General thoughts on the game

[bucktril]

@dallasblackshirt, can you please correct or delete your post so that it reflects you as the one criticizing Martinez? You accidentally put your words inside the quote tags. That essentially modified my post, which is against board rules. I'd be happy to help you if you're not sure how to fix it or delete it.

Why you hating on Martinez so much, thill????

 

[Husker Country Doc]

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.

Accountability sounds like music to my ears, and will lead to ACTUAL improvement in these issues, IMO

 

[The_CornTorch]

I'm thinking if we can't get WR production or good blocking out of them (size), pull them out, put some backup RBs or TE's out wide and get Mills/Thompkins/McCaffery around the corner. Go without WRs. No rule against it. Use the Army you do have, not the one you wish you had.

SF is all about the creativity. Trade in the flash and create plays using our excessive TE size. Keep RBs freshly rotated in the second and 4th quarters. Can't take the top off at WR? Pancake some DBs on the outside. I'm sure better minds here can come up with alternatives. I just want to see us not force a desired plan.

Overall very happy with effort and energy. I felt like they wanted to be there and kept trying. Especially defense. AM needs to lose the east west game. Throw it away, go down in the pocket or go north and south. And bring back the quick slant.

If I’m not mistaken, Stoll got injured on a play with a TE trips right formation. Used it at least a couple times.

 

[dallasblackshirt]

@dallasblackshirt, can you please correct or delete your post so that it reflects you as the one criticizing Martinez? You accidentally put your words inside the quote tags. That essentially modified my post, which is against board rules. I'd be happy to help you if you're not sure how to fix it or delete it.

My bad and I deleted my post / comments as i could not figure out to correct it

My point was simple. Warner has the surest hands of our receivers based on history and AM threw him a rocket above his head. It should have been an easy pass to execute but now in year 3 he still can't execute a sure thing. He is at his ceiling like it or not.

 

[RMR]

If I’m not mistaken, Stoll got injured on a play with a TE trips right formation. Used it at least a couple times.

Went and looked. You are correct. Two things for clarification. The TE's were not out wide in a typical WR/bubble screen position. They all three went out on routes versus two blocking with one receiving. My intent was that two TEs would be blocking smaller DBs and a faster player reading blocks behind them.

Good catch.

 

[The_CornTorch]

Went and looked. You are correct. Two things for clarification. The TE's were not out wide in a typical WR/bubble screen position. They all three went out on routes versus two blocking with one receiving. My intent was that two TEs would be blocking smaller DBs and a faster player reading blocks behind them.

Good catch.

The only thing I’m trying to highlight is that Frost is trying to adapt given the hand he’s been dealt.

 

[N2FL]

I haven't had a chance to re-watch the game, but wanted to give some initial 30,000 foot view opinions. Some of these are bound to be off, so feel free to let me know where i'm wrong.

My unfortunate reality was I went into this game not expecting a close score. That's frustrating in year 3. It really sucks from playing them 36-31 in year 1, to now taking moral victories with 52-17 beatdowns while you watch a team like Indiana beat Penn State. Nebraska hasn't beaten a top 5 team in 19 years, it's been awhile. Knowing all of these things, I told myself before the game that I was going to find the positives, understand there would be negatives, and not cement too many opinions after facing a team that will be in the CFP. Essentially, I was going to be happy with the positives and chalk negatives up to who we were playing. I'm not going to get too worked up how we look or didn't look against a team like that. But I do think there were some things we can look to for a huge game against the Badgers.

- First one is pretty obvious, but as i'd been stating, we were looking at ways to get McCaffrey incorporated. Not only did we try him at RB, but we put him in for a few series'. I had been saying all along that Martinez was going to be the starter game 1 and there was not competition until the season started. Now it's on. Frost was not going to have his 3 year returning starter lose the spot in practice, but he's going to give McCaffrey opportunities in games to take it from him. Both QBs looked pretty good in the passing game, but something was definitely missing..

