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Head scratchers

Pennsyhusker

Athletic Director
Aug 6, 2009
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Harveys Lake, PA
As we all now begin the debate once again about the competence of our coaching staff I thought of the following head scratchers

1. Why in the hell is Jurgens still playing center? Move him to guard or tight end for crying out loud. The kid is not a center. And if you want to blame his injury that is fine, but why are we playing a center who is so damned injured that he can't ... well... center the ball??? Is there nobody else on the entire team who could be taught to play center? I mean seriously, this is ridiculous stuff from our staff.

2. Why is Matt Farniok still playing? The kid is a huge liability on the line. He just cannot block anything. If, as Frost says, this is a year to get the young guys some experience then why not play one of the younger guards in place of Farniok? They certainly could not do any worse. This is ridiculous stuff from our staff.

3. Why can we not find a decent punter and place kicker? Did we not recruit some talent here? Where is the kid from Australia? This is beyond ridiculous stuff from our staff.

4. Why is Kade Warner still a starter? That speaks volumes about how this staff does not know how to get its talent ready to play. The fact that this talentless guy is a starter is beyond stupid.

5. Why can we not get our quarterbacks to see the field vertically and to see wide open receivers down field? More stupid coaching from our staff. Both of our quarterbacks look only for the short routes and if they are not open they take off running.

6. Why do so many of our recruits leave after a small time here? This is a real head scratcher. My hunch is that our coaches in the recruiting sales pitch tell the kids that they are part of a program that is on the verge of great things. Then they get here and the losses pile up. And these kids are not stupid. They can see the dumb, head scratching coaching decisions that we see and conclude that they have been suckered by a bunch of arrogant con artists.

These are just a few. There are more. It is beyond frustrating because Frost is not going anywhere. We are stuck with him. But from where I stand there is very little evidence that Frost has learned any lessons. So I have to conclude that we are in for a few more years of this same nonsense.
 
Jurgens is by far the best center we have when he snaps the ball correctly which is most of the time. And his back up is the guy that can’t block anyone.

we certainly have some development issues if we don’t have any young guys ready. I’ll give you that.
 
Jurgens is by far the best center we have when he snaps the ball correctly which is most of the time. And his back up is the guy that can’t block anyone.

we certainly have some development issues if we don’t have any young guys ready. I’ll give you that.
Then we need to develop someone at the position not named Matt Farniok. His younger brother comes to mind
 
As we all now begin the debate once again about the competence of our coaching staff I thought of the following head scratchers

1. Why in the hell is Jurgens still playing center? Move him to guard or tight end for crying out loud. The kid is not a center. And if you want to blame his injury that is fine, but why are we playing a center who is so damned injured that he can't ... well... center the ball??? Is there nobody else on the entire team who could be taught to play center? I mean seriously, this is ridiculous stuff from our staff.

2. Why is Matt Farniok still playing? The kid is a huge liability on the line. He just cannot block anything. If, as Frost says, this is a year to get the young guys some experience then why not play one of the younger guards in place of Farniok? They certainly could not do any worse. This is ridiculous stuff from our staff.

3. Why can we not find a decent punter and place kicker? Did we not recruit some talent here? Where is the kid from Australia? This is beyond ridiculous stuff from our staff.

4. Why is Kade Warner still a starter? That speaks volumes about how this staff does not know how to get its talent ready to play. The fact that this talentless guy is a starter is beyond stupid.

5. Why can we not get our quarterbacks to see the field vertically and to see wide open receivers down field? More stupid coaching from our staff. Both of our quarterbacks look only for the short routes and if they are not open they take off running.

6. Why do so many of our recruits leave after a small time here? This is a real head scratcher. My hunch is that our coaches in the recruiting sales pitch tell the kids that they are part of a program that is on the verge of great things. Then they get here and the losses pile up. And these kids are not stupid. They can see the dumb, head scratching coaching decisions that we see and conclude that they have been suckered by a bunch of arrogant con artists.

These are just a few. There are more. It is beyond frustrating because Frost is not going anywhere. We are stuck with him. But from where I stand there is very little evidence that Frost has learned any lessons. So I have to conclude that we are in for a few more years of this same nonsense.

1) It's all Frost here. He's married to certain guys and refuses to give up on them. Even the announcer was like "TAKE HIM OUT".

2) Frost and Austin think he's the best we got. He's a captain so he has the respect from the team. I agree, he's not good at football.

3)The Aussie punter got injured. Go figure, the good ones get injured and the sucky ones don't.

