Excuses are just excuses

[Ewooc]

After the Saturday loss I have been trying to pin point what exactly is the problem or problems with this team. Yes, there is the obvious ones. The o-line is bad, Martinez is off, Wr can't get open. Then we here the more generalized ones. We don't have talent, Mike Riley left us a dumpster fire, S&C was so far behind. The mentality still isn't right. The talent we do have is young.

When I look at the talent excuse. I don't see a team full of 2 and 3 stars. As I stated in another post we have 9 of our starters that were 4 stars. CU had 2. We should have had enough "talent" to beat CU or really most other schools in the BIG10. So I don't think it is an overall talent problem.

Then I look at the MR excuse/ S&C. Yes there is no denying MR left a mess, probably the greatest mess any of us have seen in Nebraska football. However, every coach who takes over a program has their own problems they have to fix. If there wasn't, the old coach wouldn't have been fired in the first place. Look at CU last year, and Mel Tuck found a way to get it done against us. Look at what Maryland is doing so far this year. Even North Carolina. These are programs that were in worse shape than us who are finding ways to win despite the previous coaches. These are also program who get far less talent than us.

The talent we have is young, ok. Of our starters on offense and defence we have 5 who are underclassmen. Using the teams above as examples UNC has 10. CU has 9. Maryland also has 9. Going to the 1 and 2 deep. We have 20 underclassmen. UNC has 26. CU has 23. Marland has 24

I know excuses make us feel better, not only in football but in life. In the end excuses are just excuses. In the end all excuses aside it comes down to the coaches. Good coaches find ways to get it done despite all excuses. Frost is young and think he is going through some p5 growing pains. However those even bringing up the thought of Frost not being the guy are insane at this point. He is the best shot Nebraska has to get back on top so we must give him time to get things figured out. But those trying to place blame on anything and everything but him and the other coaches aren't being 100% realistic either.

 

[mgbreeze]

Yep. You're right.

 

[Charlie Marlow_rivals363743]

Yeah, we were clearly better than Colorado but this team still doesn’t seem to know what it takes to close out a game for a W. It reminded me a lot of the Northwestern game last year. Seemingly had a thousand chances to finish them off and blew every single one of them. We will figure it out eventually, hopefully sooner than later

 

[Ewooc]

Yeah, we were clearly better than Colorado but this team still doesn’t seem to know what it takes to close out a game for a W. It reminded me a lot of the Northwestern game last year. Seemingly had a thousand chances to finish them off and blew every single one of them. We will figure it out eventually, hopefully sooner than later

Agree

 

[jlb321_rivals110621]

if we are being consistent with our evaluation then the same degree of culpability for the losses here should be attributed to coaching as there was credit given for the wins at UCF.

 

[otismotis08]

No arguments here. Your point about P5 growing pains is interesting. Yes, his success at UCF was not P5 (although they more than held their own when playing P5). But he also had significant experience at P5 schools (e.g. Oregon). He knows what P5 football entails.

 

[Ewooc]

No arguments here. Your point about P5 growing pains is interesting. Yes, his success at UCF was not P5 (although they more than held their own when playing P5). But he also had significant experience at P5 schools (e.g. Oregon). He knows what P5 football entails.

To an extent yes. Being the head guy making all the calls from top to bottom game after game is a bit different than being the OC at Oregon or playing 1 or 2 p5 programs at UCF. I have said I think if that 2017 had been in the BIG10, I think they lose 3 maybe 4 games.

 

[catch54]

Yeah, we were clearly better than Colorado but this team still doesn’t seem to know what it takes to close out a game for a W. It reminded me a lot of the Northwestern game last year. Seemingly had a thousand chances to finish them off and blew every single one of them. We will figure it out eventually, hopefully sooner than later

Does "this team" include the coaches who designed our running game?

 

[Bremser_rivals74172]

After the Saturday loss I have been trying to pin point what exactly is the problem or problems with this team. Yes, there is the obvious ones. The o-line is bad, Martinez is off, Wr can't get open. Then we here the more generalized ones. We don't have talent, Mike Riley left us a dumpster fire, S&C was so far behind. The mentality still isn't right. The talent we do have is young.

