Narrative of this season

[BigRedOhio]

One of the most bothersome things to me about this season, is the changing narrative to this season by our coaching staff. In August, it was all about how things are different with the culture and how great certain players were, and how they welcomed the expectations, etc... Our coaches did very little to squash the hype and really seemed to have bought into it.

Fast forward to the Colorado post-game presser where Frost talked about being nervous and emotional as we were collapsing in the 2nd half. I've always thought that was an odd presser for a coach that is so hyper-competitive. Basically admitted that we choked (and I'm not trying to be disparaging in saying that). It was written all over his face on the sideline.

Fast forward to the Ohio State aftermath and it was becoming clear that this staff was confused and looking for something to blame. So the blame went to the players. Not good enough, not enough talent, not disciplined enough... etc... Returned to the narrative that we are still fixing the damages from the past coaches, etc.. And, in some ways, they've almost talked about this season as if it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme anymore. I have always felt bad for the seniors because of that.

To me, this staff should have seen back in August that we were still a major work-in-progress and should have presented it that way to the media, etc... Instead, we set ourselves up for a huge let down that has probably hurt the "rebuilding" process more than the actual losses.

No one can blame them for being excited and optimistic about the season... but one would think this staff would have kept things a little more grounded from the start. This staff is more inexperienced than we want to admit. Hoping they get it moving in the right direction eventually.

 

[jmcsundance]

What could go wrong this year...did go wrong. Injuries, departures, dismissals, regressed key players, players learning new positions, special teams, some of the coaching decisions, depleted depth, you name it.

We're all right. We're going to be just fine. Even with all the crapola we've dealt with, we aren't that far away from seven wins in a very problematic year. It just turned south, unfortunately.

Scott Frost has an incredible resume as a player, a protege of great college and professional coaches and as a native son with an unmatched commitment to the program, the state and its people. We are very fortunate.

What Coach Frost has is a challenge of a lifetime. No one knew the extent of the challenge. He'll rise to the challenge. It's in his DNA. How this happens will be interesting and fun to watch.

There are countless examples throughout the years of coaches, players, teams doing the near-impossible. This will be another example once he turns this program around. I was reminded of the excitement Foster, Farmer, Ozigbo, Gifford and others shared last year when leaving the program and how they knew this would work eventually. I was invariably impressed with Frost's first press conference with Bill Moos when he landed back home and the story behind Adrian Martinez's recruitment.

I loved his comment "They better get us now..." because he meant it. Well, they 'got him' didn't they over these past two years? This is going to come to a screeching halt shortly - watch and see. He's got success written all over him but he had to walk in the valley of the shadow of death for a while. This is far more of a challenge then he ever imagined. But when you have a guy with his character and integrity and drive, the higher the bar or the greater the challenge, the greater the commitment.

We have a very young team, some up and coming leaders and a year under our belt of experience, misfortune and outside noise. We have some great players in the pipeline and more on the way. Our coaching staff is doing what they can with what they have and realizes their own limitations and how they are going to have to raise the bar for themselves to be successful. None of these guys are losers- quite the opposite. They are all winners.

How this manifests over time will be fascinating.

There is no place like Nebraska.

 

[Hville]

I seem to remember the outcry at this administration for trying to quash the media and fan frenzy when Bill Moos said 6 wins was the goal. Trying to blame the staff for us not staying grounded is pretty much the least mistake we should be blaming them for.

 

[wcbsas]

I seem to remember the outcry at this administration for trying to quash the media and fan frenzy when Bill Moos said 6 wins was the goal. Trying to blame the staff for us not staying grounded is pretty much the least mistake we should be blaming them for.

Moos was trying to moderate expectations ... better to say 6 and do better than to say 8 and do worse. Frost himself I believe was in the 8 game range.

 

[Captkenny]

Moos was trying to moderate expectations ... better to say 6 and do better than to say 8 and do worse. Frost himself I believe was in the 8 game range.

I’m sure folks would have been fine with Frost telling us that he hoped to squeak out six wins this year. NOT!!!

