Nebraska vs Colorado (9/7/19)

[IUhusker]

Just my opinion but 6-6 is not good enough. All the "great" coaches make the big jump in year 2. If this is the big jump............

 

[Puk U Husker]

Final Game thoughts.



No team in America finds creative ways to lose than Nebraska. No one!

I guess I just don’t understand the mentality. You play an almost perfect half of football. Then you decide to take the entire second half off. You pass a partition in the locker room (otherwise known as naptime) pledging to take the second half off.

For 15 years we have watched this crap. Nothing ever changes.

Sleepwalking out of the locker room after naptime, Frost has to call a timeout because his entire offense was still too sleepy to run a play.

Are you kidding me?

The first drive was vintage BAD Martinez. He couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn all of a sudden.

We’ve seen this before, haven’t we?

Nine for nine in the first half, missing receivers badly in the second half. Something about NU QB’s with big leads at halftime.

Washington lazily allows himself to be tackled short of the first down on a play he should have had the first down easily. Luckily, we sneak for the first. But the bad play generator is just revving up.

Then Stoll picks up a big penalty, and Martinez misfires badly a few times before fumbling on a sack play. But we recover.

But the machine is just revving up.

When we decide to stink, we really decide to stink. Everybody signs the petition.

Then the defense. Missed tackles suddenly are a steady part of the gameplan. But we sleepwalk our way to a stop—3 missed tackles on a play to force a fourth down.

It goes like this for awhile. We have another sleepy time timeout after a change of possession. Seriously? How does that keep happening?

The lead holds for awhile but you can feel that our guys aren’t in the game anymore. They checked out. It wasn’t fatigue. It wasn’t the altitude. It was the ATTITUDE.

And the attitude was bad.

Then suddenly, our defense folded. With the offense sound asleep and lacking any sense of urgency, CU begins moving the ball at will. After shutting down CU all game, suddenly we are getting no pressure on their QB and CU can do anything it wants.

Sound familiar?

Remember Northwestern? How Frost said that all we had to do is someone make a play—anybody—just one play in the last 6 minutes and we win. But no one ever did. Everyone signed the stink petition. And you couldn’t have scripted a loss any better.

Fast forward to today. So many opportunities to win. So many guys failed to play for their teammates.


We beat our opponents. We beat ourselves. And sometimes we beat our opponents again. Today, we took an oath at nappy time . . . we weren’t going to beat anybody . . . no matter what it took.


How do we get a coaches sideline penalty with under 6 minutes to play after recovering a fumble near midfield up by 7? Did the coaches sign the petition during nappy time too? Think about that penalty. It is mindboggling. What a change of field position that was.

Nebraska starts to finally wake up in the fourth quarter after their somnambulant third quarter. Of course, now fatigue really is setting in—self induced fatigue.

Washington takes a pass to the house—75 yards on a simple swing pass. Suddenly, there is hope.

Then the defense has a major bust in the secondary and CU scores all too easily.

A Martinez careless fumble later, and CU ties the game.

Suddenly tied and no momentum in spite of the Washington play, NU finally mounts a good drive. A horrendous drop by Wan’Dale Robinson reminds fans of the Morgan and Spielman drops last year. But Martinez bails him out with some nifty running and Washington again bust loose for a bit run. NU goes for it on 4th down inside the 10 and takes the lead.

Then NU gets creative. They decide to kick short (why?) and CU has a big return. During the return, you can see Taylor-Britt chasing the ball carrier—his intent is not just to tackle the guy (a good idea by the way) but to create a fumble. He succeeds. NU gets the ball and a chance to salt the game away. But a coaches sideline interference call negates the field position.

Nebraska does very little right for the rest of the game. About the same time as the Northwestern meltdown occurred last year.

Once again, NU goes into overtime and holds CU to a FG. Normally, you feel pretty good when that happens. Not the way NU plays. Two busted running plays lead to 3rd and 9 and Martinez takes an awful sack to force a long 4th down with our starting kicker not available. A 48 yard shank later . . . and CU is the latest recipient of a Husker chokedown.

Enjoy the gift Buffaloes. It really is a special gift that we just keep giving.

By the way, when we say they were held to a FG, did anybody notice we picked up not one, but two penalties on the FG try?

Nothing ever changes. Coaching staff after coaching staff after coaching staff.

I watch other teams. And yes, they occasionally melt down. But no one does it as religiously as Nebraska.

Any Husker fan who says he is shocked by this loss . . . I’m calling you a liar. We have all seen this too many times.

You can set your watch by it. Your calendar. You could probably go to Vegas and make a ton of money predicting it—if you were so bold.

When did this slop become our identity?

I’m sure we will hear the usual statements.

We are a great team, we just keep making silly mistakes over and over and over and over and over again.

