YOU PLAY TO WIN THE GAME!!!!
- Thread starter Spartanhusker
- Start date
Wisconsin was on the ropes. Nebraska had 3 timeouts and a kicker who had already missed a 42-yard field goal earlier in the game. So, knowing that, I was hoping they'd be more aggressive to try to win the game when they found themselves in such beneficial field position with as much time as they had and 3 timeouts.
Instead, they played like cowards, ran the clock down, inexplicably called a pass play after wasting all that time (which sailed out of the end zone) and fortunately made the field goal. But it wasn't a guarantee by any means that the freshman kicker was going to make the kick.
It was an incredibly poorly managed clock situation once again which is why they are rightfully going to get criticized. It was cowardly and pathetic.
Instead, they played like cowards, ran the clock down, inexplicably called a pass play after wasting all that time (which sailed out of the end zone) and fortunately made the field goal. But it wasn't a guarantee by any means that the freshman kicker was going to make the kick.
It was an incredibly poorly managed clock situation once again which is why they are rightfully going to get criticized. It was cowardly and pathetic.
Wisoncon scored 18 unanswered, we hadn't been in the redzone the entire 2nd half, we battle to get there, we send it OT and we lost the momentum?
There are the roster issues, and then there are the coaching issues. And unfortunately MR is not coaching like someone with a nearly $10 million/year , long term contract. We didn’t pay him that kind of money to learn on the job. Well, actually NU does stupid stuff like that.
Not going to score at all if you don't even try. Wisconsin looked shook.
The other thing is with the 3 timeouts, you still had a tiny room for error if you were aggressive and didn't score a TD or FG. You could still theoretically stop them on 3 downs and force a punt. Is it likely? No. But you still had options either way if you played the clock right. Instead, they put themselves into position where they had to make a field goal with a freshman kicker on the road and no room for error. It was coaching malpractice.
I mean, they gave up 17 points. Meanwhile the offense laid an egg almost entirely after the 1st quarter. If the defense has to play perfect to win then we're in for a long 8 years.
They folded against Maryland's last 2 drives and they folded in OT against Wisky.
Offense sucked as well
Special Teams too
It was a team effort.
Going for 7 when 3 wins it, going for 3 when 7 wins it. Its almost like situations are different but ok.. if you want to use that as an excuse for chicken **** coaching.
I bet Rhule doesn’t bring in anybody to make the offense better either. No linemen, no QBs, no receivers or RBs… obvious sarcasm here.
He may even make coaching changes, although I’m not betting on it.
The offense is brutally beat up. Our offense will get better.
I’m sure I saw Fickell grinning when he realized what we were doing
Rhule should watch the Missouri game tonight
Rhule should watch the Missouri game tonight
Just stop. You just wanted to see us hand the ball of 3 times since we had the timeouts to do so. I don't believe for a second you would be okay with us throwing the ball. That's not a knock on you, that's 98% of this board too.
That's great! But stop pretending we were going to score in/near the redzone with 3 direct handoffs.
I get it. The whole "what if our RB broke 3 tackles for a TD" is exciting & you want to see that opportunity, but that wasn't happening.
Doing it your way, we were kicking a FG regardless. Everyone needs to stop pretending anything else was going to happen by running the ball 3 times.
But 3 doesn't win it. Didn't you see Maryland got to our 6 yard line really no sense of urgency?
They are different. But it's hilarious that people were okay with us running it 3 straight times vs Maryland KNOWING it wasn't going to result in a TD, but a FG. Yet, running it 3 straight times vs Wisconsin was going to somehow produce a TD?
How are you going to try for that 7?
98% of this board would have an absolute hissy fit if we threw the ball. We weren't scoring with 3 straight runs.
I understand they have a ton of injuries on offense. My point was more related to blaming the defense.
Even with these injuries, they had a chance at winning each of the last three games despite the poor offense. The offense has scored 17, 10, 17 points in the last three games. Yet despite that, they could've won all three with even slightly better offense or late game play-calling and clock management.
It isn't the defense's fault that they've lost the last three games.
You grossly underestimate the Monday morning quarterback levels many on this board can achieve. Downright scary.
I'm pretty sure they are all REALLY good at Madden though where they get tds all the time with their go to plays.
I was focusing on your mention of the defense having to play perfectly. My bad. I agree the defense isn’t the reason we lost. But they have played better than they did tonight. Just frustrating to see a defense tackle so well all season and have poor tackling quite a bit tonight.
Again, not the defense’s fault necessarily, but I felt like they didn’t bring it like they have most of this year. Long season, probably tired, no doubt, but they’ve bailed us out so much this year it was disappointing that they couldn’t quite get it tonight.
