Lessons Learned 2015 Edition

[VectorVictor]

What lessons did you take away from the team this season? From what I saw:

-Not everyone bought in, and that is necessary for any coach to succeed. But when something happened to galvanize the team (like the Gerry ejection in this game), they play above themselves.

-Our staff wasn't as malleable and accommodating to the talent on hand as we originally were led to believe...but with the UCLA gameplan, there's hope they learned some lessons to use next season

-We have the talent on-hand to succeed next year. It may not be National Championship caliber, but it is more than sufficient to beat teams like Miami and UCLA, whose star-level talent makes our recruiting look like a vacuous black hole...at least on paper, anyway. That talent is more than enough to win the B1G West...and possibly even the B1G outright, depending.

Thoughts?

 

[Branno]

The buy in claim is bullsh#t, as it was the coaches that needed to buy in to what this team is. A running team that uses the pass on occasion. I thought they figured it out against MSU, but Iowa proved that was not the case.

Maybe that was the wake up call we needed, well that and winning convincingly against UCLA while running be ball 76% of the time.

 

[Hunter94]

agree, buy-in excuse doesn't have sh#t to do with piss poor play calling and game management......the coaches cost this team 3-4 wins.

UCLA couldn't stop the run, that was a known fact before the game.....Ozig and Cross plus TA ran well, Newby was worthless.

a short controlled passing game works for TA........we need overall more team speed, Gerry got f'd!

 

[Hujan]

The buy in claim is bullsh#t, as it was the coaches that needed to buy in to what this team is. A running team that uses the pass on occasion. I thought they figured it out against MSU, but Iowa proved that was not the case.

Maybe that was the wake up call we needed, well that and winning convincingly against UCLA while running be ball 76% of the time.

agree, buy-in excuse doesn't have sh#t to do with piss poor play calling and game management......the coaches cost this team 3-4 wins.

UCLA couldn't stop the run, that was a known fact before the game.....Ozig and Cross plus TA ran well, Newby was worthless.

a short controlled passing game works for TA........we need overall more team speed, Gerry got f'd!

Agreed.

 

[alwayshusking]

Coaches took a while to figure out what talent they had but they started to find it the last 4 games. 62 carries for 326 yards? That's NU football.

Excited to see what they can do going forward.

Say what you will, we looked outclassed vs UCLA with Bo at the helm.

 

[chamrocck]

Trying to look to the future...

I like when we run a stable of backs. Newby is fine in the situations he was given tonight but the ground game should have looked more like this during the rest of the season. Use our talented backs and keep them fresh. Use Tommy as a runner also.

Gerry despite his BS ejections played better late in the season and hopefully he gets this defensive scheme as we are going to need him next season.

OL played one of their best games tonight and we need much much more consistency with them next season.

The defense still has me worried. UCLA was moving the ball too easily in the 4th quarter and botched a snap and a FG. I didn't want them getting the ball back in the end. We need pass rushers who can get to the QB. Need skilled secondary players. Defense needs more depth and to create pressure and turnovers.

 

[Count 'Bility]

The buy in claim is bullsh#t, as it was the coaches that needed to buy in to what this team is. A running team that uses the pass on occasion. I thought they figured it out against MSU, but Iowa proved that was not the case.

Maybe that was the wake up call we needed, well that and winning convincingly against UCLA while running be ball 76% of the time.

ucla is one of the worst rush defenses in the nation and for whatever reason played with only 6-7 in the box all night. So you might wanna analyze the competition before jumping on the soap box and showin Langsdorf you told-you-so card. Its just the way i see it. But yes, this is how these guys wanna manage a game. We just happened to be in a matchup where we had that advantage to do so. This sh#t dont happen like that in the Big ten. Ucla played Pelini-esqu defense tonight. By god as my witness they were not gonna let tommy have that big flashy pass play. No way. Lol. So we better tailor the excitement some.
And dont call the buy in issue bullsh#t. It was real on many accounts and cited by several folks much more knowledgeable than myself. And ot was obvious to me. But obviously after that Purdue game there were some foots put down and some tough conversations had. And im callin out nate gerry cuz after that purdue game i was done with him. I was ready for him to never take another snap again. His effort and lack of give a damn was embarrasing. But whether he himself made the turnaround or there was another motivational factor in place, he made a 180 and has set a tone. And holy cow was he ballin tonight. He made me look like an a-hole. And i love it. He didnt just pack it in. He rallied and got back when everyone was coming down on him.

This doesnt absolve the questionable coaching decisions that took place. But a game is a compilation of 60 minutes and nearly 200 plays. And its won as a team and lost by the team. While you nitpick 2-3 times the coaches f'd us i could do the same in terms of the players. Team includes everyone. Coaches. Players. Trainers. Statiticians. Everyone.

