Wait until we play an athletic team. Lord help us. 7 starters are SR. Next few years will be UGLY with our perennial mid 3* backing up.
So much for a stellar defense.
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They double teamed our DT on the side they ran at and abused our underweight edge rushers. When you have a mobile QB AND you can run the ball with your backs, it’s tough to defend. We couldn’t get pressure quickly enough and we had lots of coverage busts on the back end.
Bullshit. We got exposed by a veteran talented QB and a scheme that took advantage of our undersized edge guys and backers.
This game played out just as I said it would BUT who could predict Raiola missing a WIDE open TE for the winning TD? I said it would come down to the last possession. 😕. Losing Tommy Hill and Corcoran was huge. Gottula stunk it up and Raiola was running for his life most of the night after Corc went out.
All is not lost. Illinois is a LOT better team than most on here gave credit to. They’ll win a lot of games if they can keep their QB healthy.
The defensive front has been bitch slapped 2 weeks in a row.
I guess we can call it getting exposed but the results remain the same.
I underestimated Illinois offensive and defensive lines. I thought they’d be better than any of the 3 teams we’ve faced before them, and I knew the fat slob’s teams were usually good in trenches. But I just didn’t believe they had the talent to do what they did. Burt knows how to build a B1G team from the inside out.
Tell you what did happen. Their OC had the keys to the lock of that 3-3-5. They consistently stayed a step ahead of our defense all. For the most part aside from those turnovers we didn't stop them all night. Give them credit they did scheme us up offensively.
That said we still lack the level of athleticism on defense that some of the top defenses have. Crazy thing is we are supposed to be stout up front and we weren't. That surprised me a bit the last couple weeks. I always knew that we weren't elite athletically but thought we could be just enough to get pressure up front. But it appears that big physical OLs can thwart out interior guys from pass rushing (Nash and Ty). When those guys can't get push out outside guys seem to struggle getting around corners.
End of the day though it's still an OL/DL league and you gotta be strong their if you wanna win it. If still like to see us be more athletic on the DL though. Gotta have more than just a straight bull rush in this league. Gotta keep recruiting some DL who can move laterally, are a bit more twitchy, and still strong enough to defend the power game.
It's still a building process. I think us fans were so happy that we forget that sometimes lol. They will be ok I think.
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Crazy as it sounds the backups are/will be better athletically. One thing about playing these old guys is that they are maxed out physically. A lot of these guys aren't near the athletes that some of those back up guys. They are just young. Rhule has and will continue increasing the athletic ability and speed of the team.
Will next year be enough time for them to be ready or not is the question.
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We aren’t big enough or athletic enough on the edges, defensively, and they exposed that. Usually doubling Nash or Ty, depending on which way the play was designed to go. And boy did we bite on the PA on short/intermediate yard situations. 😳 They didn’t set the world on fire with their running game, but it was just good enough to make us sell out in short yardage situations. Their OC worked TW something good.
Probably TW’s worst game since he’s been here. Michigan blasted us last year, but the talent discrepancies were too much to overcome. Michigan’s offensive and defensive lines destroyed every team they faced. Yeah, definitely TW’s worst game.
No arguments at all from me. It was like they were listening through his headsets lol. Told my cousin earlier in the second half that if we win this one it's gonna have to be on offense because we simply have no shot at stopping them minus the turnovers.
I'm sure it was humbling to that entire side of the ball. Hopefully enough to make them dig deeper and do some self evaluation as coaches and players as well.
I think I heard Rhule say something about making sure we are playing the right players. It had me thinking what in the hell is keeping a guy like 15 (Wright) from playing? He showed more instincts and playmaking than anyone in our secondary last night. Even when called for the holding it was debatable as he was in the dudes hip pocket. How is he not good enough to play pretty regular.
Just a thought I guess.
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We need more play makers on the edge. People raved about Keona Davis’s size and athleticism the entire offseason. Maybe we need to get some more of these young guys in there? Coaches know better than me who is ready who isn’t, so hopefully they’re not holding back talent in favor of older players. (they damn well better know more about who’s ready than us)
I see you kinda view it like I do. I'm not at practice or scrimmages etc so I won't claim to know who can do what. BUT when you hear something like evaluating to make sure we are putting the best guys on the field it makes me wonder.
