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We’re close...

I'm not sure you're point when comparing Indiana's record to NU's. Are you saying that because Indiana turned it around in year 4, NU will too?

I've said it before and I'll say it again. We've been "close" since the Callahan years. Every year it's, "wait until next year." The "free beer all day tomorrow" mantra just doesn't hold water.
 
This team is closer to playing winning football than most of the people this board think.

I'm as tired of watching Nebraska give games away as anyone, but games like yesterday's in Iowa, the Penn State game and the loss to Northwestern have shown me enough glimpses of what they're trying to do...working....that I'm dealing with the frustration. Am I happy about losing six in a row to Iowa (or anyone for that matter)? No. Not at all. The team isn't there yet. Wanting it to be or expecting it to be doesn't just make it so and all the finger pointing and lofty expectations in the world won't change that.

I'm not sure how anyone can look at the youth on the roster, that's actually contributing on the field right now, and not be excited about the future. I watch a young line struggle through stretches of a game and temper my disappointment with the understanding that 3/5's of our line is R-Fr or Sophomores. Three of the five starters yesterday and I see the potential to be physically dominant in this group. No, it doesn't look like Wisconsin's starting five, who're all upper class-men. Let's give them a minute.

Here's a list of the Freshman, Redshirt Freshman and Sophomores who're contributing right now:

Offense:
Luke McCaffrey
Rhamir Johnson
Zavier Betts
WanDale Robinson
Marvin Scott
Cam Jurgens
Bryce Benhart
Ethan Piper

Defense:
Casey Rogers
Ty Robinson
Luke Reimer
Garrett Nelson
Myles Farmer
Noa Pola-Gates

No, it hasn't been pretty with the youth on the O line and some of the mistakes a lack of experience will get you, but you see the increased athleticism, nearly across the board, that creates issues for the opposition for a change. There are more than the kids who're seeing the field this fall as well. Kid's we've heard about who're going to be contributors sooner than later. Alante Brown, Smothers, Gunnerson, Corcoran, Conn, Hutmatcher, Hickman.

We've still got Purdue and Minnesota this fall to take steps forward and get these kids more meaningful experience for 2021 and clean up some of the mistakes of youth. For all my praise for the flashes I see in the youth on the roster, we're also going to have some big holes to fill again. Farniok has been our best O lineman this year and he's a Sr. Stille has more than held his own at DE and will be missed. Williams and Dismuke at safety. Doman at OLB, who's been our best defensive player for large portions of the 2020 season. I have mixed feelings about Bootle, but he's going to be gone.

That's the players.

What about the coaches?

Verduzco? Yeah, I'm good with him selling insurance in Florida. I don't know what he brings to the table, but there have to be better options.

OC-Frost/Lubick? I really haven't been fond of the play calling and offensive execution, so this is a big red flag for me right now. I don't know how much not having a healthy Dedrick Mills has contributed to this, but it's been pretty bad. No, really bad. Too predictable and far too reliant on variations of a handful of plays. This needs fixing first, IMO, but we have to understand the source of the issue. Is it coaching, or is our relative youth effecting/limiting the playbook? We're not going to hear that, but it sure looks that way. If that's not it, we're just not very imaginative on offense and that's not supposed to be the case.

Chinander? Everyone loves to hate EC, but he's done a very good job this fall, IMO. The Illinois game was a stinker, but that wasn't all on his shoulders. He's dialed up some very good game plans and kept an anemic offense within striking distance....again with a fair amount of youth on the field. I really like the future on D.

Special Teams.......Hit the reset button. I know Rutledge is technically just an 'Analyst' but if he's responsible for what I'm seeing, we need to talk. Special Teams was a big reason we lost to Iowa yesterday. Short kicks....because we know we can't cover and tackle. Really? Concede the 35 yard line, while NU routinely starts inside it's own 25? Fix that.

Again, I understand the frustration. Really, I do. I'm frustrated as well.

I think some folks are missing the bigger picture. Dig a little deeper.
 



An offensive line will cure all ills; except special teams, that is.

Disagree about Farniok; to my eye, he has been the worst one out there, even more damaging than Jurgen's snaps. Better play form the OLine and all of sudden our running backs will look better and Adrian will be adequate (assuming he gets his confidence back; that is his biggest block right now, IMO)

As far as special teams go, my lord; what is the deal with our scholarship punter? If Frost is going to insist on this offense then he better get a good punter. And why do we not have a kicker who can hit the endzone? Most upper level high schools have that going for them; we can't get one on our 200 man roster who can boot the ball out of the endzone?
 
