• last year
Transcript
00:00 Welcome to the character
00:13 Chronicles, the people show
00:14 checking the pulse of Husker
00:15 Nation. Ladies and gentlemen,
00:17 this is this show is my
00:18 thoughts on Nebraska's
00:19 quarterback situation and it's
00:20 one of the more unique
00:22 situations I think I've ever
00:23 seen. Okay, this was one of the
00:25 more interesting shows I've
00:28 ever had to prepare for. I'll
00:29 tell you what, it's one of the
00:32 most challenging. It's one of
00:33 the most challenging shows I've
00:35 done in quite a while. But
00:37 before I dive into it and light
00:39 this candle, all right, ladies
00:41 and gentlemen, if you are like
00:43 me and you think that
00:44 Nebraska should focus on
00:46 running the football playing
00:48 great defense, play the field
00:51 position game and prioritize
00:53 plays that will take care of
00:54 the ball. And also maybe get
00:57 back like we did early on this
00:58 team, which we did at the
01:00 beginning of the year, but we
01:01 have not done in a while. Hit
01:04 that like button. Now real
01:06 quick, our next opponent
01:07 Wisconsin, and I don't even
01:09 want to talk about how they've
01:09 lost three in a row because
01:10 Michigan State had lost six in
01:12 a row and Maryland had lost
01:13 four in a row. Now Wisconsin's
01:14 lost three in a row. Two of
01:16 those games are to Northwestern
01:17 and maybe the worst team in
01:18 the Big Ten, which is Indiana.
01:19 And during that three game
01:20 stretch, they're only averaging
01:22 11.3 points per game. I don't
01:25 even want to bring that up, but
01:26 here's why I do. When I
01:28 watched Wisconsin play
01:29 Northwestern and I watched them
01:32 lose to Indiana, they kind of
01:34 look like they've quit to me
01:35 just a little bit. And that's
01:37 why I bring up the second half
01:39 thing. This is Wisconsin. More
01:41 often than not, they push us
01:42 around in the second half. I
01:43 get that, but we need to get
01:46 back to what was working at
01:47 one point in the season, one
01:48 point in the season for us. And
01:50 I kind of watch Wisconsin and
01:52 they kind of look like a team
01:53 who's quit a little bit and it
01:55 might be a good idea for us, a
01:57 team who has a lot to fight for
01:58 our first bowl game in up team
02:00 years, to maybe test their will
02:01 a little bit. Because when I
02:02 watched our team on Saturday,
02:04 as ugly as it was, I saw a
02:06 fight in our guys. We just got
02:08 to do some things differently,
02:10 obviously. All right. Now the
02:11 Huskers ran 61 plays on
02:13 Saturday, 21 passes, 40 runs.
02:15 That's just under a two to one
02:16 run pass ratio. I'll be honest
02:18 with you. That's not high enough
02:19 in my opinion. We need to have
02:20 a higher run to pass ratio than
02:23 that. And here's a great example
02:25 of why. Four of our 21 passes
02:27 were intercepted. That's nearly
02:29 one out of every five times we
02:31 drop back to throw the ball.
02:32 Okay. We give it away to the
02:34 other team. So let me rephrase
02:36 what I just said a minute ago.
02:37 If you would love it, like I
02:40 would, if our coaches understood
02:42 that our offense is just not
02:44 good and if they game planned
02:46 and managed the game
02:47 accordingly, okay, smash that
02:51 like button. All right. Now, as
02:52 I mentioned, this is easily one
02:54 of the toughest shows I had to
02:55 prepare for all year because
02:57 there's no good answer. There's
03:00 no reliable answer. There's no
03:01 trustworthy answer. We don't
03:03 really, it's what would I do
03:04 with the quarterback situation?
03:05 It's my thoughts on the
03:06 quarterback situation in
03:07 Nebraska. It's kind of created
03:09 it of itself, but that they
03:10 have. There's no reliable
03:12 quarterback whatsoever. I've
03:13 seen other teams who've had
03:14 their starter go out and have a
03:17 better quarterback situation
03:18 than this. I've seen other
03:19 teams who've had their first
03:21 stringer and their second
03:22 stringer and be down to their
03:23 third stringer and have more
03:25 trust that their third stringer
03:26 is just going to take care of
03:27 the ball and manage the game.
03:28 We have all three of our top
03:30 three quarterbacks and I don't
03:32 think, I don't, I don't think a
03:33 whole lot of Husker fans have
03:35 faith in our quarterbacks
03:36 individually or collective as a
03:38 unit put together that they're
03:40 going to take care of the ball,
03:41 just take care of the ball.