- What was missing? We had zero downfield threat. We are in year 3 and our starting WRs were walk-on Falck and walk-on Warner with Robinson in the slot/Duck R. No wonder we can't get much going. I had made mention that we need to stretch the field in an effort to get the safeties out of there. Mills and Robinson are going to continue to be minimal factors if the safeties can play 7 yards from the LOS and backpedal to keep up with our WRs. Again, don't want to harp on it too much, first game out of the gate in a corona year could have a wide range of reasons why you don't see Manning, Brown, Betts, Fleming, etc. But what I will be looking for moving forward is if we can get these guys on the field. We need them. Once we stretch the field, Robinson and Mills will have breakout games.

- It was really good to see the TEs actively involved. Really sucks about Stoll, but I thought Allen looked good and the room is pretty deep. I didn't see as many 2 TE sets as I thought I would unless you count our iFormation we ran with Allen at FB.

- OL, I actually thought we looked pretty good here against better opponents. And like what happened with QB, I really love our staff creating competition by trying other guys when players struggle. As i've been saying on here for a year, if Ethan Piper isn't a 2 or 3 year starter for us, something went horribly wrong. They put him in for Wilson a few times and if you get a chance to watch the replay, take a look at #57 move compared to the rest of our linemen. On his pulls he's just so fluid and athletic, and he hits you hard at the point of attack. They also had Will Farniok come in for Jurgens a bit. Again, I haven't talked to anyone to know if there are injuries, suspensions with WRs, etc., but I liked the rotation. Benhart had a decent day against one of the best players he will see all year, and Jaimes did his thing. Even though our offensive output wasn't great, I liked a lot of what I saw from them.

- Defensive line I think played pretty well too. Was a bit frustrating we had to slide Robinson down to NG the third play of the game, but that was expected. I think guys like Robinson, Rogers, and Stille played really well considering their competition. You'll be able to see Robinson and Rogers get better every game since they are so young. Green came in and played a bit, but I didn't see much from Thomas. I will be curious how we look against Wisconsin on the DL front, but was encouraged against Ohio State.

- ILBs were thin and we need to get guys back for Wisconsin. I think Honas played a really good game, need to go back and watch Miller more, but I believe Honas played like the recruit we thought we were getting. The Wisconsin game is built for him, Ohio State is just a bit too fast. We need Reimer to practice this week, because correctly filling the gaps against Wisconsin is paramount. If you don't practice it, it's tough to get it right on Saturday. We are scary thin at ILB which is a weird thing to type out. Mauga-Clements got in and promptly got pancaked, but I think Snodgrass can provide some needed depth.

- We were trying everyone and their dog at OLB. Domann did Domann things, he's our best defensive player. But we threw the kitchen sink at the other spot to try and find someone. Tannor, Nelson, Henrich, and even Payne all showed flashes (side note, Payne looked extremely skinny, can't believe he was a DE and lost that much weight being sick). We need to figure out in a hurry who can help us there. I think Henrich will just get better and better each game.

- Well... DBs really struggled with the speed of Ohio State. That's to be expected. But playing the first half against Wisconsin without our two most physical DBs in CTB and DWilliams... that's not good. We are going to need some guys to step up. We are essentially starting our 3rd string corner against them and young'n Myles Farmer is going to have to be ready to lay the wood.

- Punting numbers looked good but every punt I watched they looked awful. Was it windy?

Other general thoughts:

- It was tough to get any semblance of rhythm or momentum with the refs using cement gravel as lubricant on us

- There were a few plays that against our defense in practice go to the house. But we were playing Ohio State and they run us down. I will be real curious to see how those plays look against the Badgers.

- I have been saying that our team and Duval did one of the best jobs in the nation keeping our team focused and ready during Covid-19. While everyone's eyes are different, I felt we looked pretty good athletically out there. I think you are going to see a team against the Badgers that looks very fluid out there and strong, it was just tough to see against the creatures at Ohio State they recruit.

