McCaffrey's 1st Start

Husker in WI said:
Frost said they got conservative and basically changed the gameplan, and that almost cost us the game. I do think Penn State's defense is actually good, but we can't just run it and let them tee of on the QB when he drops back.
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Yeah you could tell that Penn St. had pretty much figured out what they needed to do in the second half - commit to stopping the run and play tight coverage on the outside to force Luke to make some elite college throws. Nebraska couldn't do much about the latter and it showed on the scoreboard.

That said, there were opportunities to make plays regardless of what Penn St. was doing, but little things across the table stopped Nebraska cold.

 
Enhance said:
Yeah you could tell that Penn St. had pretty much figured out what they needed to do in the second half - commit to stopping the run and play tight coverage on the outside to force Luke to make some elite college throws. Nebraska couldn't do much about the latter and it showed on the scoreboard.

That said, there were opportunities to make plays regardless of what Penn St. was doing, but little things across the table stopped Nebraska cold.
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For sure - that facemask tackle stopping a long Wan'Dale TD was a huge play. And on the INT the play design was great, just couldn't get a clean throw out.

 
TheSker said:
The transition from Riley and a bad first recruiting class by Frost are hurting us this season.  Those would be the upperclassmen.

We currently have the following numbers of starters or significant playing time at the following spots who are either freshmen or redshirt freshmen 

2 OL

QB

4 receivers

2 RB

And Wandale is a SO
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Winner

 
TheSker said:
The more of them on the field at the same time, the higher the chance of things going wrong on any play....like the play with Alante and Luke.
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Was this the play where the WR looked like he was faking a jet sweep and ran into the mesh point between Luke and the RB?

I'm guessing the WR (Alante?) was running the wrong play?

There was another one where it looked like the RB ran into the QB at the mesh point.  

Those two plays were frustrating.

 
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BigRedBuster said:
This was frustrating because this sure does seem like Frost's personality.  
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TO used to do the same thing and it drove me crazy.  Just going too conservative and basically giving the other team the ball right back thus keeping them in the game in the 2nd half.  Frost/Lubick definitely guilty of the same against Penn St. 

Hoping youth has a lot to do with some of the play calls but at the same time I think a lot of it still falls squarely on the coaches shoulders.

 
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BigRedBuster said:
Was this the play where the WR looked like he was faking a jet sweep and ran into the mesh point between Luke and the RB?

I'm guessing the WR (Alante?) was running the wrong play?

There was another one where it looked like the RB ran into the QB at the mesh point.  

Those two plays were frustrating.
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There were some frustrating timing and mesh point issues - which shouldn't be there since "we've had more practices without a game then any team in history" (per Scott Frost).

One possible cause is lack of reps in practice with McCaffrey in practice. Yes, I already know he was splitting reps throughout fall - but hopefully with him being the clear cut guy going into this week he will be able to get more than 1 (or 2) reps with the plays implemented in the game plan. The result should be better mesh points and timing.  

 
Positives:

  • Offense moved with more tempo
  • Ball came out quicker/more decisively (though that's not always a good thing; you can be decisively wrong)
  • Made some nice creative, out-of-structure plays
  • Obviously a special athlete/runner (thinking about that third-down run on the first drive)
  • Intangibly, the team seemed energized with him in the game

Negatives:

  • Missed several reads in the passing game (including the last third down when he had two crossers wide-open underneath)
  • Has to understand game situation and just take the sack on the interception
  • Should have had 1-2 other picks if PSU's defenders could catch and was lucky the ball he fumbled bounced out of bounds
  • Does not have an arm to throw downfield

It was a freshman's first start against a good defense, so not trying to be too critical and I think we're going to learn a lot more about how good he actually is this upcoming week. That being said, I was not really impressed by this game and he needs to be a lot better moving forward if he wants to be the quarterback of the future. The quarterback McCaffrey was Saturday seems like the quarterback you start if you want to be K-State: tough, ball control guy who can hurt you with his feet and creativity but is a negative in the passing game. I still think Martinez has significantly more arm talent, and we need a guy who can really throw if we are going to unlock the "Frost offense" that we were sold when he was hired and that all these talented receivers are coming to play in. Frost clearly did not trust Luke in the second half (correctly; the times he did let him throw were ugly) and that shut down our offense way more than any of the "playcalling" or "taking the foot off the gas" people are complaining about.