4) Again, he's one of Frost's boys. He loves him and won't give up on him.

5)A few reasons, AMart's confidence is shot. Between the crappy Oline and slow receivers, he has no faith and sees ghosts. As for Luke, he's an athlete not a quarterback. I'd say we recruit a graduate transfer but no way Frost will do that. He loves AMart too much.

6) I think you're right. They see the record and it makes no sense for them to sit on a sucky team. They'd rather play for a bad team than sit for one. These days your chances in making it to the NFL is just as good playing for Jacksonville State than Nebraska. Sickbut it's the truth.

So in conclusion, we are stuck with Frost. He's not a very good coach and his staff is not of a P5 conference in my opinion. We're also stuck with AMart, Jurgens at center and more than likely Chins for next year.
 
1) It's all Frost here. He's married to certain guys and refuses to give up on them. Even the announcer was like "TAKE HIM OUT".

2) Frost and Austin think he's the best we got. He's a captain so he has the respect from the team. I agree, he's not good at football.

3)The Aussie punter got injured. Go figure, the good ones get injured and the sucky ones don't.

4) Again, he's one of Frost's boys. He loves him and won't give up on him.

5)A few reasons, AMart's confidence is shot. Between the crappy Oline and slow receivers, he has no faith and sees ghosts. As for Luke, he's an athlete not a quarterback. I'd say we recruit a graduate transfer but no way Frost will do that. He loves AMart too much.

6) I think you're right. They see the record and it makes no sense for them to sit on a sucky team. They'd rather play for a bad team than sit for one. These days your chances in making it to the NFL is just as good playing for Jacksonville State than Nebraska. Sickbut it's the truth.

So in conclusion, we are stuck with Frost. He's not a very good coach and his staff is not of a P5 conference in my opinion. We're also stuck with AMart, Jurgens at center and more than likely Chins for next year.
I agree with all of this
 
As we all now begin the debate once again about the competence of our coaching staff I thought of the following head scratchers

1. Why in the hell is Jurgens still playing center? Move him to guard or tight end for crying out loud. The kid is not a center. And if you want to blame his injury that is fine, but why are we playing a center who is so damned injured that he can't ... well... center the ball??? Is there nobody else on the entire team who could be taught to play center? I mean seriously, this is ridiculous stuff from our staff.

2. Why is Matt Farniok still playing? The kid is a huge liability on the line. He just cannot block anything. If, as Frost says, this is a year to get the young guys some experience then why not play one of the younger guards in place of Farniok? They certainly could not do any worse. This is ridiculous stuff from our staff.

3. Why can we not find a decent punter and place kicker? Did we not recruit some talent here? Where is the kid from Australia? This is beyond ridiculous stuff from our staff.

4. Why is Kade Warner still a starter? That speaks volumes about how this staff does not know how to get its talent ready to play. The fact that this talentless guy is a starter is beyond stupid.

5. Why can we not get our quarterbacks to see the field vertically and to see wide open receivers down field? More stupid coaching from our staff. Both of our quarterbacks look only for the short routes and if they are not open they take off running.

6. Why do so many of our recruits leave after a small time here? This is a real head scratcher. My hunch is that our coaches in the recruiting sales pitch tell the kids that they are part of a program that is on the verge of great things. Then they get here and the losses pile up. And these kids are not stupid. They can see the dumb, head scratching coaching decisions that we see and conclude that they have been suckered by a bunch of arrogant con artists.

These are just a few. There are more. It is beyond frustrating because Frost is not going anywhere. We are stuck with him. But from where I stand there is very little evidence that Frost has learned any lessons. So I have to conclude that we are in for a few more years of this same nonsense.
#7. Why is Nebraska in the Big 10?
 
I really do think our talent level is increasing, but they still aren’t putting all the pieces together properly yet.

I have to be honest, I became a lot more concerned about this season after I saw the choice of captains. There’s a vision being pushed there, just not the right one.
I agree. Often times a team can look worse than it is because only a few key pieces are missing. In my opinion we will not return to winning football until we develop a solid offensive line and find a QB who can see the whole field. Our defense has issues but quite frankly they have played well enough this year for us to win games. If our offense had a pulse we would be 3-2 right now.
 
After yesterday I’m adding Greg Austin on my list with Chinander and Verduzco on who SF should be replacing..

Were not getting any better from one year to the next and how many times can we have illegal procedure usually at the worst time during the game..

Hope Farniok doesn’t come back next fall he constantly gets beat in pass protection..