I actually didn't want to see them run the ball three times and kick the field goal but ok. I specifically mentioned in my first post that I wanted to see them be aggressive given the freshman kicker had already missed earlier in the game.
Last week, Chubba's coming in cold off the bench. This game, he's played the entire game. Your offense has sucked for 3 quarters but suddenly you're in position with 3 timeouts and almost 1:30 left on the clock to score the go-ahead TD. Chubba got them down the field and Wisconsin was clearly rattled. With this offense, there's no guarantee you're going to get back into scoring position, so you better capitalize when you're there. Instead, Nebraska didn't even try to capitalize on that opportunity. They decided to play it safe, and it predictably got them beat in overtime.
Excellent rebuttal Tampa. Probably your best work yet. Not lazy and predictable at all.
Then you're part of the 2% in this board who wouldn't get upset seeing the ball in the air.
My bad.
I’m being genuine … your post was the most retarded thing I’ve read all year so if the shoe fits
I didn’t mind the end of regulation too much, I guess. But in this small sample size I have concluded that Rhule gives speeches far better than he actually coaches.
Defense played well all day. You play conservative knowing you have a three point lead in your back pocket. This is basic grade school stuff here so if you need further help my kid tutors on the side for slow adults.
Rhule calls a timeout right away and we have a bit under a minute. Same play call to pickup the first down.. and now we have a wide open playbook. We can run, throw.. keep on chugging along for the win.. instead our lizard boy melted the entire clock to chuck a ball up to the end zone. He coached scared .. truly poor leadership and our team could feel it and folded like you anytime the poker pot gets too large
No one will convince me that playing for OT made any sense. Wisconsin outplayed us the entire second half (more like the last 3 quarters). Somehow we managed to get in position to win... and decide to play for OT? What exactly did anyone see that made you think that Wisconsin wouldn't outplay us in OT? It was a miracle that the offense got down in position to score at all, let alone think we could mount a competent OT drive.
Fickell stole Rhule’s lunch money and gave him a swirly live on broadcast tv
And nobody did anything to stop it
Kind of a yes/no from me. The way I look at it is, there's only a short break between possession. Teams can reset mentally during that break while making some adjustments - even if just getting your head back in the game. Wisconsin looked on the ropes on that final drive and Nebraska took their foot off the gas.
Wisconsin had shut them down for three quarters but that changed on that final drive of regulation. The reason I say go for the win is that if you get that TD, suddenly you've got all the momentum. You've got a team that believes they can win because look at the score - you're now in front. Your best unit will be on the field to seal it. Get a score and let your best unit win the game.
By playing for overtime, it allowed Wisconsin to reset themselves. They weren't rattled. They weren't feeling the pressure of giving up the game winning TD. They knew, based on Nebraska's conservative tendency at the end of regulation that even if Nebraska had scored a TD, they weren't gonna go for 2. So, when the Wisconsin defense got back on the field in overtime, they could play free knowing even if they failed, they still had another chance to win it. Nebraska's offense now had all the pressure again.
Please explain how Maryland got to Nebraska's 6 with no sense of urgency on their final drive?
To me, yes the playbook is wide open. To 98% of fans on this board, doing anything but running the ball is out of the question. The concern by opening up the playbook is that we tend to be turnover prone in these types of situations.
We both know how fans would've been like had we turned the ball over attempting to throw the ball.
Maybe Rhule was thinking, "This is where we typically turn the ball over. Let's break that tend and go win it in OT." That’s not unreasonable to me.
So our team fought back after giving up 17 unanswered, did nothing for most of the 2nd half and then when they saw we were going for OT they just felt leadership was poor so they folded?
Thought, "Jeez, we're not playing to win in regulation? No reason to continue to give it my all now."
I'm sure you don't talk to people like this in-person. Why do you do it here? I get it, social media has us say things we typically wouldn't say in person, but you're better than this.
Maryland would be getting the ball a bit deflated instead of inspired after a huge turnover
Rhule was a *****. All there was to it
I do talk to people like this . I’m consistent bro
Maybe we had Wisconsin on the ropes. I didn't think we did, we just finally had some plays that were working and Chubba was able to scramble for huge yardage (that he didn't do past the 1st quarter).
I saw it like our two 4th down stops. It wasn't necessarily that we were on the ropes when they were driving. We finally played sound D and stopped them.
Also, with you, you were open to Nebraska throwing the ball to score. My argument was geared mostly towards those who wouldn't want that or who are pretending like they are okay with throwing the ball.
Totally get what you're saying though. I just didn't have an issue playing for OT.
Some of the takes here are mind-boggling. The final offensive sequence of the Maryland game vs. the final offensive sequence in regulation tonight are really not comparable. I could hardly believe what I was seeing as the clock just melted away there. I half-hoped we'd miss the kick just to highlight how idiotic it was.