Team had some warts, but overall a good looking performance in my opinion. I think we're in for some good football from DONU this year!
Lots to like
- Thread starter Crushinator
- Start date
The stat that jumps out is 0.0 interceptions, and a commitment to running the ball.
Our defense can also look a lot better when they are not put into impossible situations all game long.
It seems like Riley might have talked to Dr. Tom. I could be wrong but it seemed like we controlled the clock. It will be interesting to see when we run into better teams if we can be disciplined enough to keep the ground game going? it looks like we found a back with a lot of tools. if armstrong can mix in a good run and pass now and then, things should be a lot better this year. he just has to hand off a lil better, and make sure when we pass, to hit different targets. don't throw to westercamp 5 times in a row.
Our defense can also look a lot better when they are not put into impossible situations all game long.
It seems like Riley might have talked to Dr. Tom. I could be wrong but it seemed like we controlled the clock. It will be interesting to see when we run into better teams if we can be disciplined enough to keep the ground game going? it looks like we found a back with a lot of tools. if armstrong can mix in a good run and pass now and then, things should be a lot better this year. he just has to hand off a lil better, and make sure when we pass, to hit different targets. don't throw to westercamp 5 times in a row.
HCMR has never had this much talent across the board, and that is sad because we aren't a terribly talented team. The one thing he can do is play to his strengths, and he is doing that. A good stable of backs, a physical qb who throws the deep ball well, and some speed receivers and some power TEs. We aren't going to dominate anyone but we should have close games because we should be able to hold the ball, still don't see how we can beat the top 4 in the conference though. Especially on the road.
This is a coach who has upset top ranked teams with a lot less. We do have a passing game; and will use it more as necessary, including a D stacking the box. Then run only guys will whine; they must not be able to read _ HCMR is addressing it in interviews in the local papers. He has said he would love to use the plan you summarized every game.
Top 4, really? You don't see how we can beat teams like Iowa and Wisconsin?
In case folks don't see it in context. Headcard is writing this in faith; even after Wi beat LSU. So Solana points out some nice strengths; Headcard has some great Faith ( being a FAN and a very perceptive one over the years ); lets deal with what comes and GBR - I love being part of a positive fan base !!!! I really like our head coach and he is going for it !!!
Punting teams looked bad. That needs to be fixed or it could cost us a game or two.
Not the way we played Saturday....especially on the road against those two. We can improve, but right now those two teams would obviously be favored by close to a TD.
What is everyone's thoughts on Newby it seems like we are all waiting for him to break out and be the back but I like OZ a ton.
The only thing that keeps making me wonder is I had a chance to work a camp two years ago and Ameer was raving about how Newby was the real deal and his talent was through the roof etc. May have just been friend speak but I keep waiting for more from him.
The only thing that keeps making me wonder is I had a chance to work a camp two years ago and Ameer was raving about how Newby was the real deal and his talent was through the roof etc. May have just been friend speak but I keep waiting for more from him.
I'm starting to feel about Newby the way I did about Jamal Turner. I think he's good, but for whatever reason it just doesn't happen (consistently) when the lights come on.
If you remember we beat a playoff team with a roster full of walk-ons.
After watching Wisconsin beat LSU, I don't think we're going to win in Madison this year. They struggled on offense a bit, but their D, wow. I think we're about as good as Iowa, though if we matched up today I wouldn't be shocked if they were favored by 3-7.
I want to see us really put a beating on Wyoming and ratchet up the score after a week of tune-ups. If we struggle against Wyoming, Oregon is going to eat us for lunch. I still think 8-4 is a realistic prediction for the year, going forward.
I want to see us really put a beating on Wyoming and ratchet up the score after a week of tune-ups. If we struggle against Wyoming, Oregon is going to eat us for lunch. I still think 8-4 is a realistic prediction for the year, going forward.
I think Wisconsin just lost a starting LB for the year and LSU has a horrible offense. Also, there is a chance that Wisconsin kind of shot their wad in that LSU game. It is really really tough to be that "up" for games each week. With that said, they did look really really good.
