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Sunday Morning Thoughts - Post UCLA

Doc Fumble

Doc Fumble

Coaching Legend
Dec 15, 2017
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The Heart of Huskerland, Lincoln, NE
A Happy Night! - It's hard to grouse too much about a road win as an underdog. EJ had another monster night, TJ Lateef had a storybook debut and the Blackshirts held down Nico enough to seal the victory. Now it's back home for a bye week and then out to Penn State and then a short week back home for Iowa.

TJ Lateef - An incredible debut for our freshman. 13-15 for 205 and three touchdowns. He looked sharp -- and so did the offense under his leadership. When you have a fast RBO QB who can throw an accurate ball, you've got an offense that's gonna be hard to stop. (as we found out against Nico.) TJ's TD pass to Emmett was a thing of beauty.

Emmett is a Stud. I heard that Emmett became the first Husker RB in school history last night to run for 100-plus yards and receive for 100-plus yards. In my book, EJ has already earned first-team Big Ten recognition. Goodness, when was the last time Nebraska has had a First Team All Conference player? He's been a real workhouse. It's hard for me to imagine we'd have seven wins without him. It's mindboggling to think Johnson wasn't even the starting RB before Dana came to town a year ago at this time.

Red throughout the Rose Bowl. It was amazing to see how many Husker fans there were in the Rose Bowl last night. I don't know what the official attendance was but it looked to me on TV like half the fans in the stands were wearing red.

Hello Win #Seven - For all the vitriol around here about closing out with four straight losses, we've now tied last season's win total with three more games still to go. If Lateef continues to play the way he did last night, we have a decent shot in all of them. :thumbsup:
 
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No, we've only got two more games to go--unless you're counting the bowl game.


Been thinking about this tonight, and I know it's looking ahead to next season, but how in the world are we going to keep Lateef on the roster for 2026?

Lateef is our starting QB for the rest of the season, obviously. However, after the bowl game, as the team transitions to 2026 will Lateef just go back to being the #2 QB? If Lateef is QB #1 next year does DR accept the #2 position? I doubt it. We're losing one of them before the 2026 season starts And, given his performance tonight, you absolutely know there are going to be teams coming in and trying to lure him away. An increase in NIL and a promise to be some other teams' #1 QB would probably be too much to resist.

:popcorn:
 
I didn't realize that T.J. was the first true freshman to start for Nebraska at QB since 1950.
 
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Can't add much more than this. Lateef is a player and Johnson is a stud.

Huskers can win both or the remaining games, or lose them.

PSU is the best 0-7 Big ten team in the history of football.
 
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It's just one game and it was UCLA but I'll maintain what I've said all season, with all respect to Dylan and what he's done for the program, I think we can be a better offense with a mobile QB.
Now - perhaps Lateef can't spread it around as much as Dylan... several players who put up big stats on the receiving end from Dylan were absent this game... so it could be that against better teams Lateef could fall flat... but I want this kid on the team next year.
 
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Chris said:
That's not correct. Blame AI for that citation going around the interwebz.

Dylan Raiola, Adrian Martinez, Cody Green, Tommy...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the correction. That's what I get for posting before I've had my Sunday coffee. I read it in an ESPN story.
 
My two cents on Lateef. He's a keeper. His pocket presence is miles ahead of Raiola. If the play calls for a 3-step drop, that is exactly what you get from Dylan. If pressure comes off the edge, Dylan is too slow to escape. Twice last night Lateef instinctively took his drop a bit deeper to maintain vision on the edge rush and find the proper window to complete the pass in the flat.

Lateef threw two incomplete passes last night. One was about a foot off the mark, and the other was a drop. He is an incredibly accurate passer and consistently hits receivers in stride. His constant threat to run the ball when pressed has opened up the mid-range passing game. Husker fans have been getting on the Oline all season. There were two instances last night where Raiola eats the ball 100% of the time and Lateef very deftly avoided the pressure and delivered strikes. I think Dylan makes a very average Oline look much worse than they are.

Finally, TJ has the "it" factor. Our last two QBs (2AM and DR) were stat monsters. At the end of every game the stat sheet revealed a great game by our QB, often times in a losing cause. The feeling I had last night in the waning moments when Nebraska had the opportunity to close out the game was one I haven't felt in years. The "here we go again" fear was long gone. I was very confident EJ and TJ would get the job done.

I still think we have two very difficult games ahead of us, but I like our chances much more with TJ Lateef running the offense.

:gbr:
 
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Maybe it was UCLA's D - but it sure felt like TJ got us in the right play more than DR has been. It felt "easier" to get yards then it has for several games. Assume the red shirt deal is done after this performance - we need him in the next 2 games because we could actual win them with him at QB. Any road win in the B1G is a good win - we should have blown out UCLA - but I'll take a 7 point win all day with a back up QB.
 
SUH brought up an interesting point in another thread......."If TJ wants to redshirt, he will play the UCLA game and Gramstad will start after that." After last night's game I'm thinking another possibility is that TJ finishes out this season and potentially redshirts next year. To not play this year, and not play another year under Dylan, would not seem to be very appealing to me as a player.

