Copied from his Facebook page. Don't think he'd mind me posting here since he posted it on a free, public site. He's probably auditioning for a radio/analyst gig. 
Sez Adam:
As I sat there & watched #BYU catch the hail mary pass to beat #Nebraska, my jaw dropped & I just stared at the screen for a solid 20 seconds straight.
I was not surprised at all it was a high scoring, close game. The #Cougarscould have very well gone undefeated last year had their starting QB Taysom Hill not gotten hurt 4 games into their season. He probably would have been a strong Heisman candidate as well. Up until then I was really impressed by BYU.
Going into the game I was interested in 3 things about the #Huskers:
1- How much had #TommyArmstrong improved since last season? There were times last year when he showed flashes of the talent he possess. There were other times when he looked frazzled & unpolished. He was an underclassmen & a 1st year starter, so that was a little understandable. A learning curve is expected. Yesterday he looked more comfortable & a little bit more polished. His strengths are still his legs & throwing the deep ball, especially off play action, not necessarily throwing from the pocket. But, he looked improved & better in drop back situations, especially early on & in the 3rd quarter yesterday. His completion percentage yesterday was 59%, which might not wow anybody, & there were some passes that weren't phenomenal, but that's up 6% from his completion percentage of 53% last year. If he can hit a 60% completion mark for this season, along with his running ability that'd be pretty good. Keep in mind also, this is a brand new scheme he just learned this year & last year was a scheme he was already familiar with. His improvement yesterday led to more 10-20 yard completions & an improved conversion rate on 3rd down (6 of 13). It would be ideal if we're at 50% or better. He just needs to work stepping into his throws more consistently & not throwing off the back foot as much. His arms strength can play to his detriment sometime.
2- The new coaching staff. How would they intermingle the #MikeRileywest coast offense & what the Nebraska players do well right now? How would they coach on the sidelines? Also, how would they handle halftime adjustments? The play calling the 1st quarter was a pretty good mix of run & pass. The 2nd quarter it looked like the Oregon St. offense being run by Nebraska players. That's not going to work right now, because that doesn't play to the strengths of the current players. I think that's why the offense sputtered in the 2nd quarter & we fell behind. The 2nd half however there were clear adjustments made by the coaching staff & especially on offense. They ran the ball much more & much more effectively than in the 1st half. The defense made adjustments as well & outside of the hail mary pass (we'll get to that later), held a very good BYU offense to just a field in the 2nd half. As far as how the coaches coached on the sidelines, I didn't see any player lose their cool, get rattled or quit giving 100%. I believe yesterday was a very teachable moment & a great learning lesson that will make this team better moving forward.
3- The Blackshirts! How were they going to look in this new aggressive, get up the field & cause havoc in the backfield scheme, as opposed to the read & react cerebral defense they'd been playing in? (Btw, I've seen teams be successful with both schemes). It's very apparent to me that Vincent Valentine & Maliek Collins season's last year were not flukes. They're both very good. Freedom Akinmoladun looks like a guy with a bright future as well. The 1st half the #blackshirts gave up some big plays & quite a few points. As a I mentioned before, the halftime adjustments held the Cougars to just a field goal & the hail mary in the 2nd half. With 2 starters on defense being suspended & replaced by an inexperienced freshman & sophomore, going against a very good BYU offense & probably the best QB they'll face all year, I thought this game would be higher scoring. I was proud of the effort the blackshirts put forth. I also liked the improvement I saw in the 2nd half. However, I'm sure they are not satisfied with their performance & they will continue to grow & get better in their new defensive scheme as the year progresses as well. The one thing that did disappoint me a little bit is that BYU had players suspended as well, & when their backup QB came in the game, they weren't really able to slow him down either. He looked like he's just really good to me, but it shows that improvement is definitely still needed for our defense as well. Just as you'd expect this early in the season.
