General thoughts on the game

[ShortSideOption]

Thanks ***. Your thought on high snaps. This has been a problem since 51 transitioned. Adrian and Luke are still jumping in the shot gun. It has to be in the back of their minds and slows our play by at least a full second or more

Ya, and I wonder if that's why Jurgens was pulled for a bit? As i've put on here before, the high snaps and Jurgens getting the job caused a bit of some lockerroom issues. But I think we saw these coaches are going to let players earn it on the field in 2020 as opposed to 2018 or 2019 where some guys were given a longer leash. Austin and Frost will get it under control IMO.

 

[ShortSideOption]

Was OSU forcing us to run the QBs? I just don't see us winning consistently with Martinez and Luke being our leading ball carriers.

lol that's an understatement. Our leading rusher was our backup QB, that ain't going to work. I think we took them by surprise with the McCaffrey at RB package, and I do think our OL got a good push to where Martinez was able to find some room. I look to see Mills used much more against Wisconsin.

 

[dallasblackshirt]

***, as always love your takes

I didn't expect to win and saw some positives. Special teams, OL & DL play, TE's showed up.

But what the heck is wrong that our coaches in YEAR 3 they can't find two (hell even one) scholarship receivers that the other team at least respects a little

On the other side of the ball, pretty any qb would have a career day when husker db's play 10 yards off their receivers. It was pitch and catch all day. We played scared and their qb goes 20-21 for god sakes. If we are going to lose I would rather it been us tightening coverage and just get beat. If we ever want to be good again we have to be able to do that and here again we are in year 3 playing scared

Lastly, isn't any doubt in my mind that if AM and LM were each given five consecutive series each, who would have more yards and points. HCSF is just delaying the inevitable

I am like you, we need and should play Wisconsin tight. Mills needs at least 20 carries, and we need to force whisky to throw because we are forcing them into third and five's. GBR

 

[2nd and 3]

That makes sense, but aren't there still some things the Huskers could do knowing/seeing that to make the defense pay? We've worked the option back into the playbook here and there. One of the plays that used to kill defenses back in the day was showing the option and then the QB pulls up and hits a TE going up the middle when everyone bites on the run. Does Frost just not have that in the arsenal or just doesn't use it?

I am guessing he has some tricks up his sleeve to pull out against this type of defense and pressure. If we are having this same conversation after playing our West opponents then we may be in trouble.

 

[NUinID]

Yep, agree. I wasn't going to dig into the stats too much and play the "well take away....." but McCaffrey had a massive gain first time he was RB then they shut it down, and pretty much the same with Martinez. I'll take it. If we can run the ball on Wisky, we have a very good shot.

I don't know what it was, but i'm just not going to be mad about 52-17 against Ohio State. I guess that's where we are now, but we need to move forward not look backwards on how we got here.

Your last paragraph says it all. I am not going to be that mad about the final score.

I like the physical play. I was pretty impressed with the d-line play. Roger’s impressed me. You haven’t heard as much talk about him.

The west is wide open.

loved the option from under center. That is going to be an option pass to a TE on a skinny post sometime this year.

 

[ShortSideOption]

***, as always love your takes

I didn't expect to win and saw some positives. Special teams, OL & DL play, TE's showed up.

But what the heck is wrong that our coaches in YEAR 3 they can't find two (hell even one) scholarship receivers that the other team at least respects a little

On the other side of the ball, pretty any qb would have a career day when husker db's play 10 yards off their receivers. It was pitch and catch all day. We played scared and their qb goes 20-21 for god sakes. If we are going to lose I would rather it been us tightening coverage and just get beat. If we ever want to be good again we have to be able to do that and here again we are in year 3 playing scared

Lastly, isn't any doubt in my mind that if AM and LM were each given five consecutive series each, who would have more yards and points. HCSF is just delaying the inevitable

I am like you, we need and should play Wisconsin tight. Mills needs at least 20 carries, and we need to force whisky to throw because we are forcing them into third and five's. GBR

I hear ya, i've brought it up but year 3 you can't be starting two walk-ons at WR when you've inked 17 of them in your 3 recruiting classes. That's just an unreal situation. With that said, I do think without spring or fall football, that makes it tougher for a guy like Alante Brown to get on the field as quickly. I think who is seeing a majority of the targets will shift as the season goes on. But the overally point is the same, you can't miss on 17 guys and be starting walk-ons and try to hang with Ohio State. In 2018 we had JD Spielman and Stanley Morgan catching balls against them, that's doable to keep it to 31-36.

