Should we fire Satterfield??

Gorillahawk said:
I think we all (myself included) see something on TV or at the game that appears to be obvious to us without taking into consideration 1) The speed of the game especially for a true frosh plays a huge roll and 2) We don't see it from his angle. I understand that some missed reads or poor throws are just that, missed reads and poor throws, however we have to take other factors into account as well. While watching the game, I wondered how much the team was "trying not to lose another 1 score game" instead of just playing with confidence like they did earlier on in the 1st half. 
Click to expand...


When Nebraska goes into the locker room with a 14-0 lead, they take stock of all the things that worked. We sometimes forget that in the opposing locker room, a DC is being paid good money to make sure those same things don't work as well in the second half. While some like to imagine a second half of Rahmir Johnson gashing the defense, bleeding the clock and padding the lead, it clearly wasn't going to work that way. 

But yeah, I got the "trying not to lose" vibe, too. Playcalling takes some blame for sure, but to my eye Dylan Raiola was simply missing plays he usually makes. Not sure I want to watch the game again, but it also seemed like the OL gave him less time to make decisions. 

Defense had the urgency and consistency the offense didn't, and that's why we won a one score game. Hoping the offense has the chance to return the favor. 

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
But yeah, I got the "trying not to lose" vibe, too. Playcalling takes some blame for sure, but to my eye Dylan Raiola was simply missing plays he usually makes. Not sure I want to watch the game again, but it also seemed like the OL gave him less time to make decisions. 
Click to expand...


Just from rewatching the clips posted, I feel that Raiola had ample time most of the time.  There were a couple whiffs but most of the time he got pressure was after he had been surveying for a few seconds and just hadn't gotten rid of it yet.

 
huskerfan333157 said:
There's a reason South Carolina fans wanted him gone.  
Click to expand...


Every year a contingent of Alabama fans claimed the game had bypassed Nick Saban and new blood was needed. 

Ever year for the last 20 years, a contingent of Husker fans have called for the OCs head, even when it was the defense s#!tting the bed. 

South Carolina performed markedly better under Satterfield than the previous OC, including a late season blowout of #5 Tennessee, a win against #8 Clemson on the road, and putting up 38 points against Notre Dame in a bowl game loss. It was this late season Satterfield that got Husker fans excited. When Satterfield left South Carolina, the team got worse. 

I'm all for scrutiny of OCs and playcalling, but it's a stone cold fact that every critic is sure their gameplan would have worked much better. 

 
I think Satterfield is a good coach but I don't think he has a particularly strong feel for game flow and call management sometimes. I think he's good most of the time, but there are usually a couple of drives every single game where I'm just scratching my head about his decision making and that's a criticism that has followed him for a long time.

That said, it's really hard to judge OC playcalling. An OC can call the perfect play and one blocker whiffs and all of a sudden it's an eight yard loss and half the fans will think it's a bad play call. Over time though it's ultimately his responsibility to ensure players know the assignments and execute them. I know Rhule said earlier this season "we're going to call plays and just have the players go execute" and yes that is ultimately what football boils down to but there is still something to be said for understanding situations and calling plays that put your players in positions to succeed. The latter portion is an area I think Satterfield could still improve on.

 
Stone Cold said:
Should they fire anyone right now.  No and its silly to bring it up.  Lets let this marinate for at least 3 years before we start talking about staff changes.
Click to expand...
Unless we have a miraculous turnaround with our special teams we would be foolish not to look for an upgrade for foley.  We can't kick field goals, we can barely execute XPs, we cant block in either FG or punting situations, we still have instances of punting to the wrong side of the field, we for whatever reason still dont have a sound strategy on our kick off coverages and now that we're playing actual big ten teams we once again look incompetent in the return game.

Literally every single element of our special teams play is not just below average but bottom 10 in the country bad.  

 
Guy Chamberlin said:
Every year a contingent of Alabama fans claimed the game had bypassed Nick Saban and new blood was needed. 

Ever year for the last 20 years, a contingent of Husker fans have called for the OCs head, even when it was the defense s#!tting the bed. 

South Carolina performed markedly better under Satterfield than the previous OC, including a late season blowout of #5 Tennessee, a win against #8 Clemson on the road, and putting up 38 points against Notre Dame in a bowl game loss. It was this late season Satterfield that got Husker fans excited. When Satterfield left South Carolina, the team got worse. 

