Moos is in, Football Starts Again!

A lot has happened since we last posted a blog about Nebraska football.  First, Nebraska was smoked by Ohio State at home in the worst loss in Memorial Stadium in over 70 years….yeah, that long ago.  Second, new athletic director Bill Moos was hired to start a new era in Husker athletics.  So what does that mean short term and what can fans expect long term?

Make no mistakes about it, the Nebraska football team was on life support two weeks ago.  Ohio State has beaten Nebraska so badly and so soundly the last two seasons, it’s reasonable for Husker fans to throw in the towel on this coaching staff.  Nebraska has been blown out by the two best teams they have faced, crushed in the first half against Oregon and lost to a middle level Northern Illinois in Lincoln.  That’s enough to test the most loyal fans.  Head coach Mike Riley knows that this season has been unacceptable for the standards in Lincoln.  If he doesn’t think it’s unacceptable, then I would say all hope was lost.  He seems like a reasonable man, I think he wants to be in Lincoln.

Lucky for Husker fans and Coach Riley, this season will play out in two parts.  It starts Saturday night in Purdue.  Should the Huskers win that game against a much improved Purdue team on the road, that should give them a bit of a push to finish these final five games on a high note.  It’s doubtful that Nebraska can beat Penn State on the road, but Purdue, Northwestern, Minnesota and Iowa should all be games that Nebraska has a chance to win.  I’m not saying the play so far would get that done, but any improvement at all could propel the Huskers on a run through the softer part of the schedule.  A record of 7-5 would do wonders to save a recruiting class that has stalled.  If they go 6-6 it starts to get a little hairy, and anything with a losing record would almost certainly bring change in Lincoln next fall.

Enter Bill Moos.  The newly hired athletic director from Washington State is now tasked with the next step for Nebraska football.  From everything in his tenure as an athletic director from his start in Montana, his building of Oregon football, to his most recent hire in Mike Leach, Moos seems to have the touch for what to do with a football program.  All of the amenities that Nebraska needs is already in place.  Bill Moos will decide if Mike Riley is the right man to run the program.  Riley has five games to prove if he should.

Carriker Chronicles

ON WITH THE REWIND…

Our previous score prediction for the Ohio State game was Nebraska 21 – Ohio State 48.  The actual score was Ohio State 56 and Nebraska 14.  This game was awful from the start.  Nebraska not forcing a single punt by Ohio State was ridiculous.  Not much to say after a disaster like this.

Quick Notes:

Can we find our defense?  Bob Diaco has been under a hot lamp the last two games, with the defense completely incompetent the last six quarters.  They couldn’t stop Wisconsin from running it right at us and they couldn’t stop Ohio State from doing anything.  We know that Nebraska may not be talented enough to play beat those teams, but it has been inexcusable the way that they didn’t compete the last six quarters.  Lets see if a subpar Purdue offense shakes the doldrums off the Blackshirts.

Is there heart in the program…. This might be the hardest question to answer.  I know the kids want to win, by times it seems that they are playing hard, but it has been inconsistent and it begs the question, is it just coaching or has this team’s ceiling so low that until we get an influx of talent, this is the best that we have?  I have to think it’s a little of both, but the coaching staff has a responsibility to put the best team out there, and the last two games hasn’t looked very promising.

Offensive Line pass blocking… Amazingly enough, Nebraska’s offensive line has started to pass protect and provide Tanner Lee enough time that he has some options.  I’d like to see Nebraska push more up tempo on offense and run shorter routes.  If the line can keep Lee clean, let him use that quick passing with high accuracy to keep the defense on it’s heals.

Cornhusker Memes Tees and Hoodies

Score Prediction: Nebraska 24 – Purdue 18

I feel like I’m going out on a limb saying that Nebraska can win against Purdue.  That tells you how this season has panned out.  Nebraska has a lot of tools on offense.  They need to pound Ozigbo, Wilbon and Bradley and look to challenge Purdue in space.  Purdue will throw the kitchen sink at the defense, but they have a tendency to turn the ball over.  We will find out if the Huskers heart is still beating this week.  I think it is. GBR!!

