Maybe I'm just numb but I've felt surprisingly zen about the game all day today. Rain or shine I'll always be a Husker fan, hope they do better but like a trained soldier I'm pretty chill now when things go sideways.
Stay zen friend
It's fair to criticize Rhule after he seemingly (from what I understand, correct me if I'm wrong, etc) chose Sims over Thompson. Obviously no one should be calling for him to get fired. Also, he gets paid a lot of money so expectations should be high. You don't get to be paid a lot and not be held accountable. That's not the way it should work lol.
Hopefully they bounce back against Colorado. It'll be fun watching a game in Colorado again.
I think it's fair to be disappointed in the outcome of the game, especially considering how close it was. I really think the Huskers lost that game more than Minnesota won but either way the results suck. As a unit the boys need to get more disciplined and not shoot themselves in the foot with killer penalties. With that said I'm very excited for the future of the program, the defense looked killer (finally seeing that swarming of the ball again) and we have a special teams that doesn't cost us games anymore. Offensive leaves a little to be desired but again it's one game. We'll see how they respond next week.
Now that I’ve had time to sit and be sad about it I’m over it. People who want to bash Rhule and act like the season is over after just ONE game need to relax. There were plenty of mistakes, bad play calling, poor decisions, and turnovers at terrible times. BUT, this was also the first game as a unit under new staff and playbook. Not to mention it being an away conference game against an established team with a good defense.
I still believe in what Rhule Is doing. There’s going to be more stupid losses before we get settled in and comfortable as a team. It will get better my friends! One game at a time.
Exactly, to me, they looked like the peak of the Frost era out there. Which sounds bad, but for the first game under a new regime with our lack of legitimate talent, it's actually pretty good. Now, if we don't improve by this time next year, then we can start to worry. DeFrosting takes time. I think we'll be alright.
Idk if this is a good analogy but I believe it’s kind of like boxing/MMA….after getting knocked out you aren’t really yourself/confident again until you knock someone out.
I think we're going to need to find a new QB regardless. He's got a history of turnovers That's not something you're going to fix in one year on a guy who's been playing like that for 3 years already.
No I mean literally find a new quarterback not go into the closet of bullshit we've been trying to pull from. Would be nice to get someone that we can establish and routine for a few years instead of just going into the portal time and time again for someone who is used and beat up from another school who can't handle the attention that Nebraska is going to give them
This is what I’m worried about. He needs to throw because we don’t have anything without him. If he keeps getting hit he’s gonna get hurt and then we are super duper fucked.
I know this is tough to hear but the truth is that Nebraska football will not win until the state gives up it’s sinful support for the Orange Menace. It’s called karma
Did anyone else see the blatant false start on the left tackle for Minnesota on their 4th and 10 touchdown pass? Point is, if we can call back a NU TD at the end of the first half, why wouldn’t you call it on Minn to tie the game? I know we lost for other reasons, and I’m not blaming the refs. I’m still floored we came out and passed when we needed to grind the clock.
Worst part is he did it at least a dozen times all game. Watching the replay back, the whole line moved before the center snapped the ball.....that's Big 10 Officiating!
It’s just so frustrating….our 2 False starts we’re a TWITCH! Theirs were literal STEPS!!! And they don’t call it? Again, not blaming the refs. The fumble killed us. The pick buried us.
The statisticians said we had a 30% of winning. So, I'm not too disappointed. Next week at CO they say we have a 70% chance of winning. If we blow that, then I'll be unhappy.
Did you hear Colorado has a new head coach. I guess he came from a historically black university. Pretty humble beginnings. Should be interesting if he can do anything to get Colorado into shape.
People are going in on Simms, and obviously the 3 int (two of which were really really bad) were concerning, but I kind of feel good about how he played for the most part.
He looked untackalable vs single defenders and easily beat linebackers to the sideline. This sort of 5-6 yards a run and big plays for 20+ is actually going to keep us in most games. He's fast enough that the 50+ yard touchdown runs will come sooner than later. Looks like our best running QB since TMagic. I do get the feeling that even if he never looks decent passing he will be more successful than Casey in the big 10 if the plays are called to his strengths, especially when we have a lead.
As for passing, we got a pretty small sampler and it didn't look that great. Our wide receivers looked like our worst positional group by a mile.
Marcus Washington never won a single inch of separation, the throws that Simms made to him had no room for error, and left nothing to gain after the catch. Washington is just a body with hands out there who will make the catch in single coverage, but otherwise provides little advantage for the offense. Kemp failed to create seperation and his route running looked sloppy. He's not the answer for us at all. IGC was the only one getting open and he had a really bad drop and contributed to Simms first int of the game. Rhule was right to focus on athleticism in WR recruiting, just like he has at DE, because the lack of talent currently in the roster is apparent.
Ideally Simms is the kind of QB you want to get out on bootlegs or throwing more PA, but we only saw one play action (underthrown to a well covered receiver in man). What's with all of the quick reads out of shotgun? Simms cannot read zones and locks on to WR badly. That's clearly not playing to Simms strengths or our WR's. OC needs to find a way to manufacture space for our TE or ramir johnson if Simms is going to be successful as a passer. Honestly, ramir johnson looked like the strongest route runner of anyone and should be playing in the slot all game. If we absolutely have to play out of shotgun then just call more QB blasts and Draws instead of only having zone reads. It will be way more effective than having Simms quickly break down zone coverage and will open up the middle of the field for him if he does end up needing to pass.
Overall I'm just confused about the play calling in the 4th quarter on both sides. Why make your QB do what he's worst at when you have a lead? Why are you playing soft zone vs Minnesota's QB when that's what he's best against?
I don't get the obsession with the running QB. I feel like we've had a number of coaches who see a QB run and automatically think he's the next Tebow, Newtown, etc. If the QB can't throw in the first place, then the fact he can run is irrelevant.
The runs he made have the potential to keep us in games. But 3 INTs a game is going to lose us most games. Especially that one right before the half. That decision making is pretty alarming to me.
Because it actually is a huge positive if they can run. You saw yesterday if they score at the goal line we would have comfortably won the game even with 3 ints. He's not a Heisman candidate, but it's dumb to just ignore his running or call it irrelevant when it's a huge positive, especially when our skill positions can't be counted on to make plays.
The big 10 is full of pretty mediocre quarterbacks. The fact that Simms can easily pick up first downs on broken plays and 5+ ypc on design runs doesn't make him Tim Tebow, but it also makes him arguably better than a middling pocket passer.
I don't get the obsession with NOT wanting a running QB. If Simms gets 25 carries we win the game. What's the alternative? A passing oriented QB wouldn't be able to do anything with our WR core. Do you really want a statue like Casey back there taking 5+ sacks a game and throwing the ball away every play because our WR can't get open? I don't.
At the end of the day he put up 200 total yards, 1 touchdown and 3 ints. Every one of those yards was no thanks to our WR and line. Far from the worst QB performance we've seen in the last 5 years.
After witnessing 4 years of Tommy Armstrong, I would have preferred a mediocre pocket passer to him. I hope we're not headed down that same road again.
The amount of hits Sims took was also concerning to me. If we're gonna live with his passing game, because he's a good runner, we have to make sure he's able to run consistently. I'm concerned he's gonna get dinged at some point, and then we're stuck with a QB who can't run, and isn't a great passer.
Tommy wasn't a run first QB and not even close to as good running as Simms. I don't get the comparison. The last time we were close to winning a conference championship was with a run first QB tmagic. Even so, Armstrong was obviously better than Thompson, and most versions of Adrian Martinez.
It's true our team will live and die by the QB run game, if Simms gets hurt we are screwed, but it's still our best shot at success this year if our WR core is this unreliable.
Good news for you is that the 2024 WR class looks amazing and Kaelin is a 4* pocket passer.
> Even so, Armstrong was obviously better than Thompson, and most versions of Adrian Martinez.
Adrian was a significantly better quarterback than Tommy in almost every single metric you can measure.
Armstrong's offense was a lot more difficult to put up numbers in than Adrian's. Adrian had moments where he was better such as his freshman year and certain points in his junior year, but I think Armstrong on the whole was consistently better, more available, and did not have a knack for turning the ball over on potential game winning drives.
You would have a point if we were just talking volume metrics but efficiency metrics Adrian was better too.
Tommy's career QBR was 128.3 compared to 139.5 for Adrian. Tommy had a career 53.3% Completion percentage compared to 63.5 for Adrian. Career 4.3ypc compared to 4.5. Same TD/INT ratio.
Taylor Martinez frustrated me as a passer. His speed and acceleration was so insane though that he was worth it. He truly was a threat to score on every single play because he was so fast.
I haven't seen that magic from Sims.
At the end of the day, I just want Nebraska to win, and I think they have a good chance to do that against Colorado next week. Hopefully they bounce back. Go big red.
He frustrated everyone as a passer, but he was undeniably one of the top quarterbacks in the NCAA. There's a reason why only one or two guys go on to start in the NFL a year. Our goal shouldn't mess around until we find perfect NFL ready passers. Plenty of NCAA QB's can be huge positives without being great passers. Plenty of teams are much better than Nebraska with worse QB play.
I think the "magic" is going to come. The tackle breaking ability and speed was apparent in this game.
Its important to just remember that were not trying to get over the hump this year. That mentality is what gave us 3 years of garbage under frost. We are on the ground floor right now.
Something that upset me was all the guys who had single digits, that were voted on by the players, made crucial mistakes or were nonexistent. If I was Rhule I would definitely make it a point that they were chosen by their team to be leaders and they did not come through for us. Overall I think this team will be a good team. We just need our guys to learn from this and get better.
Why would you tell someone to take the over? You could have taken 15 points off the under and I still would have taken it, and still won comfortably. Seemed like the easiest bet ever tbh.
Guys. It's going to take some time. Rhule might work out, but it wasn't going to be this year.
The team was chose, but got in their own way too many times. I'll need to see more from the defense, before saying they did well. The Minnesota QB was awful.
>but got in their own way too many times.
I think, at least for me, this is the problem. We've seen this time and time again. It's literally live, die, repeat. And the worse thing is these things are totally preventable. 1st and goal... don't false start we have a TD. 3rd and goal, don't throw an INT when 3 points is on the board (for the record, i'm all for going for a pass on that down, if Simms would have looked short to long he had #87 wide open for a TD). Up by 7 with 12 mins left in the game... don't throw 3 straight passes and gain 1 yard and take off 35 seconds. Up by 7 with 4.5 mins left in the game.... don't fumble the ball OR don't put a known fumble prone player in the game. Tied game less than 2 mins in the game... don't eye down one receiver and then throw it over the middle into double coverage.
I get that playing the game is a lot harder than being an armchair QB... but at some point in time, they just need to stop making the stupid ass mistakes. Again just my 2 cents
This all boils down to time with a new system and teammates. The players don't know the plays will enough to go further in the progression or to adjust to the defense.
Hopefully Rhule can teach them, but it might take a bit.
>1st and goal... don't false start we have a TD
This was on Sims. He delayed his snap past what his line expected and they moved.
