Welcome back, the Pelini way.

sd said:
lo country said:
Upon return from spring break, the D was given a 120 page "book" from the defensive scrimmage melt down prior to break. Circled mistakes and commented on the "fix".
Click to expand...
does a defense need to be so confusing that it takes 120 pages to explain everything that went wrong?
Click to expand...
I agree it is complicated. Others on this board will disagree. My point being, Bo has taken the lead and painstakingly put every single mistake from that scrimmage on paper and then after showing that mistake, showed the correction. I liken this to learning in any environment. Some learn better from being shown, others from listening etc..... Bo (at least from the article) finally taken the time to show in a clear and concise manner (IMO) how his D is supposed to look and be run. I am hoping that some kids saw this and the light bulb went on and they had their ah hah moment.

Like Carl above, I am tired of coach speak and their doesn't seem to be a lot this year. From the staff or the kids. Attention to detail ie FUNDAMENTALS will pay huge dividends. The top teams this year were solid with the basics ie tackling, penalties and ball control. Master these and even an average team would stand a great chance of making a run.

Like Al Pacino said, football like life is a game of inches, change inches to details and it is a comparable analogy. Fix the small details and a lot of our issues go away.

 
HuskerShark said:
knapplc said:
If Bo's defensive playbook is as thick as Callahan's offensive playbook, that's a problem.

I'll agree with Bo that I "don't have a clue" when it comes to defense - not remotely like him, anyway. But the fact is that you can win championships with a basic, easy-to-understand defense. There isn't any reason to get so freaky complicated that good players can't fathom your defense.
Click to expand...
It has worked before, and it will work again. When we had a load of athletes on our defense in 2009 and 2010, we loved what we saw. Then the athletes graduated and we saw a bunch of slow guys in the back 7 and BAD D line play. You need athletes to be good on defense, and in that respect, I like what I see for the future.
Click to expand...
Didn't Bo state, last month sometime, that we was going to run a more of a simple defense? Let players just play and make plays? I think with our young defense, he doesn't have a choice, but to simplify it. Then, you cam implement a tougher playbook with more responsibilities, as the players get older and easier for them to comprehend it, rather than coming from high school and being forced to learn a complicated system. Depth will help this out as well.

With a dominant line, and Bo's complicated secondary scheme, he has shown he can give us a top tier defense. We just need that dominant line again. The secondary should never have to be accountable for stopping the run, while trying to do their main job.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
I'm not letting Bo off the hook for the last couple years of defense, but I also think it's instructive to look at the testing numbers from a lot of the guys who just graduated. It's tough to get everything you want done when you're working with ... less than ideal talent.

Can that also be laid at Bo's feet? Yes. But I'm not ready to say he can't recruit just because his first class or two was sub-par. I think we've been steadily increasing the incoming talent since he's been here and (hopefully) that will start to pay off.

 
carlfense said:
Landlord of Memorial Stadium said:
How do you define this?
Click to expand...
How do I define what? Pelini said the problems on defense are easily fixed. I hope that he does fix those "easily fixable" problems.

Landlord of Memorial Stadium said:
I'd say the difference in performance between the Wisconsin and Georgia games showed the "fixing" of some things. And next season hasn't started yet, so how is he supposed to have fixed it yet?
Click to expand...
What about the difference in performance between the UCLA game and the Ohio State game? Or the difference in performance between the Ohio State game and the Wisconsin game?

I've heard enough coach speak and excuses (the latter more often from fans than Pelini) to last a lifetime. Just get it done.
Click to expand...
New faces on defenses. The system is still somewhat new to them. Mistakes are gonna, especially in spring ball

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Landlord of Memorial Stadium said:
I'd say the difference in performance between the Wisconsin and Georgia games showed the "fixing" of some things.
Click to expand...
I suppose you could say that. You could also say that it just wasn't as bad as one of the all-time worst performances by a Husker defense. But that doesn't mean the defense wasn't utterly embarrassed by Georgia. They were.

45 points and nearly 600 yards worth of embarrassment.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Mavric said:
I'm not letting Bo off the hook for the last couple years of defense, but I also think it's instructive to look at the testing numbers from a lot of the guys who just graduated. It's tough to get everything you want done when you're working with ... less than ideal talent.

Can that also be laid at Bo's feet? Yes. But I'm not ready to say he can't recruit just because his first class or two was sub-par. I think we've been steadily increasing the incoming talent since he's been here and (hopefully) that will start to pay off.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately, that is going to happen with a new HC, with no big name assistants. Anyone expecting a top recruiting class then, was just delusional. I do expect them to get better, and they have with every passing year. Next year, top 10. Has to be, but if we have a subpar record this year, we won't hit that mark.

 
Ok. I've been re-watching many games from this past season over the last couple weeks. Ones where the defense performed decent to well, as well as the mind-boggling, pants-pooping efforts.

