Nebraska is the best team in the North
- Thread starter 808Husker in KCMO
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Husker Runner
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carlfense
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3rd and long
New member
Meredith, what position is he, I assume a DE? Boy as the season gets going we realize how much we miss having the World Herald out here. Just really not up to speed.
Second question. Receivers. I really thought going in we would have a difficult time replacing Peteson and Swift. Anyone stepping up a filling those shoes? Sure appreciate the info.
Husker_x
New member
Curenski Gyllien is developing into a legitimate deep threat. Chris Brooks has looked good as well. I don't think we have the ace in the hole like Swift was last year, but we do have a lot of guys who are playing well enough to balance it out. Niles Paul has had one really good game and a few mediocre ones, but he's got the tools to be a player for us going forward.
knapplc
Active member
No problem. I'm happy to help, and I'm sure others will chime in as they have time.
Meredith is a redshirt Freshman listed at #2 behind Barry Turner at DE. He's looked good in limited duty, with a hi-rev motor and aggressive pursuit. The future looks bright with Meredith at DE.
Receivers are a tough group to diagnose. We entered Fall camp with 15 WR on the roster. Menelik Holt and Niles Paul are listed at #1 at X and Y, respectively, but we've put a LOT of guys out there. Nine different receivers have caught passes so far, as well as three RBs and three or four TEs. We're spreading the ball around a LOT, and that's good.
Curenski Gilleylen is looking good at WR. He's listed at #2 at X behind Holt, but he's caught eight passes and leads the team in yards (255, or one quarter of our receiving yards). He's fast and has shown decent hands.
The biggest problem, though, is drops. We had several drops in every game, and you just can't have that. Someone needs to come forward and make that their job, and one of the ways they'll do it is by not dropping the ball. Holt, Paul and Gilleylen have all had bad drops.
Chris Brooks had a good game against ULL, and may be trying to take away one of those starting spots from Paul/Holt. I hope that whoever gets the job during conference play works their butt off to keep it.
Husker_x
New member
The wonderful thing about having Curenski on the field is that he stretches it simply by being there. He's had several balls thrown down to him that he didn't catch thanks to holds or overthrows. It's been awhile since Nebraska had a guy who made the secondary play honest.No problem. I'm happy to help, and I'm sure others will chime in as they have time.
Meredith is a redshirt Freshman listed at #2 behind Barry Turner at DE. He's looked good in limited duty, with a hi-rev motor and aggressive pursuit. The future looks bright with Meredith at DE.
Receivers are a tough group to diagnose. We entered Fall camp with 15 WR on the roster. Menelik Holt and Niles Paul are listed at #1 at X and Y, respectively, but we've put a LOT of guys out there. Nine different receivers have caught passes so far, as well as three RBs and three or four TEs. We're spreading the ball around a LOT, and that's good.
Curenski Gilleylen is looking good at WR. He's listed at #2 at X behind Holt, but he's caught eight passes and leads the team in yards (255, or one quarter of our receiving yards). He's fast and has shown decent hands.
The biggest problem, though, is drops. We had several drops in every game, and you just can't have that. Someone needs to come forward and make that their job, and one of the ways they'll do it is by not dropping the ball. Holt, Paul and Gilleylen have all had bad drops.
Chris Brooks had a good game against ULL, and may be trying to take away one of those starting spots from Paul/Holt. I hope that whoever gets the job during conference play works their butt off to keep it.
knapplc
Active member
Absolutely. If they don't scheme for him he's a home run threat every single play with that speed he has. Scout listed him at 4.53/40, but his "football speed" is pretty darned quick. He's presented a challenge for every defense he's faced simply because of that.
He's also made a couple of tough catches in traffic, making me think he's really beginning to click. Good speed and good hands spell bad things for opposing secondaries. And the way the line is blocking right now, including at VT, Lee has all day to throw back there (with exceptions, of course).
