[Husker] NU Meltdown

[Scott Stewart]

I am going to go out on a limb and say Callahan out thought himself and cost
NU any chance they may have had. I am not even going to address Cosgrove. As
a BYU alum during the early 80's, his defensive game plan was a joke. I
watched teams try that in 1983 and it didn't work then.

Here is what I mean about Callahan. NU was going into a game against an
offensive powerhouse and having a defense that has been exposed as a "wet
Kleenex." (I love that)

How can he devise a game plan to protect his defense? Hmmm, let's build our
game plan around clock management, and stick with it no matter what happens.
This is a concern I have about the West Coast offense's basic assumption of
scripted game plans. This works if you have a coach that is good at reading
the opponent from film and exploiting weakness. If you don't all you have is
an offense that can pass and run and lacks the direction and the confidence
that comes with a team that does something well and makes people stop them.

I think offensively, we have a respectable team. Callahan's problem is he
believes he is an offensive genius and wants to adapt his offense to who he
is playing rather than make them stop you and adjust. From this perspective,
I believe that BC has not only not won a big game, but lost several winnable
games. Auburn comes to mind (that one sticks in my craw as an Auburn alum
and living 40 miles from AU).

I strongly think looking at individual athletes and talent is a mistake. I
have followed NU closely since the early 1970's. This teams talent is
commensurate with most of those teams and better than a lot. What is lacking
is coaching. Should coaches be fired, I don't know. We had serious defensive
problems in the late 1980's. The coaches went out, beat the bushes, learned
new techniques, and the results are in the trophy case. Can this crew
swallow their collective pride and learn new things. I don't know, the jury
is out.

Scott