• You do not need to register if you are not going to pay the yearly fee to post. If you register please click here or log in go to "settings" then "my account" then "User Upgrades" and you can renew.

HuskerMax readers can save 50% on  Omaha Steaks .

I hate to say it but…

I’m late to this thread, just got done watching the recording of the Spring Game. This post legit made me laugh out loud. Can we just pause and acknowledge the team has 2 weeks of Spring practice with a new offense and defense, and that no coach is going to put his scheme on film with any level of detail in a Spring game? Judging what we just saw for level of deceptiveness is a fool’s errand. We might want more information, but we can’t pretend we got enough to make statements like this.

I’m late to this thread, just got done watching the recording of the Spring Game. This post legit made me laugh out loud. Can we just pause and acknowledge the team has 2 weeks of Spring practice with a new offense and defense, and that no coach is going to put his scheme on film with any level of detail in a Spring game? Judging what we just saw for level of deceptiveness is a fool’s errand. We might want more information, but we can’t pretend we got enough to make statements like this.
So they installed a different offense in two weeks to throw everyone off? That is a brilliant plan.
 
You are putting far too much stock into a spring game.

I've seen spring games in Lincoln that made Nebraska look like they were on their way to 10-11 wins. And then reality hit that Callahan was our coach.

Every coach has a different approach to a spring scrimmage in front of the fans. Every coach is working on different things, emphasizing different things, tinkering with different personnel. It's like NFL preseason games. They almost never are an indicator of regular season success.

Deion has yet to coach against an opponent that had more talent than his Jackson State teams. He had 3, 4, and 5-star kids on an HBCU roster, playing HBCU teams with no stars. No doubt Sanders increased the talent in Boulder -- but it was rotten for a long time. Now it's subpar. Most teams CU will play this season will have more talent than Deion's kids -- including Nebraska. Matt Rhule has done infinitely more than Deion at much higher levels of football. Forgive me for not buying into the Deion hype until I actually see him coach an FBS football game against an opponent he can beat by simply having a huge talent advantage.

I didn't see CU's spring game, but if you're saying they were slinging it, makes it sound like their defense was putrid. No less than 90% of the teams they'll face this season will present defenses far superior to what the Buffs rolled out yesterday. I remember Joe Dailey being a NU spring game star -- well, it's because he was throwing against an absolutely horrible Cosgrove defense.

Spring games consistently bring overreactions. Always have, always will.
I 100 percent agree on the CU stuff. No really comment there.

As far as DONU, if I am a first year coach I try to treat this like a practice and get reps. Reps doing the bread and butter of what the offense and defense plans to be and reps doing the little things like substitutions, clock management, tackling, blocking, ball management etc. I think what we saw was that the defense surprised a lot of people. Especially since we were missing 2 key pieces. But I think the game management, ball management, and the bread and butter offense disappointed a bit.

Obviously this team still has a lot of time to install a lot of different pieces. But as far as a first spring game I would give this a 5 and that might be generous. I just don't see this group being bowl eligible right now but I think its more because Rhule is trying to fit a round beg into a square hole. Just my observations.
 
I don't share the ill feelings some have expressed about the NU Spring Game. Besides the new coaches, new players, and new systems, the scrimmage featured non-stop player swapping. You're not going to get a smooth performance with that kind of personnel management. Take it for what it was, a chance for the coaches to see individual players in gametime situations. The defense looked ahead of the offense at least partly because the latter requires so much more coordination. I expect the center exchanges to get better when we don't see six QBS (and I believe several centers) in a game. Also keep in mind that NCAA rules require spring training to be less intense than fall pre-season practice:

Spring:
  • Practices can be conducted over a 34-day period with 20 hours per week of unrestricted activities. Players must receive one day off per week.
  • 15 on-field practice sessions may be held, with no more than 12 involving contact.
  • Full contact may not occur until the third practice.
  • Eight of the 12 contact practices can involve tackling, and no more than three of those eight may be devoted to 11-on-11 scrimmages.
Fall:
  • Teams are allowed to have 25 practices in the 29 days leading up to their first game.
  • Athletically related activities shall be limited to a maximum of four hours per day and 20 hours per week.
  • Players must receive at least one day off per week.
  • Maximum number of allowed ‘contact’ practices is 18.
  • Teams can have eight practices in helmets, nine in shells, eight in full pads.
  • Teams won’t be allowed to hold full-contact practices on more than two days in a row.
  • Each practice session is limited to only 75 minutes of full contact.
  • Teams can scrimmage only two times over the course of the month leading up to their first game.
 
