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Some recent observations during winter workouts

the weaselly thing was how it was handled. There was no indication that Castiglione was contacted about getting out of the deal. He appears to have found out when reports circulated that Nebraska was looking to get out of the game. So he send a message that he believes the game will go on as scheduled. Handle it above board and not back door and he probably doesn’t leak that message you seem so pissed about.

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the weaselly thing was how it was handled. There was no indication that Castiglione was contacted about getting out of the deal. He appears to have found out when reports circulated that Nebraska was looking to get out of the game. So he send a message that he believes the game will go on as scheduled. Handle it above board and not back door and he probably doesn’t leak that message you seem so pissed about.
I think your assumption about Castiglione not being the source of the leak is naive.
 
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2019 - phantom pre-season injury to QB caused horrific offense
2020 - having the same amount of practices as everyone else caused horrific offense
2021 - spin the excuse wheel!

2019 was about the offensive line and losing Morgan and Zig not about a mystery injury

2019 Worst interion oline in the big ten and that is not an exageration. Just you tube NU vs South Alabama and watch that game if you don't believe me.

8 available scholorship offensive lineman that year after Hixson awarded one as a walk-on and Jurgens converted from TE.

Jurgens starts at center even though injured in offseason and probably weighing 27. Jurgens has a great deal of potential but had not business playing in 2019. So Walkon Hixson starts at guard. Hixson has continued to develop an can pass as serviceable Big Ten player now but had no business playing, let alone starting on a big ten offensive line in 2019

Wilson starts at other gaurd and goes from being big ten well below average in 2018 (worst lineman on what was otherwise a pretty good line) to big ten bad with injury and playing next two guys that shouldn't have been starting on a Big Ten team

The short of it is your two best lineman and strength of you team in Foster/Farmer were replaced by guys that shouldn't have had to play and the drop-off was staggering. Throw in the extra weight Martinez and injury taking away a step that year and the fact there was no more Morgan to bail him out and you go from 2nd in total offense to bottom half of league in 1 year.

We know two things

1. Martinez can be effective if he has a running game and go to reciever. If you have a team that allows you to manage to his strengths which is utilizing his run/pass ability in advantageous down and distances this QB can be effective.

2. If you ask him to try to bail you out on second / Third and long with a line that cannot run block or pass block at a ten level throwing to and FCS player like Warner you are not going to like the results.

I personally believe the talent around him at WR and Line is finally back to and even exceeding the 2018 level. As a result, I expect him to equal or exceed production assuming he doesn't roll into season 10 lbs over weight or get hurt.
 
There is nothing "weaselly" about looking at options to improve your athletic department's financial situation after you've been forced to lay off people and delay projects.

Agree, besides the obvious revenue streams I imagine it's pretty hard to get donations for the new facilities in this day and age. A lot of business had to tighten their belts. Marketing would be down, T-shirts&merch don't sell during a shutdown. I imagine the bottom line doesn't look very good in general.
 
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Agree, besides the obvious revenue streams I imagine it's pretty hard to get donations for the new facilities in this day and age. A lot of business had to tighten their belts. Marketing would be down, T-shirts&merch don't sell during a shutdown. I imagine the bottom line doesn't look very good in general.
The amount of money big business is spending on advertising has plummeted. All you had to do was look at the ads for the Super Bowl.
 
I think your assumption about Castiglione not being the source of the leak is naive.
I have zero doubt OU leaked the info

there just shouldn't have been anything to leak in the first place

you call it good business to explore opportunities for short-term gain, I call it foolhardy (at best)

there are famous studies involving kids and candy that show kids who are able to delay gratification (say no to 5 pieces of candy now for 10 pieces later) are infinitely more successful in life than those who jump at the 5 pieces immediately

bet you can guess which one Moos was acting like

he, and, in turn, we, deserve to be the butt of all jokes made at our expense for this enormously avoidable gaffe
 
The only 3 MAC teams that could or would be available on Sept 4 are:

Eastern Michigan
Miami of Ohio
Ball St
 
2019 was about the offensive line and losing Morgan and Zig not about a mystery injury

2019 Worst interion oline in the big ten and that is not an exageration. Just you tube NU vs South Alabama and watch that game if you don't believe me.

8 available scholorship offensive lineman that year after Hixson awarded one as a walk-on and Jurgens converted from TE.

