What Did We Learn: Miami Edition

[AZHuskerFan]

I learned I miss the days when NU would rack up 500+ yards of offense and keep the opponent to 250 or less. I also miss the days where the camera would pan the opposing team's player near the end of the 3Q and they would be reaching for the oxygen masks because we ran them to death. And finally, I miss those days when I looked the sidelines and saw all of our coaches and knew that many either played at NU, were from Nebraska or had some ties to the state and program so it was just easy to root and support them.

Did you know that Charlie McBride went to Colorado? Did you not root for him because of that?

I said "many" not all.... I'm fine if I am the only one who feels this way, but rooting for basically the entire OSU staff that is now on our sidelines is a bit tough. I support them, like Coach Riley, thought it was time for Bo to move on, but that said, they have no ties to our program or state. If that's fine for you, that's okay too.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I learned I miss the days when NU would rack up 500+ yards of offense and keep the opponent to 250 or less. I also miss the days where the camera would pan the opposing team's player near the end of the 3Q and they would be reaching for the oxygen masks because we ran them to death. And finally, I miss those days when I looked the sidelines and saw all of our coaches and knew that many either played at NU, were from Nebraska or had some ties to the state and program so it was just easy to root and support them.

Did you know that Charlie McBride went to Colorado? Did you not root for him because of that?

I said "most" not all.... I'm fine if I am the only one who feels this way, but rooting for basically the entire OSU staff that is now on our sidelines is a bit tough. I support them, like Coach Riley, thought it was time for Bo to move on, but that said, they have no ties to our program or state. If that's fine for you, that's okay too.

I root for NU because that is my alma mater and my home state team. I don't need qualifiers that he football coach needs to be an alum or a Nebraska native. Other than Scott Frost, there aren't many major college coaches out there with Nebraska ties. I wouldn't have minded Frost being hired, but I'm not gonna b!^@h and moan that Riley and his staff doesn't have Nebraska ties.

 

[NUance]

Our two losses came at the hands of QBs who will play in the NFL someday. We weren't able to contain either one. Not even close.

 

[Jeremy]

I learned we finally have an identity. Air Raid. Seriously - I would argue all our points came from the shotgun - spread it out, find someone downfield, or take off running. That was our offense, and it almost won the game. Why don't we come out every game like this - 3 WR sets with carter at TE, and throw it 60 times. We ain't gonna run it, that's for sure. Air Raid, 2 minute offense, and get a lead instead of having to fight back into it.

 

[JJ Husker]

That crafting your Defense to theoretically stop the run doesn't really matter if every team throws for over 300 yards a game.

Yep, and crafting your defense to stop the pass does no good if you give up 408 on the ground.

Problem is, Pelini would have done no better with these players. Our DL is useless, non-existent pass rush. That would not have been better with Pelini because it never was (except when we had Suh). And our LB's and DB's don't seem to have what it takes either. In this case, scheme and coaching are but a small portion of the problem. Miami, and BYU for that matter, were stronger and faster than us. That should be unacceptable at Nebraska. Unfortunately it has been the norm for too long. It's simple; we are no longer elite, and really we just aren't good. We belong in the middle of the B1G West 0ack because that's exactly our talent level and how we play.

 

[BigWillie]

Three words .. JUCO defensive ends

Three more .. JUCO offensive lineman

We need some plug and play kids, ASAP.

 

[ColoradoHusk]

I learned we finally have an identity. Air Raid. Seriously - I would argue all our points came from the shotgun - spread it out, find someone downfield, or take off running. That was our offense, and it almost won the game. Why don't we come out every game like this - 3 WR sets with carter at TE, and throw it 60 times. We ain't gonna run it, that's for sure. Air Raid, 2 minute offense, and get a lead instead of having to fight back into it.

I would be ok with it. The line isn't allowing the coaches to establish the run, so might as well use the WR's and #11.

 

[Mike Harvat]

Tommy Armstrong seems to make great things happen everytime he has the ball, we just don't always know which team those great things are happening for.

Ouch.

 

[zoogs]

Also, for all of our ribbing of Canes fans, Kaaya kinda seems like the real deal. He's definitely matured since last year and the Canes, athletically on offense -- too much for us to deal with. Some credit to the Huskers interior DL, though, which we know is a strength of the defense. They came up with several big stops in short yardage situations.

If only we had Bo's year 8 pattern matching superstar pass efficiency secondary, right? Last year, Kaaya completed three more passes for the same number of attempts, for 20 fewer yards. One more in both the TD and INT categories last year. Just to put it into perspective.

Last year, Ameer destroyed the 'Canes, whose own Duke Johnson did an alright job (not that he got to be featured, given how that game went). This year, the RB edge went decisively to Miami as both teams replaced their #8 RBs.