03:42 All right. Now only Iowa has
03:45 seen as how do I, how do I put
03:47 this bad a quarterback play
03:49 tumultuous up and down. I'm not
03:50 trying to throw anyone under
03:51 the bus. It just is what it is.
03:53 Facts don't care about your
03:54 feeling. Only Iowa has seen some
03:55 of the crazy stats from their
03:58 quarterback position that
03:59 Nebraska has seen from some of
04:00 their quarterbacks this year.
04:01 Now in Cade McNamara went out
04:02 there, the Michigan transfer
04:03 went to Iowa, Iowa's
04:05 quarterbacks were completing
04:06 for a good game, amount of game
04:09 stretch less than 40% of their
04:10 passes. It was like 38% or
04:12 something like that, but they
04:14 have a great defense and a great
04:16 special teams. They manage the
04:18 game and they don't turn the
04:19 ball over. Okay. I do think our
04:22 coaches do need to be held
04:24 accountable. Okay. They need to
04:27 be held accountable because the
04:28 common denominator is not Jeff
04:31 Sims, Chubba Purdy and Heinrich
04:33 Harburg. The common denominator
04:35 is the guys who are coaching
04:37 them in my opinion. Now, all
04:39 three quarterbacks combined last
04:41 game were 10 of 21 passing less
04:43 than 50%, 86 total passing yards
04:46 between the three of them put
04:47 together zero touchdowns and
04:49 four interceptions. That's the
04:51 group effort the quarterback
04:53 room put out on Saturday. Now
04:55 I've mentioned, you know, what
04:56 if Casey Thompson or Logan
04:57 Smothers hadn't transferred in
04:58 the past, but I was reminded by
05:01 a good buddy of mine, Adam,
05:03 what about Richard Torres? That
05:04 guy had a big arm and he could
05:05 run fairly well. He was skinny.
05:07 He needed to get in the weight
05:08 room, but that guy had big
05:09 upside. He transferred too.
05:11 That's kind of why I say this
05:12 quarterback situation was kind
05:14 of created by Nebraska itself
05:18 and its coaches. Now a friend
05:20 texted me that Nebraska's offense
05:22 and this later on the same text,
05:25 a friend texted me that
05:26 Nebraska's offense has scored
05:27 22 touchdowns this season. Okay.
05:30 And has lost 25 turnovers. Now
05:32 when I looked it up, it said
05:35 we'd lost 27 total turnovers
05:37 this year. Okay. 14 interceptions
05:40 and 13 fumbles either way.
05:42 That's just plain awful as we
05:44 all know. Okay. Now the Huskers
05:46 have the second worst turnover
05:47 margin in the entire country at
05:49 minus 14. Temple's at minus 18.
05:51 Oh dear Lord. I'm going to pray
05:53 for you Temple fans. I just feel
05:55 sorry for you. All right. Now I
05:57 wasn't going to share this, but
05:58 kind of going back to the Iowa
06:01 thing. It just is what it is.
06:03 Makes me want to vomit, but this
06:05 would be a Husk guys on Twitter.
06:07 This is one of his tweets and
06:08 I'm going to read another one
06:09 right after this about Jeff
06:10 Sims. He said, "Two loss Iowa
06:12 is the greatest statistical
06:13 anomaly of all time. Four
06:14 incredible stats. Number one,
06:16 they have completed more than
06:17 15 passes in a game once. 18
06:20 of 33 versus Utah State." This
06:22 is going into this last weekend
06:23 of games prior to this past
06:25 Saturday. "They have twice, okay,
06:28 as many games, had twice as many
06:30 games completing 50% or less of
06:33 their passes six times than over
06:34 50% of their passes three times.
06:36 25% of their 166 total points
06:39 have come on field goals.
06:40 Kicker Drew Stevens is the
06:42 leading scorer on the team
06:43 averaging 6.4 points per game.
06:45 The team averages 18.4 points
06:47 per game. They have rushed for
06:48 over 200 yards once and under
06:51 100 yards four times." Like
06:53 seriously, I think I just
06:54 vomited in my mouth. But did
06:56 you hear the first part of that
06:58 tweet? "Two loss Iowa." That
07:02 was the part that stuck out to
07:04 me. All right, the next tweet
07:05 I'm going to read, again, via
07:06 Husk guys, this is pertaining
07:08 to Jeff Sims, okay? "Jeff Sims
07:11 has thrown 47 passes this
07:12 season and six interceptions."