Jurgens starts at center even though injured in offseason and probably weighing 27. Jurgens has a great deal of potential but had not business playing in 2019. So Walkon Hixson starts at guard. Hixson has continued to develop an can pass as serviceable Big Ten player now but had no business playing, let alone starting on a big ten offensive line in 2019

Wilson starts at other gaurd and goes from being big ten well below average in 2018 (worst lineman on what was otherwise a pretty good line) to big ten bad with injury and playing next two guys that shouldn't have been starting on a Big Ten team

The short of it is your two best lineman and strength of you team in Foster/Farmer were replaced by guys that shouldn't have had to play and the drop-off was staggering. Throw in the extra weight Martinez and injury taking away a step that year and the fact there was no more Morgan to bail him out and you go from 2nd in total offense to bottom half of league in 1 year.

We know two things

1. Martinez can be effective if he has a running game and go to reciever. If you have a team that allows you to manage to his strengths which is utilizing his run/pass ability in advantageous down and distances this QB can be effective.

2. If you ask him to try to bail you out on second / Third and long with a line that cannot run block or pass block at a ten level throwing to and FCS player like Warner you are not going to like the results.

I personally believe the talent around him at WR and Line is finally back to and even exceeding the 2018 level. As a result, I expect him to equal or exceed production assuming he doesn't roll into season 10 lbs over weight or get hurt.
in 2018, the best season of AM's life, we went 4-8

what's 'effective' mean to you? racking up meaningless yards to close giant score gaps late in out-of-hand contests? you use ypg profusely as a way to illustrate 'effectiveness', without any context
 
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Who cares if it was Castiglione that leaked it. Moos never should have even thought about getting out of that game.
For an additional 5-8 million in revenue for NU's athletic department he would be negligent if he hadn't "thought about getting out of that game". Would have been an easy decision for me. I would have done it in a heartbeat and stepped up to the mic and laid out why I did it. Revenue was down by over 60 million last year and our football program is not where we want it to be yet. Going to OU makes no sense financially or competitively. THAT is why there is an escape/buyout clause in the contract.
 
For an additional 5-8 million in revenue for NU's athletic department he would be negligent if he hadn't "thought about getting out of that game". Would have been an easy decision for me. I would have done it in a heartbeat and stepped up to the mic and laid out why I did it. Revenue was down by over 60 million last year and our football program is not where we want it to be yet. Going to OU makes no sense financially or competitively. THAT is why there is an escape/buyout clause in the contract.
do you think 2022 isn't coming or something?

whatever short-term revenue gained from adding a home game this year will be dwarfed by the '22 OU game, and double-dwarfed in the larger Lincoln economy on that date.

these decisions, like the revenue recognized, don't occur in a vacuum.

I would bet anything that a vast majority of boosters/donors/local business owners would gladly keep the schedule as-is than adjust it for a pittance, which is what you're talking about.

$5-8M is 3% of the athletic dept total top line. if flushing your reputation down the can for that is 'good business', I have a ton of stuff to sell you.
 
Agree, besides the obvious revenue streams I imagine it's pretty hard to get donations for the new facilities in this day and age. A lot of business had to tighten their belts. Marketing would be down, T-shirts&merch don't sell during a shutdown. I imagine the bottom line doesn't look very good in general.

I completely understood why they looked into another home game. It sucks the way it all went down and how it looked. Plus side is this, now it appears that we are trying to add another home game before the OU game.
 
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in 2018, the best season of AM's life, we went 4-8

what's 'effective' mean to you? racking up meaningless yards to close giant score gaps late in out-of-hand contests? you use ypg profusely as a way to illustrate 'effectiveness', without any context

One word for the 2018 season....DEFENSE. Defense, defense, defense.....did I mention defense??? 😂🤦🏼‍♂️

The offense was 2nd in the BIG 10 and ranked inside the Top 25 nationally. Unfortunately our defense was still horrendous. Riley and his staff ruined that unit. Plus side, Chin has slowly progressed that unit over the last 3 seasons.
 
I completely understood why they looked into another home game. It sucks the way it all went down and how it looked. Plus side is this, now it appears that we are trying to add a 13th game to next season. That should help having another home game (assuming they allow attendance anyways).

Missouri announced today they will have a full stadium in the fall for football..

The only that could fvck up this up,for the B1G is Kevin Warren and some lame school presidents and why they don’t want full stadiums is mind boggling if the majority of Americans are vaccinated by August...
 
One word for the 2018 season....DEFENSE. Defense, defense, defense.

