Secondary play

The secondary did play good against MSU. But without a consistent pass rush, giving a future NFL QB that much time allows him to make those throws even with good coverage.

 
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Connor Cook is a great QB, but to say we played great wouldn't be correct if we watched the same game.

He still had 335 yards and 4 TDs - Along with some great catches on good defense I do remember a few open drops they had as well
The 1st quarter was particularly shocking. Cook may have finished with decent numbers, but he did not look like himself that 1st quarter. Whether it was all on him or his receivers, they were missing on some throws. And on his receiver's behalf, there were a couple drops early in the game that were well thrown balls but they couldn't catch.

I think that played a pretty significant role, too, from a psychological standpoint. Any time you're up against a team you should beat, one of the last things you want to do is give them confidence early, and MSU did that for Nebraska.

 
Connor Cook is a great QB, but to say we played great wouldn't be correct if we watched the same game.

He still had 335 yards and 4 TDs - Along with some great catches on good defense I do remember a few open drops they had as well
The 1st quarter was particularly shocking. Cook may have finished with decent numbers, but he did not look like himself that 1st quarter. Whether it was all on him or his receivers, they were missing on some throws. And on his receiver's behalf, there were a couple drops early in the game that were well thrown balls but they couldn't catch.
It was definitely Cook. It was something like six of his first seven incompletions were just flat out missing open guys. Not pressured. Not tough throws. Just totally missed them.

Once he got going, they had four straight 70+ yard TD drives. The only thing that saved us was them going conservative with the run game to burn clock at the end.

Result of MSU possessions: Downs, Punt, Punt, FG, TD, INT, TD, TD, TD, TD, Punt. Early on - first four possessions - when Cook was struggling, we could stop them. Then they scored TDs on five out of six possessions with the lone stop being another terrible Cook throw.

 
Connor Cook is a great QB, but to say we played great wouldn't be correct if we watched the same game.

He still had 335 yards and 4 TDs - Along with some great catches on good defense I do remember a few open drops they had as well
The 1st quarter was particularly shocking. Cook may have finished with decent numbers, but he did not look like himself that 1st quarter. Whether it was all on him or his receivers, they were missing on some throws. And on his receiver's behalf, there were a couple drops early in the game that were well thrown balls but they couldn't catch.
It was definitely Cook. It was something like six of his first seven incompletions were just flat out missing open guys. Not pressured. Not tough throws. Just totally missed them.

Once he got going, they had four straight 70+ yard TD drives. The only thing that saved us was them going conservative with the run game to burn clock at the end.

Result of MSU possessions: Downs, Punt, Punt, FG, TD, INT, TD, TD, TD, TD, Punt. Early on - first four possessions - when Cook was struggling, we could stop them. Then they scored TDs on five out of six possessions with the lone stop being another terrible Cook throw.
We're assuming his performance in the first quarter had nothing to do with the environment and was solely on him just out of the blue being awful.

 
Connor Cook is a great QB, but to say we played great wouldn't be correct if we watched the same game.

He still had 335 yards and 4 TDs - Along with some great catches on good defense I do remember a few open drops they had as well
The 1st quarter was particularly shocking. Cook may have finished with decent numbers, but he did not look like himself that 1st quarter. Whether it was all on him or his receivers, they were missing on some throws. And on his receiver's behalf, there were a couple drops early in the game that were well thrown balls but they couldn't catch.
It was definitely Cook. It was something like six of his first seven incompletions were just flat out missing open guys. Not pressured. Not tough throws. Just totally missed them.

Once he got going, they had four straight 70+ yard TD drives. The only thing that saved us was them going conservative with the run game to burn clock at the end.

