The fact that the Nebraska football team is ranked No. 17 in the latest AP poll and sports an 8-2 record entering Saturday’s road game at No. 20 Michigan (also 8-2); it is how the Huskers arrived at this point that is the biggest surprise.
The defense was viewed as the team strength coming into the season but has been inconsistent. The offense was expected to show improvement but with lot of youth and a new coordinator (Tim Beck replacing Shawn Watson) it was hard to say how soon the improvement would come. Without the offense performing at the level it has the Huskers would likely be 5-5 instead of 8-2. Nebraska beat Fresno State 42-29, Washington 51-38 and Ohio State 34-27.
In a Lincoln Journal Star blog entry, however, Beck was pretty critical of himself.
"I think some games I get conservative ... I play not to lose instead of playing to win," Beck said after Saturday's 17-14 win at Penn State. "I think that was evident in some of the games. You get too conservative. The play-calling gets that way.
"As I look back and really thought about it, we have to be who we are, and that's an attacking offense. Sometimes I don't do that. For whatever reason, I don't."
He felt Nebraska's offense was too conservative in the second half Saturday, "with the lead and trying to use the clock," Beck said.
Beck’s point has merit to a certain degree extent but Nebraska also attacked Penn State via the run and pass on Saturday which is important because if you try to making a living by beating a stout defense by running right at them you will starve.
Beck has had a couple of poorly called games but overall, I think he's doing very well considering he is running a new scheme as a first-time offensive coordinator. It'll be interesting to see what this offense does next year. If it improves much, and the defense rounds into form earlier, we should be a pretty formidable team.
But most of the way through Year One of the Tim Beck Experiment, I'm cautiously optimistic about where we're headed.
The cynical side would suggest, “anything is better than Shawn Watson” but I think Beck has definitely hit the ground running. I still cuss at the television on 3rd and short when we run a sweep (as opposed to quarterback Taylor Martinez up the gut) but I’ll live. On the whole, I would call the first year a success as of right now.
The biggest positive that I see here is that Beck recognizes that sometimes he gets too conservative, meaning that he is likely to change. I think this has been the biggest problem with our past offensive coordinators, they don’t know what they are doing wrong and don’t know how to change.
It seems like Beck can watch game film and analyze like a coach and a fan. He can nitpick specifics like a coach, but he can also sit back in the chair like the rest of us and say the same things we do.
After sitting through years of bitching at the television watching Watson's sick joke walk out there and lose games for us, I have to say that I am thrilled with Beck in his first year. There is one major reason why. The Huskers are showing improvement both on offense and at quarterback.
Watson and former head coach Bill Callahan tried jamming a square peg through a round hole for too damn long. Beck is finding what we are good at and using it. Yes he might get astray from it sometimes but can you blame him. The guy wants to learn what we are capable of in game situations. What might work in practice doesn't always work in games.
He is winning ball games and scoring points though. Can you imagine if we could have gotten 20 points a game back when Watson was here? Our defense was so good, that's all we would have needed. Watson found a way to blow it every time.
I might be a overstating it a bit because I have to be honest, I never liked Shawn Watson's offense or his playcalling. So the change really made my offseason. I've been praying for Watson to move on for his entire tenure. I'm rooting for Beck, and I think we have found our guy. As long as Martinez keeps improving, this offense will continue to improve.
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