And how long is it going to take for Frost to realize we are losing some games just on special teams in year 3..Not having 10 men on the field to clipping and not having anyone capable of fielding a punt it’s getting to be ridiculous.
 
After yesterday I’m adding Greg Austin on my list with Chinander and Verduzco on who SF should be replacing..

Were not getting any better from one year to the next and how many times can we have illegal procedure usually at the worst time during the game..

Hope Farniok doesn’t come back next fall he constantly gets beat in pass protection..

And how long is it going to take for Frost to realize we are losing some games just on special teams in year 3..Not having 10 men on the field to clipping and not having anyone capable of fielding a punt it’s getting to be ridiculous.
 
Culp, our place kicker, has been one of the few bright spots this year.

i agree with everything else tho

Without question but there are other phases of the kicking game where we‘re losing games and knowing from Osborne that those are just as important as Offense and defense schemes and Frost special teams have been down right awful..
 
Is frost to much of a friend to the players? We know he has his favorites is that creating animosity between players

That is a good question but no beat writer would have the guts to ask him that hard question..
 
Is frost to much of a friend to the players? We know he has his favorites is that creating animosity between players
Hard to say. He's trying to flip a culture and some players are more on board with that than others I feel. I don't think he has the kind of internal player leadership he needs to shape the standards and expectations for the whole. He's not the right kind of disciplinarian himself. He's on record as being against yelling, so there is no fear or consequence of repeatedly screwing up (Jurgeons). I believe he doesn't either want or have coaches who coach their units hard. I really wanna see coaches cussing out players from time to time and players slamming helmets around. Get pissed. Show some emotion. A weak minded team loses, a lot.
 
My goodness. You win by six points at home against a struggling team and you come over here and talk smack? Go away
What is Nebraska’s record in the Big 10 since joining? You’d be lucky if the Mountain West Conference would want Nebby.
 
As we all now begin the debate once again about the competence of our coaching staff I thought of the following head scratchers

1. Why in the hell is Jurgens still playing center? Move him to guard or tight end for crying out loud. The kid is not a center. And if you want to blame his injury that is fine, but why are we playing a center who is so damned injured that he can't ... well... center the ball??? Is there nobody else on the entire team who could be taught to play center? I mean seriously, this is ridiculous stuff from our staff.

2. Why is Matt Farniok still playing? The kid is a huge liability on the line. He just cannot block anything. If, as Frost says, this is a year to get the young guys some experience then why not play one of the younger guards in place of Farniok? They certainly could not do any worse. This is ridiculous stuff from our staff.

3. Why can we not find a decent punter and place kicker? Did we not recruit some talent here? Where is the kid from Australia? This is beyond ridiculous stuff from our staff.

4. Why is Kade Warner still a starter? That speaks volumes about how this staff does not know how to get its talent ready to play. The fact that this talentless guy is a starter is beyond stupid.

5. Why can we not get our quarterbacks to see the field vertically and to see wide open receivers down field? More stupid coaching from our staff. Both of our quarterbacks look only for the short routes and if they are not open they take off running.

6. Why do so many of our recruits leave after a small time here? This is a real head scratcher. My hunch is that our coaches in the recruiting sales pitch tell the kids that they are part of a program that is on the verge of great things. Then they get here and the losses pile up. And these kids are not stupid. They can see the dumb, head scratching coaching decisions that we see and conclude that they have been suckered by a bunch of arrogant con artists.

These are just a few. There are more. It is beyond frustrating because Frost is not going anywhere. We are stuck with him. But from where I stand there is very little evidence that Frost has learned any lessons. So I have to conclude that we are in for a few more years of this same nonsense.

1). Dam good question. The kid is a good athlete and a good blocker, but these snaps are insane. I see HS and JH kids snap without any issue. Tanner Farmer can switch to center and do it and so can Matt Farniok. Move Cam to Guard, now.

2) I hope he is asked to move on after the season. Obviously he’s a hard worker and is respected by his teammates and coaches. But he has killed us time and again the past several years.

3) Our punter is injured and out place kicker has been great. I do wish we had someone that could kick the ball out of the endzone.

4) He needs to sit. Betts, Martin, Falck are all out their making plays when they get a chance and Brown look like a heck of an athlete. Kade and his mustache can inspire from the sideline.

5). I’m not sure on this one. I think with LM it is coaching. He can’t throw or read defenses very well, so it looks like he is given one read and then told to run. With AM, I think overall it is confidence, but yesterday it was protection. Although he was 18/20 without an interception against very good defense yesterday, we were still missing the over the top threat.