07:15 That means 13% of the time his
07:16 passes end up in an
07:17 interception. "On 32 carries, he
07:19 has three fumbles. That's nine
07:21 turnovers on 79 plays. A
07:23 turnover every 10 snaps." And
07:26 then he finishes the tweet by
07:27 saying, "I've never seen
07:28 anything like it." I actually
07:29 did some math. It's a turnover
07:31 more than every 10 snaps,
07:34 actually, but I digress. Now, a
07:37 fan did send me this, so I
07:38 looked up Husk guys stuff. I
07:40 had a friend text me some stuff
07:41 and a fan sent me this. "I do
07:43 pay attention. I love to
07:44 interact with the people." All
07:45 right, a fan sent me this next
07:47 info a week, maybe two weeks
07:49 ago. Now, I did double-check
07:51 it and verify it. "Since 2004,
07:54 Nebraska has a turnover margin
07:57 of -111. The next closest
08:01 Power 5 team is -61. Nebraska
08:05 has the fewest turnover gains,
08:07 362, tied with Maryland." Now,
08:10 again, this was a week or two
08:11 ago, and frankly, I didn't feel
08:12 like updating those stats. But
08:15 something tells me Maryland has
08:17 now forced more turnovers than
08:19 we have since then. All right,
08:21 now let's get to the
08:21 quarterback situation itself
08:23 and my thoughts on what I would
08:24 do. I put myself in Matt Rule
08:26 and Marcus Satterfield's shoes.
08:28 I didn't create this situation,
08:31 okay, but I'm going to put
08:32 myself in it, and I'm going to
08:35 get to what I think I would do
08:37 with the best thing that can be
08:38 done in this situation, and
08:39 there's no easy answer. Here's
08:41 what Matt Rule said on how to
08:42 handle Nebraska's quarterback
08:43 situation going forward, and I
08:44 quote, "We want to have
08:45 somebody get the main reps and
08:48 someone get the second best
08:49 reps and go from there. But I
08:51 would be lying to you if I told
08:52 you I knew who that was going
08:54 to be right now." End quote.
08:55 And here's why this is one of
08:56 the hardest shows I've ever
08:57 done. I even thought about not
08:59 doing it. But ladies and
09:01 gentlemen, I have no idea what
09:03 the right answer is, because
09:05 there is no good answer. But
09:07 I'm doing this show, and you
09:08 know why? Because I don't duck
09:09 nothing. That's not how I roll.
09:10 Here's what I do. I don't
09:12 choose topics based on what's
09:13 easy. I don't do it based on
09:15 what other people are saying or
09:16 not saying. I don't care about
09:18 being better or worse. I like
09:20 to be unique and different, and
09:21 then people can decide whether
09:22 it's better or worse. I choose
09:24 topics based on what the people
09:27 show, right? I choose topics
09:29 based on what I think the people
09:31 will find the most interesting,
09:32 and then I just do the best I
09:34 can from there. So here I go.
09:36 Nebraska's quarterback
09:37 situation. First off, we have
09:40 three quarterbacks who've all
09:41 shown flashes of what they can
09:42 do at times. If we're honest,
09:44 they've shown flashes of what
09:46 they can do in a positive sense.
09:47 Harburg looked pretty decent the
09:49 first few games he started. I
09:51 know, not power five teams, but
09:52 you gotta start somewhere. Okay,
09:54 Sims had the offense moving
09:55 better on Saturday versus
09:57 Maryland than it had moved the
09:59 ball earlier in the game with
10:00 Harburg. Okay, Chubbaperti had a
10:03 great long drive going before
10:06 the interception at the end of
10:07 the game. Obviously, okay, how
10:12 do I put this? Sims and Harburg,
10:13 and you gotta put Pertie in this
10:15 too, even though he's limited to
10:16 the refs. They're way too much
10:18 like Santa Claus when it comes
10:19 to taking care of the football.
10:20 They just give it away way too
10:21 much. You gotta be a lot more
10:22 like the Grinch. Bah, humbug.
10:25 Hold on. That's that Scrooge
10:27 guy. You get my point. The
10:29 Grinch, Scrooge, you gotta be
10:31 more selfish and keep it to
10:32 yourself. So here's my thoughts.
10:34 I do. I expect some fun
10:37 comments, maybe some negative
10:38 comments to what I propose, to
10:41 what I think Nebraska should do
10:42 for the quarterback position
10:44 for two reasons, and that's
10:45 okay. Dare to be different.