Result of MSU possessions: Downs, Punt, Punt, FG, TD, INT, TD, TD, TD, TD, Punt. Early on - first four possessions - when Cook was struggling, we could stop them. Then they scored TDs on five out of six possessions with the lone stop being another terrible Cook throw.
We're assuming his performance in the first quarter had nothing to do with the environment and was solely on him just out of the blue being awful.
Environment may have played a role, but he's also a senior QB, no? Dude has played in some tough places. I'd personally lean more towards him being off than it being anything environmental, but that's just me.

 
Connor Cook is a great QB, but to say we played great wouldn't be correct if we watched the same game.

He still had 335 yards and 4 TDs - Along with some great catches on good defense I do remember a few open drops they had as well
The 1st quarter was particularly shocking. Cook may have finished with decent numbers, but he did not look like himself that 1st quarter. Whether it was all on him or his receivers, they were missing on some throws. And on his receiver's behalf, there were a couple drops early in the game that were well thrown balls but they couldn't catch.
It was definitely Cook. It was something like six of his first seven incompletions were just flat out missing open guys. Not pressured. Not tough throws. Just totally missed them.

Once he got going, they had four straight 70+ yard TD drives. The only thing that saved us was them going conservative with the run game to burn clock at the end.

Result of MSU possessions: Downs, Punt, Punt, FG, TD, INT, TD, TD, TD, TD, Punt. Early on - first four possessions - when Cook was struggling, we could stop them. Then they scored TDs on five out of six possessions with the lone stop being another terrible Cook throw.
We're assuming his performance in the first quarter had nothing to do with the environment and was solely on him just out of the blue being awful.
Environment may have played a role, but he's also a senior QB, no? Dude has played in some tough places. I'd personally lean more towards him being off than it being anything environmental, but that's just me.
I just have a problem blaming things on a player being off. It's a part of the game and it happens to Nebraska plenty. I don't like blaming a loss on when it happens to Nebraska and I don't like blaming a win on it happening to our opponents. I'm not saying you're saying that, but it's been implied quite a bit.

 
Connor Cook is a great QB, but to say we played great wouldn't be correct if we watched the same game.

He still had 335 yards and 4 TDs - Along with some great catches on good defense I do remember a few open drops they had as well
The 1st quarter was particularly shocking. Cook may have finished with decent numbers, but he did not look like himself that 1st quarter. Whether it was all on him or his receivers, they were missing on some throws. And on his receiver's behalf, there were a couple drops early in the game that were well thrown balls but they couldn't catch.
It was definitely Cook. It was something like six of his first seven incompletions were just flat out missing open guys. Not pressured. Not tough throws. Just totally missed them.

Once he got going, they had four straight 70+ yard TD drives. The only thing that saved us was them going conservative with the run game to burn clock at the end.

Result of MSU possessions: Downs, Punt, Punt, FG, TD, INT, TD, TD, TD, TD, Punt. Early on - first four possessions - when Cook was struggling, we could stop them. Then they scored TDs on five out of six possessions with the lone stop being another terrible Cook throw.
We're assuming his performance in the first quarter had nothing to do with the environment and was solely on him just out of the blue being awful.
Environment may have played a role, but he's also a senior QB, no? Dude has played in some tough places. I'd personally lean more towards him being off than it being anything environmental, but that's just me.
I just have a problem blaming things on a player being off. It's a part of the game and it happens to Nebraska plenty. I don't like blaming a loss on when it happens to Nebraska and I don't like blaming a win on it happening to our opponents. I'm not saying you're saying that, but it's been implied quite a bit.
Well, I don't know if I'd call it blaming. I just think it's one of many things that happened in the game that led to a Nebraska victory. Much like in basketball or any other number of sports - sometimes shots just don't go in or things just don't go your way. To me, that's just competition sometimes.

 
When we run our base Quarters coverage, usually there is one safety playing center field on one side of the field while the other safety is picking up a man.

It would stand to reason that - as a defense - you'd rather have the safety over the top of their one big threat than be trying to cover him man-to-man on the other side.

We'll see which coaching staff can put their players in a better position to succeed more often.

 
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