I hate to say it but…

[Red Dead Redemption]

Spring Football.

Holy smokes fellas.

*faintly*
(..."fuuurrrrsssttt"....)

 

[Mentally Red]

Sometimes things it's hard to say things that need to be said and hear things that need to be heard. Rhule has established a pattern; he starts off slow and builds up. He intentionally brought in young coaches so he could train them. This is a red flag if you expect overnight success. He's trying to establish a culture. At this point, I believe they are still at least 10 scholarships over the limit. More than likely that means 10 guys who were on the team last year won't be this year.
Sometimes small changes can produce big results, but only after the big changes have already been made. We've suffered through 6 losing seasons in a row. We're in a major rebuild the hardest part of which will be the establishment of a winning culture.
So yes, look for positives but don't let that fool you into thinking this nightmare was just a blip. Despite all the money poured into this program, we have a long way to go. Rhule won 3 games combine in his first years at Temple and Baylor. There's no reason to believe he won't start slow at NU as well. Six wins and a bowl game are the ceiling in year 1. Anything beyond that is gravy.

Thank you for such a thoughtful reply. I’m going to file away your first sentence; that’s a keeper. I was guzzling Koolaid before the Spring Game, but have now been jolted back to reality. I still have a lot of confidence in MR, but this was a stark reminder that things aren’t going to change overnight.

 

[FLAinCALI]

While we all would like to see a quick turnaround, this is a spring game with a completely new system being installed. Are people expecting a finished product already? With the horrible product we have been putting out on the field for years, this is not going to be a quick fix. The sky in not falling. Give this staff time to work their magic and develop the talent. I am reserving any comment to the first game of the year.

Unless it is some miracle turn around I’m reserving comment until late Nov.

MR has a runway, I hope he doesn’t need a long runway and I hope we start seeing progress early but I don’t expect him to get this program back in the air right away.

It was a spring game, we are still taxing around.

 

[Burning Bright]

They looked exactly how I’d expect a program that’s only won 10 games the past three years to look. We decided to let the Frost disaster continue much longer than it should have. There is a culture of losing that is permeating throughout this entire program. It’s not going to be changed in one spring. This staff laid a few cultural building blocks and seen what they had. More culture building blocks will be laid this summer through conditioning.

The hardest part is going to be learning how to win again, and that only happens when you actually win on Saturdays. I’m hoping some of these new faces that came from more successful places can help facilitate that. Players that melt down and make mistakes under pressure can’t be on the field anymore, even if they are more talented. The previous staff just ran them back out there to make the same mistakes over and over.

 

[Mentally Red]

How do you suppose you’d feel if Sims played the entire game instead of playing four qb’s?

Yeah, that would have been better. But still, he wasn’t protected very well and his running backs were often greeted by a pile of bodies on the line of scrimmage. However, maybe I’m looking at this incorrectly. Maybe it’s actually a case of an awesome defense!

 

[Nostradumbass]

This is the offense I was afraid to see when Rhule was being rumored. This is the Iowa offense. It is entirely possible that by the time the season starts things will look different, but he wants the QB to just drop back and throw. There was absolutely no deception with what was run today and any defense would be able to tee off on this offense. If that is the product we roll out in 2023, we will be hard pressed to win more than a couple of games.

Ummm, this was just a spring game.

 

[Ultra Red]

I just appreciate the fact it was mostly live and not two hand touch below the waist

 

[djlhuskerfan]

It shows that we really got set behind the eight ball missing out on all those extra bowl game practices the last 6 years.

 

[MHKHusker]

It looked a little like the same ol offense. Not much of a running game, too many turnovers, lots of errant throws, quarterbacks running for their lives. Kicking game didn’t wow me either. I’m still hoping for the best, but this isn’t going to improve overnight.

We might not have watched the same spring game then. White team rushed 48 times vs. 27 pass attempts and we would be close to 4 yards per carry if you subtract out sack yards. QBs didn’t run for their lives much other than a few pass rush wins by young guys, punting looked very good, field goal kicking didn’t look great.

 

[MHKHusker]

Unless it is some miracle turn around I’m reserving comment until late Nov.

MR has a runway, I hope he doesn’t need a long runway and I hope we start seeing progress early but I don’t expect him to get this program back in the air right away.

It was a spring game, we are still taxing around.

A spring game with a completely new installed offense, defense, and special teams. If people truly expected to see some significantly improved team on the field, they were just drunk off kool-aid

 

[CrabHusker]

Yes it was just a spring game. I’m just really surprised that any discussion regarding the play is immediately shut down by posters. It wasn’t a good look so far. Accept it like the coaches probably do to determine where improvements are needed. A break away from the koolaid and the never ending koolaid tweets that constantly get posted…..often multiple times might be a good break. Nobody is saying this is the end product. But anyone watching that game should have honestly been able to notice how poorly we looked in the execution department. EVen for a spring game.

Talking people off the ledge after the 15th 'practice' of a new staff with nearly 50% roster turnover is 'immediately shut down'? It's actually the counter to the 'We're screwed' sentiment by those who think we should look like a finished product.

Agree to disagree.

If this is year two, or three, or four under Rhule and this staff and this was the look, I agree and say we've got problems. First Spring Game. 15th practice. Lots to fix in such a short time with so many new faces.

 

[CrabHusker]

*faintly*
(..."fuuurrrrsssttt"....)

Utterly shocking.

 

[CrabHusker]

It's the XFL kickoff, used to reduce injuries and keep the kickoff still in the game. According to the announcer, the NFL is looking into adopting some format close to that. I kind of liked it.

Ahh. I didn't know that. I thought it was odd, but so much has changed since I first started watching football in 1971, I don't doubt that I'd get used to it.

So not something the NCAA is looking to adopt for '23? Not another rule change I missed?

 

[MHKHusker]

Talking people off the ledge after the 15th 'practice' of a new staff with nearly 50% roster turnover is 'immediately shut down'? It's actually the counter to the 'We're screwed' sentiment by those who think we should look like a finished product.

Agree to disagree.

If this is year two, or three, or four under Rhule and this staff and this was the look, I agree and say we've got problems. First Spring Game. 15th practice. Lots to fix in such a short time with so many new faces.

Exactly, the team has more time between now and the first game than they’ve had to truly practice with Rhule

 

[bentNblue]

Sitting in the stands it was pretty hard to me to discern or critique much about the game other than a few obvious things (like the play of Simms; dropped balls; defensive quickness of newcomers, etc). But what I liked most about yesterday were the players that participated in the press conferences. I am so impressed with the player's humble confidence in their own abilities; the trust they have in their coaches to make them better and allow them to succeed; how they love each other as teammates and trying hard to make each other better; and, how they are having FUN in the heat of competition. It appears to me that the character of these players is "off the charts" and this will pay big dividends as we go to fall ball and play out the season!