Struggling to Finish

[ShortSideOption]

What a revolking situation this S&C stuff has turned into! I was under the impression that we finally found the right S&C to get the team physically fit and imposing. Almost everything I read however indicates there are major problems with the S&C program this season? I suppose the W-L record pretty much tells the story how many things still need fixing.

I think there are problems, IMO. But can we really discount what they did at UCF? The counterpoint to that is if we are really having issues with "Riley culture" still or other things we blame on previous regimes, maybe the 13-0 2017 UCF team was all about what O'Leary established?

I don't know, for me, it worked down in Orlando. There were differences like a veteran OL to lean on, crazy skill position guys, and their grad transfers they really hit on. We are young and I think it is taking longer than expected because we are so underclass heavy. But we can't keep losing every single one of our RB recruits from a class signed less than 2 years ago. We can't lose every single high school WR we signed from a class 2 years ago. They have to be more pointed.

 

[NUinID]

I agree with you. Sorry nothing more to add.

Just venting, at some point you have to run out of excuses.

I really didn’t expect 10-2 this year. But I did think 7-5 was possible.

Frost way over sold his product and he deserves some backlash.

 

[goodnterribles]

I think there are problems, IMO. But can we really discount what they did at UCF? The counterpoint to that is if we are really having issues with "Riley culture" still or other things we blame on previous regimes, maybe the 13-0 2017 UCF team was all about what O'Leary established?

I don't know, for me, it worked down in Orlando. There were differences like a veteran OL to lean on, crazy skill position guys, and their grad transfers they really hit on. We are young and I think it is taking longer than expected because we are so underclass heavy. But we can't keep losing every single one of our RB recruits from a class signed less than 2 years ago. We can't lose every single high school WR we signed from a class 2 years ago. They have to be more pointed.

I know this is an obscure thing to reference, but I remember in one of the videos you posted of a play that SF called at UCF that went for a TD. And he calmly walked by an assistant and gave him a fist bump in a kind of a cocky way. I bring that up because I wonder where that guy is right now. I feel like he's lost a bit of that swagger he had, and I hope he brings it back.

 

[Huskerwisdom]

I think there are problems, IMO. But can we really discount what they did at UCF? The counterpoint to that is if we are really having issues with "Riley culture" still or other things we blame on previous regimes, maybe the 13-0 2017 UCF team was all about what O'Leary established?

I don't know, for me, it worked down in Orlando. There were differences like a veteran OL to lean on, crazy skill position guys, and their grad transfers they really hit on. We are young and I think it is taking longer than expected because we are so underclass heavy. But we can't keep losing every single one of our RB recruits from a class signed less than 2 years ago. We can't lose every single high school WR we signed from a class 2 years ago. They have to be more pointed.

I'm still all in on Frost, but at some point we need to get some traction and momentum. One of the biggest things I liked coming out of last year was that I thought we had a QB who could run Frost's offense. Turns out, that wasn't true for this year. With Milton Frost had is guy... AM doesn't look like that guy right now. Maybe he can turn it around, but his problems in combination with all the other issues have sunk us. We win against Colorado and win against Purdue and we are at 6 wins now, and while we aren't happy, we aren't feeling doomed either.

Agree on the misses at RB and WR -- But, If we can solidify the QB position down the stretch and have 2 (or maybe 3) viable QB options going into spring ball, I'll think that is enough for me this year. Continue to turn the roster, find some guys who can make plays and run the offense.

 

[NUinID]

I know this is an obscure thing to reference, but I remember in one of the videos you posted of a play that SF called at UCF that went for a TD. And he calmly walked by an assistant and gave him a fist bump in a kind of a cocky way. I bring that up because I wonder where that guy is right now. I feel like he's lost a bit of that swagger he had, and I hope he brings it back.

He’s lost that swagger because he talked it up too much and hasn’t delivered.

As I just said he deserves a little back lash and he deserves to have fans be a little mad at him. He didn’t rain in any of the talk and actually fueled the fire.

Maybe he truly believed what he was saying. Maybe he thought they were going to be really good. Maybe he was hoping to bolster confidence.

I think this year has been a humbling experience. But, he needs to figure it out.

 

[goodnterribles]

He’s lost that swagger because he talked it up too much and hasn’t delivered.

As I just said he deserves a little back lash and he deserves to have fans be a little mad at him. He didn’t rain in any of the talk and actually fueled the fire.

