Well here I sit on Monday morning following "Black Saturday" in Lawrence with the 76 still burned into my brain and wondering if I can wait until November 24^th, when I am hoping that Dr. Tom Osborne will give me and the many others of Husker Nation an early Christmas present, by ending the Bill Callahan era and naming a new successor so that some semblance of a recruiting class can be saved, although we have seen here in the past 4 seasons that having a highly regarded recruiting class does not translate into a successful football season now does it.

I have been reviewing different aspects of this team and a few items seem to jump out at me every time I think about what this team lacks that has prevented it from being successful. I will now try to pinpoint those.

Lack of a defensive identity; ever since the USC game this defense has not been able to correct or adjust to even the most minor plays run against them. Call it the "lack of confidence" factor. After USC running backs burned them with the man in motion and then running against the grain to the tune of more than 11 yards per carry the defense's "Mojo" was crushed. That then carried over to the next game against Ball State and the coaches for whatever reason were never able to erase it from the player's minds. Since those 2 games the players formerly known as the Blackshirts became tentative and lacked confidence in their ability. This is where the coaches have failed even more miserably and seem to beg the denial of Callahan's claim that he has done an "excellent job in every area" is totally BULLSHIT!

Basically Cosgrove's answer to this problem is not to try and restore the player's confidence or change his concept; no instead he presumes that his defense will be at a major disadvantage and schemes for it. And his players play like it because that is what Cosgrove preaches, that they have already lost the battle before the war even starts. Not only does the guy fail to dial up any specific scheme for his Husker's opponent each week, he dials up the magic scheme for the opposing offense. Does the man even watch tape of his upcoming opponent? He does stupid things, like when he put his linebackers up at the line of scrimmage, where they fake the blitz, then drift slowly back in coverage, so that they have passes whiz right by their face to a receiver on a slant pattern, who is wide open because the defensive back is purposely playing soft.

Cosgroves main scheme for each week is to try to confuse the quarterback into "guessing" what he is trying to do and it has not worked. Well I take that back it seems to have worked in confusing the Husker's defense. Also because Cosgrove has his cornerbacks play so far off, that teams simply run the slant pattern all day long or the wide receiver screens. I also noticed in the Texas game that the cornerbacks seem to have no clue on how to get rid of the blocker and make the tackle, that once a receiver locks up on the d-back he simply can't break free to make any play at all.

A lack of ability to be able to pressure the quarterback. The Blackshirts really misses strong side linebacker Stewart Bradley and defensive linemen Adam Carriker, Jay Moore, Ola Dagunduro and Barry Cryer much more than many of us thought they would. This years line and linebackers have only recorded 4 sacks and 15 tackles for losses. Last years group had 13 sacks and 33 tackles for losses. This seasons 4 main interior linemen have combined for exactly 1, one sack this season. How could Cosgrove and Callahan be so wrong about Nebraska's defensive line? Where are the defensive line recurits? Why didn't they convert one of those offensive lineman that ride the pine, waiting their turn? Why didn't they alter their scheme so the defensive line's play wasn't so crucial to the success of the defense?

Callahan thinks he's been excellent in every area, huh? Hardly. Where are the defensive line recruits from the past 3-4 seasons? Or how about how well stocked is the cupboard at linebacker for the new coach next season? Running back and wide receiver are well-stocked with talent. Nebraska has about six tight ends. But precious little in regards to any defensive recruits.

Now here is where a lot of the blame does go to the head coach, and is another reason that you will find "Mr. Bill" as an offensive coach in the NFL next season. When you have a poor defense, then you have to try to take some of the pressure off of it on the offensive side of the ball. You have to run the ball, control the clock and keep that defense off the field as much as possible. But what does Callahan do instead? He throws or attempts to throw prayers up and make up a 20 point deficient in a single play so instead of chewing up 2-3 minutes on the clock he has his offense off the field within 30 seconds and his defense back out there. There has been many an instance during this season that was a perfect scenario for a "rally the troops" mentality; you know that "everyone is against us" concept. But no Callahan seems to avoid any interaction with any player on the team except for the quarterback when he comes to the sidelines after each play to get the next play. So people wonder why he is 0 for 16 in games when trailing at half time.

Special Teams is another area that has not been coached up. It seems that we have a kicker who only knows how to boom the ball as far as possible, nothing in the way of squibs or pooches exist. Also last season we had a receiver that resembled Randy Moss and Terrell Owens in talent in regards to being able to "break a long one", that would be Maurice Purify, who was finally discovered after 9 games and a quarterback change. 7 catches for 158 yards and 3 touchdowns against Kansas, where has that play been all season Mr. Bill?

Nebraska isn't fun to watch, because they don't enjoy playing the game, you can see it on the field. Or moreso that they are playing with that "little man" in the back of their mind, simply waiting for the hammer to come down and defeat them once again. The Texas game was a mirage, an abberation, nothing else. The Huskers gas tank has gone dry, and to end this article appropriately for Deathrattle, "The throes of death are here; all that remains is the rattle" to make it official.

Hope you enjoyed my little attempt to dive into the teams mind. Keep the faith GBR! Bring back Bo Pelini Tom!

TrackBack URI for this entry

Comments (0)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

smaller | bigger

Subscribe via email (Registered users only)

I have read and agree to the Terms of Usage.

Add Comment