Tommy's injury?

[Dmansr]

Even more ironic if TA starts and is injured further, and Fyfe comes in and plays great. This is the 9th game of the season. Think back to 2007, 9th game of the season against Texas. Who comes in for the injured Sam Keller? None other then Mr. Joe Ganz. Both QB's last names have 4 letters. I'm telling you, it's meant to be.

And if Fyfe has the same kind of success as Ganz did, HCMR and OCDL are going to look just as foolish as BC did in 2007.

 

[kfr1631]

Even more ironic if TA starts and is injured further, and Fyfe comes in and plays great. This is the 9th game of the season. Think back to 2007, 9th game of the season against Texas. Who comes in for the injured Sam Keller? None other then Mr. Joe Ganz. Both QB's last names have 4 letters. I'm telling you, it's meant to be.

And if Fyfe has the same kind of success as Ganz did, HCMR and OCDL are going to look just as foolish as BC did in 2007.

Remember though, it wasn't Ganz, it was the system, according to BC. You're right, he was foolish.

 

[Red Said Ted]

Fixed it for you.

You're a fan of pounding square pegs into round hole? That seems incredibly illogical. A coach has to play to the strengths of his players. As others have said, if Langs wants to sling it around, don't play TA. But I would much prefer to see these coaches be smart enough to know what they have in Armstrong and actually play to his strengths. What they have done so far is nothing short of completely incompetent.

And guys, I don't know how to break this to you all, but QBs throw interceptions at times. The consensus #1 QB (for the NFL draft) Jared Goff (Cal Bears) threw FIVE in one game this season. It happens. It even happens to Peyton Manning. I mention this because it seems like some posters are putting the loss on TA because of an INT. There's a lot more to any loss than a single INT.

 

[Husker94]

You're a fan of pounding square pegs into round hole? That seems incredibly illogical. A coach has to play to the strengths of his players. As others have said, if Langs wants to sling it around, don't play TA. But I would much prefer to see these coaches be smart enough to know what they have in Armstrong and actually play to his strengths. What they have done so far is nothing short of completely incompetent.

And guys, I don't know how to break this to you all, but QBs throw interceptions at times. The consensus #1 QB (for the NFL draft) Jared Goff (Cal Bears) threw FIVE in one game this season. It happens. It even happens to Peyton Manning. I mention this because it seems like some posters are putting the loss on TA because of an INT. There's a lot more to any loss than a single INT.

True to a point.

However, when QBs (especially the ones you mentioned) throw INTs, it usually isn't because they're falling backwards and throwing off their back foot. I am not bagging on Tommy for throwing an INT...I am bagging on him because it is his piss poor and extremely lazy effort (in terms of fundamentals) leads to far more interceptions than what he would have if he was fundamentally sound.

 

[Husker03]

You're a fan of pounding square pegs into round hole? That seems incredibly illogical. A coach has to play to the strengths of his players. As others have said, if Langs wants to sling it around, don't play TA. But I would much prefer to see these coaches be smart enough to know what they have in Armstrong and actually play to his strengths. What they have done so far is nothing short of completely incompetent.

And guys, I don't know how to break this to you all, but QBs throw interceptions at times. The consensus #1 QB (for the NFL draft) Jared Goff (Cal Bears) threw FIVE in one game this season. It happens. It even happens to Peyton Manning. I mention this because it seems like some posters are putting the loss on TA because of an INT. There's a lot more to any loss than a single INT.

No, I'm questioning how much more logical it is to expect a coach to completely go away from what he knows and is confident in offensively and plans on running now and in the future than it is to expect a QB to change everything he knows and is confident in. I agree that TA isn't the right QB but as many have pointed out, it's not like the stable is full of stud QBs. 7 years, no other P5 QB offers on the roster? It's not crazy to assume Riley got hosed hard in this area.

 

[Red Said Ted]

No, I'm questioning how much more logical it is to expect a coach to completely go away from what he knows and is confident in offensively and plans on running now and in the future than it is to expect a QB to change everything he knows and is confident in. I agree that TA isn't the right QB but as many have pointed out, it's not like the stable is full of stud QBs. 7 years, no other P5 QB offers on the roster? It's not crazy to assume Riley got hosed hard in this area.

