Northwestern: What did we learn?

Guy Chamberlin said:
This team is capable of coming out with focus and discipline. They have good talent and good schemes and good results. They are never out of the game against supposedly better talent, and always have multiple opportunities to right the ship against lesser opponents.
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One penalty for five yards.  For the entire game.

Last few years, one of the most penalized teams in the country.

That's an improvement, yes.  But you gotta execute WITH discipline as well.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
That's not exactly true.  NU scored 28 points vs. Northwestern.  Nebraska reached 28+ points only 5 games last year.
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Any semblance of a run game, a single defensive eraser, any kind of push on either the offensive or defensive lines, and a more disciplined head coach would have won this game easily.  Also, one call didn't go their way on the first NW turnover that was obviously not a turnover (thanks B1G refs).  If they score on that possession, this game could have gotten out of hand easily.

This has as much to do with mental toughness as it does with physical.

 
We should have won. Frost made abysmal mistake that cost the game BUT we don't know how good NW really is yet imo. They have proven to be able to beat teams and grind games out. I don't think their defense was that good but their offense was decent. O-line is strong with a few bigger backs. 

First games are ALWAYS tricky. I've been apart of game 1's and it doesn't determine the year. Again, the biggest weakness was the defense IMO. You can't give up that many yards to NW. 

Don't play Clark, Martin, Liewer. Play Rahmir and Ervin. 

 
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suh_fan93 said:
6 drops for the Husker WR's on Saturday.  (Palmer, Washington, Martin, Liewer)

Thompson was 25-42 against NW.

Without the drops he would have been 31/42 = 73.81%
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Palmer and Washington were notorious for drops at their previous schools. I suspect that will carry on with them as long as they are playing. Martin & especially Liewer have no business playing at this level. And it shows. 

 
Farms said:
After a day of reflection this is what I think we learned.

1. Frost is still Frost. He inserted himself into the game in a major way and it was a massive failure.

2. We really miss all those seniors on the d-line. It’s going to be a long year in the B1G if teams are able to run on it that easy.

4. We still make any mediocre QB look like Tom Brady. 
4b. Very disappointed in Nelson, Mathis, Tannor’s ability to get to the QB today, but dial up a hood blitz Chins c’mon.

5. I really liked what we saw from Thompson, he seems to offer some things that Martinez doesn’t like keeping his eyes downfield. That scramble play was awesome. 
6. Am I the only one that noticed how wobbly CT passes were? They were not right spirals at all now wonder we had so many drops when you get a 70 mph knuckle ball thrown at you. Every throw was just off in the second half, hope he’s ok.

7. Still don’t love the RB situation but we’ll see what he can do the rest of the season.

8. Special teams was good other than a bad play call. If we have our punt game from a year ago instead of Buschini this may lose it going away.

9. I’m afraid this year will be much like last. Last year our defense was good enough to keep us in games against everybody but not great enough to win games by themself. This year it’ll be the same on offense. CT will keep us in most games but not sure they will be good enough to win most games by themselves. It seems like it’s been 20 years since we’ve had both a good offense and defense in the same season, one unit is always a letdown.

10. We just made getting bowl eligible a lot tougher. I think NW is a better team than the Illinois team we lost to week 0 last year so I’m not giving up hope for 6 wins.

11. I’m sure Alberts wanted to make at least halfway through the season before having to assess Frost but I can’t imagine what he’s thinking on that plane now but if I had to guess he’s coming up with a list of guys to throw $10 million a year at. 
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I played golf a few weeks ago with a major booster and he said that him and his pals are ready and waiting for the fundraising call if Frost doesn't make it through the season.

 
SSO breaks down the edge play and how NW neutralized our rush Saturday.

Let’s talk about some of the things that we spoke about in the preview above. Northwestern knew that our interior DL was weak, so all they needed to do was neutralize our edge and things were fine. When it came to passing downs, Northwestern did something early that made a ton of sense. They used their RBs to chip on our edge guys. Take a look:

Even though Northwestern had an All-American tackle, they figured out in the first quarter that if the RBs helped chip on those edge rushers and made it 4 on 2 in favor of the Wildcats, it meant that our interior guys like Robinson and Feist would have to be who won battles to get pressure. As you can see from that video and the stats, it rarely happened. Our interior DL had no luck getting anywhere all game, many times being pushed back. Go deeper into that video than the RB chips, but Northwestern initially only sent 3 players into routes while Nebraska dropped 7 and still completed the pass. If we couldn’t get pressure with our interior, and they could complete passes with only 3 guys out, it was going to be a long day. That neutralized us in a hurry.
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Northwestern Recap 2022: Edge Play

 
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What can be said that hasn't already been said? I used to want log in after every loss, and break down what went wrong, but this is my first post since the game - because what's the point anymore.