The offense was 2nd in the BIG 10 and ranked inside the Top 25 nationally. Unfortunately our defense was still horrendous. Riley and his staff ruined that unit. Plus side, Chin has slowly progressed that into over the last 3 seasons.
did they rank in the top 25 nationally in points per game (a meaningful stat), or yards per game (a largely meaningless stat, at least without context)?
 
do you think 2022 isn't coming or something?

whatever short-term revenue gained from adding a home game this year will be dwarfed by the '22 OU game, and double-dwarfed in the larger Lincoln economy on that date.

these decisions, like the revenue recognized, don't occur in a vacuum.

I would bet anything that a vast majority of boosters/donors/local business owners would gladly keep the schedule as-is than adjust it for a pittance, which is what you're talking about.

$5-8M is 3% of the athletic dept total top line. if flushing your reputation down the can for that is 'good business', I have a ton of stuff to sell you.
As I said, screw OU. IF they would bail on us next year we can easily replace the revenue with another game. I could be wrong but IF we get a non-conference game on network TV I believe that the B1G gets that revenue to split with the rest of the conference.

When you google how much the conference gets, the search returns story after story about the tens of millions of dollars BiG schools lost due to COVID this past fall. An open game next fall would be easy to schedule right now.
 
did they rank in the top 25 nationally in points per game (a meaningful stat), or yards per game (a largely meaningless stat, at least without context)?

30.0 points per game, which was around 5th to 6th in the BIG 10. And I wouldn’t call the other stats “meaningless stats”. It was only year 1. There is nothing wrong with giving credit my man, Honestly. We still sucked year 1 but the offense was actually pretty good considering it was only year 1 with a true freshman QB that didn’t play a single snap or down his senior year in high school 🤷🏽
 
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I completely understood why they looked into another home game. It sucks the way it all went down and how it looked. Plus side is this, now it appears that we are trying to add a 13th game to next season. That should help having another home game (assuming they allow attendance anyways).

Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams can play a maximum of 12 regular-season games each year, per Bylaw 17.10.5.1. Unless they play in Hawaii or Alaska

Is there some new rule I’m not aware of?
 
Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) teams can play a maximum of 12 regular-season games each year, per Bylaw 17.10.5.1. Unless they play in Hawaii or Alaska

Is there some new rule I’m not aware of?
exactly. we aren't allowed to play 13 games.

not to mention a team that voted against playing an extra game last year would likely have no appetite for such a thing, anyways.
 
You’d have to ask Sean Callahan how all that works. He’s the one reporting it. The Huskers are looking into adding a 4 non conference game for next season. It’s on the paid site....

no they aren't -- they are looking to move the late season out of conf game to Sept
they aren't talking about adding a 13th game
 
no they aren't -- they are looking to move the late season out of conf game to Sept
they aren't talking about adding a 13th game

calling Sean Callahan lair isn’t the smartest move to do...😂

But to your credit, he did reword his post and did say it’s not a 13th game and just flipping games around like you said. And I fixed my original post saying “13th game”.
 
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I think you're misreading the comments about Betts and Alonzo Moore. In a sense, they were comparing Betts right now, as a Freshman, to Alonzo Moore in year 3 or 4. The comments also acknowledged he's nowhere near his ceiling.
Betts looked good in spots last Fall when he probably didn't what he was doing half the time. The kid is rangy and athletic, as is Manning. In reality, those two just have to be decent receivers and NUs passing game improves a couple of notches.
As I've been beating the drum on the need for a consistently productive run game, I'll take any good news on Stepp that I can get.
In reality, both Martinez and Luke took the field with few good options on numerous drives last year. The idea of reliance wrt the skill players is a huge deal for QBs.
 
in 2018, the best season of AM's life, we went 4-8

what's 'effective' mean to you? racking up meaningless yards to close giant score gaps late in out-of-hand contests? you use ypg profusely as a way to illustrate 'effectiveness', without any context

Way more to it than that

The previous year NU was 4-8, lost 6 games by 20 or more and had the worst statistical defense in Big Ten.

In 2018 one of the seven losses was a game Martinez was winning against Colorado before he got hurt and we lost the next game playing his backup who wasn't a D1 player. It also took a while as a first year coach to get Conrad off the field at Center and replace him with the Farmer and then Wilson at guard. Wilson wasn't great but compared to Conrad he might as well have been all big ten. Also took a bit of time to identify Ozigbo and give him the carries he needed . While the 2018 team only won 1 more game they only lost one game by more than 20 and improved significanlty statistically on offense and a couple spots on defense going from the worst defense to just bad. They were also playing pretty good football the last 6 games of year going 4-2 with a 3 point loss to Iowa and 5 point loss to number 9 OSU.