I understand not rushing guys who aren't ready but if I'm being honest I can think of about a handful of guys who I would just force feed . At least I WOULDVE in the "preseason".
Imo just off top of my head Emmett Johnson should absolutely be receiving more reps. Imo he's absolutely the most instinctual RB we have. Also has the best vision. Dowdell actually looked a little tired to me late. I was hoping like hell they got Emmet in the 4th quarter. That one play in open field where guy brings Dowdell down I think EJ makes a huge run there.
Carter and Barney also . Though Barney plays a lot that dude is a walking playmaker. Get him 7 touches a game. Nelson is another.
On defense I know I already mentioned him but man I was so impressed with Wright. I've seen guys kill Hatzog for a couple years now . I know he's made a couple of picks but man he's really starting to bother me lol. The piss poor effort at tackling last week shoulder tackle whiff. Plus the lazy face mask last night.
Just a couple questionable things but again we don't see them daily so maybe it's something we just don't know.
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It literally served no purpose whatsoever. Their isn't even an explanation that makes sense. This coming from a third year guy with a single digit is completely unacceptable...
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The position coaches have love affairs with too many non-productive players.
Totally agree on Emmitt and said so earlier tonight in this or another thread. Dowdell has only decent speed, not good speed, and Emmitt can turn those runs into much longer gains. I said Jacori needs that ball in his hands at least 10 times a game. Nelson should be a weapon at his size and speed. This offense is not utilizing some of the speed elements they need to create issues for a defense.
Totally agree on Hartzog, he's been a weak spot in the secondary and Wright was awful good last night. Again, these coaches have love affairs with too many non-productive players.
If NU is at the point now where we aren't getting people stopped on defense, the only way you counter that is trying to get as much breakaway speed as possible on the field when we have the ball.
Rhule's philosophy of physical footballl, wear teams down physically is not in the cards at this time. If NU is gonna be in these type games of no stop defense then the potential game breaks need to be on the field offensively at all times.
Dylan is playing extremely well even though he threw behind two WR's on crossing routes and of course, missed the throw to the plowhorse in the endzone, that one can't be excused, but at least DR gives NU a chance offensively to score some points.
In-game time management has been shit for 2 years now. Its beginning to look like all of Rhule's teams have lost 3-4 games every year for a reason.
Ty and Nash are doing their jobs. Our edge guys got abused. Ty and Nash were doubled most of the night last night and our edge guys were not getting it done. Some of that was our backers but losing Hill hurt the whole D immensely.
I love Nash but he’s maxed out and maybe not an NFL DT.
We’re athletic enough on the edge but undersized against a team like Illinois.
I think Nash is a tough SOB who is easy to like and root for. I also think last year he completely proved me wrong about just how good he could be. Coming out of HS I never expected much from him and thought he'd be best served as an interior OL. That said last year he had a damn good year. This year so far I'm not saying the same level of play. Maybe it's teams have adjusted to our scheme but he doesn't appear to be as effective this year as last.
If I'm being honest though I never truly seen him as an NFL player. We have about 3-4 guys on that defense whom our media and even some of our coaches have deemed "Sunday guys" that I don't necessarily believe that to be the case. When you have 5th and 6th year guys generally they are as you said maxed out and probably are lacking a thing or two the NFL may be looking for.
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I think that may be something worth considering. I actually used to say that about the Frost staff. I understand building the culture and doing things to a standard. But I wonder sometimes do we play guys who "do the right things" to a fault ?
I'm sure it's a fine line but at the end of the day playmakers make plays and guys who aren't for the most part don't. If you have those guys offensively or defensively you gotta try and get em on the field as much as possible.
I think we do that to an extent. But a couple decisions are questionable I think.
Holl
That's what I saw. Have no idea what the edge guys were trying to do. Kept trying to shoot gaps or cross the offensive lineman's face and take themselves out of the play. I was a DE in high school, all you need to do is get and keep leverage and set the edge, it's not a hard concept to understand.
Gifford's a great player, so if he was struggling, there's something wrong. It wasn't just one player. There were a lot of times our defense looked completely confused by what Illinois was doing.
The single digit thing is just plain stupid. I say let players who actually make plays choose to wear them. They’re not participation awards. Oh, you’re trying really hard so we’ll give you one.