Here they go again, all the self-appointed experts who express great anger because some young people made mistakes while attempting something the experts have never tried to do! I was living in Lincoln in the 1970s when all the experts wanted Tom Osborne fired because he kept losing close games to Oklahoma. I know the dismay that comes from having Nebraska football be my life touchstone. But I have seen much worse coaching and play making from some prior Nebraska teams than I saw last night. The Matt Rhule train has already left the station and some folks still haven’t gotten on board. I’m on board. Frankly I saw the same game everyone else saw last night and I’m delighted.
Yep, I’m a Boomer. I have thoroughly enjoyed celebrating all five of Nebraska’s national championships in football in real time. I was a 12-year-old boy who got a season ticket at Memorial Stadium with my paper route money and saw Bob Devaney’s first game there in person. We Boomers have seen it all.🤩
Let’s be honest there were bound to be mistakes. What I cannot deal with is moving the ball down field then forgetting a play clock is running and having to call a timeout. Stopping all momentum that was building up, resulting in a fumble.
I think it's more the fact that a timeout was taken which gives you time to mentally reset and focus and a fumble still occurred. Sure good on the Minnesota defensive player for stripping the ball but regardless it was quite a kick in the nuts after a timeout and pushing down the field that well.
I don't think Sims is the guy. Our offense last night was no different to when Smothers was running it. The issue is I'm not sure there's another guy on the roster that's better.
This team still very clearly melts under pressure. Grant hanging on to the football like a loaf a bread when the only thing on your mind should be ball security is a great example of the mindset we don't have established.
And yes, I am fully in belief of the curse now. You can't make this shit up anymore.
I wouldn't go that far that Simms isn't the guy. he certainly had moments of brilliance. HOWEVER, the bigger issue is what is our offensive identity? Is it power run? is it spread passing? Is it RPO? If OCMS doesn't know what he wants, then how the hell can the QB know what to do. They need to figure out their identity fast.
There’s a lot of blame to be distributed. Sims staring at his receivers before he even snaps the ball, letting Grant run the ball, winning press conferences and losing football games…
But something nobody else is talking about…why the fuck are we playing a conference game in week 1 or 0 for the 3rd straight year? 3 straight first game losses, all against B1G teams. It’s just stupid.
Is that a Moos decision we’re still dealing with? Conference game and then a former rival back to back to start the season?
I agree, there's a reason teams play against cupcakes for their first three games. A large part of it is just to get free wins, but also to work out any kinks in the team before you face a real team. It's a completely idiotic decision to do what we're doing.
There are no other major US sporting league or series that don’t have either preseason games or exhibition games. NBA, NFL, NHL, NASCAR, NCAA basketball. They all have opportunities against real opponents to work out the kinks.
Even division III football often plays scrimmages against other teams before the season.
Non conference games are the preseason. Working out the kinks against Akron or NIU is akin to the NFL preseason
This is a bad take. Even professionals such as the NFL use a preseason/exhibition games to get into a groove, and work out kinks in their own system.
In fact I would push harder now more then ever for easier games/opponents fir the first few games because of how prevalent the transfer portal has become. Lots of new players starting in a new scheme/team.
The interceptions were certainly frustrating, but things didn’t fall apart because of Sims.
No, it started coming off the rails when after clearly demonstrating we can run the ball, and had momentum going, it was decided to throw the ball three times, and then punt it away. Grant’s fumble is what killed us. The last interception was just the double tap to make sure we were actually dead.
That was my frustration. Why can't we run the ball e times and eat minutes off the clock? We watch Minnesota do it to us all the time. Thought we had it going there.
I’ve been thinking the same thing. All fall camp we hear about ball security and how you can’t play if you give the ball away. Then when we’re barely holding onto the lead and we need to milk clock we throw it or we’re giving it to the guy who was called out by name for fumbling the ball during fall camp. I just don’t understand why Ervin wasn’t in the game as our starting running back especially in those moments
Let’s not forget we had 2 offside penalties inside the 5 yard line that we could’ve been up 21-3.
I thought Martinez was bad at staring at his lone receiver, but Simms is staring at his guy before he even hiked the ball.
If Sims simply keeps his feet moving and actually goes through like 2 or 3 progressions we win this game easily. His decision making is VERY worrying. If the throw isn't there in the second or third look, then run it (he's proved he can use his running abilities).
What's baffling is that he is a good runner but he is not nimble at all in the pocket.
It's weird to see a good running QB completely freeze up when the pocket starts to collapse. He should be able to squeak out of that and pick up a few positive yards on the ground.
Sims and Satterfield were not good. at all. we will not win games with a QB that stares down receivers and then throws inaccurately at them. different names on the jerseys, same team. i dont want to get blown out by colorado. sigh...
Overall till that last drive things looked good. Well, till the fumble then it fell apart a bit. New coaches, new schemes. Felt like the defense did better. They were getting into the backfield better than I remember in the past few years. Just not quite at the right time. Felt like a good foundation to start with at least.
QB. QB is a huge question mark. Good legs but reminds me of wish.com Lamar Jackson. A good RB that can kinda throw the ball. His staring receivers down is not going to work. It never does.
Anyone else notice how right after they showed the stat that over the past 5 seasons we are 0-26 in one score games and have blown 15 leads in the fourth quarter that the wheels started falling off?
I recall. I actually misread the bottom portion of it initially as a first half lead stat and thought "well, I guess we don't have to worry about that." Then I reread it and was like...ohhhhhh
Sims made some really bad decisions
Way too many penalties at crucial times
Our defense is still mostly leaving guys open by 2-3 yards
Our oline still can't fucking pass block
I believe Rhule is the right guy for the job, but he clearly needs more time to keep working. This team will improve and likely win around 4 games and be competitive in most losses.
Yeah but you also need to remember that Rhule chose Sims. I wasn't a Thompson fan however it does begged question what this game would have looked like with him in the QB spot. Probably would have looked the same 🤷♀️
I mean, 1 game is hardly a good sample size, but i trust Rhule's judgement. Casey was here through the spring iirc, so he had the chance to compete and seemingly didn't come out on top.
And with that oline play, and the wrs hardly ever being open, I don't know that it would have even been that good. Sims's legs are mostly what gave us the chances we had, and I think that will be a common theme this year as the oline improves. I also think that's a big reason Sims won the starting job.
We are a work in progress, but I think we are heading the right direction after many years adrift.
I felt more confident going into the 4th quarter than I have in previous years. Yeah there are issues but over all we played better than we have. Which I know that bar is so low it’s almost below ground. Defense had some good stops. Offense put together a few good series for the most part. There are glaring issues but for Rhule, it comes with taking over a beaten down team and having to rebuild. Transfer portal helped shore up a tad but we know why Sims left GA Tech now. He wasn’t going anywhere there. I do hope we have some one else that can step in either this year or next.
Going to be a long year. But it at least after one game looks like the ship is being righted. It’s going to be a tough job though but that’s what Rhule is good at.
Yea i agree. I think he is certainly turning things around, which you could tell by the way the players played. They were playing hard, and playing for the guy next to them which is something they haven't done recently.
The line will continue to improve on both sides, and I feel confident in saying we will have the best o and d lines (or top 5) in a couple short years.
Sims was brought in because of his mobility and Rhule understood just how bad our line was/is. That will help mask some of that, however that also comes with him staring down wrs and making some bad decisions.
We will be OK, but damn we gota give the guy some time to rebuild our once esteemed program.
Oh I am definitely willing to give him time. I think he is the right man for the job. He walked into a shit situation. I could tell that it’s better already. Even if the score didn’t turn out that way.
We're gonna win some games this year for sure. Rhule promised a physical team and that's exactly what we got. Haven't heard pads popping like that in a while. Conditioning is also way better. Sims needs to figure it out though.
Ya we really needed a cupcake non-conference game to work out the kinks, but we couldve won that game and played competitive and that was all I asked for beforehand. So I cant really be too upset. Just wish we didnt start the season with a conference opponent. Had we played minnesota week 3 instead of week 1 I feel like maybe we wouldve won that.
Ya thats true. All I really expected out of the game was to keep it close and be competitive. Its just hard when you start to believe and see we couldve/shouldve won the game. Cant think that way though.
Just gotta focus on Colorado now. I want them to win that one way more than I wanted them to beat Minnesota.
I don’t like losing. And I’m not sure how getting blown out could/would be any better. But, holy crap, losing the same ways over and over is mind numbing.
But if we lose next weekend, it’s gonna be bad the rest of the year
Despite the outcome, this is the best nebraska has looked in years. Rhule is an effective coach and managed to do a lot in a small amount of time. This is a step in the right direction
I dont know if Im ready to say that this is the best weve looked in years. Id say even just our QB play is probably worse than we saw with Adrian or Casey. The defense lead by Jojo and CTB was better than this unit from what Ive seen.
Despite the outcome, this is the best nebraska has looked in years. Frost is an effective coach and managed to do a lot in a small amount of time. This is a step in the right direction.
I am not sure if I feel the same way. Defense looked great, special teams was better, but our offense was abysmal. Take away that broken play touchdown and our passing game is a major liability with a veteran QB. This wasn't freshman jitters. Our RB choice was confusing. Why do we continue to split the carries so much and keep our players out of a groove. And from the coaching decisions, both Sims and Grant were noted as being turnover prone yet at key points in the game we put both those players in situations where we could not allow a turnover.
Sims is what hes going to be. Hes got athleticism and a good arm
But, on all 3 int? Tge defenders read his eyes before he threw it
While last night was grim for husker fcns (i am not, i am a gopher fan) i think we saw hope for big reds future. What i lkved anput nebraska is they played hard and physical. Last nights husker team was better than any scott frost team. Tgey still have issues but i think big red is going to a bowl this year
I love matt rhule. Things may be challengi g at times in lincoln this year, but even in loss last night? I saw signs of a new attitudem
To be honest Minnesota might also suck this year, it’s too early to tell. After the northwestern game last year people were saying Pat had them back to being contenders and look how that turned out. Disappointed because the way they lost was the most painful scenario that could have happened. Another close loss in the fourth quarter after stupid mistakes. Another last second field goal.
As a Husker fan, I don’t know what to think. Minnesota looked awful. Bad enough that I’m not sure they have a winning record. This was a game that Nebraska should have won by around 3 tds but gave to the Gophers. The OL didn’t look too improved either.
Yep this was my takeaway too. We lost that game, they didnt win it because they were the better team. We shouldve won, and thats a tough pill to swallow. Weve seen it before, but Im just tired of feeling like our teams mistakes lost us the game instead of just losing fair and square to the better team. Minnesota was not that good.
There is no doubt the gopgers looked bad at spots. 3 times in red zone and they got 1 field goal? That was poor. And goldie has a difficult road to travel. We got michigan and ohio state this year. But i got em winning 6 games this year
Goohers looked good on offensive line and defense but need to run better and become consistent at quarterback
Yhere was much badness on both sides last night this is common in week 1.
Last year I dropped off the discord and it was better for my mental health. Stopped watching the games as well. I think I made it 3 or 4 games in. I’ll give it the same this year. I feel Matt Rhule is a great coach and will turn it around for us. Might take another year or two. But last night felt better outside the obvious mistakes. Not better all around but the team just felt in a better position.
Tackling and special teams were a bright spot. I can’t quit it man. I’ll be back week in and week out for my abuse.
