Latest / Return to Glory - Nebraska / Episode 5.11: Everyone Chill Out -- Minnesota Recap

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Episode 5.11: Everyone Chill Out -- Minnesota Recap · Return to Glory - Nebraska

0:00
Hmm yeah. Someone. Oh my gosh, someone is throwing up in the
0:25
background right now. Dad Jack's over there trying to shish and that's funny.
0:33
How's that going for your dack? Not bad coldby all right? Return to
0:42
Court podcast. Oh we are laughing already at the top five Hunters are nicky
0:51
here with Austin Rose the go to free Dag. Another game to start the
0:59
year with a loss. I was very, very hurt, still am,
1:08
but I have never hurt more after any game than what happened on Thursday.
1:18
Now it is Sunday. We've had some time to come back through. But
1:22
I was in so much pain. I told you guys, I just how
1:26
I had to just get through the night as to start writing shit down on
1:30
notebook page, like I have three pages full of just Labbert, because that's
1:34
the only way I was like getting through that night. After the game,
1:40
Austin, how are you feeling? I'm feeling better now, I will agree.
1:48
Thursday night, I was pretty sad. I basically was like, I'm
1:53
just gonna sit here silently. I think they've been to like midnight. I
1:57
was just like, you know, I'm just sitting here. And then I
2:00
woke up still thinking about the game, and the more I talks to people
2:07
that are like, oh my gosh, the same ship the Huskers, blah
2:09
blah blah, the better I feel about the game. I think that's where
2:15
I'm at. Dak, What is your state of mind right now? Do
2:20
you guys all my honest thoughts? Yes? Stop, tell everybody your state
2:24
of mind right now? Okay, my honest thoughts are Jeff Sims. I
2:31
told you guys he couldn't pass. Yep, I agree. You did say
2:37
he was gonna turn the ball over four picks three picks three. No,
2:44
I think I think through eight throw three or four through three, But he
2:49
definitely could have thrown four or five. You're not wrong. I think I
2:53
think the option is the best bet. We're moving to the triple option.
3:00
You probably should have you stopped drinking since Thursday night. I'm not all right.
3:08
You're at a bachelor party, aren't you. Yeah? Oh boy.
3:13
So Dak is currently at Lake of the Ozarks. He tried to get out
3:16
of this podcast like four or five, six times, saying he couldn't do
3:20
it. But he is here. He is going strong. His eyes are
3:24
half open, but he is And Dak, I want to ask, because
3:30
I want to say this right now. During the game, you actually told
3:35
us you wanted Nebraska to win. You you liked what you saw, you
3:38
wanted us to win. Don't say you didn't because you did. I was
3:43
cheering for Nebraska. I'm not gonna lie I was. I think they looked
3:49
like a well coach team. I'm not gonna lie. Elaborate on that.
3:53
What do you mean? So from when Frost of the coach, you could
4:00
tell how bad of a coach team they were. They looked a lot more
4:02
sound on everything, defense, offense, Everything looked a lot more sound.
4:09
But the same stuff happened. The same type of stuff happened that cost us.
4:16
To get what I mean, we can get into specific plays here down
4:20
the road, but it's like one of the play calling series. Three passes
4:25
in a row, obviously the interceptions that we've mentioned before, a fumble,
4:29
then we have penalties, we have two false start penalties, we have okay
4:32
that that the falster on the goal line was awful. What I'm saying,
4:39
all this, all this stuff is what we were experiencing and why people are
4:44
just I mean, I saw it at the game once Anthony Grant fumbled that
4:50
ball. Everybody was like, we lost. Yes, So I get,
4:57
I understand what you're saying, and I'll tell you my real opinion on it
5:00
here in a little bit, But like, why do people why should why
5:02
should people be even excited? I mean, we lost the same way.
5:05
It's new coaching staff, new for the most part, a lot of new
5:08
players, but we lost the same way. Why shouldn't it be excited?
5:14
Is that what you're asking? Because we lost? Well, why why?
5:17
Yeah, we've lost the same way? Why Dak said we played smarter.