Last edited:



I am not in sync with OP. I really liked (in order of emphasis):

1) Sims
2) D scheme
3) Running Back Room
4) Improved team speed on D
5) Improved D tackling and physical play
6) Receiver Room (including TE's)
7) QB under Center

Some things to tighten up but I came away more positive than expected.
Totally Agree. Spring Game is for looking at individual play and learning. My detail opinion I would add to your list.

1 Sims looked really good, Haarberg looked pretty good. Sims movement and passing great, Haarberg solid passing and straight forward running. Purdy and Torres looked bad compared to the other 2. Torres' fault on QB/RB exchanges, missed seeing and hitting open WR.

2) DB's talking to each other and learning from missed assignments.

3) Gabe stood out to me. Johnson and Grant also looking good. I thought Allen was relatively weakest of the bunch

4) Aggressive DB going for the ball and play

5) Linebackers seemed solid

6) Good speed and finding open spots on the field and not just running into coverage, ie getting open quicker. Some of the drops were by the same players, who might not see the field come regular season

7) OL playing both ways (i get lack of depth right now) but also reminded me of having OL being in great condition to wear down DL's. I hope Rhule/Riaola keep pushing OL to be conditioned and physical.
 
On the BTN broadcast, Jeremiah Sirles noted that OL are playing without knee braces which can improve lateral movement although he hinted that it might also increase the possibility of injury. He said Rhule wanted lineman to trust their athleticism when they're playing. Will have to watch if it helps with pulling and second level blocks.
 
I 100 percent agree on the CU stuff. No really comment there.

As far as DONU, if I am a first year coach I try to treat this like a practice and get reps. Reps doing the bread and butter of what the offense and defense plans to be and reps doing the little things like substitutions, clock management, tackling, blocking, ball management etc. I think what we saw was that the defense surprised a lot of people. Especially since we were missing 2 key pieces. But I think the game management, ball management, and the bread and butter offense disappointed a bit.

Obviously this team still has a lot of time to install a lot of different pieces. But as far as a first spring game I would give this a 5 and that might be generous. I just don't see this group being bowl eligible right now but I think its more because Rhule is trying to fit a round beg into a square hole. Just my observations.
I'm curious why you feel Rhule is trying to fit a round peg in a square hole.

He has said his offense will fit the players he has, which is what he did at both Temple and Baylor. It seems to me he sees a team with a lot of good RBs and has a QB that can run or pass. So at the spring game we basically see a run heavy team that works well with the players he has on hand. How is that fitting a round peg in a square hole?
 
Last edited:



I 100 percent agree on the CU stuff. No really comment there.

As far as DONU, if I am a first year coach I try to treat this like a practice and get reps. Reps doing the bread and butter of what the offense and defense plans to be and reps doing the little things like substitutions, clock management, tackling, blocking, ball management etc. I think what we saw was that the defense surprised a lot of people. Especially since we were missing 2 key pieces. But I think the game management, ball management, and the bread and butter offense disappointed a bit.

Obviously this team still has a lot of time to install a lot of different pieces. But as far as a first spring game I would give this a 5 and that might be generous. I just don't see this group being bowl eligible right now but I think its more because Rhule is trying to fit a round beg into a square hole. Just my observations.

So, what is the round peg he is trying to fit into a square hole? Could you elaborate on that? (By the way, it is often not a problem to fit a round peg into a square hole.)

On your greater point, you are not really going out on a limb to suggest this group might not be bowl eligible this year. They have had 3-4 wins for the last 5 years. There is a reason for that. It would be great if this staff pulled off a miracle, but I wouldn't assume that a miracle is the most likely outcome this year. But I also wouldn't make the assumption that they won't be bowl eligible based on the Spring game. The team that takes the field this fall will not be the same squads that played last Saturday.

The most legitimate concern regarding Saturday's performance is the number of fumbles. But if you want to take the glass half full version of that, you could argue that the defense was causing turnovers.

There is no good outcome for a Spring game. Scoring means your defense failed. Not scoring means your offense failed.
 
Last edited:
For those of you prone to start a statement "I hate to say it....". please just don't. You already started by saying you hated to say it... please stop. No body wants to hear why you feel so inclined, just rest assured that when you knew you hated to say it, well, we all hated to hear it as well.
"I hate to say this, but..."
"I don't want to be the bearer of bad news, but..."
"This goes without saying, but..."

And the list goes on and on...
 
Wait, WHAT?

we now know how the season is going to go based on the spring game, or we now know the offense based on the spring game?

Why in the world would Rhule show anything more than just the extreme basics in a spring game?
 





GET TICKETS


Get 50% off on Omaha Steaks

Back
Top