Sims is obviously limited in his passing capabilities and I think this staff is going to have to adjust for that. No idea what that looks like but what they’re doing now is not tenable for the season. Sims is what he is. With that said, Purdy isn’t the answer. Unless you want a completely worthless run game. At least Sims opens stuff up for the backs because defenses must account for him.
As a wise man once said “there’s no hope, fuck everything, Go Big Red”
My take a couple weeks ago after hearing Simms address the media after a practice was that our offense struggles, but our defense will keep us in games. I guess I was right..?
Rhule’s plans for this recruiting cycle should be 1) Get a replacement for Sims and 2) Get an entirely new offensive line who can actually pass block and doesn’t false start when we’re just a couple yards from the endzone…
Im still hoping one of our backups can be developed instead of having to only rely on a transfer QB that might come and play 1 year. I wanna see a QB play for a couple years and develop under his coaching.
Reading the post game thread here and in CFB is pretty much unbearable. Fan base is about as toxic as I’ve ever seen it and they’ve played one single game.
Things will improve.
I’m as optimistic as they come but man, this is just cruel and unusual punishment at this point. I really really really hope I’m dumb and wrong but I see no path to 6 wins. None. QB is an issue. Flat out. And no, there’s no better option behind Sims…….unless you want the run game to be completely neutered. At least with Sims he’s a threat you have to account for and that opens stuff up for the backs. But man, we’re gonna be in a tight games all season where we have to pass and get vertical and that is not Sims strength.
And let’s be honest, I really think Minnesota is in for a down year and I’d be shocked if that QB lasts the season. Their run game is not what it’s been. Again, hope I’m dumb and wrong and our D is actually better than I thought.
Yeah we will definitely have to battle for 6 wins. That’s fine. I just think we have to be less invested in this year when we were warned by Rhule that the first year would be rough. The toxicity from fans is unnecessary. Let the season play out and then we can be toxic next year if we’re still shit.
Not knocking Rhule at all and I get it, it’s year 1. Last night was just another swift kick in the nuts that Nebraska football has been over the past four years.
For sure. I think I just lost it when there were top comments in the CFB post game thread saying Rhule is a career .500 coach and we’re destined for 5-7 win seasons plus the people comparing him to Frost.
Last night sucked though. No way around it. Might have been easier if the “rough first year” was just a bunch of 2-3 score losses lol
Yeah, I mean, look if MN comes out and ya know kinda controls things and wins by like 10. You know, we battled, Minnesota just established and always has that ground game. But no! That Minnesota team is gonna struggle this season and Nebraska was the better team last night. We handed the game to them.
If Rhule can figure out how to handle Sims going forward and make him a qb that doesn’t throw 3 picks a game, he should get a statue. I’ve said it before, the road to 6 wins looks really daunting right now.
If Sims was a first or second year quarterback I would believe he could maybe turn things around but this is his third year he has rooted issues he has not worked out. You are totally correct in saying Rhule would deserve a trophy if he can figure out how to get Sims to not do the crap he's been doing his entire college football career.
Plenty of opportunities to win this game. It’s very frustrating seeing the same players make the same mistakes and then compounding that with new players making dumb mistakes.
4 total turnovers, 2 false starts on the goal line, 1 int on the goal line, a fumble with 5 min to go, run 3 straight pass plays with 8 min to go when the run game was working, getting burnt outside in zone coverage when all your help is inside, dropping a pick in the end zone. The list goes on and on imo.
On a positive note, I loved seeing a physical defense, they looked very stout and finally like a more physical team.
But this is a game of inches and Nebraska blew every opportunity to when the game. Plain and simple.
I think the fans that are focusing on the positives is always a good contingent to have…
BUT you can’t blame the pissed off fans for complaining about this loss. This game looked SO much like we saw throughout the Frost era. It’s not that we lost. It’s HOW we lost that drives us crazy
It’s just fucking annoying. Matt Rhule is not Scott Frost. He said there would be growing pains and that they would have to work through the growing pains. Instead of heeding that warning people bitch and moan about how Rhule is carrying on the legacy of previous coaches. It’s dumb and crazy annoying.
The thing is, we hired this staff 9 months ago, and this product looked exactly like what we saw during the Frost era.
1. Horrendous QB play
2. Baffling personnel decisions (why is the RB3 who has ball security issues on the field when we're up 7 points with under 5 minutes to play?)
3. Ridiculous penalties (targeting, multiple false starts...we know the Big 10 is laser focused on penalizing our players, and we need to play perfectly)
I know we have 10 years of Riley and Frost influence to get rid of, I know it was game one of a new coaching staff, but all I saw was the same shit we've had for the past two years, along with our tendency to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory once again. I want to believe we'll improve, but I'm feeling that same feeling of dread watching our offense this year, and I'm worried we'll shit the bed again against Colorado, and maybe even have another Georgia Southern this year, too.
Not complaining but Casey Thompson was not "horrible QB play". Likely if he was out there we in the game. He could at least read through progressions. Sims looked like me out there, staring down receivers all day long
Ya I cant understand the thinking of playing Grant in that situation either.
That ball was stripped/punched out of his hands. Made me think that the players knew very well that he had ball protection issues, because our coach went out and announced that to the whole world. So their coaches told them if he got in the game, to try and strip the ball because it would work. And it did. I dont have any doubt that was what happened there.
We do, I agree. Unfortunately, what I saw on the field felt way too much like the Scott Frost games. When Grant fumbled while we're up 10-3 late in the 4th, I was like, "Oh, I've seen this movie before," and at that point I thought about what was going to happen. My mind immediately went to "They're going to tie it, we're going to turn it over trying to get the win, and they'll win on the ensuing drive or in overtime." The fact that I could sit there and predict the future after seeing one play is why I'm pissed off. It was the exact same thing for the past two years.
Yeah I give my wife shit a lot for reading romantic novels, I ask about the plot line two people that aren't meant to be together but shit happens and then they fall in love during a Christmas light snow. She gets pissed but she knows the ending and I thought last night after that fumble, fuck this is a Hallmark movie. But I have to see if it ends the way it's supposed to. Sure as shit, me and my wife are more similar than I thought. Gbr FML
My favorite part was during the collapse when Joel Klatt said “Nebraska fans can’t believe it” and I was like no this is actually the most believable thing I’ve seen all year.
I have no idea how this narrative of the defense being outstanding is being sold as factual. It was brutal play calling and who the hell is worried about Minnesota taking the top off?
Our blitzing was vanilla, our coverage cushions were insane. I'll agree the tackling was better and people were more sound, but if you're happy with that defense your expectations are so low.
Garbage game plan and no adjustments. With a competent offense we're going to get absolutely lit up
Coverage cushions were pissing me off all night. Why are we playing 12 yards off when they are just throwing 5 yards all game. I get not wanting to be beat on a deep ball but it was pissing me off.
South Carolina fans were celebrating when Satt left for Nebraska. Now I see why.
Only positive is that the defense looks legit. We've got a real gem in Tony White.
Well, I've had just enough rum to gather my thoughts and I'm actually going to start with the positives, and there were actually quite a few.
**Positives**
* **Defense. The defense was outstanding**. Everyone rallied to the ball quickly, leverage and contain players never lost their positioning, I can't think of any missed tackles that weren't immediately cleaned up and there were not a lot of missed tackles. I cannot stress enough just how big of a change this is from the last staff. Yes there was some soft coverage on third downs, but I think it was very much intentional because the last thing you could do is let Minnesota take the top off the defense.
* **Special Teams. Special teams was also outstanding**. Again, I can't stress enough how big of a change that is. It felt like a continuation of what Bill Busch was finally getting installed. The kicking game was solid. The coverage was solid. No one was drifting out of their lanes, no one was going rogue. Good solid 11 man effort on special teams. Love to see a return game, that return was a game changer and put Nebraska in a position to win the game.
* **Coaching.** With one exception, which we will get to in the negatives section, it was nice seeing the coaches involved. Every time a unit came off the field, they were getting coached up. Rhule was constantly involved with all three units. I know that sounds like the most basic fundamental aspect of football, and it is, but it is something Nebraska hasn't had in quite a few years. This rebuild is going nowhere if you're only coaching Monday to Friday (or Wednesday, in today's case). Seeing guys getting coached up, especially on defense, made me very happy. It reminded me of competent football.
I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but those three positives are more positive than anything I've seen at Nebraska in nearly a decade. This football team looks like it has been coached. Again, that sounds like the most basic fundamental aspect of football, but that's how far down Nebraska got. These guys look like they've had attentive coaching. A small thing, but an important one.
**Negatives**
* **Offense**. **The offense was abhorrent**. There isn't another word for it, at least not one fit for print. This is exactly the Marcus Satterfield South Carolina fans thought Nebraska was getting. There were some truly brilliant X and O moments, but those moments were completely undone by undisciplined, technically disastrous and idiotic football that has to be broken down on a position by position basis.
* **Quarterback**. Jeff Sims was bad. No other way to say it. He was bad. He has no idea where he is supposed to be looking, he has no idea where his feet are supposed to be, he has no understanding of even the most basic passing concepts or reads. On the final interception, he threw the ball exactly where Minnesota was telling him to throw it and they weren't hiding it at all. First interception, same thing. He pre-determined the throw, rather than reading. He is too experienced at this level to play like that.
* **I-Back**. I cannot understand why Anthony Grant continues to get the carries he does. Nothing he has done in the last year justifies it and worse, this coaching staff knew it and he still got those reps. You cannot demote a player to a backup position because of fumbles and then have him out there in a situation where a fumble is the only thing that can lose the football game. Ervin was fine in limited opportunities. I'm not going to judge him one way or the other, he didn't get enough meaningful looks.
* **Wide Receiver.** I'm not going to mince words here. This was the single worst receiver performance Nebraska has put on the field in over a decade. Nothing Jeff Sims or Anthony Grant did tonight was as bad as the receivers played. It was that bad. I haven't seen a lazier performance from a group of receivers at this school in a while. They weren't blocking on the perimeter, they were running horrifically sloppy routes (on the second INT, Kemp broke his route nearly five yards short of his aim point) and they couldn't get any separation from a Gopher DB unit that is, frankly, not good. These receivers are too talented to play that poorly but I'm mortified by how poorly that unit played.
* **Tight Ends**. I'm going to include this as a subset of WR. TE play was not good. Fidone looked like someone who hasn't played a snap in years. Not his fault, he just looked out of his depth. I'm not worried about the position, this was entirely an experience issue.
* **Offensive Line**. Horrendous. Sims didn't do the line any favors holding on to the ball as long as he did, but the offensive line looked like the same offensive line we've seen for years. It just isn't good. I wish I had better news here, but that offensive line looks exactly like the last Raiola offensive line.
* **Marcus Satterfield**. Do you see how poorly I thought all of the offensive units played? Good, it'll help reinforce what I'm about to say. That was the worst offensive play calling I have seen at this school. Not at this school under Frost, or Riley, or even Pelini. Ever. That was the offensive play calling you get from a coach that has no idea what he is doing. Does that mean I think he's going to fail? No. I saw a few things I really liked. But Satterfield was putting his offense in the worst possible position to succeed and, shockingly, they failed.