5:20
We looked like a well coached team like they did. We lost just like
5:27
we have them, but the team looked a lot better. It looked like
5:33
there was a little more of a cohesive cohesion amongst the units. And and
5:41
I know we're going to go into it more, but in off outside of
5:44
the offense, our defense was better than last year. Our special teams was
5:47
better last year, Our coaching was better than last year. Yeah, that's
5:50
three of the four phases of the game. Like, yep, not going
5:55
too deep into it, But Matt rule is only oh and one in one
5:59
score game. So I'm playing Devil's advocate here because a lot of the stuff
6:02
that I'm trying to talk, and the points I'm trying to make is what
6:04
I've seen ninety percent of our fans just be up, not to that point,
6:10
exactly to that point, but just very upset. And I saw it
6:15
firsthand in the stadium. Just here we go again and there's no hope.
6:19
Basically, everybody's like, well, we have no hope again. Nebraska football
6:23
is just cursed. It's done, like Matt Rule can't do this like it
6:27
Just that's the feeling the vibe I got from a lot of fans, and
6:30
I actually I'm with both of you. I actually agree with you on this,
6:33
but I wanted to see if there's any takes there and wanted to play
6:35
Devil's advocate to start, So I don't If the statement is yes, these
6:43
players are the same players that lost plus last year, you're not wrong.
6:47
A lot of new players, there's a yeah, you're great. There's a
6:50
lot of new players, and we lost because we shut ourselves in the foot.
6:58
But yeah, anybody that's that's smart. So what this is how we're
7:01
going to do our recap pods this year. We're gonna give our opening thoughts.
7:04
Then often mentioned a week ago that I go on rants anyway. So
7:09
we're just gonna give myself a segment here at the top called the two minute
7:13
Drill, and I am just gonna get to rant about whatever topic I want
7:15
to or topics for two minutes uninterrupted, and then you guys can respond.
7:19
But that is going to be a new segment for Sundays. And I have
7:24
all my notes just just ready to go. So let me pull up the
7:28
time. Let's do it. Timer is ready, all right? The first
7:35
comment of what I made people need to chill out and just take a step
7:40
back and relax. Remember what this team was supposed to do this year,
7:46
and I caught myself in the game. That's why this game worked so bad
7:50
is that we showed that we actually should and could have and we did play
7:55
better than them. We coached, we out coached me, j play,
7:57
We did all the things we needed to do to win that game, but
8:01
we still didn't. Here's the thing, we weren't supposed to win that game.
8:05
We were underdogs. Else My score prediction was thirty one to thirteen Minnesota.
8:11
And you look at our schedule, there are maybe three other Pupper games
8:18
and I don't want to hear maybe Minnesota it's not very good. They might
8:20
not be. They might not be. They could be very poor. They
8:24
could be. But we were in that game, had a chance to win.
8:28
And now look at the rest of our schedule, we should could win
8:33
seven or eight games now, like my expectations from a five win team now
8:35
went up to six and a half and seven. Now we'll get to Colorado
8:39
in a second. But people, that's my first key point is we have
8:43
to just chill out. They could step back, look at the expectation.
8:48
It was one football game with coach Rule. The guys ultimately still don't know
8:54
how to win. They don't know how to win yet. Now there's some
8:58
new players, but not just the guy, just the program. The program
9:01
has the yips, and Rule just got to experience the gut punch at the
9:07
top for himself. He gut punch, and all of us fans I've lived,
9:11
he got a gut punch first hand experience that he didn't know what that
9:13
felt like, hurt it, you can hear it from the outside, but
9:18
he now knows what it feels like. And now he's going to get the
9:20
chance to identify all the little problems and try to solve them. Just like
9:26
frous had the chance to too. We figured out Froud because so let's give
9:31
rule the time. It was his first loss, often nailed. Oh and
9:33
one, let's give him the time to identify those problems, be the problem
9:39
solver that he is, and fix it. That's time. Go ahead.
9:46
I agree, No, I think that I really do agree. I matter,
9:50
what was what seven year contract? Six year contract? I remember how
9:54
many years it was? Definitely over five. It's a long I think it
10:00
might even ben eight and it might have been eight. Yeah, And to
10:03
think that in one game we were gonna solve that after being a touchdown,
10:09
you know, seven point five underdog, and then we come up there and
10:13
we basically, I want, I don't know say we dominated them, but
10:18
they the Brashley deadly should have won. You're right, we should have.
