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00:00 Welcome to the Carriker Chronicles, the people show.
00:11 Checking the pulse of Husker Nation brought to you by DPS Concrete Construction.
00:15 Check them out at dpsconstruction.net.
00:17 Ladies and gentlemen, if you still consider a 6-6 season, and Nebraska going to a bowl
00:22 game, a successful year one under head coach Matt Rule, and if you think that being halfway
00:28 through the season, six games in, being 3-3, alright, that's a successful season, 6-6 going
00:33 to a bowl game, but if you take being 3-3 halfway through the season, halfway to that
00:37 goal literally on track, if you take that like I would, smash that like button.
00:42 Also, you know, I was curious to see how the team was going to bounce back to that Michigan
00:46 football game.
00:48 Okay, I'm so glad that Matt Rule did what he did last Sunday.
00:52 I love the fact that he said, "You know what?
00:55 This ain't a recovery day.
00:56 We ain't just going to come in and lift a little bit, jog a little bit, watch a little
00:59 bit of film and get out.
01:00 We're going to go full pass.
01:01 We're going to go full go.
01:02 I'm going to send a message that what happened yesterday isn't acceptable."
01:05 I love that decision because it's gutsy.
01:07 I've never heard of that before in my life, a coach doing that.
01:10 We're going to go full pass, full go, and we're going to send a message that yesterday
01:13 was not okay, talking about the Michigan game, and we're going to find out who really wants
01:16 to be here because I guarantee there's some guys that didn't like that and they may not
01:19 be here in the near future because of that.
01:21 That's a gutsy decision.
01:22 The fact is, this team is not going to quit.
01:25 Alright, the defense didn't quit.
01:27 I love the way they bounced back.
01:29 I love the way they had that stop on fourth and inches on that first opening drive which
01:33 I guarantee turned the tide of the entire game.
01:35 Ladies and gentlemen, Nebraskans don't quit.
01:38 I love that decision.
01:39 Now, I don't want to get ahead of myself.
01:41 Okay, this is my mid-season grade for the Huskers, halfway through the football season.
01:44 I'm going to grade the offense, the defense, the special teams, coaching, overall, pass
01:48 offense, pass defense, rushing defense, everything.
01:50 Let's light this candle.
01:51 A couple of real quick final thoughts on our last game.
01:54 And I thought this was funny.
01:56 Versus Illinois.
01:57 I thought this was funny so I want to share this.
01:58 A fan sent it to me.
01:59 He said that last game beat in Illinois was like winning a toothless dogfight.
02:03 You know what?
02:04 You're right and I think it's great because we came out on the winning end.
02:06 Number two, okay, because this was ugly.
02:10 A lot of people said, "This is a game I don't want to think about again."
02:12 So here's my final thoughts on Illinois, then I'm going to give the mid-season grades.
02:15 It was either five or six drives that we started offensively inside of Illinois, deep in their
02:20 territory.
02:21 So if you get a field goal, let's say it was five drives, five field goals, that's 15 points.
02:25 You should have at least 15 points out of those five drives, right?
02:28 What if you get a touchdown every time?
02:30 That's 35 points.
02:31 So you should have had somewhere between 15 to 35 points minimum, right?
02:35 You know how many points we got?
02:36 We got 10.
02:38 We got a field goal, a touchdown, and then at one point we had three straight empty drives
02:42 with a missed field goal and two turnovers.
02:44 We ended up with three total turnovers on the day versus Illinois.
02:48 But the bottom line is, ladies and gentlemen, we just won the type of game that we normally
02:53 lose, especially in the last half a decade.
02:57 And to me, as ugly as that game was, we actually won by double digits, 20 to 7.
03:02 Am I the only one that noticed that?
03:03 On the road, on a short week, in the division.
03:06 I know, weak division, not a great opponent.
03:08 I get it.
03:09 But that's the type of game we normally lose, and we actually won it.
03:12 So that stood out to me.
03:13 Alright, here are my mid-season grades.
03:15 Now, I don't do mid-season grades a lot because I find them hard to do.
03:18 I'm sorry, I don't do grades a lot, period, week to week, okay, because I find them hard
03:24 to do.
03:25 Like, the difference between a B- and a C+ is literally 80.0 and 79.9.
03:29 At least that's how my school worked.
03:31 So to me, I find grades hard to do.
03:33 I do like doing mid-season grades because to me, I don't do them a lot.
03:37 It's an appropriate time.
03:38 We're halfway through.