We weren’t big enough to fight off the Illini O linemen once they got their hands on our edge guys. They abused our under sized inexperienced guys.
Well it would help if we didn't make it easy on them, like I said crossing the OL's face to the inside where the guy was then easily blocked, instead of holding position and maintaining leverage on the outside. Have no idea why our guys were doing that.
I think Gifford is a solid player. He's not great and he definitely doesn't suck. He just has some physical limitations that won't change. Like a lot of the guys on our defense they aren't physically the most gifted. Which is why they have to play great as a TEAM. They have very few guys capable of making up for a misstep.
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I THINK those guys like Williams, Prince and 93 came in so intent on rushing the passer that they just fly up the field. Lunney and Bert had scouted our defense very well and we're taking advantage of them. Even in obvious passing situations they took advantage.
One of the biggest problems we had the last two weeks was getting pressure on the QB. When that happens AND our DBs play so far off of WRs it's like shooting fish inna barrel.
Question is if the DB coach and White have confidence in us to play man. I THINK they were a bit afraid to be locked up outside with Illinois wideouts so they opted to play a bit more zone and off coverages. Then when Hill gets hurt it probably makes it even less likely that they try more man. Problem is their QB has been on a heater and they let him get in one hell of a rhythm and were really never able to contain him.
Maybe they thought the rush could get home and they could play off and tackle short passes and maybe make the kid make a mistake. But of course that didn't work. The biggest surprise I think for our coaches and fans as well was that their OL basically handled our DL without much trouble. I think that was truly unexpected on the Nebraska sideline. Thus kinda showing if you can block us up front our secondary can definitely be had if you have some skill.
CU couldn't block us. UTEP couldn't block us. UNI didn't have enough skill. Illinois handled us up front and had the skill outside and a hot QB who was able to take advantage.
Not sure anyone looked at it this way but the fact that we should've won that game despite all that can be viewed as a positive. The fact that we are pissed as fans after losing to a ranked team in OT shows how far we have come in this HCMR era. Yes we still have some growing to do. Still gotta find ways to WIN these games BUT I can see progress. We have a guy at QB. We need to recruit like he'll and get him some skill and an OL because my guess is we only have him for 3 years. You gotta take advantage of that windows because chances are you don't hit another 5 star that's college ready as a true frosh.
Sorry for long post.
Holla
What Dylan does provide is a window to develop a guy like Danny. We may not get another dylan, but having guys in the pipeline ready to go after him is still a huge benefit. We need to use it though. Not just at qb. But team development. Win games, recruit better, win more games. It’s always been the way for this program. We will never recruit at a level to go man for man with ohio state. We need guys that are close enough to their talent that we can win with older guys. Get old. Stay old.
I’m afraid that in college ball your QB better be able to keep a D honest with his legs. I don’t think DK brings that to the table. IMO it’s a handicap for Raiola too.
As someone mentioned, Ty and Nash (mostly Ty) would make and inside move… swimming with their outside arm and just allowed the OL to then push them out of the play easily. Size had nothing to do with it… those guys are 300+ pounds
That’s on the ****ing coaches as usual.
If it happened once, you pull the guy and say hey, keep the edge and push him out.
But it happened all freakin night long
Again, as many of us have said the last couple years+, look at the elite teams, we aren’t even playing the same game as them.
Tenn and OU looked good. USC and Mich looked good.
We looked like we couldn’t beat a mid range B1G team. Most of it is line play on both sides.
Still could have won and blew it, but we still have a ways to go. And new coaches to hire IMO
I think Riaola has the physical ability to be an effective runner. Good size and faster than expected. He just doesn’t look to run, he moves to by time to find WRs downfield. Which isn’t a bad thing at all, but like you said, most good college offenses have an element of the QB run. We don’t really call designed runs with Riaola, maybe 1 or 2 through the first 4 games. Don’t need to call more than 3-5 per game. But with his ability to complete passes downfield, the QB draw will be (and has) wide open if called at the right time.
Our edges were who Illinois attacked. Ty and Nash were eating double teams and our backers and edge couldn’t hold up their end.
How come Tennessee has made such a great turn around in a short period of time. Nebraska always needs one more year.