Buckeyes, Coaches and Playcalling

Man, woman and child, did that Wisconsin game suck. This Ohio State game may not be much better. Nebraska, which has sometimes played well this year, played really poorly last week against the best team in their division. The crazy thing is, they were tied at 17-17 after a pick six and it really seemed like momentum was on their side.

Three long drives later, basically after the Badgers ran the ball down Nebraska’s throat, the game was a blow out.  Nebraska couldn’t or wouldn’t get their run fits correct and the Badger line basically pushed the Huskers into the end zone, one run at a time.

I have to admit, I thought the Huskers had a chance last week.  I even predicted an upset.  Unfortunately, my thought process with this team is clouded by practice performances.  I am absolutely flabbergasted that Nebraska can run the ball and gain yards all over Wisconsin and yet they were never really in the drivers seat.

So why is that?  Nebraska is a young team overall, but there are plenty of juniors and redshirt sophomores on the team.  Tanner Lee has played 2.5 seasons already.  He should be a qualified leader by now, if he ever will be.  I think that is part of the problem. I saw in practice is that Tanner Lee may not be a great leader, but he throws a really pretty football.  Problem is, throwing the football isn’t leadership. Not so much that he can’t play quarterback, I think he is going to be a good to great one down the road, it just isn’t going to be this season.

Another thing to look at is coaching.  Nebraska is consistently penalized and turns the ball over, at an alarming rate.  Good teams, let alone great teams, don’t do those types of things.  I mean, what are we up to in returned pick sixes this year, 6?  I don’t know how any team in the nation can deal with that, let alone a team trying to compete in a top conference.  What type of play calling are we doing that we put guys in positions to fail?  If you think it isn’t in the playcalling, then who is coaching the kids during the week to make sure that if you don’t have your head around, you at least have your hands ready, or maybe the quarterback doesn’t bounce the ball off the running backs helmet?  Game day coaching is one thing, but what goes on during the week?

The next thing is on defense.  Nebraska’s safeties and cornerbacks may be as bad as any in the country when it comes to being physical.  Wisconsin’s safeties and corners made every route runner and Ozigbo know that they were going to be dealt with physically when they made it to their level.  That wears on a team.  Nebraska simply didn’t have the toughness to compete in the fourth quarter against Wisconsin and it showed.  Nebraska’s defensive backs were soundly beaten and got obliterated on long runs.

This week doesn’t get any easier, in fact it may be a lot tougher.  The Huskers will need to be able to run the ball effectively and make sure that when they do throw that Lee has plenty of time.  Ohio State has great athletes at every position on defense.  Nebraska will need to be assignment sound and physically ready to play four quarters to have a chance.  We haven’t seen that from Nebraska yet this season.  I hope we see it this week.

ON WITH THE REWIND…

Our previous score prediction for the Wisconsin game was Nebraska 31 – Wisconsin 27.  The actual score was Wisconsin 38 and Nebraska 17.  Nebraska had multiple opportunities to cash in on the Badgers in the first half and couldn’t do it.  I still think if Nebraska doesn’t throw the pick six, gets out to a 7 or 10 point lead, the game switches a lot.  Wisconsin isn’t able to just run the clock and beat Nebraska into submission and the Huskers have a shot to make quarterback Alex Hornibrook work harder.  Unfortunately, none of that happened and the Huskers were steamrolled in the fourth quarter.

Quick Notes:

Where do the Huskers go from here?  The Huskers reach the halfway point at 3-3 and are probably going to be 3-4 going into their bye week.  The Huskers have a chance to get to a bowl game, but they likely won’t be favored in any matchups the rest of the season.  I think Nebraska can get to 6 wins, but it’s going to be awfully difficult.  If Nebraska can play Ohio State well, maybe it will give them confidence to keep improving the rest of the season.

