What Did You Expect?

I expected an improved O but didn't expect a TA like 4 intercept game by Lee.  Not all were directly his fault but that is how the ball bounces sometimes. 

I did expect more pressure from the D.  I guess I had visions of wild eyed LBs rushing the QB and locking down anyone getting bast the DL.  I think the DL is doing a good job messing up the middle but overall the lack of pressure is hurting us and exposing us to the short pass game that opens up the long ball.  Losing Chris in the back greatly hurt our coverage.

 
BIG ERN said:
I will admit I didn't think our defense would be this bad through 2 games, but I definitely saw obvious signs that we would struggle in 2017. There was a compiling list of red flags and caution tape during spring ball. The fact that people had us going 10-2 was pretty dumb to say the least. 

  1. Lost a 4 year starter at QB. Wasn't the best QB, but a lot of experience gone. 
  2. Lost our leading rusher
  3. Lost our top 4/6 receivers 
  4. Starting a tight end who has no game experience and zero catches 
  5. New defensive coordinator and the switch to a 3-4 defense without having the personnel to do so 
  6. Lost our top 2 tackle and sack leaders. Kieron Williams who had 5 INTs doesn't see the field 
  7. Lost our best corner to an injury. Starting two players with their first starts of career. Moved Kalu to safety 
  8. Crossover conference games of Penn St and Ohio St
  9. Only have a few starters on our whole roster who have enough talent to get drafted into the NFL. Only 1 last year 
  10. Mike Riley has zero conference championships. Nebraska hasn't won one since 99' 
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This is just trying to pass off random tidbits as saying you were right about something.

Congrats?

 
Undone said:
What I saw on Saturday was a team that pretty much stuffed Royce Freeman when he ran the ball. 

 
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I'm honestly not trying to sound biased, but what part about 29 carries for 153 yards and 2 TD's means "Pretty much stuffed"?

His stat line for Southern Utah was 24-150-4. 

Did Southern Utah stuff him too?

 
It seemed like, in the first half, that Freeman wasn't much of a factor. He punched two in from short yardage, but otherwise didn't seem to be a huge factor.

I can see why someone thought he was "stuffed."  His yards on paper seem bigger than they did watching the game.

 
BIG ERN said:
I thought 8-4 with losses to Oregon, Ohio St, Penn St and one somewhere else such as WI, IA or NW. I didn't think we would go 5-7 by any means, but thought there were way too many high expectations heading into this season. I'm not even saying it should be the expectation, but this is where our program is at currently. 
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I'm one of the goofballs that picked 10-2. I wouldn't necessarily say I expected that but I did think it was within reach on the high end. That hope has been severely tempered based on 2 or 3 things I saw Saturday. 1) that we actually came out with that defense as some kind of plan against Oregon. Guess I was hoping they went ultra conservative against Arky St. I was wrong-that's all we've got and it likely won't get a lot better fast. Although I do think it might be okay against much of our conference schedule.  2) I realized Lee was susceptible to mistakes. It wasn't that I didn't think he was by any means but he made a lot of bad decisions throwing into tight coverage and missed some relatively easy passes. Still light years ahead of TA in the throwing game but not invincible by any means. 3) I've finally lost hope that this staff can be trusted to manage the game clock. 2015 was a big red flag and then it got a bit better last year but it has been pretty pathetic in both our games so far this year. Considering we are going to be in some scoring races, it likely will end up costing us a game. I should probably back my expectation down to 8-4. People that are predicting only 5 or 6 wins aren't being realistic IMO. Probably more just a way to show their dissatisfaction.

 
I don't like that last point. But obviously can't say just that one but if we haven't won a conference title since '99 doesn't mean we couldn't win this year on it's own. Hell we could still win it. This team has a bunch of time to improve.

 
I don't disagree Knapp, it did seem like he was contained. However stat lines are hard to argue with. 

I was actually thinking about it during the game about how to measure how good a back is. If an RB has 25 carries for 146 but 1 carry was for 82. Was he shut down? Yea, probably so.

So I understand the point made and actually felt the same way at times during the game Saturday.

 
knapplc said:
It seemed like, in the first half, that Freeman wasn't much of a factor. He punched two in from short yardage, but otherwise didn't seem to be a huge factor.

I can see why someone thought he was "stuffed."  His yards on paper seem bigger than they did watching the game.
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Freeman had 61 yards on 11 carries in the first half.  His first run was for 28 yards, and another carry for 10 yards, but he was held in check for most of the first half, as Oregon had more success through the air.

Freeman gained 51 yards on 8 carries in the 3rd quarter, as Oregon went more conservative and ran the ball more.  He had one nice drive with 4 carries for 28 yards he was kept contained pretty well.

In the 4th quarter, Freeman had 10 carries for 41 yards, as Oregon was trying to run out the clock.  He gained 19 of the yards on the final drive to seal the game after Lee's last INT.

