Northwestern: What did we learn?

runningblind said:
Nelson is not a good football player.  Constantly out of position and over pursuing.  Has a great "motor" that runs himself right out of the play.  We have a lot of guys who should never play on Big Ten teams.  Feist starting on the DL made me drop money on NW to cover. 
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Agree.  Last year we had better down lineman allowing Nelson to make some plays.  We're worse at every level of the defense this year, and now Nelson is keyed on given he's the leader and one of the longest tenured players.  Not good players don't get better with weaker help.

 
What did we learn.  Ok how about this.

We learned that this team has become that loved one that just cant kick there addiction.  Time and time again they say it will get better things will change, and time and time again they will let you down over and over again.  And the only thing that can make this better is if you walk away until they can make themselves better.  That is all you can do.  I was talking with a neighbor of ours and i commented when was the last time you set aside time to watch a game.  That was around 3 years ago for me, now its something i catch in passing.  Oh i still check the scores, maybe have alittle water cooler talk but that about it.  And sadly i think thats becoming more and more of the norm.  Believe it or not i do not want to fire frost, i do not to rebuild again, i do not want what i saw in that weight room 5 years ago to be for nothing.  This was to be the reason to bring everyone back here to bring this back to what made it special.  And im tired, tired of the hype up videos, tired of the spring talk, tired of the excuses at the end of every game.  Im just so f#&%ing tired of this

 
ZRod said:
Being at the game I'd say Northwestern is surprisingly good this year. Fitz is probably going to have a good team like he does every 3 to 4 years.

Wtf was the onsides kick call all about? Even the Irish fans knew that was f#&%ed.

Casey is going to be fun to watch.

We should have focused on the OL in the portal like we all said.

Where the hell was the edge rush?????

Irish fans actually love American football and know a fair bit about it. Not so much college, but they know their NFL.
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I do agree with your first point. Northwestern could win the west again like they seem to every other year. 
 

I’m not that infuriated. Yes the onside kick was bad, but the better team won. Leaves me feeling more solemnly dejected.

 
teachercd said:
Rhule would KILL to get back to CFB by all accounts.

I Love Lane, I just know how most Husker fans are and they would explode.

Urban

Rhule

Aranda (Who would leave Baylor in a second)

Lane
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You would think all of those would be on Trev’s short list. I have reservations about Urb however after his nfl meltdown 

 
Jason Sitoke said:
I do agree with your first point. Northwestern could win the west again like they seem to every other year. 
 

I’m not that infuriated. Yes the onside kick was bad, but the better team won. Leaves me feeling more solemnly dejected.
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I don't see them as the better team.  We beat them by 49 last year.  We did this with a bad coach.  Sure, multiple players are different, but the talent gap then vs. now is the same - we're more talented.  

We still have that bad coach.  An anemic offensive mind who just threw his 1st year Offensive staff under the bus for lack of creativity.  

Bad coach, poor leader, one who can't scheme, adjust, be held or hold others accountable...or be okay helping that "uncreative" crew by kicking the ball away and letting his best friend try and stifle Northwestern for a chance to go up three scores.

 
DefenderAO said:
I don't see them as the better team.  We beat them by 49 last year.  We did this with a bad coach.  Sure, multiple players are different, but the talent gap then vs. now is the same - we're more talented.  

We still have that bad coach.  An anemic offensive mind who just threw his 1st year Offensive staff under the bus for lack of creativity.  

Bad coach, poor leader, one who can't scheme, adjust, be held or hold others accountable...or be okay helping that "uncreative" crew by kicking the ball away and letting his best friend try and stifle Northwestern for a chance to go up three scores.
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Perhaps it’s just me but I’m pinning about 5% of this loss on the offense…. Probably 25% on frostys baffling onside bs and the remaining 70% on that piss poor defense.

I get we have new guys but I’m scratching my head at what chins strategy was entering that game. We once again let an average qb get in a rhythm and build confidence, largely due to playing a ridiculous cushion coverage with the secondary.  The list of games of us doing this is ridiculous and well beyond the point of inexcusable. From the get go we lined up as if we had a 10 point lead in the 4th with 3 mins left. I just don’t get it

 
Wide receivers looks good. Vokolek was really good. Definite drop-off after the top guys for WR/TE. Wyatt Liewer is an amazing person and player. There is no reason he should have been on the field trying to win the game on that last drive. 