When I look at the talent excuse. I don't see a team full of 2 and 3 stars. As I stated in another post we have 9 of our starters that were 4 stars. CU had 2. We should have had enough "talent" to beat CU or really most other schools in the BIG10. So I don't think it is an overall talent problem.

Then I look at the MR excuse/ S&C. Yes there is no denying MR left a mess, probably the greatest mess any of us have seen in Nebraska football. However, every coach who takes over a program has their own problems they have to fix. If there wasn't, the old coach wouldn't have been fired in the first place. Look at CU last year, and Mel Tuck found a way to get it done against us. Look at what Maryland is doing so far this year. Even North Carolina. These are programs that were in worse shape than us who are finding ways to win despite the previous coaches. These are also program who get far less talent than us.

The talent we have is young, ok. Of our starters on offense and defence we have 5 who are underclassmen. Using the teams above as examples UNC has 10. CU has 9. Maryland also has 9. Going to the 1 and 2 deep. We have 20 underclassmen. UNC has 26. CU has 23. Marland has 24

I know excuses make us feel better, not only in football but in life. In the end excuses are just excuses. In the end all excuses aside it comes down to the coaches. Good coaches find ways to get it done despite all excuses. Frost is young and think he is going through some p5 growing pains. However those even bringing up the thought of Frost not being the guy are insane at this point. He is the best shot Nebraska has to get back on top so we must give him time to get things figured out. But those trying to place blame on anything and everything but him and the other coaches aren't being 100% realistic either.

Extreme ownership.

...don’t think the coaches would disagree. It will be interesting to see how this team responds.

 

[mgbreeze]

I'm not offering it as an excuse (there are no excuses, right?), but if I could pinpoint ONE difference between UCF (and Maryland, North Carolina, Colorado) and Nebraska is the tremendous pressure that comes with being a coach and a player. I think the program from coaches on down looked TIGHT in the second half last week. Sure there is pressure at those other programs, but I think it takes on a different dimension at schools like Nebraska and some others. It's not a bad thing. I'm just saying... second season at UCF... no one outside their program gave an eff, and they were able to hunker down and just play ball. Way too much hype this preseason, and I was as guilty as anyone.

 

[Bremser_rivals74172]

I'm not offering it as an excuse (there are no excuses, right?), but if I could pinpoint ONE difference between UCF (and Maryland, North Carolina, Colorado) and Nebraska is the tremendous pressure that comes with being a coach and a player. I think the program from coaches on down looked TIGHT in the second half last week. Sure there is pressure at those other programs, but I think it takes on a different dimension at schools like Nebraska and some others. It's not a bad thing. I'm just saying... second season at UCF... no one outside their program gave an eff, and they were able to hunker down and just play ball. Way too much hype this preseason, and I was as guilty as anyone.

...but it is an excuse.

 

[Ewooc]

I'm not offering it as an excuse (there are no excuses, right?), but if I could pinpoint ONE difference between UCF (and Maryland, North Carolina, Colorado) and Nebraska is the tremendous pressure that comes with being a coach and a player. I think the program from coaches on down looked TIGHT in the second half last week. Sure there is pressure at those other programs, but I think it takes on a different dimension at schools like Nebraska and some others. It's not a bad thing. I'm just saying... second season at UCF... no one outside their program gave an eff, and they were able to hunker down and just play ball. Way too much hype this preseason, and I was as guilty as anyone.

I would agree with this 100% I do think that is some of the issues as well. Everyone is trying to be perfect and in doing so are forgetting how to play and coach.

 

[Husker4lyfe15]

Yeah, we were clearly better than Colorado but this team still doesn’t seem to know what it takes to close out a game for a W. It reminded me a lot of the Northwestern game last year. Seemingly had a thousand chances to finish them off and blew every single one of them. We will figure it out eventually, hopefully sooner than later

We clearly aren’t the better team that’s why we lost. If we were the better team we would have stepped on their throats up 17. At this point I can’t say we’re any closer than we previously were at “figuring it out.”

