[Husker] Non-expert opinions

[Skip Burrell]

Hey Don,

Did you develop that pessimism while following the Lions for all those 
years?

But wait! They're 4-0 so far this season, behind Mr. Suh, Mr. Vanden 
Bosch, Mr. Raiola, and all the other non-huskers. :-)

Skip

On 10/2/11 7:05 PM, Don Rietsch wrote:
> Steve
>
> You are the eternal optimist.  I think you look at an empty glass and think
> it is half full...  I wish I had your sunny outlook.  I look at an empty
> glass and see dirty dishes. I never understood this "it's a young team"
> thing.  College teams are always young teams.  Our DL's are seasoned, our
> DB's are not all freshmen, our safety's have been around, our LB's are not
> young.  How does a D line that has been unable to stop the run, put pressure
> on or contain the QB for the last 5 games all of a sudden play like Suh and
> company?  Same for the secondary.  Not sure our QB is improved over last
> year.  He looked great early last year and then looked lost just like he
> looked yesterday.  He had two fumbles, none lost, and lost control of the
> ball when he was tackled several times. I hate to criticize him because he
> is a terrific athlete.  Playing QB is wasting his talents.  You don't race a
> Porsche 911 in the Baja.
>
> The thing that upsets me most about the Pelini teams is the lack of focus
> and poor fundamentals.  Too many penalties, too many fumbles, too many
> missed tackles, and too many defensive players taking the fake and
> abandoning their responsibilities.  This has been a continuing trend.  The
> announcers reported that Pelini was heard to tell his secondary that they
> were dogging it during the game.  I know he sees the same things that I do,
> but has not been able to correct them.
>
> I watched the MSU OSU game yesterday.  Both of those teams play better
> defense than NU (and OSU gets their 3 suspended players back next week).  If
> NU plays like they did yesterday they will lose those games.  D. Robinson
> will cut them to pieces when they play UM.  He is just as good a passer as
> the WU QB and runs like a deer on steroids. The UM defense, terrible the
> last few years, is 100% improved and getting better.  I live in MI and
> follow OSU, MSU and UM (but that doesn't mean I like them).
>
> Except for Minnesota, I see the rest of the games as toss ups.  My guess
> would be 3W's and 4L's in the last 7 games.
>
> drietsch
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: husker-bounces at tssi.com [mailto:husker-bounces at tssi.com] On Behalf Of
> Steve Reichenbach
> Sent: Sunday, October 02, 2011 6:47 PM
> To: husker at tssi.com
> Subject: [Husker] Non-expert opinions
>
> Despite the ugly loss, I thought there were both positives and negatives.
> Hopefully, the coaches will fix the problems and the team will continue
> to improve.  This is a process with humans, so there will be problems.
> Success depends on identifying problems and finding solutions.
>
> Positives:
> * Nebraska still controls its path to the conference championship game.
> This wasn't a must game for the division or conference championship.
> * Nebraska lost to a high-quality team.  At this point, it seems very
> likely that Wisconsin will have an undefeated regular season.
> * The offensive statistics weren't terrible, except for NU's own
> miscues of turnovers and penalties.  Despite so many errors, NU had
> 20 first downs, was 6/13 on 3rd&  4th down conversions, was 50%
> passing with 8 yds per pass attempted, and Burkhead averaged more than
> 5ypc.
> * There was much to like about the progress on offense.  The first
> quarter was stellar.  The O-line, receivers, and running backs seemed
> to play well.
> * NU's blitzes early in the game seemed pretty effective.
> * NU's special teams have some good elements --- Maher has great
> distance and accuracy with place kicking and is a strong punter,
> Abdullah is a threat on run backs, and NU blocked an extra point.
> * Stafford shows some flashes on defense and led the team in tackles.
> * NU is has enough strengths to win all of the teams that remain if
> the negatives are diminished.
>
> Negatives:
> * NU's front 7 didn't stop the run, contain the QB, or put much
> pressure on the QB except the early blitzes.  Pelini leans to the
> bend but don't break style of defense, but the defense needs to do
> a better job with the run and needs more big plays up front (sacks
> and hurries).  I'm a self-professed non-expert, but the defensive
> ends aren't impacting the game as they have in some years and the
> linebackers seem a mixed bag.  Ankrah and Fisher each had one
> assisted tackle.
> * NU's secondary was roasted.  Granted this was a very good QB with
> good receivers and coaching, but NU aspires to beating good teams.
> There was talk of Raymond teaching a different style with less contact
> (with talk that physical play would draw penalties in the B1G).
> Whether it is young players who need to learn the system or the new
> system itself, improvement is critical.  With Pelini's expertise and
> focus on defense, I think he will be able to assess the situation.
> * Most importantly, Martinez made many errors, especially the
> three interceptions.  Too often, he takes it on himself.  I read a
> quote by Aaron Green, the young RB, who said he understood why
> Burkhead got carries with the game on the line --- that even he
> trusted Burkhead more than himself to get the job done.  If only
> Martinez was wise enough to see the same thing.  The last play was
> one of only several that looked like Martinez tried to do it himself
> instead of looking to other players to play the roles they can play
> well.  (The same can be said of defensive players trying to go with
> the direction of the play rather than playing their role, which
> for example led to loss of containment on several plays.)  Is this
> something in which Martinez will improve?  I think it is even more
> important that he improve his decision making than his throwing
> motion.  It would be a better decision to dump to Burkhead instead
> of throwing into coverage for an interception, regardless of the
> throwing motion.  To some extent, Martinez is young, only a sophomore,
> but this is the middle of his second year as a starter.  And, it is
> often the case that basic characteristics don't change.  We'd like
> to think that one improves in areas of weakness, but often weaknesses
> persist.  If Martinez can't learn to make better decisions, NU needs
> to use another QB.
> * Fans aren't experts, but you have to wonder as many fans have asked:
> why NU didn't lean more heavily toward the run (before the game was
> out of reach) and why the blitz seemed less frequent as the game
> progressed.
>
> In closing, I think NU has enough weapons on offense that they could
> have played with Wisconsin, but poor decision making and errors were
> too much to overcome without a dominant defense (which NU doesn't
> have right now).  On offense, I think the game plan can be adjusted
> to cover somewhat for Martinez's weaknesses, but if he doesn't improve
> his decision making, then the game plan is either very limited or
> risky.  On defense, I'm half wondering if Marvin Sanders would make a
> difference (and about all the issues tied up with that unfortunate
> situation).
>
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