What did we learn? Purdue edition

The ability to plug holes with the next man up speaks volumes to this coaching staff’s ability to develop & coach up EVERYBODY. I also like how one week it’s Malachi Coleman & the next it’s Jaylen Lloyd. 
 

Pretty amazed that the “patchwork” OL played as well as it did. Rhule is hitting the right notes in instilling confidence in players (like Alvano & Emmett Johnson).

The FG block was an exercise in film study, long before the game began. Great job Coach Foley & great execution by your student athletes.

This was a masterful job of coaching & game planning. To win as convincingly as they did with the number of miscues? It’s a dream season (that started 0-2). 

 
I like "And a ceiling that remains unrealized".

What do these games look like minus turnovers?  What do they look like with better field possession?

I think it's exciting but also discouraging because there doesn't seem to be any progress.

 
Husker in WI said:
Jenkins made a lot of plays, but it was frustrating how many of them started with being unblocked.
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I was at the game so I didn't get to see great replays.  But it seemed like there were a lot of plays where we weren't blocking the backside DE and then ran a slow-developing play away from them.  Not that the play was designed to be slow-developing but we were too hesitant to pick a lane and go and that got us chased down from behind.

 
Mavric said:
I was at the game so I didn't get to see great replays.  But it seemed like there were a lot of plays where we weren't blocking the backside DE and then ran a slow-developing play away from them.  Not that the play was designed to be slow-developing but we were too hesitant to pick a lane and go and that got us chased down from behind.
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That definitely happened, but as I'm re-watching there are at least 3 of each of the following (some were the other Edge, Scourton)

  • Pulling Guard just gets totally deked and barely brushes his shoulder (I saw at least 2 Lutovsky, 1 Evans-Jenkins)
  • Backside TE is tasked with at least slowing the edge down and just fails miserably

And the reverse to Lloyd where it was set up pretty nicely but he was able to shed Boerkircher easily and drag Lloyd down. Definitely plenty of plays where indecision gave the unblocked backside defender time to come in, and when they did they hit hard. Maybe they are just so good they made it look easy, and I definitely came away impressed with both of them. But I also wonder if Piper/Nouili wouldn't have made a significant difference, some of those plays with pulling Guards looked real good until you see the ball carrier on the ground and the OL turned around watching the guy who just beat him.

 
For the first several years - maybe even up until this year - the philosophy among Big Ten opponents has been to start the game hard, punch Nebraska in the mouth, and they'll  fold.

And we watched that happen, time and again. Our team seemed to lose to equal or even less-talented teams because we lacked the same will to win. 

Maybe that's changing. It's one thing to say what Robinson is saying in this quote. But we've seen the team back it up so far this year. It's refreshing.


Huskers' chippiness

Nebraska and Purdue both brought their hit sticks to Saturday’s game.
NU and PU traded big bops between the whistles and more than a few verbal barbs after the whistle.
Husker running back Joshua Fleeks got whistled for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for extracurricular activity.
 
NU defensive tackle Ty Robinson said the chippiness — which contributed to 14 overall penalties — stemmed from Purdue’s comments.
“Some people have some things to say about Nebraska,” Robinson said. “They’re not the only ones. Come find out. Here we are. A lot of us took that personal. It wasn’t supposed to be anything like that, but they made it that way, so we were going to let them know, ‘alright, you’re in our house now, this is what you’ve got to go against, let’s see how you manage.’”
 
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gobiggergoredder said:
I like "And a ceiling that remains unrealized".

What do these games look like minus turnovers?  What do they look like with better field possession?

I think it's exciting but also discouraging because there doesn't seem to be any progress.
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On his podcast this week, Rob Zatechka explains that it’s tough to change something like turnovers which has been a glaring problem for many years and multiple coaches. That turnover problem is a program issue, which is tough to change for a first year coach.

I would also say that the injuries and the lack of depth are also having an impact on turnovers for NU this year. We are starting an inexperienced QB in Haarberg, who is getting beat up physically. His backup is even more turnover prone. The RB room has been riddled with injuries and now relying on a 4th string I-back. The punt returner against Purdue was replacing Kemp, who has never had issues fielding punts. The fumbled kickoff was almost a fluke play, caused by Purdue going after an up back fielding a kickoff.  Teams are also going to be more likely to try for turnovers more aggressively against NU because how turnover-prone we have been. 

