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State of the Program - Post Iowa Thoughts
- Thread starter Doc Fumble
- Start date
Fun Facts
Kirk Ferentz has more B1G victories in Nebraska's Memorial Stadium than any of our last 3 head coaches. Ferentz has 7, Rhule currently has 6 in 3 seasons.
As it stands right now, Nebraska will have beaten only one team with a winning record in 2025. Cincinnati finished the season 7-5 with their 4th straight loss today. Northwestern is losing to Illinois 17-10 and will finish 6-6 if they lose.
Last week we were convinced Penn State was finally performing like a Top 5 team again. Today they needed a late fumble returned for a touchdown to defeat lowly Rutgers 40-36 and become bowl eligible.
Tell me again how this program is on an upward trajectory.
Kirk Ferentz has more B1G victories in Nebraska's Memorial Stadium than any of our last 3 head coaches. Ferentz has 7, Rhule currently has 6 in 3 seasons.
As it stands right now, Nebraska will have beaten only one team with a winning record in 2025. Cincinnati finished the season 7-5 with their 4th straight loss today. Northwestern is losing to Illinois 17-10 and will finish 6-6 if they lose.
Last week we were convinced Penn State was finally performing like a Top 5 team again. Today they needed a late fumble returned for a touchdown to defeat lowly Rutgers 40-36 and become bowl eligible.
Tell me again how this program is on an upward trajectory.
Sounds like something is brewing behind the scenes. Reports of the team receiving a text message saying all practices for next week have been canceled. They are also usually required to check in and document their dinners at the training table and they have been told not to worry about that. There is supposed to be a team meeting Monday the 8th at 8:30am, it seems everything is on hold until then.
Whether you believe his insider reports or not, our resident YouTuber, Wilson Dittman, is saying our OL coach is getting let go.
I misread his post. He was saying 200 yard rusher and LOSE the game. I missed the LOSE part. There have been over 30 games with a 200 yards rusher for NU. Mike Rozier, Ken Clark, Keith Jones just to name a few.
This seems more extreme than just dismissing an OL coach, they would not put off a week of practice for that. Of course that is assuming the whole canceled practice thing is accurate.
Isnt it typical to give the guys the week off after the season to just relax and heal? And actually isn't that an NCAA rule? No practice unless you are in a championship game? Then you get 15 bowl practices after that? Maybe I'm wrong here. Wouldn't be the first time.
Just how bad do you think Sims would like to beat us?
We're not cursed. It's Frank Solich'es fault. And here's why. And a lot would disagree, but...
IF Frank doesn't go to coach Osborne and say he needs to get the Husker job, that Tom promised him, soon.. he'll have to go elsewhere to "follow his dream."
Tom, being the honorable man that he is, gave in to Frank's "demand" and turned over control.
1st mistake: Tom making the promise.
2nd mistake: Tom being a man of his word to the detriment of the program.
Frank had Tom's players, just like Busboom has Cook's players to work with. Those ran out, Frank couldn't recruit a raccoon to rummage through his garbage.
To shorten this diatribe..the actual "best" coach that we had since Tom WAS Bo...hands down; despite a few ugly games, and him being a massive A-hole.
Well...Tom made that call since he was AD. Maybe if Tom doesn't make "the promise" we win a few more NCs. We certainly weren't going to have a meltdown as a program.
Anyway...don't fix what isn't broken. The VB team knows that; they're still dominant, BECAUSE they haven't changed who they ARE.
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Even after the season's over, I look at all the weapons we had on offense -- including an unexpected 1,300-plus RB -- and I have a hard time wrapping my head around our lame scoring production. What the hell happened?
Yeah, we’ve talked a lot about our OL’s atrocious pass pro this season but that doesn't fully explain it, particularly given Emmett's production. This morning I think I came up with the answer: Our defense's UN-complimentary football.
I was looking at season stats and saw that our offense's time of possession this season was 22 minutes LESS than last season. The numbers are not broken down by conference vs non-con but I'd wager the difference grows to 25-30 minutes for B1G play. That's a staggering number and explains A LOT. Dylan and Company had significantly less opportunities to score than we did last season.
Yeah, our DL's poor run defense has been talked to death all season but it's impact was far greater than we might have thought in the moment. Even when the Blackshirts eventually stopped the other team's offense from scoring, our 'bend but don't break' approach took precious time off the clock.
In other words, the best thing we could do for our offense next season is to have -- through development and portal acquisitions -- a kick-butt DL again.
Yeah, we’ve talked a lot about our OL’s atrocious pass pro this season but that doesn't fully explain it, particularly given Emmett's production. This morning I think I came up with the answer: Our defense's UN-complimentary football.
