I am anticipating a bit of a drop in our D this season. I think they’ll still be a strength, but I don’t think as much - which is arguably ok, as long as our offense and ST take some big steps forward and we are overall more balanced.
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What is your biggest fear for the upcoming year.
- Thread starter Huskerthom
- Start date
I am anticipating a bit of a drop in our D this season. I think they’ll still be a strength, but I don’t think as much - which is arguably ok, as long as our offense and ST take some big steps forward and we are overall more balanced.
I think teams figured Haarberg out as the season went along. We aren't going to win games with his legs alone. His passing will have had to improved for him to step in and be an asset for us. He had fundamental issues in his passing game which made it tough for us to throw the ball consistently.
He didn't do a good job anticipating open receivers, had accuracy issues, didn't work the field with his eyes, etc. He was an very good running quarterback, but we aren't good enough in the trenches and at RB for that to be our identity. We have to be at least balanced. One could make a compelling case Purdy was the best performing QB last season. Haarberg was one of our best runners. He helped win us games, but we had to lean heavily on our defense because our offense wasn't going to go win us any games.
The hope is over this offseason and into next that he has grown, improved, and developed. He could still be a positive, but he will have to make a significant jump.
phillycheez402
Recruit
Why the defense?
Looks like he was injured NW or Purdue game
Watching him in the spring game and a few practice glimpses he's improved quite a bit.
And again, the wr room is twice as good and then some better, the rb room as twice as large, all rust is off Fidone, and if they don't rs Nelson he will contribute too.
So a healthy HH, a wiser and improved HH surrounded by many more options makes us better under him.
Good question. Gut feeling, more than anything. I know we’re returning almost all of our players, but we did lose a couple of top producers. Teams will be better prepared for our schemes, too.
But more than anything, I think we’ll see a drop because of perception and expectations. Last year our expectations were quite low, and we were pleasantly surprised. This year our expectations are much higher, and I just am not sure the D will be able to meet them. So even if their stats drop just a bit and temporarily, we’ll feel letdown.
I guess I’m also basing this on our 2022 experience. 2021 D had exceeded expectations, and we thought 2022 would match their production. Nope.
Happy to be proven wrong and the D outperform our expectations again, though!
What I love about our defense is what opposing coaches hate about it.
They have no idea whats coming.
They have no idea whats coming.
You could tell over the winter/spring that he was getting basic game reps for sure. He was a much different QB than what we saw last year with the, if the 1st guy isn't open, just run.. that is the benefit of having 3 fields going and having the cool competition between the teams as it helped create as close to a game like experience as you can have at practice..
Following my Steelers since the 70's i have to say, when we switched to the 3-4 with blitzburgh it was unique for a few years.. easy to get athletes in the draft for the position of need.. with the 3-3-5 and more teams using it i feel we have a couple more seasons where either that style def will be mainstream or it won't.. that will put us back to getting the athletes we want which i believe we are right now..
Thomas is good, but he has one main job and MR making opportunities plus MR learning one isn't often enough, two usually in the Big with three being perfect.
MR has changed on the fly, the coaches just go right with it as do the players who after all benefit the most.
I think under TW assembling and making the calls makes a huge difference.
Many do run it, just not as unpredictably well with as much consistency.
Alot of Tony Whites best opportunities for head coaching job, filled a few months ago. Ucla, san diego, syracuse. A 9 win season will get him more interviews, and some good schools, but is it the right school, as rhule says.
Taking the ucla job would not have been a good choice. Its got a big name and big expectations, but a pathetic booster group, and their NIL $ arent 25% of what NU has.
A yr ago, the athletic dept was 150 million in debt.
Taking the ucla job would not have been a good choice. Its got a big name and big expectations, but a pathetic booster group, and their NIL $ arent 25% of what NU has.
A yr ago, the athletic dept was 150 million in debt.
Turnovers, need to be + 3 for season
Keeping qbs healthy
3rd down off & def
FG%, punts, punt def, kick off, kickoff def, we need to be in top 40 in all those 5
Keeping qbs healthy
3rd down off & def
FG%, punts, punt def, kick off, kickoff def, we need to be in top 40 in all those 5
You are certainly more glass half full about this than I am. I didn't see a massive jump from him in his Spring Game performance. He did fine, but it didn't look like a completely different QB. WR's were definitely a problem last year. The few good experienced ones we had got hurt early in the year, so passing was tougher to come by. That said, I don't think his passing did them many favors. HH had a decent Go-Route, long ball, but lacked a lot of the dink and dunk stuff we need to keep drives alive. RBs got hurt too, but that is going to happen. I'm not sold on Fidone until I see it in action. We've heard for a while now how great he is, and while he has shown some flashes, I'm not sold he will live up to the hype.
I don't think HH will be worse, I think he will improve. The question is how much. We had one of the most anemic offenses in college football last year, and one of the big reasons for that was our limitations at the QB position.
Mine too. We win ALL OF THEM! I'll take a nattie, but I'm tired of only winning them in the spring.
No, we had the 39th best rushing attack after losing two of our three starting rbs.
Again, you can't compare last years wr room to this years, or the rb room. Not even close.
Now add HH's improvements. Yes, HH was a problem last year, but so were our other two qbs. For a running qb how those other two didn't separate much throwing the ball tells me there wasn't much to throw to.
The dismal outlook if DR has to sit just isn't there for me. Were we winning and close with what was dismal for playmakers last year, not this year.
We won't be dynamic in such a scenario, but we will win. Fresh legs, massive improvements at wr, huge improvements at wr, depth and better at TE.
And last but not least is this. HH threw 60% of the passes last year yet only threw 43% of the interceptions and it was those turnovers that cost us most.
MR wants three guys to be able to win with, we have two.