 
ColoradoHusk said:
On his podcast this week, Rob Zatechka explains that it’s tough to change something like turnovers which has been a glaring problem for many years and multiple coaches. That turnover problem is a program issue, which is tough to change for a first year coach.

I would also say that the injuries and the lack of depth are also having an impact on turnovers for NU this year. We are starting an inexperienced QB in Haarberg, who is getting beat up physically. His backup is even more turnover prone. The RB room has been riddled with injuries and now relying on a 4th string I-back. The punt returner against Purdue was replacing Kemp, who has never had issues fielding punts. The fumbled kickoff was almost a fluke play, caused by Purdue going after an up back fielding a kickoff.  Teams are also going to be more likely to try for turnovers more aggressively against NU because how turnover-prone we have been. 
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Regarding the part about ST, best move might be to just stick with Hill back there. He's not an inexperienced low-star.(Can't believe I just typed that with what I thought of his abilities last season.)

 
hskrpwr13 said:
Regarding the part about ST, best move might be to just stick with Hill back there. He's not an inexperienced low-star.(Can't believe I just typed that with what I thought of his abilities last season.)
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From his post-game presser, sounded like Ethan Nation might be the punt returner moving forward. Rhule mentioned Bullock fumbling and playing a lot of snaps at receiver, and said he told Nation it was his turn after the game. Now maybe Nation drops kicks all week in practice, or someone talks Rhule out of it - but it was in the context of talking about how pretty much everyone given an opportunity has been making the most of it, and Rhule wants to give more opportunities.

Side note, I don't think it's a knee-jerk reaction to Bullock muffing one either. He never even tried to field the subsequent punts in the game - one of which would've been tough and the right call was to let it drop, but the almost-touchback should have been a fair catch and he didn't go for it. And on their last punt we didn't even put a returner back, although that may have been to avoid a blocker getting clipped by the ball if it hung up in the wind. In any case, I think it got to Bullock's confidence and that's hard to come back from as a returner.

 
Fun facts via HOL:

  • The 15-play, 87-yard TD drive was the longest (time of possession) drive since 2017
  • Fidone's 4 TDs this year are the most by a NU TE since Kyler Reed had 8 in 2010
  • 7 of 8 opponents held under 100 rushing yards, most since 8 in 2009
  • Only allowed 3 first-quarter points and 16 first half points against the past 7 B1G West opponents
 
macroboy said:
If you told me we'd be 5-3 right now, I'd take it 10 out of 10 times.

Purdue has some nice D-ends.

The woman sitting at the table next to me at the Husker watch site I was at needed cutoff about 4 drinks before she was...she reminded me of some posters on here. Reminded me why i usually watch games alone.

Emmett Johnson has a little wiggle and burst to him.

When your Oline isn't very good, you can change them out and not notice very much.

Those of you complaining about coaching and play calling need to admit that the long drive on our first TD was great scheme and play calling...with only 3 of our original starters even!

Our 2nd TD, the shot after the turnover- we did that a couple weeks ago but missed and then went 3 and out. That day Satt was an idiot that needed fired, so it was still a bad idea yesterday, right? We should've run the ball? Right? 

The development of players that we all gave up on has been one of the many impressive aspects of this staff. Coaches are informed and play the long game. Fans can be uninformed and impatient.

Defense is balling! They are fast, swarm to the ball, tackle well! I really like how many guys see the field.

Ugly winning is better than losing. If Rhule gets this team to a bowl it goes to show how bad previous coaching was.  Each week we get a little closer to ugly winning the west and I'm all about it!
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See: Tamon Lynum, Koby Bretz, Tommi Hill, Phalen Sanford, Makai Gbayor, James Williams

All of the names above have been impact players at times on D or ST, and many here on HB had them as cuts on their "Get Down to 85 Scholarship" lists.

There are others like Nash that we knew had potential, but were unsure if they would even get close to reaching that at NU.

While I'm giving shout outs to those who are rarely mentioned... Marco Ortiz!

How long has it been since we have had ZERO complaints about a long snap through the first 8 games?!! He goes unnoticed but does his job well. Special teams improvements start with clean snaps, and we are lucky to have a steady snapper like him.

 
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