What We Learned: South Alabama Edition

[alwayshusking]

Loved the way we played. I wish we had more talent at some spots but that is what it is, nothing this staff can do about that this year. Gave up some big pass plays but shut them out in the run game. 24 carries for 19 yards w/o 2 starters at LB. I know it's only vs USA but I yearn for those type of numbers.

I think we're going to be really good when we balance out the roster.

 

[admo]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I was underwhelmed. I have no idea how good SA is.

The tackling overall has been better. The run D looks ok, the pass D is terrible. No coverage, no pass rush even when blitzing.

The offense is not good. The play calling is horrible. The best I can say about Tommy is that he was invisible tonight. He missed a few passes but he didn't have all of the miss reads and turnovers that he is prone to. He was as solid as I've seen him.

And, we still have the penalty issues that Riley teams are known for.

Color me shocked...

The truth is a very bitter pill to swallow.

So, is AS now some dark horse for the playoff?

LOL That's not truth. That's your opinion. And a high horse one

 

[74Hunter]

I learned that the odd guy standing next to Riley without a headset is Bruce Read and he makes $450k.

He's got a great gig. I wish I could make that bank with that performance.

I have no clue what you're talking about.

1) Drew Brown was 2/2 in kicking tonight.

2) Didn't really have a chance to return punts or kicks.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I was underwhelmed. I have no idea how good SA is.

The tackling overall has been better. The run D looks ok, the pass D is terrible. No coverage, no pass rush even when blitzing.The offense is not good. The play calling is horrible. The best I can say about Tommy is that he was invisible tonight. He missed a few passes but he didn't have all of the miss reads and turnovers that he is prone to. He was as solid as I've seen him.

And, we still have the penalty issues that Riley teams are known for.

Explain.

The coverage teams seem to be pretty good, as they were under the previous staff. The return game and the FG kicking has regressed.The play calling lost the last game for us. It really wasn't much better tonight, but we played what apparently is a bad team. Throwing the ball all over the park is not going to win any meaningful games here.

Tommy played as well as I've seen him play. He missed a few easy passes, but he didn't turn the ball over like he normally does (2 last week). He threw the ball off of his back foot way too much tonight. Essentially, I didn't really notice him because he played well and did what he is supposed to do.

I don't know how this apparent regression in the return game is the fault of Bruce Read. Drew Brown was a 67% kicker last year and in 2 games so far he's below that mark, but every kicker is capable of having a bad game--and we have a small sample size--regardless of who their special teams coach is. OU's kicker went 1/4 against us in 2009. Our return game is also missing our biggest return threat which is again not the fault of Bruce Read.

It's complete hindsight bias to say that the playcalling lost the game for us last week. There's absolutely no guaranteed incompletion on the Hail Mary pass if we rushed 1, 2, or 8 more defenders. There's also no guarantee that a different 3rd & short playcall would've produced a better result. I also don't know how you can adequately assess playcalling and then somehow determine it = bad when we won by THIRTY-NINE points. No coach will ever call a perfect game because a result is not the sole product of playcalling, the perfect playcall doesn't look so perfect if it's not executed or if the defense does their part.

Tommy was 21/30 (70%) passing tonight and is 45/70 (64.2%) passing for the year. Aside from one bad quarter against BYU (11 of is 25 incompletions come from that quarter), Tommy is having a phenomenal start to this year under a new coaching staff and his improvement so far is exceeding all but the most unrealistic fans' expectations.

I thought that Read is the designated ST coach with years of experience. No? If he is worth his pay, he would get better results. Dude, he was clueless a week before the opener when he was asked about how his special teams were going to be configured. He is a waste.
Yes., any competent coach would not have needed to call 2 timeouts in the opponents last drive and would have let that drive stall. And a competent coach would have seen that Byus Qb was a yard short of a first down on his scramble and would have asked for a review. Rushing 4 DLs and dropping 7 to cover 5 is a no brainer.

As I said, Tommy played the best game that I've seen him play. I hope that it carries forward.

 

[Scratchtown]

I didn't learn much.

I learned that NU can still dominate the crap out of inferior opponents.

These aren't the games we're measuring against the previous staff.

