You're exactly right, Crab and Thill. I'm not advocating a return to the wishbone or triple option. But I want a coach who isn't focused on being multiple and instead wants to instill an identity, whatever it is.
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Back to the Core & the Contrarian Principle
- Thread starter 1HSKRFN
- Start date
Well said. This staff's primary problem isn't that the system is too pass-happy or that Riley is not animated enough on the sidelines. The problem is that whatever is happening Monday through Friday is not taking. And when the coaches don't prepare the players and the results are predictably poor, confidence in everyone and everything erodes week-by-week.
On the defensive side of the ball, Diaco seems to be getting a pass because he's young an energetic, but I haven't seen evidence of good teaching. Blake Lawrence broke down a few defensive plays vs. Ohio St.on Big Red Wrap Up, and it was eye opening. The LBs and DBs had no idea what their assignments were. They were totally lost. Barrett and the WRs were playing a game of backyard pitch and catch.
what nu ran in the 90s was nothing like what navy and GT run today. give me a between the tackles, power-based run game with some option sprinkled in and i'm cool.
navy qbs ran the ball 36 times yesterday. thats a ridiculous offense to try to run and win any real hardware. fortunately Bill Moos probably understands that.
That's part of what got Frank fired. He had Crouch first then Lord and made the offense nearly one dimensional as a quarterback run game.
Fans have very poor recollections of the Osborne era. Somewhere along the line, a myth has been created that our QBs were scrappy underachievers that nobody recruited. In reality, Gill was offered by Texas and OU. Frazier had offers from Clemson and Notre Dame. Frost famously (or infamously) went to Stanford to play for Bill Walsh. Crouch had an Ohio St. offer.
Obviously, they were all developed well in Tom's system, but they were elite to begin with as well. Frazier more than any single player turned NU's fortunes around, and he was the best dual threat in the nation out of high school. He's the equivalent of landing DeShaun Watson or Lamar Jackson today, players who were not choosing between Clemson/Louisville or Navy on signing day.
Going to the flexbone or the triple option would pretty much permanently relegate NU to spoiler status.
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No, no and no!
Although living 4 miles from the UCF campus, I really want Scott to stay here, I completely agree.
Solid post.
I will add 3 things.
1. Our defenses attacked. Have not seen that but one or 2 seasons in the last ten plus seasons.
2. We practiced good on good and tackled to the ground in practice.
3. Oz was always a genius in having his offense master a set list of plays then build on his foundations as the seasons progressed. We’d then see a wrinkle when defenses sat on a play
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folks might be getting hung up on the term contrarian... playing NU used to be a unique experience for opponents.. matching up physically, intensity, as well as scheme. Depth was also a huge factor, allowing everyone's motor to be full throttle, all the time.
& when not in a fertile recruiting area, player development, walkon depth, and optimizing home grown talent are imperative to success.... this has waned for quite some time & needs to be corrected if DONU is to return to it's glorious past.
& when not in a fertile recruiting area, player development, walkon depth, and optimizing home grown talent are imperative to success.... this has waned for quite some time & needs to be corrected if DONU is to return to it's glorious past.
I don't disagree. Heck, Turman probably doesn't disagree based on the interview I saw him give in the BTN documentary on Berringer.
But the point remains, we could beat - or at least outlast - other teams with our backup players. In 2017, I just hope Riley's starters can outlast teams like Northern Illinois.
Please...we have a glorious past, but we were only dominant when we had the very best players. Outside our NC years, TO dominated all the teams with lesser talent and was dominated by those with greater talent. The big 8 teams saw us every year and were very familiar with our "unique" offense...we dominated most of them because we had better talent. But in the bowl games our "uniqueness" didn't help us much with teams who rarely ever saw us, but had better talent than we did.
I agree we had better intensity and physicality and toughness too...back then. But "walkon depth" is not going to be returning to Nebraska. If it does, there will be lots of poor football walk-on players in that depth. Why? Because you aren't ever getting back the players that are opting to go to lesser colleges now to save the tuition money. Even in TO's heyday we rarely offered more the 5 in-state schollies a year. We did get those good players that now make their way to SD State, Wyoming, Ohio, etc. but we are not getting them back so we need to find ways to compensate for that.
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DONU dominated when it had hall of fame coaches... AND talent.
