Besides staff, what do you think needs to change with the play calling, Taylor Martinez(assuming he will start next year), and the rest of the Offense?
If I were the coach here are things in the off season I would address:
1) the offensive lineman carry way too much body fat and lack of quickness is the result --- they need to drop 20 pounds or more of fat each --- diet and weight training
2) the offensive line burst strength is not where it needs to be --- some of that has to do with being fat and with less than ideal conditioning --- but also has to do with lack of lower body drive and power
3) the whole receiving corps must go through massive repetition on catching the ball and an array of drills must be designed, implemented and practiced over-and-over-and-over again --- too many dropped passes
4) the whole receiving/RB/QB corps must go through massive repetition on holding on to the ball and an array of drills must be designed, implemented and practiced over-and-over-and-over again --- too many fumbles
5) our QBs have inexcusable mechanics issues that even decent High School coaches would diagnose and correct --- terrible mechanics
6) someone needs to teach our QB's that it is legal to throw the ball away so as to avoid a sack --- I swear, in High School my coach would have benched me if I did what Martinez does and just eat the ball --- over-and-over-and-over-and over again w/o even attempting to avoid the sack by throwing the ball away.
Finally... and this is the biggest thing --- but speculative --- NU may be having some internal discord on the team. When I coached, we had a great D and a pathetic O (just like the Huskers) --- and sure it was at a low level and with kids (Jr. High School) --- but the principle is the same. Our defensive guys ended up hating the Offensive players and the O coaches --- for making the team lose so often even when the D was the best in the league. My point... there may be discord between O and D players and even between the O and D coaches --- and there may be a sense of player lack of respect for some of the coaches. Who knows... certainly the stimuli for such is there. I was at the game in San Diego and NU would have lost to anyone that day... anyone... they where lifeless, without heart... and interestingly... very cold, quiet and non-interactive on the sidelines before after and during the game. So.... NU must work on getting the team unified.
This coaching staff does not prepare the players well --- you can get a pumped team, a dead team or anything in between --- when this is happening in a team then almost always discord on the team is an issue.
Teams that consistently win are teams that are consistently focused --- NU does not consistently win because they are not consistently focused --- this needs to be addressed --- especially on offense --- if not discord, then whatever --- why is it that the NU offense can be flat, lifeless, or stoked --- focused or not focused? Adress this and that may be the best move that can be made.
