Well, a major surprise from Matt Rhule at today's press conference: Dana Holgorsen, hired last week as a consultant, is actually taking over OC and play-calling duties from Marcus Satterfield for the remainder of the season. (Satterfield will remain on staff for the rest of the season, at least.)
In last week's post about the Holgorsen's news, in today's about the staff overall, I've written about coach ratings (from McIllece Sports) back to back. Entering 2024, Nebraska ranked 118th nationally at -1.6. If you remove Satterfield (-2.2) and insert Holgorsen (0.8), that staff rating goes to 1.4 which would've ranked 25th nationally entering the season.
None of that means NU improves to a top-25 offense immediately, of course. Still, just a wild swing and a bold move from Rhule.
There are several things to ponder here. But to be honest, right now I'm more interested in alternative storylines because the main storylines are too off-putting.
Things like, but not limited to:
USC losing to Washington then benching their QB, and spending their Bye week putting in some more QB run type plays while knowing that they have to beat the Huskers in order to be bowl eligible because there isn't any hope of them beating Notre Dame.
Wisconsin coming in angry after Oregon blows them out by 50, and needing 1 win between Nebraska and Minnesota to make a bowl game. Let me Axe you, whose red is bigger?
And of course Iowa having extra motivation after a Bye week and a subsequent caught looking ahead loss to Maryland. The parrot heads are always tough when you have to wave at the kids in the hospital.
Fair enough. I have some thoughts on those things.
1) USC inserting Jayden Maiava is a game-planning complication NU didn't need. NU also didn't need another plus-athlete to contend with on Saturday. That said, Maiava will be playing just the third full game of his career against a power-conference defense, so I'll try to weigh those two things in Thursday's preview.
2) I actually think the "residual ache" angle here might be stronger than "renewed vim." Big Ten teams are 2-4 this year the week after facing Oregon. The two wins are MSU surprising Iowa, point for renewed vim, and OSU beating NU by three fewer touchdowns than expected, not a full point for residual ache given the bye week but decidedly not renewed vim. When I saw that Wisconsin played the Ducks before traveling to Lincoln my reaction was "oh, that's nice for the Huskers."
3) As for the "parrot heads"--hadn't heard that one before, but I like it a lot--I'll refer back to the post: "Everything you think about Iowa, good and bad, is true..." This is the Ferentz magic. He has painstakingly built a 4-foot stone wall. Either you can jump over it or you can't, but that wall is NOT 3 feet high in some spots and 5 feet high in others. This is hard to do with stones, all of which he pulled from the ground himself. I will concede, maybe Iowa is a 4.125-foot wall at home.
I am sure USC is capable of confusing our defense without adding a qb that can run into the mix. But that will make the hill taller. Unless real changes are made to the play calling they can outscore us with almost not trying. How Wisc reacts to Oregon will really be a test of what their direction can be. They could get steamrolled by a good defense. Or they can slow the game down,but that is not their new style. I dont know when KF will retire but I would love to put a dagger in the chest just before he does. I havent got a lot of confidence.
Well, a major surprise from Matt Rhule at today's press conference: Dana Holgorsen, hired last week as a consultant, is actually taking over OC and play-calling duties from Marcus Satterfield for the remainder of the season. (Satterfield will remain on staff for the rest of the season, at least.)
In last week's post about the Holgorsen's news, in today's about the staff overall, I've written about coach ratings (from McIllece Sports) back to back. Entering 2024, Nebraska ranked 118th nationally at -1.6. If you remove Satterfield (-2.2) and insert Holgorsen (0.8), that staff rating goes to 1.4 which would've ranked 25th nationally entering the season.
None of that means NU improves to a top-25 offense immediately, of course. Still, just a wild swing and a bold move from Rhule.
There are several things to ponder here. But to be honest, right now I'm more interested in alternative storylines because the main storylines are too off-putting.
Things like, but not limited to:
USC losing to Washington then benching their QB, and spending their Bye week putting in some more QB run type plays while knowing that they have to beat the Huskers in order to be bowl eligible because there isn't any hope of them beating Notre Dame.
Wisconsin coming in angry after Oregon blows them out by 50, and needing 1 win between Nebraska and Minnesota to make a bowl game. Let me Axe you, whose red is bigger?
And of course Iowa having extra motivation after a Bye week and a subsequent caught looking ahead loss to Maryland. The parrot heads are always tough when you have to wave at the kids in the hospital.
Fair enough. I have some thoughts on those things.
1) USC inserting Jayden Maiava is a game-planning complication NU didn't need. NU also didn't need another plus-athlete to contend with on Saturday. That said, Maiava will be playing just the third full game of his career against a power-conference defense, so I'll try to weigh those two things in Thursday's preview.
2) I actually think the "residual ache" angle here might be stronger than "renewed vim." Big Ten teams are 2-4 this year the week after facing Oregon. The two wins are MSU surprising Iowa, point for renewed vim, and OSU beating NU by three fewer touchdowns than expected, not a full point for residual ache given the bye week but decidedly not renewed vim. When I saw that Wisconsin played the Ducks before traveling to Lincoln my reaction was "oh, that's nice for the Huskers."
3) As for the "parrot heads"--hadn't heard that one before, but I like it a lot--I'll refer back to the post: "Everything you think about Iowa, good and bad, is true..." This is the Ferentz magic. He has painstakingly built a 4-foot stone wall. Either you can jump over it or you can't, but that wall is NOT 3 feet high in some spots and 5 feet high in others. This is hard to do with stones, all of which he pulled from the ground himself. I will concede, maybe Iowa is a 4.125-foot wall at home.
I am sure USC is capable of confusing our defense without adding a qb that can run into the mix. But that will make the hill taller. Unless real changes are made to the play calling they can outscore us with almost not trying. How Wisc reacts to Oregon will really be a test of what their direction can be. They could get steamrolled by a good defense. Or they can slow the game down,but that is not their new style. I dont know when KF will retire but I would love to put a dagger in the chest just before he does. I havent got a lot of confidence.