Dave Feit: The Fallacy of ‘Close’

In the Deed the Glory said:
A season of close losses stemming from mental mistakes usually means they very good talent was coached poorly. 
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I agree with this 100%.  I would argue that at 3-9, we weren't "close" to anything other than maybe 4-8 or at best 5-7.  We were who we were.  A team that couldn't get out of it's own way every single time when we weren't playing a bad team.  

 
Is a team "close" when their offense is routinely killing drives from false starts and other unforced error type penalties?

Are they close when the head coach had for three straight seasons completely failed to realize how important it was to prioritize special teams as a critical part of the way the game is played in B1G West?

My answer is "no." Now the 2021 team was closer than the 2019 & 2020 teams, and the defensive improvements from the 2018 & 2019 campaigns was almost a total 180° reversal.

But the team as a whole wasn't really all that close to being a good team, IMO.

 
Last season was helpful for breaking the fallacy that the Huskers simply faced a talent gap.

We held our own against everyone else in the Big 10, never looking over-powered. Well, except for Illinois. 

Knowing we were "close" on talent should mean we are not multiple recruiting classes away from relevance. 

That leaves coaching and culture and some solid portal pick-ups.  Which may have been addressed this off-season. We'll see. 

Didn't read the article itself. I think most of us are already ahead of Feit's headline. 

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
That leaves coaching and culture and some solid portal pick-ups.  Which may have been addressed this off-season. We'll see.
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Exactly, and I think it has been addressed. *Edit: I'm referring to portal pick-ups here. I have no idea whether the five new coaches put a big dent in the other two issues.

What I'd really love to see this season is having a QB out there who can actually really scare a team with his arm so they have to scoot back into coverage and not just be blitzing/clogging up running lanes all the time.

There should be enough talent on offense this season to where I don't even really think the offensive scheme & philosophy matters. If there's better execution out there, there's enough talent to win 8-9 games (if special teams is fixed).

 
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Guy Chamberlin said:
Last season was helpful for breaking the fallacy that the Huskers simply faced a talent gap.

We held our own against everyone else in the Big 10, never looking over-powered. Well, except for Illinois. 

Knowing we were "close" on talent should mean we are not multiple recruiting classes away from relevance. 

That leaves coaching and culture and some solid portal pick-ups.  Which may have been addressed this off-season. We'll see. 

Didn't read the article itself. I think most of us are already ahead of Feit's headline. 
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Very well said, Guy.  I might only qualify the overall talent comparisons that the general level of talent is somewhat variable.  I tend to believe our RBs and receivers actually had more raw talent than most teams we’ve played.  I don’t mean we had the best at any spot but we have had more the enough to win 8-8 games.  But there have been positions like O line and QB where raw talent was below par. Adrian was, imo, not nearly as good as many gave him credit for.  Apparently, Frost couldn’t find a capable 2nd or 3rd string QB so he played a gimpy, hobbled and wounded AM.  The offense has not been very good in some respects. Raw stats don’t meet up with the ‘eye test’ imo.  
 

STs had kicker disasters, but NO EXCUSE can be given for coverage and prep issues.   Field position HURT both offense and defense and bears a good share of the blame.  That is 98% coaching and SF is absolutely the guilty party for all that.  There are plenty of athletes to have fielded ‘average’ STs.  It has not happened.  Only one reason - gross negligence!   This has been addressed seriously, we are told. Good coach on the field and better athletes will play and real practice time given.  A roster of 150 guys means there’s NO EXCUSE for bad STs.  Good kickers miss and a punter can b!^@h one now and then.  The other 85% of STs MUST be correct this fall. 
 

Chinander has not, yet, fielded a great defense but the eye test says he’s headed there. I’m excited to see the real honest to goodness Blackshirts back. This fall looks to be a 10-11 win defense, maybe. 
 

 
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