4- This is just some things I noticed throughout the game. We need to make field goals. Jordan Westerkamp is going to have a big year, especially when De'mornay Pierson-El gets back & teams have to worry about both of them. We had more turnovers than they did & as a result they had more points off turnovers in their favor throughout the game. We also had 3 times as many penalties (12) as they did (4), for three times as many penalty yards as they did (90) to (30). They were more disciplined than we were & I believe that's why they won the game. This leads me to the last play of the game, the hail mary. I don't want to hear it's karma coming back to get us for Northwestern. That's like the gambler who thinks that just because he lost the last hand, he has a better chance of winning this hand. That's the mind set of a broke person. Karma doesn't exist in gambling, or football. We beat Northwestern that day because they failed to box us out & knock down the ball. Westerkamp also made a great catch off a heck of a throw. But it all comes down to discipline. There are well over 100 plays in a football game & I don't believe 1 play ultimately decides the outcome of a game, but 1 play can make the difference. In this case it was the hail mary. Regardless of scheme every hail mary defense is basically similar. Put your best pass rushers on the line (whether it's 3 or 4 of them isn't a huge deal, I've seen both work), put a few guys 10-20 yards in front of the goal line & everybody else on the goal line. When everybody gets to the end zone, all the defensive players need to find a man & box them out like a basketball player going for a rebound. Then either the tallest guy on the team or the guy who can jump the highest jumps up & bats the ball into the ground like a volleyball player. Like I said, we didn't lose the game because of the hail mary, but if we'd been more disciplined throughout the game & during the hail mary play, we could have sealed the game because of it. I look at this week as a very frustrating, learning & growing experience for the team. They will learn from it & get better.
I will be posting my reaction to the Husker games on my Twitter & Facebook every Sunday night at 7pm CT. I enjoy watching Nebraska football, talking about it & connecting with the fans. Most of my reactions will not be this long. But a loss on the first game of the season left me with quite a bit to say. This will also be the only week I post my reaction twice. This is Labor Day weekend & most people are doing other things right now. So I'll be posting this again tomorrow, Monday night when most people are getting back to their regular schedule. So until next week…#GoBigRed. #GBR
Sez Adam:
As I sat there & watched #BYU catch the hail mary pass to beat #Nebraska, my jaw dropped & I just stared at the screen for a solid 20 seconds straight.
I was not surprised at all it was a high scoring, close game. The #Cougarscould have very well gone undefeated last year had their starting QB Taysom Hill not gotten hurt 4 games into their season. He probably would have been a strong Heisman candidate as well. Up until then I was really impressed by BYU.
Going into the game I was interested in 3 things about the #Huskers:
1- How much had #TommyArmstrong improved since last season? There were times last year when he showed flashes of the talent he possess. There were other times when he looked frazzled & unpolished. He was an underclassmen & a 1st year starter, so that was a little understandable. A learning curve is expected. Yesterday he looked more comfortable & a little bit more polished. His strengths are still his legs & throwing the deep ball, especially off play action, not necessarily throwing from the pocket. But, he looked improved & better in drop back situations, especially early on & in the 3rd quarter yesterday. His completion percentage yesterday was 59%, which might not wow anybody, & there were some passes that weren't phenomenal, but that's up 6% from his completion percentage of 53% last year. If he can hit a 60% completion mark for this season, along with his running ability that'd be pretty good. Keep in mind also, this is a brand new scheme he just learned this year & last year was a scheme he was already familiar with. His improvement yesterday led to more 10-20 yard completions & an improved conversion rate on 3rd down (6 of 13). It would be ideal if we're at 50% or better. He just needs to work stepping into his throws more consistently & not throwing off the back foot as much. His arms strength can play to his detriment sometime.