Yeah I was wondering about that. Its not just LSU that they have to beat, here is their schedule until they face us:
Akron
Georgia State
Michigan State
Michigan
Ohio State
Iowa
Nebraska
OUCH. If they are fully healthy after that death trap, I will be shocked. Is it possible that they'll be incredibly beat up after that? Yeah. But is it also possible that they are good enough to beat us even after that schedule? Yup. Their D is elite right now.
Their d isn't as good as it looked. Lsu offense is beyond putrid and is completely one dimensional. If they didn't have fournette they'd have a bottom five offense and that is being kind. Someone made the comment that that game looked like the 2009 huskers played itself. It is close enough to the truth.
If LSU is that bad, why the hell do the SEC teams get ranked so high at the start of the year? I would put Michigan or Ohio State right now against anyone in the SEC save maybe Alabama (and even then, who knows?) and the Big Ten teams would smoke them. Hell, I bet we would beat around half of the SEC teams right now.
What's that all about?
What's that all about?
force of habit... and their d is pretty good. for about 7 or 8 years the rankings formula was put SEC as high as possible and ignore everyone else.
6-7 record the first week by the SEC should shake the heck out of the rankings. not sure if it will for a few weeks when the idiots who do the polls realize that a lot of those 'ranked' teams already have 2 losses.
6-7 record the first week by the SEC should shake the heck out of the rankings. not sure if it will for a few weeks when the idiots who do the polls realize that a lot of those 'ranked' teams already have 2 losses.
Well, you have to remember...a loss by an SEC team is still considered better than a win by a team in another conference.
Wisconsin could very likely be on a 4 game losing skid when we travel to Madison. Their season will change drastically. Rough schedule that's for sure!
Realistically I don't think we beat OSU in Columbus
We have to enter the Iowa game with a chance at the division which means we have to be even or within one game of them (a W and we would get the tiebreaker if we are one game back). Iowa's schedule is very weak - we better be huge Michigan fans as Iowa will likely be favored against everyother team.
Very possible to have only one conf loss going into the Iowa game - but I think we will have 2. The NW games looks a lot better. If we lose @ Wisconsin then we will need them to have 3 conference losses (a very real possibility) as they would own the tiebreaker against a 2 loss Neb team.
Oregon, @OSU, @Wisc @ Iowa - group of Illinois, Minn, NW, Indiana, Purdue, Maryland -- split the first 4 and go 5 for 6 in the next group leaves us 9-3. I think 8-4 is where we land as I remain concerned about the Dline holding up.
on an aside -- the unbalanced conference schedules are crap. Time for the Big to add 2 to 4 teams and then you play only divisional games.
We have to enter the Iowa game with a chance at the division which means we have to be even or within one game of them (a W and we would get the tiebreaker if we are one game back). Iowa's schedule is very weak - we better be huge Michigan fans as Iowa will likely be favored against everyother team.
Very possible to have only one conf loss going into the Iowa game - but I think we will have 2. The NW games looks a lot better. If we lose @ Wisconsin then we will need them to have 3 conference losses (a very real possibility) as they would own the tiebreaker against a 2 loss Neb team.
Oregon, @OSU, @Wisc @ Iowa - group of Illinois, Minn, NW, Indiana, Purdue, Maryland -- split the first 4 and go 5 for 6 in the next group leaves us 9-3. I think 8-4 is where we land as I remain concerned about the Dline holding up.
on an aside -- the unbalanced conference schedules are crap. Time for the Big to add 2 to 4 teams and then you play only divisional games.
Completely agree with your last point. The disparity in the difficulty of crossover games is ridiculous
I don't know about adding more teams and playing only in-conference, but I agree, whoever schedules these things must pay zero attention to the projected strength and weakness of the teams for the year. Part of that is the Big Ten itself being very unbalanced, with the East being significantly stronger than the West right now. Even in the days of the Big 12 North and South, where the South was usually considered stronger and we pretty much owned the North, you would still have Kansas State and Colorado be pretty good every year (later, Missouri). As it is, Iowa getting a cake-walk and Wisconsin getting brutalized just doesn't seem like they did a great job in balancing out anything. Having said that, I think that our schedule wound up being somewhere between them; Oregon is a very challenging non-conference game, and we get to go have our asses beat by Ohio State in Columbus, but a bunch of our other games are very winnable.