6). To me, this one is pretty clear. I don’t think it is about W’s and L’s. I think we recruit by telling them how great the individual is and how great they can be, the numbers they can put up, how they are just like so and so. They see we are struggling and think they will come in and be the man right away. Then, they get here and it is this old school relentless attitude, with rigid rules and expectations. Were they are behind less talented guys that do what the coaches want and then they bail, especially if they are a long ways from home. This is all turbo charged by COVID and the transfer portal.
 
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A big head scratcher for me is why we play worse in the second half of nearly every game we play? What the hell are we doing in the locker room at half?
 
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1). Dam good question. The kid is a good athlete and a good blocker, but these snaps are insane. I see HS and JH kids snap without any issue. Tanner Farmer can switch to center and do it and so can Matt Farniok. Move Cam to Guard, now.

2) I hope he is asked to move on after the season. Obviously he’s a hard worker and is respected by his teammates and coaches. But he has killed us time and again the past several years.

3) Our punter is injured and out place kicker has been great. I do wish we had someone that could kick the ball out of the endzone.

4) He needs to sit. Betts, Martin, Falck are all out their making plays when they get a chance and Brown look like a heck of an athlete. Kade and his mustache can inspire from the sideline.

5). I’m not sure on this one. I think with LM it is coaching. He can’t throw or read defenses very well, so it looks like he is given one read and then told to run. With AM, I think overall it is confidence, but yesterday it was protection. Although he was 18/20 without an interception against very good defense yesterday, we were still missing the over the top threat.

6). To me, this one is pretty clear. I don’t think it is about W’s and L’s. I think we recruit by telling them how great the individual is and how great they can be, the numbers they can put up, how they are just like so and so. They see we are struggling and think they will come in and be the man right away. Then, they get here and it is this old school relentless attitude, with rigid rules and expectations. Were they are behind less talented guys that do what the coaches want and then they bail, especially if they are a long ways from home. This is all turbo charged by COVID and the transfer portal.
Great analysis
 
Jurgens is by far the best center we have when he snaps the ball correctly which is most of the time. And his back up is the guy that can’t block anyone.

we certainly have some development issues if we don’t have any young guys ready. I’ll give you that.
Can't do it most of the time. It has to be all of the time. Jurgens needs to be done at that position.
 
As we all now begin the debate once again about the competence of our coaching staff I thought of the following head scratchers

1. Why in the hell is Jurgens still playing center? Move him to guard or tight end for crying out loud. The kid is not a center. And if you want to blame his injury that is fine, but why are we playing a center who is so damned injured that he can't ... well... center the ball??? Is there nobody else on the entire team who could be taught to play center? I mean seriously, this is ridiculous stuff from our staff.

2. Why is Matt Farniok still playing? The kid is a huge liability on the line. He just cannot block anything. If, as Frost says, this is a year to get the young guys some experience then why not play one of the younger guards in place of Farniok? They certainly could not do any worse. This is ridiculous stuff from our staff.

3. Why can we not find a decent punter and place kicker? Did we not recruit some talent here? Where is the kid from Australia? This is beyond ridiculous stuff from our staff.

4. Why is Kade Warner still a starter? That speaks volumes about how this staff does not know how to get its talent ready to play. The fact that this talentless guy is a starter is beyond stupid.

5. Why can we not get our quarterbacks to see the field vertically and to see wide open receivers down field? More stupid coaching from our staff. Both of our quarterbacks look only for the short routes and if they are not open they take off running.

6. Why do so many of our recruits leave after a small time here? This is a real head scratcher. My hunch is that our coaches in the recruiting sales pitch tell the kids that they are part of a program that is on the verge of great things. Then they get here and the losses pile up. And these kids are not stupid. They can see the dumb, head scratching coaching decisions that we see and conclude that they have been suckered by a bunch of arrogant con artists.

These are just a few. There are more. It is beyond frustrating because Frost is not going anywhere. We are stuck with him. But from where I stand there is very little evidence that Frost has learned any lessons. So I have to conclude that we are in for a few more years of this same nonsense.

COACHING. Those things are all coaching issues. Frost is full of too much pride to move Jergens. Our quarterback coach is making players worse not better. Our offensive line coach is not developing players, that was supposed to be our biggest area of strength right next to our defensive backs, but when you play soft zone and give 10 yd cushions it doesn't take a great qb to throw to open wide outs doing little slants or curls.