It's a talent issue. I've also watched some games from 2009 and 2010. To me it seems that all 3 position levels are spending so much effort trying to over-compensate for shortcomings of the other 2 that it just turned into a giant cluster_____ at times. Safeties biting on sill playfakes because they have to pay so much attention to the run. Dlineman getting out of rush lanes in trying to put more pressure on because the LBer's can cover long enough. LB'ers not able to stick to short routes because theyre too busy trying to help in deeper coverage. It's all there. Then in watching the defenses of 09 and 10, the front 5-7 seemed to operate independently of the back 4-6 because each group was solid enough to take care of themselves, so to speak. I know the talent issue is on Pelini. I'm not arguing that. But I'm finding it harder and harder to not be excited about additional athleticism and talent on that side of the ball, because we all know what Bo is capable of with good talent. That last two years of defensive abilities were light years behind that '09 group, in all phases.

Why do I believe talent is here? Last years class with only 16 signees was talented enough to be a top 10 class had it been the size of the 2013 class. The 2013 class was as high as 12. I think the help is here, and it's going to be fine.

 
For the sake of clearing up some argument: No one said it was a playbook. I have no idea what any of you are so bent out of shape about. It's images of plays where mistakes were made that have been circled and commented on by the coaches. Who said that the same mistake wasn't made multiple times and accounts for 5-6-7 pages? These kids are young. Mistakes are going to happen. God forbid our coach makes an attempt at correcting them, am I right?

 
Atbone95 said:
For the sake of clearing up some argument: No one said it was a playbook. I have no idea what any of you are so bent out of shape about. It's images of plays where mistakes were made that have been circled and commented on by the coaches. Who said that the same mistake wasn't made multiple times and accounts for 5-6-7 pages? These kids are young. Mistakes are going to happen. God forbid our coach makes an attempt at correcting them, am I right?
Click to expand...
I was gonna point this out as well. But after re-reading some of the posts, I honestly dont think anyone was mistaking this 120 pages of mistakes as the actual playbook. It just seemed that some were interpreting so many mistakes as the result of a playbook that is just too long. Bo's defense is complex and complicated. No bones about it. I dont think Bo's ever gonna change his defense because this style is his expertise. But I do think he's growing and adjusting in how he teaches it.

 
accountability said:
Atbone95 said:
For the sake of clearing up some argument: No one said it was a playbook. I have no idea what any of you are so bent out of shape about. It's images of plays where mistakes were made that have been circled and commented on by the coaches. Who said that the same mistake wasn't made multiple times and accounts for 5-6-7 pages? These kids are young. Mistakes are going to happen. God forbid our coach makes an attempt at correcting them, am I right?
Click to expand...
I was gonna point this out as well. But after re-reading some of the posts, I honestly dont think anyone was mistaking this 120 pages of mistakes as the actual playbook. It just seemed that some were interpreting so many mistakes as the result of a playbook that is just too long. Bo's defense is complex and complicated. No bones about it. I dont think Bo's ever gonna change his defense because this style is his expertise. But I do think he's growing and adjusting in how he teaches it.
Click to expand...
Bo is stubborn no doubt about it. I always thought that's why his learning curve isn't very sharp but it seems he's really woke up and started to grow into being a head coach. I still blame Barney Cotton for all this mess though. :sarcasm

 
Young, stubborn, arrogant. Is exactly what you want in a Head Coach. Bo's only failure so far has been on the recruiting scene, which may have been fixed, may not. We will have a better idea on that as this years draws to an end. No head coaching experience, an "I know better than you do" approach is where we started. Some on here felt we would have been in or won a MNC by now, when Bo was hired. It takes time to develop the program and it takes new guys on the block to just learn what a job of this level actually is. Bo is not great at PR, but you see that he is making strides in it.

My opinion is he needs to trust the young kids more. We need all of them on the field to develop depth. If I see that this year, I will be very happy with his climb. Just do not say stupid things. Let the media say what they will, just do not bury yourself with comments.

 
skersfan said:
Young, stubborn, arrogant. Is exactly what you want in a Head Coach. Bo's only failure so far has been on the recruiting scene, which may have been fixed, may not. We will have a better idea on that as this years draws to an end. No head coaching experience, an "I know better than you do" approach is where we started. Some on here felt we would have been in or won a MNC by now, when Bo was hired. It takes time to develop the program and it takes new guys on the block to just learn what a job of this level actually is. Bo is not great at PR, but you see that he is making strides in it.

My opinion is he needs to trust the young kids more. We need all of them on the field to develop depth. If I see that this year, I will be very happy with his climb. Just do not say stupid things. Let the media say what they will, just do not bury yourself with comments.
Click to expand...
Bo fails on the recruiting scene? Can you back up this claim or would you like to step into the recruiting section every once in a while?

 
It has been stated many times that Bo failed to recruit his first couple of years. That he maybe turning the corner, which will be proven one way or another after this year. No need for arguments. When walkons are starting over scholarship athletes, something happened. Moving Olinemen in their senior year to the Dline because we are thin indicates something.

I agree he is doing better, but he is going to have to do a lot better to even be remotely close with Ohio State. They are the bell cow for us I think. They are going to be in the hunt every single year for awhile, and have been for awhile. I am not saying he can not do it. Just saying, I think he did not take it as seriously at first as he is now. He is moving in the right direction. Nothing negative in what I meant.

 
Back
Top