- Sticking with that a bit, I understand the "let's just play them first and hope they are rusty". But I can also counter that with how ready we were, would have liked to play a team like Minnesota or Michigan State who literally had sent their guys home thinking there wasn't going to be a season. Our preparation was spoiled a bit playing the buzzsaw that is the Buckeyes.

- I never thought year 3 i'd be happy with a 52-17 defeat, but as i've been saying on here for a few years (and the reason that i'm not worked up about this game), quit trying to figure out how far away we are from Clemson, Alabama, and Ohio State. We need to be there and beat Iowa and Wisconsin (throw Minnesota in there now). This week is a massive game. Even though the Badgers looked really good, we need to find a way to win Saturday, or we are staring 1-3 in the face and we would need to rattle off four in a row to get to 5-3. Huge game.

- I stated it up top, but with Covid I will be curious which first year WRs start making a charge through the season for playing time. Lacking spring and summer football hurt us there. Alante Brown caught that pass in the 4th quarter and looked faster than anything else we had at that position all game.

- I'm just going to say it one more time, but i'll be judging us based on Saturday against the Badgers. That's a huge game. If we lose by a couple touchdowns, I will probably turn pretty negative. I have no problem not being as good or as fast as Ohio State who has top 5 recruiting classes every year. But if we can't be as big or strong as Wisconsin in year 3, we have bigger issues. That game needs to be competitive and we need to figure out a way to beat a team that struggled with workouts during Covid. Our entire season was pushed back due to their issues.

Awesome assessment per usual man. I don't do write ups of the game like I did a season or two ago, so I probably won't go back and look at specific players or situations. So my opinions are like your initial post, from 30,000 feet up...

I thought Pheldarius Payne was the best looking OLB opposite Domann. He set the edge well, from what I recall, and played in the Ohio State backfield more than anyone outside of Domann. The staff has missed on several of their top guys at linebacker and defensive line the last couple classes, and the juco guys getting an additional year without using eligibility is one silver lining to this Covid season. It's just one small sample, obviously, but Payne might be a really good looking player down the line. Guys like him, Keem Green (who I also thought looked good and REALLY looks the part), Niko Cooper, Jordon Riley and Eteva Mauga-Clements getting a free year is going to really pay dividends in 2021 and beyond IMPO. Not only will they be better players and contribute longer, but it gives the staff another year to try and load up on the front 7 with some high end high school kids.

Side note: No matter how this recruiting class finishes out, even if the staff nails a few top remaining targets, it's going to be a huge bummer for this staff that they weren't able to sign the OLB class they thought they were going to in the summer. Patrick Payton, Will Schweitzer and Christian Burkhalter would have bolstered that OLB room in a HUGE, HUGE way. That trio not going to Lincoln is a nut-punch.

As far as Payne's size, I wonder if Held ever had a chance to verify his listed weight? When I watched his tape, I thought he was much lighter and didn't think there was any way he projected to a 3-4 DE without ballooning him up and basically taking away the skillet that made him attractive in the first place. This was part of my writeup on him after I assessed the class:

"At 6-foot-3, 275-pounds, Payne doesn’t seem to fit the mold this staff is looking for out of its defensive ends. But when you turn on Payne’s tape, you see the value he brings and why the staff coveted him so much. Payne has a quick-twitch that no other defensive end has on the roster. An impressive first step helps him get off the ball quickly, and he’s good with his hands. He moves like a 250-pounder and should contribute as a pass rushing specialist."

Pernell: Reviewing the 2020 Recruiting Class (Defense)

Position Group Summaries (Defense) Defensive Line (4): If anyone was a bigger target than Turner Corcoran, it might have been […]

www.huskermax.com

 

[N2FL]

I'll paste a couple comments I made in a PM thread regarding the game...

I think the most encouraging sign was that you, for the most part, weren't pushed around in the trenches. You guys held up against the best o-line in the country and a d-line that is reloading (not rebuilding) with a bunch of top 100 recruits.