Again, not trying to roast a freshman making his first start and hopefully he improves against Illinois, but I do think that 1) getting the win is making people pave over some pretty bad play, and 2) there is a lot of partisanship going on here and that the "Start Luke" camp would be losing their minds right now if Martinez had done half of what McCaffrey did Saturday.

 
bugeater17 said:
There were some frustrating timing and mesh point issues - which shouldn't be there since "we've had more practices without a game then any team in history" (per Scott Frost).

One possible cause is lack of reps in practice with McCaffrey in practice. Yes, I already know he was splitting reps throughout fall - but hopefully with him being the clear cut guy going into this week he will be able to get more than 1 (or 2) reps with the plays implemented in the game plan. The result should be better mesh points and timing.  
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OK....with the two plays I mentioned.  Can you really see a way they were Luke's fault?  1)  the WR runs into the mesh point, obviously someone was running the wrong play.  The QB and RB were running one play and the WR was running something else.  2)    Luke gets the snap, turns to do what looks like a Zone Read and the RB runs into him.

I'm not a really great Xs and Os guy.  So, I'm honestly asking.  

 
J-MAGIC said:
Again, not trying to roast a freshman making his first start and hopefully he improves against Illinois, but I do think that 1) getting the win is making people pave over some pretty bad play, and 2) there is a lot of partisanship going on here and that the "Start Luke" camp would be losing their minds right now if Martinez had done half of what McCaffrey did Saturday.
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Totally agree here - I'm not calling for them to switch back to AM, let's see where this goes. But to me the step forward was winning,  I didn't see a lot of change at QB specifically. Fans are seeing what they want to see with their preferred option, and intentionally not seeing the good stuff from their non-preferred option. 

 
Husker in WI said:
Totally agree here - I'm not calling for them to switch back to AM, let's see where this goes. But to me the step forward was winning,  I didn't see a lot of change at QB specifically. Fans are seeing what they want to see with their preferred option, and intentionally not seeing the good stuff from their non-preferred option. 
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FYI...it's possible to not be in either camp and that's where I'm at.  I wanted Luke to start this past week.  We got the win and I'm very happy for that.  However, I'll support whomever Frost decides to start or play this week.  I see good things each QB does and some bad things each QB does.  It's possible Luke improves greatly now that he has one start under his belt and doesn't  have the first game nerves like he claimed he did.  It's also possible that Adrian sitting one week allowed him to step back and learn some things.  

I think we win this week no matter who starts.  I just hope whomever it is, is well prepared to kick Iowas a$$ the next week.  I don't think the talent on the defense the Huskers will face will be anywhere close these next two weeks to what they saw on Saturday.  Yes, PSU's season is in the dumps and they have major issues.  BUT...they've recruited very well and they have very talented players on that defense that we won't see again soon.

 
Enhance said:
Yeah you could tell that Penn St. had pretty much figured out what they needed to do in the second half - commit to stopping the run and play tight coverage on the outside to force Luke to make some elite college throws. Nebraska couldn't do much about the latter and it showed on the scoreboard.

That said, there were opportunities to make plays regardless of what Penn St. was doing, but little things across the table stopped Nebraska cold.
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I don't think we will see much different the rest of the season unless we can prove we can open things up. NW/Penn St both realized they don't have to worry about anything happening past 10 yards. We need a vertical threat ASAP.

 
J-MAGIC said:
Positives:

  • Offense moved with more tempo
  • Ball came out quicker/more decisively (though that's not always a good thing; you can be decisively wrong)
  • Made some nice creative, out-of-structure plays
  • Obviously a special athlete/runner (thinking about that third-down run on the first drive)
  • Intangibly, the team seemed energized with him in the game

Negatives:

  • Missed several reads in the passing game (including the last third down when he had two crossers wide-open underneath)
  • Has to understand game situation and just take the sack on the interception
  • Should have had 1-2 other picks if PSU's defenders could catch and was lucky the ball he fumbled bounced out of bounds
  • Does not have an arm to throw downfield

It was a freshman's first start against a good defense, so not trying to be too critical and I think we're going to learn a lot more about how good he actually is this upcoming week. That being said, I was not really impressed by this game and he needs to be a lot better moving forward if he wants to be the quarterback of the future. The quarterback McCaffrey was Saturday seems like the quarterback you start if you want to be K-State: tough, ball control guy who can hurt you with his feet and creativity but is a negative in the passing game. I still think Martinez has significantly more arm talent, and we need a guy who can really throw if we are going to unlock the "Frost offense" that we were sold when he was hired and that all these talented receivers are coming to play in. Frost clearly did not trust Luke in the second half (correctly; the times he did let him throw were ugly) and that shut down our offense way more than any of the "playcalling" or "taking the foot off the gas" people are complaining about.

