Riley and the Direction of the Program

[The Big Nebrowski]

My biggest concern going forward is the length of stay for some of these new additions. I can't think Diaco's life long ambition is being the DC at Nebraska. On one hand, it's good if we see staff attrition because that generally means things are going good. However, it's also difficult to replace top coordinators. Saban fights this every year, and it pretty much cost him a NC this year. Meyer has been trying to find the replacement ever since Herman left. Bill Snyder has been faced with staff attrition ever since he took over at KState.

I was and still am a big fan of the hiring of Riley. I like the direction of the program and the people he's bringing in as either players or staff. However, I'm a little uneasy when looking five or so years into the future.

Diaco has already dabbled some as a HC, unsuccessfully, so maybe he has come to the realization that DCing is his true life's work and will stick around w us for a piece. Assuming he does well, of course.
As to Urban, I'm a bit surprised that he didn't offer Tim Beck the full OC position, because that's why Beck left, to become HERMAN's OC @ Texas. Beck wasn't good enough for NE Fan, of course.

Did Meyer even trust Beck enough at OSU to allow him to call plays? I'm sure if Urban wanted Beck to stay he could have made it happen.

Not sure what exactly Beck did @ OSU, he was there, gettin paid, they won a lot of games. If he didn't have to call plays I'd say he was livin' pretty large, lol!

This summarizes some of what went down and how the fan base viewed Beck.
One of the more troubling lines of the article relates back to their shutout loss to Clemson in the CFP:

Beck admitted the Buckeyes get stuck in their tendencies, like, oh, I don't know, running J.T. Barrett all the time. He said the offense needs to find an identity. He said there were too many inconsistencies in the passing game.

You can't be struggling to find offensive identity at that point in the season - the playoffs. But, as we all know, identity has been a concern around here for sometime and was under Beck, as well.

As to Beck and "identity", when, I ask, has Beck had a competant passing QB to work with over the past 10 yrs of his career? Martinez, Armstrong, Barrett, all more or less crappy passers, but all forte as rushers, but you can't run them to death cuz injuries, so yeah, "identity" issues.
I mean, ya gotta have a QB that can throw the damn ball. Shawn Watson, we fired him so he must be sh#t. Oh wait, has great O @ Louisville because of one Terry Bridgewater, remember that guy. Watson is great but he's not great because we fired him. Goes to Tejas and they hand him that Swoopes kid who couldn't hit the broad side of a barn w a sledge hammer if he was standin' right next to it. Watson has to take the fall. Oh wait, few yrs later they clear out the whole C. Strong Brigade because, for oneN they couldn't find a QB that could pass worth a bleep. QBs are very powerful people.

But you can't have this thing both ways. You can't say that Beck had zero input to the OC @ OSU and then try to hang the a loss around his neck.

And while I'm on my soapbox here, this thing with Banker, well it wasn't all on him. Our LBs and safeties, it was pretty obvious all along, weren't the greatest open field tacklers, not anything more than just servicable athletes. Bando was pretty bad his 1st 2 seasons, finally became respectable, Newby meh, Rose Ivey meh, etc. In that IA, if you watch the film on a few of those long runs, our guy was there, in the hole or taking the angle and basically got either bowled over on his a$$ or blown by. So you can't hang all the D woes on Banker. At some point you have to have some athletes. Last good LB we had was LaVonte David, since then its been meh.

Barrett is/was not a competent passing qb? LOL - Barrett might be the best QB he ever coaches. He severely regressed under Beck and if Beck couldn't get it done with him, I don't think he can get it done with anyone who's "better".
YEAR CMP ATT PCT YDS AVG TD LNG INT RAT

2016 233 379 61.5 2555 6.7 24 79 7 135.3

2015 93 147 63.3 992 6.7 11 50 4 139.2

2014 203 314 64.7 2834 9.0 34 80 10 169.8

I'm excited to see what Langs can do with a qb that's a true passer. I think Riley has made a lot of the necessary changes to get us back on track and definitely think we're on the upswing.