If you look at team building overall, goal No. 1 is always building up and being strong along the lines. You guys seem on course of being capable of holding your own against anyone you play in that area. That's a big step for your program. You're young at the skill positions and you need another class or two to get those rooms where they need to be, but if this is how your lines will start looking, then you're on your way.

 

[N2FL]

And...

It's pretty crazy that in year three and after two full-cycle recruiting classes that the WR room is still in this shape. You have half a dozen guys in there that are four-star recruits. Get them on the field.

This offseason, who'd we hear about most? Walk-ons. Huh!? Ok, maybe that's just coach speak to motivate and promote your walk-on program and to humble your scholarship guys. But then we see the guys coaches and players mentioned often like Kade Warner drop a TD. Wyatt Liewer? What did he do other than get flagged for a procedure penalty that killed a drive? Levi Falk, 1 grab for 8 yards. Awesome.

At some point you gotta throw these kids out there and see if they can swim. Is their perimeter blocking really lacking so bad? I know it's Ohio State and you're not going to have that caliber of talent again, but you need to put guys out there who can stretch the field and scare teams.

RB and WR are the two easiest positions to come in and contribute early. Demariyon Houston and Jamie Nance have had two years to learn the playbook and get their bodies Big Ten ready. They're still not capable of getting reps? Not even in garbage time? Marcus Fleming is probably the fastest player on the team. He's a four-star kid who stood out playing on a very talented high school team playing against some of the best high school talent in the country. After 4+ months with this staff, he's not able to go in and be trusted to run even a handful of plays? Zavier Betts is the prototype you're looking for with his length, height and athleticism. Same deal. He's not ready to go out there and execute even a few different concepts? The staff gushed (as much as they do in public) over Alante Brown when he got to Lincoln. Frost isn't like Riley. He's very strategic in his public praise for players. Brown got the same freshman sort of comments that guys like Mo Washington and Wan'Dale Robinson got. After 10 months, he's only getting garbage time?

Teams will play you just like they did last year until you prove otherwise that they have a reason to respect a downfield passing threat. Did anyone else notice in the first half when Martinez actually did try and force a 50-50 throw downfield that it was to a backup TE (Vokalek) who hadn't played in two years... and that he was being guarded by a probable top 10 NFL Draft pick (Shaun Wade). IIRC, the announcers even pointed out that he missed the primary read, Dedrick Mills in the flat (heaven forbid some fans might say), but it probably was an easy 7 yards that'll keep a drive going. Not to mention you're not challenging a guy that usually wins 50-50 balls. You're lucky he just deflected it and didn't come away with the ball.

On one hand, I can see why Martinez forced that throw. At some point you gotta take those chances. But I certainly didn't like that match-up to try it. If it's Omar Manning, I'm fine with it. But more than anything, Martinez (or McCaffrey) have to play within the system. I'm all for taking shots downfield, but not unless A) You have a favorable match-up and B) You're not ignoring an easy 5-10 yards that'll keep your drive alive.

 

[Goal-line]

As always, good stuff from Short Side Option.

I basically agree. However 52-17 does not sit well with me. We could not stretch the field because the QB did not have much time to let plays get extended. And, part of that is on the receiver depth and Warner clearly missed a TD catch. I felt that we should have made more run attempts between the tackles.

Also, no pressure ofF of edge made for an easy day for their QB to be 20-21 playing catch with his receivers. Hard for pass defenders to do their jobs when the QB has loads of time to throw.

One last thing. Special teams did better except for calling The fair catches on the 5 yard line on kick off returns.

 

[goodnterribles]

As always, good stuff from Short Side Option.

I basically agree. However 52-17 does not sit well with me. We could not stretch the field because the QB did not have much time to let plays get extended. And, part of that is on the receiver depth and Warner clearly missed a TD catch. I felt that we should have made more run attempts between the tackles.

Also, no pressure ofF of edge made for an easy day for their QB to be 20-21 playing catch with his receivers. Hard for pass defenders to do their jobs when the QB has loads of time to throw.

One last thing. Special teams did better except for calling The fair catches on the 5 yard line on kick off returns.