We learned our lesson. We will never let up on a team like that again. Yeah, right?


Okay, nowhere to go from here but onto the next game. Some of the players in the locker room need to really look in the mirror. That second half performance and effort was unmistakably unacceptable. Look at your team mates and don’t lie to them. Tell them “I thought you were going to make the plays. I wasn’t going to do it.”


Sorry to be so negative. But we beat ourselves again—CU just came along for the ride. The rest is just window dressing. I could have written this very wrap up to cover countless other games over the years sans some of the specifics. Come to think of it, I think I have.

But we learned something today. Halftime naps are not a good idea.

I wonder if we will ever learn.

Take care all.

Very Very well said! Love my Huskers!

 

[Puk U Husker]

Two games in and I'm having doubts about HCSF and staff. Play calling has been horrendous and second half adjustments on both sides of the ball have been equally poor through their tenure so far. And for those who will reply to be patient, I was patient with Callahan, Bo, and Riley. Done being patient....

Love my Huskers! 3 pot smoking incidents over the summer don't help either! These coaches don't have control like we would love them them too! Either kick them off the team or deal with pot heads who don't care!! where are we at at this point in time!! coaches let stuff slide in the off season then games don't matter as much and you blow 17 point leads!! What's the difference! I love how hard the kids work in the off season with Duvall butt Scott's has to get them boys playing hard for 4 Qrters.

 

[coherbie]

Home from a fabulous day in the sun, watching my beloved Huskers, surrounded with friends, family & Husker Nation!.. owning Folsom Field. Had a wonderful time interacting with so many Nebraska fans & am so proud of how we all turned that place red - kudos Big Red Nation!!

Lousy finish, but as a veteran of so many heartbreaks over the years (Sooner magic ) it's easy to see that better times are ahead for this group, as they continue to re-build the Big Red Machine, learn how to finish, win & eventually dominate & expect to win.

Proud to be associated with Husker Nation, today's end result was tough, but this was a tremendous day, a great game & a tough loss... but this too shall pass.

:Herbie:

 

[36Blast]

The reality is this: Frost, "We have the pieces to run this offense and be successful."

I do not see that happening.

I'll trust Scott's eyes and his ability to judge talent, thank you very much. We are one year removed from a 4-8 season. We are crazy young and inexperienced. That's why all those predictions of a 10-2 season was a joke and i was very vocal about that. To think we are going to dominate anyone at this point is foolhardy. We just arent that good right now. Good enough for 7 or 8 wins.

 

[AUnhusker]

This was worse than just a narrow loss. They led handily at the half. Mistakes, bad play calling, and poor/no adjustments gave away a game that they dominated for a half. IMHO, much worse than losing a tight game or getting shellacked.

Certainly this loss had several issues that need attention and correction. The frittering away the first half lead is a concern. On the other had I saw several things I really liked in this game. It’s those things that made the score even at the end of the game and it’s those things that give me encouragement (as opposed to repeatedly being “shellacked”) for improvement in future games.

 

[David3464]

I think some fans need to just relax. Did people expect this team to be undefeated or lose just a couple games after it has been 4-8 the last two years? I didn’t. It is a more competitive team under SF than it was under MR and the last year of BP. So just watch the games and understand what SF inherited and what he is trying to start building.

 

[Voice Of Reason]

No argument from me on that. They will get better. Not as fast as people would like. But 4-8 two years in a row is not always an automatic formula for success the following year. (Sarcasm)

I’m glad to hear AM was angry after this game. The whole team needs to be angry and use that as motivation to push themselves to improve every game.

I agree the players seemed angry and I liked that but Frost seemed like he took some of the chill pills that Riley left in the office.

 

[BigRedFox]

My observations from being at the game and watching in person.

1. The O line needs A LOT of work. Even in the first half the run blocking was bad. In the 2nd half they continued with poor run blocking and also poor pass protection and that lost the game.

2. A.M. is a pretty damn good QB when he has protection, when he doesn't he misses seeing a lot of wide open receivers and forces the ball. Without A.M in the 2nd half the game would not have went to OT, Colorado would have won by the end of regulation.

3. I have no idea what happened to the Defense. 1st half they looked really good, 2nd half was like a whole different team out there. I have a hard time believing that Colorado adjusted that well at halftime.

Summary: If Nebraska can't start running the ball better it will be a very long season.

 

[David3464]

Very Very well said! Love my Huskers!

Try Tennessee!

 

[ramsker]

I'm just amazed that, in year 2, the offense is the biggest problem with the Huskers right now. Defense gave up a lot of points in the 2nd half, but got far too little help from the offense. Defense really got hung out to dry 2 games in a row.