 

[yort2000]

If they didn't have talent, no way do they get a 17-0 lead for 2/3 of the game. This team doesn't know how to win and Nebraska hasn't known how to win for a long time. So far, Nebraska is 1-6 in games decided by 5 points or less under Coach Frost. Need to build a winner's mentality. Pat Fitzgerald has been the master of this at Northwestern.

 

[CC_Lemming]

After the Saturday loss I have been trying to pin point what exactly is the problem or problems with this team. Yes, there is the obvious ones. The o-line is bad, Martinez is off, Wr can't get open. Then we here the more generalized ones. We don't have talent, Mike Riley left us a dumpster fire, S&C was so far behind. The mentality still isn't right. The talent we do have is young.

When I look at the talent excuse. I don't see a team full of 2 and 3 stars. As I stated in another post we have 9 of our starters that were 4 stars. CU had 2. We should have had enough "talent" to beat CU or really most other schools in the BIG10. So I don't think it is an overall talent problem.

Then I look at the MR excuse/ S&C. Yes there is no denying MR left a mess, probably the greatest mess any of us have seen in Nebraska football. However, every coach who takes over a program has their own problems they have to fix. If there wasn't, the old coach wouldn't have been fired in the first place. Look at CU last year, and Mel Tuck found a way to get it done against us. Look at what Maryland is doing so far this year. Even North Carolina. These are programs that were in worse shape than us who are finding ways to win despite the previous coaches. These are also program who get far less talent than us.

The talent we have is young, ok. Of our starters on offense and defence we have 5 who are underclassmen. Using the teams above as examples UNC has 10. CU has 9. Maryland also has 9. Going to the 1 and 2 deep. We have 20 underclassmen. UNC has 26. CU has 23. Marland has 24

I know excuses make us feel better, not only in football but in life. In the end excuses are just excuses. In the end all excuses aside it comes down to the coaches. Good coaches find ways to get it done despite all excuses. Frost is young and think he is going through some p5 growing pains. However those even bringing up the thought of Frost not being the guy are insane at this point. He is the best shot Nebraska has to get back on top so we must give him time to get things figured out. But those trying to place blame on anything and everything but him and the other coaches aren't being 100% realistic either.

Good post. There is a difference between excuses and reasons and folks on here often aren’t good at distinguishing the two. Your post does a good job of saying what excuses are.

If you’re simply looking for an explanation of why X is the way it is (e.g., the team is struggling), you’re looking for reasons.

If you’re using those reasons to deflect warranted criticism or scrutiny, you’re making excuses.

Excuses are reasons, but not all reasons are excuses.

E.g., someone who says we are struggling because strength and conditioning is not up to snuff is just stating a reason. If he states it with the intention of deflecting legitimate criticism of, say, Frost’s play calling, he is using it as an excuse.

 

[Lincoln100]

 

[redwine65]

There was a good sports illustrated article on how Dr. Tom chewed out a 3rd string linemen in a 3rd quarter blow out agaist missou. because he felt he wasn't giving 100%. maybe that's whats needed if we get ahead some.

 

[z28craz]

I was thinking about this yesterday. Trying to pin point the issue. I’ve read the threads and the opinions. The bottom line is that they finished, we didn’t. When they needed a play to close the lead or tie, they made it. When we needed a play to extend the lead and put the game away we didn’t execute. There were multiple opportunities in the second half to deal the coup de gras and we never got it done. IMO it started with the opening drive. That should have been the nail in the coffin drive. That was the moment when we needed a killer instinct on offense to put the game out of reach and really crush them both physically and psychologically. We failed and because of it CU hung around and well... here is the end result. A bunch of excuses. All I’m looking for on Saturday from this team is to finish. 4 quarters of football from every group.

 

[GeorgeFlippin]

There was a good sports illustrated article on how Dr. Tom chewed out a 3rd string linemen in a 3rd quarter blow out agaist missou. because he felt he wasn't giving 100%. maybe that's whats needed if we get ahead some.

That player was Aaron Taylor!

 

[Solana Beach Husker]

After the Saturday loss I have been trying to pin point what exactly is.....