If the DEs don't keep the edge, Fields takes off for 20 yards. It's picking your poison with a guy like him. Luckily, there's not anyone else as good as him both running and passing left on the schedule.
It makes sense to call the fair catch most times.

 

[lo country]

Great info.

In regards to out talented WR's on the bench, I was/am hoping Frost and Co can design a few plays that they can execute in their sleep. Every time they are on the field doesn't mean we are going deep with every throw, but bring them in for a play or two every series will keep the safeties from creeping up. Just go with what you have. Not a lot of practice needed to run deep really really fast......

 

[NUinID]

And...

It's pretty crazy that in year three and after two full-cycle recruiting classes that the WR room is still in this shape. You have half a dozen guys in there that are four-star recruits. Get them on the field.

This offseason, who'd we hear about most? Walk-ons. Huh!? Ok, maybe that's just coach speak to motivate and promote your walk-on program and to humble your scholarship guys. But then we see the guys coaches and players mentioned often like Kade Warner drop a TD. Wyatt Liewer? What did he do other than get flagged for a procedure penalty that killed a drive? Levi Falk, 1 grab for 8 yards. Awesome.

At some point you gotta throw these kids out there and see if they can swim. Is their perimeter blocking really lacking so bad? I know it's Ohio State and you're not going to have that caliber of talent again, but you need to put guys out there who can stretch the field and scare teams.

RB and WR are the two easiest positions to come in and contribute early. Demariyon Houston and Jamie Nance have had two years to learn the playbook and get their bodies Big Ten ready. They're still not capable of getting reps? Not even in garbage time? Marcus Fleming is probably the fastest player on the team. He's a four-star kid who stood out playing on a very talented high school team playing against some of the best high school talent in the country. After 4+ months with this staff, he's not able to go in and be trusted to run even a handful of plays? Zavier Betts is the prototype you're looking for with his length, height and athleticism. Same deal. He's not ready to go out there and execute even a few different concepts? The staff gushed (as much as they do in public) over Alante Brown when he got to Lincoln. Frost isn't like Riley. He's very strategic in his public praise for players. Brown got the same freshman sort of comments that guys like Mo Washington and Wan'Dale Robinson got. After 10 months, he's only getting garbage time?

Teams will play you just like they did last year until you prove otherwise that they have a reason to respect a downfield passing threat. Did anyone else notice in the first half when Martinez actually did try and force a 50-50 throw downfield that it was to a backup TE (Vokalek) who hadn't played in two years... and that he was being guarded by a probable top 10 NFL Draft pick (Shaun Wade). IIRC, the announcers even pointed out that he missed the primary read, Dedrick Mills in the flat (heaven forbid some fans might say), but it probably was an easy 7 yards that'll keep a drive going. Not to mention you're not challenging a guy that usually wins 50-50 balls. You're lucky he just deflected it and didn't come away with the ball.

On one hand, I can see why Martinez forced that throw. At some point you gotta take those chances. But I certainly didn't like that match-up to try it. If it's Omar Manning, I'm fine with it. But more than anything, Martinez (or McCaffrey) have to play within the system. I'm all for taking shots downfield, but not unless A) You have a favorable match-up and B) You're not ignoring an easy 5-10 yards that'll keep your drive alive.

I agree on the WR stuff. At some point you got to throw them into the fire.

Maybe it was the game and they figured go with experience.

i didn’t watch the olbs that much I thought Payne played ok I thought Tannor and Henrich played alright too. I think they just need game time and will get better.

 

[Megatron]

I haven't had a chance to re-watch the game, but wanted to give some initial 30,000 foot view opinions. Some of these are bound to be off, so feel free to let me know where i'm wrong.

My unfortunate reality was I went into this game not expecting a close score. That's frustrating in year 3. It really sucks from playing them 36-31 in year 1, to now taking moral victories with 52-17 beatdowns while you watch a team like Indiana beat Penn State. Nebraska hasn't beaten a top 5 team in 19 years, it's been awhile. Knowing all of these things, I told myself before the game that I was going to find the positives, understand there would be negatives, and not cement too many opinions after facing a team that will be in the CFP. Essentially, I was going to be happy with the positives and chalk negatives up to who we were playing. I'm not going to get too worked up how we look or didn't look against a team like that. But I do think there were some things we can look to for a huge game against the Badgers.