Then you get into 2019 and complete dumpster fire lead by the worst performing interior line in Big Ten and unability to effectivley replace Zig and Morgan. While that is on Frost, I am more concerned about where the roster stands right now and I believe both WR and Oline have been fully addressed and are ready to go and slowly but surely the defense is moving to top half statistically.

My opinion, whether you share it or not, is the program was in much worse shape than some want to admit and that Martinez has a proven upside with the right players around him. Some folks think Scott sucks and it is a certainty we are losing in 2021 and he will be fired. I believe based on players and coaches that we may be a pretty good football team in 2021 and 2022 and this staff might be here for a while.
 
exactly. we aren't allowed to play 13 games.

not to mention a team that voted against playing an extra game last year would likely have no appetite for such a thing, anyways.

please name me the bowl games that Nebraska could have played in on December 26-27..
 
Way more to it than that

The previous year NU was 4-8, lost 6 games by 20 or more and had the worst statistical defense in Big Ten.

In 2018 one of the seven losses was a game Martinez was winning against Colorado before he got hurt and we lost the next game playing his backup who wasn't a D1 player. It also took a while as a first year coach to get Conrad off the field at Center and replace him with the Farmer and then Wilson at guard. Wilson wasn't great but compared to Conrad he might as well have been all big ten. Also took a bit of time to identify Ozigbo and give him the carries he needed . While the 2018 team only won 1 more game they only lost one game by more than 20 and improved significanlty statistically on offense and a couple spots on defense going from the worst defense to just bad. They were also playing pretty good football the last 6 games of year going 4-2 with a 3 point loss to Iowa and 5 point loss to number 9 OSU.

Then you get into 2019 and complete dumpster fire lead by the worst performing interior line in Big Ten and unability to effectivley replace Zig and Morgan. While that is on Frost, I am more concerned about where the roster stands right now and I believe both WR and Oline have been fully addressed and are ready to go and slowly but surely the defense is moving to top half statistically.

My opinion, whether you share it or not, is the program was in much worse shape than some want to admit and that Martinez has a proven upside with the right players around him. Some folks think Scott sucks and it is a certainty we are losing in 2021 and he will be fired. I believe based on players and coaches that we may be a pretty good football team in 2021 and 2022 and this staff might be here for a while.
I agree the program was in shambles when frost took over.

I think we've seen all we're going to see from AM's 'upside'. our best chance is to get the ball out of his hands as much as possible and win with defense until he leaves.
 
$42 million budget deficit after this year. When was the last time Nebraska has not been in the red????? Yikes.
 
Way more to it than that

The previous year NU was 4-8, lost 6 games by 20 or more and had the worst statistical defense in Big Ten.

In 2018 one of the seven losses was a game Martinez was winning against Colorado before he got hurt and we lost the next game playing his backup who wasn't a D1 player. It also took a while as a first year coach to get Conrad off the field at Center and replace him with the Farmer and then Wilson at guard. Wilson wasn't great but compared to Conrad he might as well have been all big ten. Also took a bit of time to identify Ozigbo and give him the carries he needed . While the 2018 team only won 1 more game they only lost one game by more than 20 and improved significanlty statistically on offense and a couple spots on defense going from the worst defense to just bad. They were also playing pretty good football the last 6 games of year going 4-2 with a 3 point loss to Iowa and 5 point loss to number 9 OSU.

Then you get into 2019 and complete dumpster fire lead by the worst performing interior line in Big Ten and unability to effectivley replace Zig and Morgan. While that is on Frost, I am more concerned about where the roster stands right now and I believe both WR and Oline have been fully addressed and are ready to go and slowly but surely the defense is moving to top half statistically.

My opinion, whether you share it or not, is the program was in much worse shape than some want to admit and that Martinez has a proven upside with the right players around him. Some folks think Scott sucks and it is a certainty we are losing in 2021 and he will be fired. I believe based on players and coaches that we may be a pretty good football team in 2021 and 2022 and this staff might be here for a while.


Special teams has to be addressed. Its been a dumpster fire and one could argue Nebraska has lost at least 7 games during Scott's tenure SOLELY due to special teams:

- Troy in 2018
- NW in 2018
- Iowa in 2018
- Colorado in 2019
- Iowa in 2019
- NW in 2020
- Iowa in 2020

That doesn't mean Nebraska refrained from making costly mistakes in other facets of those games. Its quite the contrary. But, if you take away the dreadful special teams play in those games above, Nebraska conceivably could've won all 7 of them.
 
