• last year
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 Welcome to the Carriker Chronicles,
00:10 the people show.
00:11 Checking the pulse of Eskimos nation
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00:17 Check them out at dpsconstruction.net.
00:19 That's dpsconstruction.net.
00:24 And yes, it's still here.
00:25 Okay, my wife went and got some fingernail polish remover
00:28 so this crap would go away.
00:29 It's been like a week.
00:31 Good Lord, #GirlDadProblems.
00:33 Life is good though.
00:34 You know what?
00:35 Do me a favor, smash that like button if you're like me
00:38 and you like the fact that the Huskers get stronger
00:42 as the game goes along, particularly on offense.
00:45 Now it'd be nice if we started the first half
00:47 a little bit faster.
00:48 In fact, you can hit the like button for that
00:49 if you want that too.
00:50 But the style of ball that we're playing,
00:53 it's clearly more physical, okay?
00:55 And I think it's also a direct result
00:57 of the strength and conditioning staff
00:59 doing a really good job and stepping it up
01:01 from previous years.
01:02 Hit that like button if you agree with me.
01:04 But these are my top three takeaways
01:06 from Nebraska football season so far.
01:08 Ladies and gentlemen, we're through four games.
01:10 That's a third of the season.
01:12 It's time to evaluate, look back,
01:14 and look at my top three takeaways.
01:16 Biggest takeaways from Nebraska's football season so far,
01:18 and it's also a look ahead
01:21 at the number two team in the country.
01:22 They're gonna welcome to Lincoln Memorial Stadium
01:24 this Saturday, the Michigan Wolverines.
01:27 Now my first biggest takeaway
01:29 is that we have two physically talented quarterbacks.
01:32 We really do.
01:33 We gotta figure out how to maximize using them.
01:36 Okay, who's our starter?
01:37 How do we rotate them?
01:38 Do we rotate them?
01:39 Do we not?
01:41 If Heinrich's the starter,
01:42 does Jeff become one of our two running backs?
01:44 Jeff Sims, 'cause that could be fun.
01:46 What about some trick plays?
01:47 What about using them as a wide receiver?
01:49 We need a deep threat.
01:50 We need a big target beyond just Fedoni,
01:52 beyond just Billy Kemp.
01:54 You know, Heinrich can play receiver.
01:56 Jeff can play receiver.
01:57 Can somebody play running back?
01:58 How do we utilize these guys?
01:59 We have two talented quarterbacks.
02:01 Who's the starter?
02:02 What are we doing at the quarterback position first?
02:05 And how do we utilize the other guy
02:06 who obviously has talent and we need some help
02:09 just being a little bit more explosive on offense?
02:12 Now, here's my thoughts on the quarterback so far, okay?
02:15 As I read my notes,
02:16 only one has taken care of the ball.
02:18 Only one has started versus power five teams
02:21 as well, to be fair.
02:23 Okay, Harburg is a little bit banged up,
02:25 got some tightness,
02:26 didn't finish the game Saturday.
02:28 And also, Sims is recovering, as we know,
02:30 from his injury as well.
02:33 Okay, now if you actually,
02:34 and I was gonna go through and read all the stats to you,
02:36 but I'll just kind of break it down for you, okay?
02:38 Harburg has actually thrown more passes,
02:40 ran the ball more than Sims did, okay?
02:43 Now, I don't know if that's because they trust Harburg more.
02:47 I don't know if it's because, you know,
02:49 Harburg has played against,
02:50 I don't wanna say lesser competition,
02:51 but lesser competition.
02:53 You know, what does that exactly do to,
02:55 it would be nice to see more deep balls thrown downfield
02:58 from either quarterback.
02:59 It would be nice to see wide receivers getting open
03:00 to give them that option,
03:01 but it would be nice to see a higher completion percentage.
03:04 Like at the moment,
03:05 Heinrich is completing 51% of his passes,
03:07 but in the run game, they're both dynamic.
03:09 The thing that stood out to me,
03:11 okay, one quarterback had four INTs
03:13 and one touchdown pass.
03:14 The other one had four touchdown passes, okay?
03:17 And, you know, no INTs.