03:39 We got the bye weeks.
03:40 Let's light this candle.
03:41 Let's have some fun.
03:42 This may be a one-time-this-year deal, so let's do this.
03:43 Also, I should be clear, I am not grading this team on what I want them to be in year
03:48 3 or 4 or 5, or even year 2 under Matt Rule.
03:51 I am not grading this on my 8th, 9th, or 10th year of personal Husker frustration, because
03:57 that's where I'm at.
03:58 And that's how a lot of people feel.
03:59 I'm grading it as best I can, year 1 under a new coach.
04:02 That's how I'm looking at this team, and that's how I'm trying to approach these grades, just
04:05 to be clear.
04:07 Alright, passing offense.
04:10 We don't have a great passing offense.
04:12 We don't have great vertical threats.
04:14 We don't have a whole lot of wide receivers that create separation.
04:17 I was happy to see Malachi Coleman get some reps.
04:19 He's a big, tall, fast, athletic young guy, and hopefully he can start making impact.
04:23 In fact, Marcus Washington caught our first pass this year that wasn't a trick play of
04:27 over 30 yards early on in that game, early on in our last game.
04:31 Hopefully he gets healthy quickly, speedy recovery.
04:34 Marcus.
04:35 So we have Thomas Fedoni, who's a good pass-catching tight end.
04:38 He's probably our best deep threat right now.
04:40 I know Billy Kemp's our best wide receiver, but he's not necessarily a great deep threat.
04:45 We need more wide receivers who can get open downfield.
04:47 We gotta use Thomas Fedoni even more.
04:51 Our quarterbacks, we gotta complete a higher percentage of our passes.
04:54 We're only completing 53% of our passes right now.
04:58 They do gotta work on Heinrich Harburg's throwing motion.
05:01 I was a pitcher growing up.
05:02 I threw 95 miles an hour.
05:03 I don't know if many of you know that.
05:04 I was a quarterback, most of you know that.
05:06 Yes, I could throw the ball really far.
05:08 84, not 85 yards.
05:09 I know that for a fact because I never could get there and it frustrated me.
05:13 So I understand throwing motions, at least to a certain degree.
05:15 I wouldn't mess with it in season.
05:17 But this offseason, he's a young guy and it is possible to improve those things.
05:21 Now that being said, our offensive line has gotta protect better up front so our receivers
05:26 have time to get open, our quarterback has time to go through the reeds, especially on
05:29 the left side of the O-line.
05:31 So we gotta pass protect better.
05:33 Now we are 125th in the country, averaging 140, give or take, pass yards per game.
05:40 We have 5 passing touchdowns on the year to 6 interceptions.
05:43 That's not exactly the 2-1 touchdown to interception ratio that you're looking for.
05:48 And so, I didn't give our passing offense a very good grade.
05:51 We're 125th in the country.
05:52 Let me repeat that in passing yards per game.
05:54 So I gave it a D-.
05:55 Alright, Russia offense.
05:56 D- in case you didn't hear me.
05:59 Russia offense, we are obviously a run-first team.
06:04 That's what Nebraska fans want.
06:05 That's what Matt Rule's trying to build, and based on our personnel, it's what we have
06:08 to be.
06:09 We're averaging 201 rush yards per game, 5 yards per carry.
06:12 We've had 240 rush yards attempts on the season, 232 pass attempts, so clearly we want to run
06:17 the ball first.
06:18 So I tried to weight these things.
06:19 The Russia offense versus the pass offense, versus what we're trying to be when it came
06:24 to our overall offensive grade, but I'll get to that in a minute.
06:28 I have to factor this in.
06:29 We've had 15 fumbles on the year.
06:31 We've lost 5, and all 5 of those were in our opponent's territory, so it took points off
06:35 the board.
06:36 So that has to be factored in.
06:37 Okay, the offensive line, like I said, are better at run-blocking than they are pass-blocking.
06:43 They get better as the game goes along.
06:45 Now we started out better against Illinois in the beginning, and then the second half
06:48 was what it was on offense, but as a whole throughout the year, we get stronger as the
06:53 game goes along running the ball, which I like.
06:56 I like the conditioning, but I like to start out faster, more consistently game after game
07:01 running the ball, and that starts up front with the offensive line.
07:04 We have good run-blocking tight ends.
07:06 We have quarterbacks who are talented runners.
07:09 I mean, Harburg has to work on that pitch, talked about that, but I love the way he runs,
07:12 the physicality, the deceptive speed he has.