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

The BYU game was close throughout, and overall I feel 'better' about that loss than I do this loss, simply because of the way the game played out. There never came a time during the BYU game where we looked like we were out of it. This one was different, and although I admire the comeback, I despise the fact that it even had to happen. I'm proud of the team and the staff for sticking with it during a pretty gruesome day in Miami (there are things you can't condition for--that level of heat and humidity is one).

We're going to face teams with the same amount of athleticism as Miami. We need to be able to match that athleticism or at least be fundamentally sound enough to compensate for the difference. We're not there yet, and though a little of that is square on the shoulders of the coaching staff, they can only work with the resources available to them, resources supplied by another coaching staff who were fundamentally different in the way they approach offense and defense.

I love Mike Cavanaugh. I think he has the right mentality for what we need in an offensive line coach. I don't like how the starters play nearly every snap. Should they play the majority of snaps as a unit? Of course, you have to be able to build communication in your frontline otherwise you're toast. But that communication can develop even if you substitute a few linemen every now and then.

I don't know what to make of our pass coverage, and it's something that I would have to be able to look at film to be able to try and piece together just what in the hell goes wrong on 65% of the pass plays we face. Are we asking our corners to cover WRs one-on-one with no safety help over the top? Are perhaps blitzing too much and would perhaps be better served keeping our LBs close to the LOS but still have them remain cognizant of their zones? Yes, we're not generating enough of a pass rush, but it's really difficult to do that when the QB gets the ball off in two seconds because he was a wide-open man running across the middle of the field.

There's a lot to work on. We know this. The players know this. The coaches know this. There's a lot of season left, and though things aren't looking too promising, it is perhaps nice to note that this is just Game 3 of the Mike Riley era and we've already seen a lot of good things in all 3 games against one of the more difficult OOC schedules we've had in awhile. We're 0-0 in B1G play, and the goal right now wasn't to go undefeated and win a national title, it was to win the division, make the CCG, and compete. Let's be cognizant of that as we head on to next Saturday.

 

[Enhance]

I'll have to ask you all to bear with me, as well.

This football team is lacking horses at a lot of positions, and the players aren't on the page they need to be right now.

We can sit and poke at just about everything that's inadequate - the defensive line creates a dirty pocket but no substantial pressure, the secondary gets out of position, the offensive line creates an inefficient push, the running backs can't find any rhythm, and whatever else we like. All of these, to me, stem from a relative lack of talent in some areas that are also struggling against the implementation of new coaches, culture and scheme.

I've heard DB say this and I 100% agree - this team and these coaches can't undo almost about 15 years of struggles in just 9 months. That's not fair to them or the players. It will take awhile to weed out the problems that have plagued this program for years, like the dumbfounding penalties. As I've said before, there are a lot of things going against the Huskers this season and they're going to be even more evident against the good teams.

But, I think we can all agree there are things this team can do to coach themselves into successful positions. Perhaps more substitutions in some areas, perhaps a better commitment to the run game to take the pressure off Tommy. There are spots all over the field where I see things we can correct, and they're not things that are problems because we lack talent - they're things we just need to coach our players up on.

Again, I would just argue that some of these problems may not be things we can fix in just one year, or seven months. Whether you're pleased or frustrated with what's gone down in the last 9 months, we all to have accept that it is what it is. I still have faith that MR & Co. can get things rolling at Nebraska, but, it may not be the quick turn around we want.

 

[zoogs]

I hope not, but this is a very bad team honestly and that's too bad. The talent is there, when are we going to get a break and break through this wall in front of us?

The talent is NOT there. So many positions across the board where the old staff simply missed, or just flat out overlooked in recruiting.

QB - People keep talking about wanting to run Tommy more. If Tommy goes down, we honestly may not win another game this year. Our backups are that bad.

OL - We have more than a few starters who should be players we use for depth, not starters. In all honesty, a rFR is the most talented starting OL we have, and it's not even close. We have 18 players on scholarship here. 15 of them are rFR or higher, and out of those 15, how many can you say have a really bright future? Gates and Foster, that's about it.

TE - The only player we have here that may force a DC to worry is Cethan. The rest would be at best considered 'blocking' TEs.

DE - The cupboard is so bare here it's just astonishing. Our 3 best DEs are a true freshman in Alex Davis (I would bet he plays next week), a rFR who was a TE until this year, and a SR walk-on who is currently injured.

LB - We had 4 scholarship players here until Riley came and got 4 players in late last year.

Going to quote this lovely piece of optimism from BigWillie. It's not cheerful but it is spot on, IMO. I thought Davis was a DT but we really can't get through this season with the kind of DE play we've been seeing. And that's a sobering commentary on the initial state of the OL.