It was nice to see the ball be moved on the ground, but I would still not be confident against a strong defense and especially ones that have athletic/strong DLines. Such as Michigan State. Conference play could be shaky. I

I think we're an 8-4, 7-5 type team, but because of the trending of the conference. 7-5 is better than what it was the past few years. IMO.

 

[grandpasknee]

TA! TA! TA! So impressive.

We're asking a lot out of our corners. Might be kind of scary.

Kudos to Hovey, Moore, and everyone else. All of a sudden every guy we've got at receiver looks like a solid threat. What a difference some new coaches make, vis-a-vis the passing game.

Enjoy this night, we don't know if we'll be able to next week. That should be a big road test for a young team. Could be a shootout. Love this season so far!

Unless it is a complete meltdown, blow out loss next week, I'll enjoy that game too, for the very reason that it is a big road test for a young team. It will be exciting to see how they stack up and if even more improvement is made in practice this week. I love me some Husker football, and before we know it, the bowl game final gun will sound and it'll be back to 7 1/2 months of football siberia.

 

[grandpasknee]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I was underwhelmed. I have no idea how good SA is.

The tackling overall has been better. The run D looks ok, the pass D is terrible. No coverage, no pass rush even when blitzing.

The offense is not good. The play calling is horrible. The best I can say about Tommy is that he was invisible tonight. He missed a few passes but he didn't have all of the miss reads and turnovers that he is prone to. He was as solid as I've seen him.

And, we still have the penalty issues that Riley teams are known for.

Tommy Armstrong 21 for 30 / 70% completion rate. 270 yard, Zero Interceptions, Two touchdowns. That is a fine performance for an invisible person.

 

[grandpasknee]

There is no way we watched the same game.

Same here. The only big gripe I have is our secondary. Play calling was pretty good. Offense was pretty much everything we could ask for (even if it was against S Alabama). We made field goals. Our run defense was pretty stout.

If anything, the only head scratching I did was over keeping the starters in as long as we did.

I wondered the same thing, but Riley gave a solid answer in the post game. He wanted to give the starters a little more live game action because the need it. All the practice in the world doesn't equate to live game time reps. And I'm one that always gripes about not giving second and third stringers the opportunity to develop. In this case, I can certainly see his point.

 

[Scratchtown]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I was underwhelmed. I have no idea how good SA is.

The tackling overall has been better. The run D looks ok, the pass D is terrible. No coverage, no pass rush even when blitzing.

The offense is not good. The play calling is horrible. The best I can say about Tommy is that he was invisible tonight. He missed a few passes but he didn't have all of the miss reads and turnovers that he is prone to. He was as solid as I've seen him.

And, we still have the penalty issues that Riley teams are known for.

Tommy Armstrong 21 for 30 / 70% completion rate. 270 yard, Zero Interceptions, Two touchdowns. That is a fine performance for an invisible person.

YA BUT, BUT HE DIDN'T RUSH FOR 200 YARDS ON TOP OF THAT!!!!!!!!

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

I learned that the odd guy standing next to Riley without a headset is Bruce Read and he makes $450k.

He's got a great gig. I wish I could make that bank with that performance.

I have no clue what you're talking about.

1) Drew Brown was 2/2 in kicking tonight.

2) Didn't really have a chance to return punts or kicks.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I was underwhelmed. I have no idea how good SA is.

The tackling overall has been better. The run D looks ok, the pass D is terrible. No coverage, no pass rush even when blitzing.The offense is not good. The play calling is horrible. The best I can say about Tommy is that he was invisible tonight. He missed a few passes but he didn't have all of the miss reads and turnovers that he is prone to. He was as solid as I've seen him.

And, we still have the penalty issues that Riley teams are known for.

Explain.

The coverage teams seem to be pretty good, as they were under the previous staff. The return game and the FG kicking has regressed.The play calling lost the last game for us. It really wasn't much better tonight, but we played what apparently is a bad team. Throwing the ball all over the park is not going to win any meaningful games here.

Tommy played as well as I've seen him play. He missed a few easy passes, but he didn't turn the ball over like he normally does (2 last week). He threw the ball off of his back foot way too much tonight. Essentially, I didn't really notice him because he played well and did what he is supposed to do.

