What we learned today???

This will continue to happen, so long as we have a Defensive Coordinator playing Head Coach.

 
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First, last, and only important fact: four pieces of sopping toast would hold up better than our D-line. No penetration, no pressure, no nothing. They're eaten alive every week, and Bo's response is, "Don't panic. Stay the course." What course is that, Bo? This lovely little 'gap-eating' scheme you got going here works about as well as a slingshot without the sling.

Now let's be fair, this defense was vastly overrated coming into the year. The fact that Lance Thorell is on the field should be enough of an indicator. The talent is depleted down to nothing.

 
SPECIAL MESSAGE TO TIM BECK:

Taylor Martinez cannot run the speed option "effectively," so........STOP CALLING IT IF IT DOESN'T WORK!

SPECIAL MESSAGE TO BO & CARL PELINI:

You cannot call base defense Cover 2 all game long, especially if the opposing team is attacking the middle of your defense. You have to adjust....you even sometimes have to blitz.

 
zoogies said:
I missed most of the game, so I can't even begin to comprehend what happened.

We lost - huh?????????!?????

Taylor went 29-of-38 for 298 yards, 2 scores, and 0 INTS - huhhhhhhhhhh???!???

What the eff? No finger pointing from me yet, I'm not even upset or anything because I missed so much of the game and it feels kinda surreal.
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Turnovers - Rex fumbled at the goalline and Quincy fumbled as we moved the ball into the redzone.

Defense - with 9 minutes left and Nebraska down by 3, Northwestern went about 70 yards, draining about 8 minutes of clock, without throwing the ball once.

 
Foppa said:
That Bo is abysmal in November.

No Blackshirts>Blackshirts.

Playcalling/O-line is nothing but a fairytale that comes true every so often.

Consistency does not apply to this team.
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I differ with you in this. Bo's teams are quite consistent --- they are consistently under-prepared, consistently w/o focus or intensity, and consistently under-achieving. There have been a few exceptions where a Bo coached team is prepared and focused --- but those are indeed exceptions (again, MSU was one recently). But Bo is very consistent.

 
I learned that Northwestern averages 31 points per game. But they also give up 31 points per game.

I learned that we are no longer in the Big 12, where some teams are a gimme. We are in the Big 10, where every team is a challenge regardless of their record.

 
That the offensive line still needs help. That Beck can't adjust. Taylor had his best throwing day ever and Persia goes down and we lose?. Carl needs to adjust the D and stop over pursuing. That simple routes can hurt our D.

 
- Line needs to quit pulling, and play a hat on a hat. No more of this pulling, fancy crap. Barney - enjoy your new job this offseason, whatever cushy office job they hook you up with.

- Beck, LOL. No matter how much Northwestern kept selling out to the run on the early downs, and no matter how much Taylor was incredibly accurate today, Beck showed little to no faith in Taylor on early downs until the 4th quarter. When he FINALLY did, we moved the ball consistently. This was a HORRENDOUS Northwestern defense, and yet we struggled.

- STOP WITH THE FREAKIN' OPTION. Our line cannot block for it. Our QB and RB both struggle with understanding spacing. All around, WE SUCK AT RUNNING THE OPTION. Even more, if Beck is determined to run it, STOP WITH THE SHORT SIDE OPTION YOU FRANK SOLICH WANNABE. Good lord, I wanted to kill another kitten watching that BS.

- Going in even more, where is the Diamond? We torch Ohio State with this formation, and have rarely seen it since. Um, Beck, hello? Want to try it when we are struggling?

- Ron Brown needs a reality check about whether Rex is really Superman. That kid was beat up, and running with little explosion today. But still yet, we put him out there and ran consistently with him. We recruited those 3 RBs behind Rex for a reason so when another RB got worn down, we would go to another horse in the stable. When Rex was limping, and showing little burst, that should have been a hint to Coach Brown to get him some rest. Instead, we stuck with him. I love Rex as a player as much as anybody, but that game last week sucked the life out of him, and it showed today.

- Credit to Taylor. Kid played his a** off today and you won't hear me say a SINGLE word about his effort, or his passing today. He did everything in his power to keep us in it. Respect to him for that.

- Anyone notice who had the defensive playsheet? Last week the gameplan was tremendous, and the defense showed extreme effort thanks to Bo. But just a week later Bo's defense, that he gameplanned and set up, was completely overmatched. It's a reality that our defense lacks talent, especially in our front 7 - but there is only 1 person who overlooks EVERY offer that goes out, and plans this. The buck stops with Bo about how much talent we have, and how our defense performs. If this wasn't a wakeup call to Bo that he needs to go get some absolute studs (JUCO or otherwise) who can play day 1 next season, then he needs his head examined.

- Clock management at the end was terrible. In the end, because we didn't get the onside kick, it didn't matter. However, if we had, and we only have 17 seconds remaining because of Bo's mismanagement, then I would be absolutely LIVID. Still, it's an issue because it shouldn't happen regardless.