- First one is pretty obvious, but as i'd been stating, we were looking at ways to get McCaffrey incorporated. Not only did we try him at RB, but we put him in for a few series'. I had been saying all along that Martinez was going to be the starter game 1 and there was not competition until the season started. Now it's on. Frost was not going to have his 3 year returning starter lose the spot in practice, but he's going to give McCaffrey opportunities in games to take it from him. Both QBs looked pretty good in the passing game, but something was definitely missing..

- What was missing? We had zero downfield threat. We are in year 3 and our starting WRs were walk-on Falck and walk-on Warner with Robinson in the slot/Duck R. No wonder we can't get much going. I had made mention that we need to stretch the field in an effort to get the safeties out of there. Mills and Robinson are going to continue to be minimal factors if the safeties can play 7 yards from the LOS and backpedal to keep up with our WRs. Again, don't want to harp on it too much, first game out of the gate in a corona year could have a wide range of reasons why you don't see Manning, Brown, Betts, Fleming, etc. But what I will be looking for moving forward is if we can get these guys on the field. We need them. Once we stretch the field, Robinson and Mills will have breakout games.

- It was really good to see the TEs actively involved. Really sucks about Stoll, but I thought Allen looked good and the room is pretty deep. I didn't see as many 2 TE sets as I thought I would unless you count our iFormation we ran with Allen at FB.

- OL, I actually thought we looked pretty good here against better opponents. And like what happened with QB, I really love our staff creating competition by trying other guys when players struggle. As i've been saying on here for a year, if Ethan Piper isn't a 2 or 3 year starter for us, something went horribly wrong. They put him in for Wilson a few times and if you get a chance to watch the replay, take a look at #57 move compared to the rest of our linemen. On his pulls he's just so fluid and athletic, and he hits you hard at the point of attack. They also had Will Farniok come in for Jurgens a bit. Again, I haven't talked to anyone to know if there are injuries, suspensions with WRs, etc., but I liked the rotation. Benhart had a decent day against one of the best players he will see all year, and Jaimes did his thing. Even though our offensive output wasn't great, I liked a lot of what I saw from them.

- Defensive line I think played pretty well too. Was a bit frustrating we had to slide Robinson down to NG the third play of the game, but that was expected. I think guys like Robinson, Rogers, and Stille played really well considering their competition. You'll be able to see Robinson and Rogers get better every game since they are so young. Green came in and played a bit, but I didn't see much from Thomas. I will be curious how we look against Wisconsin on the DL front, but was encouraged against Ohio State.

- ILBs were thin and we need to get guys back for Wisconsin. I think Honas played a really good game, need to go back and watch Miller more, but I believe Honas played like the recruit we thought we were getting. The Wisconsin game is built for him, Ohio State is just a bit too fast. We need Reimer to practice this week, because correctly filling the gaps against Wisconsin is paramount. If you don't practice it, it's tough to get it right on Saturday. We are scary thin at ILB which is a weird thing to type out. Mauga-Clements got in and promptly got pancaked, but I think Snodgrass can provide some needed depth.

- We were trying everyone and their dog at OLB. Domann did Domann things, he's our best defensive player. But we threw the kitchen sink at the other spot to try and find someone. Tannor, Nelson, Henrich, and even Payne all showed flashes (side note, Payne looked extremely skinny, can't believe he was a DE and lost that much weight being sick). We need to figure out in a hurry who can help us there. I think Henrich will just get better and better each game.

- Well... DBs really struggled with the speed of Ohio State. That's to be expected. But playing the first half against Wisconsin without our two most physical DBs in CTB and DWilliams... that's not good. We are going to need some guys to step up. We are essentially starting our 3rd string corner against them and young'n Myles Farmer is going to have to be ready to lay the wood.