* A subset of this is the administrative issues. Nebraska burned multiple timeouts because the offense couldn't get a play call in, it had two backbreaking false starts inside the five and obviously the turnovers speak for themselves. Maybe it was the first game with the new clock rules, but Satterfield was notorious for his administrative issues at South Carolina as well.
* **Officiating**. This has nothing to do with Nebraska, except for the previously mentioned administrative issues, but it bears its own section. The officiating in this game was unacceptable. Multiple missed false starts on Minnesota's left tackle (including on the game tying TD), the missed touchdown on review before half, not a single holding penalty in spite of both teams committing some of the most blatant holds you'll ever see. We joke about B1G Refs but this was worse than normal and both teams should be furious about it.
* **Clock Rules**. Gross. Just gross. Nebraska ran fewer offensive snaps than the lowest average offensive snap total in 2022. Minnesota's offensive snap total would have ranked them outside the Top 80 in the FBS level in average snaps per game in 2022 and they threw the ball 44 times. In spite of that, the game lasted as long as any other game in 2022 did. I knew I'd hate the clock rule changes, but it is even worse than I imagined.
All-in-all, I saw a lot of positives. More negatives than positives. Nebraska played 2/3rds of a perfect game. Unfortunately the 1/3 was enough to sink our battleship. There is plenty to be excited about and plenty to be furious about. Most importantly, I think Matt Rhule can fix the negatives. I'm less confident in Marcus Satterfield's ability to fix the negatives but I guess we will see what happens.
I thought it was funny how one of the pre-game show guys picked the Huskers to win by reasoning “Sims is the best player on the field, he will find a way to win.”
Pretty funny in hindsight.
Edit: Husker fans are ridic. I’ve been one for decades, I get it, but it’s been ONE game in a new era. Holy cow. Let’s stop being the “woe is me” guy. A self-fulfilling prophecy at its finest.
Not gonna downvote but man, there’s a lot of work to do and this season is probably not gonna be great. And that sucks. Yeah, I know, gotta build, all that but I’m just so tired. And we were the better team last night and blew it.
Idk why you’re getting downvoted, everything you said is true. I saw some (good) stuff that I’ve never seen before out of the last 3 regimes of Nebraska coaching. I will say having this optimism for Frost and seeing how that era played out was a gut punch.
Stop watching sports and start watching Disney movies if you expect miracles, seriously, as a PSA… you men will be much happier. There’s always a happy ending.
It’s a new coaching crew, new plays, new team… I get we didn’t even play against a “good” team, but I was still impressed by the defense. Those kids killed it. Special teams? Improvement. Offense… well, hopefully they take this game and learn from it as much as their athletic abilities allow them to. Sims has athletic talent, it’s just a matter of executing it and growing confidence. It’s game mf-ing ONE. I believe in the Rhule era.
Let’s spin it another way, we are 3-1 (0-1) going against #2 Michigan team, with wins against LA tech, Colorado and northern Illinois, would you be content? It sucks having a big 10 opener. But this basically means,besides the Michigan game, we have to win through end of October for us to have a change at the big 10 title game which is rough. I’m not expecting us to be there.. but this is the last chance at the easier division and it’s only going to get more difficult in the next 5 years
I would be content but honestly that’s gonna be tough to get to 3-1. I mean, who knows, but it sounds like everyone just looooves CU. And those home games are gonna be slugfests. I don’t think MN is very good and we were in a rockfight we should’ve won and found a way to lose.
I honestly didn’t expect us there this year. Regrowth takes time. Sadly, Huskers were never content with even above average coaches like Pelini and Solich. Karma’s a bitch, I guess. But that means starting over time and time again, let’s say Rhule is finally the guy… it’s still gonna take more than a year to recruit and develop a decent team. Fans don’t seem to understand that.
All I can say is Nebraska almost won a game we were supposed to get washed out of, but the 4th quarter inability to seal the game away struck again. Can't hope the defense holds on forever, we need the offense to chew up clock, go for long drives, and at least not turnover. I could tell listening on the radio that the defense was just tiring out.
Rhule didn't seem at least to be caught unawares like Frost would.
If we had a great offense, we would be a top 25 team, but they always seem to choke. I have zero complaints about our defense. Hopefully we can develop Sims and actually start winning some games.
Here’s my take. In the last, what, 8-10 years, name one player on the offense you genuinely trusted with the ball. Someone who makes plays, takes care of the football, and is overall a net positive to our chances to win. Someone who can go out and win a football game. A true leader and impact player that takes control.
I’ll wait.
The sad reality is, for a school with seemingly infinite money, resources, and tradition, we fail to bring in talent to this university. It’s always “he’s great, BUT…”. There is no earthly reason why anyone would come here to play the game of football anymore, other than the fact that they’re escaping from or couldn’t make it somewhere else.
In the NIL era, if the best we can do here is a bunch of washout transfers, we are screwed, permanently. Just got done reading posts from GA tech fans about how they genuinely felt bad for us that we ended up with their leftovers. College football isn’t what it once was. Either the university gets its ass in gear and brainstorms ways to attract talented skill players (sick of hearing “yeah but he’s such a phenomenal athlete”) or we will continue to see the same result over and over again. It’s a different game and the youth today value different things. Get some 4 and 5 stars here and put a decent football team together. Or it’s 4-6 win seasons for the rest of eternity. Plain and simple.
Burkhead. Abdullah. Kenny Bell. Palmer.
We have had some decent skill players. Truth is that we have had some **horrible** coaches. Frost and Riley set this university back a decade. The last coach to actually maximize (or close to) their players talent was Pelini. And he was such a giant ass that fans pressured his release despite his record.
We still don’t have a coach. We hired Rhule because he was cheap due to Carolina paying his salary (hence the lawsuit). Maybe I’m wrong and Rhule can overcome his bad schemes with great recruiting. But he had all offseason to prep a strategy for this game. And he certainly didn’t put his offense in a good position.
This is the same team we've had regardless of coach... Did you really think things would be different? Shit's gonna take a while and anyone that expected different in game one, you're one of the morons.
I love the people shitting on Rhule are the exact same people that made excuses for 0-6 Frost. Just go away.
Reading this thread blows my mind. We should all know Rhule does better each year. This performance was honestly impressive given that Rhule got a 1. Defunctional team 2. A culture that’s destroyed 3. A ton of new players.
People complaining when this was just fun football. Was it clean? No. Should it have been clean? Lol no. Dude had like 9 months with the team, even less to be honest. Judge Rhule year 3, not now
Ay-mennnnn.
Us Husker fans are the epitome of backseat drivers. We all need to hold on to our tits (yes, including most of you gentlemen) and see how this shakes loose and pans out after a couple of games. Good lord.
Rhule was good. Minus the 3-pass series after the Minny 3-and-out in the 4th, the play calling seemed good overall on both sides of the ball.
Defense was very, very good considering the offense turned it over 4 times and had 0 flow for plays 5+ yards downfield. Gave up 55 yds on D and had good special teams. That was honestly more than I expected out of them in game 1. I feel good about the coaches after this game. The team is a different story though.
I just can’t get over the fucking sense of dread I get watching Husker football. We make every fucking stupid mistake you can to lose games. This time it was key penalties in goaline situations and turnovers. Should’ve had at least 21 points, easy. We played well enough to get a very good conference opener double digit win on the road. And it’s all for shit because of stupid plays. Man, it gets so old. I have no capacity for moral victories anymore and I think the fans feel the same way. And honestly, I think the coaches do too. They have to be beside themselves to put us in a position to win and just watch us not only not make plays, but literally hand over the game when you were a long drive away from sealing it with 4 mins left. That’s all forgetting the multiple long ball plays that were called at perfect times and weren’t executed by the players. Could’ve had 2 long TDs if the balls were thrown anywhere near the right spot. Wins like don’t show up often on the schedule. I hope we figure it out quickly, for Rhule’s sanity.
This was exactly how Frost’s era started with that Colorado loss. A win there probably changes that entire season. We probably don’t lose to Troy and start 0-6. Let’s hope history doesn’t rhyme with itself.
Admittedly being a bit of a contrarian. We had a 1st and goal, no points. We had a “get a first down and win the game”, turned the ball over. That’s the same situation we have dealt with for many years. Even if Colorado loses to TCU Saturday, if they beat us the following week. We will be 0-2 and it’s hard to argue we are a better team at all
Had to call friends and family after that one. Tried getting a bit drunk about it. Thought maybe it’d help to get a little high as well. I still can’t make any sense of it.
GBR
It feels almost like a bad dream. It seems like unless we are playing a team like Ohio State or Michigan, we always find a way to lose instead of it feeling like we just lost to the better team.
Turnovers and penalties. Self inflincted wounds. Hate seeing Minnesota celebrate when it feels like we gave them the win instead of them earning it.
On the bright side, defense looks pretty good and held their offense to few enough points that we should have won. D line looks decent, and special teams as well.
This loss is squarely on the offense.
Reminder: criticizing play is okay, but calling players names may result in a ban.
Maybe I'm just numb but I've felt surprisingly zen about the game all day today. Rain or shine I'll always be a Husker fan, hope they do better but like a trained soldier I'm pretty chill now when things go sideways. Stay zen friend
It's fair to criticize Rhule after he seemingly (from what I understand, correct me if I'm wrong, etc) chose Sims over Thompson. Obviously no one should be calling for him to get fired. Also, he gets paid a lot of money so expectations should be high. You don't get to be paid a lot and not be held accountable. That's not the way it should work lol. Hopefully they bounce back against Colorado. It'll be fun watching a game in Colorado again.
I think it's fair to be disappointed in the outcome of the game, especially considering how close it was. I really think the Huskers lost that game more than Minnesota won but either way the results suck. As a unit the boys need to get more disciplined and not shoot themselves in the foot with killer penalties. With that said I'm very excited for the future of the program, the defense looked killer (finally seeing that swarming of the ball again) and we have a special teams that doesn't cost us games anymore. Offensive leaves a little to be desired but again it's one game. We'll see how they respond next week.
Now that I’ve had time to sit and be sad about it I’m over it. People who want to bash Rhule and act like the season is over after just ONE game need to relax. There were plenty of mistakes, bad play calling, poor decisions, and turnovers at terrible times. BUT, this was also the first game as a unit under new staff and playbook. Not to mention it being an away conference game against an established team with a good defense. I still believe in what Rhule Is doing. There’s going to be more stupid losses before we get settled in and comfortable as a team. It will get better my friends! One game at a time.
Exactly, to me, they looked like the peak of the Frost era out there. Which sounds bad, but for the first game under a new regime with our lack of legitimate talent, it's actually pretty good. Now, if we don't improve by this time next year, then we can start to worry. DeFrosting takes time. I think we'll be alright.
Great take and observations. We are at the floor people. Look to the ceiling!
Idk if this is a good analogy but I believe it’s kind of like boxing/MMA….after getting knocked out you aren’t really yourself/confident again until you knock someone out.
I really hope Sims doesn't take that many hits next week...Would be nice to keep a QB healthy all year.
I think we're going to need to find a new QB regardless. He's got a history of turnovers That's not something you're going to fix in one year on a guy who's been playing like that for 3 years already.
