2021 Husker Football Outlook

[brfrad]

51 minutes ago, atskooc said:

Because they actually take advantage.

 

When a team tries to give the game to us we don't take it.

That's because the other teams, rarely make mistakes for us to take advantage of, because they have better coaches.

[HuskerFever]

 

[brfrad]

11 minutes ago, HuskerFever said:

 

You would think that after 3 years, you would have a better supporting cast.  Our WR's still have trouble getting open.  Now, the problem is that when they do get open, Martinez can't hit them.   The best looking RB, Stepp had 3 carries.  In fact, our 3 running backs have potential, but only get 19 carries.  The Martinez who played the final 19 minutes, is one that could win some games.  The one that played the first 41 minutes, is one that could lose most games.  That's what is the most frustrating part of Martinez's game.  He can look good at times, and he can look awful at other times.

 

The other area we were suppose to turn around Special Teams.  It still looks like we don't care about that area of the game.  2 missed PAT's, a punt returner catching a ball at the 3 that leads to a safety.  That cost us 5 points.  That's not to mention, our average starting field position on KO's and Punts was our own 19 yard line.  Illinois's average field position on KO's and punts was their 29 yard line.  That's worth an extra 100 yards.   We out yarded them 392 - 326.  That extra 100 yards, gives them an advantage plus the 5 points show how much we lost in Special Teams. 

 

 

[HuskerFever]

I vaguely recall somebody saying one time that Lance Jeter played football before. What does his eligibility look like if we need to fill some roster spots on the football team this season?

[brfrad]

Do we focus on the little things in practice?  The little things and this team is a totally different team.  Snapping the ball correctly every time.  Not holding.  Not roughing the passer and taunting.  Throwing the ball accurately.  Calling the right plays.  Making our extra points.  Not catching the punt at the goal line.  Not shanking punts.

 

The world is not over.  We still have a chance to make it a successful season.  All is not loss.  Fordham has to be all about ourselves.  We have to focus on all those mistakes.  Against Fordham, we could make the type of mistakes we made today, and still beat them by 4 touchdowns.  We need to start making fewer mistakes.  One way, is holding players accountable.  If you snap the ball over the QB's head, and get caught holding, you need to sit a few plays out.  If you drop the ball on a run, you need to sit.  There comes a time where you need to do the little things right, otherwise it's the next guy up.

[HuskerFever]

1 hour ago, brfrad said:

Do we focus on the little things in practice?  The little things and this team is a totally different team.

 

This isn't anything new Frost hasn't been aware of since he took the job.

 

He talks about it starting at minute 1:08

 

 

[Silverbacked1]

4 hours ago, HuskerFever said:

 

I think that they other side of that coin is that Scott I’d very loyal to players and coaches.

 

He hand picked AM to be our four year starter and will stay with him even if it causes him his job.

[Norm Peterson]

Our defense was good enough to win.

 

Their points: 

 

2 came on a bonehead special teams play resulting in a safety.

7 came on a 40-yard scoop-and-score near the end of the first half with time running out.

7 came on a drive that should have ended with an interception.

 

7 were absolutely earned by an improbable, near-perfect, deep pass from their backup QB on a play that was very well defended. And another 7 were earned on a sustained drive where they moved the ball on the ground.

 

That's 14 points that they truly earned. We ought to be able to win most games when we hold an opponent to 14 points. Or even 21.

 

The problems were our offense and special teams.

 

Hard to believe that our special teams were worse than our offense, but that case could be made.

 

At least a 4 point advantage to Illinois on our special teams miscues -- the safety and two missed PATs. Our punter averaged <35 yards on 5 punts. Theirs was >45 yards on six punts. That's >50 yards in field position over the course of the game.

 

And then we can't run an offense. Tim Miles once said "either you do it or you don't know or you don't care."

 

In the case of our offense, either we're inept at recruiting, inept at teaching, or we just have a bad scheme. Because, for whatever reason, it's just not working. And hasn't since Adrian's freshman campaign.

 

I feel like Frost has to find six wins to keep his job.

 

Four straight losing seasons can't be excused. Not something to be tolerated at this place. Six wins might not save his job, but fewer than 6 has to be the death knell or they just don't care. And finding six wins with this schedule just got tougher. Illinois was winnable. And we pissed it away.

Edited August 29, 2021 by Norm Peterson

[HuskerFever]

17 minutes ago, Norm Peterson said:

2 came on a bonehead special teams play resulting in a safety.

7 came on a 40-yard scoop-and-score near the end of the first half with time running out.

7 came on a drive that should have ended with an interception.

 

7 were absolutely earned by an improbable, near-perfect, deep pass from their backup QB on a play that was very well defended. And another 7 were earned on a sustained drive where they moved the ball on the ground.

 

That's 14 points that they truly earned. We ought to be able to win most games when we hold an opponent to 14 points. Or even 21.