An offensive line will cure all ills; except special teams, that is.

Disagree about Farniok; to my eye, he has been the worst one out there, even more damaging than Jurgen's snaps. Better play form the OLine and all of sudden our running backs will look better and Adrian will be adequate (assuming he gets his confidence back; that is his biggest block right now, IMO)

As far as special teams go, my lord; what is the deal with our scholarship punter? If Frost is going to insist on this offense then he better get a good punter. And why do we not have a kicker who can hit the endzone? Most upper level high schools have that going for them; we can't get one on our 200 man roster who can boot the ball out of the endzone?

Farniok has been the worst? I guess I don't know what you're seeing. He's been the best, IMO, and it's not even been close. He still gets beat, but every lineman gets beat, especially when your line mate misses his read. We've still got a bit of that to clean up.
 
We were getting whipped by Iowa, MN, PSU, etc, and now we are fighting them.

I understand worries about 3-4 defense and quick strike offense--maybe it doesn't works in B1G. But basing everything on wins and losses? It's like @FullbackSympathy says. We would have more wins if HCSF installed the Iowa offense from day one . . . but we are going for a higher ceiling.

There are a lot of moving parts to our offense, and it's painful watching them fall apart. Let's see if they come together any better next year.
 



They can’t come together any worse. With only 2 wins & 9 losses out of the last 11 games or 10 wins & 19 losses over the entire rebuild, it’s hard to believe those trends will completely flip over.
 
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That is an interesting point. But I personally think you are a little crazy to think we would be 8-5 this year. Let's go through the original schedule assuming everyone is what they are now.

Vs Purdue: Early game and this team loves losing first games. L
Vs Central Michigan: W
Vs SDSU W
VS Cincinnati: L Huge blow out loss
Vs Northwester: L we were lucky to be in that game the first time
Vs Illinois: W we probs win this one cause of the full schedule
Vs Rutgers: L Noah Vedral has a bone to pick. We lose this one
Vs tOSU: L Another blow out loss
Vs Penn State: W sure we win this game again
Vs Iowa: L
Vs Wisconsin: L another blow out
Vs Minnesota: W

So 5-7 not 8-5 by my metrics and that is extremely nice on some of those.
 
I thought at the beginning of the season the Huskers could win two games with their strength of schedule and possibly be better than the previous two seasons. I don't think that now. I think we are seeing the high mark for this coaching staff. We are in year three and we have walk ons filling key positions as starters. No team can win with the recruiting fails they have had. There is a serious lack 'synergy" in this program. Recruiting way too many fails, offensive line...well is offensive, Center.....can't snap the ball and doesn't see the bench..why, just why, receivers-biggest fail is in this position room, QB- 3 years of results speak for the position. Team discipline includes penalties galore, ole' blocking, not practicing hard, few wrap up tackles and special teams gaffes that somehow seem to keep happening. Game management would anyone call that a strength? The head coach is the OC and none of this is going to change unless he changes his approach Does anyone think he is going to change his philosophy or approach? I'm not seeing the progress some of you are and we better hope that doesn't trickle out to recruits this cycle. Let's don't kid ourselves, other team's recruiter's are using the poor Saturday performances again Frost in weekly calls. They only need to look at the results of the last game each week, plenty of material to use against them.

The strength of this team is the defense. Let that sink in for a while......the unit that tallowed the lowest scoring offense in the big, Illinois, to hang 41 on board, that is our strength in year 3. We were all just happy this team didn't get blown out yesterday. That doesn't say progress to me.
 
Farniok has been the worst? I guess I don't know what you're seeing. He's been the best, IMO, and it's not even been close. He still gets beat, but every lineman gets beat, especially when your line mate misses his read. We've still got a bit of that to clean up.
I can't get past that raptor arm block attempt at the end of the Iowa game.... just piss poor effort and technique.
 



I look at the win/loss column to determine improvement. Someone posted earlier that we have the fifth worst record in the country since 2017. If that isn't a dumpster fire, then I'll respectfully agree to disagree with you.

I don't do moral victories.
How do we get those other four teams on our schedule?
 
This team is closer to playing winning football than most of the people this board think.