10:22
And then I mean, one fewer turnover we probably do realistically, or at
10:26
least we go to over time. If K forty seven and drop that dime,
10:33
you guys would have lost or one I mean right, yeah, the
10:37
fourth to ten that that that was the game, the one that there are
10:39
we can we can go back, guys and nitpick I mean ten plays in
10:45
that fourth quarter, Well, hell you can we can. We'll get to
10:48
the end of the first half two and say if this would have changed,
10:54
the outcome is different. But we're what went wrong I think is coachable and
11:00
can be addressed. Yep, correct, But again we what I what?
11:03
What has been a struggle in my mind all this stuff. We've went down
11:09
this path with Frost when we were losing close games. There were a lot
11:11
of times seven to ten plays in those games that everything had to go wrong
11:15
for us to lose that game, and they did. That's exactly when I
11:18
say wrong in Minnesota's favor. That's what happened again in this game towards the
11:22
end of that game, starting with that fumble like that that then everything just
11:28
transpired from there and you can get into each play. You're right, Dad,
11:31
that he doesn't catch that pass, the unbelievable catch and go unbelievable pass
11:35
on fourth and ten Like, yeah, we don't, we don't like we
11:39
win the game then, But bottom line is Minnesota is Austin said this,
11:43
they're an established program PJ Flex in the seventh year. We're in game one
11:46
under a new program that needs to learn how to play, make plays and
11:52
win games and rules said that In his post game, he said, we
11:54
need guys need to make plays. Jeff Sims needs to know I'm throwing this
11:58
pass away at the path right now. The counterpoint to that, if you
12:03
want to start looking at the coaching staff, you can say, well,
12:05
you don't put him in the situation to even let him throw that pass.
12:07
Well maybe, but one of my key points from that, even when it
12:13
happened, I'm like, that's the football play. You have eleven seconds left.
12:16
I get it, you're out of timeout, but like, that's that
12:20
high school quarterbacks should know that that you throw that you either throw that ball
12:24
at the ground or sail it and you kick the field goal if he's not
12:28
wide open. Now we did actually have a guy wider, but it's it's
12:33
it's hard, you know, you want to point the finger and blame.
12:35
There's no one to blame here. Yet, it's a building block of a
12:39
program that I think still has potential. We're going to learn a lot this
12:43
year. It's not the end all b y'all out for one game. Yet,
12:46
it's not it's not dak open. Are you sure about that? Huh?
12:54
Are you sure about that? Yeah? I don't think that. It's
12:58
it's we don't need to freak out about losing one game the way we did.
13:03
Yeah, there were a lot of things that really upset you, and
13:05
that is why that game hurts so bad. But there's not a reason to
13:07
say no, rule can't do it. He doesn't. He doesn't know how
13:11
to play the right way. They looked like a different team, But I
13:18
don't know. I think I think Sims has to just run the ball all
13:26
your long. I am spot on agreeing with Austin. There's a back yeah,
13:35
you, I mean he needs to run twenty times a game. He
13:37
needs to throw the ball. Yeah. As much production as we can get
13:41
from him without him having to throw the ball, the better. Not that
13:45
he's a terrible thrower, but he was freaking like I mean, on this
13:50
feet, he was fast and he was tough to tackle. So staying on
13:56
Sims here, and I have this one of my comments as I was thinking
14:01
about the game, who are our playmakers? Who are our elite guys in
14:07
the field that can go make play. We thought, we thought that might
14:11
be Billy Camp could be. He was non existent. Opposite, I mean
14:15
he was even worse than non existent, like I mean, just horrible.
14:18
Our playmaker guys, it is it's Jeff since he is our elite playmaker.
14:22
I'm not gonna call him elite. He's our playmaker. He's not, but
14:26
he's but he's a five out of ten in the grand scheme of things in
14:28
that category. But he is our best one that we have. So he
14:31
is going to have to run it, regardless of how concerned you are.