2- The new coaching staff. How would they intermingle the #MikeRileywest coast offense & what the Nebraska players do well right now? How would they coach on the sidelines? Also, how would they handle halftime adjustments? The play calling the 1st quarter was a pretty good mix of run & pass. The 2nd quarter it looked like the Oregon St. offense being run by Nebraska players. That's not going to work right now, because that doesn't play to the strengths of the current players. I think that's why the offense sputtered in the 2nd quarter & we fell behind. The 2nd half however there were clear adjustments made by the coaching staff & especially on offense. They ran the ball much more & much more effectively than in the 1st half. The defense made adjustments as well & outside of the hail mary pass (we'll get to that later), held a very good BYU offense to just a field in the 2nd half. As far as how the coaches coached on the sidelines, I didn't see any player lose their cool, get rattled or quit giving 100%. I believe yesterday was a very teachable moment & a great learning lesson that will make this team better moving forward.
3- The Blackshirts! How were they going to look in this new aggressive, get up the field & cause havoc in the backfield scheme, as opposed to the read & react cerebral defense they'd been playing in? (Btw, I've seen teams be successful with both schemes). It's very apparent to me that Vincent Valentine & Maliek Collins season's last year were not flukes. They're both very good. Freedom Akinmoladun looks like a guy with a bright future as well. The 1st half the #blackshirts gave up some big plays & quite a few points. As a I mentioned before, the halftime adjustments held the Cougars to just a field goal & the hail mary in the 2nd half. With 2 starters on defense being suspended & replaced by an inexperienced freshman & sophomore, going against a very good BYU offense & probably the best QB they'll face all year, I thought this game would be higher scoring. I was proud of the effort the blackshirts put forth. I also liked the improvement I saw in the 2nd half. However, I'm sure they are not satisfied with their performance & they will continue to grow & get better in their new defensive scheme as the year progresses as well. The one thing that did disappoint me a little bit is that BYU had players suspended as well, & when their backup QB came in the game, they weren't really able to slow him down either. He looked like he's just really good to me, but it shows that improvement is definitely still needed for our defense as well. Just as you'd expect this early in the season.
4- This is just some things I noticed throughout the game. We need to make field goals. Jordan Westerkamp is going to have a big year, especially when De'mornay Pierson-El gets back & teams have to worry about both of them. We had more turnovers than they did & as a result they had more points off turnovers in their favor throughout the game. We also had 3 times as many penalties (12) as they did (4), for three times as many penalty yards as they did (90) to (30). They were more disciplined than we were & I believe that's why they won the game. This leads me to the last play of the game, the hail mary. I don't want to hear it's karma coming back to get us for Northwestern. That's like the gambler who thinks that just because he lost the last hand, he has a better chance of winning this hand. That's the mind set of a broke person. Karma doesn't exist in gambling, or football. We beat Northwestern that day because they failed to box us out & knock down the ball. Westerkamp also made a great catch off a heck of a throw. But it all comes down to discipline. There are well over 100 plays in a football game & I don't believe 1 play ultimately decides the outcome of a game, but 1 play can make the difference. In this case it was the hail mary. Regardless of scheme every hail mary defense is basically similar. Put your best pass rushers on the line (whether it's 3 or 4 of them isn't a huge deal, I've seen both work), put a few guys 10-20 yards in front of the goal line & everybody else on the goal line. When everybody gets to the end zone, all the defensive players need to find a man & box them out like a basketball player going for a rebound. Then either the tallest guy on the team or the guy who can jump the highest jumps up & bats the ball into the ground like a volleyball player. Like I said, we didn't lose the game because of the hail mary, but if we'd been more disciplined throughout the game & during the hail mary play, we could have sealed the game because of it. I look at this week as a very frustrating, learning & growing experience for the team. They will learn from it & get better.
I will be posting my reaction to the Husker games on my Twitter & Facebook every Sunday night at 7pm CT. I enjoy watching Nebraska football, talking about it & connecting with the fans. Most of my reactions will not be this long. But a loss on the first game of the season left me with quite a bit to say. This will also be the only week I post my reaction twice. This is Labor Day weekend & most people are doing other things right now. So I'll be posting this again tomorrow, Monday night when most people are getting back to their regular schedule. So until next week…#GoBigRed. #GBR