I'm as tired of watching Nebraska give games away as anyone, but games like yesterday's in Iowa, the Penn State game and the loss to Northwestern have shown me enough glimpses of what they're trying to do...working....that I'm dealing with the frustration. Am I happy about losing six in a row to Iowa (or anyone for that matter)? No. Not at all. The team isn't there yet. Wanting it to be or expecting it to be doesn't just make it so and all the finger pointing and lofty expectations in the world won't change that.

I'm not sure how anyone can look at the youth on the roster, that's actually contributing on the field right now, and not be excited about the future. I watch a young line struggle through stretches of a game and temper my disappointment with the understanding that 3/5's of our line is R-Fr or Sophomores. Three of the five starters yesterday and I see the potential to be physically dominant in this group. No, it doesn't look like Wisconsin's starting five, who're all upper class-men. Let's give them a minute.

Here's a list of the Freshman, Redshirt Freshman and Sophomores who're contributing right now:

Offense:
Luke McCaffrey
Rhamir Johnson
Zavier Betts
WanDale Robinson
Marvin Scott
Cam Jurgens
Bryce Benhart
Ethan Piper

Defense:
Casey Rogers
Ty Robinson
Luke Reimer
Garrett Nelson
Myles Farmer
Noa Pola-Gates

No, it hasn't been pretty with the youth on the O line and some of the mistakes a lack of experience will get you, but you see the increased athleticism, nearly across the board, that creates issues for the opposition for a change. There are more than the kids who're seeing the field this fall as well. Kid's we've heard about who're going to be contributors sooner than later. Alante Brown, Smothers, Gunnerson, Corcoran, Conn, Hutmatcher, Hickman.

We've still got Purdue and Minnesota this fall to take steps forward and get these kids more meaningful experience for 2021 and clean up some of the mistakes of youth. For all my praise for the flashes I see in the youth on the roster, we're also going to have some big holes to fill again. Farniok has been our best O lineman this year and he's a Sr. Stille has more than held his own at DE and will be missed. Williams and Dismuke at safety. Doman at OLB, who's been our best defensive player for large portions of the 2020 season. I have mixed feelings about Bootle, but he's going to be gone.

That's the players.

What about the coaches?

Verduzco? Yeah, I'm good with him selling insurance in Florida. I don't know what he brings to the table, but there have to be better options.

OC-Frost/Lubick? I really haven't been fond of the play calling and offensive execution, so this is a big red flag for me right now. I don't know how much not having a healthy Dedrick Mills has contributed to this, but it's been pretty bad. No, really bad. Too predictable and far too reliant on variations of a handful of plays. This needs fixing first, IMO, but we have to understand the source of the issue. Is it coaching, or is our relative youth effecting/limiting the playbook? We're not going to hear that, but it sure looks that way. If that's not it, we're just not very imaginative on offense and that's not supposed to be the case.

Chinander? Everyone loves to hate EC, but he's done a very good job this fall, IMO. The Illinois game was a stinker, but that wasn't all on his shoulders. He's dialed up some very good game plans and kept an anemic offense within striking distance....again with a fair amount of youth on the field. I really like the future on D.

Special Teams.......Hit the reset button. I know Rutledge is technically just an 'Analyst' but if he's responsible for what I'm seeing, we need to talk. Special Teams was a big reason we lost to Iowa yesterday. Short kicks....because we know we can't cover and tackle. Really? Concede the 35 yard line, while NU routinely starts inside it's own 25? Fix that.

Again, I understand the frustration. Really, I do. I'm frustrated as well.

I think some folks are missing the bigger picture. Dig a little deeper.
I mostly agree, especially regarding Chinander. I think it was @ShortSideOption that said it ain't there yet but it's the best unit we have right now.

Regarding youth, seems to me we've been hearing that for years. Probably the most experience we have in on the OL, no? Still needs work. Leaked like a sieve when it counted vs. Iowa.

Just to make it official, I don't want to flush Frost. That wouldn't be helpful, IMO, but ultimately, that will depend on butts in the seats. But he has to make some meaningful changes. He doesn't have to revamp the D or switch to option on the O but the status quo ain't working and it hasn't significantly improved on his watch.
 
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I can't get past that raptor arm block attempt at the end of the Iowa game.... just piss poor effort and technique.

I don't know the exact play you're talking about, but frequently we see something that looks like a mistake by one player...that was actually created by a mistake from another.
 

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