14:33
If it's sustainable, I don't care. He's got to do it. Now
14:37
that let's go to his passing because I know you're gonna have thoughts on his
14:41
his passage, right, you hit it spot on. Well. Besides,
14:43
he thought he threw four in receptions when it was only three, Like why
14:50
why did those happen? Like, just explain your thought process behind his decision
14:54
making. So he he with the whole game just first read. It was
15:03
the linebackers read his eyes first read all time. He did not have a
15:09
second read. I don't know if it was obvious when you were watching in
15:11
the stadium, Hunter, but on TV, it was like you knew where
15:16
he was throwing the ball because his head did not move at all. Like
15:20
he was like, oh my gosh, he's gonna and it was I had
15:24
Tanner Lee esque moments where it's like, please do not throw this ball,
15:26
like yep, because you could see where he wanted to throw it and they
15:31
could too, and you're like, please don't throw this. There's no room
15:33
for that ball. He and I told you guys this too. He throws
15:39
a good, tight, strong ball. It's the decision making. It's the
15:46
decision making. And like you guys had his ability to go through progressions and
15:50
make read if you ask him to throw it to an open receiver a slant
15:52
route, he I mean he had some of those. He had some great
15:54
balls, a couple of across the middle passes. Now are those the passes
15:58
we need to be throwing with him? I don't know. So we I
16:03
think we've all identified the problem here. One of the problems was obviously the
16:08
interceptions and the turnovers. Let's not talk about the fumble yet, but those
16:14
interceptions were a problem, right, So this is a problem in solution,
16:18
problem solution. That's what we're going to do for a lot of these things.
16:22
And that's what the coaching staf's going to do. What's the solution?
16:26
Awesome, what's your what's the solution in your mind to this? It's more
16:30
options where you make defenders have to commit off of the receivers to prevent the
16:34
potential run, which then opens up more receivers and their shorter passes. So
16:38
they're what do you mean more options? More like a run pass option.
16:44
Okay, Dak can kind of one one more victory lap? You do it.
16:55
I told you guys about your door. Oh that's Colorado. Can you
16:59
see the head with Zach Dak? Dak, you just went, You just
17:02
went completely off the rail. Colorado. We will talk about on Wednesday because
17:10
there is a lot to talk about props the prime. Yes, Dak,
17:14
you're right, he played awesome, all right, but let's save that for
17:18
Wednesday. Gets a lot to go through this kid. So what what do
17:26
you what do you Zach? How do you fix Jeff Sims or can you?
17:30
What did you say? How do you think Jeff Sims? Or can
17:33
you? I? I just don't think if I think that, What are
17:41
you doing? What? How are you helping him? After you threw three
17:47
picks this week? Yeah? I think I do not think he can best
17:52
ball? Great answer, No, there he goes, there you go,
18:00
So Dak's gone, doesn't think you can pass the ball? Here here is
18:03
what I think with Sam's Austin, I'm actually taking the counterpoint of that because
18:10
I don't know that he can. You complicate it more with the run pass
18:12
options. That complicated and you add all that in you you try to help
18:18
him. You can do one or two ways. You can take it and
18:22
say, Okay, we need to help him learn how to make the first
18:25
second, third read need to help him do that the other thing and this
18:27
is where this is where my head goes. You have to simplify it even
18:32
more and you say he was looking at one one person, he needs to
18:36
do the same thing. But the decision now is if it's not there,
18:40
you run, You just tuck it and run, or you throw it,
18:42
pick the yards over out of bounds like those are your options. And then
18:45
I think get him him to roll out more potentially so he has that option
18:49
to run outside of the tackles if he needs to. But you have to
18:56
simplify it so much that the back. The hard part about that is that
18:59
it's teams are gonna start keying into that very easily. But that's where we're
19:03
at as a program. And with him, I well, you have him
19:07
for two years, it's fine, but he we know his decision making,
19:10
what it was like at Georgia Tech. So like I instead of trying to
19:12
teach him how to do more, like make him do less and actually breeding
19:18
one or two vendors and that's it. That is the easiest thing to do
19:22
in high school as a quarterback. Don't like, this is what you're looking
19:25
at. If it's not there, you just tuck it and run. That's
19:26
all you gotta do. That's all we gotta do. I agree, I
19:32
okay, I agree in the sense that that that makes sense to me.
19:33
Like obviously my he was different. And if while we're talking about the passing
19:40
game, I will say our receivers weren't getting much separation, like there wasn't
19:44
There were obviously open receivers, but it wasn't like we were. Our guys
19:51
didn't have massive windows for him to hit, so he wasn't correct and read
19:56
talent there. We we knew this could be a problem coming in. I
20:03
think the younger guys are going to have to play your Malachi Coleman's of the
20:07
world. I didn't see Fleaks much the Baylor transfer, Like I don't.
