**** What we Learned - McNeese St Edition ****

[Guy Chamberlin]

Stil amazed how many people want to lay this at the feet of Tim Beck.

Nebraska didn't go away from what it does well. They just stopped doing it well. They know they're better than this. But when another team punches them in the mouth, they don't get angry. They get confused. Then they press. They literally take a step back on defense. Their body language changes. They let McNeese State get into their heads, and that's AFTER a first half that should have been a wake up call. Playcalling counts, but in meltdown mode its just as easy to envision Cross getting stuffed up the middle, or an Ameer sweep getting sniffed out because we've already seen those happen. The play that didn't get called will always be more successul than the play that failed because......hindsight!

Meltdown mode is mental and teamwide, and its traced to head coaching on most teams.

 

[The Dude]

Quality post as usual, Guy +1.

 

[lo country]

1. When you disrespect your opponent, no matter how much of a mismatch you think it is on paper, then you will get punished. This is how college football is now. It's become apparent that the team was not prepared, not motivated, and did not feel like they had to work hard in practice.... that everything was just gonna be laid out all nicely for them.

The game is over, and there's nothing you can do about it now, except go hard at it and get yourself ready to play again. We know Nebraska football is better than this.... much, much better than this. Today is no reason to write off the rest of the season. There's a reason why we play the games.... and that applies to Nebraska vs. Michigan State as much as it does to Nebraska vs. McNeese State. Go practice, go get better, and remember why this happened today.

2. Tommy Armstrong is a confidence player at this point, and was clearly not the same after his mistake.

Honestly, if the pick six doesn't happen, this is an entirely different football game. I believe it. We take a 21-7 lead, everyone feels good about themselves after a solid drive, and we probably win the game going away.

That one single play changed the entire complexion of the game.... Tommy lost his composure. Then, Tim Beck panicked, the offensive line panicked, Tommy panicked some more, and then the defense panicked. Then the 90,000 people in Memorial Stadium panicked. And McNeese State said "they're panicking. We can win this."

3. The injuries to Bell and Turner hurt a lot more than perhaps we realize. The backup receivers were running poor routes and causing some confusion in the passing game, which, coupled with an already flustered quarterback, caused a heck of a lot of problems.

4. The offensive line is really, really, REALLY disappointing.

5. Michael Rose is badly missed.

6. Special teams was outstanding and probably won us the game as much as anything. Piersen-El is going to be exciting.... especially when we figure out how to block for him. Drew Brown solid. Was also very happy with kickoff coverage.

7. Tim Beck called perhaps the worst game of his career.

Can't disagree with any of it.

One of the greatest to play the game said it best. I give you QB Shane Falco, not be confused with another great QB Jonhny Utah:

Shane Falco: You're playing and you think everything is going fine. Then one thing goes wrong. And then another. And another. You try to fight back, but the harder you fight, the deeper you sink. Until you can't move... you can't breathe... because you're in over your head. Like quicksand.

 

[Saunders]

Stil amazed how many people want to lay this at the feet of Tim Beck.

Nebraska didn't go away from what it does well. They just stopped doing it well. They know they're better than this. But when another team punches them in the mouth, they don't get angry. They get confused. Then they press. They literally take a step back on defense. Their body language changes. They let McNeese State get into their heads, and that's AFTER a first half that should have been a wake up call. Playcalling counts, but in meltdown mode its just as easy to envision Cross getting stuffed up the middle, or an Ameer sweep getting sniffed out because we've already seen those happen. The play that didn't get called will always be more successul than the play that failed because......hindsight!

Meltdown mode is mental and teamwide, and its traced to head coaching on most teams.

Yup. Tommy was clearly pressing after the INT. Maybe sit him for a series and put in Fyfe, just to get TA calmed down.

 

[CheeseHusker]

I wrestled with the idea of having Fyfe relieve Tommy for a series.... but I couldn't get my head around it.

But I couldn't get my head around the fact about anything that was happening while watching this game. It was like a bad dream.

 

[Mavric]

Brian Christopherson ‏@HuskerExtraBC 7m
This is not the stat you'd expect to see this week, but the #Huskers have now won 10 in a row in games decided by a touchdown or less.

 

[Jason Sitoke]

What we learned today?

This kind of performance is unacceptable by Nebraska Cornhusker football standards. Plain & simple this was unacceptable. Sadly this kind of performance is becoming more of the norm...and that in and of itself is unacceptable.

