I had a thought today.

[oaknightshockey1]

I agree but I think that might of been his downfall. We (the fans) knew the situation he inherited and if he cleaned house I think 95% would of understood. I definitely would of rather then appearing like the nice guy that just wants everyone to like him while they all run roughshod over him.

I don't think the fans could have accepted that. Not that they can accept this either, but nobody realized our roster situation. We all underestimated the shortcomings. And on top of that, he had to keep a roster together to play this year. We are incredibly thin as things stand without having a bunch of people leave the program over last offseason.

 

[popeyecv64]

back in my day I could run like the wind blowes

I had tread marcks and speed that could grease the field

 

[Exorbitant]

I'm just curious for those that are jumping off the "Riley can be successful" as to what exactly has changed these last few weeks. Since Minnesota (when most in the pro-Riley camp felt as if we were going in the right direction) we got beat by 2 vs. NW, a game many people had as a toss-up coming into the year, and that was BEFORE we realized how shallow the talent on this team was. Then we got beat by Purdue with our backup QB in the game, who threw 4 INTs and lost a snap for a turnover (I know that's on the center, but Tommy has been handling those all season long). We are not a good team, we do not have a good roster, and on top of that, there are all the other issues that have plagued us all year and do not get fixed during the season. Have there been questionable coaching calls at some points throughout the year? Sure. It would be ignorant to say the coaches have been perfect. BUT COACHES ARE NEVER, EVER PERFECT. Coaches, even the top tier ones, make mistakes EVERY game. However, when you have the talent we have to work with, those mistakes are compounded dramatically. This IS a rebuild, like it or not, and I still think, given time, it can be turned around. It was NEVER going to happen this season, though. There is no instant gratification in college football, unless a team has been recruiting at a high level. We weren't, so this is going to take time, and not the "Week 4 to Week 8" sort of time.

Fyfe completed 60% of his passes for over 400 yds on his first start, and the last time I checked, Tommy wasn't 10' tall, so no, he hasn't handled any snaps that were 3' or 4' over his head. Also, Tommy would have thrown a few picks himself yesterday. Did you forget his gem that Northwestern scored a TD on? Regardless, west coast Riley needed to pare back on his 50 pass gameplan to maybe 20 to 25 passes MAXIMUM, or at least try some more short dump off passes to the backs, coupled with more runs, even if the runs weren't overwhelming NW, there was a better chance that a few of them were of the 10 or more yard variety, which would have been better than the interceptions thrown by General Fyfe. I've said it before, all one has to do is research what Osborne's gameplan entailed to see how his teams won a lot of games in an ugly fashion at times, but wins nonetheless. I remember it being maddening at times at all of the runs up the middle as opposed to passing the ball, but risking interceptions like west coast Riley loves to do. Even Callahan was smarter than Riley is.

I realize even a top tier coach makes mistakes also, but one of those would have minimized the damage and prevented a minimum of two losses at least by just making smarter in game decisions. A lot of us Nebraska fans figured he was a bad hire, but I believe most of us against that hire didn't think it would get this bad. Remember I predicted a 7-5 record.

 

[AHFox]

You think they don't know why the team isn't buying in? There will be changes in the offseason, and it won't be the philosophy. It will be the players.

Tell me oak how many of these players is Riley going to run off or kick off this team because they don't buy in? 10 Players 20 Players or even 30 Players?

Why would a coach move away from what he believes is a sound offensive/defensive philosophy? He shouldn't be forced to change what he wants to do because the previous coach hates recruiting.

Bo and his staff really hates recruiting okay you know more then I do. You do know that T.O. change his offensive philosophy in the late 70's early 80's from a Pro style offense to a option run base offense because he couldn't bet Oklahoma. He also change his defensive philosophy in the early 90's from the 5-2 defense to 4-3 with out those philosophy changes T.O. never wins a National championship. A sign of a good football coach is always studying and looking at what they need to change so they can get better and make there program better. Riley and his staff need to do this after this season.


This is the biggest fallacy that is just repeated over and over again. We need the right personnel, but we do NOT need to be a run first, run second team like we saw in the 90s. It's just not going to happen. The game of football has changed drastically since then, and Nebraska fans need to wake up.

Running the football will always be part of football and football has change as drastically as you think since the 90's. As a husker fan I don't need to wake up. Running the football and eating clock so you don't have to always throw this defense under the bus with such a piss poor secondary. Running the football has to be practice and has to emphasized. There is enough o-line talent that they should be run block better then they do. This staff needs to make it more of a priority if they don't they will not make it here at Nebraska It more about the coaches having the confidence in sticking with the run even when you are not always getting the yards. Body blows to the defense is a must and run blocking is body blows. With pass blocking it the other way around the o-line is taking the body blows.


So the fact that we don't have a true QB on the roster is MR's fault? And the fact that we have an O-line that can't run block for shit, combined with not so great RBs?

No it's no Riley's fault for not having a true QB on this roster. However it is his fault for letting DL throw the damn ball all over the field and not working clock and his piss poor management of games. This type of stuff is the same fucking Bullshit we had with Bo. If coaches are now willing to adapt and change when you don't have the personnel to run what you want, you will fail.

I've coached high school football as assistance coach and I've learned from year to year you may need to change what you do both on offense and defense to do what is best for the kids.

 

[Exorbitant]

I appreciate your opinion, because I think you've been very level-headed and able to hold a conversation. Now, this is just my opinion, so take it for what it is worth. It was clear early on that the team was not 100% on board with this staff. I get that, they loved Bo, didn't think he should be fired, etc. What we really needed was some early success to speed up that buy-in process. We were VERY close, but did not get it. That is why I think we are getting worse as the year goes on, because the losses compound and pile up, further preventing the players from buying in, which causes them to not play well, which leads to more losses...etc. For a team that has not shown to be very mentally strong in the past, with no clear leaders outside of Gangwish, that's a recipe for having a hard time turning this thing around this year.

As far as development goes, it goes back to buy in. The coaches can coach all they want during the week, and that's not gonna make a difference if the players don't do what they are being coached to do during the game. In season, I think you are kind of asking for the coaches to make a chicken dinner out of chicken shit. Do some of the players have the potential to be coached up? Certainly, but with the time they have to work during the week, there is simply not enough time, especially given that this year we have been unsure who we are even going to be able to play on a given week with all of the injuries and our lack of any depth whatsoever at key positions.

I can't say with 100% certainty that this staff will work out. I certainly do NOT think that this year can be used as a sign of the way things will be from here on out. Dealing with everything this staff has dealt with, I don't think there is a coach in the country that could have come in here and been successful in year 1.

To be honest with you, I don't think even a top tier coach would have come in here and done really well if he had the same problems and the exact same injury problems as west coast Riley has had, BUT I'm 100% sure one of them would have had enough success to have Nebraska on its way towards a bowl game just by making some in game smarter decisions. On the other hand, who's to say one of them wouldn't have Nebraska roaring with zero to two losses to this point? You nor any other Nebraska fan can doubt my words here.

 

[popeyecv64]

LMAO !!