20:11
I don't know where he was at. But we're gonna have to do it
20:15
was the only guy in there for a deep shot. Correct And Tommy Hill
20:18
I think is is uh, he's fast. I mean I think it's quick
20:21
and that's why you take a shot with him. But that is going to
20:26
be a point of emphasis to other teams are going to key on if we
20:29
don't have those guys. And Minnesota I think knew that early on and we've
20:33
played a lot of man demand coverage, just very basic like we are more
20:37
athletic than you, and it's you get open, like find a way to
20:41
get open. So that's what teams are gonna start doing, and they're gonna
20:45
say, Okay, this is what SIMS is. We get very one dimensional.
20:49
Here is the bright side of that, this new clock thing and the
20:55
style that we played on offense, huddling it. We're in our favor when
21:00
you don't have the better athletes. We've talked about this before on the podcast.
21:03
In any sport, when you know you may not have the better team,
21:07
you want to try to shorten the game as much as you can.
21:11
And that is what this new rule allows you to us to do. And
21:15
if we play smart discipline, run the ball, use our tight ends more.
21:18
I don't think we did enough of that. We will be fine this
21:21
year. Will we do that? That's the million dollar question. I don't
21:25
know. But we showed more signs of that than we ever have under rule,
21:32
than all of our ears to Frost. I mean, we can go
21:33
back to Mike Riley whatever, we can even go back to Cleaney. But
21:37
I thought Back's point the very top while we still had him and was able
21:41
to still talk like when he said we played smart football. I think we
21:49
played smart. We weren't perfectly smart, we had, but the style and
21:53
the way we played is the closest to what I believe a Big ten football,
22:02
Nebraska Big ten football team should be playing. The closest we've gotten to.
22:04
It was what we just saw. So can we take that and keep
22:10
building on that and not abandon it if we if it doesn't work, but
22:14
learn from it, learn how to make it better. Because that's my fourth
22:18
bullet here that I wrote. I said, takeaway smart football, sims Ran.
22:22
I think what was the final tally? Nineteen times eighteen nineteen ninety one.
22:32
Okay, so he we I said, he's gonna have to do that
22:36
for us to be in games. And on top of that, we haven't
22:41
talked about the defense one bit. Our defense was like like it was good,
22:48
question Mark, Like, I think, I think it might work.
22:52
And what we're our concerns of the defense coming into the game, what were
22:59
they might have lost Austin Now I can see you there he is, Well
23:11
maybe he's still there now, well we may have lost Austin. Now I'm
23:18
not sure what's going on. So I'm just gonna keep going as a solo
23:22
until Austin is back. Oh boy, what a trainer wreckt Okay, So
23:30
our defense stop the run against the physical Big ten team, and we can
23:37
say all we want that maybe Minnesota is not very good. Maybe they're not.
23:41
I don't know. But their offense looked so bad. And how did
23:44
they beat us? It was through the air, throwing the ball short,
23:48
seven yard ends, seven yard outs, like that was the way we were
23:52
going to get be in. It wasn't working. Now at the end of
23:53
the game. That worked for a half of the field, But our concern
23:59
was giving up the bigs with three, three, five. It was getting
24:02
gashed up the middle. That was the exact opposite of what happened. I
24:06
mean, seriously, every time they ran the ball, it was clogged in
24:10
the middle. It was just a bunch of Husker defenders that swarmed the ball
24:15
and gained one or two or three yards. So that was a huge plus
24:22
because that's what we're going to see a lot in the Big Ten, not
24:23
next week. Not they didn't run it that much. No, against a
24:29
team that they had a top ten rushing team last year. I mean they
24:32
were and I get it they lost Abraheam, but that's their identity. And
24:37
their offensive line wasn't young, Like it wasn't like I know they had They're
24:41
like, oh, they lost a lot of starpents of starting an offensive lineman,
24:42
but they they had talented offensive lineman. It wasn't like you're pushing on
24:48
nobody. And Minnesota's strength and there identity that they had had been that what
24:59
I loved. Whether again they're not very good one watching that game on TEE
25:03
on live at the stadium, like, we just loaded the freaking box up.