Special teams has to be addressed. Its been a dumpster fire and one could argue Nebraska has lost at least 7 games during Scott's tenure SOLELY due to special teams:

- Troy in 2018
- NW in 2018
- Iowa in 2018
- Colorado in 2019
- Iowa in 2019
- NW in 2020
- Iowa in 2020

That doesn't mean Nebraska refrained from making costly mistakes in other facets of those games. Its quite the contrary. But, if you take away the dreadful special teams play in those games above, Nebraska conceivably could've won all 7 of them.

I am sure hiring another special teams analyst will take care of the problem. Winking
 
Special teams has to be addressed. Its been a dumpster fire and one could argue Nebraska has lost at least 7 games during Scott's tenure SOLELY due to special teams:

- Troy in 2018
- NW in 2018
- Iowa in 2018
- Colorado in 2019
- Iowa in 2019
- NW in 2020
- Iowa in 2020

That doesn't mean Nebraska refrained from making costly mistakes in other facets of those games. Its quite the contrary. But, if you take away the dreadful special teams play in those games above, Nebraska conceivably could've won all 7 of them.
The lack of discipline has been tough to watch. The team doesn't compete for anything meaningful until that turns around.
 
There's no way Moos could have predicted our situation even a year ago let alone 3-4 years ago after Rutgers and Maryland joined the B!G. From my perspective (a business man's) you have to be flexible and willing to make change necessitated by economic conditions NOW not based on decisions 3,4 or 9 years ago. IMO, Moos is getting roasted unfairly for honestly evaluating our current financial situation and looking at all options to try to make a sound management decision regarding both our W/L prospects AND our financial position. THERE IS A REASON THERE WAS AN ESCAPE CLAUSE IN THE CONTRACT. That said, OU F'd us over once a gain by leaking the information that NU was CONSIDERING opting out of the game this fall. Make no misake, OU's motives are NOT nostalgia for that game that THEY LOST. Their motives are to get a win over a B1G opponent on their resume to try to get in to the playoff. Screw OU.
Ding ding ding!!! Pun not intended either Dinglefritz
 
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There is nothing "weaselly" about looking at options to improve your athletic department's financial situation after you've been forced to lay off people and delay projects. Leave the almost certain L out of going to Norman. We're talking about 5-8 million more revenue for the athletic department IF we were to use the escape clause in the contract with OU and schedule a home game with Podunk U. OU is only bitching because they know they would have trouble finding a different patsy D-1 team to come in an pad their playoff resume. All you people bitching are completely ignoring where we're at as a program RIGHT NOW. Not 50 years ago. Not 9 years ago. Hell not ONE year ago.
Thank you!
 
calling Sean Callahan lair isn’t the smartest move to do...😂

But to your credit, he did reword his post and did say it’s not a 13th game and just flipping games around like you said. And I fixed my original post saying “13th game”.
Did you you listen to HOL radio. Sean explained exactly what the plan was and it was not adding a 13th game. The late season non con would be moved up but another opponent needs to be found because current contract non con does not have an open date. I imagine it would cost to get out of that contract.
 
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I agree the program was in shambles when frost took over.

I think we've seen all we're going to see from AM's 'upside'. our best chance is to get the ball out of his hands as much as possible and win with defense until he leaves.

I am in agreement.

The quandry is how do you maximize your offense and getting the ball to playmakers while also minimizing the opportunities that Martinez has to turn the ball over.

1. find a couple backs and focus on the running game
2. Limit Martinez carries to meaningful times when you have a legit shot to pick up a first down or score. I believe they will need his running ability so use it when the reward is there. Otherwise, get ball out of his hands as much as possible in the running game
3. Try to avoid throwing downfield in obvious passing situations unless Martinez earns the trust or you have no other choice. Close ball game and 3rd and ten on your side of field you punt and on opponents you kick field goals.

This is an area that frustrates me a bit. Staff appears to have put together what could be a strong offensive unit for at least next two years. However, we have starting quarterback, that while explosive and has all the tools, is turnover and poor decision prone enough to erode trust and lose games. On top of that, no competitor and likely only 1 other guy that would have any chance at playing at a D1 level if Martinez goes down.

If I had a five million dollar job I wouldn't have all my eggs in that basket.
 
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