- Ciante, I would bench you for the rest of the year for your effort on that 4th down play. I understand playing your lane if it's the 1st quarter, but in the 4th quarter on 4th and short, you take that QBs a** out and force him to make a difficult pitch instead of standing there letting him cut inside of you. That was almost as bad as watching Joe Dailey run out of bounds against USM on the final play of the game down near the goal line with the game on the line.

- Tackling, anyone want to take this defense back to basics?

- Baker, damm nice game out of you. Been waiting for that for a long time.

Probably more I forgot, but oh well. Time to drink.

 
That Bo is a miserable, miserable motivator. How many more times will this happen, I wonder? Oh that's right - 2 or 3 times a year as long as he's coach. Throw in one more loss on average. Bo's a 4-loss coach.

 
Thorell cannot cover ANYONE. LBs out of position every time their QB took off running. Why couldn't Martinez run like that? Because their D plays fundamentally sound. Cassidy....all that guy ever does is stand around and watch the play. We're a mediocre team that will stay mediocre under Pelini. The defense was Horrible!!!! Rex needed a day off. Where's the touted Freshmen RBs we keep hearing about? I'm beginning to think maybe it wasn't just Watson who was a knucklehead. I'm seeing it out of the Pelinis pretty regularly now. Stay the course. Stay the course? What course? Losing to Northwestern? AT HOME? No course I want to be on. Thanks Bo and company!!!!

 
BigWillie said:
- Line needs to quit pulling, and play a hat on a hat. No more of this pulling, fancy crap. Barney - enjoy your new job this offseason, whatever cushy office job they hook you up with.

- Beck, LOL. No matter how much Northwestern kept selling out to the run on the early downs, and no matter how much Taylor was incredibly accurate today, Beck showed little to no faith in Taylor on early downs until the 4th quarter. When he FINALLY did, we moved the ball consistently. This was a HORRENDOUS Northwestern defense, and yet we struggled.

- STOP WITH THE FREAKIN' OPTION. Our line cannot block for it. Our QB and RB both struggle with understanding spacing. All around, WE SUCK AT RUNNING THE OPTION. Even more, if Beck is determined to run it, STOP WITH THE SHORT SIDE OPTION YOU FRANK SOLICH WANNABE. Good lord, I wanted to kill another kitten watching that BS.

- Going in even more, where is the Diamond? We torch Ohio State with this formation, and have rarely seen it since. Um, Beck, hello? Want to try it when we are struggling?

- Ron Brown needs a reality check about whether Rex is really Superman. That kid was beat up, and running with little explosion today. But still yet, we put him out there and ran consistently with him. We recruited those 3 RBs behind Rex for a reason so when another RB got worn down, we would go to another horse in the stable. When Rex was limping, and showing little burst, that should have been a hint to Coach Brown to get him some rest. Instead, we stuck with him. I love Rex as a player as much as anybody, but that game last week sucked the life out of him, and it showed today.

- Credit to Taylor. Kid played his a** off today and you won't hear me say a SINGLE word about his effort, or his passing today. He did everything in his power to keep us in it. Respect to him for that.

- Anyone notice who had the defensive playsheet? Last week the gameplan was tremendous, and the defense showed extreme effort thanks to Bo. But just a week later Bo's defense, that he gameplanned and set up, was completely overmatched. It's a reality that our defense lacks talent, especially in our front 7 - but there is only 1 person who overlooks EVERY offer that goes out, and plans this. The buck stops with Bo about how much talent we have, and how our defense performs. If this wasn't a wakeup call to Bo that he needs to go get some absolute studs (JUCO or otherwise) who can play day 1 next season, then he needs his head examined.

- Clock management at the end was terrible. In the end, because we didn't get the onside kick, it didn't matter. However, if we had, and we only have 17 seconds remaining because of Bo's mismanagement, then I would be absolutely LIVID. Still, it's an issue because it shouldn't happen regardless.

- Ciante, I would bench you for the rest of the year for your effort on that 4th down play. I understand playing your lane if it's the 1st quarter, but in the 4th quarter on 4th and short, you take that QBs a** out and force him to make a difficult pitch instead of standing there letting him cut inside of you. That was almost as bad as watching Joe Dailey run out of bounds against USM on the final play of the game down near the goal line with the game on the line.

- Tackling, anyone want to take this defense back to basics?

- Baker, damm nice game out of you. Been waiting for that for a long time.

Probably more I forgot, but oh well. Time to drink.
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Looks 100% on the money to me. Also agree.......another Beam on the rocks please.

 
^Kudos to BigWillie for some well-reasoned, no-BS talking points of what was bad today and where we need to improve. That's the reality of it and calling for anyone's head...just isn't productive, nor is it merited. But absolutely there are some things coaches will have to do differently. Cheers everyone and thanks Hercules for filling me in.

 
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