The %s look good, but your more pure pocket, pro style guys, a good one, will fling it for 3000+ on ave. Barrett is no pure pocket passer.

 

[The Big Nebrowski]

But you can't have this thing both ways. You can't say that Beck had zero input to the OC @ OSU and then try to hang the a loss around his neck.

Forgive me as this is partially my fault - if you read that article, it was opining for both Beck AND the other OC to be removed. I only talked about Beck because that was the point of discussion in this thread.
As for tOSU's offense, in Herman's last year, they were top 10 in total offense and top five in passing efficiency and scoring offense. Last year? They were ranked 31, 44 and 5 in those categories. And Barrett regressed from his 2014 numbers to 2016.

Ok, well, that's how the cookie crumbles I guess.
Depending on whom you read, Beck was supposedly doing most the play calling as a "CO-OC" in '15 up until the loss to Sparty, but they still went 12-1 and were co-champs of B1G that year. So Ed Warinner, the other "CO-OC" was doing the play calling in '16-allegedly-and they go 11-2 and playoff berth. 23-3 while Beck was "CO-OC" @ tOSU. Is there any shame in a young team getting hammered in a playoff game vs the best team in the country w the best player in the country @ QB. I say, "no, there is no shame in that", but what I'm getting out of tOSU is that whiney prick Urbs no likey to lose--AT ALL! Heads will roll!

Well, guess what, Beck gets the "tit" job @ Tejas, a promotion in position and pay to full OC @ a premier program in the land with prlly the hottest HC and Ed Warinner, who OBTW was OC @ KU in their '07 scoring explosion and #7 ranking, 12-1 with, guess who, lil Mr. Tim Beck as "pass game coord"--anyway, Ed Warinner is now demoted to OL coach in Gopherville.

Also, it is in the public record that Tom Herman has explicitly said that Tim Beck will be doing the play calling @ Tejas--just Google it.

Who got the last laugh here, Husker Fan?(Well, he must be sh#t cuz we fired him...)

 

[Hunter94]

I picked OK so far:

Obvious improvement from year 1 to year 2 in terms of wins/losses.

Improved recruiting from year 1 to year 2 with us being in on some really good talent to the end. Looking for 2018 to make another step forward.

Most importantly is Riley's willingness to replace poor performing coaches with new ones. I would say JP has been a nice upgrade over Hughes. D. Williams is a great recruiter and hopefully a good coach. Diaco should be a nice upgrade over Banker, but the jury is still out. This was Pelini's and Callahan's achilles heel. Their refusal to replace assistant coaches because they were friends.

Mostly concerned about:

O-line improvement and depth. We are screwed if we can't pass protect with our drop back QB.

Transition to 3-4 defense. Could take half the season or longer before it starts working properly. Could be ugly growing pains until then.

can't imagine suddenly installing the 3-4 will be thing of instant beauty?...........agree, growing pains for sure.

 

[shyndy]

But you can't have this thing both ways. You can't say that Beck had zero input to the OC @ OSU and then try to hang the a loss around his neck.

Forgive me as this is partially my fault - if you read that article, it was opining for both Beck AND the other OC to be removed. I only talked about Beck because that was the point of discussion in this thread.
As for tOSU's offense, in Herman's last year, they were top 10 in total offense and top five in passing efficiency and scoring offense. Last year? They were ranked 31, 44 and 5 in those categories. And Barrett regressed from his 2014 numbers to 2016.

Ok, well, that's how the cookie crumbles I guess.
Depending on whom you read, Beck was supposedly doing most the play calling as a "CO-OC" in '15 up until the loss to Sparty, but they still went 12-1 and were co-champs of B1G that year. So Ed Warinner, the other "CO-OC" was doing the play calling in '16-allegedly-and they go 11-2 and playoff berth. 23-3 while Beck was "CO-OC" @ tOSU. Is there any shame in a young team getting hammered in a playoff game vs the best team in the country w the best player in the country @ QB. I say, "no, there is no shame in that", but what I'm getting out of tOSU is that whiney prick Urbs no likey to lose--AT ALL! Heads will roll!

