That's what we get for hiring an NFL coach who got fired...

At Large · Post by **At Large** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 4:29 am

I keep thinking that maybe I'm dreaming. I keep holding out hope that Callahan is the answer and we'll get back to national prominence. Now I'm not so sure. Yes he's in his second year of the BC era at NU, but if this first game is any indication, we are in for a long season.

Where do I begin?

Last year, offense, defense and special teams were all a problem.

Defense only had 25 sacks all of last year.

This game: They had 12 sacks (a school record). Save for one blown coverage (and I'm not kidding), it would have been a shutout with Maine having under 100 yards. But add in that one long pass play for a TD and they have 7 points and over 100 yards of offense.

Line surge looks good. People are actually flying to the ball. Someone has finally lit a fire under their asses like they actually understand the system that NU is running on D.

Defense should get us some wins this year if they keep playing like this.

Special teams. Last year, we averaged a pitiful 5 yards a punt return. This year, is a lot different. Lots of long runs. The total yards returned were about half of last years total.

Offense. Now for the scary part.

The offensive line looks big but crappy.

The quarterback looks like he can only throw to one receiver, which is his old roommate Hardy, who had 7 catches for over 100 yards.

The running backs looked a little uninspired, but that might have been a result of the plays called. Most of them were runs up the middle. I think we only ran a counter sweep one time (it had a big gain).

Drops all over the place.

The main problem I have is that this coaching staff seemed to be viewing this game as a glorified scrimmage. They only threw deep one time and it was completed, but everything else was short passes, which I'd heard are not our QB's specialty. Plus, the staff seem to have that NFL mentality that possessions aren't important. A lot of accepting of punting when they could be using their possessions more wisely. There were a lot of run, run, pass series. NU ran the ball 42 fucking times for a paltry sum.

I hope to God the play calling were just to get everyone game experience without getting fancy. Otherwise, it's going to be a long and boring season on the offensive side.

You would think that BC would have a fire under his ass to call plays for success. His ass will be on the line next year if this keeps up. Thankfully, the next coach will have a loaded roster instead of a bare cupboard to work with. Any thoughts on next coach? Personally, I'd love to see Joe Glenn come in. He's a local native and he'd at least have a clue that when the scoreboards across the nation flash NU 15, Maine 7 as a third quarter score that it's not a big deal, it's a big fucking embarrassment! The game wasn't nearly that close and NU was in no danger of losing, but that's what people probably think when they see that score.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 5:56 am

He sure as hell didn't impress any recruits with that offensive display yesterday, but knowing him he was probably able to spin-it into a display of how early guys could play.

We nearly let Maine back into that game. After they scored and we of-course went three-and-out Tierre Green got totally burned for what would have been a td from a better qb.

The playcalling for both teams was just sad.

The D definitely looked better but considering the level of competition they are still hard to judge. Losing Octavian really hurts, dude is a stud.

We still drop too many balls.

We actually have a freaking return game! Nunn can really move, now we just need to teach him how to carry the ball. What I don't understand is why suddenly these guys can field balls no-problem when Cally used to swear nobody but Panico could last year. But I am glad to see we finally have some special-teams again.

Bottom line is that it was a win, but we struggled with a nothing-special 1AA team, and we shouldn't have to be loaded with 4* guys to thump a Maine. I do have to question whether we compromised on coaching in our effort to becoming a recruiting power. We just looked like a better-coached team two years ago. Bo, Marvin, Ron, Tim, etc were quality coaches AND they were making strides in improving our recruiting. They weren't recruiting like Cally's crew but they were expected to have a top-15 class. At this point I wish we had just handed the keys to Bo and seen what he could do, I guarantee you we'd be better than this.

Hopefully BC and Coz can right this ship and start making us look like Nebraska again.

MiketheangrydrunkenCUfan · Mon Sep 05, 2005 3:50 pm

I would not get too excited about the D. It was Maine, after all.

The offense looked terrible. I'm still trying to figure out where it's written that you absolutely cannot run an option play in the WCO.

To me, it seemed like Maine had the same philosophy as Nebraska did last year against OU. They weren't playing to win, they were playing to not got blown out. NU may have only thrown deep once, but I think that lone TD was one of the few (if not only) times than Maine went deep as well.

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 5:20 pm

Agree on all points.

Offense looked like crap, D looked good against bad competition, and neither team went long even though opportunity was there.

We didn't even run the option when we had Dailey last year. We already knew the plays, how hard would it have been to keep them in the playbook and option a few times per game?

Adelpiero · Post by **Adelpiero** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 5:26 pm

Anyone who doesn't expect Nebraska to struggle is foolish, it takes a good 3-4 years to finally get that offense in and get everyone on the same page. Plus it takes a few years ot get the quality Wr's coming in to run a west coast offense. Plus being an all american at Juco doesn't equate to tearing up Div1 football your first year. Growing pains the first year.(course they will still probably beat Stinkel)

Danimal · Post by **Danimal** » Mon Sep 05, 2005 6:40 pm

Adelpiero wrote:
Anyone who doesn't expect Nebraska to struggle is foolish, it takes a good 3-4 years to finally get that offense in and get everyone on the same page. Plus it takes a few years ot get the quality Wr's coming in to run a west coast offense. Plus being an all american at Juco doesn't equate to tearing up Div1 football your first year. Growing pains the first year.(course they will still probably beat Stinkel)

I wasn't expecting us to be a national power but we should be able to woodshed a team like freaking Maine. Wait til year-four to judge is fine if a guy is taking over a Kansas but we were are Nebraska(a top20 team when BC took over), and this is supposed to be the recruiting staff of all recruiting staffs. We don't have USC talent in our receiving corps but more than plenty of teams. I'm not asking for miracles or even to be top-twenty again, just to look like a team that has its shit together.