I was looking at season stats and saw that our offense's time of possession this season was 22 minutes LESS than last season. The numbers are not broken down by conference vs non-con but I'd wager the difference grows to 25-30 minutes for B1G play. That's a staggering number and explains A LOT. Dylan and Company had significantly less opportunities to score than we did last season.
Yeah, our DL's poor run defense has been talked to death all season but it's impact was far greater than we might have thought in the moment. Even when the Blackshirts eventually stopped the other team's offense from scoring, our 'bend but don't break' approach took precious time off the clock.
In other words, the best thing we could do for our offense next season is to have -- through development and portal acquisitions -- a kick-butt DL again.
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Agreed. Frank was a complete disaster. He was a horrible recruiter, mediocre coach, and terrible leader. Making him the heir apparent and then simply handing him the job rather than hiring the most qualified candidate led to the mess that has existed ever since.
Or you could say the offense couldn't sustain drives and kept the defense on the field to often.Even after the season's over, I look at all the weapons we had on offense -- including an unexpected 1,300-plus RB -- and I have a hard time wrapping my head around our lame scoring production. What the hell happened?
Yeah, we’ve talked a lot about our OL’s atrocious pass pro this season but that doesn't fully explain it, particularly given Emmett's production. This morning I think I came up with the answer: Our defense's UN-complimentary football.
I was looking at season stats and saw that our offense's time of possession this season was 22 minutes LESS than last season. The numbers are not broken down by conference vs non-con but I'd wager the difference grows to 25-30 minutes for B1G play. That's a staggering number and explains A LOT. Dylan and Company had significantly less opportunities to score than we did last season.
Yeah, our DL's poor run defense has been talked to death all season but it's impact was far greater than we might have thought in the moment. Even when the Blackshirts eventually stopped the other team's offense from scoring, our 'bend but don't break' approach took precious time off the clock.
In other words, the best thing we could do for our offense next season is to have -- through development and portal acquisitions -- a kick-butt DL again.
My biggest complaint about the offense this season is in the red zone. I tried to find what our TD % was in the red zone but couldn't find it right away but my guess is way less than 50%. My guess is we average about 70% FGs. The play calling in the red zone got really bad. And sometimes to cute. I look back to the Michigan game when we emptied the back field on second down on the 7 yard line. Everyone in the stadium knew Dylan wasnt going to run so the D could drop off and cover the short field with 8 guys. And even in the Iowa game with Haarberg at QB when he fumbled at the goal. WE HAVE EJ FOR GODS SAKES. And where is the fullback Rhule promised year 1 would be used? For crap sakes put Haarberg or Linnemeyer at FB on short yardage and go get the damn thing with EJ. Blame the D all you want but we left A LOT of points on the field this year by dumb play calling in the red zone.
VERY astute. It’s not always the obvious that matters most.Even after the season's over, I look at all the weapons we had on offense -- including an unexpected 1,300-plus RB -- and I have a hard time wrapping my head around our lame scoring production. What the hell happened?
Yeah, we’ve talked a lot about our OL’s atrocious pass pro this season but that doesn't fully explain it, particularly given Emmett's production. This morning I think I came up with the answer: Our defense's UN-complimentary football.
I was looking at season stats and saw that our offense's time of possession this season was 22 minutes LESS than last season. The numbers are not broken down by conference vs non-con but I'd wager the difference grows to 25-30 minutes for B1G play. That's a staggering number and explains A LOT. Dylan and Company had significantly less opportunities to score than we did last season.
Yeah, our DL's poor run defense has been talked to death all season but it's impact was far greater than we might have thought in the moment. Even when the Blackshirts eventually stopped the other team's offense from scoring, our 'bend but don't break' approach took precious time off the clock.
In other words, the best thing we could do for our offense next season is to have -- through development and portal acquisitions -- a kick-butt DL again.
The Blackshirts this year reminded me of too many Husker defenses I watched this Century under past coaching staffs (yeah, including some of Bo's.)
Say what you want about playmakers like Dylan Raiola or Jacory Barney, when we return to national prominence, mark my words: it will be because of a KICK-BUTT DEFENSE.
Say what you want about playmakers like Dylan Raiola or Jacory Barney, when we return to national prominence, mark my words: it will be because of a KICK-BUTT DEFENSE.
Bonner is listed at WR - but he would have been the short yardage FB for us - if he hadn't be lost for the season. More as a blocker but if you recall he scored on jet sweep type plays at the goal line a couple times last season and he's a better blocker than ANY of our other WR. Him not being available hurt the red zone offense IMHO. Also - Dana needs to learn how to call running QB plays in the red zone. Although vs. Iowa - he couldn't do that with TJ once he was hurt.