10:47 One, I'm gonna propose a two
10:48 quarterback system for the last
10:50 two games, or at least going
10:51 into Wisconsin for this week,
10:52 going into Wisconsin one week
10:53 at a time. Why? Because there's
10:56 not one single quarterback that
10:57 we can trust. Okay, you'd be a
10:59 fool to think we could go into
11:01 this game thinking we can trust
11:02 one quarterback. All right. A
11:05 two quarterback system utilizes
11:07 each quarterback's strengths
11:08 more, and it allows you to hide
11:11 their weaknesses as well, because
11:13 whatever they're not good at,
11:14 the other guy can hopefully
11:16 compliment that when he's on the
11:17 field. So you can use their
11:19 strengths more and hide their
11:20 weaknesses a little bit. Also,
11:22 it lessens the amount of plays
11:23 each quarterback has to learn.
11:25 So hopefully they can play, so
11:27 hopefully it's easier, they can
11:28 play faster, and they can take
11:29 care of the ball more. If one
11:31 quarterback gets hot, then you
11:32 can roll with them. And if one
11:33 quarterback struggles, another
11:35 quarterback has also had a bunch
11:37 of reps in practice, and they
11:39 can step up. Now, we have been
11:41 told that Jeff Sims and Cheba
11:43 Purdy in the past, especially
11:44 when we played a year ago, were
11:45 very excitable, borderline
11:47 frantic in the huddle. As a
11:49 former quarterback myself, I
11:52 don't know if I've mentioned
11:53 this in a while on this show, I
11:54 was much higher recruited as a
11:55 quarterback than I was a
11:56 defensive end. Nebraska flat out
11:58 told me I wasn't good enough to
11:59 play defensive end in Nebraska.
12:01 Oregon State offered me as a
12:02 quarterback. Mike Belotti at
12:03 Oregon offered me as a
12:04 quarterback. Like, okay,
12:06 obviously I didn't play it in
12:08 college, but I have some
12:09 experience there. The less you
12:12 have to learn, and this is just
12:13 common sense, but especially at
12:14 a very fast position where
12:16 everyone's trying to rip your
12:17 face off and you've got to make
12:18 quick, fast decisions with
12:19 thousands of people watching it,
12:21 everything you do analyzed. The
12:23 less you have to know, the less
12:24 you have to learn, it's going to
12:27 ease that pressure off a little
12:28 bit of a couple of guys who've
12:29 shown that they're fairly
12:30 excitable and huddled in the
12:31 past. Now, the other reason I
12:33 may get some negative comments
12:35 to this is one of the
12:36 quarterbacks I'd have in the
12:37 game plan is Chubba Purdy.
12:38 Pause for effect. Now he's had
12:42 the least amount of reps, right?
12:43 Least amount of experience.
12:45 He's the biggest unknown. I
12:48 readily admit that. You know
12:49 what else I see? He's also the
12:52 biggest hope for the best upside
12:55 because we don't know what
12:57 exactly it is that he can do and
12:58 what he's capable of. Like we
13:00 do when it comes to Harburg and
13:01 Sims. We know what their upside
13:03 is. We know what they're
13:04 capable of. We know where the
13:06 peak of the mountain is, at
13:07 least for this year. Also, I
13:10 will readily admit, Purdy did
13:12 not look good last year when he
13:13 got a chance in the games. Now,
13:14 freshman a year ago, it's a
13:17 year older, a year later,
13:18 hopefully he's grown and
13:20 matured. I know that. I'd love
13:24 it if we ran the ball 80% of
13:27 the time the next two games, to
13:28 be clear. If we had an 80% run
13:31 to pass ratio, 80-20, I'd love
13:33 that. Now, you do got to pass
13:35 the ball 20% of the time or 10
13:37 or whatever it is. I don't
13:39 really trust the other two
13:40 quarterbacks to do that. I'm
13:41 sorry. Okay. He is our best
13:43 passer. Rule has said he's our
13:45 best pure passer. He's the only
13:47 one who gives us a chance. Okay,
13:49 the other 20% of the plays, if
13:51 that is the run to pass ratio,
13:53 to realistically pass the ball
13:54 well at all. At all. Notice
13:58 respect to the other two guys.
13:59 I actually love the way Harburg
14:01 plays. I love his attitude and
14:03 effort still. All right,
14:04 Harburg or Sims as the other
14:06 quarterback. That's now the
14:06 other question. Adam, you got
14:08 two quarterback system. Don't
14:09 like it. Well, what I propose
14:10 Adam, one of them's Chubba
14:11 Purdy. He's got little to no
14:12 experience. That's what I'm
14:13 rolling with. Cause we don't
14:15 know what he can do. Maybe
14:17 that's good. Maybe that's bad.
14:18 I don't know. Let's find out.
14:19 I have too many answers to
14:20 questions of the other guys and
14:22 I don't like the answers too
14:23 often of the time. Not all the
14:25 time. Now, assuming Harburg is
14:27 healthy, cause if he's not,
14:27 then the other guy is
14:28 automatically Jeff Sims, right?