 

[DrunkOffPunch]

I hope not, but this is a very bad team honestly and that's too bad. The talent is there, when are we going to get a break and break through this wall in front of us?

The talent is NOT there. So many positions across the board where the old staff simply missed, or just flat out overlooked in recruiting.

QB - People keep talking about wanting to run Tommy more. If Tommy goes down, we honestly may not win another game this year. Our backups are that bad.

OL - We have more than a few starters who should be players we use for depth, not starters. In all honesty, a rFR is the most talented starting OL we have, and it's not even close. We have 18 players on scholarship here. 15 of them are rFR or higher, and out of those 15, how many can you say have a really bright future? Gates and Foster, that's about it.

TE - The only player we have here that may force a DC to worry is Cethan. The rest would be at best considered 'blocking' TEs.

DE - The cupboard is so bare here it's just astonishing. Our 3 best DEs are a true freshman in Alex Davis (I would bet he plays next week), a rFR who was a TE until this year, and a SR walk-on who is currently injured.

LB - We had 4 scholarship players here until Riley came and got 4 players in late last year.

Going to quote this lovely piece of optimism from BigWillie. It's not cheerful but it is spot on, IMO. I thought Davis was a DT but we really can't get through this season with the kind of DE play we've been seeing. And that's a sobering commentary on the initial state of the OL.

The Davis twins are DTs. Alex Davis is a DE that was commited to Georgia Southern who IIRC had run out of OVs but committed to us anyways without a visit. Tall and lanky basketball type body, kind of like RG. I think he needs to gain some weight but if he can help on third downs it might be worth pulling his redshirt.

EDIT- That reminds me that Ferguson played a lot of DE at Edna Karr and had a lot of success at it and isn't redshirting. Should he get some plays at LB during some blitzes?

 

[lo country]

Miami and Al Golden allowed NU back in. I don't think it was superior play.

For the first time in years, we do not have a RB. We were spoiled with Helu to Rex, Rex to AA. There is no one taking the reigns. If you want to dance go o Dancing with the Stars. Newly needs to plant his foot and go. Be patient with the blocks (as crappy as they were)

Go back to McBrides recruiting mentality-Speed-Tackling-size. If guys can't run, he didn't recruit them.

I have no idea what type of team we have.

Riley is full of coach speak. He disguises it with his "aw shucks" mannerism. The staff had no idea how to scheme to help Davie. Their only way was to pull him....

We have no identity on O. Same old crap under Beck. No play to set up another, not great at a few things, trying to much.

Receivers hurt us today. 6-8 drops. All momentum swings.

TA is like Joe Ganz. Man that INT sucked. Just like Joe. Good for one a game.

The DL is horrible. No push, no pressure in a cover 1 or 0, they have got to do something.

No speed at DL.

Certain LB's looked incapable of changing direction.

The field remains open in the middle.

Reilly is tough as nails

Westy is a huge plus on O.

Carter will be good.

Young needs to run through the QB and not slow up.

The OL......bless

TA needs be turned lose and run. Make teams scheme to stop his legs and improved arm.

Get Marvin Sanders to come back.

 

[zoogs]

I hope not, but this is a very bad team honestly and that's too bad. The talent is there, when are we going to get a break and break through this wall in front of us?

The talent is NOT there. So many positions across the board where the old staff simply missed, or just flat out overlooked in recruiting.

QB - People keep talking about wanting to run Tommy more. If Tommy goes down, we honestly may not win another game this year. Our backups are that bad.

OL - We have more than a few starters who should be players we use for depth, not starters. In all honesty, a rFR is the most talented starting OL we have, and it's not even close. We have 18 players on scholarship here. 15 of them are rFR or higher, and out of those 15, how many can you say have a really bright future? Gates and Foster, that's about it.

TE - The only player we have here that may force a DC to worry is Cethan. The rest would be at best considered 'blocking' TEs.

DE - The cupboard is so bare here it's just astonishing. Our 3 best DEs are a true freshman in Alex Davis (I would bet he plays next week), a rFR who was a TE until this year, and a SR walk-on who is currently injured.

LB - We had 4 scholarship players here until Riley came and got 4 players in late last year.

Going to quote this lovely piece of optimism from BigWillie. It's not cheerful but it is spot on, IMO. I thought Davis was a DT but we really can't get through this season with the kind of DE play we've been seeing. And that's a sobering commentary on the initial state of the OL.

The Davis twins are DTs. Alex Davis is a DE that was commited to Georgia Southern who IIRC had run out of OVs but committed to us anyways without a visit. Tall and lanky basketball type body, kind of like RG. I think he needs to gain some weight but if he can help on third downs it might be worth pulling his redshirt.

Oh! Good deal, thanks. I didn't realize we had a 6'5, 225lb true freshman DE on the bench. That sounds like exactly what we need. Play the man!