Everything on the field is predictable and mechanical. Excuse is an explanation for what we saw on the field. We have almost no data to make an informed decision when it comes to a football team. What we saw on Saturday is easy to explain.

-19 year old qb...no confidence in wrs who haven't made any play for him
-broken play and only wr he is comfortable with is open= TD
-Rest of first half...broken plays to JD only
-Amart...bigger and more athletic than defenders is able to run for yards=10 more points
-defense is experienced and scheme is confusing= colorado struggling
HALF TIME
- JD no longer open because no broken plays...nu stops running ball with AM(limited carries because we have no qb depth?)= 4 3 and outs.
- Defense gets tired
- Colorado puts together drive because of missed tackles=td
-Colorado runs trick play against tired defense=td
-colorado makes big yards on broken play=td
- Fastest player on the field (mo) runs around a slower defense (14 more points)
-5th year senior qb for Colorado makes clutch pass and senior wr makes clutch catch to tie the game...senior NU CB tips it with great effort
- Colorado kicks game winning fg
- Frost calls two running plays because AM doesn't trust anyone but JD, except JD has been bracketed in zone coverage the entire 2nd half
-Mo who has run outside all day gets stopped running outside
-Freshman TE center makes bad snap
-19 year old qb doesn't throw it away
-Punter misses game tying fg....

Heart and will and all that crap is just that. Crap. Our team isn't that good...we have no depth, we have no competition in practice because of this, our coaches are trying to stay healthy because they are already young on offense and any injuries becomes untenable. We have one of toughest SOBs in the programs history as a head coach, we have one of the great lbs in program history as a lb coach, we have one of the great olineman in our history as oline coach, we have one of the better qb coaches in the game, we have a physics professor working with special teams...our coaches are tough, smart, and they are winners. We have an embarrassment of riches on the coaching staff, just not in the pads.

 

[cubsker_rivals142943]

I don't blame the players, I blame frost. Frost hasn't learned how to win here. He coaches scared. He needs to go rewatch the Auburn game and get that guy to coach Nebraska.

 

[Tarheelhusker]

Let me steal a line from Golfhack
Unacceptable!

 

[Solana Beach Husker]

I don't blame the players, I blame frost. Frost hasn't learned how to win here. He coaches scared. He needs to go rewatch the Auburn game and get that guy to coach Nebraska.

What did he do wrong against colorado? Can you list it or just call people scared like a true keyboard warrior. I remember people like you criticizing him for throwing deep after the Shenault fumble. You guys said, "golly gee, dat HCSF sure should'uv run that ball like ole' Tom would'duv, why he throwin'?" Now you are saying he coaches scared. Which one is it? He doesn't have a very good team right now. It might be his fault, although I would reserve that judgement for a few more years because I am not a petulant little child like the "grown" men on this board. What an embarrassment.

 

[cubsker_rivals142943]

It's fun to group some people in with other people when you have no idea what you're talking about.

 

[cHUCK001]

I am all in on Coach Frost. Things will get better. However, if one isn't a little disappointed about his coaching and some of the issues that we have had since day one, I am not sure what team people have been watching.

 

[cecilB]

Yeah, we were clearly better than Colorado but this team still doesn’t seem to know what it takes to close out a game for a W. It reminded me a lot of the Northwestern game last year. Seemingly had a thousand chances to finish them off and blew every single one of them. We will figure it out eventually, hopefully sooner than later

I think it’s part of the problem when it said ‘we are clearly better than - fill in the blank’. Yes, could have finished them off, should have finished them,I agree.

However, there are good coaches and good players on almost all power 5 teams. The second half, particularly the 4q it was clear Colorado was better. They have a coach(s) with extensive P5 experience, and clearly exploited things after adjusting and games are 60 minutes.

Kind of like how many thought how shoulda beat Iowa last year. We made a couple of adjustments, got a few big plays after a desperation fake punt from shadow of the goal post. All of sudden it’s a game. We’re we better because we adjusted and rallied?

It’s easy to see what we didn’t do, sometimes we overlook what others do!