I don't know how this apparent regression in the return game is the fault of Bruce Read. Drew Brown was a 67% kicker last year and in 2 games so far he's below that mark, but every kicker is capable of having a bad game--and we have a small sample size--regardless of who their special teams coach is. OU's kicker went 1/4 against us in 2009. Our return game is also missing our biggest return threat which is again not the fault of Bruce Read.

It's complete hindsight bias to say that the playcalling lost the game for us last week. There's absolutely no guaranteed incompletion on the Hail Mary pass if we rushed 1, 2, or 8 more defenders. There's also no guarantee that a different 3rd & short playcall would've produced a better result. I also don't know how you can adequately assess playcalling and then somehow determine it = bad when we won by THIRTY-NINE points. No coach will ever call a perfect game because a result is not the sole product of playcalling, the perfect playcall doesn't look so perfect if it's not executed or if the defense does their part.

Tommy was 21/30 (70%) passing tonight and is 45/70 (64.2%) passing for the year. Aside from one bad quarter against BYU (11 of is 25 incompletions come from that quarter), Tommy is having a phenomenal start to this year under a new coaching staff and his improvement so far is exceeding all but the most unrealistic fans' expectations.

I thought that Read is the designated ST coach with years of experience. No? If he is worth his pay, he would get better results. Dude, he was clueless a week before the opener when he was asked about how his special teams were going to be configured. He is a waste.
Yes., any competent coach would not have needed to call 2 timeouts in the opponents last drive and would have let that drive stall. And a competent coach would have seen that Byus Qb was a yard short of a first down on his scramble and would have asked for a review. Rushing 4 DLs and dropping 7 to cover 5 is a no brainer.

As I said, Tommy played the best game that I've seen him play. I hope that it carries forward.

Yes, because as we all know, the relationship between experience and output exists in a vacuum. The more experienced a coach is, the better results he should produce. It's so obvious, so simple, and completely wrong! So many extraneous factors effect the experience-result relationship, and they of course differ in magnitude. But we lost a major component of our return game during fall camp when DPE went down with an injury. Bruce Read couldn't have planned for it and we don't have the personnel in place to replicate DPE's athleticism and ability. Foltz is out with an injury as well which obviously affects our kicking game.

Not to mention we really haven't had much of a chance to return a kickoff or a punt this year. Most of BYU's kickoffs occurred when they had the wind on a windy day and they rugby punted every one of their punts, which are difficult to return. Both of South Alabama's kickoffs went into the end zone and their punts weren't all that great or returnable either. So yeah, the numbers aren't as phenomenal as they were last year, but the inputs aren't the same either. 0% of those are the fault of Bruce Read and it's overly simplistic to say that because he's more experienced we should get better results. I'm willing to bet that we probably will once we get DPE back or once we have the chance to actually return punts and kicks. The only solid assessment of special teams we have is the kick and punt coverage which we both agree has been pretty good and improved.

Here's the definition of hindsight bias:

• The inclination, after an event has occurred, to see the event as having been predictable, despite there having been little or no objective basis for predicting it.

Of course! If only we had not called a timeout, BYU would've never completed a 1 in 500 type play to win the game! If only we had rushed 4 and used 7 to cover 5, BYU would've never completed a 1 in 500 type play to win the game! If only we had called Y play instead of Z play on 3rd & 1, BYU would've never completed a 1 in 500 type play to win the game! I mean, Boise State rushed 6 and BYU still completed a go-ahead Hail Mary of sorts.

I'm glad you liked the way Tommy played tonight. He really has improved as a passer, mechanically and with his decision making. Keep rooting for him to do well as I find it much more fun than to hope that they perform poorly so I get to make a point.

 

[hskrfan4life]

Tommy has a 63.3% in two games. See what happens the rest of the way, but he looked good.

 

[Kernal]

There is no way we watched the same game.

Same here. The only big gripe I have is our secondary. Play calling was pretty good. Offense was pretty much everything we could ask for (even if it was against S Alabama). We made field goals. Our run defense was pretty stout.

If anything, the only head scratching I did was over keeping the starters in as long as we did.