Nebraska for all their faults continues to play hard…. Even as Wisconsin beat the stuffing out of Nebraska in the fourth quarter, the Huskers continued to play hard.  The team, for all it’s problems is still giving effort.  As long as that is still there, Nebraska and this coaching staff will still have a chance to keep this team together.  If you see them give up against Ohio State, it will go a long way on any decisions that will be made after the season.

Devine Ozigbo keeps churning… The Huskers have continued to run the ball well with Ozigbo.  I thought they should have given Jaylin Bradley a few plays last week to keep Ozigbo fresh.  I thought he was gassed in the fourth quarter.  Hopefully Mikale Wilbon plays this week so that Nebraska can at least have a fighting chance to run the football and shorten the game against Ohio State.

Score Prediction: Nebraska 21 – Ohio State 48

It’s getting a lot harder to think Nebraska can keep it together this season.  It’s probably wishful thinking that the Huskers can get to 21.  Nebraska needs to run the ball, run it well and try to shorten the game.  It’s clear that the Huskers simply don’t have the horses to compete against the best Big Ten teams.  I would love to be wrong.  As always GBR!!

Bring on The Badgers!

Badgers live in holes in the Ground.  Let’s keep it that way.

Here we go, finally.  Nebraska has a chance to turn their entire season around with a simple win, in a game that most had circled on their calendar at the start of the season.  Contrary to what most people (including me) thought was the end of the world after losing to Northern Illinois, Nebraska controls their own destiny.  Mike Riley controls his own career and maybe, just maybe, Nebraska can control the future road this program takes.

It’s no secret that the first two games of the conference season were supposed to be blowouts.  That’s what teams that have a chance to win their division need to do, blow out the bottom teams in the conference.  After the Northern Illinois debacle, we weren’t sure how this team would react.  What happened was, the team changed players, adjusted their approach and finally figured out some things that worked consistently.  Now is the time to put that to work against the best team in their division.

If Nebraska wasn’t playing at home, I don’t think this game would be open for interpretation.  Last year was the first time that Nebraska played Wisconsin tough at home, taking them to overtime.  Remove that game, since joining the Big Ten, Nebraska simply has gotten their doors blown out by Wisconsin away from Memorial Stadium.  I doubt that would change this year, but luckily we don’t have to find out.  That’s why Nebraska might win this game, regardless of the 12.5 point underdog that Las Vegas thinks the Huskers are.

So why can Nebraska win this game?  The first thing to look at for Nebraska the last two games is the trenches.  Since Michael Decker and Brenden Jaimes have been inserted into the lineup, Nebraska has protected Tanner Lee better.  Not only that, but it seems like the team has been better at communicating up front.  There are still the occasional lapses when blitzers have not been picked up, but man to man, the team seems to be more physical with these two in the lineup.  Not only that, but running back Devine Ozigbo has brought a physical style to the team that seems to be rubbing off onto Mikale Wilbon as well.  The entire team feeds off from their aggressive running.  For whatever reason Ozigbo didn’t play the first two games, he has taken the position as his own since and will start this week.  If Nebraska can continue the improvement up front on offense, this game may have some life to it for Nebraska.

On the defensive side, Bob Diaco continues to figure out the chess pieces that he has.  Nebraska has shifted more from the three man front to a four man front on passing downs and it has paid off handsomely.  Nebraska is starting to get pressure on the quarterback.  You might say, well its Illinois and Rutgers, but Northwestern proved last week that you can get to Badger quarterback Alex Hornibrook.  He wasn’t the same quarterback in the second half when Northwestern started hitting him.  If Carlos and Khalil Davis along with Ben Stille and Freedom Akinmoladun can continue to apply pressure while clogging up the middle, Nebraska should be able to slow the Wisconsin running game down enough to stay in the ball game.

I say all this, in a vacuum that Nebraska will continue to improve on offense and defense.  That’s not a given, we know that.  The thing that works in Nebraska’s favor though, is the game is being played at night in Memorial Stadium.  The games that Nebraska has lost in the past at home have been early games that the team has started out flat and never really recovered, at least in the Riley era.  If you recall though, when Nebraska played Michigan State at home in Riley’s first season, the Spartans were the better team, but the crowd energized the Huskers and it paid off.  Nebraska came out and played well right away.  They need to hit that same stride early to beat Wisconsin.