07:14 Jeff Sims, when he takes off and runs, he's got a lot of ability.
07:18 I do want to see that guy.
07:20 I mean, if he's not the starting quarterback, I know some people want to give him a chance
07:23 again after the bye week when he's fully healthy, that's fine, but if he's not the starting
07:26 quarterback, I want to see him at running back.
07:28 I want to see him at wide receiver.
07:29 I want to see that freak athlete helping our offense in some way, shape, or form.
07:34 It's unfortunate that two of our top three running backs have been banged up.
07:38 You watch Emmitt Johnson come in, he's got burst, then he lays the ball on the ground,
07:41 he's a young guy.
07:42 Okay, Anthony Grant, talented guy.
07:45 That's kind of one of the reasons I like to see Jeff Sims back there, to see what he can
07:48 do.
07:49 Some way, shape, or form.
07:50 We have a good running game.
07:52 The biggest issue I have, and why I dropped the grade from a B+, which is where I originally
07:56 had it, to a B, we've got to take care of the ball better.
07:59 Can't be putting the ball on the turf as much as we have, so my rushing offense grade is
08:02 a B.
08:03 My overall offensive grade, again, I weighted certain things more than others.
08:09 We are more physical, we don't have any real deep threats in the past game, we're averaging
08:13 19 points per game, which is 121st in the country.
08:17 Our overall offensive grade, I gave a D+.
08:23 Turnovers, bad penalties also played a factor, I've addressed those, so has the fact that
08:27 we tend to get stronger as the game goes along.
08:28 In our rush game, I accounted for all that.
08:31 Special teams.
08:32 Right off the top, the young freshman kicker, Tristan Alvano.
08:35 He's 3 of 7 field goal attempts on the season, converting 42.9% of his kicks.
08:40 His long field goal made on the year is 32 yards.
08:43 He's 3 of 4 from 39 yards or less, and he's 0 of 3 from 40 to 49 yards.
08:49 So I did factor that into this grade as well, but I'll get to that in a second.
08:54 Our kickoff coverage teams, our punt coverage teams are pretty good.
08:57 Barring the 93 yard kickoff return for a touchdown that La Tech had, which was called back for
09:02 a penalty, our coverage teams are pretty solid.
09:04 In fact, Illinois put the ball on the ground when they had a kickoff return, and our coverage
09:09 team recovered the fumble and gave our offense a short field.
09:14 Our punt return game is pretty much non-existent.
09:15 It's pretty obvious they put Billy Kemp back there because they trust him to fair catch
09:19 the ball and not get any yards after he fair catches it.
09:24 But that's okay, at least he's not fumbling it.
09:26 But our punt return game is pretty much non-existent.
09:28 Our kickoff return game isn't bad, at least for Mere Johnson.
09:31 Game 1 vs Minnesota had that 65 yard kickoff return, which set up the Osborne trick double
09:38 pass play for a touchdown.
09:39 Okay, our only touchdown in the Minnesota game.
09:42 So these are all things that I factored in.
09:45 I gave our special teams, this was the hardest one for me.
09:49 This was the 79.9 vs 80.0.
09:52 B minus C plus.
09:54 Okay, I gave it a B minus because I'm giving the young field goal kicker the benefit of
10:00 the doubt.
10:01 If he's kicking like this a year from now, two years from now, uh uh.
10:04 I ain't giving him that benefit of the doubt.
10:05 But I'm giving it to him so far.
10:08 Hopefully he improves quicker sooner rather than later, but he's a young guy with such
10:11 a bright future.
10:12 Now, most of his field goals missed are makeable in that 40-49 yard range, but they're not
10:19 just simple gimme-eaters.
10:21 I do remember the fake field goal conversion, the first one we've had in years.
10:24 Timmy Bleakrode, the backup kicker who went in a holder, basically became a running back
10:28 on a power play on our fake field goal against La Tech, which turned into points.
10:32 So I did factor that in as well.
10:34 Field team's grade, B minus.
10:35 Alright, don't go anywhere.
10:37 I'm getting to the coach's grade, the defensive grade, our overall grade as a team through
10:42 six games so far this year as well.
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11:13 Alright, ladies and gentlemen, time for the defense.
11:17 I originally wrote down our rush defense in A+.
11:22 Then I incorporated the Michigan game and I had to say A minus.
11:24 Can't just ignore that game.
11:26 Now we have a top ten, top fifteen rush defense in the country.
11:29 If you were given up just over two yards of carry.