Sounds like you're starting to come around to my kind of thinking. Give it a few more weeks and you'll be all aboard the train.
I would love that. I doubt it is realistic though. I expect the Big 12 to expand and go to 12 teams with a championship game. No way OU leaves unless the money from the B1G is much better
The money is a ton better. I believe what you saw this summer is the longhorns last ditch effort to keep the sooners happy with all the expansion talk. I gotta believe Oklahoma has one foot out the door and ready to run.
there is galaxy between predicting 8-9 wins and 12-1 with the proclamation that we have "playoff level talent"
I have predicted 8-9 wins from the get go so I'm not coming around to any of your delusional thinking
if we win 8 games this year I will be be positive and look forward to continued progress of the program under Riles. 8-9 wins would be an epic failure to anyone who thinks this team has "playoff level talent" and is expecting 12-1. You are mistaken if you think that setting expectations for this season at 12-1 or proclaiming that Riley has "playoff level talent" to work with is in any way supporting him. It is severely undermining the staff as they will likely fall well short of your expectations. Thank goodness most of the fan base is more reasonable and Riles won't be on the hot seat with an 8-9 win season.
I'll say this, we'll know soon enough. And as far as expectations go Riley's goal is to win the B1G. I think you need to let him know his expectations are unrealistic in your opinion.
of course it is to win the Big ... but no one is holding him accountable for winning the Big THIS YEAR except you - because you are the only one that has proclaimed that Riley is coaching "playoff level talent".
Hold him accountable???
Fine sir, I'm rooting and cheering for us to win every game? You do understand I'm a Nebraska kid that bleeds Husker red?
Fine sir, I'm rooting and cheering for us to win every game? You do understand I'm a Nebraska kid that bleeds Husker red?
these conversations are not productive ..as you said things will play out over the course of the season
I will base my opinion on Riley's coaching job based on my expectations and you can base your opinion on his job performance based on your statement that he is coaching championship level talent and a 12-1 benchmark
Let the season play out ... you can hold me to my prediction and I will hold you to your the 12-1 -"playoff level talent" assessment
@jlb321
You see me and you will never see eye-to-eye. Because I'm a Husker fan tried-and-true. I will always look at things with the glass half-full even in the worst of times. You on the other hand are college football guy like Kirk Herbstreit. All you care about is being right and showing everybody how smart you are.
Notice how I didn't throw any comment in about you being a Hawkeye lover???
You see me and you will never see eye-to-eye. Because I'm a Husker fan tried-and-true. I will always look at things with the glass half-full even in the worst of times. You on the other hand are college football guy like Kirk Herbstreit. All you care about is being right and showing everybody how smart you are.
Notice how I didn't throw any comment in about you being a Hawkeye lover???
Completely agree with this statement. I hate to make the comparison to the MAC, but with the size of the conference, I believe it is warranted. Given the disparity in cross-division games, I think it would be fair to only count division games in the division standings. Wisconsin is fighting an uphill battle in the division race compared to Iowa this season, and it's simply because of the conference schedule makers.
If the B1G expands to 16 or 18 teams, there's no point in calling it a conference anymore for football, just an assigned playoff qualifier game. I say that because I feel the conference will get that big if the Power 5 conferences break off, consolidate to 4 conferences, and essentially have regional championships for the playoff under the guise of conference championship games. At some point, a conference ceases to be a conference and is simply a contractual bargaining chip for TV dollars when you stop actually playing each other regularly.
seriously...i don't think a coach with HCMR's experience needs to talk to TO in order to realize he needs to run the ball. but then what do i know.
didn't mean any disrespect to Riley, I think he's just what the doctor ordered. Im just saying historically NU has done well with the run, and in that history DR.Tom was a cornerstone. combined with the fact that riley has been more of a passing coach. and with what we have to work with at this juncture, running more seems to make more sense. now 2 years down the road if we have a stable of accurate gunslingers at qb. that view could change.
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