Good coaches can adjust to the players they have. Football isn't that difficult. It's not like Riley and Langs aren't capable of using Armstrong more effectively. They choose not to. That's what frustrates the hell out of me. What makes me even more angry about it is that it looks like they have chosen to sacrifice this season in order to show recruits what their offense will be in the future. It's a really unfair (kind of disgusting) thing to do to the current group of players. I am not surprised that they are not getting 'buy in' from many of the athletes. They know they've been used.

 

[Husker03]

No way. Again. They came in and implemented their offense and their playbook. They worked with TA and had him show marked improvement in his fundamentals and passing. They rolled it all out and by game 3 he's reverted to back foot burnathon throws and now you want them to install some sort of zone read option scheme during Tuesday and Wednesday practices? They can't throw him under the bus and as much as everybody wants to scream run it with this Stanford like o line we have, that isn't reality. Watching the NW game i actually said out loud at the stadium, "I am so thankful im not the oc because I have no idea what you even try to call with that mess on the field."

 

[Red Said Ted]

No way. Again. They came in and implemented their offense and their playbook. They worked with TA and had him show marked improvement in his fundamentals and passing. They rolled it all out and by game 3 he's reverted to back foot burnathon throws and now you want them to install some sort of zone read option scheme during Tuesday and Wednesday practices? They can't throw him under the bus and as much as everybody wants to scream run it with this Stanford like o line we have, that isn't reality. Watching the NW game i actually said out loud at the stadium, "I am so thankful im not the oc because I have no idea what you even try to call with that mess on the field."

Absolutely. The fact that you wouldn't know what to do on offense doesn't mean any decent coach wouldn't know what to run with a QB like TA. You're fooling yourself if you think Riley and Langs don't know how to utilize the QB in the run game. Any below average coach can do it. You're making it sound like it's rocket science and it's not. They've shown they can do it. They simply choose not to. They lied to us all when they told us they would run an offense that fit the current roster. And again, the only logical explanation is that it is more important for them to show recruits their offense than it is to win this season.

I'm sorry guys, despite the fact that I didn't like the hire when it was announced I got behind Riley in the off season. He said a lot of the right things. It looked like they might recruit pretty well at first. Hell, I was one of the guys here giving Dunbar a hard time for not getting behind Riley and at least giving him a chance. Well, Riley and his staff have only shown that our fears were warranted and our support was not. While it's true that the roster has some holes, rosters change. Rosters can improve. It's much less likely that the bad coaching of a 62-year-old man and his veteran staff will change. That's what both frightens and frustrates me. We may be able to get better talent on the roster, but as long as Riley and Co are here we have no shot of truly competing with the better programs in the B1G. We can look forward to 7 or 8 wins a season as the ceiling for this staff, imo. That doesn't meet my expectations for this program and I hope the rest of you refuse to accept it as well.

 

[txhuskers]

Good coaches can adjust to the players they have. Football isn't that difficult. It's not like Riley and Langs aren't capable of using Armstrong more effectively. They choose not to. That's what frustrates the hell out of me. What makes me even more angry about it is that it looks like they have chosen to sacrifice this season in order to show recruits what their offense will be in the future. It's a really unfair (kind of disgusting) thing to do to the current group of players. I am not surprised that they are not getting 'buy in' from many of the athletes. They know they've been used.

Tommy isn't a dynamic runner. If he were, I'd almost get behind the call to let him run more. But I'd be scared about how many hits he'd take when we have zero backup QBs who were good enough to be offered as a QB by a P5 school. (Tommy wasn't either, meaning we have no QBs on the roster who secured other P5 offers to play QB. Doesn't that blow your mind? It does mine.) As bad as Tommy has looked, I think there is still quite a gap between him and the rest.

