No shite Johnny. Too many you know who's and what not. Just come out and "out" the individual. We all are (I think) grown-ups on this site,
Huskers Rhule
- Thread starter ATX_Husker
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A close loss would have been a moral victory had we played football without all the damn penalties and missed scoring opportunities. We screwed ourselves. Score just as well been 100-0. Both would leave the same nasty aftertaste in my mouth.
Play a cleaner game we win.
Despite all that We had the ball and enough time for game winning drive - but we aren't good enough to do it against a really good D like IU. AC10 was not as good the 2nd half throwing the ball - I am sure some of that was IU adjustments but I also think he got beat up by all the hits he took.
Despite all that We had the ball and enough time for game winning drive - but we aren't good enough to do it against a really good D like IU. AC10 was not as good the 2nd half throwing the ball - I am sure some of that was IU adjustments but I also think he got beat up by all the hits he took.
valiantsailor nailed it.
We're back to a level where we can say we've got ourselves a damn good team that can compete. As much of a gut-punch that yesterday was, I'll take it that kind of loss against the defending champs over the empty dull ache in my stomach I felt the day we lost to Northwestern in Ireland. (The Wildcats only win for the season.)
Grouse about what we still need to improve but appreciate how far we've come in four years.
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Yes, we were competitive for much of the game but alas....Nebraska has a 31-game losing streak against ranked opponents. ~ sigh ~.
The streak affected the outcome 0%. It was the loss of focus and composure and that can happen to any team any time. We were not as well coached as Indiana. Two abhorrent weaknesses I saw were our Special Teams and Tight End. Special team issues were obvious early on this season and nothing was fixed. We wore Luke out so much he was much less a factor later in the game. We have zero depth behind Luke. Don't say Janiran, he weighs 225 and isn't a TE per se.
Game management was not up to B1G standards either.
Game management was not up to B1G standards either.
It can happen to any team at any time, but it DOES happen to Nebraska. Every single time. I watched UCLA v Oregon yesterday, and in a game that looked eerily similar to Nebraska v Indiana, UCLA, despite dominating for 3.5 quarters, did everything in their power to give that game away against a 3rd string QB. The difference was, Chesney, in his first year, got his players to nut up and stuff the 2pt try and avoid overtime. We are still waiting for a moment like that in Coach Matt's 4th season. The trap was set perfectly yesterday, and still the Huskers, despite dominating in every statistical category, failed to finish. That's coaching, plain and simple.
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It came down to 2 plays in the fourth qtr and we fumbled both of them. One was a football play at 12 minutes left and the other most damning was the 730 TD caused by Rhules lost attention and not calling a time out when our defense had 11 in the box.
Game management was not up to B1G standards
I'm irritated, not because we lost the game but because of HOW we lost the game. Absolutely zero reason that we should have lost, seemed like the players faltered and then play calling flat out bit us in the backside. Both are serious issues that need immediate correction. Had we been outplayed from the start it would have still sucked but this was just inexcusable to me. I've said before, on other subjects, that I can be a hardass. Just being my usual self, I guess.
Collapsed might be the right word...thats what the sports writers called it, but what do they know that we dont?
What's the old saying. I say potato and you say patato. Bottom line is the results were the same -- a sucky loss that didn't need to be. So it goes.
When I hear folks blasting Matt Rhule for being a piss-poor coach compared to the sport's 'Greats,' I take it all in stride. One of the, ahem, few advantages of being an old time Husker fan is remembering how fans used to rail mercilessly against our now-anointed coaching legends.
My first real season of following Husker football was 1969. Devaney, after resurrecting our once-great program back from the dead was--believe it or not--under fire going into the 1969 season for back-to-back... gasp!...mediocre seasons!!! The Bobfather, we were told by all-knowing fans was a one-hit wonder who'd lost his edge.
I also distinctly remember a couple seasons later when we went into the Orange Bowl as the undefeated, Number One ranked team having won the Game of the Century. You'd THINK all Husker fans were united in confidence going into that game, right? But I kid you not, a whole bunch of Huskers fans were wringing their hands about playing Bama because "Bear Bryant is a much better coach than Devaney." I didn't remember the times Bryant had previously beaten Devaney on the big stage. But I was told our coach always peed his pants when facing Bama's gruff, no-nonsense coach.
And once the Bobfather achieved Sainthood, 'Young' Tom Osborne spent most of his 25-year coaching career living in Bob's shadow.
So when I'm told here with 'great authority' that Matt Rhule can't coach compared to the great ones like Cignetti and Chesney, I've been there before.
When you listen to the coach, you see that he is still learning. On the one hand, we don't want a coach who still has to learn. On the other hand, we have had coaches fail because they did not want to learn. He has made moves in the past year because he has learned..