9 of 11 offensive starters in 1997, hailed from Nebraska.... Ahman Green came to NU as one of 8 recruits in his class from Nebraska
Local talent has always been the heart of the program & used to be celebrated, ... I stated walkons provide depth, not suggesting that is THE answer, but it is definitely an important contributing factor. There are plenty of local kids who warrant offers, or, if actively pursued, will walk on for a shot at their dream & to perhaps earn a scholly down the road when spots open up (& they always open up). Stop with the excuses & de-valuing the local contribution, it's embarrassing.
I'm tired of the best talent all over the field argument... '97 MNC starting wideouts Jeff Lake & Lance Brown weren't blue chips, but quite effective in the offensive style NU implemented at that time - which speaks to the OP & makes tons of sense, focus recruiting the most important positions & fill in other spots with solid athletes.
9 of 11 offensive starters in 1997, hailed from Nebraska.... Ahman Green came to NU as one of 8 recruits in his class from Nebraska
Local talent has always been the heart of the program & used to be celebrated, ... I stated walkons provide depth, not suggesting that is THE answer, but it is definitely an important contributing factor. There are plenty of local kids who warrant offers, or, if actively pursued, will walk on for a shot at their dream & to perhaps earn a scholly down the road when spots open up (& they always open up). Stop with the excuses & de-valuing the local contribution, it's embarrassing.
I'm tired of the best talent all over the field argument... '97 MNC starting wideouts Jeff Lake & Lance Brown weren't blue chips, but quite effective in the offensive style NU implemented at that time - which speaks to the OP & makes tons of sense, focus recruiting the most important positions & fill in other spots with solid athletes.
I agree with your points about the offense and defensive changes. Bob D was a highly sought after coordinator and we got him because he probably had a good sales pitch about his shut down defense. Well, Oregon, Arkansas State, Wisconsin, and Ohio State demolished that sales pitch. We have a ton of linebackers. Our defense has been banged up yes....but we don't pay you 800k a year to get blown out like we have been.
Here's a quick look at the number of Nebraskans in High School receiving football recruiting schollies by year. It is pretty clear to see that when the scholarship reductions began being phased in around 1984, THAT is when Nebraskans took a big hit, with more to follow in the mid-90's. NCAA scholarships reductions were phased in from the 1980's from 105 to the 85 level we have now, and since 1995. I couldn't find a link, but IIRC the big jumps were from 105 to 95 in about 1984 and then from 95 to 88 in 1993 or so, then to 85 schollies in 1995. It looks like Nebraska kids absorbed all of the hits. Although things inexplicably got far worse while Bo Pelini was the head coach (except for Barney's kids)...he left MR with very few scholarship Nebraskans on the roster and horrible communications with Nebraska HS coaches.
1980 - 11
1981 - 9
1982 - 11
1983 - 9
1984 - 6
1985 - 7
1986 - 8
1987 - 8
1988 - 4
1989 - 3
1990 - 7
1991 - 5
1992 - 9
1993 - 7
1994 - 3
1995 - 7
1996 - 5
1997 - 6
1998 - 9
1999 - 7
2000 - 6
2001 - 5
2002 - 7
2003 - 5
2004 - 5
2005 - 4
2006 - 4
2007 - 3
2008 - 6
2009 - 2
2010 - 4
2011 - 4
2012 - 1
2013 - 1
2014 - 3
2015 - 2
2016 - 3
2017 - 4
If Nebraskan's are supposed to be the glue that binds the team together and gets the out of staters to work harder and with pride...well, for 7 long years there weren't many brought in to perform those tasks. Maybe this helps account for the softness we've seen for years.
1980 - 11
1981 - 9
1982 - 11
1983 - 9
1984 - 6
1985 - 7
1986 - 8
1987 - 8
1988 - 4
1989 - 3
1990 - 7
1991 - 5
1992 - 9
1993 - 7
1994 - 3
1995 - 7
1996 - 5
1997 - 6
1998 - 9
1999 - 7
2000 - 6
2001 - 5
2002 - 7
2003 - 5
2004 - 5
2005 - 4
2006 - 4
2007 - 3
2008 - 6
2009 - 2
2010 - 4
2011 - 4
2012 - 1
2013 - 1
2014 - 3
2015 - 2
2016 - 3
2017 - 4
If Nebraskan's are supposed to be the glue that binds the team together and gets the out of staters to work harder and with pride...well, for 7 long years there weren't many brought in to perform those tasks. Maybe this helps account for the softness we've seen for years.
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