Six Husker Woes

I've decided to compile a short and sweet list of the top 6 reasons we are where we are...in the gutter.

#1.  Husker fans are TOO loyal at times.  I don't care if TO is AD or not...when you have the sellout streak that we do...you don't REALLY worry about your football program.  Sure, we'd like to get back to mid-90s form, but it's not as if UNL is hurting for cash right now and at the end of the day, it's all business.  If we had a pro team, or at least another division 1-A college team, I guarantee that would snap some necks in Lincoln and it wouldn't take a decade to bring us back from the dead.

#2.  Watson needs to go.  If I see another shotgun QB option draw keeper BS 3 yard weak lame shit play, I will make myself barf while hanging upside down so that my stomach acids runs down into my eyes and blinds me.  The play calling at NU has never been the sorta thing to turn heads across the country, but the past few games it has been downright smelly turd.  I can tell you the three general plays that we run every god damn game.  The previously mentioned vomit inducing shotgun QB option where Lee can keep the ball or hand it to Helu depending on what he sees is #1.  #2 is about a 4 yard  out pattern where the WR/TE makes the weakest fake like he's going to run a shallow slant, then backs towards the sideline waiting for Lee to throw it at his knees which means no chance in hell that he'll be able to run with the ball.  The 3rd play is a WR screen that has worked once in the history of football, yet coaches still call it because (I'm guessing here) it looks like a big ding-a-ling on the playsheet and that makes Watson giggle.

#3.  Lee is afraid.  He's afraid to lose his job.  He's afraid to make mistakes that cost us the game.  He's the exact opposite of that Ganz/Favre mentality where you force the issue, which results in a few more INTs, but also a few more TDs.  Lees stats at the moment read like this:  1213 yards, 10 TDs, 3 INTs.  QB rating: 141.8.  That doesn't look half bad.  He completed 73% of his passes against Tech.  That's not bad.  The problem is, he averaged 8 yards per completion.  Sheffield averaged over 10.  It doesn't seem like a big diff, but it is.  Sheffield stretched the field.  He took chances.  He was confident that he could squeeze it in, and if he didn't, his wideouts would make a play...and they did...twice on the first drive they may amazing catches even though there was great coverage on the play.  That's the biggest problem with Lee.  The other major concern has been noted by every Husker fan with a pulse, and that's that Lee can't go through his progressions, he stares down wherever the ball is going, and I don't see Green doing any better.  The diff is...Gree has time to get better, Lee doesn't.  I say bench him now and prepare for the future.

#4.  Our players don't believe in the Husker tradition.  I see the fire in Pelini and most of the rest of the staff.  I don't see it in our players.  I just got done watching highlights of the 1998 Orange Bowl against Tennessee.   It was night and day compared to who we have this year.  Callahan and his players thought this was an NFL type gig where a winning record got you paid.  The current crop of players might be suffering from the mentality of, "as long as we're bettern than Callahan".  That's fine the first year..not the second.  No fire, no effort, no determination, no balls.  Suh, Helu, and a few others are the exception..but anyone who watched the Tech game saw that our guys just lack that undying enthusiasm to compete and win. 

#5.  We believe the hype.  When we're ranked #15, we believe it.  When we're ranked #40, we believe it.  We need to not worry about that shit and go play the game like we're the better team.  I guarantee that a lot of our guys thought Tech was a worse team because of their ranking.  In my opinion, they were VERY under-rated, and they should probably be the #15 team after saturday.  The point is...we lay down and die for bigtime teams.  We expect to roll over unranked teams.  We are too tied up in what others think of us.  Maybe all college teams are like this, but it doesn't change the fact that it's hurtful to our team and we need to only concern ourselves with one thing.  Wins.

#6.  We don't play to our strengths.  We allowed 25 yards rushing on 25 carries against Tech.  Yet they were able to pass on us with ease.  I know that's their gameplan, but that's also where our strengths and weaknesses lie.  We lost to VT because of our pass defense.  If VT had a better passing QB, they wouldn't of needed a last second bomb to pull out the win.  They had chances.  The holes in our secondary are there.  Missouri couldn't exploit it because of the rain, and the rest of the teams we played were junk.  The only reason TT didn't put up gaudy numbers is because our D-line is fantastic and we got good pressure on their QB.  Our poor secondary will get burnt again though.  I don't know if it's defensive play calling, player ability, or that we're just not gellin, but it's flawed.  So the whole point of this rant....if your secondary is crap and your D-line is amazing...we need to be in a nickel/dime/quarter defense every god damn play.  I don't care who we're playing.  Giving up a long pass play right before halftime to TT because of a SINGLE missed tackle is unacceptable.  What kind of defensive play calling is that?  You need to have dudes deep...especially against Tech.  Did we really suspect a run in that situation?  So sad.