Three BIG concerns from last night

[cornhead1.]

DL looked small and got pushed around
RB, aside from Johnson, looked slow and indecisive.
I might add the LB's play was suspect, but that may have been because the DL was getting pushed into their lap

 

[NU65]

Our D line was manhandled the entire game and our linebackers whiffed too many times on tackles. I was not impressed at all and think we will be lucky to win more than 6 games. I did not see one thing last night that would make me believe anything else.

 

[InMotion]

Our D line was manhandled the entire game and our linebackers whiffed too many times on tackles. I was not impressed at all and think we will be lucky to win more than 6 games. I did not see one thing last night that would make me believe anything else.

Nailed it.

 

[cubsker15]

If our DL was manhandled the entire game, then why did Cincinnati have 3 first downs at halftime?

 

[BobVH5150]

It's true that they got no push, but how much of that is because they were in a containment scheme. Also, and this has been brought up numerous places, but we had two guys last year that required four blockers. We have a couple of guys in Davis and Nweri that will eventually both require doubles and chips, but that may not be this season.

 

[redwine65]

I know we scored at the end of the half, but they burned alot of time off the clock.
raiola did fine, hopefully he gets more feel when to take off for some yards to the sideline
them passes to emmit seemed slow to develop...but the ones where emmit was the last option worked ok.

we knew 0 & 9 were leaving, surprised we did'nt nil the dt's more, haven't had a rush end for awhile..

 

[Pennsyhuskers]

First game of the year. I think it unwise to rush to a judgement just yet on how good or bad we are. We don’t know yet if Cincinnati is a better team than we thought.
All that said, I share the concerns of many that we did not look all that good on either side of the ball. To me this looks like a six win team at best so far. We have two guaranteed wins coming up. After that every single game is no gimme. Not even Northwestern and Maryland are going to be easy.

 

[broken record]

DL looked small and got pushed around
RB, aside from Johnson, looked slow and indecisive.
I might add the LB's play was suspect, but that may have been because the DL was getting pushed into their lap

Cincy has a good OL that compares well to some of the better units in the Big 10. Sorsby is also a legit running back at the QB position. And it is game one and no team looks as good at tackling and getting to the QB as they will a couple games into the season. You go from slowing up every practice to not hit a green jersey to game action against a physical QB and RBa.

That said, yeah the DL was ineffective and has to be a lot better. Akron and HCU are ideal opponents for getting younger guys reps across the board and cleaning things up.

 

[Wasker73]

DR had a good game, not a great game. I liked that he did not throw an interception, and I will gladly take a check down to EJ over a drop or overthrow, but he only averaged 7 yards per completion. There will be games where he is going to have to throw it over the top a few times. I thought the receivers did a good job catching the ball. Less drops than last year. TE Lindenmeyer played well. EJ was a stud. He runs hard. Not so much for his backups. I thought the O line showed improvement. I thought the run defense in the 1st and 4th quarters was pretty bad. Played pretty well in the 2nd and 3rd quarters. I still do not think Rhule knows how to manage a game. Let Dana call the time outs. I would have never called that last time out. I know he wanted the defense to get settled and lined up correctly, but Cincinnati with no time-outs left and not much time left in the game were frantic. Rhule's time-out let them collect their thoughts and get set too. This is my first comment on the new site. Somehow, I lost my old standing, so I am starting over again. I am going back to the Michigan State game.