I'd also say (as I did over and over and over *sorry folks* in the chat) that our running game is not good. It isn't good because our offensive line is atrocious. Check out these clips:

https://vine.co/v/eYeAW6wWau3

https://vine.co/v/eYe79VEqzdQ

https://vine.co/v/eYO9mQi3IvE

https://vine.co/v/eYzpez2ditD

https://vine.co/v/eYzvQqjwXhY

So that's your solution? Run behind that line? Let's see how much you enjoy Tommy in second and nines and third and sevens all day.

The fact is, this team is seriously deficient in talent at key positions. There is no magic bullet. There is no quick and obvious fix to get the offense working. The pieces aren't there.

 

[Husker94]

Tommy isn't a dynamic runner. If he were, I'd almost get behind the call to let him run more. But I'd be scared about how many hits he'd take when we have zero backup QBs who were good enough to be offered as a QB by a P5 school. (Tommy wasn't either, meaning we have no QBs on the roster who secured other P5 offers to play QB. Doesn't that blow your mind? It does mine.) As bad as Tommy has looked, I think there is still quite a gap between him and the rest.

I'd also say (as I did over and over and over *sorry folks* in the chat) that our running game is not good. It isn't good because our offensive line is atrocious. Check out these clips:

https://vine.co/v/eYeAW6wWau3

https://vine.co/v/eYe79VEqzdQ

https://vine.co/v/eYO9mQi3IvE

https://vine.co/v/eYzpez2ditD

https://vine.co/v/eYzvQqjwXhY

So that's your solution? Run behind that line? Let's see how much you enjoy Tommy in second and nines and third and sevens all day.

The fact is, this team is seriously deficient in talent at key positions. There is no magic bullet. There is no quick and obvious fix to get the offense working. The pieces aren't there.

Those vine clips are ridiculous. I could EASILY put together 50 clips where Tommy makes a bad decision on where to throw the ball, the receivers dropping the pass, etc. So to use your logic we shouldn't throw either.

Thus far, Newby has ran the ball for an average of 5.3 yards per carry. Janovich is averaging 7 yards a carry and Ozigbo is averaging over 6 yards per carry for the season. I know because I looked it up on ESPN's stats page and posted a link to it here yesterday.

Simply stated, we have a serviceable OL and some (at the minimum) decent RBs and excellent FB who could (if our coaches wanted to) could hammer out about 240-260 yards per game rushing the ball IF THEY WANTED TO.

But they do not. They wilfully choose to run a style of offense our QB is ill-prepared to play and they deliberately have a heavy pass lean to the offense.

The result? Five losses. This team despite the injuries and holes in the depth chart, could (at the minimum) be 6-2 right now. But we're not. These coaches want to throw and as long as they do we will suffer for it.

 

[OhioHusker]

Remember the good old days when persistent negativity about the coaching staff got you suspended?

 

[Guest]

Absolutely. The fact that you wouldn't know what to do on offense doesn't mean any decent coach wouldn't know what to run with a QB like TA. You're fooling yourself if you think Riley and Langs don't know how to utilize the QB in the run game. Any below average coach can do it. You're making it sound like it's rocket science and it's not. They've shown they can do it. They simply choose not to. They lied to us all when they told us they would run an offense that fit the current roster. And again, the only logical explanation is that it is more important for them to show recruits their offense than it is to win this season.

I'm sorry guys, despite the fact that I didn't like the hire when it was announced I got behind Riley in the off season. He said a lot of the right things. It looked like they might recruit pretty well at first. Hell, I was one of the guys here giving Dunbar a hard time for not getting behind Riley and at least giving him a chance. Well, Riley and his staff have only shown that our fears were warranted and our support was not. While it's true that the roster has some holes, rosters change. Rosters can improve. It's much less likely that the bad coaching of a 62-year-old man and his veteran staff will change. That's what both frightens and frustrates me. We may be able to get better talent on the roster, but as long as Riley and Co are here we have no shot of truly competing with the better programs in the B1G. We can look forward to 7 or 8 wins a season as the ceiling for this staff, imo. That doesn't meet my expectations for this program and I hope the rest of you refuse to accept it as well.