If he is too positive, fans criticize him for being “misleading.” If he were to tamp down expectations, they would say his defeatist attitude was a self fulfilling prophecy.

 

[Huskerwisdom]

We may have been able to look a lot better this year, but things didn't work out.

Look at it this way:

2018 - Seniors stepped up in a big way and really contributed on the offense -- Ozigbo, Morgan, and Farmer in particular were really good players for us. We also got a true freshman QB who really played better than we had any right to expect a true frosh to play in a system just put in for the players around him. That second half was great, but it likely made us all have expectations that were way too high (combine it with Frost's turnaround at UCF, and things were crazy). I was as guilty of this as anyone.

2019 - This year a number of those things went wrong.
- We had no senior leaders on offense (no starters at all, in fact). We got our senior who was in the depth chart on the OL hurt and out for the year.
- Coaches, maybe mistakenly, decided to start at RS Frosh with no game playing time at Center (although the backup options were just as inexperienced) and a RS Soph Walk-on at OG
- One of our main RB's struggled to adjust to a zone blocking scheme while the other was embroiled in a legal case (and was apparently also embroiled in ignoring the team and team rules)
- Our WR's got hit with injuries, including our best blocker (Warner) while a couple more possible receiving targets were suspended
- On Defense our DL improved, but our LB's were exposed as being even worse (along with Alex Davis continuing to not fulfill his promise and bring anything to the field).
- Losing Gifford meant most of our pass rush was gone, so while we were a bit better against the run and better in the defensive backfield, teams could take their time to find the open man
- And on top of all of that, our QB played a lot more like a Freshman or Sophomore than he did last year (he's likely been hurt, but our QB play is definitively worse this year)

Add in mistakes and special teams failures and you have a team that has to win the last 2 games to get to a bowl game. It sucks, but it's where we are at. It's amazing that we actually had things go more our way last year than this year -- and that we can't overcome some of those things, but we definitively are not a deep team and we aren't a team with a ton of top end talent (i.e., difference makers) who can overcome lack of depth or holes in other places (D is a perfect example of this.. perfectly acceptable groups of defensive linemen and defensive backs, but big holes in pass rush, LB's and in db back depth leading to the 4th or 5th guy in their pass routes being open every time).

A couple of positives:

- Our OL has played much better as of late, and when our QB play has been good and enough WR's have been healthy, we've moved the ball offensively against some of the better teams in the conference -- 514 yards against Indiana, 497 yards against Wiscy
- The depth chart and roster are weighted toward younger players who will take more and more spots over the next year
- The OL is maybe our best recruited position and everyone returns next year with plenty of options if our weakest points don't step up
- QB depth chart is solid (assuming we don't injure all 3 again like we did this year for the Purdue game)

It sucks that it isn't going faster, but reality is reality and Frost needs time to do what is needed.. and what is needed is More Depth, More S&C, More Talent, More Consistency and more Intensity from the players are what we need... plugging a few holes and a bit of luck would have helped this year, but until we develop depth up and down the roster, we will struggle to overcome injuries or development problems over and over again, and I do think we are building that depth of talent

 

[wcbsas]

I agree the O-Line has played better ... against a supposed UW defense that was top in the conference. I still think our Tackles are prone to the pass rush - both speed rushes and bull rushes. Hoping/wondering if Benhart or someone can win a spot and push one of those guys to OG.

I hope McCaffery continues his development - hopefully they can find a multiple position role for him next year ... i.e. primarily QB but maybe a hybrid receiver/RB role as well.

 

[BigRedOhio]

I seem to remember the outcry at this administration for trying to quash the media and fan frenzy when Bill Moos said 6 wins was the goal. Trying to blame the staff for us not staying grounded is pretty much the least mistake we should be blaming them for.

Moos statement about 6 wins seemed to be in stark contrast to what the coaching staff was saying at the time Moos has been around the block a few times, so he probably understood where things stood. I think the youth of our staff got caught up in the press clippings a little. Hopefully, it is a lesson learned.