Well, guess what, Beck gets the "tit" job @ Tejas, a promotion in position and pay to full OC @ a premier program in the land with prlly the hottest HC and Ed Warinner, who OBTW was OC @ KU in their '07 scoring explosion and #7 ranking, 12-1 with, guess who, lil Mr. Tim Beck as "pass game coord"--anyway, Ed Warinner is now demoted to OL coach in Gopherville.

Also, it is in the public record that Tom Herman has explicitly said that Tim Beck will be doing the play calling @ Tejas--just Google it.

Who got the last laugh here, Husker Fan?(Well, he must be sh#t cuz we fired him...)

is this just CM huskers new name?

 

[84HuskerLaw]

I'm cautiously optimistic moving forward. I still have reservations about Riley and his ability to win a championship, but he's making the right moves, recruiting well and shoring up deficiencies on the coaching staff. My hope is he's at the point now where they can really make some headway in 2017, because 2018 is going to be here real fast.

At Michigan

At Wisconsin

At Ohio State

Michigan State

At Iowa

Whoa, brutal! BTW, why do we play some of those East teams twice or more consecutively--e.g. tOSU--and others once--e.g. IN?

We get OSU and Wisc at home this next year since we were there last year. The 2018 schedule has us visiting again. I don't remember how the Michigan games worked since it's been a few years. The BIG 10 hasn't done us any favors in 18.

But we only played IN and MD once so far. Man, they're f'ing us hard on the schedule, we have to win the West AND the East, it appears.

Many good points being made in this discussion.

- major defense changes almost certain to take time to develop consistancy. Oregon game is scary as they may tear our untested defense a new one and of course the O line will have to deal with blitzes from every direction and a frosh QB who probably can't out run their NT, much less their Corners and safeties and LBs. I hope I get surprised.

- some new thinking and 'coordination' amongst staff will also have to be established (not just the players will be learnign the new 'system' assuming it is to happen.

- expect some rather significant changes in the game plans, offensive play mix etc. I hope we complete about 80% of the short passes (screens, etc) because if we throw a bunch of incompletions, the time of possession will go against us big time and the Blackshirts are going to need a bunch of depth just to avoid being worn out by the 4th quarter

- year three can have no excuses in special teams. Those MUST be much better. Can;t blame lack of talent or injuries there. These are plays this team and program should absolutely always be top ten level. Any team can and should be well prepared and ready to handle the one play scenarios of punting, place kicking, receiving kicks, covering kicks, etc. You need medium sized guys who are willing to go out and play like hell of about 15 seconds every few minutes. There are NO EXCUSES.

On the other hand, as schedules go, this one offers atleast some hope for the first half of the season (except the Ducks) and maybe, just maybe, the offense finds a rhythm and the defense comes together and we let it all hang out and Diaco guesses right on a few key plays and we pull a couple upsets. This season, while not likely to be Riley's last (absent a losing season and blow outs, etc), will be the most important in Riley's career if he hopes to retire as a 'winner' in big time collegiate football. He doesn't need to win 11 or more but he better win 9 and get to the CCG if he is going to keep the program on track. He needs to show we are getting 'close' to national relevancy or the 2018 recruiting class will once again, come up a tad short of the mark. We need to land a top ten class and win ten and finish in the top 15. That seems a good indication of a positive trend line.

 

[Making Chimichangas]

Tim Beck is a garbage OC. He was garbage while at Nebraska and he was garbage at Ohio State.

At Nebraska, our offense regressed every single season. In September, we'd be around 450 yards of offense per game. By mid-November, we were averaging barely 300 (sometimes less) yards per game. Yards and points would slowly dwindle every single game. Someone once put a chart up which illustrated the decline. It was pretty awful.

This isn't to say I am believing in Danny Langsdorf, but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because now he actually has four QBs which were recruited for this style of offense.

 

[The Big Nebrowski]

Tim Beck is a garbage OC. He was garbage while at Nebraska and he was garbage at Ohio State.

