[Husker] Bo Knows Stubborn

[Andrew Smith]

I don't believe for a second that Bo would go with a less effective QB 
to avoid hurting his confidence.  If he would, NU has bigger problems 
than this past game.  Besides, Bo pulled Martinez from the Texas game 
and in that case, Martinez was not hurt so it was clearly due to TM's 
decision making and therefore far more likely to hurt his confidence.

I agree with #4, especially about TM making the wrong reads and "I wish 
that we would have had the opportunity to see Zac Lee in for one or two 
series on Saturday", BUT disagree with "and open up more for Martinez".  
Martinez was not going to suddenly become effective.  NU had to go with 
someone else.

On 12/7/2010 1:44 PM, James Moreau wrote:
> Time for me to weigh in on the OU vs. NU match and Bo's stubbornness.
>
> As I finally digested all of the banter on the OU vs. NU game Saturday
> night, I came to several conclusions, and these are strictly my opinion:
>
> 1. Bo Pelini was going to stick with Martinez unless he got hurt.  It was
> clear that he could have pulled Martinez to insert Lee or Green at any time
> after Taylor had fumbled the ball for the third time, even if just to settle
> him down, and nobody would have blamed him.  But, I think that Bo had a
> bigger picture in mind.  He clearly did not want to rattle the young
> freshman's confidence by pulling him out of the game when we were so close.
> It was almost as clear when he was running wildcat at will against OU and
> then stuck Martinez back behind center that it was serving the same purpose.
> He didn't want to say, "we don't think you can handle QB, but we're going to
> keep you on the field as a decoy."  I just don't see him using him in that
> capacity.  The other thought is that Bo doesn't make calls on offense to
> overrule Watson's calling, like many Head Coaches do when they have a
> coordinator calling plays from the booth.  I'm not sure how that dynamic
> works with Bo and Shawn, but I'm guessing Bo is more in tune with the
> defense and doesn't get the call from Watson and then make the call himself
> as to choices.  I'm guessing that falls directly to Zac Lee wearing the
> headset and calling in the play to Taylor.  I believe that Watson tries too
> hard to insert his plays into the game, even when something is working, much
> like Callahan did, just to show he can mix it up, but I think we know how
> that played out.
>
> 2.  OU's defense was the reason for Taylor's tough time.  If you look at the
> film a little closer, it appeared that OU was coming out wide with the
> pressure, as well as getting a good push up the middle during obvious
> passing situations.  This is what helped OU contain Taylor.  He clearly
> couldn't get outside when they were running up field first, and then
> collapsing in on him.  The few times Taylor did break containment, he was
> able to make a decent play, although that was early and when it was clear he
> couldn't have a deep threat, the safeties were cheating up to help stuff any
> chance of him getting loose in the second level.
>
> 3.  I believe, and it was hard to find because I didn't record the game, but
> it appeared that Bo on the last time out of the game pointed to Taylor and
> it appeared that he said, this is your game, go out and get it.  I think he
> was showing Taylor he had his back, and it was up to him to make a play.  I
> for one would like to see Shawn Watson apply for and get a head coaching
> position elsewhere, but I'm not sure that would solve our offensive woes.  I
> don't know, but I clearly remember Osborne making a comment one time about
> running a play until the defense can stop it, sometimes which got him
> accused of running up the score because teams had a hard time even stopping
> the fullback dive play in the fourth quarter of games.  I'd love to be able
> to see that style of play return.
>
> 4. Taylor has raw athletic talent, but it is clear that he needs to work on
> his mental preparations a lot more for the bowl and the next season.
> Several times while watching Rex run the same zone read, he could tell when
> the end was going to crash down on the RB, and pull the ball and take it up
> inside where the hole was.  Many times this season, Zac was doing the same
> thing.  Making the right read.  I'm not sure how Martinez graded out in
> games on his reads, but there were many times in the games after Missouri,
> that he wasn't making the right read and either the RB was getting stuffed
> or he was.  Before the Missouri game and the injury, I think because of his
> speed, he was able to make up for a bad read when he kept the ball, and made
> huge gains.  After the injury, he couldn't out-run the defense when he'd
> keep the ball on a bad read.  I'm sure that this is something that can be
> taught with time, but I wish that we would have had the opportunity to see
> Zac Lee in for one or two series on Saturday to make those reads and get
> Oklahoma off the ball a bit and open up more for Martinez.
>
> Again, these are just my observations, feel free to discuss.
>
> James Moreau
> UNL Class of 94.
>
>
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