Tom Dienhart at the Sporting News has a nice damning article about Nebraska. It's the kind of article that you're sure to read because it contains nothing good. And he pulls the old "talked off the record to a coach..." bit to so that you'll wonder who that coach is instead of Dienhart having to make any comments of his own:
I talked off the record to a coach who already has coached against Nebraska this year. Here are his thoughts:
"I like the quarterback (Joe Ganz) a lot. He's a heck of a kid. But they can't run the ball. (Marlon) Lucky is good, and he runs good routes. But they really can't run the ball. The line has that mentality of throw, throw, throw (from the old coaching staff). And it's hard to change that mind-set quickly and become a running team overnight. Bo (Pelini) wants to run the ball, but they aren't there yet. It may come after seven or eight games. Or it may not come until the spring. The passing game? They can't just drop back and throw it. Most of their big passing plays come off play-action.
"On defense, I wasn't that impressed. They are big up front, but there isn't much of a pass rush. Bo is trying to scheme them up. He's a big schemer. They came at us with a lot of different blitzes and stunts. I think the DBs are average. I will say the kid they moved from running back to linebacker (Cody Glenn) is a player. He's good. I think this defense will struggle to play in space."
Which coach was it? Who cares, probably a grad assistant who's happy that someone acknowledge his existence.
Question - are the coaches comments off base? If we take off the rose-colored glasses is there really anything here that isn't true or is this just stinking-thinking perpetrated by a coach who's angry he lost?
My favorite part? Bo Pelini is a big schemer. Sounds so nasty, doesn't it? Ha!