Face it we have a group of coaches that are a step below power five football. They should go back to the the AAC.
 
It wasn't Jurgens fault! It was that incessant clapping from the sidelines!
I agree that its a BS excuse but I wasnt there. However, what i saw on video appeared to be an attempt to simulate a snap count. With zero fans no need for it to be done Michigan State style. It is a penalty and should have been addressed by the officials.
The only thing Frost did wrong is bring it up publicly. If you want to bag on him for that, have at it.
 
What is Nebraska’s record in the Big 10 since joining? You’d be lucky if the Mountain West Conference would want Nebby.

In the last ten years Iowa has won one division title. One. Yet, you come over here on your high horse? You aren’t Wisconsin.

On top of that, Iowa has never won an outright Big Ten title(hell, the shares they weren’t even the best team) since I’ve been alive. And I’m 34. I will likely be on my death bed before Iowa wins a Big Ten title.
 
Pennsy, you make some good points and bring up some good questions. The problems are multifaceted and answers are not going to be easy to come by.

There is obviously something amiss in the program. Whether its relationships or what, I don't know, perhaps communications. I had said this for over two years, 150 kids is too much for many reasons. The return on investment is just not there. These kids today need more personal attention and I am not sure how you do it with such big numbers.

Scott apparently has not developed that eye for talent recognition. He may never do it although he did seem to do well at UCF. He struck out on his two big recruits as QB's - AM and LM. Both are great athletes in their own right but each has deficiencies I believe the coaching staff could fix but it has not happened. Luke is not a passer and I am not sure he will ever be one. Those misses right there set the program back especially given the demands on the QB in his system. I look back on the Brook Berringer recruitment. I knew Brook and watched him play HS football. I never thought of him as being a QB in a big time program and neither did his coach but Tom did and he developed him. You can make a long list of players Tom found in film study of other players that he targeted and turned into very productive players. Scott doesn't have that eye or ability. Yet

I find it interesting that so many on here gave Riley and his staff grief but the reality is there were some good athletes that first year for Frost. He had a decent o line and WR's and even a RB. There was time to develop others but something happened and that never occurred. Too many misses with WR's and of course RB with Washington. There must be something going on inside the program that is negative but who knows.

Scott has not to the point where he can watch a practice and see every little mistake that will be magnified on game day. Until he does that and gets his assistant coaches to work on those, we will keep seeing the same mistakes over and over.

I do think the rhetoric of firing Frost is counterproductive. I am as frustrated as anyone, and I have been accused of being "negative" because I saw this two years ago and my expectations lowered because of it. I don't care, I see what I see and it is real, not pie in the sky. Frost is undoubtedly feeling the pressure of all of this and it is enormous. He and Moos will figure it out but it will take some time, give it to him. We really do not have any other choices.
 
I think we should go with the John Blake Formula for success. Here are the steps:

1. Hire Ed Orgeron after he's fired so he can land some great recruits.
2. Give him three years of great recruiting and then can him for a great coach.

I don't mind losing if we are brining in talent. John Blake Formula. Hire the best recruiters in the biz. Ignore our record.
 
Adrian had a TON of time on a lot of pass calls today and found nobody. I don't understand what that's about, every other team I watch if their QB gets to stand still for 4 seconds that's bad news for the defense.

I really think he just can't read a progression, especially against zone. He played better yesterday but still not like you hope to see. He seems to have no idea what he's looking at when he drops back. He seems like you could give him an hour back there and he wouldn't know where the ball should go.

Which is a shame because he's clearly got some arm talent when he lets it go. He ran a thousand times better yesterday, why he can't always run like that I don't know.
 
I think we should go with the John Blake Formula for success. Here are the steps:

1. Hire Ed Orgeron after he's fired so he can land some great recruits.
2. Give him three years of great recruiting and then can him for a great coach.

I don't mind losing if we are brining in talent. John Blake Formula. Hire the best recruiters in the biz. Ignore our record.
They're gonna fire Ed one year after he won a national title? Wild.

It takes recruiting AND development. Penn State and Michigan both have much more talented rosters than NU does. They're looking up at Northwestern just like we are.
 
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They're gonna fire Ed one year after he won a national title? Wild.

It takes recruiting AND development. Penn State and Michigan both have much more talented rosters than NU does. They're looking up at Northwestern just like we are.
You are really missing the point. Let somebody that cheats recruit crazy good talent to Nebraska. Fire them and then the next coach has a talent filled roster. Has nothing to do with development Holmes.
 
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