11:32 Now if you take out the Michigan game, the other five games we're giving up an average
11:36 of under two yards per rush.
11:38 That's crazy good.
11:39 And we're giving up an average of less than fifty yards per game rushing.
11:42 That's crazy good.
11:43 That's top ten, top five, ladies and gentlemen.
11:46 But you can't just take out the Michigan game.
11:48 So our rush defense I gave an A minus.
11:50 Still pretty freaking good.
11:51 Alright, pass defense.
11:53 When we blitz, we get pressure on the quarterback.
11:56 When we don't, we don't get a lot of pressure on the quarterback.
11:59 But against Illinois, I will say this, and the Blackshirts played great versus Illinois.
12:03 We don't win that game without the Blackshirts, let me be clear.
12:05 I wasn't a fan of the constant three-man rushes, and I wasn't a fan of the constant three-man
12:09 rushes with the spy.
12:10 The idea is that when the quarterback takes off, your spy chases him down.
12:13 But if the quarterback sits there and doesn't run, you're kind of wasting a defender.
12:17 I guess he's covering the drag routes over the middle, so to speak.
12:20 I would have liked to have seen more four-man rushes versus Illinois' makeshift, not great
12:25 offensive line.
12:26 Okay, I'd like to see more successful four-man rushes throughout the year.
12:30 If you have to blitz, then blitz.
12:32 Obviously, it puts your back end on an island, but you can't have a quarterback sitting there
12:35 all day.
12:36 Our pass defense, just, I gave them a B. Okay, the reason it wasn't higher is because we
12:41 are in the bottom half of the country in pass yards allowed.
12:44 But our defense as a whole has played well.
12:47 When teams have had success against us, it has been through the air.
12:50 And hopefully we get better at rushing the passer.
12:53 And if you've got to blitz to put pressure on the quarterback, then by God, do it.
12:56 Alright, overall grade for the defense.
13:00 Without Michigan, it's an A. It's a flat-out A. With Michigan, I made it a B+.
13:05 I would like them to force even more turnovers as a whole.
13:07 We've got a bunch against Illinois, finally.
13:10 But as an overall whole, consistently game after game through the rest of the season,
13:14 I'd like to see more turnovers and more consistent pressure on opposing quarterbacks.
13:20 But let's be honest, success, easy for me to say, this team is on the defense.
13:25 They're the best unit.
13:26 There's a lot of pressure on this defense to kind of carry the team.
13:28 We know that.
13:29 Okay?
13:30 So, my final grade for the defense as an overall whole is a B+.
13:35 A B+.
13:36 I'm so proud of how the Blackshirts have played so far this year.
13:40 Alright, coaching grade, here we go!
13:42 And I started out by writing down Casey Thompson, Logan Smothers, Jeff Sims, Heinrich Harburg,
13:46 the quarterback position, because Matt Rule has done a lot of good things this year.
13:50 Marcus Satterfield, he's still up in the air to me.
13:53 I love Tony White.
13:54 Satterfield's up in the air.
13:56 I think Matt Rule is building what Nebraska fans want, a run-first physical, smash-mouth
14:00 offense (hopefully we can pass the ball better in the future), a defensive team.
14:05 We gotta be more disciplined.
14:06 We gotta get rid of some of these stupid penalties.
14:08 We gotta take care of the ball better.
14:10 It's a slow process under Matt Rule.
14:14 And I forget if I mentioned this earlier, but I did take into account NIL, transfer
14:19 portal, the fact that teams can be rebuilt sooner, the fact that this isn't as bad as
14:22 Temple or Baylor.
14:24 I did factor that all in.
14:25 And he is doing it slowly, but it's his process.
14:28 It's his process he knows that works.
14:31 The biggest thing that I think he wishes I wish, how about that, he could have maybe
14:37 done differently.
14:38 Because you think about what Casey Thompson possibly could have done here.
14:41 I know he's not a running quarterback, but he ran better than most people realized.
14:45 But he would have been able to get the ball downfield.
14:47 Wish him a speedy recovery.
14:48 I know he tore his ACL at Florida Atlantic.
14:50 Logan Smothers could have been built perfectly for this offense.
14:53 I'm not throwing Jeff Simms under the bus.
14:56 But he turns the ball over.
14:58 He is who he is.
14:59 He's a freak athlete.
15:00 That's why I want to see what he can do at other spots.
15:02 Unless he's starting a quarterback, then move Heinrich Harburg around after the bye
15:05 week.
15:06 Whatever.
