See what I meant about not knowing which Husker team would be out there? We looked awesome at times, horrible at times. VT had season-best numbers in scoring, passing, rushing... blah. Our Defense looked lost out there at times, and played great at times.
This secondary is going to get TORCHED by Oklahoma, Texas Tech and Missouri.
We can't run the ball. Why they stick with Marlon Lucky when Roy Helu is twice the RB Lucky is, I don't know.
We're clearly a work in progress. Pelini is a work in progress. We'll get better, he'll get better, and we'll be back.
Yep. Any chance of this season being "special" died with this loss. Had they won, 8-4 was realistic, and 9-3 was in range. This was disappointing. They looked poorly coached on defense, and I really question the offensive play calling. Ganz was as bad as I've seen him for an entire game. He seemed like a freshman playing in his first "big" game. The play calling was bad in the fact that I figured coming into this game that NU would have trouble running the ball, but would be able to light up the VT secondary. So what was Watson's gameplan? Run at 'em and dink and dunk in the passing game. When they did actually go down field, it worked. How much does Watson make again?
2 questions I have about the D: 1. Why didnt Pelini blitz the snot out of Taylor like he did with LSU last year. I can only remember 3 blitzes. With the 4 man rush he still ran it at will. It couldnt have been any worse had they used some of those creatvie schemes that Pelini is famous for. Instead the base D was just that, "base". 2. This has been going on all year, but when for the love of God, will our DBs actually quit giving 5+ yards of cushion? I gotta believe that they're not being taught to do that (?). Other than a couple of plays that I can remember, guys were wide open all night against what appeared to be strictly zone coverage. The safeties were out of position most of the game.
Ultimately, I'm coming around to the fact that Ganz isnt the star in the making that I thought he was. I'm guessing that for most teams he'd be a great back-up QB, much like what was seen from him last year, but isnt a QB that can lead/will a team to victory. Now 7-5 is looking like best case scenario with 6-6 the more realistic option. Not quite the turnaround I was hoping for in year 1 for Pelini, but still an overall improvement on what we saw last year. As a whole I still don't believe that NU's starting line-up is "that" far behind other perenelly ranked teams, but NU does lack the depth. The bigger problem is that there's still some of that downtrodden mentality with this team that when they get hit in the mouth, they tend to shrink away from the challenge. Had Swift not returned that punt, I dont think NU puts up a fight the rest of that game. On the plus side though, I dont believe that mentallity is as bad as it was last year as the team did put up red zone fights when last year they would've completely rolled over. I just think it will take a year or two to get that "here we go again" feeling totally out of the player's heads. Disappointing loss since VT was ripe for the taking, but unlike last year, there's actually hope of better days/seasons ahead.
GreatestShowOnEarth wrote:I'm down for a sig challenge KC. I really feel good about this game. I'm not really sure why.... i just do.
It was a very entertaining game. It's easy to see both teams are very talented, but both made a lot of mistakes. Good luck on the rest of the season. We'll see ya next year in Blacksburg
I'm disappointed with the D, but truthfully didnt expect much. I'm officially flaming pissed at Watson and Ganz at this point, and this goes all the way back to the VT game.
As I admitted last week, Ganz is an average QB, not a dark horse heisman candidate as last year had me believing, and he's proved it again with poor decision making.
Just as I thought before the VT game, despite Ganz's shortcomings the way that this team moves the ball, especially against the last 2 defenses we've seen is to throw down field. Not run up the middle. Not dink and dunk within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage, THROW DOWN FIELD. Both possessions NU has done that they've scored, both possessions where they've beaten their heads agains the wall trying to run it, bad things have happened. Watson's play calling is ghastly. When Callahan started, he had a team that couldnt pass the ball, ball God bless him, he was going to force his team to do it anyways (Southern MIss ring a bell?), and the result was NU's first losing season in nearly 40 years. Now Watson is bulling the exact opposite crap. Run the football even though NU is obviously not capable of doing it. Where can I fax my resume to?
Watson definitely has some explaining to do. His game plan seems, at best, illogical. At worst it's just plain stupid. Hskr is right about his playcalling.
So does everyone see now why I was saying NU should not be ranked? I feel silly for being a Homer and ranking them two weeks ago.
knapplc wrote:Watson definitely has some explaining to do. His game plan seems, at best, illogical. At worst it's just plain stupid. Hskr is right about his playcalling.
So does everyone see now why I was saying NU should not be ranked? I feel silly for being a Homer and ranking them two weeks ago.
Bo & Co. have a lot of work to do.
Agreed. I was foolish. I guess you were right about there not being talent with this team. I still think a lot of the issues with these players is between the ears. I thought Pelini would be the difference maker with some of these guys, but it just aint happening. I certainly didnt expect a win tonight, but I thought these embarrassing type losses would be gone with the previous staff. I'm embarrassed for Pelini. I've officially given up on the season. We've seen the ceiling with a lot of NU's so-called "starters". Lets see what the freshman and sophmore's bring to the table. If Pelini thinks any of them may have a higher ceiling, lets get them the majority of the action and play for next year and the season after. No one's gonna run Pelini out of town anytime soon. He's a much more likeable coach than his predescessor. So lets start sending a message to these so-called starters and see how they respond to riding the pine for a game or two. I dont know if Pelini would have the guts to do that even if he agrees with me. Lastly, let me be the first (that I know of) to start the "Fire Watson" committee. If things show no signs of getting better I dont know how Pelini brings him back considering he can pay someone else a lot less and get these results. I wonder how happy all of the people associated with the Alabama program are that he stayed at NU. I wonder if Cody Green can be the next Tommy Frazier (here's hoping).
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by Mugrila » Fri Sep 26, 2008 11:22 am 
![:-]](./images/smilies/smirk.gif "Scottie")