14:29 Okay. And his two quarterback
14:32 rotation. My initial thought
14:33 was to make it Sims as the
14:35 other quarterback in this
14:36 rotation because he did move
14:38 the ball better on Saturday.
14:39 Okay, versus Maryland that
14:42 Harburg did. So like I said,
14:44 my initial reaction was to go
14:45 with Sims, but did you hear his
14:47 turnover stats that I read from
14:48 that @HuskGuys tweet earlier?
14:50 By the way, give them a follow
14:51 on Twitter and Facebook @HuskGuys.
14:53 He averages a turnover at least,
14:55 if not more, one every 10 plays.
14:58 At least Harburg had a couple
15:01 of early games where he took
15:02 care of the ball. So I'd have
15:04 to have Harburg and Purdy as
15:06 the two main quarterbacks.
15:07 Purdy gives us the chance to
15:09 pass the ball, the best
15:10 opportunity whenever we do pass
15:12 it. And Harburg at least had a
15:13 couple of games early on where
15:15 he did take care of the ball.
15:16 Okay, even came out of the
15:18 huddle, I think his first start
15:19 yelling, "Take care of the
15:20 effing ball" or something like
15:22 that. Okay. Now, so I'd have
15:27 Harburg and Purdy the two main
15:28 quarterbacks, getting reps in
15:29 practice this week. And then
15:31 whoever practices the better
15:34 this week starts in the game.
15:35 Now, this also allows Jeff Sims
15:38 reps at wide receiver maybe.
15:39 He's a great athlete. He's
15:40 obviously not a quarterback and
15:41 he's just standing on the
15:42 sideline. Trick play maybe? I
15:44 don't know. All right. If
15:46 you're building towards the
15:47 future, and we know we are,
15:48 these are also the two younger
15:49 quarterbacks as well. Now
15:50 Harburg, okay, again, his
15:52 series of plays, which should
15:54 now be condensed for him, easier
15:56 to learn, I think it should be
15:57 80% run, 20% pass at the most.
15:59 Okay. Purdy's series of plays,
16:01 he can run 60-40. 60% run, 40%
16:04 pass. If you want to do 70-30,
16:07 I'm fine with that, but I would
16:08 not go over 50-50 run to pass
16:10 ratio in his play, series of
16:11 plays. Now, for me, here's what
16:13 I'm looking for from our
16:14 quarterback this Saturday. Who
16:16 can execute the simple things?
16:17 Who can put guys in motion
16:19 without snapping the ball and
16:20 hitting the guy in motion? Who
16:21 can turn around and just simply
16:22 hand the ball off? And no, I'm
16:23 not making fun of anybody.
16:24 These are issues we've had
16:25 throughout this year. Who can
16:26 just manage the game and not
16:27 turn the ball over? I mean, I
16:30 was going to start out this
16:30 video talking about Wildcat. I
16:32 was going to start out this
16:33 video talking about Emmitt
16:35 Johnson, who averaged 4.9 yards
16:36 per carry, basically five yards
16:38 per rush last Saturday versus
16:39 Maryland. Let's just put him in
16:40 the shotgun for a half dozen to
16:41 a dozen plays. Let him catch the
16:43 ball and run with it, like a
16:44 middle school offense. And I'm
16:46 not trying to be disrespectful.
16:48 I mean, it's serious, but I know
16:49 Matt Rule's not going to do any
16:50 of that and that's fine. Okay.
16:51 I fully expect all sorts of
16:54 responses to my ideas in this
16:55 video, both positive and
16:57 negative. What I'd say is don't
16:59 be that person who only rejects
17:01 ideas, but never offers any
17:04 ideas of your own. Put yourself
17:06 in my shoes like I tried to put
17:07 myself in the coach's shoes. So
17:08 here are my three questions for
17:09 you. Number one, would you go
17:12 with one main quarterback or
17:13 plan on rotating two
17:15 quarterbacks versus Wisconsin?
17:17 Number two, if you'd rotate two
17:19 quarterbacks in our next game,
17:21 who would be the two
17:22 quarterbacks in your two
17:24 quarterback rotation? Number
17:25 three, regardless of how many
17:27 quarterbacks you plan on playing
17:28 in the next game on Saturday,
17:29 whether it's two or one, who
17:31 would be your starting
17:33 quarterback? All right, do me a
17:34 favor, subscribe to this YouTube
17:36 channel. If you haven't done so
17:38 already, hit that subscribe
17:39 button. Go Big Red and always
17:41 remember, throw the bows.