Again, not trying to roast a freshman making his first start and hopefully he improves against Illinois, but I do think that 1) getting the win is making people pave over some pretty bad play, and 2) there is a lot of partisanship going on here and that the "Start Luke" camp would be losing their minds right now if Martinez had done half of what McCaffrey did Saturday.
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All valid... I feel like context is key here tho.  Its not like AM is a fellow freshman and we don't quite know what we have.  The fact of the matter is, 2AM doing half of what Luke did is EXACTLY what he did against northwestern and exactly what he did for the majority of last year.  If these 2 had similar experience, and age, I'd fully agree with you that by no means was Luke's performance reassuring, if anything, there are more concerns particularly around our ability to pass.  That being said, he's being compared to a guy who has had more than his fair share of opportunities to solidify the QB job and he didn't get it done.  

While I agree 2AM has a much better arm, something is off with the guy either in his ability to go through progressions or just a lack of mental confidence he can lead a receiver open.  While I want more down field passes from Luke, I still would make the argument the offense just seems to have more of an edge with him out there compared to 2AM.

Old adage still rings true, you dont have 2 starting QBs in a qb battle, typically you have 2 back ups that has major flaws preventing one of them from being the clear cut winner.  Might not be pretty but i'll take the offense with Luke, for another week, over reverting back to an offense that looks more disjointed, slower, and one that has too weird of an obsessions moving the ball sideways instead of north and south like we've seen for 2.5 years now under 2AM

 
gossamorharpy said:
All valid... I feel like context is key here tho.  Its not like AM is a fellow freshman and we don't quite know what we have.  The fact of the matter is, 2AM doing half of what Luke did is EXACTLY what he did against northwestern and exactly what he did for the majority of last year.  If these 2 had similar experience, and age, I'd fully agree with you that by no means was Luke's performance reassuring, if anything, there are more concerns particularly around our ability to pass.  That being said, he's being compared to a guy who has had more than his fair share of opportunities to solidify the QB job and he didn't get it done.  

While I agree 2AM has a much better arm, something is off with the guy either in his ability to go through progressions or just a lack of mental confidence he can lead a receiver open.  While I want more down field passes from Luke, I still would make the argument the offense just seems to have more of an edge with him out there compared to 2AM.

Old adage still rings true, you dont have 2 starting QBs in a qb battle, typically you have 2 back ups that has major flaws preventing one of them from being the clear cut winner.  Might not be pretty but i'll take the offense with Luke, for another week, over reverting back to an offense that looks more disjointed, slower, and one that has too weird of an obsessions moving the ball sideways instead of north and south like we've seen for 2.5 years now under 2AM
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I agree; I think Luke showed more than enough to warrant further starts to see if he can improve. My only point was that Saturday was not a good performance by him and pretending otherwise is kind of silly. It's very possible (even probable) this stuff I'm talking about goes away with experience. I also think with the offensive complaints and quarterback play people are forgetting some context to the defenses we've played to open the season; we've played the  No. 7, No. 5 and No. 23 defenses in the country by SP+ so far. We finish playing the No. 73 (Illinois), No. 3 (Iowa), No. 57 (Purdue) and No. 85 (Minnesota) defenses. Our offense is ranked 29th right now by SP+. A lot of these "offensive issues" people are talking about will go away when we ... stop playing awesome defenses.

 
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J-MAGIC said:
I agree; I think Luke showed more than enough to warrant further starts to see if he can improve. My only point was that Saturday was not a good performance by him and pretending otherwise is kind of silly. It's very possible (even probable) this stuff I'm talking about goes away with experience. I also think with the offensive complaints and quarterback play people are forgetting some context to the defenses we've played to open the season; we've played the  No. 7, No. 5 and No. 23 defenses in the country by SP+ so far. We finish playing the No. 73 (Illinois), No. 3 (Iowa), No. 57 (Purdue) and No. 85 (Minnesota) defenses. Our offense is ranked 29th right now by SP+. A lot of these "offensive issues" people are talking about will go away when we ... stop playing awesome defenses.
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I totally agree with looking at the defenses we've played.  The Iowa defense at #3 concerns me simply because I really want to kick their a$$.  Hope our defense comes to play that day.

One area that I haven't seen mentioned that I saw big improvement in with Luke, he actually could throw an accurate swing pass or screen.  Heck, he can even do it with is left hand.   :blink:

If we can go against a less talented defense so our O line can have more success...giving him more time to find receivers down field...I could see this offense opening up quite a bit over the next 4 games.

 
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