If HCMR has any problems, it is that he has risen too fast. He can win here. We have progressed. Game management is the next chapter. It took a while, but I think he has passed the chapters of recruiting, portal signing, and coaching hires. It is just too bad he had to learn on the job.
If it makes you feel better, Dabo Sweeney seems not to want to learn the new game of CFB, he is paying for it.
If HCMR has any problems, it is that he has risen too fast. He can win here. We have progressed. Game management is the next chapter. It took a while, but I think he has passed the chapters of recruiting, portal signing, and coaching hires. It is just too bad he had to learn on the job.
If it makes you feel better, Dabo Sweeney seems not to want to learn the new game of CFB, he is paying for it.
Blatz
Blackshirt
When the World Herald had that picture of Dr. Tom wearing the Mickey Mouse ears before the Bowl Game my Grandma just about blew a gasket when I ran my young smart-ass mouth and said "Mickey Mouse ears for a Mickey Mouse coach".
Also, at least one leader on defense could have called time out because of the 11 man in a box thing, somebody in the press box could have been all over the phone to the sideline about it, or YES... Rhule could have caught it. But it was in the heat of battle and it happened and here we are. Nobody figured we would go undefeated this season, we have a good team and now we realize we can compete with anybody in the country. There are positives if everyone can take a moment and chill out.
Also, at least one leader on defense could have called time out because of the 11 man in a box thing, somebody in the press box could have been all over the phone to the sideline about it, or YES... Rhule could have caught it. But it was in the heat of battle and it happened and here we are. Nobody figured we would go undefeated this season, we have a good team and now we realize we can compete with anybody in the country. There are positives if everyone can take a moment and chill out.
We can see a trend in the right direction. What held us back last season (IMHO) was sub-par QB play and a D that could not stop the run. We seem to have a fix for both but that doesn't instantly make you a MNC contender especially being limited by our kicker. Rhule isn't the best end of game manager I've seen - but honestly he is open to hiring consultants or assigning assistant coaches to help him. I am sure they already have something in place. Likely needs a bit more work to find the right combo. Is there another ex-head coach we can tap to help out Matt???
One thing I noticed rewatching some of the game is IU kept AC10 in the pocket the 2nd half - outside of a few plays including his TD run. I suspected they were good enough to do that - and adjusted their D to contain him better. In the end we were a few plays away from a win - damn site better than where this team was 2 years ago.
One specific comment Cigaretti made after the game is they did mess on up on D calls a few times - but it didn't cost them TDs like it did Nebraska. Mistakes happen......a really good team makes you pay every time you make one. We aren't quite there (yet).
One thing I noticed rewatching some of the game is IU kept AC10 in the pocket the 2nd half - outside of a few plays including his TD run. I suspected they were good enough to do that - and adjusted their D to contain him better. In the end we were a few plays away from a win - damn site better than where this team was 2 years ago.
One specific comment Cigaretti made after the game is they did mess on up on D calls a few times - but it didn't cost them TDs like it did Nebraska. Mistakes happen......a really good team makes you pay every time you make one. We aren't quite there (yet).
Honestly, I've never heard that take before, Crusader. But, thinking about it, It's VERY insightful.
Something that blew me away when I first heard it was that Matt Rhule and Scott Frost are the same age.
Maybe it's Rhule's gray hair, but I think of him as MUCH older than he is--especially compared to Frosty.Yeah, they have different personalities, but I see a lot of similarities between Tom Osborne and Matt Rhule. A constant criticism of Tom Osborne was that he WASN'T this or WASN'T that compared to the other 'Greats' of that era.
But the thing about both Matt and Tom is that they were never satisfied. Matt's 'changes' have been more public than Tom's were, but if you've heard TO's assistant talk, he was never satisfied and humble enough that he'd challenge them after every season, How can we improve? What do we need to consider doing differently?
When looking at the two of them, Tom Osborne inherited a better program but Matt Rhule was further along with his HC career when they took over the Husker helm. But when Tom reached the ripe old age of 51 was when he ratcheted up his program. I'm seeing the same thing with Matt's Husker squad.
How the rest of this year -- and beyond -- plays out has yet to be seen. But, like 1978 was for Tom, I think this is shaping up to be a springboard season for the program. We'll see.
GO BIG RED!
I wouild say our D has a tough time with the pass at his time we did a good job of stopping Turbo and the IU boys.
The Chesney comment was a throwaway line meant to get your attention, Doc. It worked.
If you are comparing Coach Matt and his 71-63 record as a college coach to Cignetti and his 85-11 record at JMU and Indiana, I'm going to pound the gavel and pronounce "Case Dismissed." Please don't bring up the awful teams Coach Matt took over as an excuse. Indiana was quite literally the worst team in college football history before Cigs took over and is 33-2 since his arrival. Coach Matt is not in the same stratosphere when it comes to coaching accomplishments.