 

[HuskerDB]

I'm just amazed that, in year 2, the offense is the biggest problem with the Huskers right now. Defense gave up a lot of points in the 2nd half, but got far too little help from the offense. Defense really got hung out to dry 2 games in a row.

same here. what us worse is that I don't see it improving...

 

[HuskerWeatherman]

Final Game thoughts.



No team in America finds creative ways to lose than Nebraska. No one!

I guess I just don’t understand the mentality. You play an almost perfect half of football. Then you decide to take the entire second half off. You pass a partition in the locker room (otherwise known as naptime) pledging to take the second half off.

For 15 years we have watched this crap. Nothing ever changes.

Sleepwalking out of the locker room after naptime, Frost has to call a timeout because his entire offense was still too sleepy to run a play.

Are you kidding me?

The first drive was vintage BAD Martinez. He couldn’t hit the broad side of a barn all of a sudden.

We’ve seen this before, haven’t we?

Nine for nine in the first half, missing receivers badly in the second half. Something about NU QB’s with big leads at halftime.

Washington lazily allows himself to be tackled short of the first down on a play he should have had the first down easily. Luckily, we sneak for the first. But the bad play generator is just revving up.

Then Stoll picks up a big penalty, and Martinez misfires badly a few times before fumbling on a sack play. But we recover.

But the machine is just revving up.

When we decide to stink, we really decide to stink. Everybody signs the petition.

Then the defense. Missed tackles suddenly are a steady part of the gameplan. But we sleepwalk our way to a stop—3 missed tackles on a play to force a fourth down.

It goes like this for awhile. We have another sleepy time timeout after a change of possession. Seriously? How does that keep happening?

The lead holds for awhile but you can feel that our guys aren’t in the game anymore. They checked out. It wasn’t fatigue. It wasn’t the altitude. It was the ATTITUDE.

And the attitude was bad.

Then suddenly, our defense folded. With the offense sound asleep and lacking any sense of urgency, CU begins moving the ball at will. After shutting down CU all game, suddenly we are getting no pressure on their QB and CU can do anything it wants.

Sound familiar?

Remember Northwestern? How Frost said that all we had to do is someone make a play—anybody—just one play in the last 6 minutes and we win. But no one ever did. Everyone signed the stink petition. And you couldn’t have scripted a loss any better.

Fast forward to today. So many opportunities to win. So many guys failed to play for their teammates.


We beat our opponents. We beat ourselves. And sometimes we beat our opponents again. Today, we took an oath at nappy time . . . we weren’t going to beat anybody . . . no matter what it took.


How do we get a coaches sideline penalty with under 6 minutes to play after recovering a fumble near midfield up by 7? Did the coaches sign the petition during nappy time too? Think about that penalty. It is mindboggling. What a change of field position that was.

Nebraska starts to finally wake up in the fourth quarter after their somnambulant third quarter. Of course, now fatigue really is setting in—self induced fatigue.

Washington takes a pass to the house—75 yards on a simple swing pass. Suddenly, there is hope.

Then the defense has a major bust in the secondary and CU scores all too easily.

A Martinez careless fumble later, and CU ties the game.

Suddenly tied and no momentum in spite of the Washington play, NU finally mounts a good drive. A horrendous drop by Wan’Dale Robinson reminds fans of the Morgan and Spielman drops last year. But Martinez bails him out with some nifty running and Washington again bust loose for a bit run. NU goes for it on 4th down inside the 10 and takes the lead.

Then NU gets creative. They decide to kick short (why?) and CU has a big return. During the return, you can see Taylor-Britt chasing the ball carrier—his intent is not just to tackle the guy (a good idea by the way) but to create a fumble. He succeeds. NU gets the ball and a chance to salt the game away. But a coaches sideline interference call negates the field position.

Nebraska does very little right for the rest of the game. About the same time as the Northwestern meltdown occurred last year.

Once again, NU goes into overtime and holds CU to a FG. Normally, you feel pretty good when that happens. Not the way NU plays. Two busted running plays lead to 3rd and 9 and Martinez takes an awful sack to force a long 4th down with our starting kicker not available. A 48 yard shank later . . . and CU is the latest recipient of a Husker chokedown.

Enjoy the gift Buffaloes. It really is a special gift that we just keep giving.

By the way, when we say they were held to a FG, did anybody notice we picked up not one, but two penalties on the FG try?

Nothing ever changes. Coaching staff after coaching staff after coaching staff.

I watch other teams. And yes, they occasionally melt down. But no one does it as religiously as Nebraska.

Any Husker fan who says he is shocked by this loss . . . I’m calling you a liar. We have all seen this too many times.

You can set your watch by it. Your calendar. You could probably go to Vegas and make a ton of money predicting it—if you were so bold.

When did this slop become our identity?

I’m sure we will hear the usual statements.

We are a great team, we just keep making silly mistakes over and over and over and over and over again.