25:07
We did, our safeties were up there, we played a lot of
25:10
man press coverage on the outside, and we packed the box. Again.
25:14
That goes back to being smart and that talk about the flexibility and adaptability of
25:18
that three three five. We were all up there and I don't I can't
25:22
say that. I it was clear enough to me that I noticed it live.
25:26
I'm like, wow, Like we have eight guys in the box,
25:30
like truly in the box inside like eight yards the line of scrimmage. I
25:33
don't remember seeing that much with any of our past defensive coordinators. So that
25:38
was smart. That was exactly taking away what they wanted to do. And
25:41
yeah, they ultimately klick mannis he made some bros. And the one that
25:49
matters, they managed the game well late. So that again talk about another
25:55
positive thing that we're gonna be okay. Like I thought we could give up
25:59
thirty one, just get gashed because that's what the three three fives known to
26:02
do, but did the opposite. And we had an interception too, which
26:07
does not happen frequently. Oh, Mark Brown looked really good. He did,
26:11
and he made a great read on that ball, broke to it,
26:15
caught it. I mean it was it was a phenomenal plays That was good
26:18
to see. Now one concern that you had on defense, there's one that
26:22
stood out in my mind that especially next week could be a problem, Like
26:26
what what do you what was your big Like maybe we need to definitely kind
26:33
of those mid range throws. We there were a lot of open open people.
26:38
Like we got pressure, but there was a lot of receivers with a
26:44
lot of space and like the like the ten to fifteen yards down, like
26:48
not necessarily the deep shots, but not like the closest ones either. It's
26:52
like those ten to fifteen yard passes. It felt like their guys always had
26:56
like a yard or two on our guys, and a lot of those happened
26:59
on third down. There are a lot of third, seven, third and
27:03
eight, third, ninth, but they were eight or seventeen on third down
27:07
and they would complete it by a half the yard. But I think that
27:08
that all goes down to again, that's that is really smart executing football,
27:14
and our guys don't quite understand the situation yet. I think rule knows that
27:18
that's the time and situation you need to be able to defend that. But
27:22
I think we took away their strength to add to your Yeah, that part,
27:29
my part was the pressure, Like I just didn't I didn't think that
27:33
we got to Kellick Manus enough back there, and going into the next game,
27:38
we're going to have to get the Sanders because they are going to be
27:41
more athletic than Minnesota out wide. We saw that for watching that TCU game.
27:47
So it is that is the concern I think with the defenses. Can
27:51
we get enough rush and hurry on a quarterback and now Ty Robinson it will
27:56
be out for a half. That was a very easy call on the garden.
28:00
Yeah it was. Yeah, it's and it's that that happens. Talk
28:04
about how it happens, but talk about again discipline, some of that same
28:10
stuff we were talking about with Frost. The difference is it happened over and
28:14
over and over and over with Frost and it while you don't because it's not,
28:18
but I think in people's minds, because it was so similar, all
28:22
this carry over, you just think, okay, like this, nothing's changed,
28:29
nothing's changed. And the word sloppy, I've seen a lot of places.
28:33
What did we say after the spring game? It was sloppy. It
28:37
was so sloppy, and that's not a good sign. Everyone truly thinks Frost
28:42
was as bad as he was. You're not gonna come in with one offseason
28:47
and like correct errors that people have been doing for four years and I and
28:53
yeah, they don't know how to win and correct a lot of that stuff.
28:57
So yeah, spot on there. Again, there's a lot of new
29:00
players, don't get me wrong, but as a collective group, we still
29:06
have the yips golf term, we just have the yips. You just keep
29:10
taking you can't get over the hump yet. So we feel good about the
29:14
defense. And then I would say you just in general, there was definitely
29:17
like an energy about the team, like even coming out of half after throwing
29:21
the interception at the end of the first half, like they had an energy,
29:25
like they were freaking fired up. They were, and the kickoff return
29:30
by Ramire to get us down there, and then a couple of plays later
29:36
we throw the crazy Osbourne play out there and we score a touchdown, like
29:38
there was a response there. We talked about half time adjustments a lot,
29:42
like I think there were some, well there were some. I mean we
29:48
we just we ran the ball more with other people other than Jeff Simms,
29:53
like our time of possession in the first half, we were getting absolutely destroyed
29:59
by Minnesota, but at the end of the game it's almost fifty fifty.