Haha. I can relate to Michael's post. Living and breathing VT football I have gotten immune to hearing that we are overrated year in and year out. When we do beat top 20 teams those teams are overrated as well and that's the reason why we won the game. As frustrated as I can get with our offense, however, I always come to the conclusion that I enjoy winning 10+ games a year. As most fans I would love to see an offense that would blow people away, but that is not how Beamer operates. Every message board in the ACC talks about how "lucky" we are and that they lost because they shot themselves in the foot (I'm not counting the game against the Huskers this year as one of those - you did outplay us and we got lucky). Every team in the ACC is better than VT if you believe the fans. As you all know, we tend to make great QBs struggle, and last time I saw a team dominate us at Lane like the Huskers did was the 2006 Georgia Tech with Calvin Johnson at WR and Miami in 2005. The Husker team that had us for 58 minutes is really strong. I can't wait to see the Husker D against some of the Big 12 offenses. I know you would have liked to beat us 10 days ago, but had you beaten us the opposing fans would have said VT was overrated no matter what.
Enhance
Administrator
Definitely. I have really been impressed with the way Curenski has been playing. He seems to be Lee's favorite deep threat. He has made a lot of unbelievable catches, and I was really impressed with the way he held onto that ball he caught inside the 15 yard line last week after that vicious hit he took.
3rd and long
New member
Thats good to know. It was so reassuring last year, you knew if Ganz got the ball close to Peterson or Swift, they would hang on to it. Nothing more demoralizing to an offense to have everyone execute their asssignment and then have a receiver drop a routine or fairly routine ball.
And having that deep threat sure opens up the underneath routes. Thanks again for the info.
And having that deep threat sure opens up the underneath routes. Thanks again for the info.
shyndy
New member
This is just because the majority of people are so offense oriented that they just can't understand a good team not having a top 25 offense. The other thing about your guys offense, I think people put too much emphasis on stats. When you are working with short fields alot as VT does bc of special teams and defense, your offensive stats stagnate.
The ridiculousness of your proposition would seem to indicate I'm overhyping the Illini and under-respecting VT. But of course, your apparent proposition is just as ridiculous: that the Illini are a talentless, horrible team that have no shot at a bowl game, and VT is a national title contender.
The reality of course lies somewhere in between. Illinois is not a good as Miami this year, but of course, we didn't lose to them. Beat them pretty handily in fact. Virginia Tech is a perennially overrated team. Don't get me wrong, I love em. Beamer ball rocks. But they are not top 5, and if they were, that says more about the lack of quality teams this year than the strength of their team.
Don't forget how badly they got spanked by Alabama. Miami, meanwhile, is a young team that didn't play its best, and at the same time, was never a top 10 team anyway. 3 weeks ago, people thought the FSU/Miami game would be a snoozer. But a couple of decent but not great wins later they're an unstoppable powerhouse? Preseason rankings can be way off, but sportswriters clearly got a case of starstruck love looking at all their playmakers, and forgetting that they're a) young and B) don't have a particularly good defense.
On the flip side, Mizzou hasn't played anyone nearly as good as Nebraska, but we have played competition that has been good enough to test us, and that's worth something. NU fans wanting to dismiss us will naturally say that being tested shows Mizzou is weak. I think a more balanced opinion of someone who watched the games sees a young, imperfect team that's capable of both bad things and great things. If the former shows up, you'll beat us. If the latter shows up, I think we run away with the game and it's not close. Somewhere in the middle, where it's likely to be, it's a competitive game.
Umm, you act like we've never played a team that knows how to hit. And furthermore, you seem to forget that Mizzou defenses, for while now, but especially this year, have a reputation for laying the lumber.
I find it interesting that so many NU fans seem to think NU is going to be 100% better just because they hit harder and want it more than last year. Perhaps I'm missing something, and if so, I'll be eating crow in a couple of weeks, but I still think NU has a talent gap to make up.