We learned our lesson. We will never let up on a team like that again. Yeah, right?


Okay, nowhere to go from here but onto the next game. Some of the players in the locker room need to really look in the mirror. That second half performance and effort was unmistakably unacceptable. Look at your team mates and don’t lie to them. Tell them “I thought you were going to make the plays. I wasn’t going to do it.”


Sorry to be so negative. But we beat ourselves again—CU just came along for the ride. The rest is just window dressing. I could have written this very wrap up to cover countless other games over the years sans some of the specifics. Come to think of it, I think I have.

But we learned something today. Halftime naps are not a good idea.

I wonder if we will ever learn.

Take care all.

While I understand I'll get called out for an "I told you so," that's okay. I'll accept whatever anyone wishes to dish out.

But I clearly stated in the Vegas odds thread for this game that I wouldn't dare bet on Nebraska covering the spread. I stated it wasn't because I didn't think Nebraska couldn't or wouldn't win -- but instead, I suggested you need more evidence that Nebraska is capable of winning those types of games -- and that evidence is very little if at all. Play the wait and see game.

Sports fans are driven off hope and optimism. And optimism is never higher for more fans of more teams than it is prior to the season. Fans buy tickets to games based on hope. If we knew the outcome prior to the game, far fewer tickets would be sold. That's how we live our lives -- so I get that. It's a good thing. But reality is that we have zero control over the success or lack thereof of our sports teams. There's other facets of our lives we have some level of control over where the hope part holds more value. Being a sports fan is not one of them.

Certainly, this season is far from over. We could still do a lot of great things and this season could still be a huge success. But that's really based mostly on hope. Years ago, I gave up on this hope concept. Sure, I always want the best. I want to win every game. But I've seen expectations crushed in games against mediocre or better competition many more times than not. For many years now. For this trend to change, I need to see it to believe it. There are zero guarantees Frost is a significant improvement over Riley -- or the best coach since Osborne, for that matter. He might be. But I can only go off 5-9 to start his career. If he's going to be the best coach since Osborne, he's going to have to prove it. It won't be handed to him because he's Scott Frost. We ALL hope he proves it -- because I have zero clue where we'd turn if he fails. I do think he has a very long leash, which is good -- because we can't afford to play coaching roulette any longer. I also believe if Mike Riley's first two years were like Frost's to this point, he'd be on a very, very hot seat. And he was. With a better record.

Man, we need this season to turn around at least enough to give us hope (ugh, that word I hate to use) for years to come. We really need that. Not asking for 10 wins. But the struggles we've seen these first two weeks need to end soon -- or it will be a very long season with all sorts of concern about the direction of this program.

 

[Goal-line]

I'll trust Scott's eyes and his ability to judge talent, thank you very much. We are one year removed from a 4-8 season. We are crazy young and inexperienced. That's why all those predictions of a 10-2 season was a joke and i was very vocal about that. To think we are going to dominate anyone at this point is foolhardy. We just arent that good right now. Good enough for 7 or 8 wins.

I agree that those with your 10-2 BS assessment. I was one of the very few on this board who stated that Frost walked into a mess and that it would take more than two years to get it turned around. We have lacked talent over that past several decades. I know that is one area that the coaches are working on. My point is this, I would like to trust the words of Frost and the other coaches. But when they paint a rosy picture about their "pieces" and then fall flat with their their optimism/performance, I get frustrated. When things do not go your way, the only thing to do is to work harder to improve. I believe they sincerely take that approach. However, changes are necessary, on both sides of the ball. Line play is still a paramount issue. You cannot "gadget" your way around the fundamentals.

 

[36Blast]

I agree that those with your 10-2 BS assessment. I was one of the very few on this board who stated that Frost walked into a mess and that it would take more than two years to get it turned around. We have lacked talent over that past several decades. I know that is one area that the coaches are working on. My point is this, I would like to trust the words of Frost and the other coaches. But when they paint a rosy picture about their "pieces" and then fall flat with their their optimism/performance, I get frustrated. When things do not go your way, the only thing to do is to work harder to improve. I believe they sincerely take that approach. However, changes are necessary, on both sides of the ball. Line play is still a paramount issue. You cannot "gadget" your way around the fundamentals.

I actually agree with almost everything you said and we are more in line than you'd think.
Where I disagree is here: What is Frost supposed to say? " My team is grossly untalented and I doubt we will be able to compete against the better teams this year."

Personally, I believe that Scott believes what he is saying. But we are crazy young and inexperienced. We dont have veterans on this team to show the youngsters how to win because they dont know how to win. This is going to take a while to completely change this culture and to get the talent and build the depth required to compete at the highest level.

I'm seeing glimpses, but we are not there yet. We will need to endure some more bumps and bruises before we officially turn the corner. GBR!