- Punting numbers looked good but every punt I watched they looked awful. Was it windy?

Other general thoughts:

- It was tough to get any semblance of rhythm or momentum with the refs using cement gravel as lubricant on us

- There were a few plays that against our defense in practice go to the house. But we were playing Ohio State and they run us down. I will be real curious to see how those plays look against the Badgers.

- I have been saying that our team and Duval did one of the best jobs in the nation keeping our team focused and ready during Covid-19. While everyone's eyes are different, I felt we looked pretty good athletically out there. I think you are going to see a team against the Badgers that looks very fluid out there and strong, it was just tough to see against the creatures at Ohio State they recruit.

- Sticking with that a bit, I understand the "let's just play them first and hope they are rusty". But I can also counter that with how ready we were, would have liked to play a team like Minnesota or Michigan State who literally had sent their guys home thinking there wasn't going to be a season. Our preparation was spoiled a bit playing the buzzsaw that is the Buckeyes.

- I never thought year 3 i'd be happy with a 52-17 defeat, but as i've been saying on here for a few years (and the reason that i'm not worked up about this game), quit trying to figure out how far away we are from Clemson, Alabama, and Ohio State. We need to be there and beat Iowa and Wisconsin (throw Minnesota in there now). This week is a massive game. Even though the Badgers looked really good, we need to find a way to win Saturday, or we are staring 1-3 in the face and we would need to rattle off four in a row to get to 5-3. Huge game.

- I stated it up top, but with Covid I will be curious which first year WRs start making a charge through the season for playing time. Lacking spring and summer football hurt us there. Alante Brown caught that pass in the 4th quarter and looked faster than anything else we had at that position all game.

- I'm just going to say it one more time, but i'll be judging us based on Saturday against the Badgers. That's a huge game. If we lose by a couple touchdowns, I will probably turn pretty negative. I have no problem not being as good or as fast as Ohio State who has top 5 recruiting classes every year. But if we can't be as big or strong as Wisconsin in year 3, we have bigger issues. That game needs to be competitive and we need to figure out a way to beat a team that struggled with workouts during Covid. Our entire season was pushed back due to their issues.

I really enjoy your thoughts. I’ve been a lifelong fan and love the Cornhuskers, but I’m sick of this type of performance. I’ve said it before, if our current coach was anyone but Scott Frost, there would already be a for sale sign in their front yard.
We should be significantly better than we are. If Rutgers can see improvement immediately, we should as well ( I know it’s one game). I also think it’s a garbage statement that if Frost can’t do it, nobody can. I think examples at Iowa State and Kansas State prove different.
I want Scott to be successful, but there is something inherently wrong in Lincoln - and I have no idea what that may be.
Maybe the Wisconsin game changes everything. That’s my hope and prayer.

 

[berryhusker]

RB and WR are the two easiest positions to come in and contribute early. Demariyon Houston and Jamie Nance have had two years to learn the playbook and get their bodies Big Ten ready. They're still not capable of getting reps? Not even in garbage time? Marcus Fleming is probably the fastest player on the team. He's a four-star kid who stood out playing on a very talented high school team playing against some of the best high school talent in the country. After 4+ months with this staff, he's not able to go in and be trusted to run even a handful of plays? Zavier Betts is the prototype you're looking for with his length, height and athleticism. Same deal. He's not ready to go out there and execute even a few different concepts? The staff gushed (as much as they do in public) over Alante Brown when he got to Lincoln. Frost isn't like Riley. He's very strategic in his public praise for players. Brown got the same freshman sort of comments that guys like Mo Washington and Wan'Dale Robinson got. After 10 months, he's only getting garbage time?

This is the part of your post that really concerns me the most. The guys that got time at WR were not cutting it and there was little if any subbing of the guys you mentioned. I noticed Brown had a short but fast run after his only catch late in the game. If these guys don't see the field this week it will be curious and worrisome unless the starters from this past week really are performing.