At Nebraska, our offense regressed every single season. In September, we'd be around 450 yards of offense per game. By mid-November, we were averaging barely 300 (sometimes less) yards per game. Yards and points would slowly dwindle every single game. Someone once put a chart up which illustrated the decline. It was pretty awful.

This isn't to say I am believing in Danny Langsdorf, but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because now he actually has four QBs which were recruited for this style of offense.

He must have been the best "garbage OC" available for NE to pay him 3/4 mil, OSU pay him 2/3 mil, and TX to pay him 1+ mil per year to call "garbage" plays.

I want that job.

 

[Enhance]

Tim Beck is a garbage OC. He was garbage while at Nebraska and he was garbage at Ohio State.

At Nebraska, our offense regressed every single season. In September, we'd be around 450 yards of offense per game. By mid-November, we were averaging barely 300 (sometimes less) yards per game. Yards and points would slowly dwindle every single game. Someone once put a chart up which illustrated the decline. It was pretty awful.

This isn't to say I am believing in Danny Langsdorf, but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because now he actually has four QBs which were recruited for this style of offense.

He must have been the best "garbage OC" available for NE to pay him 3/4 mil, OSU pay him 2/3 mil, and TX to pay him 1+ mil per year to call "garbage" plays.

I want that job.

It certainly is interesting.

His counterpart at tOSU Ed Warriner, however, essentially took a demotion and is now the offensive line coach at Minnesota. Meyer appears to have wanted them both gone.

 

[NoLongerN]

Tim Beck is a garbage OC. He was garbage while at Nebraska and he was garbage at Ohio State.

At Nebraska, our offense regressed every single season. In September, we'd be around 450 yards of offense per game. By mid-November, we were averaging barely 300 (sometimes less) yards per game. Yards and points would slowly dwindle every single game. Someone once put a chart up which illustrated the decline. It was pretty awful.

This isn't to say I am believing in Danny Langsdorf, but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because now he actually has four QBs which were recruited for this style of offense.

This issue has a lot to do with the lack of depth in the OL and the wear and tear of the season. Nebraska has lost the "engine" in both recruiting and then coaching up that was once our hallmark.

Thus, to truly "restore the order" Nebraska must bring back her mindset and tradition that led to producing great offensive lineman. This is the one area of concern that I don't know if MR really gets.

We shall see.

 

[admo]

The inconsistency is below expectations for me. And some of the staff he compiled were bombs from the beginning. I like that he made staff changes, so that's a big plus. And as far as Riley's ability to be in tune with the fans, Husker tradition, how he handles the press, social media and recruiting, he's been pretty good.

The main thing he has to change next is the running game. I hate it and they have to open it up. But I'm not sure if that's on HCMR or OCDL, or combined. It's also a reason why they struggle to put up 26-30 points a game when it shouldn't be as hard as they make it out to be.

 

[Xmas32]

Tim Beck is a garbage OC. He was garbage while at Nebraska and he was garbage at Ohio State.

At Nebraska, our offense regressed every single season. In September, we'd be around 450 yards of offense per game. By mid-November, we were averaging barely 300 (sometimes less) yards per game. Yards and points would slowly dwindle every single game. Someone once put a chart up which illustrated the decline. It was pretty awful.

This isn't to say I am believing in Danny Langsdorf, but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because now he actually has four QBs which were recruited for this style of offense.

This issue has a lot to do with the lack of depth in the OL and the wear and tear of the season. Nebraska has lost the "engine" in both recruiting and then coaching up that was once our hallmark.

Thus, to truly "restore the order" Nebraska must bring back her mindset and tradition that led to producing great offensive lineman. This is the one area of concern that I don't know if MR really gets.

We shall see.

Agreed. Nebraska hasn't really done a great job building O-Lines since Callahan was the HC (not surprising given Cally's background). I'm not looking to see exponential improvement but if Nebraska was a '2' on a scale of 1-10, I need to see Nebraska and Cavanaugh get the O-Line to at least a 6/10.

 

[The Big Nebrowski]

Tim Beck is a garbage OC. He was garbage while at Nebraska and he was garbage at Ohio State.

