You Are The Head Coach

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hskrfan4life said:
I mean... he did enough to win the game Saturday. We needed one stop. But yes it's AMart's fault.

We are a weird fan base.

Either way I keep him because it makes the most sense and he's the better out of the three.
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Having the field position they did with the TO and blocked punts and only come away with 10 pts in the first half is not near “enough”.  It really should have been 21-0 before Purdue knew they were playing a game on Saturday.  That’s besides the point though...did defense play well, he’ll no.  

The point is AM is a shell of himself from last yr, something is obviously off and needs to be addressed.  I question health if the other qbs but feel outside of bunch neither vedral or mccaffrey would do any worse and likely better.  Earlier in the yr I explained it away with poor line play, snaps, wr not open.  While not all of those have been fixed they have gotten better while AM’s worst game was on Saturday.

to address the question...I sit AM down and review tape from the the season 1:1.  I let him know going into the bye week I’m opening up the qb competition for the final 3 games best man wins....this is really between him and vedral to save mccaffrey rs. Best man wins with expectation that at start of next yr there will be another qb competition to open camp.  If he can’t handle that he’s free to leave.

 
hskrfan4life said:
I mean... he did enough to win the game Saturday. We needed one stop. But yes it's AMart's fault.
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I thought this was hypothetical, when did 2AM come into this? lol

That said,  2AM didn't lose the game on his own and I think he performed well at times. He did also have some ugly plays missing wide open receivers, throwing the ball below their feet, tentative running at times, and a terrible decisions to throw it into double coverage. Bottom line, he left points on the field that could have help win the game.

Go back a few decades and we saw Tommy Frazier get benched for less mistakes and I don't think it hurt his play or the team for doing so. Even Tommy himself was tweeting that it might be time for a QB change during the Purdue game.

 
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The defense did enough for us to win the game. Our offense didn’t capitalize on the opportunities that the defense gave them. I have been a Martinez defender the entire season but Vedral played better against Indiana than Martinez played against Purdue. And, without looking, I’d guess that Purdue has a worse defense than Indiana. Simply put, Martinez’s timing was off and he missed a few key throws. I think at least 3 throws went to a receiver’s feet, too. He has excellent potential but he’s got some mental blocks right now and I think he lost us the game, honestly. My understanding is that Vedral was dinged and not really available to play and Luke was sick and didn’t travel. So, I’m not sure what the coaches would have done under different circumstances. 

 
Going forward, if AM starts the Wisc game and is off, then time to sit him.  He's a big man now in the big leagues. He has to earn the position and we have to do all we can to win 2 of the next 3 games - which is a huge uphill battle. 

I might also say the same thing to Chin and his D.  Earn that blackshirt and the ability to coach those blackshirts.  This has been a total team fail.  AM has been off all year and the D has under performed esp in the critical situations. 

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While I'm of the opinion that our defense is our BIGGEST (far from only) problem, and just look at the defensive stats and rankings this season if you don't believe me, If I am the coach I am basically doing a QB by committee. As unpopular as that approach is, that is what I am doing at this point. I am benching Martinez (would have long ago) when he does not perform, and I am rolling with Vedral until he shows that he doesn't perform. At that point I am playing Mcaffrey in all of the allowed games to keep the RS. I may even continue to change QBs in different quarters of each remaining game, depending on how they are performing. 

That is what I would do given the situation we are in as a team and our record as well as our future. I have seen several teams do this before, and while it may be far from ideal, I have seen it lead to the point that you find your starter and your leader, which will only help the entire team. 

That said, when your defense ranks basically last in a lot of categories in a conference where the bottom feeders are just plain not good, well.....you have much bigger problems than your QB. 

 
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I implement several pages of Osborne's playbook. I Formation and Double Wing plays that we saw briefly against OSU, and more. ISO, FB Dive, Counter, Pitch, Belly, PA TE Seam/Out, QB Keep. Jet/Fly sweep hand-offs to J.D. and fakes off of that. Some spread formation, as well.  I make my game plan very simple - keep the ball away from Jonathan Taylor. Keep our worst in the conference defense OFF the field. This is done by 4 yards and a cloud of dust. Not 3. 4. 

Move the chains and shorten the game as much as humanly possible. Every snap is under 5 on the play-clock. During these two weeks of practice, harangue the line until they and coach Austin can't stand the sight of me. They will have very simple blocking assignments, but they will block until the whistle, or they WILL NOT PLAY. Get those 4 yards. Then line up and get them again. 

We will never beat Wisconsin going 5 wide, Chuck and Duck like we did last year. That puts WAY too much pressure on a freshman (now sophomore) QB. Grinding it out in the I makes life much easier for him, and on keepers, they can't have a spy on him like teams are doing now. He doesn't have to think. Hand the ball off, keep it, or look at 2 guys down field after play action, or take off. Easy.

I know one kink in my plan is Mills, who weighs in at a smallish 200 for a fullback. Hemphill is bigger, at 225, or you could get crazy and throw a big kid like Newsom out there to lead block.

Before anyone says I'm crazy, it's no crazier than trying to go 5 wide against them, or run zone read with 10/11 personnel against what the Badgers have up front. If I'm Scott Frost, I challenge my entire team to BE TOUGHER. Line up and fire out! Play football! Use every fiber of my being to get these kids to block, bring in old Pipelines, guys that want to play again with an N on their helmet, it hurts. Let them lay into the guys, and if they don't like it, TOO BAD. You play football for Nebraska. You are expected to run block! 

I tell Chinander to run a 4-6 and stop Taylor at all costs. Make Coan and Cephus beat us, but don't let them run all over us like last year. 