I wondered the same thing, but Riley gave a solid answer in the post game. He wanted to give the starters a little more live game action because the need it. All the practice in the world doesn't equate to live game time reps. And I'm one that always gripes about not giving second and third stringers the opportunity to develop. In this case, I can certainly see his point.

It was good to eventually see a lot of those backups get in for the bulk of the fourth quarter.

 

[Scratchtown]

74Hunter. How can you enjoy life if you are so damn negative about something so petty? I mean, it's one thing to be negative about not winning, but being negative about HOW WE WON 48-9...it's just baffling to me.

I'm honestly not trying to be a prick, I'm actually really curious to know why you are the way you are? I'm not looking for an answer that involves NU's past. Those days will never be back, the sooner you figure that out, the sooner you can enjoy life again.

Using qualifying statements doesn't allow you to break the rules. I've deleted some of this post, please refrain from using that sort of language here. Thanks!

 

[grandpasknee]

One thing I noticed in both games so far. It seems that every third or fourth snap when Tommy is in the shotgun is high and he has to reach up for it. That will bite us at some point if it keeps up. And tonight, on a quick out to Tommy's right, it was a timing pass and that extra part of a second meant the receiver got the ball after the defender got there, instead of a fraction of a second before. Football is a game of inches....and milliseconds.

Now, how is that for picky?! Has anyone else noticed that?

 

[ericdolph]

I learned that the odd guy standing next to Riley without a headset is Bruce Read and he makes $450k.

He's got a great gig. I wish I could make that bank with that performance.

I have no clue what you're talking about.

1) Drew Brown was 2/2 in kicking tonight.

2) Didn't really have a chance to return punts or kicks.

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I was underwhelmed. I have no idea how good SA is.

The tackling overall has been better. The run D looks ok, the pass D is terrible. No coverage, no pass rush even when blitzing.The offense is not good. The play calling is horrible. The best I can say about Tommy is that he was invisible tonight. He missed a few passes but he didn't have all of the miss reads and turnovers that he is prone to. He was as solid as I've seen him.

And, we still have the penalty issues that Riley teams are known for.

Explain.

The coverage teams seem to be pretty good, as they were under the previous staff. The return game and the FG kicking has regressed.
The play calling lost the last game for us. It really wasn't much better tonight, but we played what apparently is a bad team. Throwing the ball all over the park is not going to win any meaningful games here.

Tommy played as well as I've seen him play. He missed a few easy passes, but he didn't turn the ball over like he normally does (2 last week). He threw the ball off of his back foot way too much tonight. Essentially, I didn't really notice him because he played well and did what he is supposed to do.

Does the game last week have anything to do with the game this week? Nope. Also, I wonder why our return game has regressed... Open your eyes Mr. Negative. Do you really expect us to be perfect after 2 games? That'd would be extremely unreasonable and ridiculous... If we are successful under Riley you might as well disappear from any board you frequent because there will be no use for people like yourself.

 

[huskerhill]

Maybe I'm in the minority, but I was underwhelmed. I have no idea how good SA is.

The tackling overall has been better. The run D looks ok, the pass D is terrible. No coverage, no pass rush even when blitzing.

The offense is not good. The play calling is horrible. The best I can say about Tommy is that he was invisible tonight. He missed a few passes but he didn't have all of the miss reads and turnovers that he is prone to. He was as solid as I've seen him.

And, we still have the penalty issues that Riley teams are known for.

Color me shocked...

The truth is a very bitter pill to swallow.So, is AS now some dark horse for the playoff?

No, we were expected to beat them and beat them bad and that is exactly what we did. We did what we were supposed to. What else did you want to see other than Pelini on the sidelines?

Sorry, I didn't see a whoop a$$ performance tonight.
And since you obviously don't pay attention I don't care if Bo is on the sideline.

I guess I remember what the 80's and 90's were. This was no whoop a$$. We gave up a lot of yards and big plays. The offense was mostly pedestrian against a sub par opponent. I'm not ready to crown this team as playoff ready.

I do remember '94 huskers beating Wyoming by 10 points while surrending 325+ yards in the air but in DONU defense Wyoming did go on to win 6 games....