15:07 Thank God for Heinrich Harburg, though.
15:09 Think about what this team might look like without Heinrich Harburg.
15:12 And yes, he has things he's got to improve on.
15:14 I know that.
15:15 I've already talked about him.
15:16 Not going to bring him up again.
15:18 But thank God for his heart, his passion, his physical running, his leadership abilities.
15:23 I think the quarterback position is the one thing that I wish Matt Ruhle had handled differently
15:27 during this season and more so heading into this season.
15:31 Other than that, I think he's done a good job.
15:33 I think it's going slower than Husker fans would like.
15:37 But I think we'll get there.
15:41 I think we will.
15:43 We have a legit defense.
15:44 Not a great offense.
15:46 A lot of stuff that I've already talked about here in my notes, because I got ahead of myself.
15:51 The one thing I did say here, there's always game management things that in hindsight,
15:54 2020 are easy to see.
15:55 Whether it's a certain play call at a certain time, whether it's how you manage the clock,
15:58 whether it's this time out here or this or there.
16:00 There's always game management things that every coach has to deal with.
16:03 It's much easier to look back in hindsight in 2020 and judge than in the moment, when
16:07 everybody's watching you in the heat of the moment and everything's going on, trying to
16:11 make the perfect decision all the time.
16:13 And let's be honest, I do think he's building what we want.
16:17 I try to be as objective as I can.
16:19 I'm rooting for him.
16:22 If I don't like what I see, I'll say it.
16:23 You know that.
16:24 Okay, I was the first guy that said our last coach needed to be let go.
16:30 Nobody else said it.
16:31 Nobody else wanted to say it and that wasn't easy for me.
16:33 So I'll be honest.
16:35 So I do like what I see.
16:36 It's been ugly at times, but here's what I know.
16:39 We're 3-3 halfway through the season, heading into the bye week.
16:41 Okay, halfway to our goal of 6-6 and go into a bowl game.
16:48 Final coaching grade, B-.
16:50 I feel like that's fair.
16:52 Now, so far this year.
16:54 Now to be clear, I'll go through all my grades again.
16:57 Defensive overall grade, D+.
16:59 We gotta be more disciplined on offense.
17:02 Defensively, B+, but I am curious to see how we do against Maryland.
17:07 Tunga Viola quarterback.
17:08 Wisconsin, they can run the ball still.
17:11 How do we hold up against another legit rushing offense?
17:14 I gave our defensive B+.
17:16 Again, the Michigan game factored in, but we have a legit defense and I'm curious to
17:19 see how they do against better offenses coming up down the stretch.
17:23 Probably more towards the end of the season, but how they do against Northwestern, Michigan
17:26 State, all these other teams coming up.
17:27 Purdue can put up points.
17:29 Special teams, that was the hardest one.
17:31 That was the 80.0 versus 79.9.
17:33 I gave the young kicker the benefit of the doubt.
17:35 I could have easily gone with the C+.
17:37 I went with the B- on the special teams.
17:39 Alvano, please get better quickly.
17:42 Alright, coaching, again, B-.
17:45 Satterfield again.
17:47 Jury's out on him, but I did love the decision, the gutsy decision that Rule made last Sunday
17:52 to go full pads, and I do love Tony White.
17:55 Overall, the overall grade for the season so far, special teams was the tipping point.
18:02 That was the tipping point for me.
18:03 Had I gone C+ special teams, it would have been C+ as an overall hole, because you had
18:06 a D+ for the offense, a B+ for the defense.
18:11 I went B- special teams, so I went B- as a team, but here was the other tiebreaker.
18:15 We're halfway to our goal of 6-6 into a bowl game, and so why would I not go B+?
18:19 Because I'll tell you right now, judging this team as a year one team, not year two, three,
18:23 four, or eight, nine, or ten of my own personal Husker frustrations, year one under a new
18:26 head coach who had to deal with a disaster that he's trying to rebuild, if we go to a
18:31 bowl game and we're 6-6, I'm going to stick with what I said in the preseason, and I'll
18:34 give them a grade of a f*cking A, just like I said in the preseason.
18:37 Alright, ladies and gentlemen, hit me up in the comments below.
18:40 What's your overall grade for the offense this year, defense this year, coaches this
18:44 year, and the team as an overall hole halfway through the season?
18:47 Check out CarrikerChronicles.com.
18:49 All your hopes and dreams will come true.
18:51 Go Big Red Nose.
18:52 Remember, go to the BUB!