WHAT DID WE LEARN- The 2024 Season Edition

[floridacorn]

I'll qoute/paraphrase Rhule to answer this...The plan Rhule had wasn't working, so he's going a different direction.  I think that's a universal statement that speaks to the staff & roster. 

I need to see him make a change on Teams before I give him too much credit for accurately assessing the situation & making adjustments, but at least he's not lying to himself, or gaslighting the fan base.   

The question however then becomes how much groundwork has he really laid in this 3 year program building effort if he's abandoned the original blueprint?  I'll be optimistic and say progress can be made by trail and error even if the original blueprint is no longer applicable.  Whatever instability it creates/created, was needed.  

Other than that, the BIG is better than the fan base can admit even if they majority of teams are boring as paste.  The margin for error in the BIG is small, more speed and play making is needed to create a little more space between NU and the 2nd tier teams in the BIG imo.

 

[gossamorharpy]

And I think separation is overrated. All of the playoff teams have WR that can make catches with one or two guys draped all over them.  It’s amazing. But then the passes are like threading the needle. 
 

also I’m not bullish on DR at this point. I love what he does for the university and the fire he brings, but his lack of mobility, slow decision making, and weird choices

(example sliding way before the sticks). 
 

maybe a much improved O-line, a featured RB, and WR that can catch in traffic will improve the optics more. But then, what college QB wouldn’t be successful with those pieces? 

How bout a WR that can simply catch wide open big plays. It’s a shame the Iowa game played out the way it did- had neyor simply caught the easiest catch and run of his life we would’ve very likely ended the season with comfortable wins against both wiscy and Iowa and a trip to a better bowl. Imagine how different the narrative of the team, and mood of the fan base, would be. 

Our WR room should be vastly better next year.  I think the bigger plus isn’t even the players but having a full offseason with a competent OC. 
 

i agree with some of your critiques- but to say you’re not bullish on a true freshman qb who just set the school record in passing yards for a freshman and led many passing categories for true freshman in the big ten and nation is being a bit too critical on the kid.  All of this despite the glaring deficiencies player and coaching wise outlined on a near weekly basis on this site.  
 

it’s also worth calling out that simply having an average special teams unit will have a tremendous positive impact on the offense and raiola. We were down right embarassing in regards to field positioning, leaving points on the board with missed FGs and almost averaging a blocked kick per game. Not even a veteran qb is going to make up for the complete s#!tshow special teams was

 

[krc1995]

How bout a WR that can simply catch wide open big plays. It’s a shame the Iowa game played out the way it did- had neyor simply caught the easiest catch and run of his life we would’ve very likely ended the season with comfortable wins against both wiscy and Iowa and a trip to a better bowl. Imagine how different the narrative of the team, and mood of the fan base, would be. 

Our WR room should be vastly better next year.  I think the bigger plus isn’t even the players but having a full offseason with a competent OC. 
 

i agree with some of your critiques- but to say you’re not bullish on a true freshman qb who just set the school record in passing yards for a freshman and led many passing categories for true freshman in the big ten and nation is being a bit too critical on the kid.  All of this despite the glaring deficiencies player and coaching wise outlined on a near weekly basis on this site.  
 

it’s also worth calling out that simply having an average special teams unit will have a tremendous positive impact on the offense and raiola. We were down right embarassing in regards to field positioning, leaving points on the board with missed FGs and almost averaging a blocked kick per game. Not even a veteran qb is going to make up for the complete s#!tshow special teams was

You didn’t read my post as I intended . You only read it to find key words to disagree with. 

 

[admo]

Iowa and iLLinois.  I think NU let those wins slip away.  Should have finished 9-4 instead of 7-6.

Perhaps NU let a golden opportunity slip away at Ohio State.  Couldn't score at the goal line, and the questionable penalty flags thrown on the Huskers and obvious no-calls for the Buckeyes.  At the end of the day, I think tOSU was looking past us to Penn State.  And they played us right after Indiana dropped a 56 burger on us.  

