Nebraska football head coach Mike Riley took to the podium on Monday morning and made it clear he understood his team's loss on Saturday was not remotely acceptable. Riley also made it clear that he has been thinking about the kind of changes that need to be made in order for the team to get to where he wants it to go moving forward.
In the days following the 21-17 loss to Northern Illinois, there has been quite a bit of talk that offensive coordinator Danny Langsdorf could be losing his play-calling duties. Anyone who has watched an offense turn the ball over at an alarming rate for two straight weeks might expect as much.
On Monday, Riley made it clear he will not be taking over the playcalling duties. What he did say will be changing, is the way the coaches get the players ready for a game. "We do need to reexamine what we are doing in the process of getting our team ready," he said during the press conference. He did not lay out just what those changes might be, or if he has already determined what is going wrong when it comes to game prep.
Zero points in the first half for the Nebraska football team
"We do need to reexamine what we are doing in the process of getting our team ready," Riley said, noting that's beginning today.
— Brian Rosenthal (@GBRosenthal) September 18, 2017
One week after the Huskers were outscored 42-14 in the first half against Oregon, the Nebraska football team was outscored 14-0 by NIU.
The good news was that the Husker defense didn't allow a point in the first half. The bad news, of course, was that Tanner Lee threw two interceptions that were both returned for touchdowns. One of those interceptions underlines why there has been a call for Danny Langsdorf to be relieved of his playcalling duties.
After an opening drive for the Huskers where it appeared Tanner Lee was looking more comfortable in the pocket and making good decisions, disaster struck.
Inside the Northern Illinois 10 yard line, Langsdorf called for a wide receiver screen pass just behind the line of scrimmage. One Northern Illinois defensive back sensed what was coming, jumped the route, picked the pass off and took it more than 90 yards the other way for a touchdown.
Odd substitution patterns
While that call turned out to be the difference in the game, it is far from the only head-scratching decision Langsdorf and the rest of the offensive coaches have made this season alone.
A complete lack of running back rotation has already led to one Nebraska football ball carrier going down with injury. Tre Bryant had more than 90 percent of the carries in the season's first two weeks. A subsequent knee injury, which Riley has said is caused by "overuse" kept him out of the NIU game. In his place, Mikale Wilbon had all but two of the running back carries.
It's not clear whether this new game preparation approach is going to fix whatever ails the Nebraska football team. What we do know is the changes are said to be taking effect, immediately.