Where is Rahmir Johnson? 

Why did we start off in zone for pass defense?

Special teams did everything it needed to until Frost needed to give his input. 

O-line did better than I expected. Secondary needs work. LBers look okay and D-line needs to get better. If we can't get a pass rush with one of our edges it could be a long season. 

If this is an even year Northwestern- like that last few ones, we will be fine. However, we are really great at beating ourselves instead of the opposition. 

 
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Red Five said:
S&C still sucks.  Guys were gassed in the 4Q.  Duval has 2 winning seasons in 12 as a S&C coach.

Where was the vaunted pass rush?  I don't think we put Hilinski on the ground all day.  I guess there was a reason that Nelson and Tannor couldn't sniff all B1G teams the past 4 years.  And Mathis no showed.

42 and 31 had bad, bad games.

CT played ok.  Some great plays, some plays you would like to get back.  Maybe its me, but he seems to lack arm strength and a lot of his long across the field throws tend to float.  It didn't bite him today, but something to look out for in the future.

Martin should never play again.  He alligator armed a pick vs Wisky last year and did the same thing on the 1st INT today.  If you're too scared to get the ball then get off the field.

OL needs to improve.  There didn't seem to be too many running lanes outside of the long Grant TD (and we're back to just running inside non-stop).  CT seemed to have guys on him a lot in dropbacks and was put on the ground quite a bit.  I saw that Lutovsky was in on the last 2 drives of the 4Q for Bando.

Feels good to have a more than capable punter.
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Lutovsky was in on some drives in the 3rd quarter.  Piper got some time in the 2nd.  Just pointing it out is all. 

 
gossamorharpy said:
Perhaps it’s just me but I’m pinning about 5% of this loss on the offense…. Probably 25% on frostys baffling onside bs and the remaining 70% on that piss poor defense.

I get we have new guys but I’m scratching my head at what chins strategy was entering that game. We once again let an average qb get in a rhythm and build confidence, largely due to playing a ridiculous cushion coverage with the secondary.  The list of games of us doing this is ridiculous and well beyond the point of inexcusable. From the get go we lined up as if we had a 10 point lead in the 4th with 3 mins left. I just don’t get it
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The game was all around bad. The defense was terrible, but at the end of the day, they got stops at the end of the game to give the offense a chance to win. 

Nebraska is simply an atrocious team top to bottom. Nebraska made a mistake being cheap by not firing Frost last season, so now we have to suffer through another likely 3-9 season, but this year the defense isn't going to prevent Nebraska from getting the doors blown off them as they give up come November, assuming they don't pack it in before then. 

 
Dr. Strangelove said:
The game was all around bad. The defense was terrible, but at the end of the day, they got stops at the end of the game to give the offense a chance to win. 

Nebraska is simply an atrocious team top to bottom. Nebraska made a mistake being cheap by not firing Frost last season, so now we have to suffer through another likely 3-9 season, but this year the defense isn't going to prevent Nebraska from getting the doors blown off them as they give up come November, assuming they don't pack it in before then. 
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It is bad to say...but this loss is good because next year there will be a real coach.

 
Dr. Strangelove said:
The game was all around bad. The defense was terrible, but at the end of the day, they got stops at the end of the game to give the offense a chance to win. 

Nebraska is simply an atrocious team top to bottom. Nebraska made a mistake being cheap by not firing Frost last season, so now we have to suffer through another likely 3-9 season, but this year the defense isn't going to prevent Nebraska from getting the doors blown off them as they give up come November, assuming they don't pack it in before then. 
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It's telling how they got stops.  

Fitz played conservatively, save for an early 4th down play in his own side of the field, the whole game.  Conservative = take the guaranteed play with no risk, very little reward,  allowing Nebraska to do what they do.  Blow it.

And we acquiesced.  

 
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