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I hate to say it but…


Thoughts on the Spring Game (note: I only watched the first half):
  1. Things felt pretty vanilla. I think this was by design. One of the few upper hands you get with a coaching change is question marks around what type of offense/defensive looks other teams are going to see. Think Rhule and crew gave us a taste of what we might expect, but not surprised they didn't show their hand too much. I'd also expect them to work a lot more nuance into both sides of the ball over the summer/early fall.
  2. Simms seems competent at the quarterback spot. I feel like between him and Thompson we should have a solid 1-2 at the quarterback position. Haarberg seems to have the edge with the coaches over Purdy and Torres. I like some of the stuff he can do athletically, but I still think he is a bit raw as a quarterback. I know that Smothers has been out this spring, I do wonder where he will stack up in the mix. Based on what I've seen I'd stick him in 3rd, behind Simms and Thompson.
  3. Defense- The hard thing about these games is I don't know whether or not to be excited when one side of the football plays well. Was our offense bad or our defense good? That said, I'd like to think we are moving in the right direction on that side of the ball. We finished the year in a decent place defensively. My hope is we continue to build on that.
  4. OLine- This is the area I think we needed to improve the most after last season. I think they played fairly well in the Spring Game. We need to build depth at the position, and we need to be able to excel in at least run block or pass protection. It will make a world of difference if we can be at least above average in either of those.
Overall, I thought the game was fine. Don't ever put too much stock in it. Was fun to get a little bit of football.
 
Defense looked like it was much better at certain positions, but never know until you start playing real games.

Offensive Line still was unimpressive (I think it truly is a talent issue) and we need more contributors at WR. The QB's took a lot of the heat Saturday, but a ton of dropped balls by various players...so I think the QB's played slightly better than people think.
 

I was hoping for better WR play. Lots of drops. Sims can throw well enough. Casey will push him and we'll have 2 good qb's.

There was more passing than I expected given Rhule's comments and the wind. That could be a factor that our OL just isn't good enough to run block well right now.

I expected the OL to look poor. Missing starters and they really haven't been good.

Defense was fun to watch.
I agree. Perhaps they wanted to see how the QBs would perform throwing the ball. I think they feel good about the RB room. We have a least 3 solid & proven options there (Grant/Ervin/Johnson) presuming everyone stays healthy. And then there's Allen who may be the most talented. We are absolutely loaded there. If NU can find a decent OL before G1, that could be an offense nobody wants to play.
 


I dunno. Getting a sold out crowd out in the snow (2000 showed in 2022), 70 recruits in the stadium, the stars from the 90’s coming back en mass, really experienced assistant coaches, and better TV coverage than Alabama and Georgia’s games — all that is success. I too think CU will have a hard time getting it’s new talent to gel early, and will start 0-2, but that town will be up when the Huskers visit like it hasn’t been in a decade at least.

There is no doubt Sanders and ESPN have created a buzz within the CU fan base like we haven't seen in a long time. That said, they start 0-2 or worse yet drop the third game to CSU and start 0-3 and the shine will be gone, people will be freaking out and they're likely headed to a 0 to 1 win season again. Buzz doesn't play on Saturday, as we witnessed to recently.
 
There is no doubt Sanders and ESPN have created a buzz within the CU fan base like we haven't seen in a long time. That said, they start 0-2 or worse yet drop the third game to CSU and start 0-3 and the shine will be gone, people will be freaking out and they're likely headed to a 0 to 1 win season again. Buzz doesn't play on Saturday, as we witnessed to recently.
I think most if not all of CU's confidence comes from Sanders as coach, not the players ability. They lose early or the hot shot QB doesn't have a couple good games to start, and that team will fall apart quickly.
 


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.
Not surprised to see Torres enter the portal. Good luck to him.
 

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