At Nebraska, our offense regressed every single season. In September, we'd be around 450 yards of offense per game. By mid-November, we were averaging barely 300 (sometimes less) yards per game. Yards and points would slowly dwindle every single game. Someone once put a chart up which illustrated the decline. It was pretty awful.

This isn't to say I am believing in Danny Langsdorf, but I am willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because now he actually has four QBs which were recruited for this style of offense.

He must have been the best "garbage OC" available for NE to pay him 3/4 mil, OSU pay him 2/3 mil, and TX to pay him 1+ mil per year to call "garbage" plays.
I want that job.

It certainly is interesting.
His counterpart at tOSU Ed Warriner, however, essentially took a demotion and is now the offensive line coach at Minnesota. Meyer appears to have wanted them both gone.

Yep, and I think Urb's was in love w Herman--and who wouldn't be? Though, Herman has shown a few chinks in the armour @ Houston this year, they kinda tanked.
But I don't think Beck has anything to be ashamed of @tOSU, most teams would love to have their "problems". AND, as far as I can tell, Beck's career has been on a steady ascent, starting in '07 @ 12-1 KU and now as full, play calling, OC @ TX, w Herman, making the even bigger bucks. He's livin' large.

Reality is: he has a stellar resume and his peers KNOW IT!

 

[The Big Nebrowski]

The inconsistency is below expectations for me. And some of the staff he compiled were bombs from the beginning. I like that he made staff changes, so that's a big plus. And as far as Riley's ability to be in tune with the fans, Husker tradition, how he handles the press, social media and recruiting, he's been pretty good.

The main thing he has to change next is the running game. I hate it and they have to open it up. But I'm not sure if that's on HCMR or OCDL, or combined. It's also a reason why they struggle to put up 26-30 points a game when it shouldn't be as hard as they make it out to be.

MR had said at least a few times this last season that he "gets it" and wants to pound the rock. But that just wasn't happening so well this season. First, we don't have an Ameer Abdullah and if you go back and look @ his "tape" he was on another level than the guys we have now. He left a big hole, on the order of ~700 extra O yds per.
Newby had a respectable year, nearly 900 yds, has talent and speed, but just can't make a lot happen on his own: namely, can't break tackles. Zig got hurt and Bryant looks good w hopefully some upside, but I'd be surprised if he gets to Ameer's level.

This is why I am worried that we kind of whiffed @ RB in the '17 class. No big disrepect to Bradly, but we're going to have to do a lot better than that.

 

[NoLongerN]

^^^^ I think back to the most recent backs like Burkhead and Ameer and what puzzles me is how well they did with average OL' s.

I'm feeling the opposite of this post. I think our focus should be on the OL to pound the rock and then a decent back will do fine. Find a stud like Pledger and you have a homerun ... but not without an OK.

Beating a dead horse ... but once the mindset is restored then the great OL coaching can return and we can become a factory making even 2-3* players productive and powerful playing their Junior and Senior years.

 

[The Big Nebrowski]

^^^^ I think back to the most recent backs like Burkhead and Ameer and what puzzles me is how well they did with average OL' s.

I'm feeling the opposite of this post. I think our focus should be on the OL to pound the rock and then a decent back will do fine. Find a stud like Pledger and you have a homerun ... but not without an OK.

Beating a dead horse ... but once the mindset is restored then the great OL coaching can return and we can become a factory making even 2-3* players productive and powerful playing their Junior and Senior years.

First of all, from what I'm reading, I think people are dissin' too hard on the OL(s), whether Bo's or the current crew. We've had a regular flow of some 4* guys and they have been genrally good, just not good enough against "best" competition--sort of like the team as a whole. Injuries HAVE been an issue.
But doesn't matter what team it is, Bama or whoever, a great back is key to the puzzle and MUST make things happen on his own, i.e., must break tackles--it's part of the job description. You can't hang it all on the OL, you will nvr have a "perfect" OL. Skill players gotta make plays and the big time ones make plays when the team needs it.