Maybe he truly believed what he was saying. Maybe he thought they were going to be really good. Maybe he was hoping to bolster confidence.

I think this year has been a humbling experience. But, he needs to figure it out.

I have zero problem with a little swagger on the sideline. It showed a confidence in what he does. I agree with you about some of the statements he made, especially before this season, but I think he believed this team was going to be good.

I have no doubt he will figure it out.

 

[anotherdumbprediction]

I don't know if I have the definitive answer, but I can tell you a few areas I think we are struggling in that are self-inflicted...

1) Depth is certainly an issue, but you can't have Tate Wildeman, CJ Smith, Casey Rogers, Ronald Thompkins, Nick Henrich, Chris Hickman, Javin Wright, and Myles Farmer all have significant soft-tissue injuries stunting their development. You then compound that with guys like Adrian Martinez, Mo Washington, Wandale Robinson, Luke McCaffrey, Cam Taylor-Britt, Noah Vedral, and Miles Jones all missing game time due to injuries, and that's a huge reason you are struggling to create depth.

2) I don't think we look great in space. I stated in another thread, arguably our 2 best sides on each side of the ball haven't been big in our S&C program Mo Washington (barely lifted), Wandale Robinson (hurt most spring and fall so laid off), Darrion Daniels (transferred in during the summer), JoJo Domann (rehabbed at home all summer), and that's not a great stat. Couple that with guys like Adrian Martinez, Matt Farniok, Boe Wilson, Jack Stoll, Brendan Jaimes, Ben Stille, Mo Barry, Tyrin Ferguson, and others looking worse, that's not great.

3) When the staff got here, fans were imploring Frost to keep Keith Williams due to his recruiting. But besides defensive back, that was the least deep position group on the roster, so it was tough to sell that. The staff needed to overhaul quickly, but that is a position in 2019 that is an issue. Why? 2018 recruiting class had 6 WRs in it. Justin McGriff, Katerian LeGrone, and Andre Hunt are all gone. Dominick Watt never made it to campus. 100% of the freshmen WRs you brought in from your first class are now gone. The other 2 WRs are JUCOs who made little impact in Jaron Woodyard and Mike Williams. You can't do that.

But other positions are that way too. What about RB? We brought in 3 guys from the 2018 class. Mo Washington, gone. Greg Bell, didn't even make it a season. Miles Jones, gone. It's a transition class, I get it. But for our 2020 roster, we will literally have zero players from Frost's first class still on the roster at RB and WR. That's not a Riley culture issue.

4) I think the team psyche gets screwed up when they are publicly called out on how they need talent upgrades and how bad we look. When it was happening, I thought it was weird to go there because many of the guys you were saying weren't good enough were who you were going to be calling on to win games in 2018 and 2019. In 2020 close to 80% of the roster will be Frost's, time to start looking ourselves in the mirror instead of blaming other coaches or ADs (I already think it's time but i'll give a pass).

5) Play-calling needs to put our players in positions to win. Just two examples, but defensive personnel matching so I don't have to hear PJ Fleck or Jeff Brohm say they exploited our LBs. Go look at the conversion rates of 3rd and 5 or more against those two teams and Indiana. We aren't getting home on the pass rush which means it's only a matter of time before the RB outruns Barry, Honas, or Miller. Secondly, I give Scott Frost some leeway when people are mad about play-calls due to RPOs not necessarily being a run or pass call, it's what the defense gives you. But i've been advocating for more 2 TE sets since fall camp, TE was our most proven commodity (besides QB at that time), and it only made sense to me to keep 2 TEs on the field when you know what you are going to get from them. But for some reason, we continue to go 3 and 4 WR sets, and then complain we don't have depth there. At the goalline, as many have mentioned, why not put 2 TEs there, especially when it's working against Purdue? You don't have to change your offensive philosophy to do that, you literally just have to call the plays to your teams strengths.

While reading this, I felt the urge to look up the antonym for “synergy.” It seems that there are so many areas with problems that each area, instead of being an aid to where we want to go is negatively affecting every other facet. With the help of Word Hippo I say there is a disunion, discordance, dissonance, schism, disjunction, dissociation, disharmony or disconnection, pick your favorite word, in the program. It is like NU football was put in a blender and set on “high.” PJ’s “row the boat” is corny as hell, but we could use some of that. Before we can even think of competing at a higher level, we need to “right the ship” so to speak and get everyone on the same page. We have the exact opposite of everyone working together. Every time we step on the field it seems like it is the first time these guys have seen each other. Until that gets fixed the things we pick apart as killing us on Saturdays won’t get fixed. I think SF walked into a pretty good situation at UCF that was that perfect wave he carved to 13-0 more than him “turning things around.” There was more on his plate when he got here than he expected and he hasn’t figured out how to handle it yet. IMO, it is more about being a CEO than it is about football knowledge.