I'm all for scrutiny of OCs and playcalling, but it's a stone cold fact that every critic is sure their gameplan would have worked much better. 
Click to expand...
Fans are wild and caught up in emotion for sure, but our offense, as it has performed to date, is simply not going to cut it and matt rhule would honestly tell you the same thing.  The only time we've had any kind of pulse of an offense this year in the 2nd half was against a purdue squad who has looked like the worst team in all of P5 except for when they played us.

-Putting up 14 points at home is inexcusable unless you're squaring up against an ohio state esque juggernaut.

-An offense that fails to show up in 1 or 2 games in the 2nd half might be a random occurrence/matchup dependent, a handful of games becomes a trend, a 2nd half no show in every single game screams systemic issues.  

This thread has been fun trying to determine if its bad mechanics from DR thats at fault, is it Satt play calling ,is it crappy o line play, where are the running backs?  Well, at the end of the day all of these position groups report to Satt-- its called ownership and its what he gets for the massive pay check we cut him to lead the offense.  As it stands today, he's come nowhere close to justifying the pay day he got to be our OC

 
Last edited by a moderator:
gossamorharpy said:
putting up 14 points at home is inexcusable unless you're squaring up against an ohio state es
Click to expand...


Well, I think I would have agreed with that many years ago.  MANY years ago.  But that game last week was not typical Nebraska play (on offense).  It did have a plodding kind of feel to it that this season has had, honestly (again, on offense). 

D was fine.  And I do mean fine as in fine tuned and fine play all around for 90% of the game.

Blaming play calling seems silly to me, as good teams run plays with confidence and I don't think the individual players, mainly the O-line,  care much what the play actually is, they just want to bang that dude across from them according to the assignment.  There was a time when the philosophy of Huskers offense was very much that very thing.  I keep waiting for it to get back to that, and I can't find a way to blame play calling as much as not cultivating that attitude. 

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Hagg said:
Well, I think I would have agreed with that many years ago.  MANY years ago.  But that game last week was not typical Nebraska play (on offense).  It did have a plodding kind of feel to it that this season has had, honestly (again, on offense). 

D was fine.  And I do mean fine as in fine tuned and fine play all around for 90% of the game.

Blaming play calling seems silly to me, as good teams run plays with confidence and I don't think the individual players, mainly the O-line,  care much what the play actually is, they just want to bang that dude across from them according to the assignment.  There was a time when the philosophy of Huskers offense was very much that very thing.  I keep waiting for it to get back to that, and I can't find a way to blame play calling as much as not cultivating that attitude. 
Click to expand...
To be clear, im not expecting us to come out and have 35+ every single week- not realistic with the increased parity with tranfer portal, NIL and then you factor in new clock rules to shorten the game.

Where my disappoint stems is we've had way too many drives in the 2nd half where we're not even getting a first or second 1st down and we're giving the ball right back.  Rhule kept saying in the offseason he wants be multiple like the 49ers and get you from all over the field-- from what i've seen we still dont know what kind of running team we want to be and really our offense has been reliant on the boom or bust play which has often been boosted by PI calls we've drawn.  It cost us against illinois and could've cost us this last saturday if the defense didnt play lights out and buscinni didnt kick that 70 yard punt.

As far as play calling is concerned-  im sure player execution plays a big role in it but here's some things that fall squarely on Satt:

  • We've completely misused our TE room which is both talented and deep. 
  • We've completely misused the amazing speed we have in the WR room.  There are so many ways to get barney and the lloyds of the world the ball and for whatever reason we seem to only be able to get them the ball in wr motion/reverse/quick dump passes.   These types of plays are still needed, they’ve been electric at times, but imagine if these playmakers started out 8-15 yards from the LOS.  There is a void of quick hitting slants/outs and delay crossing routes that would add a needed dimension to the passing attack. 
  • We still lack any kind of running identity on this team-- We cant run inside, we cant run outside, havent really seen many sweeps/quick outside runs.. we seem to have the most success with a bonner type as a lead back, yet so often our running down play calls (1st and 2nd down) are a slow developing read option play which doesnt make sense when raiola isnt a runner, nor do i want him to be.  

I'm not expecting this offense to have 35-50 every week.  Its a vast improvement over last year and yes we have a true freshman at qb.  but we have way too many valuable playmakers at our disposal to be this dismal in the 2nd half.  We seem to be way better when its to script, we look like absolute s#!t come 2nd half when adjustments are key-- that screams inept coaching to me

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Back
Top