For all the good stuff the defense did this year, they had many games that they could not get off the field.  The secondary played worse than the previous year.  

And offensively, it took a new OC to determine that Emmett Johnson's value to the team deserved more playing opportunity.  And the new OC was also able to get DR to get the ball out of his hand quicker and make smart quicker decisions - even if it meant a short pass to the RB or TE.  

Had NU won the Iowa game it would have been a 3 game winning streak going into the off season (Wisconsin, Iowa & BC in Bowl Game).

The Bowl Game was a great ending though and I am happy for the Seniors.  I think this team will be a better in the off season and should have goals of 8-9 wins and a Bowl Game.

 

[gossamorharpy]

You didn’t read my post as I intended . You only read it to find key words to disagree with. 

Naw I read it and agree with more than what u think. I just disagree with fans who think an 18 year old is supposed to single handily turn a 7 year losing program into a 9-10 win team by himself. 
 

raiola has things to improve upon no doubt, but his need for improvement doesn’t even crack top 5-8 things of easy fixes across this whole team

 

[krc1995]

Just a thought here. I feel the mobile QB running is not really learnable. You have it or you don’t. So it’s not super surprising that we’d have mobile QB come in and be good at running as freshmen. And they are sometimes compensating for what they lack in traditional QB skills. DR is a different type of QB and more of the skills he has/needs are learnable and can improve with time. We’ve seen multiple times where our freshman phenom running QBs were great their 1st year then got injured and were never as good. Hopefully DR has the opposite trajectory. 

I dont  disagree - you can’t teach speed. But I’m not really thinking dual threat.  I’m thinking mobility as a state of mind. That’s what I consider Patrick Mahomes  a quickness of decision and the grit to get it done. 

 

[Toe]

Ultimately, the question we ask ourselves is does he make the leap the Martinez’s never made in their 2nd and 3rd years and actually develop..

T-Mart was a better passer as a junior than as a freshman, even if he still had his limitations.

 

[Enhance]

raiola has things to improve upon no doubt, but his need for improvement doesn’t even crack top 5-8 things of easy fixes across this whole team

I'm mostly in agreement here. Objectively speaking, we'd all agree DR needs to get better, but my concern level is pretty low and I think there are bigger issues that need to be addressed offensively... like o-line play, having a legitimately good RB1 and RB2, and better NFL caliber talent at WR.

Frankly I'm a little surprised at some of the negativity surrounding DR... I know he wasn't great but I thought he mostly lived up to the hype given the tools he had around him as a true freshman start who swapped OC's 75% of the way through the season.

 

[Decked]

Went back to watch some games..and woof. Hartzog and Neyor are awful. We have to find a way to bench Hartzog.

 

[TGHusker]

As always, went by too quick.

Got to thinking about this.  In the 90s we could count on Neb being one of if not the last game of the season.  Moral of the story:  Get into the playoff and the season will last longer.  Win one and then 2 playoff games and the season stretches, we get more exposure, more players wanting to either transfer to or be recruited to Nebraska and we start building that cycle.  Each year being relevant enough to get into the playoffs and becoming 'cool' again.  Maybe next year to the one that follows.  If playoff expands to 16, it will help our chances.  

 

[Mavric]

[No message]

 

[BigRedBuster]

I have absolultly no clue what that means.

 

[caveman99]

I have absolultly no clue what that means.

 

[mwj98]

Went back to watch some games..and woof. Hartzog and Neyor are awful. We have to find a way to bench Hartzog.

Same! Same! Same! I went back and watch some last night. It was tough to stomach. Hartzog is awful. Neyor’s drops cost the team….period. 

 

[lo country]

I have absolultly no clue what that means.

All I saw teams that were in playoffs and we are linked with them somehow.  I take that as a win. Rhule might have taken away or spring game, but nobody and mean nobody will keep NU from being undefeated in the off season.  @MavricThank you for this statistic, that at least in my mind, makes us in good company. Again, off season world champs!!  Unsure what the 5 year high was, but it's improvement!!!