 

This works when you look at a game in isolation. But this can't be the excuse every single game and every single year.

 

At some point, if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it probably is a duck.

[CanadianHusker]

23 hours ago, atskooc said:

No we won't.

 

It's going to take a hell of a lot more than the basketball team can muster in one year to overtake the volleyball team.

Touché!!!! 

[Cazzie22]

If improvement isn’t forthcoming the remainder of this season then AD Alberts needs to direct Frost to shake up the coaching staff.  Personally, I would empty the bank for Matt Campbell at Iowa State.

[Norm Peterson]

Can someone please explain to me how a backup QB can learn a system in a single off-season and run it more effectively than a 4th year starter?

[huskerbaseball13]

16 hours ago, Cazzie22 said:

If improvement isn’t forthcoming the remainder of this season then AD Alberts needs to direct Frost to shake up the coaching staff.  Personally, I would empty the bank for Matt Campbell at Iowa State.

Matt Campbell is not coming here unfortunately. I’m not even sure we could afford it with his and Frost’s buyout. 
 

Frost had the opportunity to shake up his staff last winter and chose not to. Doubt he gets a pass now. On top of that, I think it’s pretty clear he’s the issue. It doesn’t help that there are many rumors circling the program about off field issues. 

[Cowboy Kermit]

If improvement isn’t forthcoming the remainder of this season then AD Alberts needs to direct Frost to shake up the coaching staff.  Personally, I would empty the bank for Matt Campbell at Iowa State.

Matt Campbell laughs and presses ignore if a 402 area code pops up on his caller ID. Plain and simple.

[brfrad]

1 hour ago, Cowboy Kermit said:

Matt Campbell laughs and presses ignore if a 402 area code pops up on his caller ID. Plain and simple.

I think he is ignoring pretty much every call.  He was 3 - 9, 8 - 5, 8 -5, 7 - 6, and started with a loss to Louisiana.  He is most popular coach in the country.   You know who also had seasons like that?  Mike Riley

 

Don't get me wrong.  He is definitely ahead of Frost on my list, but his results would meet my minimum expectations for Nebraska.   I think we need to be in contention for West division titles every year.

[HuskerFever]

1 hour ago, brfrad said:

I think we need to be in contention for West division titles every year.

 

There was a defensive coordinator who left LSU for a P5 head coaching job and was in contention for West division titles every year.

 

Maybe we should pick up the 2020 LSU defensive coordinator and try that. 

[Norm Peterson]

At this point, I think we could put 50 random names of college coaches/prospects on a wall and throw darts and we'd find someone better than Frost.

 

This is year 4. We are inept at offense. Either the scheme sucks or the coaches suck at teaching the scheme. Or, we don't have the players, which is also on the coaches.

 

Interestingly, Illinois' 1st year head coach didn't seem to have a problem implementing his scheme in one off-season.

 

I just can't find anything positive to take away from this last game. And, given what we've seen over the last 3 seasons, I just do not have any reason to think it'll be any better going forward.

 

Our record under Frost in close games is shockingly bad. And it goes back to season #1.

 

The problems we had 3 years ago are the same problems we saw on Friday. And, somehow, we had better players back then.

 

I will be SHOCKED if we win 6 games this season. But if he wins any fewer than that, he needs to be shown the door.

Edited August 30, 2021 by Norm Peterson

[HuskerFever]

Hot take from a talking head:

 

 

[hskr4life]

2 hours ago, HuskerFever said:

Hot take from a talking head:

 

 

 

Good heavens... the "this isn't 1995" takes really irk me.  Most Husker fans aren't asking to be the next Alabama.  We just want to go to a bowl, compete for a west division title, and win the occasional Big 10 title.  That's not too much to ask for.... and it isn't 1995.  Sure... what works in 95 doesn't always crush in 2021.... which is why we're not running the option.

[tcp]

sometimes the Prodigal Son isn't. 

[Silverbacked1]

This is all pay back for selling our football soul to the devil for our 90’s run!

[HuskerFever]

7 hours ago, Silverbacked1 said:

This is all pay back for selling our football soul to the devil for our 90’s run!

 

And Alabama is exempt from this because the devil ended up going down to Georgia instead?

[HuskerFever]

 

 

[HuskerFever]

 

[brfrad]

I'm watching some 2016 Nebraska football.  I remember us backing our way into a bowl game in 2015.  We took that game and used smash mouth football against UCLA.  We, then took that into 2016 and used it to wear down inferior teams.  We dominated the 4th quarter that year, outscoring our opponents 125 - 55 in the 4th quarter.  2 of our 4 losses were without Armstrong, who was just as mistake prone as Martinez.  Another loss Armstrong was hurt in the 2nd quarter.

 

I think we need to go to a smash mouth ground game, until we get a QB who is not as mistake prone.  It can't be any worse than what we are seeing right now.