If we string some first downs together, maybe hit a play-action pass, I GUARANTEE you Memorial stadium will be rocking louder than it has in a decade. The kids will feed off of this, adrenaline will flow. Holes will open a little wider. Wandale, Ramihr, Mills, and Martinez will find running lanes. The defense will respond. 

We'll have a CHANCE.

 
Jeremy said:
I implement several pages of Osborne's playbook. I Formation and Double Wing plays that we saw briefly against OSU, and more. ISO, FB Dive, Counter, Pitch, Belly, PA TE Seam/Out, QB Keep. Jet/Fly sweep hand-offs to J.D. and fakes off of that. Some spread formation, as well.  I make my game plan very simple - keep the ball away from Jonathan Taylor. Keep our worst in the conference defense OFF the field. This is done by 4 yards and a cloud of dust. Not 3. 4. 

Move the chains and shorten the game as much as humanly possible. Every snap is under 5 on the play-clock. During these two weeks of practice, harangue the line until they and coach Austin can't stand the sight of me. They will have very simple blocking assignments, but they will block until the whistle, or they WILL NOT PLAY. Get those 4 yards. Then line up and get them again. 

We will never beat Wisconsin going 5 wide, Chuck and Duck like we did last year. That puts WAY too much pressure on a freshman (now sophomore) QB. Grinding it out in the I makes life much easier for him, and on keepers, they can't have a spy on him like teams are doing now. He doesn't have to think. Hand the ball off, keep it, or look at 2 guys down field after play action, or take off. Easy.

I know one kink in my plan is Mills, who weighs in at a smallish 200 for a fullback. Hemphill is bigger, at 225, or you could get crazy and throw a big kid like Newsom out there to lead block.

Before anyone says I'm crazy, it's no crazier than trying to go 5 wide against them, or run zone read with 10/11 personnel against what the Badgers have up front. If I'm Scott Frost, I challenge my entire team to BE TOUGHER. Line up and fire out! Play football! Use every fiber of my being to get these kids to block, bring in old Pipelines, guys that want to play again with an N on their helmet, it hurts. Let them lay into the guys, and if they don't like it, TOO BAD. You play football for Nebraska. You are expected to run block! 

I tell Chinander to run a 4-6 and stop Taylor at all costs. Make Coan and Cephus beat us, but don't let them run all over us like last year. 

If we string some first downs together, maybe hit a play-action pass, I GUARANTEE you Memorial stadium will be rocking louder than it has in a decade. The kids will feed off of this, adrenaline will flow. Holes will open a little wider. Wandale, Ramihr, Mills, and Martinez will find running lanes. The defense will respond. 

We'll have a CHANCE.
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It kind of is though.. How is running right at their front with our oline and lack of FB smarter than spreading them out and making them run. People are reading a lot into one successful drive against OSU, there's a reason we haven't made it a big part of our plans since then. It's a changeup, throw it a lot and its gonna get crushed.

 
Less drop back game.  More RPOs with Robinson and Spiels on the edges.  Get McCaffery, Robinson, Spiels on the field all at the same time with Martinez.  Get creative with the play calling, not predictable.

Consider reaching out to some of these long time NFL guys.  You coached under Mark Helfrich and Chip Kelly.  Reach out to those guys.

You played for Bill Freaking Parcells and played under Bill Freaking Belichick.  Call in some connections with those guys.

You can't figure everything out on your own.  Sometimes, you need a little help.

 
If I were the head coach, I’d hire Carl Pelini as my DC and have an intern go mule me a kilo of pure Colombian back to Lincoln to celebrate. 
 

Next, I’d hire Marvin Sanders as my Defensive Backs coach, and make sure the Cornhusker cheerleaders were at the airport to meet/greet him. 
 

I’d then get Frank back as OC and celebrate with him at the Elk’s club, Devaney-style.

At this point, I’d either be prematurely heralded as the second coming of the Bobfather, or already terminated before the season began, take your pick. 

 
Husker in WI said:
It kind of is though.. How is running right at their front with our oline and lack of FB smarter than spreading them out and making them run. People are reading a lot into one successful drive against OSU, there's a reason we haven't made it a big part of our plans since then. It's a changeup, throw it a lot and its gonna get crushed.
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I absolutely see what you're saying, but the straight-ahead blocking out of the I is different, simpler, than trying to reach/pull/zone block while reading the defense. We're getting pushed around thinking too much with the ZR. In the I, they Line up, figure out who their guy is, and block him until the whistle. It may not be the best drive blocking in the world, but at least we'll get hats on hats.

So many times these two seasons, our backs have had to break tackles from unblocked defenders at the LOS because their nickelback/safety knows it's a run at the snap and comes up unblocked and gums up the works. 

Three point stance, fire out, and block these guys old school. There is NO WAY we can run on them out of our pass-blocking two-point stance, 10/11 personnel sets, I hope you agree with me on that.

 
Jeremy said:
I absolutely see what you're saying, but the straight-ahead blocking out of the I is different, simpler, than trying to reach/pull/zone block while reading the defense. We're getting pushed around thinking too much with the ZR. In the I, they Line up, figure out who their guy is, and block him until the whistle. It may not be the best drive blocking in the world, but at least we'll get hats on hats.

So many times these two seasons, our backs have had to break tackles from unblocked defenders at the LOS because their nickelback/safety knows it's a run at the snap and comes up unblocked and gums up the works. 

Three point stance, fire out, and block these guys old school. There is NO WAY we can run on them out of our pass-blocking two-point stance, 10/11 personnel sets, I hope you agree with me on that.
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I do. But we threw for 400+ on them last year. I get that Martinez has been off and the receivers inconsistent, but I still think our best shot is spreading them out. I don't really buy their secondary yet, I am scared of the LBs though.

 
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