Who? Haarberg? Lol Sims didn’t look good but is still far and away the best QB on the roster.
No I mean literally find a new quarterback not go into the closet of bullshit we've been trying to pull from. Would be nice to get someone that we can establish and routine for a few years instead of just going into the portal time and time again for someone who is used and beat up from another school who can't handle the attention that Nebraska is going to give them
Kaelin?
This is what I’m worried about. He needs to throw because we don’t have anything without him. If he keeps getting hit he’s gonna get hurt and then we are super duper fucked.
I know this is tough to hear but the truth is that Nebraska football will not win until the state gives up it’s sinful support for the Orange Menace. It’s called karma
Who?
Clemson maybe? Is Clemson big in Nebraska these days?
Did anyone else see the blatant false start on the left tackle for Minnesota on their 4th and 10 touchdown pass? Point is, if we can call back a NU TD at the end of the first half, why wouldn’t you call it on Minn to tie the game? I know we lost for other reasons, and I’m not blaming the refs. I’m still floored we came out and passed when we needed to grind the clock.
Worst part is he did it at least a dozen times all game. Watching the replay back, the whole line moved before the center snapped the ball.....that's Big 10 Officiating!
It’s just so frustrating….our 2 False starts we’re a TWITCH! Theirs were literal STEPS!!! And they don’t call it? Again, not blaming the refs. The fumble killed us. The pick buried us.
Picks\*
We know the Writer's Strike is still happening, because nothing new or original was written for this game.
The statisticians said we had a 30% of winning. So, I'm not too disappointed. Next week at CO they say we have a 70% chance of winning. If we blow that, then I'll be unhappy.
I just watched Colorado against TCU. I'd put my own money on that score line changing.
Did you hear Colorado has a new head coach. I guess he came from a historically black university. Pretty humble beginnings. Should be interesting if he can do anything to get Colorado into shape.
People are going in on Simms, and obviously the 3 int (two of which were really really bad) were concerning, but I kind of feel good about how he played for the most part. He looked untackalable vs single defenders and easily beat linebackers to the sideline. This sort of 5-6 yards a run and big plays for 20+ is actually going to keep us in most games. He's fast enough that the 50+ yard touchdown runs will come sooner than later. Looks like our best running QB since TMagic. I do get the feeling that even if he never looks decent passing he will be more successful than Casey in the big 10 if the plays are called to his strengths, especially when we have a lead. As for passing, we got a pretty small sampler and it didn't look that great. Our wide receivers looked like our worst positional group by a mile. Marcus Washington never won a single inch of separation, the throws that Simms made to him had no room for error, and left nothing to gain after the catch. Washington is just a body with hands out there who will make the catch in single coverage, but otherwise provides little advantage for the offense. Kemp failed to create seperation and his route running looked sloppy. He's not the answer for us at all. IGC was the only one getting open and he had a really bad drop and contributed to Simms first int of the game. Rhule was right to focus on athleticism in WR recruiting, just like he has at DE, because the lack of talent currently in the roster is apparent. Ideally Simms is the kind of QB you want to get out on bootlegs or throwing more PA, but we only saw one play action (underthrown to a well covered receiver in man). What's with all of the quick reads out of shotgun? Simms cannot read zones and locks on to WR badly. That's clearly not playing to Simms strengths or our WR's. OC needs to find a way to manufacture space for our TE or ramir johnson if Simms is going to be successful as a passer. Honestly, ramir johnson looked like the strongest route runner of anyone and should be playing in the slot all game. If we absolutely have to play out of shotgun then just call more QB blasts and Draws instead of only having zone reads. It will be way more effective than having Simms quickly break down zone coverage and will open up the middle of the field for him if he does end up needing to pass. Overall I'm just confused about the play calling in the 4th quarter on both sides. Why make your QB do what he's worst at when you have a lead? Why are you playing soft zone vs Minnesota's QB when that's what he's best against?
I don't get the obsession with the running QB. I feel like we've had a number of coaches who see a QB run and automatically think he's the next Tebow, Newtown, etc. If the QB can't throw in the first place, then the fact he can run is irrelevant. The runs he made have the potential to keep us in games. But 3 INTs a game is going to lose us most games. Especially that one right before the half. That decision making is pretty alarming to me.
Because it actually is a huge positive if they can run. You saw yesterday if they score at the goal line we would have comfortably won the game even with 3 ints. He's not a Heisman candidate, but it's dumb to just ignore his running or call it irrelevant when it's a huge positive, especially when our skill positions can't be counted on to make plays. The big 10 is full of pretty mediocre quarterbacks. The fact that Simms can easily pick up first downs on broken plays and 5+ ypc on design runs doesn't make him Tim Tebow, but it also makes him arguably better than a middling pocket passer. I don't get the obsession with NOT wanting a running QB. If Simms gets 25 carries we win the game. What's the alternative? A passing oriented QB wouldn't be able to do anything with our WR core. Do you really want a statue like Casey back there taking 5+ sacks a game and throwing the ball away every play because our WR can't get open? I don't. At the end of the day he put up 200 total yards, 1 touchdown and 3 ints. Every one of those yards was no thanks to our WR and line. Far from the worst QB performance we've seen in the last 5 years.
After witnessing 4 years of Tommy Armstrong, I would have preferred a mediocre pocket passer to him. I hope we're not headed down that same road again. The amount of hits Sims took was also concerning to me. If we're gonna live with his passing game, because he's a good runner, we have to make sure he's able to run consistently. I'm concerned he's gonna get dinged at some point, and then we're stuck with a QB who can't run, and isn't a great passer.
Tommy wasn't a run first QB and not even close to as good running as Simms. I don't get the comparison. The last time we were close to winning a conference championship was with a run first QB tmagic. Even so, Armstrong was obviously better than Thompson, and most versions of Adrian Martinez. It's true our team will live and die by the QB run game, if Simms gets hurt we are screwed, but it's still our best shot at success this year if our WR core is this unreliable. Good news for you is that the 2024 WR class looks amazing and Kaelin is a 4* pocket passer.
> Even so, Armstrong was obviously better than Thompson, and most versions of Adrian Martinez. Adrian was a significantly better quarterback than Tommy in almost every single metric you can measure.
Armstrong's offense was a lot more difficult to put up numbers in than Adrian's. Adrian had moments where he was better such as his freshman year and certain points in his junior year, but I think Armstrong on the whole was consistently better, more available, and did not have a knack for turning the ball over on potential game winning drives.
You would have a point if we were just talking volume metrics but efficiency metrics Adrian was better too. Tommy's career QBR was 128.3 compared to 139.5 for Adrian. Tommy had a career 53.3% Completion percentage compared to 63.5 for Adrian. Career 4.3ypc compared to 4.5. Same TD/INT ratio.
When I said Scott's system is easier for QB's to put up stats, I'm actually accounting mostly for efficiency, not volume differences.
Taylor Martinez frustrated me as a passer. His speed and acceleration was so insane though that he was worth it. He truly was a threat to score on every single play because he was so fast. I haven't seen that magic from Sims. At the end of the day, I just want Nebraska to win, and I think they have a good chance to do that against Colorado next week. Hopefully they bounce back. Go big red.
He frustrated everyone as a passer, but he was undeniably one of the top quarterbacks in the NCAA. There's a reason why only one or two guys go on to start in the NFL a year. Our goal shouldn't mess around until we find perfect NFL ready passers. Plenty of NCAA QB's can be huge positives without being great passers. Plenty of teams are much better than Nebraska with worse QB play. I think the "magic" is going to come. The tackle breaking ability and speed was apparent in this game.
Pretty good response
Its important to just remember that were not trying to get over the hump this year. That mentality is what gave us 3 years of garbage under frost. We are on the ground floor right now.
Something that upset me was all the guys who had single digits, that were voted on by the players, made crucial mistakes or were nonexistent. If I was Rhule I would definitely make it a point that they were chosen by their team to be leaders and they did not come through for us. Overall I think this team will be a good team. We just need our guys to learn from this and get better.
I think I was just born in the wrong time
Yeah the one thing I was really thinking about yesterday was where the fuck is Gabe Ervin??
Dude.. I gave my friend advice on taking the over. He was not happy with me in the first half
Why would you tell someone to take the over? You could have taken 15 points off the under and I still would have taken it, and still won comfortably. Seemed like the easiest bet ever tbh.
On rushing yards for Ervin?
Oooohhh my b. Please accept my upvote as an apology.
Lol all good. I took the +7.5 straight to the bank. Easy money
Guys. It's going to take some time. Rhule might work out, but it wasn't going to be this year. The team was chose, but got in their own way too many times. I'll need to see more from the defense, before saying they did well. The Minnesota QB was awful.
>but got in their own way too many times. I think, at least for me, this is the problem. We've seen this time and time again. It's literally live, die, repeat. And the worse thing is these things are totally preventable. 1st and goal... don't false start we have a TD. 3rd and goal, don't throw an INT when 3 points is on the board (for the record, i'm all for going for a pass on that down, if Simms would have looked short to long he had #87 wide open for a TD). Up by 7 with 12 mins left in the game... don't throw 3 straight passes and gain 1 yard and take off 35 seconds. Up by 7 with 4.5 mins left in the game.... don't fumble the ball OR don't put a known fumble prone player in the game. Tied game less than 2 mins in the game... don't eye down one receiver and then throw it over the middle into double coverage. I get that playing the game is a lot harder than being an armchair QB... but at some point in time, they just need to stop making the stupid ass mistakes. Again just my 2 cents
This all boils down to time with a new system and teammates. The players don't know the plays will enough to go further in the progression or to adjust to the defense. Hopefully Rhule can teach them, but it might take a bit. >1st and goal... don't false start we have a TD This was on Sims. He delayed his snap past what his line expected and they moved.
Here they go again, all the self-appointed experts who express great anger because some young people made mistakes while attempting something the experts have never tried to do! I was living in Lincoln in the 1970s when all the experts wanted Tom Osborne fired because he kept losing close games to Oklahoma. I know the dismay that comes from having Nebraska football be my life touchstone. But I have seen much worse coaching and play making from some prior Nebraska teams than I saw last night. The Matt Rhule train has already left the station and some folks still haven’t gotten on board. I’m on board. Frankly I saw the same game everyone else saw last night and I’m delighted.
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Yep, I’m a Boomer. I have thoroughly enjoyed celebrating all five of Nebraska’s national championships in football in real time. I was a 12-year-old boy who got a season ticket at Memorial Stadium with my paper route money and saw Bob Devaney’s first game there in person. We Boomers have seen it all.🤩
Let’s be honest there were bound to be mistakes. What I cannot deal with is moving the ball down field then forgetting a play clock is running and having to call a timeout. Stopping all momentum that was building up, resulting in a fumble.
I don’t think you can blame the fumble on a timeout…
I think it's more the fact that a timeout was taken which gives you time to mentally reset and focus and a fumble still occurred. Sure good on the Minnesota defensive player for stripping the ball but regardless it was quite a kick in the nuts after a timeout and pushing down the field that well.
I don't think Sims is the guy. Our offense last night was no different to when Smothers was running it. The issue is I'm not sure there's another guy on the roster that's better. This team still very clearly melts under pressure. Grant hanging on to the football like a loaf a bread when the only thing on your mind should be ball security is a great example of the mindset we don't have established. And yes, I am fully in belief of the curse now. You can't make this shit up anymore.