I’m not as sold on Wisconsin being a top 5 or top ten team.  I think they are very good, they don’t make many mistakes and they are very physical with you up front.  Where I see the kinks in the armor, is that Wisconsin hasn’t faced anybody with a lot of talent.  Their wins have come against teams that are much less athletic than the Badgers are.  Nebraska, for all their problems, has playmakers on the team.  

I think the thing that has me most excited is the Husker Blackshirts that are slowly becoming a physical unit up front.  On the back end, they are by no means a finished product, but Josh Kalu and Chris Jones will both play this week.  That has to build the confidence of the defense.  Antonio Reed has played great in Kalu’s absence, but Chris Jones is a huge upgrade at cornerback if he is healthy.  Even if he only plays half the snaps, it’s a big lift to the defense.  Don’t underestimate the amount of will a team has by getting their best player back.  Having two of them might make a huge difference.

Nebraska needs to come out and punch Wisconsin in the mouth.  They have been beating on the door the last two years.  It’s time for them to knock it down.

Click Link

ON WITH THE REWIND…

Our previous score prediction for the Illinois game was Nebraska 31 – Illinois 21.  The actual score was 28-6 and the Huskers left little doubt that they were the better team.  I thought Illinois would have more success with their offense.  They had really good receivers, but their quarterback simply wasn’t a good passer.  Nebraska attacked their defense methodically and put together long drives.  If the Huskers continue to do that, using both the air and ground evenly, they will be a tough team to beat the second half of the season.

Quick Notes:

The Season really starts on Saturday…  Whatever has happened, good and bad, Nebraska can really change the narrative on their season this weekend.  Beat Wisconsin and you are 3-0 in conference and basically have a 2 game lead on Wisconsin to win the west.   Nebraska still has a hard schedule with Ohio State at home and Penn State on the road, but if you beat Wisconsin, you are saying to the rest of the Western Conference, that you are playing for keeps.  I said it above, but Riley’s job may depend on it.

Mike Riley mentored Wisconsin’s Head Coach…. I don’t think it is coincidence that since Mike Riley has been the head coach at Nebraska that the Huskers have played the Badgers well.   Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst started out on Mike Riley’s staff back in 1991 and has spent a lot of his career with Riley.  Wisconsin has ran Paul Chryst’s offense basically since Riley got here (Chryst was the offensive coordinator for the Badgers before leaving and coming back to be head coach) and the offense that they run is similar to Riley’s.  That is an advantage to Riley because he knows how to counter a lot of it.  I am anxious to see if it pays off on Riley’s third try to beat Wisconsin.  I think it will.

Danny Langsdorf hitting his stride… Nebraska seems to be figuring things out on offense.  They understand that they don’t have the burners to stand in the pocket all day or wait for a screen to set up.  They are executing the quicker passing game and I think it is paying off for Tanner Lee.  Lee needs to be quicker with his reads, but Langsdorf has implemented some different running plays to take pressure off of Lee and in turn, spent more time in max protect when Nebraska has needed more time in the passing game.  I expect this to continue.  Lee will continue to get better.  This week he needs to be at his best.

Click Link

Score Prediction: Nebraska 31 – Wisconsin 27

Call me a homer, call me a dreamer, but I have a feeling Nebraska wins this game.  There are so many things that are snowballing in Nebraska’s favor, from getting healthy, figuring out the running game, the defense getting better and a night game at Memorial Stadium, this is a lot for an opposing team to overcome.  My biggest fear, is that Nebraska gets punched in the face early, like they did at Oregon and they don’t have the mental fortitude to figure it out and battle back.  This game is an awesome opportunity for Nebraska Football in so many ways.  I think the good guys sneak one out this weekend.  Yeah, I’m a homer!   GBR!!!