 

[NUinID]

I have zero problem with a little swagger on the sideline. It showed a confidence in what he does. I agree with you about some of the statements he made, especially before this season, but I think he believed this team was going to be good.

I have no doubt he will figure it out.

For me I don't really care for that type of talk. If you are going to say those things you better be sure you can back it up. Otherwise you just come off as arrogant.

Not a PJ Fleck fan, I think he is a douche of a personality, but he is a good coach. If you ever listen to any of his PC and can cut through all the useless crap he says. He never talks about his team being really good or we are better at every position or get us now because you won't be able to soon. He only talks about it being a process and we want to get better every day at practice. That's it.

As far as swagger on the sidelines, you have to do something really positive to show that. Lets face it right now this is not a good football team. There are all sorts of reason's for this. They have been discussed endlessly on this board and every other Husker board out there. OK, lets do some things to get better. Lets try something or someone different on defense it doesn't have to be a radical change but something else. Lets try something else besides giving Wondale Robinson the ball 25x a game.

Mostly though the want to, the desire, has to be there to win the game when it is down to crunch time. That was missing against Indiana, Purdue and Colorado. There is no motivation to win the game. There is no one there to make a play.

We can't stop the back up Indiana QB from picking up 3rd and 8. To get the ball back for 1 more chance to score. We let him scramble for 11 yards. We let the back up to the back up pick us apart for a game winning last second drive to win the game. We can't score from the 2 yard line on first and goal.

 

[goodnterribles]

For me I don't really care for that type of talk. If you are going to say those things you better be sure you can back it up. Otherwise you just come off as arrogant.

Not a PJ Fleck fan, I think he is a douche of a personality, but he is a good coach. If you ever listen to any of his PC and can cut through all the useless crap he says. He never talks about his team being really good or we are better at every position or get us now because you won't be able to soon. He only talks about it being a process and we want to get better every day at practice. That's it.

As far as swagger on the sidelines, you have to do something really positive to show that. Lets face it right now this is not a good football team. There are all sorts of reason's for this. They have been discussed endlessly on this board and every other Husker board out there. OK, lets do some things to get better. Lets try something or someone different on defense it doesn't have to be a radical change but something else. Lets try something else besides giving Wondale Robinson the ball 25x a game.

Mostly though the want to, the desire, has to be there to win the game when it is down to crunch time. That was missing against Indiana, Purdue and Colorado. There is no motivation to win the game. There is no one there to make a play.

We can't stop the back up Indiana QB from picking up 3rd and 8. To get the ball back for 1 more chance to score. We let him scramble for 11 yards. We let the back up to the back up pick us apart for a game winning last second drive to win the game. We can't score from the 2 yard line on first and goal.

That's why I'm wondering where that Scott Frost went. I don't know if he's lost confidence in things, but a little of that swagger was part of what makes him a great coach, knowing that what he called was going to work. Right now, he just looks frustrated beyond belief.

 

[CornMan]

That's why I'm wondering where that Scott Frost went. I don't know if he's lost confidence in things, but a little of that swagger was part of what makes him a great coach, knowing that what he called was going to work. Right now, he just looks frustrated beyond belief.

If Frost was walking around with swag we'd be saying he doesn't care. That swag will be back in full force once he gets the train running again.

 

[Atlanta Husker]

I think there are problems, IMO. But can we really discount what they did at UCF? The counterpoint to that is if we are really having issues with "Riley culture" still or other things we blame on previous regimes, maybe the 13-0 2017 UCF team was all about what O'Leary established?

I don't know, for me, it worked down in Orlando. There were differences like a veteran OL to lean on, crazy skill position guys, and their grad transfers they really hit on. We are young and I think it is taking longer than expected because we are so underclass heavy. But we can't keep losing every single one of our RB recruits from a class signed less than 2 years ago. We can't lose every single high school WR we signed from a class 2 years ago. They have to be more pointed.

I could swallow the current disappointment, but the continued loss of high star recruits baffles me. The wheels seem to be spinning but the truck isn't going very fast.