** 2023 Opponent Preview : Colorado (Game 2) **

[Undone]

I think the fear of being one-dimensional is fair for this year. However, I don’t think Rhule and Satterfield want to be one-dimensional in the long-run. NU needs better WR’s, and be smarter with the WR’s on the current roster for this year.  Yes, Sims needs to improve, but he also needs guys who he can throw to. 

Oh yeah, I'm only talking about this season, not on our into the future.

Where you really start circling the drain is when you get into the basic zip code of the 2020 - 2021 Nebraska offense with the passing game deficiencies you mention where you think all you can do is smash your QB at the other team. And of course, ShortSideOption addresses this, and we've been beating that dead horse for like two years on this board.    

 

[Undone]

I’ve got to side with the article on this one. Snake bit and same ole same ole is just a convenient way for it to make sense.

This is a new coaching staff and a whole bunch of new players. It’s premature to say they’ve picked up the mentality, psychology and mental mistakes from the past. 2 of the biggest mistakes were from a transfer, who as many have pointed out is prone to throwing ints. That is not a Nebraska mentality problem. No, it just looked the same and the result was the same but it is not the same….yet. 

Yeah I hear you. And I've also said for a really long time that I probably shouldn't focus very hard on what coaches say during pressers. It's probably their least favorite part of their job and half the time they probably just say whatever comes to mind to just fill the time and get out of there.

I don't expect Rhule to have told this team "guys, the number one hurdle you have is shirking off all of the unforced errors and problems that you had before." Not saying that at all. And totally agree - one game does not confirm a pattern.

 

[Scofrosghost]

Put Coleman and some of these other young receiver/ ATH out there. Not like our starters were getting open. Put some speed out there to stretch the d a little. Pound the rock and mix in some playaction. Get the ball in Irvin JR, Kemp, Fidone and Coleman’s hands. We have a real shot at winning this game. 

 

[runningblind]

I’ve got to side with the article on this one. Snake bit and same ole same ole is just a convenient way for it to make sense.

This is a new coaching staff and a whole bunch of new players. It’s premature to say they’ve picked up the mentality, psychology and mental mistakes from the past. 2 of the biggest mistakes were from a transfer, who as many have pointed out is prone to throwing ints. That is not a Nebraska mentality problem. No, it just looked the same and the result was the same but it is not the same….yet. 

I'm not saying it will become a trend, or is even guaranteed to happen again, but for one night it was the exact same thing and it just so happened to be game one.  I mean it was remarkable how much it felt the same.  Everyone felt it.  We can all say it's new, it's different, etc., but in the recesses of all of our minds, we all thought....it happened again.

That's all, just PTSD and mortal terror that we're cursed forever no matter what we do.  :lol:

 

[huskerfan702]

Either the sharp money is on Nebraska or the sportsbook wants to make the public think the sharps are on Nebraska. Colorado odds -120 still though 

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

NU vs CU is a big national story. The game itself, but mostly the insane money flowing into the betting sites.

I was toggling our three sportstalk radio stations yesterday -- two national and one local program -- and all three were talking about the NU/CU betting line at the same time. 

 

[Husker03]

What I can’t seem to understand is how it seem like 40% of our recruiting classes over the last four years were wide receivers. Then we brought in the wide receiver guru to coach them. How is our wide receiver room, so damn devoid of talent?

 

[Husker in WI]

What I can’t seem to understand is how it seem like 40% of our recruiting classes over the last four years were wide receivers. Then we brought in the wide receiver guru to coach them. How is our wide receiver room, so damn devoid of talent?

It's a bit skewed by taking a ton of receivers last year, many of whom are projects. I do expect we'll see some Coleman, Lloyd, and probably Doss at some point this year. But, it's a lot of bad recruiting to be honest. Technically transfers out are the biggest reason, but IMO non of the transfers outside of Alante Brown or maybe Marcus Fleming would be better than what we're rolling out now. 

2022

Janiran Bonner - moved to FB/TE

Decoldest Crawford - transfer

Victor Jones - transfer

Trey Palmer - left after one season

Marcus Washington - still here

IGC - left early in year one, torn ACL last week

2021

Kamonte Grimes - transfer

Latrell Neville - transfer

Shawn Hardy - transfer

Samori Toure - left after one season

Oliver Martin - out of eligibility

2020

Marcus Fleming - transfer

Zavier Betts - done with football

Alante Brown - transfer

Omar Manning - limited contributions

Will Nixon - transfer

2019

Wan'Dale Robinson - great for a bit then transfer

Darien Chase - transfer

Demaryion Houston - transfer

Jamie Nance - transfer

Kanawai Noa - played some, out of elgibility

I don't think it's revisionist history to say bad recruiting either - most of the "busts" were considered reaches at the time. 2 of the more talented guys having mental health concerns (Betts and Chase) doesn't help. 2020 was a good year for WR recruiting, otherwise it has been underwhelming and we don't have the impact transfer we've had the past 2 years. 2023 recruiting is a good start - it also has reaches, but Rhule at least has a track record of development - but it would have been really helpful to pull a legitimate P5 WR from the portal for the short term. They don't grow on trees though. And maybe the staff thought we had that with Betts/IGC who are no longer available.

 

[Toe]

I think what I'm really asking is whether Satterfield will be dynamic in-game. We'll know soon.

I still think Sims and Satterfield are mismatched. Sims is who he is, he's not going to magically transform into a different player any more than any other QB who's played for us in the last 20 years did. Can Satterfield adapt? If not, that should be a massive concern, because we're probably gonna be stuck with him for longer than Sims...