Lol I sent a text to our group chain "i'm glad our DBs aren't getting beat deep by playing 20 yards off" and I think the next play they ran that post for a Touchdown on Bootle. I don't know if we were playing scared, but I think the term works. We didn't want to get beat deep, we wanted to keep everything in front of us, and then hope that we got them behind the chains if they tried running or a QB sack. If they stayed "on schedule" we just played off and it was pitch and catch.

It was good to see McCaffrey complete his first pass from in the pocket. I don't think he's quite ready yet, but would completely understand the move if it happened. At USC you played the younger guy with a higher ceiling. I will withhold judgment on QB situation til Wisky.

 

[Mr.Sarcasm]

I feel bad for Frost, he's preaching physicality then the zebras kick two of our best DB's out for one hit where Williams tacked him with his shoulder/ back and the other Cam didnt follow through and was actually backing up, yea it was helmet to helmet only cause the runner was going down. For the first time in years our LB stayed in their lanes and actually looked the part, honas had his best game for us ever by far. WR is the problem and will probably stay that way unless we can get Omar and Betts out there regularly, but who knows on that. ***, were we in zone protection most of the game? Punting looked wierd but I think stats wise was actually pretty good.

 

[Hville]

Thanks *** for a next day recap after so many negative jump off the cliff responses yesterday. I believe I'm a rational person when it comes to an overall view as I'm not always drinking all the kool-aid on this staff. It just seems like in the past.....regardless of the score that we appear sloppy and out of sync with very little improvement overall in most of the position groups. In saying that I was really impressed with many of the things we did yesterday. I did rewatch the game again today with a couple of observations that I'll add to your summary.

Defense. You were seriously worried about the defensive line as were some of my inside friends. I thought they were a sincere positive against the rush and serviceable against the pass considering who we were playing. Linebackers showed flashes and were also serviceable against the rush. However against the pass linebackers and defensive backs were atrocious. Whether scheme or talent we gave way too much cushion and quite frankly Justin Fields rarely had to make a tough pass. They were just way too open. If anyone gets a chance to replay the game watch the number of times they brought a wide receiver across the field or moderately short routes where our cushion was 10-12 yards and they were catching it before the defensive back could close the gap. Then go to the 14 minute mark of the 4th quarter when Martinez was sacked and their defenders were on the line of scrimmage stride for stride with our receivers giving AM zero options. This was the same play the announcers commented on no separation. One last comment on the defense. Bootle was owned all day long. He couldn't cover anyone.

Offense. Like *** I was also surprised at the number of calls we gave to the QB's with very little use of running backs. For this game it caught Ohio State off guard but probably not anything we will see to this extent going forward. In some ways it wreaked of desperation as if they didn't think we had any other tools. I loved the use of the tight ends and they were the one position that was open a good part of the day. Wide receiver game is non-existent.

QB's. I think Martinez played great. For that matter Luke too. People need to be careful believing that Luke will resolve our offensive issues. Luke had special packages for his skill set which generally meant running the ball. He did have 2 fumbles yesterday one of which we lost. He had a short series in the first half when AM had equipment problems that resulted in 3 and out. Later in the game he finished with 3 straight series of mop-up time that resulted in no scores and one turnover. He completed his last two passes while Ohio State was in prevent defense. I think he brings a different threat to the game but without better receivers I'm not sure he will have any more luck in the passing game.

Penalties. Penalties are a part of the game but yesterday the bad calls just overly affected the flow of the game. The TD right before half was almost all penalty related and of questionable nature. The entire 3rd quarter was no different. Our offensive penalties resulted in drive stalls and our defensive penalties all gave them 1st downs and continued drives. With so many things going wrong the defense was really fighting an uphill battle.