03:19 So taking care of the ball better, basically,
03:23 is what has stood out to me.
03:24 And I know the competition's been a little different.
03:27 Okay, one quarterback is 2-0,
03:28 one quarterback is 0-2, okay?
03:32 And it was interesting.
03:33 When Ruhle was at his presser earlier today,
03:36 he didn't announce who the starter is,
03:38 and he said, "That's not gamesmanship.
03:40 "I'm not playing, I'm not, you know,
03:41 "doing gamesmanship by not announcing the starter."
03:44 And that was interesting to me,
03:45 and I talked about this a little bit on 93-7, the ticket,
03:47 but I said, "I don't think it is gamesmanship either,
03:49 "'cause the offense doesn't really change
03:50 "based on who's in there."
03:52 So it doesn't make that big of a difference
03:54 who the starting quarterback is if I'm Michigan
03:56 trying to figure out what Nebraska's gonna run, okay?
03:59 I think it's multiple things.
04:01 I think it's him protecting Sims,
04:02 because, as one of these things,
04:05 because he has said, "Jeff, Sims is our starter
04:07 "if he's healthy."
04:08 Well, Heinrich has come out, and he's played well,
04:10 in my opinion, played better than Sims,
04:12 albeit against different competition and the like,
04:15 but I think he's kind of protecting Sims.
04:17 I think it's also,
04:19 how are these guys progressing in practice?
04:21 How are these guys projecting
04:22 when it comes to getting healthy?
04:24 They're both dealing with some things
04:25 getting a little bit banged up.
04:27 And yeah, Mr. Allen Iverson, practice?
04:31 We talking about practice?
04:31 Yeah, practice matters here
04:33 at the University of Nebraska, my friend.
04:34 Okay, he wants to evaluate the injuries, health statuses,
04:39 he wants to evaluate how they're doing in practices, okay?
04:43 And I think we gotta find a way,
04:46 not only to figure out
04:47 what do we do with the quarterback position,
04:49 but how do we utilize both these guys in our offense?
04:50 But that's my first biggest takeaway,
04:52 is we have two physically talented quarterbacks,
04:54 how do we maximize their skillset?
04:55 Number two, on offense, we have an offensive identity.
04:58 All right, we're not gonna wow you or anything like that,
05:00 and we're not exactly explosive or anything like that,
05:03 but here's what we are.
05:04 We're gonna hit you in the mouth,
05:06 and we're gonna hit you in the mouth,
05:08 and we're gonna hit you in the mouth.
05:09 And we're gonna do it for a couple of quarters, okay?
05:12 And then we're gonna keep doing it, okay?
05:14 And we're gonna see if you wanna keep hitting us
05:16 back in the mouth.
05:17 I mean, in the second half of these games,
05:19 Nebraska is averaging these last two games,
05:22 these last two contests,
05:23 they're averaging 21 points
05:25 in the second half of those games.
05:27 And it's interesting,
05:28 because those same two games in the first half,
05:30 they're averaging exactly half that amount
05:32 at 10 and a half points.
05:33 So we're literally twice as good in the second half
05:35 as we are in the first, statistically speaking, okay?
05:39 Now, I think things that we can do,
05:41 I love that we have an identity,
05:42 I love that it's physical,
05:43 run the ball, smash the mouth, football,
05:45 things I think we can do to help open up
05:47 and keep defenses honest,
05:49 'cause they're gonna start honing in
05:50 even more and more than they already have,
05:51 especially as the competition gets better, okay?
05:54 So for me, more option, but also more option looks.
05:57 Now, you can do it out of the spread,
05:58 you can do it out of the eye,
05:59 you can run all sorts of different options.
06:01 You can put a receiver in motion,
06:02 use them as the pitch man,
06:03 you can do Vier option,
06:04 you can do all, triple option, okay?
06:06 I know Scott Frost used to put the receiver in motion,
06:09 use them as a pitch man.
06:11 And then you can do fake option,
06:12 and all of a sudden hit the tight end down the seam.
06:14 Think of Johnny Mitchell back in the day,
06:15 think of Matt Herrien with Jamal Lord in the early 2000s.
06:19 Okay, that was something that was incredibly effective
06:21 for Lord and Herrien as well.