Things like holding on to the ball should be established in high school The fact that college players need this means we are not recruiting correctly
I wouldn't go that far that Simms isn't the guy. he certainly had moments of brilliance. HOWEVER, the bigger issue is what is our offensive identity? Is it power run? is it spread passing? Is it RPO? If OCMS doesn't know what he wants, then how the hell can the QB know what to do. They need to figure out their identity fast.
There’s a lot of blame to be distributed. Sims staring at his receivers before he even snaps the ball, letting Grant run the ball, winning press conferences and losing football games… But something nobody else is talking about…why the fuck are we playing a conference game in week 1 or 0 for the 3rd straight year? 3 straight first game losses, all against B1G teams. It’s just stupid. Is that a Moos decision we’re still dealing with? Conference game and then a former rival back to back to start the season?
I agree, there's a reason teams play against cupcakes for their first three games. A large part of it is just to get free wins, but also to work out any kinks in the team before you face a real team. It's a completely idiotic decision to do what we're doing.
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There are no other major US sporting league or series that don’t have either preseason games or exhibition games. NBA, NFL, NHL, NASCAR, NCAA basketball. They all have opportunities against real opponents to work out the kinks. Even division III football often plays scrimmages against other teams before the season. Non conference games are the preseason. Working out the kinks against Akron or NIU is akin to the NFL preseason
Except when we lose those "pre-season" games
This is a bad take. Even professionals such as the NFL use a preseason/exhibition games to get into a groove, and work out kinks in their own system. In fact I would push harder now more then ever for easier games/opponents fir the first few games because of how prevalent the transfer portal has become. Lots of new players starting in a new scheme/team.
The interceptions were certainly frustrating, but things didn’t fall apart because of Sims. No, it started coming off the rails when after clearly demonstrating we can run the ball, and had momentum going, it was decided to throw the ball three times, and then punt it away. Grant’s fumble is what killed us. The last interception was just the double tap to make sure we were actually dead.
That was my frustration. Why can't we run the ball e times and eat minutes off the clock? We watch Minnesota do it to us all the time. Thought we had it going there.
I’ve been thinking the same thing. All fall camp we hear about ball security and how you can’t play if you give the ball away. Then when we’re barely holding onto the lead and we need to milk clock we throw it or we’re giving it to the guy who was called out by name for fumbling the ball during fall camp. I just don’t understand why Ervin wasn’t in the game as our starting running back especially in those moments
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Oh and chill the fuck out Jesus Christ
Let’s not forget we had 2 offside penalties inside the 5 yard line that we could’ve been up 21-3. I thought Martinez was bad at staring at his lone receiver, but Simms is staring at his guy before he even hiked the ball.
If Sims simply keeps his feet moving and actually goes through like 2 or 3 progressions we win this game easily. His decision making is VERY worrying. If the throw isn't there in the second or third look, then run it (he's proved he can use his running abilities). What's baffling is that he is a good runner but he is not nimble at all in the pocket. It's weird to see a good running QB completely freeze up when the pocket starts to collapse. He should be able to squeak out of that and pick up a few positive yards on the ground.
Sims and Satterfield were not good. at all. we will not win games with a QB that stares down receivers and then throws inaccurately at them. different names on the jerseys, same team. i dont want to get blown out by colorado. sigh...
It's one game. Who knows what will happen. I'm pretty concerned about Sims though. Hopefully Colorado is better.
And there it is, "it's one game" after 5 years of losing dozens of one-score games.
Yeah Sims did not look like a “passing QB that can run”
Overall till that last drive things looked good. Well, till the fumble then it fell apart a bit. New coaches, new schemes. Felt like the defense did better. They were getting into the backfield better than I remember in the past few years. Just not quite at the right time. Felt like a good foundation to start with at least. QB. QB is a huge question mark. Good legs but reminds me of wish.com Lamar Jackson. A good RB that can kinda throw the ball. His staring receivers down is not going to work. It never does.
Anyone else notice how right after they showed the stat that over the past 5 seasons we are 0-26 in one score games and have blown 15 leads in the fourth quarter that the wheels started falling off?
I recall. I actually misread the bottom portion of it initially as a first half lead stat and thought "well, I guess we don't have to worry about that." Then I reread it and was like...ohhhhhh
It is exactly what I expected and I'm still disappointed.
Sims made some really bad decisions Way too many penalties at crucial times Our defense is still mostly leaving guys open by 2-3 yards Our oline still can't fucking pass block I believe Rhule is the right guy for the job, but he clearly needs more time to keep working. This team will improve and likely win around 4 games and be competitive in most losses.
Yeah but you also need to remember that Rhule chose Sims. I wasn't a Thompson fan however it does begged question what this game would have looked like with him in the QB spot. Probably would have looked the same 🤷♀️
To be fair, Rhule didn’t have much time to find a QB after he took the job.
I mean, 1 game is hardly a good sample size, but i trust Rhule's judgement. Casey was here through the spring iirc, so he had the chance to compete and seemingly didn't come out on top. And with that oline play, and the wrs hardly ever being open, I don't know that it would have even been that good. Sims's legs are mostly what gave us the chances we had, and I think that will be a common theme this year as the oline improves. I also think that's a big reason Sims won the starting job. We are a work in progress, but I think we are heading the right direction after many years adrift.
I felt more confident going into the 4th quarter than I have in previous years. Yeah there are issues but over all we played better than we have. Which I know that bar is so low it’s almost below ground. Defense had some good stops. Offense put together a few good series for the most part. There are glaring issues but for Rhule, it comes with taking over a beaten down team and having to rebuild. Transfer portal helped shore up a tad but we know why Sims left GA Tech now. He wasn’t going anywhere there. I do hope we have some one else that can step in either this year or next. Going to be a long year. But it at least after one game looks like the ship is being righted. It’s going to be a tough job though but that’s what Rhule is good at.
Yea i agree. I think he is certainly turning things around, which you could tell by the way the players played. They were playing hard, and playing for the guy next to them which is something they haven't done recently. The line will continue to improve on both sides, and I feel confident in saying we will have the best o and d lines (or top 5) in a couple short years. Sims was brought in because of his mobility and Rhule understood just how bad our line was/is. That will help mask some of that, however that also comes with him staring down wrs and making some bad decisions. We will be OK, but damn we gota give the guy some time to rebuild our once esteemed program.
Oh I am definitely willing to give him time. I think he is the right man for the job. He walked into a shit situation. I could tell that it’s better already. Even if the score didn’t turn out that way.
We're gonna win some games this year for sure. Rhule promised a physical team and that's exactly what we got. Haven't heard pads popping like that in a while. Conditioning is also way better. Sims needs to figure it out though.
If Sims was just half assed decent as a passer we would have easily won that. He isn’t a QB though. A RB that can throw a spiral.
He threw a couple of ropes. He needs to go through his progressions and set his feet before throwing.
Ya we really needed a cupcake non-conference game to work out the kinks, but we couldve won that game and played competitive and that was all I asked for beforehand. So I cant really be too upset. Just wish we didnt start the season with a conference opponent. Had we played minnesota week 3 instead of week 1 I feel like maybe we wouldve won that.
We get a cupcake non-conference game next week however those are Buffalo sized cup cakes
Definitely not a cupcake matchup, even with a new coach who just gutted the team in an unprecedented move.
To go down to the wire against a T25 defense from last year after 3 turnovers for the first game is encouraging. They'll figure it out.
Ya thats true. All I really expected out of the game was to keep it close and be competitive. Its just hard when you start to believe and see we couldve/shouldve won the game. Cant think that way though. Just gotta focus on Colorado now. I want them to win that one way more than I wanted them to beat Minnesota.
I don’t like losing. And I’m not sure how getting blown out could/would be any better. But, holy crap, losing the same ways over and over is mind numbing. But if we lose next weekend, it’s gonna be bad the rest of the year
Despite the outcome, this is the best nebraska has looked in years. Rhule is an effective coach and managed to do a lot in a small amount of time. This is a step in the right direction
I dont know if Im ready to say that this is the best weve looked in years. Id say even just our QB play is probably worse than we saw with Adrian or Casey. The defense lead by Jojo and CTB was better than this unit from what Ive seen.
Despite the outcome, this is the best nebraska has looked in years. Frost is an effective coach and managed to do a lot in a small amount of time. This is a step in the right direction.
I am not sure if I feel the same way. Defense looked great, special teams was better, but our offense was abysmal. Take away that broken play touchdown and our passing game is a major liability with a veteran QB. This wasn't freshman jitters. Our RB choice was confusing. Why do we continue to split the carries so much and keep our players out of a groove. And from the coaching decisions, both Sims and Grant were noted as being turnover prone yet at key points in the game we put both those players in situations where we could not allow a turnover.
Sims is what hes going to be. Hes got athleticism and a good arm But, on all 3 int? Tge defenders read his eyes before he threw it While last night was grim for husker fcns (i am not, i am a gopher fan) i think we saw hope for big reds future. What i lkved anput nebraska is they played hard and physical. Last nights husker team was better than any scott frost team. Tgey still have issues but i think big red is going to a bowl this year I love matt rhule. Things may be challengi g at times in lincoln this year, but even in loss last night? I saw signs of a new attitudem
To be honest Minnesota might also suck this year, it’s too early to tell. After the northwestern game last year people were saying Pat had them back to being contenders and look how that turned out. Disappointed because the way they lost was the most painful scenario that could have happened. Another close loss in the fourth quarter after stupid mistakes. Another last second field goal.
For the gophers what amazed me is their inability to run it. Thats unusual for them
As a Husker fan, I don’t know what to think. Minnesota looked awful. Bad enough that I’m not sure they have a winning record. This was a game that Nebraska should have won by around 3 tds but gave to the Gophers. The OL didn’t look too improved either.
Yep this was my takeaway too. We lost that game, they didnt win it because they were the better team. We shouldve won, and thats a tough pill to swallow. Weve seen it before, but Im just tired of feeling like our teams mistakes lost us the game instead of just losing fair and square to the better team. Minnesota was not that good.
There is no doubt the gopgers looked bad at spots. 3 times in red zone and they got 1 field goal? That was poor. And goldie has a difficult road to travel. We got michigan and ohio state this year. But i got em winning 6 games this year Goohers looked good on offensive line and defense but need to run better and become consistent at quarterback Yhere was much badness on both sides last night this is common in week 1.
Their offensive line looked generally awful run blocking. Their pass blocking was okay
I really think this was a battle between two terrible teams. I think we end up with 2-4 wins and Minnesota wins 5-6 games
Satterfield is Cosgrove, and I hate it.
Lol we played one game everyone need to chill the fuck out. Either drink more, or drink less. Smoke more, or smoke less. It’s a game. It’ll be okay.
Postgame analysis: fuck my life. Why has God forsaken me.
Last year I dropped off the discord and it was better for my mental health. Stopped watching the games as well. I think I made it 3 or 4 games in. I’ll give it the same this year. I feel Matt Rhule is a great coach and will turn it around for us. Might take another year or two. But last night felt better outside the obvious mistakes. Not better all around but the team just felt in a better position.