I agree 100% that we should NEVER accept what we are seeing on the field, nor should we lower expectations for the program just because Riley is a nice guy. But tell me this: What does persistent ripping of the HC at this point in time do? Most of us realize that even if Riley and Co is a failed experiment, he isn't going anywhere until the end of next season. Don't we want him to at least upgrade the talent so we are better equipped for the next coach? So, what's wrong with holding out some hope that he might use this year's failure for a catalyst for change? Why is that now met with so much vitriol, when the last few years it was encouraged? How does ridiculing those who still have a shred of hope as "ridiculous, blind, foolish, half brained, idiots" fit in with the mission here at BHF? Are posts that rip the coaches, AD, and chancellor the only ones that are now viewed as "reasonable"? If that's what we can expect here at BHF for the next 1 1/2 years, that will be a big disappointment, IMO....

 

[OhioHusker]

What does persistent ripping of the HC at this point in time do.

Last year it got you suspended. This year, not so much.

 

[SalinaHusker]

I think a couple posters need to have their own threads where they can just repeatedly post the same thing over and over like they are already doing in every other thread on the boards.

Even after bad games with Bo we could have things like the hot/cold thread. These days it seems like the sky has actually fallen so why bother because we will be terrible forever under Riley.

 

[txhuskers]

Those vine clips are ridiculous. I could EASILY put together 50 clips where Tommy makes a bad decision on where to throw the ball, the receivers dropping the pass, etc. So to use your logic we shouldn't throw either.

Thus far, Newby has ran the ball for an average of 5.3 yards per carry. Janovich is averaging 7 yards a carry and Ozigbo is averaging over 6 yards per carry for the season. I know because I looked it up on ESPN's stats page and posted a link to it here yesterday.

Simply stated, we have a serviceable OL and some (at the minimum) decent RBs and excellent FB who could (if our coaches wanted to) could hammer out about 240-260 yards per game rushing the ball IF THEY WANTED TO.

But they do not. They wilfully choose to run a style of offense our QB is ill-prepared to play and they deliberately have a heavy pass lean to the offense.

The result? Five losses. This team despite the injuries and holes in the depth chart, could (at the minimum) be 6-2 right now. But we're not. These coaches want to throw and as long as they do we will suffer for it.

You know as well as I do that those stats are skewed by a couple outlier games and runs for each of those guys. What do Newby's stats look like without the 70 yarder? Janovich's stats without the 55 yarder?

If you want to sit here and argue that the Nebraska offensive line is serviceable, go ahead. I think you are wrong but we can agree to disagree.

I am 100% with you that Tommy has made some incredibly bad plays. A lot of them, actually. But my point in making my post was not that "our line sucks so we should only throw." Don't be thick, 94. My point was that going to a run heavy offense isn't the panacea so many people on this board think it is. The offense needs balance. Not balance for balance's sake like so many here like to say, but balance because all of its components are flawed and none, standing alone, can lead to success.

Finally, I hate hate HATE reading this sh!t about the coaches throwing the ball because they either don't care if we lose or aren't smart enough to realize we must be North Georgia Tech to win games here at Nebraska. Neither of those things are true. The simple facts are the offensive line sucks and we no longer have Ameer anymore to cover up for the line's deficiencies. That, combined with our pretty solid WR play (with the exception of drops in two games) is why we are "only" rushing the ball 49.2% of the time. To read this board you'd think Nebraska ran the air raid.

 

[Korn]

For myself, we seem to be pretty effective out of the I formation with a lead blocker for the most part. Even Newby looks to be more effective. Cross and Jano could really wear out some linebackers if they ran it more than one play at a time.

The thing I've seen from our Flounder (OC), that he's gets scrared if we only get a couple of yards. Too bad when we have several miss fires in the passing game he doesn't get scared and go to the run. He seems to only get jiggy when we get behind schedule running. He will never wear out an defense with that mindset.