06:23 Okay, to keep defenses balanced,
06:25 I would just take a couple of shots.
06:27 You gotta take shots downfield,
06:28 you gotta show them that you're willing
06:30 to take a shot downfield.
06:31 And again, I mentioned this on the ticket as well,
06:33 but I'm gonna mention it here again,
06:34 don't throw it in the middle of the field.
06:36 Okay, right now we're not a deep threat, deep ball team.
06:39 That's where guys get blown up,
06:40 it's also where you throw a lot of interceptions,
06:42 especially with a lot of free roaming safeties in cover one
06:44 that these teams like to run or cover three.
06:47 Throw it down the sideline,
06:48 on the outside shoulder of the receiver.
06:50 So either he catches it or it goes out of bounds,
06:52 or you get a PI.
06:53 Okay, two of those three things are good,
06:56 and one isn't necessarily that bad,
06:57 but just show the defense that you're willing
06:59 to threaten them down the field.
07:01 Also screens.
07:03 Teams are gonna start blitzing a lot more,
07:05 Louisiana Tech was blitzing a lot more,
07:06 teams are not scared of the over the top threat,
07:09 which is where the fake option
07:10 with the tight end seam could work,
07:12 which is just showing teams
07:13 that you're willing to take a deep shot,
07:15 whether it works or not, but also screens.
07:17 Okay, screens can keep defenses off guard,
07:20 and I know that screens can sometimes single-handedly
07:23 be a defensive coordinator's biggest nightmare.
07:25 I've watched defensive coordinators have nightmares.
07:28 Okay, back when we played Texas Tech and Mike Leach,
07:31 they didn't run the ball through screens.
07:33 When we played the Eagles,
07:34 they threw all sorts of screens in lieu of other things,
07:36 and that's how they kept teams balanced.
07:38 So those are things that we could possibly do as well.
07:41 Now I don't expect Nebraska
07:42 to be good at everything at once.
07:43 I mean, even Colorado, you know,
07:45 "Setting the world on fire."
07:47 Well, we forgot how to block,
07:48 we forgot how to play defense,
07:49 we forgot how to run the ball, and Oregon exposed us.
07:51 Now they beat us 36 to 14,
07:54 so I'm not gonna talk too much.
07:55 What I'm saying is, look at what Dion's done
07:57 and how insanely impressive that is,
07:58 and they've got holes all over their team.
08:00 You can only do so much so fast.
08:02 Okay, I like what Matt Rule has prioritized.
08:05 Defense, special teams, smash-mouth football,
08:08 and obviously we've got other things
08:09 we gotta get better at, okay?
08:12 Now, again, starting by running the ball,
08:14 being smash-mouth, and stronger as the game goes along,
08:17 that's our identity, and I don't know about you,
08:20 but that works for me.
08:21 Last week, we ran for 312 yards,
08:24 averaged 6.5 yards per carry,
08:27 and on the season, we're averaging 235 yards
08:29 per rushing per game and 5.5 yards per carry,
08:33 which is sixth in the country.
08:35 All right, ladies and gentlemen, real quick, as always,
08:38 thank you to the fans for supporting the show.
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09:03 Number three, the third thing that stuck out to me
09:05 the most so far is we play rock-solid defense.
09:08 Not perfect, but rock-solid.
09:10 Our defense is gonna give us a chance
09:12 to at least be in every game
09:13 and have a chance to win every game.
09:15 The number one rush defense in the country,
09:16 given a 1.8 yards per rush, 46.3 yards rushing per game.
09:21 Tied for 11th in the country in sacks
09:23 with about 18 other teams,
09:25 it looked like when I looked them up.
09:26 Okay, but we were number one in the country at one point.
09:29 We had no sacks last Saturday.
09:31 Okay, but we have 14 total on the season.
09:33 In total defense, we're 23rd in the country,
09:35 so that's top 25.
09:37 We gotta get, I mentioned this before,
09:38 but I'm gonna say it again.
09:39 We gotta get better at pressing the quarterback
09:40 without blitzing, that will help our pass defense,
09:43 which has given up 252 yards per game,
09:45 which is 101st in the country.