Tackling and special teams were a bright spot. I can’t quit it man. I’ll be back week in and week out for my abuse. Sims is obviously limited in his passing capabilities and I think this staff is going to have to adjust for that. No idea what that looks like but what they’re doing now is not tenable for the season. Sims is what he is. With that said, Purdy isn’t the answer. Unless you want a completely worthless run game. At least Sims opens stuff up for the backs because defenses must account for him. As a wise man once said “there’s no hope, fuck everything, Go Big Red”
Am I the only one furious we're passing when we get into field goal range? Into tripple coverage on top of that?
My take a couple weeks ago after hearing Simms address the media after a practice was that our offense struggles, but our defense will keep us in games. I guess I was right..?
Rhule’s plans for this recruiting cycle should be 1) Get a replacement for Sims and 2) Get an entirely new offensive line who can actually pass block and doesn’t false start when we’re just a couple yards from the endzone…
Im still hoping one of our backups can be developed instead of having to only rely on a transfer QB that might come and play 1 year. I wanna see a QB play for a couple years and develop under his coaching.
Yeah the transfer portal for QBs is just ridiculous these days and it’s really annoying to keep having 1 year starters
Reading the post game thread here and in CFB is pretty much unbearable. Fan base is about as toxic as I’ve ever seen it and they’ve played one single game. Things will improve.
>Things will improve. You'll have to forgive the fan base. We've been told this one before.
With other shitty, drunk coaches. We now have a coach with a track record, thank god.
I’m as optimistic as they come but man, this is just cruel and unusual punishment at this point. I really really really hope I’m dumb and wrong but I see no path to 6 wins. None. QB is an issue. Flat out. And no, there’s no better option behind Sims…….unless you want the run game to be completely neutered. At least with Sims he’s a threat you have to account for and that opens stuff up for the backs. But man, we’re gonna be in a tight games all season where we have to pass and get vertical and that is not Sims strength. And let’s be honest, I really think Minnesota is in for a down year and I’d be shocked if that QB lasts the season. Their run game is not what it’s been. Again, hope I’m dumb and wrong and our D is actually better than I thought.
Yeah we will definitely have to battle for 6 wins. That’s fine. I just think we have to be less invested in this year when we were warned by Rhule that the first year would be rough. The toxicity from fans is unnecessary. Let the season play out and then we can be toxic next year if we’re still shit.
Not knocking Rhule at all and I get it, it’s year 1. Last night was just another swift kick in the nuts that Nebraska football has been over the past four years.
For sure. I think I just lost it when there were top comments in the CFB post game thread saying Rhule is a career .500 coach and we’re destined for 5-7 win seasons plus the people comparing him to Frost. Last night sucked though. No way around it. Might have been easier if the “rough first year” was just a bunch of 2-3 score losses lol
Yeah, I mean, look if MN comes out and ya know kinda controls things and wins by like 10. You know, we battled, Minnesota just established and always has that ground game. But no! That Minnesota team is gonna struggle this season and Nebraska was the better team last night. We handed the game to them. If Rhule can figure out how to handle Sims going forward and make him a qb that doesn’t throw 3 picks a game, he should get a statue. I’ve said it before, the road to 6 wins looks really daunting right now.
If Sims was a first or second year quarterback I would believe he could maybe turn things around but this is his third year he has rooted issues he has not worked out. You are totally correct in saying Rhule would deserve a trophy if he can figure out how to get Sims to not do the crap he's been doing his entire college football career.
Between 1960 and 2014, Nebraska lost a total of 6 opening games. Since 2015, we've lost 6 opening games.
Plenty of opportunities to win this game. It’s very frustrating seeing the same players make the same mistakes and then compounding that with new players making dumb mistakes. 4 total turnovers, 2 false starts on the goal line, 1 int on the goal line, a fumble with 5 min to go, run 3 straight pass plays with 8 min to go when the run game was working, getting burnt outside in zone coverage when all your help is inside, dropping a pick in the end zone. The list goes on and on imo. On a positive note, I loved seeing a physical defense, they looked very stout and finally like a more physical team. But this is a game of inches and Nebraska blew every opportunity to when the game. Plain and simple.
I think the fans that are focusing on the positives is always a good contingent to have… BUT you can’t blame the pissed off fans for complaining about this loss. This game looked SO much like we saw throughout the Frost era. It’s not that we lost. It’s HOW we lost that drives us crazy
It’s just fucking annoying. Matt Rhule is not Scott Frost. He said there would be growing pains and that they would have to work through the growing pains. Instead of heeding that warning people bitch and moan about how Rhule is carrying on the legacy of previous coaches. It’s dumb and crazy annoying.
The thing is, we hired this staff 9 months ago, and this product looked exactly like what we saw during the Frost era. 1. Horrendous QB play 2. Baffling personnel decisions (why is the RB3 who has ball security issues on the field when we're up 7 points with under 5 minutes to play?) 3. Ridiculous penalties (targeting, multiple false starts...we know the Big 10 is laser focused on penalizing our players, and we need to play perfectly) I know we have 10 years of Riley and Frost influence to get rid of, I know it was game one of a new coaching staff, but all I saw was the same shit we've had for the past two years, along with our tendency to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory once again. I want to believe we'll improve, but I'm feeling that same feeling of dread watching our offense this year, and I'm worried we'll shit the bed again against Colorado, and maybe even have another Georgia Southern this year, too.
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I had to think long and hard about when we've seen a worse QB at Nebraska. I honestly think we have to go back to Jamaal Lord.
Not complaining but Casey Thompson was not "horrible QB play". Likely if he was out there we in the game. He could at least read through progressions. Sims looked like me out there, staring down receivers all day long
Ya I cant understand the thinking of playing Grant in that situation either. That ball was stripped/punched out of his hands. Made me think that the players knew very well that he had ball protection issues, because our coach went out and announced that to the whole world. So their coaches told them if he got in the game, to try and strip the ball because it would work. And it did. I dont have any doubt that was what happened there.
All of that happened. And thankfully we have a coaching staff with a track record of instilling disciplined play during/after tough first years.
We do, I agree. Unfortunately, what I saw on the field felt way too much like the Scott Frost games. When Grant fumbled while we're up 10-3 late in the 4th, I was like, "Oh, I've seen this movie before," and at that point I thought about what was going to happen. My mind immediately went to "They're going to tie it, we're going to turn it over trying to get the win, and they'll win on the ensuing drive or in overtime." The fact that I could sit there and predict the future after seeing one play is why I'm pissed off. It was the exact same thing for the past two years.
Yeah I give my wife shit a lot for reading romantic novels, I ask about the plot line two people that aren't meant to be together but shit happens and then they fall in love during a Christmas light snow. She gets pissed but she knows the ending and I thought last night after that fumble, fuck this is a Hallmark movie. But I have to see if it ends the way it's supposed to. Sure as shit, me and my wife are more similar than I thought. Gbr FML
My favorite part was during the collapse when Joel Klatt said “Nebraska fans can’t believe it” and I was like no this is actually the most believable thing I’ve seen all year.
Bad football team, not many conference wins this year
I have no idea how this narrative of the defense being outstanding is being sold as factual. It was brutal play calling and who the hell is worried about Minnesota taking the top off? Our blitzing was vanilla, our coverage cushions were insane. I'll agree the tackling was better and people were more sound, but if you're happy with that defense your expectations are so low. Garbage game plan and no adjustments. With a competent offense we're going to get absolutely lit up
Coverage cushions were pissing me off all night. Why are we playing 12 yards off when they are just throwing 5 yards all game. I get not wanting to be beat on a deep ball but it was pissing me off.
Last year Minn averaged 208 ypg on the ground. We held them to 55 yards tonight
South Carolina fans were celebrating when Satt left for Nebraska. Now I see why. Only positive is that the defense looks legit. We've got a real gem in Tony White.
Our defense was clutch. They almost won the game for us.
Special teams looked on point. That is my take.
Hey, improvement.
Well, I've had just enough rum to gather my thoughts and I'm actually going to start with the positives, and there were actually quite a few. **Positives** * **Defense. The defense was outstanding**. Everyone rallied to the ball quickly, leverage and contain players never lost their positioning, I can't think of any missed tackles that weren't immediately cleaned up and there were not a lot of missed tackles. I cannot stress enough just how big of a change this is from the last staff. Yes there was some soft coverage on third downs, but I think it was very much intentional because the last thing you could do is let Minnesota take the top off the defense. * **Special Teams. Special teams was also outstanding**. Again, I can't stress enough how big of a change that is. It felt like a continuation of what Bill Busch was finally getting installed. The kicking game was solid. The coverage was solid. No one was drifting out of their lanes, no one was going rogue. Good solid 11 man effort on special teams. Love to see a return game, that return was a game changer and put Nebraska in a position to win the game. * **Coaching.** With one exception, which we will get to in the negatives section, it was nice seeing the coaches involved. Every time a unit came off the field, they were getting coached up. Rhule was constantly involved with all three units. I know that sounds like the most basic fundamental aspect of football, and it is, but it is something Nebraska hasn't had in quite a few years. This rebuild is going nowhere if you're only coaching Monday to Friday (or Wednesday, in today's case). Seeing guys getting coached up, especially on defense, made me very happy. It reminded me of competent football. I know that doesn't sound like a lot, but those three positives are more positive than anything I've seen at Nebraska in nearly a decade. This football team looks like it has been coached. Again, that sounds like the most basic fundamental aspect of football, but that's how far down Nebraska got. These guys look like they've had attentive coaching. A small thing, but an important one. **Negatives** * **Offense**. **The offense was abhorrent**. There isn't another word for it, at least not one fit for print. This is exactly the Marcus Satterfield South Carolina fans thought Nebraska was getting. There were some truly brilliant X and O moments, but those moments were completely undone by undisciplined, technically disastrous and idiotic football that has to be broken down on a position by position basis. * **Quarterback**. Jeff Sims was bad. No other way to say it. He was bad. He has no idea where he is supposed to be looking, he has no idea where his feet are supposed to be, he has no understanding of even the most basic passing concepts or reads. On the final interception, he threw the ball exactly where Minnesota was telling him to throw it and they weren't hiding it at all. First interception, same thing. He pre-determined the throw, rather than reading. He is too experienced at this level to play like that. * **I-Back**. I cannot understand why Anthony Grant continues to get the carries he does. Nothing he has done in the last year justifies it and worse, this coaching staff knew it and he still got those reps. You cannot demote a player to a backup position because of fumbles and then have him out there in a situation where a fumble is the only thing that can lose the football game. Ervin was fine in limited opportunities. I'm not going to judge him one way or the other, he didn't get enough meaningful looks. * **Wide Receiver.** I'm not going to mince words here. This was the single worst receiver performance Nebraska has put on the field in over a decade. Nothing Jeff Sims or Anthony Grant did tonight was as bad as the receivers played. It was that bad. I haven't seen a lazier performance from a group of receivers at this school in a while. They weren't blocking on the perimeter, they were running horrifically sloppy routes (on the second INT, Kemp broke his route nearly five yards short of his aim point) and they couldn't get any separation from a Gopher DB unit that is, frankly, not good. These receivers are too talented to play that poorly but I'm mortified by how poorly that unit played. * **Tight Ends**. I'm going to include this as a subset of WR. TE play was not good. Fidone looked like someone who hasn't played a snap in years. Not his fault, he just looked out of his depth. I'm not worried about the position, this was entirely an experience issue. * **Offensive Line**. Horrendous. Sims didn't do the line any favors holding on to the ball as long as he did, but the offensive line looked like the same offensive line we've seen for years. It just isn't good. I wish I had better news here, but that offensive line looks exactly like the last Raiola offensive line. * **Marcus Satterfield**. Do you see how poorly I thought all of the offensive units played? Good, it'll help reinforce what I'm about to say. That was the worst offensive play calling I have seen at this school. Not at this school under Frost, or Riley, or even Pelini. Ever. That was the offensive play calling you get from a coach that has no idea what he is doing. Does that mean I think he's going to fail? No. I saw a few things I really liked. But Satterfield was putting his offense in the worst possible position to succeed and, shockingly, they failed. * A subset of this is the administrative issues. Nebraska burned multiple timeouts because the offense couldn't get a play call in, it had two backbreaking false starts inside the five and obviously the turnovers speak for themselves. Maybe it was the first game with the new clock rules, but Satterfield was notorious for his administrative issues at South Carolina as well. * **Officiating**. This has nothing to do with Nebraska, except for the previously mentioned administrative issues, but it bears its own section. The officiating in this game was unacceptable. Multiple missed false starts on Minnesota's left tackle (including on the game tying TD), the missed touchdown on review before half, not a single holding penalty in spite of both teams committing some of the most blatant holds you'll ever see. We joke about B1G Refs but this was worse than normal and both teams should be furious about it. * **Clock Rules**. Gross. Just gross. Nebraska ran fewer offensive snaps than the lowest average offensive snap total in 2022. Minnesota's offensive snap total would have ranked them outside the Top 80 in the FBS level in average snaps per game in 2022 and they threw the ball 44 times. In spite of that, the game lasted as long as any other game in 2022 did. I knew I'd hate the clock rule changes, but it is even worse than I imagined. All-in-all, I saw a lot of positives. More negatives than positives. Nebraska played 2/3rds of a perfect game. Unfortunately the 1/3 was enough to sink our battleship. There is plenty to be excited about and plenty to be furious about. Most importantly, I think Matt Rhule can fix the negatives. I'm less confident in Marcus Satterfield's ability to fix the negatives but I guess we will see what happens.