So, all in all, I would say that Freeman was effective, at least in keeping the NU defense honest.  I am sure his running threat enabled some of the deep passes in the first half, and he did just enough damage in the 2nd half to move the ball for Oregon.

 
Thanks for the rundown, CH.  It does seem, from those carries & Mav's figures, that despite what Taggart said, they were trying to burn clock the entire 2nd half.

Which is weird because that's the opposite of what he said he'd do, and not fitting with their M.O.  There would have been a LOT of second-guessing if Nebraska had been able to tie that game up.

Taggart is lucky we couldn't.  Eugene would have a completely different tone right now.

 
knapplc said:
Thanks for the rundown, CH.  It does seem, from those carries & Mav's figures, that despite what Taggart said, they were trying to burn clock the entire 2nd half.

Which is weird because that's the opposite of what he said he'd do, and not fitting with their M.O.  There would have been a LOT of second-guessing if Nebraska had been able to tie that game up.

Taggart is lucky we couldn't.  Eugene would have a completely different tone right now.
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I am sure Taggart got nervous after Herbert's INT in the 3rd quarter.  It's too bad that NU wasn't able to cut the game to 7 earlier in the 2nd half, because with Oregon up by 2 scores, they were able to keep things conservative and try to kill clock.  I don't think it was a terrible strategy, as I have been critical of Langsdorf and Riley for passing the ball in the 4th quarter when NU has been up by 2+ scores, when the clock is your best friend.

 
As a whole, I'd expect us to be better in year 3. These were the type of games Bo couldn't win and I am sure we all remember SE telling us Riley was here to win titles. So in year 3 I didn't expect us to be in a  rebuilding phase.

 
BoneyardHusker said:
As a whole, I'd expect us to be better in year 3. These were the type of games Bo couldn't win and I am sure we all remember SE telling us Riley was here to win titles. So in year 3 I didn't expect us to be in a  rebuilding phase.
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I thought Riley was content on taking the long-game approach to building the program, but the media commented that Riley had an "edge" to him at today's press conference.  Maybe Riley is realizing that this could be it for him at NU if he doesn't see significant improvement this year.  The rest of the year will be interesting.

 
Undone said:
This is what I keep saying: What currently matters most for each season at this point in order to take those "next steps" is to beat Wisconsin and Iowa in the same season.

What I saw on Saturday was a team that pretty much stuffed Royce Freeman when he ran the ball. That's what we need. I'm waiting for us to play the run-heavy teams on our schedule that determine whether or not we play for the conference title.

I didn't expect to compete with Ohio State this season. I didn't expect that. So, I'm not worried about that.

What I'm concentrated on is October 7 against Wisconsin here in town. That's the game that matters. I'm waiting until that very game to say whether or not the Diaco Experiment was a bad idea. If he's coaching a defense that stops the run, I'll take it. Seriously.

On offense, Lee needs to settle in, and our young WRs need to run their routes and get open. I'm not panicking for either side of the ball yet *at all.*
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Freeman gained 153 yards on 29 carries. 

 
knapplc said:
To lose six more games, Nebraska is going to have to lose to two of these teams: Rutgers, Illinois, Purdue, Northwestern, Minnesota.  Yes, it's possible that we lose two of those games, but to have predicted two of those as losses, while still predicting an Oregon win, would be exceedingly strange.
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  • Minnesota is playing inspired ball right now. Wouldn't sleep on them.
  • We all remember when Langsdorf stroked out the last time we went to Illinois. Maybe we just leave him behind this time?
  • Northwestern is typically successful in our stadium, for some odd reason. 
  • Pur-******g-due actually looks potent on offense and has a hell of a QB and WR corps. Something our defense doesn't seem equipped to stop.


The only gimmie of those five appears to be Rutgers, and losing three of the four aforementioned teams is a distinct possibility. Couple that with losses to Wisky, PSU, tOSU, and Oregon...and we're looking at a 4-8 season as a legitimate worst-case scenario right now. 

Now...do I think this will happen? Most likely no...but the way this team has been playing, I'd dare say our chances of going 1-4 against this group are decidedly greater than us going 4-1 or 5-0 at this point.

 
ColoradoHusk said:
I thought Riley was content on taking the long-game approach to building the program, but the media commented that Riley had an "edge" to him at today's press conference.  Maybe Riley is realizing that this could be it for him at NU if he doesn't see significant improvement this year.  The rest of the year will be interesting.
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meh, we will win up to Wisconsin, most likely lost to Wisconsin and then Ohio State, keep winning until Penn State. Iowa is a toss up. We make a bowl and maybe win, maybe lose. Either way there will be enough wins this season to smooth over the losses and we will continued to be sold to be patient and that this was all a rebuilding year. I scratch my head to think a year 3 is a rebuilding year. I see years 1 and 2 being rebuilds, but year 3 is when you should start to see your strides. Instead Nebraska will take a step back from last year as far as wins and losses go.

 
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