[Husker] Def???

[Steve Stone]

Terry wrote:

(snip)

>  I kind of expected to see Carriker crushing people. Has the 
>defensive scheme changed to slow down the rush and play more 
>containment? Just seems like a lot of the "problems" with the 
>secondary would be cured with a better rush.
>  Just kind of curious what everyone thinks.

What Terry kind of expected is exactly what every opposing defensive 
coach kind of expected, too, and took the entire off-season preparing 
for it with double-teaming and other tactics. Carriker is a 
disruption everywhere he appears, which is sometimes quite a ways 
removed from his normal position. You can bet no pro scout 
overlooking this young man.

>   As to the "GROC," I love watching the Huskers in the WCO. While I 
>hate when Callahan goes conservative, it's actually fun to watch. I 
>think Callahan called a crappy game at USC, but then I think he was 
>scared to open it up and run the risk of turnovers (I think that was 
>more fear of USC's def than lack of confidence in Taylor, etc). Not 
>sure even Dr. Tom and company would have done a whole lot better.

Dr. Tom said of his losses to OU over several decades, "Usually the 
better team won." I believe that by the end of the season NU will be 
a much better team than it showed against USC but that the Trojans 
will be a better team only by a slight margin.

>   It's only an opinion, but Solich just looked lost and I never felt 
>confident going into tough games with him. I think things are on 
>track and pretty much where I expected to be.

I've seen four U of O telecasts this season, and that team under 
Solich is light years ahead of where it was before Solich arrived. 
Frank was TO's hand-picked successor, and I, for one, do not believe 
that TO was suffering from senile dementia.

Solich's three main problems were:

1. He had to follow a legend, a thankless and impossible job
2. He remained too loyal for too long to Dr. Tom's assistants
3. After Dr. Tom left, there was an inevitable drop-off in recruiting 
for two seasons - - and that's all it takes at the top level to get 
removed from the Top Ten.

Personally, I have a reservations or two about Bill Callahan, but 
I'll not express them here. On balance, he's done extremely well 
under extremely difficult circumstances.

The Husker team appears to be headed for fairly good success for the 
balance of the 2006 season, but unless fans are prepared to wait 
patiently for the 2007 and the 2008 seasons they should get fitted 
with protective mouthpieces because there's going to be a certain 
amount of teeth-gnashing between now and then.

Steve Stone