What did we learn? (The Illinois edition, sponsored by Stickum brand adhesive)

teachercd said:
Shoot 75 yards on the first drive...224 the rest of the night.  That is pretty impressive.
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The defense did a great job of keeping NU in the game, while the offense was bumbling around with turnovers in the first 3 quarters.

The game was very similar to the Purdue game last year, but last year, the defense kept on making mistakes and penalties which extended Purdue drives and didn't allow NU to fully come back.  The D made so many timely stops last night.

 
mwj98 said:
I learned that my heart can't take first quarters like the one last night.

I re-watched the game and didn't have a panic attack after knowing the outcome prior to re-watching. 

I am a head case when it comes to the huskers

This team has heart and I am proud of them for pulling this one out.
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I was proud of how they maintained their composure when everything was going wrong. They know they have a bunch of guys who can get the job done and it shows. Our backups came in for injured players and did a great job. Martinez did what we all know he's capable of doing and opened up the field for the other guys.

 
What did I learn?

I learned my game watching demeanor is slowly returning to the years in which I was not numbed by losing and incompetence...my vocabulary is becoming sailorish, my pacing has picked up, my hand gesturing towards the tv is more demonstrative...all these things are good as I learned I am once again returning to a time where a Husker game has a complete effect on my mood for the day/evening...wife may hate it but I LOVE IT!

 
ColoradoHusk said:
Noa was a slot receiver for Cal.  He's being asked to play an outside receiver for NU.  It's a completely different skill set.  It's rare to have a guy like Spielman who can make that transition easily.  Noa doesn't have the speed or the strength that Stan had.  Stan and Spielman are almost built like RB's, and have the strength to make catches downfield.  Noa's drop of a perfectly placed pass by Adrian was frustrating and was a huge play at the time.

I am not sure what Mills' deal is.  I didn't like the outside zone runs called for him in the first quarter (after Mo got dinged up).  The fumbling is a huge issue.
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I understand the difference in where he is playing for NEB vs CAL, I guess my question is why?  He was a slot (or F) receiver at CAL vs the X or Z (depending on the personnel set) at Nebraska. He’s not playing the X or Z receiver well, so we need to do something different with him. He’s unable to make space or create any separation in fly routes or deep slants. Some of it is his strength and some of it is being unfamiliar with the X. Get Chase or Warner out there to play the X and let Noa play the slot where he thrives. We could also let Williams and McQuitty take those same X/Z spots. If we rotated JD, Wan’Dale and Noa at the slot, giving them a few breaks and keeping them fresh, we’d wear down the middle of the field more and create some opportunities for those wheel routes out of the slot, or the deep balls out of the X and Z for a guy like Warner. JD plays the Z extremely well, so we could keep him there more routinely as well. We don’t have a true X receiver. The other option is to run more two TE sets. It’s really interesting to watch how effective they’ve been in the 02 and 12 personnel sets. Having those large TE’s on the field at the same time has had a huge impact. If we’re going to beat OSU, they’re going to need to use those packages more. They were super effective last night and in the last game as well.

 
What I learned is

(1) we can win games if Adrian Martinez plays four quarters of football

(2) our center needs to learn how to snap the ball. Marinez is now doing a little jump every time in anticipation of a high snap, which throws off his rhythm and takes up time needed for him to scan the field

(3) Robinson is really special...I am impressed.

(4) we continue to commit undisciplined penalties at the worst times that cost us points. 11 penalties for 119 yards is something that would be impossible to overcome if we played a good team

(5) our play calling is greatly affected by the fact that we do not have a kicking game what so ever

(6) we had way too many turnovers

(7) The zebras bailed us out a couple of times

(8) we are a few years from being able to compete with likes of Wisconsin and Ohio state. They will both destroy us if we played like we did in this game

 
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