 

[Huskerpilk]

Yep, agree. I wasn't going to dig into the stats too much and play the "well take away....." but McCaffrey had a massive gain first time he was RB then they shut it down, and pretty much the same with Martinez. I'll take it. If we can run the ball on Wisky, we have a very good shot.

I don't know what it was, but i'm just not going to be mad about 52-17 against Ohio State. I guess that's where we are now, but we need to move forward not look backwards on how we got here.

To me it was the first half. It was light years ahead of 2019. The mistakes and penalties just kept us from keeping it close. As you know, you have to play perfect against a team with the talent of OSU if you're going to have a chance (or even keep it close).

 

[Huskerpilk]

Ya, and I wonder if that's why Jurgens was pulled for a bit? As i've put on here before, the high snaps and Jurgens getting the job caused a bit of some lockerroom issues. But I think we saw these coaches are going to let players earn it on the field in 2020 as opposed to 2018 or 2019 where some guys were given a longer leash. Austin and Frost will get it under control IMO.

Is Jurgens an option anywhere else along the line. I counted about 6 high snaps.

 

[goodnterribles]

***, as always love your takes

I didn't expect to win and saw some positives. Special teams, OL & DL play, TE's showed up.

But what the heck is wrong that our coaches in YEAR 3 they can't find two (hell even one) scholarship receivers that the other team at least respects a little

On the other side of the ball, pretty any qb would have a career day when husker db's play 10 yards off their receivers. It was pitch and catch all day. We played scared and their qb goes 20-21 for god sakes. If we are going to lose I would rather it been us tightening coverage and just get beat. If we ever want to be good again we have to be able to do that and here again we are in year 3 playing scared

Lastly, isn't any doubt in my mind that if AM and LM were each given five consecutive series each, who would have more yards and points. HCSF is just delaying the inevitable

I am like you, we need and should play Wisconsin tight. Mills needs at least 20 carries, and we need to force whisky to throw because we are forcing them into third and five's. GBR

Agree, AM would have more yards and points. There are only so many qb draws you can run before your qb gets killed. Luke may ultimately end up better than AM, but he's not there yet.

 

[cobfather]

Do you think they put too much emphasis on blocking for WR group? How can walk ons be better than 4 star recruits other than effort and blocking? Damon Benning said on show after game that one WR was on social media 30 minutes before game and that maybe Frost is trying to send message to guys. Any thoughts?

 

[Red Said Ted]

Somebody needs to stretch the defense at WR. Unacceptable as of now. Better get it fixed fast. Manning needs to stop acting like a head case and focus on being a football player. I get so tired of narcissistic wide receivers. Get it together, son. You have the potential to be a star. Or you can be another forgotten head case. The choice is yours.

 

[Knoxville Husker]

McCaffrey is simply the better runner of the two QBs and that is crucial in competing against better teams. I felt the same way, Frost is going to give Luke plenty of chances to beat out AM but he blew it with the 2nd fumble. Even after that, Frost let him finish out the 4th quarter. If we end up playing them both all year, I guess there are worse problems a team could have than that type of QB depth. Both of them are big time talents, with the jury still out on which of them ever becomes consistent and error free.

Not sure on the comment we will be 1-3 if we lose next week. The next game is always the biggest, but there is no reason to project that we will lose to PSU just because we lost to Wisconsin. We could win or lose any of the rest of the games on our schedule. I probably would not say that if we played Michigan, so maybe that was the one break we actually caught. (although playing MSU rather than Rutgers could turn out to be an unexpected one).

The biggest thing as mentioned is we really need a legit downfield WR threat, Manning, Betts, anyone? We have those on the roster, so that is the puzzling part but hard to read too much on that this game. Apparently we were so scared OSU's of WRs we decided to just play a prevent defense, so lack of our own WRs in the game plan may have been just another coaching mistake.

 

[CO4NU]

"Aren't ready yet".