30:03
Yes, I agreed, so there wasn't There definitely was adjustments, and I
30:08
think it was handing them off to everyone else. Other than sims like that's
30:11
like, all right, we're gonna run the ball. This This transitions well
30:15
into my next point here that I think it's a very big loaded question,
30:22
the question of just game management and ultimately coaching, like how do we think
30:29
the staff did as a whole? And I guess it's very loaded because there's
30:33
a lot of different ways you can take that question. But some people are
30:37
very upset no matter, they don't they don't care. Bottom line is these
30:40
are there were we talked about some of those plays that we've mentioned, and
30:42
if you watch the game, you know which ones we're talking about. Right
30:45
before half the decision there, we haven't got to the fumble yet with Anthony
30:51
Grant, like why was he in the game? After we say that he
30:53
was, so, what are some of the other plays while we're on him?
30:57
There were two plays the game over. Yes there, I mean,
31:03
the false starts happened, But but the argument was that why were we trying
31:07
to rush the line the call of time out there? I mean, there's
31:10
a lot of game management coaching things that you say it's a coach's fault,
31:15
you blame it on. Well, I guess I'll tell you what I think
31:21
about coaching staff's football anyways, But what like what do you think on that,
31:23
Like is is there a part to blame there with the staff and not
31:27
saying with the point fingers. I don't think so. Like when because it
31:33
had they not had a fall start, it would have been a touchdown,
31:36
Like they got the QB sneak in. Obviously there was a slight false start
31:40
and it wasn't a major false start, like it wasn't like it was a
31:42
false start, but they got the QBI sneak in. There were two plays
31:45
that stuck out to me. It was we were up, we had the
31:49
ball with like six minutes left, and we took the shot downhill for Tommy
31:53
Hill. It's like, okay, we took our shot and then we followed
31:56
it up with another pass. It's like, we should be milking the clock
32:00
right now. We should not be throwing up interceptions. I'm glad you brought
32:05
that one up. That's another coaching like what the hell were we doing?
32:08
And that's the one where like do they really freaking know, like does rule
32:13
know what's going on? Like right like we're just through two inceptions and we
32:16
are up and there are six minutes left in this ball game, we need
32:20
to start working the clock. I'm fine taking one shot down failed because they're
32:24
expecting us to run it. But when we go out there we throw it
32:28
twice. After that, it's like, that was really dumb. And then
32:31
Anthony to know that we had full control at the of the game at that
32:37
point. No, yes, our defense was not struggling. We've we've been
32:40
holding them. They've been struggling and getting down to the red zone. If
32:45
we don't get the first down here, we can punt the ball. Our
32:47
defense is playing great. Don't force the game, and that Anthony crazy.
32:55
And then Anthony Grant, the guy you've been telling us all spring and fall
33:00
in summer that he's got the fumbles. He's third on the deep check because
33:04
he's fumbling the ball. They're five minutes left in this game. We need
33:07
to run the ball to above the clock and it's in his hands, and
33:09
it's like, what are you doing. It's not like it's not like Gabe
33:13
Urban has been out there like Gass, He's only run it nine times.
33:17
There's seven times. I remember, let me look at how many times Gabe
33:22
Urban had seven carries. It just it was weird to me. How the
33:27
running backs, Like we thought Gabe Urban was going to be the guy to
33:29
get like fifteen sixteen seventeen carries. They just got shuffled around so much,
33:32
which is what we've seen over the past few years too. In the decision
33:37
to have him in at that game, Yeah, you can question it.
33:39
Here's to all of that where I've landed on it. Matt Rule as the
33:47
head football coach. He is a the CEO of a company that was a
33:53
J. Barthel decision. Probably Matt Rule is not making the day today decisions,
34:00
the play to play decisions, the in game substitutions. He's not doing
34:06
that as the head coach of a football team. I don't believe that's how
34:07
football program staffs work. Do I think the head coaches have the ability to
34:13
give their input and the assistant should listen to them. Yes. Do they
34:15
have the ability to occasionally come in and override play call when they think it's
34:21
necessary, Yes, but specifically for a substitution at that point, I don't
34:25
know. You can't say, oh, y is he out there now?