If Dylan comes back, I think he will be the hands-on favorite to start again next year.......whether he deserves it or not. If so, he will have to really stink it up to lose favor with the coaches and program that have invested so much in him. He might get hurt again, or he might prove he is not the right player for this O-line, but I think that won't happen right off the bat. By saving TJ's redshirt until next year, he still has four games to play (I'm guessing they will not use him in mop-up duty again early next year), and/or take over the reins for good if need be.

Of course, all this goes out the window if TJ takes over this year and brings the house down this year and proves in the next three games, he's the guy.

Also, the addition of what a mobile qb does will not be lost on Dylan. I'm betting he takes what happens this year to heart and infuses his game with some of the same........if he can.
 
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That is a good point - TJ could take a redshirt next season as the back-up.....NIL will factor into that as well - but I see it as a viable option
 
Hunchback Johnny said:
My two cents on Lateef. He's a keeper. His pocket presence is miles ahead of Raiola. If the play calls for a 3-step drop, that is exactly what you get from Dylan. If pressure comes off the edge, Dylan is too slow to escape. Twice last night Lateef instinctively took his drop a bit deeper to maintain vision on the edge rush and find the proper window to complete the pass in the flat.

Lateef threw two incomplete passes last night. One was about a foot off the mark, and the other was a drop. He is an incredibly accurate passer and consistently hits receivers in stride. His constant threat to run the ball when pressed has opened up the mid-range passing game. Husker fans have been getting on the Oline all season. There were two instances last night where Raiola eats the ball 100% of the time and Lateef very deftly avoided the pressure and delivered strikes. I think Dylan makes a very average Oline look much worse than they are.

Finally, TJ has the "it" factor. Our last two QBs (2AM and DR) were stat monsters. At the end of every game the stat sheet revealed a great game by our QB, often times in a losing cause. The feeling I had last night in the waning moments when Nebraska had the opportunity to close out the game was one I haven't felt in years. The "here we go again" fear was long gone. I was very confident EJ and TJ would get the job done.

I still think we have two very difficult games ahead of us, but I like our chances much more with TJ Lateef running the offense.

:gbr:
Click to expand...
Lateef is a player, that's for sure. If he plays well to end the year things will get interesting.

When Raiola has time he's a decent QB, but he's not mobile and not good when the receivers are covered.

It's easy to hate on the hurt guy, but Lateef may be better and he doesn't keep Nebraska from firing his uncle.
 
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In a factory you can have equipment operators and you can have fabricators.
The machine operator does fine and is very productive if all his parameters are met. Parts have to come in clean, threaders are sharp. Lighting is perfect. Safety glasses are his favorite type. When things are good, he'll be very productive.
A fabricator takes whatever the situation is and produces what you need. He's part artist, part designer, part engineer.
A QB can be an equipment operator or a fabricator. He can make things work if everything is predictable and in place. Or he can be a football player first, who happens to play QB.
I know what kind I want.
 
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Jimbosc said:
Maybe it was UCLA's D - but it sure felt like TJ got us in the right play more than DR has been. It felt "easier" to get yards then it has for several games. Assume the red shirt deal is done after this performance - we need him in the next 2 games because we could actual win them with him at QB. Any road win in the B1G is a good win - we should have blown out UCLA - but I'll take a 7 point win all day with a back up QB.
Click to expand...
Part of that was when TJ went through his progressions the first time he didn't do it a 2nd time. If there was no one to throw too, he took off running as he should. That there is why IMO the offense looked so much better. Dylan is not a mobile QB to just take off. Don't get me wrong he has done some designed runs in the past and picked up yards, but to scramble he's not good. So I do think it helps TJ is not just waiting in the pocket for a WR to open. He took what was given.
 
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redfred said:
SUH brought up an interesting point in another thread......."If TJ wants to redshirt, he will play the UCLA game and Gramstad will start after that." After last night's game I'm thinking another possibility is that TJ finishes out this season and potentially redshirts next year. To not play this year, and not play another year under Dylan, would not seem to be very appealing to me as a player.

If Dylan comes back, I think he will be the hands-on favorite to start again next year.......whether he deserves it or not. If so, he will have to really stink it up to lose favor with the coaches and program that have invested so much in him. He might get hurt again, or he might prove he is not the right player for this O-line, but I think that won't happen right off the bat. By saving TJ's redshirt until next year, he still has four games to play (I'm guessing they will not use him in mop-up duty again early next year), and/or take over the reins for good if need be.

Of course, all this goes out the window if TJ takes over this year and brings the house down this year and proves in the next three games, he's the guy.

Also, the addition of what a mobile qb does will not be lost on Dylan. I'm betting he takes what happens this year to heart and infuses his game with some of the same........if he can.
Click to expand...
At this point, in one game, we got our offense back and its only going to get better. Bringing Dylan back will result in a hap hazard array of missed opportunitys. I like Dylan but he is the wrong QB for Nebraska a this point in time. Lateef is the real deal and you have to admit he got the job done to a B1G 10 team on the road. Why on earth would Lateef come back to sit on the bench? Common sense says he wont. Remember there were NO SACKS on our QB last nite.
 
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