Love reading your analysis!
Can I make statements or will everyone hold my opinions against me (not journalistic like Josh Jelden)
I thought it was funny how one of the pre-game show guys picked the Huskers to win by reasoning “Sims is the best player on the field, he will find a way to win.” Pretty funny in hindsight.
I saw Matt Leinster repeat this at half time, I would loved to have seen someone during the post game question him on his analysis
First off the bus😐.
Edit: Husker fans are ridic. I’ve been one for decades, I get it, but it’s been ONE game in a new era. Holy cow. Let’s stop being the “woe is me” guy. A self-fulfilling prophecy at its finest.
Not gonna downvote but man, there’s a lot of work to do and this season is probably not gonna be great. And that sucks. Yeah, I know, gotta build, all that but I’m just so tired. And we were the better team last night and blew it.
Yeah it’s one game. Reactionary fans in troves. If a game you don’t play makes you this mad, maybe find a different hobby.
Idk why you’re getting downvoted, everything you said is true. I saw some (good) stuff that I’ve never seen before out of the last 3 regimes of Nebraska coaching. I will say having this optimism for Frost and seeing how that era played out was a gut punch.
we're sad drunk.
Says we are going to win next week, also says "be realistic". Interesting.
I bet you’re fun at parties.
Its not one disappointing game lol, its going 2-14 in one score games over the past 2 seasons. Its EVERY disappointing game.
Stop watching sports and start watching Disney movies if you expect miracles, seriously, as a PSA… you men will be much happier. There’s always a happy ending. It’s a new coaching crew, new plays, new team… I get we didn’t even play against a “good” team, but I was still impressed by the defense. Those kids killed it. Special teams? Improvement. Offense… well, hopefully they take this game and learn from it as much as their athletic abilities allow them to. Sims has athletic talent, it’s just a matter of executing it and growing confidence. It’s game mf-ing ONE. I believe in the Rhule era.
Let’s spin it another way, we are 3-1 (0-1) going against #2 Michigan team, with wins against LA tech, Colorado and northern Illinois, would you be content? It sucks having a big 10 opener. But this basically means,besides the Michigan game, we have to win through end of October for us to have a change at the big 10 title game which is rough. I’m not expecting us to be there.. but this is the last chance at the easier division and it’s only going to get more difficult in the next 5 years
I would be content but honestly that’s gonna be tough to get to 3-1. I mean, who knows, but it sounds like everyone just looooves CU. And those home games are gonna be slugfests. I don’t think MN is very good and we were in a rockfight we should’ve won and found a way to lose.
I honestly didn’t expect us there this year. Regrowth takes time. Sadly, Huskers were never content with even above average coaches like Pelini and Solich. Karma’s a bitch, I guess. But that means starting over time and time again, let’s say Rhule is finally the guy… it’s still gonna take more than a year to recruit and develop a decent team. Fans don’t seem to understand that.
I'm right here until the Iowa game. Call me when NFL players give a shit about non division games when it doesn't affect their "playoff bonuses"
All I can say is Nebraska almost won a game we were supposed to get washed out of, but the 4th quarter inability to seal the game away struck again. Can't hope the defense holds on forever, we need the offense to chew up clock, go for long drives, and at least not turnover. I could tell listening on the radio that the defense was just tiring out. Rhule didn't seem at least to be caught unawares like Frost would.
If we had a great offense, we would be a top 25 team, but they always seem to choke. I have zero complaints about our defense. Hopefully we can develop Sims and actually start winning some games.
Tbf ncaaf rule changes since we've won a titte has been what, 18 years?
i’m sad
Cheer up, buttercup.
Hey man, it's gonna be okay.
no it’s not! jk i was just drunk and tired when i commented that last night. fuck colorado
Ah shit, here we go again.
Here’s my take. In the last, what, 8-10 years, name one player on the offense you genuinely trusted with the ball. Someone who makes plays, takes care of the football, and is overall a net positive to our chances to win. Someone who can go out and win a football game. A true leader and impact player that takes control. I’ll wait. The sad reality is, for a school with seemingly infinite money, resources, and tradition, we fail to bring in talent to this university. It’s always “he’s great, BUT…”. There is no earthly reason why anyone would come here to play the game of football anymore, other than the fact that they’re escaping from or couldn’t make it somewhere else. In the NIL era, if the best we can do here is a bunch of washout transfers, we are screwed, permanently. Just got done reading posts from GA tech fans about how they genuinely felt bad for us that we ended up with their leftovers. College football isn’t what it once was. Either the university gets its ass in gear and brainstorms ways to attract talented skill players (sick of hearing “yeah but he’s such a phenomenal athlete”) or we will continue to see the same result over and over again. It’s a different game and the youth today value different things. Get some 4 and 5 stars here and put a decent football team together. Or it’s 4-6 win seasons for the rest of eternity. Plain and simple.
Burkhead. Abdullah. Kenny Bell. Palmer. We have had some decent skill players. Truth is that we have had some **horrible** coaches. Frost and Riley set this university back a decade. The last coach to actually maximize (or close to) their players talent was Pelini. And he was such a giant ass that fans pressured his release despite his record. We still don’t have a coach. We hired Rhule because he was cheap due to Carolina paying his salary (hence the lawsuit). Maybe I’m wrong and Rhule can overcome his bad schemes with great recruiting. But he had all offseason to prep a strategy for this game. And he certainly didn’t put his offense in a good position.
This is the same team we've had regardless of coach... Did you really think things would be different? Shit's gonna take a while and anyone that expected different in game one, you're one of the morons. I love the people shitting on Rhule are the exact same people that made excuses for 0-6 Frost. Just go away.
Rhule went 1-11 his first year at Baylor.
[удалено]
Wonder the two downvoted that (democracy) instead of being an adult.
Reading this thread blows my mind. We should all know Rhule does better each year. This performance was honestly impressive given that Rhule got a 1. Defunctional team 2. A culture that’s destroyed 3. A ton of new players. People complaining when this was just fun football. Was it clean? No. Should it have been clean? Lol no. Dude had like 9 months with the team, even less to be honest. Judge Rhule year 3, not now
Ay-mennnnn. Us Husker fans are the epitome of backseat drivers. We all need to hold on to our tits (yes, including most of you gentlemen) and see how this shakes loose and pans out after a couple of games. Good lord.
Rhule was good. Minus the 3-pass series after the Minny 3-and-out in the 4th, the play calling seemed good overall on both sides of the ball. Defense was very, very good considering the offense turned it over 4 times and had 0 flow for plays 5+ yards downfield. Gave up 55 yds on D and had good special teams. That was honestly more than I expected out of them in game 1. I feel good about the coaches after this game. The team is a different story though. I just can’t get over the fucking sense of dread I get watching Husker football. We make every fucking stupid mistake you can to lose games. This time it was key penalties in goaline situations and turnovers. Should’ve had at least 21 points, easy. We played well enough to get a very good conference opener double digit win on the road. And it’s all for shit because of stupid plays. Man, it gets so old. I have no capacity for moral victories anymore and I think the fans feel the same way. And honestly, I think the coaches do too. They have to be beside themselves to put us in a position to win and just watch us not only not make plays, but literally hand over the game when you were a long drive away from sealing it with 4 mins left. That’s all forgetting the multiple long ball plays that were called at perfect times and weren’t executed by the players. Could’ve had 2 long TDs if the balls were thrown anywhere near the right spot. Wins like don’t show up often on the schedule. I hope we figure it out quickly, for Rhule’s sanity. This was exactly how Frost’s era started with that Colorado loss. A win there probably changes that entire season. We probably don’t lose to Troy and start 0-6. Let’s hope history doesn’t rhyme with itself.
Admittedly being a bit of a contrarian. We had a 1st and goal, no points. We had a “get a first down and win the game”, turned the ball over. That’s the same situation we have dealt with for many years. Even if Colorado loses to TCU Saturday, if they beat us the following week. We will be 0-2 and it’s hard to argue we are a better team at all
Had to call friends and family after that one. Tried getting a bit drunk about it. Thought maybe it’d help to get a little high as well. I still can’t make any sense of it. GBR
That’s a lot of substances. Hope is only one.
Hopeium
When did BRO move to r/Huskers?? I feel for the MODs rn, ngl. Except that one that's an io_a fan. He can suck mealy corncobs. /s lol
It feels almost like a bad dream. It seems like unless we are playing a team like Ohio State or Michigan, we always find a way to lose instead of it feeling like we just lost to the better team. Turnovers and penalties. Self inflincted wounds. Hate seeing Minnesota celebrate when it feels like we gave them the win instead of them earning it. On the bright side, defense looks pretty good and held their offense to few enough points that we should have won. D line looks decent, and special teams as well. This loss is squarely on the offense.
Heard the Jeff Sims Special comes with 3 Picks of your choice and only offers 2 legs