 

[Undone]

One more thing from that good ShortSideOption post:

Ok, so hang with me here, but Sims is pretty awful at making reads. Or maybe I should say going through his progressions, either way we need to have it be more 1 read and throw or run. RPOs will do the trick for that. Even further, many times your main read is the slot WR for RPOs who would be our current best WR Billy Kemp IV.

I'm trying to think of another team that does a lot of true RPO that also runs a lot of 12 man personnel. Anybody have an example?

Yeah, we can use one or both of the tight ends in the pass option. But when you've only got 2 wideouts and a team is playing those receivers tight (which I predict will happen tomorrow), you probably don't have much of a read for the pass. It's probably going to rarely be there.

I think that changes quite a bit when you've got two guys wide and then a slot receiver, though. But, I think we're kind of pigeon-holed for this year. You pick your poison:

1. Limit the possibility of INT's and sacks and just run a ton out of the heavy sets...but then you become somewhat one-dimensional.

2. Run more plays out of 11 man but risk just getting blitzed like crazy on pass plays and not having good run blocking on running plays.

For the CU game though, maybe we are just way more physical than they are with our offense. That was the preason thinking that probably put the original betting line where it was.

 

[BigRedBuster]

[No message]

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I wouldn't read too much into that.  It's probably just CU's version of "Buff Vision" testing out their video screens and entering the data to appear on the screen.

 

[RedDenver]

 

[admo]

Either the sharp money is on Nebraska or the sportsbook wants to make the public think the sharps are on Nebraska. Colorado odds -120 still though 

View attachment 20908

We will know more about sharps and their money runners later tonight and early morning.  

If the line doesn't change much it is what it is.  If it changes a full point or more, those prof bettors will tell who they lean on (i.e. putting 1000's on).  This is how they make their living (gambling) winning 55% of the time, or losing bets.  

I think this line will change before kickoff.  This game has Super Bowl anticipation and eagerness by the bettors.  However, that 2.5 number might be the number sharps want.  And then flood the bets and props.  Will wait and see.

 

[Red Five]

It's a bit skewed by taking a ton of receivers last year, many of whom are projects. I do expect we'll see some Coleman, Lloyd, and probably Doss at some point this year. But, it's a lot of bad recruiting to be honest. Technically transfers out are the biggest reason, but IMO non of the transfers outside of Alante Brown or maybe Marcus Fleming would be better than what we're rolling out now. 

2022

Janiran Bonner - moved to FB/TE

Decoldest Crawford - transfer

Victor Jones - transfer

Trey Palmer - left after one season

Marcus Washington - still here

IGC - left early in year one, torn ACL last week

2021

Kamonte Grimes - transfer

Latrell Neville - transfer

Shawn Hardy - transfer

Samori Toure - left after one season

Oliver Martin - out of eligibility

2020

Marcus Fleming - transfer

Zavier Betts - done with football

Alante Brown - transfer

Omar Manning - limited contributions

Will Nixon - transfer

2019

Wan'Dale Robinson - great for a bit then transfer

Darien Chase - transfer

Demaryion Houston - transfer

Jamie Nance - transfer

Kanawai Noa - played some, out of elgibility

I don't think it's revisionist history to say bad recruiting either - most of the "busts" were considered reaches at the time. 2 of the more talented guys having mental health concerns (Betts and Chase) doesn't help. 2020 was a good year for WR recruiting, otherwise it has been underwhelming and we don't have the impact transfer we've had the past 2 years. 2023 recruiting is a good start - it also has reaches, but Rhule at least has a track record of development - but it would have been really helpful to pull a legitimate P5 WR from the portal for the short term. They don't grow on trees though. And maybe the staff thought we had that with Betts/IGC who are no longer available.

Oh, this allows me to post one of my least favorite things. The Frost WR/TE high school recruiting chart.  If you want to know why we have no depth, this is why.  2018 players would be super seniors this year if they had redshirted and used their free Covid year.

Not counting the 2023 class, only 0 of 18 WRs remain at WR (Bonner is now a FB/TE hybrid)

Not counting the 2023 class, only 1 of 7 TEs remain at TE (Rollins and Tagaola moved to defense this spring).

HS WRs

2018 Andre Hunt - 0 games / 0 yards / kicked off

2018 Miles Jones - 1 game / 26 yards / transferred

2018 Justin McGriff - 0 games / 0 yards / transferred

2018 Dominick Watt - 0 games / 0 yards / never made to campus

2019 Wandale Robinson - 18 games / 1494 yards / transferred

2019 Darien Chase - 1 game / 13 yards / transferred

2019 Demariyon Houston - 0 games / 0 yards / transferred

2019 Jamie Nance - 0 games / 0 yards / transferred

2020 Zavier Betts - 18 games / 526 yards / quit twice

2020 Marcus Fleming - 1 game / 75 yards / transferred

2020 Alante Brown - 22 games / 279 yards / transferred

2020 Will Nixon - 1 game / 5 yards / transferred

2021 Latrell Nevell - 0 games / 0 yards / transferred

2021 Kamonte Grimes - 0 games / 0 yards / transferred

2021 Shawn Hardy - 0 games / 0 yards / transferred

2022 Janiran Bonner - 1 game / 0 yards

2022 Decoldest Crawford - 0 games / 0 yards / transferred

2022 Victor Jones - 0 games / 0 yards / transferred

HS TEs

2018 Katerion Legrone - 1 game / 8 yards / kicked off

2019 Chris Hickman - 5 games / 90 yards / called it a career

2021 Thomas Fidone - 1 game / 0 yards

2021 James Carnie - 2 games / 0 yards / transferred

2021 AJ Rollins -  7 games / 0 yards / moved to defense

2022 Chase Androff - 0 games / 0 yards / called it a career

2022 Brodie Tagaola - 0 games / 0 yards / moved to defense