Talent

[huskrthill]

Ya you can't really take out any of it, it happened. I do think there is a lot to the Wisconsin game destroying us for the rest of the year. Go look at our stats after that.

It might also be a product of playing halfway decent teams down the stretch. We snuck by some mediocre teams early on. I don't think we really got worse as the season went on. I also think that we were fortunate to catch Wisconsin when we did, after they had played a brutal stretch of games.

 

[lincoln84]

Wiscy was the start of tougher competition for sure. Ohio State was the best team we faced including all of 2015. We just got punched in the face by a far superior staff and team.

 

[Troll Patrol]

IMO, we lost to Iowa mostly because we had to trot out a gimpy qb who was already not an accurate passer. The chances of scoring points were almost nil with Armstrong expected to pass for a win. I thought Riker should've be brought in at halftime. Really anyone would've been a better option. He is servicable when healthy, but should've been pulled after halftime. It couldn't have gotten much worse.

 

[BigRedDave]

Which lower end conference opponents did we lose to this year? Iowa? Well, they did beat Michigan, so......

And by some that must mean Ferentz is as good of a coach as Hairbaugh.

 

[BigRedDave]

The fact that we went 5-7 in the first place is alarming enough. The fact that we were letting some pretty bad teams hang around late in games this season doesn't make me feel a lot better (a little better, but not much). And getting outscored in conference games makes me wonder if we really made big steps forward this year.

The fact that you continue to ignore the amount of injuries our offense sustained this season, which without a doubt contributed to our dip in production, simply to attempt to paint Riley and staff as poor coaches is what's truly alarming. You are trying far too hard to place any and all blame on this staff for some things that are out of their control.

 

[huskrthill]

The fact that you continue to ignore the amount of injuries our offense sustained this season, which without a doubt contributed to our dip in production, simply to attempt to paint Riley and staff as poor coaches is what's truly alarming. You are trying far too hard to place any and all blame on this staff for some things that are out of their control.

We didn't really have more injuries than other teams, did we? I just read that James Franklin said that they had 13 lineman at the team hotel last night, 9 of whom were freshmen. And they just won the Big Ten East.

 

[Goal-line]

The biggest disparity I see is in the O and D lines (this year). I agree with *** that the O line will be much improved next year but the D line needs one hell of a pass rusher at DE.

Recruiting from the inside out. That is the key. Offensive and defensive linemen that can dominate opponents. Not just one or two studs, each line group needs five at a minimum. You can teach all the technique in the world, but if you are not stronger, quicker and faster than the guy across the line, then the game has been decided before the first snap. You might just as well be playing checkers. The OL and DL should be the top recruiting strategy for this coaching staff. I think they are making inroads, but it is going to take some time.

Football is physical first and finesse second. It is the way the game was originally intended to be played.

 

[Husker In Oklahoma]

So, you are saying that nothing happens between the time a recruiting ranking is set and that class graduates? Why not just give the national titles to the winners of the recruiting rankings then?

The teams dominating in recruiting ARE winning the national titles, if you haven't checked. There are not bad teams making the playoffs, less OU last year.

 

[BigRedDave]

We didn't really have more injuries than other teams, did we? I just read that James Franklin said that they had 13 lineman at the team hotel last night, 9 of whom were freshmen. And they just won the Big Ten East.

That's a one game example. Injuries hit every team, but the available talent and depth behind those injuries is different, as well as the positions the injuries occur at. Recruiting misses and lack of development in years prior have been evident this season once the injuries hit. It's hard to compensate for pure lack of depth.

 

[SoCalRed]

That's probably a fair criticism but you can't discount a 4 game improvement.

No, you can't. And what about the three game decline in his first season? All this staff has done is brought the team right back to the nine win plateau. Hooray!

 

[Husker In Oklahoma]

So, you are saying that nothing happens between the time a recruiting ranking is set and that class graduates? Why not just give the national titles to the winners of the recruiting rankings.

There are many variables that come into play between the time a recruiting class steps foot on campus and the last guy from that class plays his last snap. Just because you have a highly ranked class (ala Bill Callahan's first class) does not mean that you will have a great class when it is all said and done. The final product is impacted by injuries, transfers, maturity, homesickness, and about 100 other variables.

In regard to the Huskers, again, show me where the all-conference players are? Gates, Westerkamp on offense? Maybe? Maybe Gerry and Chris Jones on defense? Who is going to play on Sunday?

By the numbers, Nebraska has recruited better than Wisconsin and Iowa. On the field, we have seen a different story.

At the end of the day, it all comes back to the coaching staff with time. They didn't recruit the right players, didn't develop enough guys to their potential, didn't create a winning culture, didn't execute on gameday.

Time will tell with Riley, but they have to be given the chance to build the program.

But, people who think there is any comparison to what talent Jim Harbaugh inherited at Michigan and Mike Riley inherited at Nebraska are sadly delusional.

For the record, looking back, Michigans star average over the past 4 years is 3.45. The same time frame for NU it is 3.14. That's not an insurmountable talent deficiency. That's the difference of a handful of players, if that. The rest is coached up, and set into position for success. You don't seem to grasp, thats half the damn battle. Being able to "coach'em up".

 

[husker6]

No, you can't. And what about the three game decline in his first season? All this staff has done is brought the team right back to the nine win plateau. Hooray!

:Rolleyes:

In my opinion:

Considering the circumstances of the transition I'm not going to worry too much about that because of how they finished the year. If we fall back to that level then that's a legitimate criticism.

 

[LarstheRed]

Maybe, but we used to be proud of walk-ons around here. Now I suppose it's a sign of something bad. I guess we'll have to hope that every scholarship lineman pans out going forward, because this staff hasn't taken any walk-ons.

OK, I am so sick of this moronic response that if we don't jump for joy with every walkon starting we are somehow less than proud. If I'm looking at the Preakness, I don't get all choked up because I'd rather see my jockey sitting on Secretariat, Seabiscuit or Man 'O War instead of trusty old Betsy from my plow. Some days we'll get lucky and find one of those guys who blossoms late and gives us that amazing mixture of talent and heart, but I don't think we need to make that the differentiator between success in the league or failure.

We need talent, we need depth, and a large part of our problems come from a lack of both at this point. Misses on the recruiting side, poor S&C and some practice techniques that aren't properly preparing our players for physical wars that are the B1G have hurt us. I'd put the walkon program a distant 4th on our list of troubles.

 

[LarstheRed]

Ohio State...that's a talent issue but the west is all about coaching...discipline, heart, hunger. I like Mike, but the lack of fire on the field starts at the top. Meyer, Saban and Harbaugh would all do better with the talent we have.

Um, you may have missed it, but you just mentioned 3 coaches who are being paid triple what our coach is, not to mention they have at least double the budget for assistants and are in a far better position from a recruiting perspective. If you want to draw comparisons there are likely far better programs to pick from.

 

[LarstheRed]

Our talent is 9-3... our talent is better than a 40-10 loss to Iowa.

It is, but then again, teams, especially ones that lack depth, can have poor performances that snowball. I look at this game as one of those. If we had options I'd guess we might have tried them. We didn't...at least not in the staff's opinion.