 

[BigRedOhio]

I seem to remember the outcry at this administration for trying to quash the media and fan frenzy when Bill Moos said 6 wins was the goal. Trying to blame the staff for us not staying grounded is pretty much the least mistake we should be blaming them for.

Roster management and game management are two additional areas that come to mind

 

[BigRedOhio]

I’m sure folks would have been fine with Frost telling us that he hoped to squeak out six wins this year. NOT!!!

If he is too positive, fans criticize him for being “misleading.” If he were to tamp down expectations, they would say his defeatist attitude was a self fulfilling prophecy.

I agree that he was just keeping positive about the season. But I don't think anyone would have been mad at him for giving us a reality check back in August. I'm confident that Frost is going to get this thing turned around. Just not sure he's handled this season very well... thats all.

 

[NUinID]

One of the most bothersome things to me about this season, is the changing narrative to this season by our coaching staff. In August, it was all about how things are different with the culture and how great certain players were, and how they welcomed the expectations, etc... Our coaches did very little to squash the hype and really seemed to have bought into it.

Fast forward to the Colorado post-game presser where Frost talked about being nervous and emotional as we were collapsing in the 2nd half. I've always thought that was an odd presser for a coach that is so hyper-competitive. Basically admitted that we choked (and I'm not trying to be disparaging in saying that). It was written all over his face on the sideline.

Fast forward to the Ohio State aftermath and it was becoming clear that this staff was confused and looking for something to blame. So the blame went to the players. Not good enough, not enough talent, not disciplined enough... etc... Returned to the narrative that we are still fixing the damages from the past coaches, etc.. And, in some ways, they've almost talked about this season as if it really doesn't matter in the grand scheme anymore. I have always felt bad for the seniors because of that.

To me, this staff should have seen back in August that we were still a major work-in-progress and should have presented it that way to the media, etc... Instead, we set ourselves up for a huge let down that has probably hurt the "rebuilding" process more than the actual losses.

No one can blame them for being excited and optimistic about the season... but one would think this staff would have kept things a little more grounded from the start. This staff is more inexperienced than we want to admit. Hoping they get it moving in the right direction eventually.

I do agree that they were overly optimistic at the beginning of the season. I would have preferred more restraint. I think they were hoping things worked out. I think they were anticipating their QB taking a big step forward, which he didn't do. Injuries hurt a lot. The offensive line took more time. etc

I truly think they thought they were going to be better. But trust me they deserve all the hate/shiet people are piling onto the staff.

 

[BigRedOhio]

I agree the O-Line has played better ... against a supposed UW defense that was top in the conference. I still think our Tackles are prone to the pass rush - but speed rushes and bull rushes. Hoping/wondering if Benhart or someone can win a spot and push one of those guys to OG.

I hope McCaffery continues his development - hopefully they can find a multiple position role for him next year ... i.e. primarily QB but maybe a hybrid receiver/RB role as well.

I really like McCaffery. He really impressed me in his limited playing time. Needs to put on a little mass though.

 

[Bigger Ed]

Frost is in his 4th year as a head coach, the 2nd in a fishbowl program. He has a lot of things to learn, one of which is what he says in front of the media. It'll be interesting to see in the next couple of years if he learns to be more judicious with his public remarks.

 

[Captkenny]

I agree that he was just keeping positive about the season. But I don't think anyone would have been mad at him for giving us a reality check back in August. I'm confident that Frost is going to get this thing turned around. Just not sure he's handled this season very well... thats all.

There is no such thing as a Nebraska football coach handling public relations well when the team is sub .500 for the season. Everything a coach says, or doesn't say, under those circumstances will be criticized.

 

[Bleed Red]

Moos statement about 6 wins seemed to be in stark contrast to what the coaching staff was saying at the time Moos has been around the block a few times, so he probably understood where things stood. I think the youth of our staff got caught up in the press clippings a little. Hopefully, it is a lesson learned.

So, if SF says the team needs more weapons and more good players, he is sending a bad message to his team that they aren't good enough. But, he was supposed to say in August, "we aren't quite as good as people are saying, we may not win 6 games"?? This thought process is the absolute perfect example of why NU fans just can't be pleased with most anything except perfection.