Report Card: Huskers 6, Texas A&M Aggies 9

Which is sad, really. This year’s offense should be substantially better, even with Green or an immobile Martinez in there.

It seemed as though the Huskers had a gameplan for a healthy Martinez all set to go, and then had no Plan B when he got injured. Strike that – the Plan B must have been to go into its patented 2009 Offensive Shell. Martinez didn’t help, throwing picks both times he tried to throw the ball more than 15 yards in the air.

What happened to this offense? I think losing a healthy Martinez is a big part of it, but there has to be something more. The O-line hasn’t had a decent game since Missouri, and Martinez’s Okie State passing proficiency is looking more and more like a single-game mirage. Anyone got any ideas?

Penalties, substitution delays and a really myopic gameplan all fall on the shoulders of Watson & Co. The attitude that led to just beating the hell out of Washington and Mizzou has disappeared: it’s past time to get it back. We had moments where we were gashing A&M Saturday night pretty good out of a fairly traditional I set, but then went back to the zone read option, which isn’t really an option when Martinez is hurt or out of the game.

If Martinez isn’t 100%, we need to pull waaaaay back on the shotgun read and use far more pro and I-set offense. Otherwise we’re just running sideways with a QB who can’t cut upfield, and the defense knows it can handle the running back without worrying about the keeper doing much damage. Wats is just too smart for his own good sometimes – it feels like if he’s not getting the yards we need with the plays he wants, he’ll sacrifice the win for the sake of the offensive style. I know that’s hyperbole, of course – Wats wants to win as much as anyone. But dammit, if your speedy qb is gimpy, and his backup isn’t able to run the full offense, then put it on the shoulders of the guys who obviously have the ability to carry the team and just ride them to victory. Helu, Burkhead, McNeill, Reed, Paul, Kinnie – get the ball into their hands and take the questionable element (Martinez’ ankle and Green’s…um…whatever) out of the equation entirely.

Dammit, now I’m angry again. We’re better than this, Wats – come on!

from a friend. Who may or may not have the information correct, but he does know a guy who knows a guy, blah blah blah:

Guess the word on the street is that Martinez was ripping the offensive line when he came back onto the field and was texting his Dad complaining about them while he was in the locker room getting looked at. That was why Pelini was poking him in the chest. The Team voted to suspend him for one game, Martinez and his Dad said he would quit … Bo said OK … looks like they decided to accept the suspension and stay on the team. I guess Martinez’, with his Dad’s backing and interference have been raising cain all fall. Guess the Chancellor’s comments were to help protect Pelini from a suspension by the Big XII.. Let them know that something was being done… Anywho that is all I heard from the [name withheld to protect the innocent] rumor line this morning…

Whatever actually happened, I may try to listen live to the presser today. Then again, “The Office” makes me squirm, so the awkwardness in Lincoln might be too much for my delicate system.

Let’s face it, NU’s offense is no better than last years with the exception of Martinez

From a lay perspective, yes. However, inaccurate. W/o TM the team closed out a Top10 Mizzou team in the second half against a really good defense, won an OT game at ISU by scoring 31 points, and moved the ball adequately enough w/o TM in the aTm game (penalties killed a number of drives that Cody Green was in for). I argue that they’re better but, not by much. We’ve actually got a chance this year if the players execute and don’t shoot themselves in the foot. Last year, we held the ball, ran ISOs, punted it 50+ yards, and hoped our defense would outscore the other team’s offense.

As far as the behavior, the only thing I didn’t like was touching TM. Keep in mind that the camera only showed Bo’s bad moments. It didn’t show any coaching he did on the sidelines. …it’s just not good TV.

But I’m getting this sinking feeling that we’re headed for a crushing loss on Friday. We’re distracted, we’re beat up, there could very well be big time unity problems internally, and we probably won’t get a fair shake from the refs again (I’m not alleging conspiracy, just resigning myself to the fact that Bo is hated enough by the officials that we’re going to get screwed more times than not).

Colorado on the other hand is on a roll. They are not an untalented team, just one that has been underachieving greatly. They match up well, have a strong downhill running game, and a seasoned veteran at qb who for all the grief he’s taken isn’t a bad quarterback. They’re unified, and there’s absolutely no evidence to suggest that they won’t play like crazy in Lincoln on Saturday.

To be honest, I’m terrified.

In fact, I feel a certain level of empathy for the Buffs for having to play them after such a disappointing loss.

Bo has scheduled a press conference for sometime between 11 and 1pm today. Wonder what it has to do with.

the way I was told about it was that it was impromptu…

getting ready to watch the Press Conference

upbeat but apologetic. Says the administration is behind him 100%, says that all the rumors floating around about his and TMs exchange are inaccurate.

TM was excused from a “team shakeout” yesterday. It was not a mandatory team meeting.

His arm was going across Fuller’s arms, so Fuller was trying to push his arm away. He was trying to free himself up to make the catch. It was the correct call.

If Taylor will play Friday. If healthy, will he play Friday? “Yeah”

“I hope [people] look at what you’ve done over a period of time. [I] hope they’re in [my] corner. If I’ve embarrassed anybody- I’m sorry.”

Carl was going to protect a player from an Aggie fan behind the camera guy. He walked into the camera on his way and he regrets breaking the guys camera.. Bo has talked to the player and Carl..

Cody Green would be the starter. Zac Lee is still injured. Zac WAS available Saturday if needed.

Lots of silence…. No, uh- I don’t know… I can’t even speculate on something like that… that’s pretty far out there..

Sounds like some question in Bo’s mind also.

Gomes

Pelini yelling at the players has a positive impact. The passion moves the players. It drives them to compete at the highest level.

A coach that’s strictly a “coaches coach” you may not give it your all like you would coach Pelini.

He’s not in your face for no reason. He sees the potential and he knows you can execute. He wants to win like the rest of us.

On focusing…

You know at Nebraska there’s a lot of focus, it’s expected, there’s been more this week but you have to zone it out and prepare for Friday.

Here’s the deal, our offense really hasn’t gotten that much better since last year, despite returning almost everyone. The fumbles, the penalties, the poor execution…all 2009 all over again. We just got tricked at first because of a couple of good games against crappy defenses.

Watson has had his chance to “open the playbook” so to speak, and he hasn’t done it. I don’t think his playbook is as deep as everyone thinks. The man doesn’t offer hardly any creativity in play calling and when his game plan gets stopped by an opposing defense, he is horrible at adjusting. It’s time to fire Shawn Watson. Seriously, Bo cannot afford to hold onto him for another season. I don’t care how well our offense does the rest of the season. The fact is if our offense could execute even half decently most of the time, rather than good at times and horrible at others…we would have contended for the national title last year and we’d probably be 11-0 this year!

FIRE WATSON!!!

Woulda, coulda, shoulda. Throughout the game we had our chances to win and failed. Ultimately we opened the door for a single bad call to allow TAMU to finish a drive with a game winning FG. Had we scored from the 15 instead of tying the game, we probably would have won. You can make the argument that they might have scored a TD to win, but I would say, that we probably would have kept them from the end zone. That is why I am giving the woulda, coulda, shoulda. We had the offense capable of scoring, but didn’t execute.

I’d write his name here, but there’s just no place for that in this thread.

I just saw stats indicating we have not had a holding call go in our favor for over 4 games! Around 275 plays with no offensive holding calls in favor of our D! Amazing!