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Music to my ears..
And different staffIt all sounds so wonderful, and I want so much for it to happen.
I do get it when people say we hear this every year. It’s true, we do.
But this year’s different.
You either have to have optimism or be depressed. I’ll take optimism.It all sounds so wonderful, and I want so much for it to happen.
I do get it when people say we hear this every year. It’s true, we do.
But this year’s different.
I realize we all like to make tongue-in-cheek comments about this and there's no doubt we can get better. However, in order to have an opportunity to return a punt, the defense must first stop the opponent's offense. The next thing that needs to happen is that they stop the opponent's offense on their side of their 40 yard line. The closer they get to the 50 or the NE side, the harder it is to return a punt. Next, the opponent has to kick a returnable punt. 4.5-5.0 second hang time will rarely allow us to return a punt. These are all things that have been lacking in recent years. Get a good stop on D and hope we get a returnable punt. Yes, there are some things we can do on the return team that holds up their punt team. Get better on D & I think we'll see improvement on punt returns.Rinse and repeat.
Show me.
After being burned five times before, I'm not going to do a touchdown dance just yet. Haven't we heard the players saying they are working harder than ever before in like 20 straight off-seasons?Rinse and repeat.
Show me.
Don’t get me wrong. There would be a lot of message board consternation if they didn’t say these things.After being burned five times before, I'm not going to do a touchdown dance just yet. Haven't we heard the players saying they are working harder than ever before in like 20 straight off-seasons?
NU returned four punts this last year. Three were against Indiana. Many punts could have been returned five or so yards without any contact but the choice was made by Frost and continued by Joseph to wave the white flag. At a minimum we have an easy opportunity to get 25 yards in each game. In a field of margins that can be a bigger deal than it sounds.I realize we all like to make tongue-in-cheek comments about this and there's no doubt we can get better. However, in order to have an opportunity to return a punt, the defense must first stop the opponent's offense. The next thing that needs to happen is that they stop the opponent's offense on their side of their 40 yard line. The closer they get to the 50 or the NE side, the harder it is to return a punt. Next, the opponent has to kick a returnable punt. 4.5-5.0 second hang time will rarely allow us to return a punt. These are all things that have been lacking in recent years. Get a good stop on D and hope we get a returnable punt. Yes, there are some things we can do on the return team that holds up their punt team. Get better on D & I think we'll see improvement on punt returns.
Just another totally frustrating aspect of last year was Oliver "fair catch" Martin never returning a punt even when he had a lot of green in front of him. Not blaming him because he was probably doing what he was told, but geez, there is so much difference between starting a drive on your 19 vice your 8. We had so many punt returns that could have gone for yards if we had just tried.NU returned four punts this last year. Three were against Indiana. Many punts could have been returned five or so yards without any contact but the choice was made by Frost and continued by Joseph to wave the white flag. At a minimum we have an easy opportunity to get 25 yards in each game. In a field of margins that can be a bigger deal than it sounds.
some say frost had 3 sophomores on a 5 man oline...But how much barfing will the offensive linemen be doing
That's one small example of excellent coaching on Frost's part.NU returned four punts this last year. Three were against Indiana. Many punts could have been returned five or so yards without any contact but the choice was made by Frost and continued by Joseph to wave the white flag. At a minimum we have an easy opportunity to get 25 yards in each game. In a field of margins that can be a bigger deal than it sounds.