Sunday, October 23, 2005
Missouri reaction: What was with the gameplan?
Let the record show I predicted it would be a shootout and Missouri would run the ball better than any previous Nebraska opponent using the spread and belly-read. I'm sorry I was proven correct. Reaction to the Missouri game:
1) Terrible, horrible game plan by Nebraska's coaches on both sides of the ball.
2) Coz needs to junk the 3-man line...forever. The worst thing, when he went to a normal front in the 2nd quarter and brought pressure, Missouri got nothing. So what does he do in the 2nd half? Go with the 3-man line almost exclusively. Even when Missouri started gashing Nebraska mostly with the run, he stayed with it. How do you expect the DB's to cover receivers when the QB has all day to throw? How to you expect the D-linemen to get pressure when they're rushing 3 on 5? Why is your defense designed to ask your middle linebacker to cover a wide receiver 50 yards down the field when there's no pressure on the QB? The defensive gameplan was a joke, and the lack of adjustments in the 2nd half were worse. Terrible.
3) Offensive game plan was almost as bad. Missouri came in with the worst rushing defense in the Big 12, and Callahan abandoned the running game early. Also, if Cally insisted on passing, why not go with some screens and quick throws to combat the pressure? He's going to get Taylor killed. Which leads me to...
4) Zac Taylor is lucky he's not leaving Missouri on a stretcher...and I'm being serious. Callahan's decision to throw so often and with so many deep drops put a bullseye on Taylor. Thomas was getting eaten alive by MU's defensive end and Callahan refused to run the ball or run draws and screens to slow down the rush. At the very least, the coaches should have given the o-line more help with RB's and TE's. Horrible.
5) Despite all the mistakes by the coaches, I think Nebraska would have won if Nunn hadn't fumbled after the long catch. We had the momentum and would have scored to take the lead. The WR's are just dropping too many passes. How many key drops did our WR's have?!
6) Taylor threw some bad passes, but I don't blame him. When he's almost literally getting hit on every play and having receivers drop passes or fumble so many times, he's going to start pressing at some point. He got so little help it is sick.
This was the type of stubborn, "our brilliant game plan should work so we're not going to change it"-performance we saw against ISU last season. Let's hope it was just one bad game and just a blip. Back to the drawing board...
1) Terrible, horrible game plan by Nebraska's coaches on both sides of the ball.
2) Coz needs to junk the 3-man line...forever. The worst thing, when he went to a normal front in the 2nd quarter and brought pressure, Missouri got nothing. So what does he do in the 2nd half? Go with the 3-man line almost exclusively. Even when Missouri started gashing Nebraska mostly with the run, he stayed with it. How do you expect the DB's to cover receivers when the QB has all day to throw? How to you expect the D-linemen to get pressure when they're rushing 3 on 5? Why is your defense designed to ask your middle linebacker to cover a wide receiver 50 yards down the field when there's no pressure on the QB? The defensive gameplan was a joke, and the lack of adjustments in the 2nd half were worse. Terrible.
3) Offensive game plan was almost as bad. Missouri came in with the worst rushing defense in the Big 12, and Callahan abandoned the running game early. Also, if Cally insisted on passing, why not go with some screens and quick throws to combat the pressure? He's going to get Taylor killed. Which leads me to...
4) Zac Taylor is lucky he's not leaving Missouri on a stretcher...and I'm being serious. Callahan's decision to throw so often and with so many deep drops put a bullseye on Taylor. Thomas was getting eaten alive by MU's defensive end and Callahan refused to run the ball or run draws and screens to slow down the rush. At the very least, the coaches should have given the o-line more help with RB's and TE's. Horrible.
5) Despite all the mistakes by the coaches, I think Nebraska would have won if Nunn hadn't fumbled after the long catch. We had the momentum and would have scored to take the lead. The WR's are just dropping too many passes. How many key drops did our WR's have?!
6) Taylor threw some bad passes, but I don't blame him. When he's almost literally getting hit on every play and having receivers drop passes or fumble so many times, he's going to start pressing at some point. He got so little help it is sick.
This was the type of stubborn, "our brilliant game plan should work so we're not going to change it"-performance we saw against ISU last season. Let's hope it was just one bad game and just a blip. Back to the drawing board...
Posted by Dflex @ Sunday, October 23, 2005 || 
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DFlex is right on point. But why haven't our local sports-writers made similar observations? No comments about the offensive line's complete failure in either the Lincoln, Omaha, or GI papers. If Zac goes down, then who will execute Callahan's brilliant West Coast offense?
You could not have said it better. All the hype about how good this Husker football team went down the toilet on Saturday. Missouri and Texas both destroyed the notion that NU is a Big 12 Champion contender. This NU team is average at best. No doubt, the defense is better than last year’s but they are a lot like the 2003 Black Shirts that played mostly with heart and on emotion. That team you remember did great until they came up against a very good offense and then they got torched. No doubt Cosgrove failed the defense on Saturday with his three man rush. The biggest concern is the O-line. No doubt the O-line is the team's greatest weakness. Number 79 is pathetic and needs to go back to High School to learn basic lineman blocking techniques. One would think that with Zac Taylor’s ability to pile up passing yards that would opened the door for NU backs to run up and down the field on a Missouri defense that is ranked 89th against the rush. Not the case though for one reason; our O-line can’t block. Give Cory Ross all the credit in the world. That kid is tough and he gets most of his yards on his own. Then the fact that this team (mostly the offense) continues to shoot themselves in the foot with penalties, dropped passes and fumbles. These are things you deal with and correct early in the season. Not the case for this Husker team. They continue to screw up somewhere in the game that puts them in tough predicaments. This tells me that this team is not disciplined enough to correct the mistakes that they keep on making week after week. No doubt this is a coaching issue. Let’s hope Huskers can win at least one more game to be bowl eligible. If the mistakes are corrected I predict 7-4. Go Huskers!!!!!!
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Posted by 
Dave : October 24, 2005 5:57 PM
Dave : October 24, 2005 5:57 PM << Home