I recall even in the old days in first and second down and long if we got behind the sticks, we continued to run the ball. I can remember being down by at least two scores and Osborne stayed the course with his running game in order to own the forth quarter. That's with using a lead blocker.

Longsford just doesn't have that kind of confidence in this passive system. Even when we get but three yards on a run from the I formation, we are controlling the clock and leaning on defenses. Langsberg just ain't that kind of coach it seems. He gets scared. The coach himself has a confidence problem it appears. That's why we are 3-5.

 

[Doc Holiday]

We have no idea how Ryker Fyfe is going to perform.

Tommy is the best quarterback we have on the roster right now and if he's out for any period of time, that's....not good.

Not to try and start something but I had the pleasure of watching Ryker play in Grand Island several times and the kid is just tough as nails and that is no joke. I saw a line backer come free in the middle of the line and draw a bead on Fyfe and just flat DRILL HIM .....now 90% of any other QB's in the country would have been just knocked dizzy or fumbled the ball on a lick like he took right to the chest and landed on his back.....not him he just got up straightened his helmet went on to the nxt play and laid one of the nicest back shoulder throw passes to his wide out the whole time rolling to his off side that went for 6.
Now this was just one instance of many I saw . I hate QB controversy and have no major complaints against Tommy except his poor decision making when he gets under pressure some times but once Ryker gets into the flow of the game and gets hit a time or 2 he seems to have another gear in him that you don't see very often.....when he is pissed he is at his best and while he is not as flashy a runner as some are don't let that fool you he has sneaky speed.......football pad speed if you know what I mean and he can and will deliver a hit to a linebacker or safety to get those all important 2 or 3 extra yards. So I have only one concern with him....how long will it take for him to get his mad on ? Cause once he does that its like he is some complete other player and his pass completion rate will sky rocket and he will flat out scare the other team period....he has a great football mind and is sharp as a tack so don't let him playing bother you 1 tiny bit. He might look shaky for a bit but once he gets to rolling......look out.
Doc.

 

[Korn]

Fife was always a winner. It's funny that with the second OC and staff, he has bypassed several scholarship quarterbacks. That is twice he's done that. That has to say something about his grit and game. I would like to see what he's got in his tank myself. If the OC is not confident in his own running game and continues to pass forty times a contest, I'm guessing Fife may be a better fit. Build his confidence play by play. I believe that is how it's done.

 

[Guest]

For myself, we seem to be pretty effective out of the I formation with a lead blocker for the most part. Even Newby looks to be more effective. Cross and Jano could really wear out some linebackers if they ran it more than one play at a time.

The thing I've seen from our Flounder (OC), that he's gets scrared if we only get a couple of yards. Too bad when we have several miss fires in the passing game he doesn't get scared and go to the run. He seems to only get jiggy when we get behind schedule running. He will never wear out an defense with that mindset.

I recall even in the old days in first and second down and long if we got behind the sticks, we continued to run the ball. I can remember being down by at least two scores and Osborne stayed the course with his running game in order to own the forth quarter. That's with using a lead blocker.

Longsford just doesn't have that kind of confidence in this passive system. Even when we get but three yards on a run from the I formation, we are controlling the clock and leaning on defenses. Langsberg just ain't that kind of coach it seems. He gets scared. The coach himself has a confidence problem it appears. That's why we are 3-5.

From what I'm seeing, the OL just gets whipped in to many one on one matchups. They had some decent drives against Minnesota, but they were getting stoned later in the game. And they were getting whipped a lot by the Northwestern DL. Kondolo and Sterup in particular. Kondolo, in my opinion, is a poor linemen. Too many times his guy is beating him, getting penetration and disrupting the play. We all know about Sterup, so nothing needs said there. And, the Guards are having trouble getting to the second level to free up some space inside. A lead blocker would help, but you have got to beat your man most of the time if you want to live on power run football.

 

[Husker03]

I also wonder if it is true that TA has been battling turf toe if that explains a bit why the staff doesn't want him out there running around as much. I'm sure that's a stupid notion to everybody around here, but I'm adding into the entire equation that fuels my, "Wait and See," attitude.