New QB, New WRs,  New OC, New WR Coach,  New OL Coach, New RB Coach, New P/K,  New ST Coach, 15 Transfers (#6 Transfer Class), 5 New Coaches. Same f#&%ing problems.  

Frost 0-1 vs Bert, 0-3 vs Chryst, 1-3 vs Brohm, 1-3 vs PJ, 0-4 vs Kirk, 2-3 vs Fitz. 4-17 vs the Coaches in our division. Every week during the season we go into the game with a disadvantage at the most important position on the field. I've given up on blaming AM, or CT or Chins or the OL or Special Teams....this is all on the incompetence of one person - just move on already. 

 
MasterPulverizer said:
I played golf a few weeks ago with a major booster and he said that him and his pals are ready and waiting for the fundraising call if Frost doesn't make it through the season.
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Yea. Frost still has two east games and a home game against Oklahoma to win this fan base back. Personally I hope he does because I’m not co dissent that we will have a plethora of options waiting for us and I want frost to work. 

 
FrantzHardySwag said:
New QB, New WRs,  New OC, New WR Coach,  New OL Coach, New RB Coach, New P/K,  New ST Coach, 15 Transfers (#6 Transfer Class), 5 New Coaches. Same f#&%ing problems.  
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Yes and no. 

One penalty for five yards. The whole game. The opening game. In a parallel universe we'd be all over that today. 

Only one turnover* and it wasn't sloppy; it wasn't even a turnover. This was a team well prepared for a Week Zero matchup.

New quarterback and new offense looks precise and dangerous,  a step up from last year.

Old defense and returning DC look worse. Big step back. 

Spotty OL but no sacks* from our mobile-enough QB, and the longest TD run in years when it was needed most. 

No fear when we line up for extra points, and a fighting chance for a 56 yard field goal to end the half.

But in the fourth quarter it doesn't matter. All the wheels come off at the same time.  *The two interceptions and the rash of incompletions from a completely different looking Casey Thompson. *The fourth quarter sack he hadn't taken the whole game. A defense in a goal line stand watching the featured running back walk into the end zone untouched.  Two full minutes to get in position for a game-tying field goal and the body language of an offense that knows it's probably not going to happen. Across from them, a Conference celler-dweller that believed in itself and played like it for all four quarters against a team that absolutely no one fears anymore. 

Different ways of getting there, but yeah,.... same result.

 
Farms said:
Yea. Frost still has two east games and a home game against Oklahoma to win this fan base back. Personally I hope he does because I’m not co dissent that we will have a plethora of options waiting for us and I want frost to work. 
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Do you think an OU upset wins the fan base back?  18 - 30seem much better than 15-29?

Frost won’t win the base back with 8 wins this fall.  He gets a reprieve yes. But probation with NO more violations. (I.e - no more losing seasons and no more ugly losses for a couple years 2023 and 2024.  He has used up his get out of jail cards and good will and blind faith.  He has to get thing right and stay there a good while. There’s a lot of disgust. It won’t go away easy.  Imo. 

 
84HuskerLaw said:
Do you think an OU upset wins the fan base back?  18 - 30seem much better than 15-29?

Frost won’t win the base back with 8 wins this fall.  He gets a reprieve yes. But probation with NO more violations. (I.e - no more losing seasons and no more ugly losses for a couple years 2023 and 2024.  He has used up his get out of jail cards and good will and blind faith.  He has to get thing right and stay there a good while. There’s a lot of disgust. It won’t go away easy.  Imo. 
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Eh, I think an 8-4 season would win A LOT of fans back. Look at the schedule and pick any 8 wins: you'd feel pretty good about that. It would represent a sea change at this point and with a team this young it would be something to build on.

The problem is that in Season Five you start feeling foolish pointing out that it could STILL happen. I'm rooting for it to happen, but people who put their money on things might not be able to see it.

As for the true "base."  It's 98% negative and 92% Fire Frost in this internet fansite,, but when you venture out into longtime fandom you find folks still voicing support for Frost, hope for the team, and reminders that they're still kids and we can't get so obsessed with winning. Over on Facebook I've got people reminding me it was an exciting game against a good Northwestern team, and the players got to experience Ireland, a memory they'll never forget. There are a lot of Husker fans who genuinely hate the internet critics and criticism, and they don't want to hurt Scott Frost's feelings, much less fire him.

Trev Alberts listens to the base, but he won't necessarily obey them because NCAA football is a business, and Nebraska is losing business, too,

 
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