I think Stryker has it right!
REALLY disappointed. Looks HCR is on track to repeat what he did his first years at Temple and Baylor!
"Right out of the chute, we saw that the Cornhuskers have the s
ame tragic flaw they’ve had since at least 2018— a talented, but erratic, quarterback.
Matt Rhule and Marcus Satterfield obviously have a lot of faith in Jeff Sims and his passing arm, but in a
gut-wrenching 13-10 season-opening road
loss to the dink-and-dunk Minnesota Gophers, Sims did not reward their confidence in him."
"What Rhule came away with was a detailed, firsthand look at why Nebraska lost so many one-score games under Scott Frost. The
Huskers have mastered the art of making killing mistakes at critical times. He acknowledged as much, and seemed quite ready to move on to Colorado. But Rhule — the first Nebraska coach since 1946 to have his first Husker game on the road — certainly did his share to rip this game out of the win column.
He was outcoached by P.J. Fleck, who has less talent to work with than does Rhule."
"First, let’s look at the
positives. Nebraska’s offensive and defensive lines took a clear step forward, playing the Gopher lines to at least a draw. It could be argued that, starting in the middle of the second quarter, the Huskers had the better of it at the line of scrimmage.
Each defense had three sacks and five tackles for loss. NU played the Gophers almost even in time of possession. The Husker rushing
defense held Minnesota to 55 yards on 25 carries, and only 251 total yards. The Gophers’ obviously will not be the running threat they were for the past five years, but that’s still a noteworthy accomplishment, and they averaged fewer than 5 yards per pass attempt. Meanwhile, Nebraska rushed for 181 yards."
"The Huskers were relentless. At times, they were violent. But they were s
imply not disciplined.
Four turnovers and seven penalties — including a
targeting call on Ty Robinson that sidelined him for the last quarter and a half — were
too much to overcome.
"There has been
progress in both the offensive and defensive lines for the Big Red, but the o-line still made
too many pre-snap penalties, including an illegal motion penalty by left guard Ethan Piper inside the Minnesota 1 with time running out in the second quarter, a mistake that
ripped seven likely points off the board. It was the first of
three consecutive bad decisions, first by possibly the Huskers’ most respected offensive lineman,
then by Rhule, who passed up the sure field goal and asked his quarterback to make something of a bad situation,
then by Sims, who locked in on Isaiah Garcia-Casteneda and threw into double coverage, overlooking a wide open Nate Boerkircher in the end zone."
"Rhule obviously believes in his quarterback’s passing arm and decision-making skills, and he may turn out to be right,
but both were sadly lacking Thursday night in Minneapolis. I’m not sure what Rhule and Satterfield see, but right now, I see a
physically gifted but confused and tentative 2002 version of Jammal Lord, a great athlete
who can’t see the field well enough to make the passing game work, at least not at this stage of his career.
Sims lived up to his turnover-prone reputation, producing three interceptions and only one touchdown, which came on the first drive of the second half, on a trick play throwback pass, which almost didn’t happen because Sims muffed the ball before having the presence of mind to pick it up on the second bounce and toss it to a wide-open Alex Bullock in the end zone."
"Rhule made it clear that he sees something different, and he obviously envisions Sims finishing with a much better than a 1-to-1 TD-to-interception ratio. “I have a
ton of confidence in Jeff,” he said in his postgame press conference.
Will this coaching staff accomplish something that Frost’s never did — steady, game-by-game player development? Rhule obviously is ready to suck it up and forget the pain of Game 1. Husker Nation would be wise to do the same. It will be easier for everyone if the tragic flaw is addressed, and soon."
I think Haarberg should be given the start against CU. He can't do much worse than Sims. Sims just showed us he is not ready so let see if Haarberg is!