09:47 Okay, but we are a sound, physical defense.
09:50 It's gonna keep us in the games
09:51 and give us an opportunity to at least have a chance
09:54 to compete and win against some of these better teams
09:56 like Michigan.
09:56 Also, it'd be nice to help out the offense
09:58 and get a few more turnovers on defense,
10:00 but I don't wanna be too picky, you know, so far.
10:03 All right, we are definitely better in some areas.
10:06 Absolutely need to keep improving in other areas.
10:09 Matt Rule's emphasis on physicality and toughness,
10:13 he literally said in his presser today,
10:16 "Toughness is a skill.
10:18 "It's not something you're born with,
10:19 "it's something you have to learn."
10:21 Okay, and I love that.
10:22 All right, now real quick,
10:23 here's my early look ahead to Michigan.
10:26 All right, rush offense,
10:28 a ravaging 168 yards per game, 49th in the country.
10:31 Pass offense, 238 yards per game, that's 69th in the country.
10:35 Total offense, 405 yards per game,
10:37 that's 60th in the country.
10:38 Scoring offense, 32 points per game,
10:40 that's 53rd in the country.
10:42 I mean, they're one of the top teams in the country,
10:44 and they play volleyball, and they're really good,
10:46 but they haven't been tested or pushed,
10:47 and the offense isn't exactly blowing people
10:49 out of the water yet to this point.
10:52 They haven't had to.
10:53 Defensively, they're really good.
10:55 Rush defense, 80 yards per game,
10:56 they're allowing 12th in the country.
10:57 Pass defense, 151 yards per game, 7th in the country.
11:01 Total defense, 231 yards per game,
11:03 that's third in the country.
11:04 Scoring defense, they're number one in the country,
11:06 5.8 points per game that they're allowing.
11:08 Now, here's my thoughts on my early look ahead to Michigan.
11:11 I will put out a video later this week
11:12 where I give my keys to the game.
11:14 My six-year-old daughter's gonna join me, as always.
11:17 One of my kids joined me.
11:18 I'll give a prediction as well.
11:19 Look for that later in the week.
11:21 Here's my thoughts, here's what I wrote.
11:22 They haven't looked incredibly impressive so far.
11:24 They haven't had to.
11:25 They haven't played anybody, okay?
11:27 No disrespect to Rutgers and other teams.
11:29 They play Rutgers has a better record than us.
11:30 All due respect to Rutgers.
11:31 All right, J.J. McCarthy's completing 80% of his passes,
11:34 but hasn't had to make big plays yet.
11:37 They have possibly the best running back duo in the country
11:39 and Blake Corham and Donovan Edwards.
11:41 Their defense looks better than their offense.
11:43 Their defense looks legit.
11:45 They're obviously big-time favorites.
11:46 They opened as an 18.5 point favorite
11:48 over the Big Red this weekend.
11:51 Okay, my question is how inspired
11:53 will they be to play us Saturday?
11:55 How inspired will they be to play Nebraska on Saturday?
11:58 I have a feeling Memorial Stadium's gonna be rockin'.
12:01 And honestly, the uglier and the lower scoring this game is,
12:06 the better it is for us, okay?
12:09 If we can keep it close to halftime,
12:12 if we can keep it close to the fourth quarter,
12:14 you never know what can happen.
12:16 I'm not saying we're gonna win right here, right now.
12:18 I'm saying the uglier, the lower scoring,
12:21 and the more rockin' Memorial Stadium is,
12:23 and if we can get to halftime in the fourth quarter,
12:25 you just never know.
12:26 But I'll break, I'll give my thoughts,
12:27 my prediction later in the week.
12:29 Three questions for you fine folks at home.
12:30 Hit me up in the comments below.
12:32 Do you agree with my three takeaways?
12:33 Did I miss any?
12:35 Number two, do you like Rule's approach to toughness?
12:38 He's making a cornerstone of the program.
12:40 Number three, give me your way too early
12:42 Michigan versus Nebraska score prediction.
12:45 All right, as always, go to CarrikerChronicles.com.
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12:53 All your football hopes and dreams will come true.
12:55 Go Big Red, and always remember, go to the bug.