34:28
Maybe to start the drive and I think he was out there, you say
34:30
get him out of there. He's fumbled prone, right, But I don't
34:35
don't. I don't, and I guarantee you Sunday night. That was a
34:39
conversation Matt Will had with EJ. It is that's that. That's what I
34:44
think. I think Rule now again, Nowady experienced the gut punch, he
34:46
now goes crap like yeah, EJ. Like, look, here's a situation,
34:52
Like I get, I get that. I get that was his play
34:57
and he's ran the ball well on that play. But EJ, he can't
35:00
put ourselves in that situation. And I think that Rule is knowledgeable enough to
35:05
address that. I think he gets that part of it. We don't know
35:08
that for sure. That's the hope is that he's able to look back on
35:12
that and then go to EJ and say, hey man, let's come on.
35:15
And same thing with the same thing with the pastes he talked about in
35:20
the post game. The first one he was open. It was a pretty
35:22
well thrown ball. Tommy Hill say what you want about he's the receiver.
35:25
But I think maybe Tommy Hills our fastest guy that they felt comfortable with,
35:29
so they threw it too. Okay, I agree with you take a shot.
35:31
Whatever. The second down play, we threw it again. Kemp was
35:37
open. If you watched that play, he was wide. Ope, third
35:42
and ten, then you throw it that whole series of plays, though,
35:45
I don't think it's rules, not the one jumping into sadderfield and saying,
35:50
hey, he's not making that play call. He's not saying, hey,
35:52
let's take a shot here. Maybe he's suggesting it, but that is the
35:55
opposite coordinator's job to do that. Rule cannot just say hey, I'm taking
36:00
over because there's six minutes left in the game and here's what we're running,
36:04
right, But he can have the influence now to say now I'm moving forward
36:08
and say okay, here's a situation and we'll talk about situations a lot.
36:13
That's what's important to him. Inside eight minutes, we have a seven point
36:17
lead in the fourth quarter of a big ten West game. Here's our nine
36:22
to ten plays that we are running and we're not deviating from it, no
36:25
matter what the situation is. That you got that, Marcus, you understand.
36:29
But he can't just tell Marcus to fuck off and say no, we're
36:31
not throwing it, we're running it. Like he's not doing that in the
36:35
game now. In game one. I don't think he can maybe down the
36:37
road could he do that if he hasn't a trust with this new offensive coordinator
36:43
that has never called plays for him before. I don't think I could be
36:45
wrong on that, but I think you can't do that to a first time
36:49
play caller because then he's just done. He's done, and now what are
36:52
you left with? Now you're letting somebody else called plays. So I don't
36:55
know who the person is that is calling the smart plays like we consider smart,
37:00
but what we the game plan that we had on offense was the closest
37:02
thing too smart that we had. There were a lot of dumb play calls
37:07
I think still too. But well, that's gonna happen every game. Well
37:12
I hope it doesn't. It mean it can't happen every game. There's gonna
37:15
be a few here and there, and you hope to minimize those. But
37:21
it rule. I think that My big point with Rule. I think he
37:24
gets the big picture I do, and I am not fully chugging the rule
37:29
aid. But after the game, I feel so much better. He proved
37:35
a lot more to me positively than what happened negatively. Even though we lost
37:38
the game the same fucking way we've lost, He's proven a lot more to
37:42
me, and I'm a lot higher on the future because I think he understands
37:49
the entire big picture of what needs to happen. And to add to that,
37:52
just another side note, I thought our warm ups were Chris very sharp
37:57
and and the guys respect him. That's what I kind of just gather from
38:00
everything to get to sit up with it. But any last thoughts, I
38:04
know I just rained there again. No, I think last thought. We're
38:07
his facial teams unit. We were better running the ball, we were better
38:10
defensively, and we're better coached. So I know we lost Week one to
38:17
a Division one school that's won eight games or more over the last four years
38:22
basically. And what's hard is that if we win that game, we feel
38:27
confidant about going and win in the West Colorado. I mean it's nuts.
38:30
Yeah, So that's that's it. I feel. I feel all right,
38:35
we'll get Colorado Wednesday. Well, we'll be back on Wednesday preview Colorado.
38:39
The wellow leus coach Prime go Big Red, no Boomer sooner, no Boomer
38:45
sooner, Tonight out partying GBR. I love that burnt orange dude,