I'll add more later...

We'll all be waiting anxiously in giddy anticipation.

 

[Jason Sitoke]

I learned that Nebraska's no huddle is super fast. Like so fast that you can get up and take a leak...and miss a lightning quick 3 and out.

 

[JJ Husker]

Learned that I have no idea what happened last week, this week, and that I have not one f'ing clue to expect from this team, against any opponent, ever. The more I watch Pelini teams, the less I know about them. Kinda thinking these what did we learn threads are a cruel joke. Nobody is really learning anything except to expect anything.

 

[sd'sker]

Yup. Tommy was clearly pressing after the INT. Maybe sit him for a series and put in Fyfe, just to get TA calmed down.

i disagree, although i respect you.

he had good stats. you keep him in there and tell him to get back in there and win the game. i still think the problem was the line. it is not the first time the offense made a mistake and the offense crumbled. you stick with your starter.

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

Today had to be a mentality thing, especially on the offensive line. Some of these guys came in to a MASH offensive line unit and played pretty well last year. Well, to those same guys, what happened this week? Did they think that every week was going to be like FAU?

Regardless, hopefully they get the idea that this was a wake up call; that they have to bring it every single game or pay.

Gregory coming back will add a wrinkle into our defense because he can line up as a LB. Go 4-2-5 and line Gregory and Anderson up at LB. If Santos and Banderas are in at LB, you might as well blitz them because they can't do jack in coverage.

 

[sd'sker]

Yup. Tommy was clearly pressing after the INT. Maybe sit him for a series and put in Fyfe, just to get TA calmed down.

i disagree, although i respect you.

he had good stats. you keep him in there and tell him to get back in there and win the game. i still think the problem was the line. it is not the first time the offense made a mistake and the offense crumbled. you stick with your starter. should be able to rely on the superior defense to pick up the slack and keep it up. this was a team effort and if our line play is better, this is another complete, great game from ta. just my imo.

 

[The Dude]

Today had to be a mentality thing, especially on the offensive line. Some of these guys came in to a MASH offensive line unit and played pretty well last year. Well, to those same guys, what happened this week? Did they think that every week was going to be like FAU?

Regardless, hopefully they get the idea that this was a wake up call; that they have to bring it every single game or pay.

Gregory coming back will add a wrinkle into our defense because he can line up as a LB. Go 4-2-5 and line Gregory and Anderson up at LB. If Santos and Banderas are in at LB, you might as well blitz them because they can't do jack in coverage.

I liked when we blitzed Gregory from the LB spot, but I wonder how much we do it now that we only have 2 viable DEs.

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

Today had to be a mentality thing, especially on the offensive line. Some of these guys came in to a MASH offensive line unit and played pretty well last year. Well, to those same guys, what happened this week? Did they think that every week was going to be like FAU?

Regardless, hopefully they get the idea that this was a wake up call; that they have to bring it every single game or pay.

Gregory coming back will add a wrinkle into our defense because he can line up as a LB. Go 4-2-5 and line Gregory and Anderson up at LB. If Santos and Banderas are in at LB, you might as well blitz them because they can't do jack in coverage.

I liked when we blitzed Gregory from the LB spot, but I wonder how much we do it now that we only have 2 viable DEs.

Use the 2 viable DEs. Let's just go full aggressive, play like we have nothing to lose. Instill some sort of attacking mentality and urgency in the defense.

 

[The Dude]

Today had to be a mentality thing, especially on the offensive line. Some of these guys came in to a MASH offensive line unit and played pretty well last year. Well, to those same guys, what happened this week? Did they think that every week was going to be like FAU?

Regardless, hopefully they get the idea that this was a wake up call; that they have to bring it every single game or pay.

Gregory coming back will add a wrinkle into our defense because he can line up as a LB. Go 4-2-5 and line Gregory and Anderson up at LB. If Santos and Banderas are in at LB, you might as well blitz them because they can't do jack in coverage.

I liked when we blitzed Gregory from the LB spot, but I wonder how much we do it now that we only have 2 viable DEs.

Use the 2 viable DEs. Let's just go full aggressive, play like we have nothing to lose. Instill some sort of attacking mentality and urgency in the defense.

Yeah, like I said earlier in the thread, it seems like Bo's passive defense is back. Cannot wrap my head around why he didn't learn something from getting aggressive last season. Instead of picking up where we left off, it seems like we took a step or two back.