ QB all day. Our D-Line also suffered this year with early departures to the NFL. The lack of pass rushers allow average QB's to do enough. I think it starts up front on both sides and we were not good at either this year to play against good opponents.

 
when was the last time we had multiple drafts picks from either line? Linebackers? Starts with talent, ends with talent.

 
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