 

[Count 'Bility]

Coaches took a while to figure out what talent they had but they started to find it the last 4 games. 62 carries for 326 yards? That's NU football.

Excited to see what they can do going forward.

Say what you will, we looked outclassed vs UCLA with Bo at the helm.

this. Im interested with tailored excitement to see what these guys can do with a spring and fall camp to be used to further develop and teach as opposed to just figuring out and experimenting with what they have. As well as a whole season on actual in game reactions and performances on tape.

 

[Mierin]

Count, the thing is, we played other teams with poor rush defenses and we didn't do this against them.

 

[TheSker]

Say what you will, we looked outclassed vs UCLA with Bo at the helm.

Broad point taken, but this UCLA team had injury and personnel issues, going .500 after a 4-0 start. The good news is Riley/Langsdorf didn't pull a "Purdue" with the game plan this time.

 

[Saunders]

The buy in claim is bullsh#t, as it was the coaches that needed to buy in to what this team is. A running team that uses the pass on occasion. I thought they figured it out against MSU, but Iowa proved that was not the case.

Maybe that was the wake up call we needed, well that and winning convincingly against UCLA while running be ball 76% of the time.

ucla is one of the worst rush defenses in the nation and for whatever reason played with only 6-7 in the box all night.

Uh, the broadcast guys literally took time to mention how UCLA was stacking the box with 8 guys and even used graphics to point it out....

 

[Saunders]

Count, the thing is, we played other teams with poor rush defenses and we didn't do this against them.

This. I'm excited because a W is much better than an L, but they stuck to the gameplan to grind it out and play keep away against a poor rush D. That gameplan during other games (Hi Purdue) gets us a few more W's at least, which in turn helps with recruiting.

 

[NU jumper alum]

The buy in claim is bullsh#t, as it was the coaches that needed to buy in to what this team is. A running team that uses the pass on occasion. I thought they figured it out against MSU, but Iowa proved that was not the case.

Maybe that was the wake up call we needed, well that and winning convincingly against UCLA while running be ball 76% of the time.

ucla is one of the worst rush defenses in the nation and for whatever reason played with only 6-7 in the box all night. So you might wanna analyze the competition before jumping on the soap box and showin Langsdorf you told-you-so card. Its just the way i see it. But yes, this is how these guys wanna manage a game. We just happened to be in a matchup where we had that advantage to do so. This sh#t dont happen like that in the Big ten. Ucla played Pelini-esqu defense tonight. By god as my witness they were not gonna let tommy have that big flashy pass play. No way. Lol. So we better tailor the excitement some. And dont call the buy in issue bullsh#t. It was real on many accounts and cited by several folks much more knowledgeable than myself. And ot was obvious to me. But obviously after that Purdue game there were some foots put down and some tough conversations had. And im callin out nate gerry cuz after that purdue game i was done with him. I was ready for him to never take another snap again. His effort and lack of give a damn was embarrasing. But whether he himself made the turnaround or there was another motivational factor in place, he made a 180 and has set a tone. And holy cow was he ballin tonight. He made me look like an a-hole. And i love it. He didnt just pack it in. He rallied and got back when everyone was cominng down on him.

This doesnt absolve the questionable coaching decisions that took place. But a game is a compilation of 60 minutes and nearly 200 plays. And its won as a team and lost by the team. While you nitpick 2-3 times the coaches f'd us i could do the same in terms of the players. Team includes everyone. Coaches. Players. Trainers. Statiticians. Everyone.

great post. Said most everything I was thinking as well. On the "buy-in" thing, didn't Gerry himself say after one of the games (Purdue?) a lot of the guys talked amongst themselves and decided they needed to buy in 100%? Their play changed in the last 4 games...

on the play calling crap that keeps being brought up even in the face of a very good game, I went through the 70's and 80's with this team and am here to tell you that TO ws questioned every bit as much as DL has been this year. "why is Osborne calling that play AGAIN when it hasn't worked at all today!" "Stop running up the middle!" "why can we only call three different plays! Try something different!" were all common refrains. Life was not always like the '94-'97 years when we just rolled everyone. I have screamed at the play calling just like the rest of you, but let's get some perspective here. We haven't totally agreed with any play calling throughout the years including TO. That is why we are fans. We want every single play to break for a first down or TD. That's not realistic. That is just fandom. DL will improve as he continues to get a feel for exactly what his team can/cannot do.

Lets just enjoy the win and look forward to the momentum we have created in the last part of the season.

 

[Vizsla1]

UCLA didn't deserve to be in a bowl game