Welcome, Husker Nation, to fan question day here at the Carriker Chronicles. I’ve got a lot of questions to get to. I’m going to go really fast. I apologize if I don’t get to you or I mispronounce your name. I will be shortening some of the questions, just for the sake of time.

So here I go, I’m going to start out on Facebook with Jason Heck. When will the coaches realize that when we play teams like Iowa, Wisconsin and Penn State that we need big players on defense to tackle their big players on offense; and we need big bruising running backs as well?

Well, it’s a bit of a catch 22. I agree, we need to be more physical on defense. But you don’t want to get too big because then when you play these SEC schools and these speedy Florida schools you get exposed for being too small, so for me it’s a mentality on defense, laying the smack down on that offensive guy when you are going against him.

Now offensively, I’m all about blue collar, in your face smash mouth offensive football. But at the same time, you can’t force Mike Riley to continue to jam a square peg into a round hole. Love Tommy Armstrong; but next year he’s going to have a quarterback to run his scheme, and you have to let Mike Riley be Mike Riley and do what he does best or it’s not going to work.

Next up, Ronald Glenn Conrad. How can a school that ranks higher in recruiting lose to schools that rank lower in recruiting, and why don’t we win the in state battles?

Well, first of all, they don’t always rank kids coming correctly out of high school; and there’s this thing called the weight room, coaching and heart. That is extremely hard to measure. Now as far as myself, I was only a three star recruit coming out of high school. As far as the in state battle, why aren’t we winning that? It just wasn’t a priority to Pelini. That was a big mistake. You win championships by winning the recruiting battle in your state to begin with, especially in the state of the Nebraska; and I hope they do better with that going forward.

Catherine Wacker: Losing to Iowa was horrible and it felt like we took a step back. Do you have confidence the coaching staff can figure it out? Also, can the OL and defensive lines be fixed?

I have confidence, I don’t have a ton of confidence. All we can really do is support Coach Riley for the next couple years, give him a couple years and just see what happens. As far as the offensive and defensive lines there are more questions about those coming up, believe me, so I’ll answer those when I get to those.

Brad Gwynn: Why does our defensive scheme always seem to be one missed tackle away from giving up a big play?

So I’ll just use this play right here behind me. Most 4-3 schemes, there is one player for one gap. I’ll just use this exact seam here. What happens is if you get knocked out of your gap, so this guy now has the A gap, this guy has the B gap, if this D tackle gets knocked of his gap this nose guard can help cover his rear end. He has his gap; but he can help him if he gets knocked out. Well, what happens if that gaps small is not that hard to do; but if it’s big which has happened at times for Nebraska, it’s hard for that nose guard to have both gaps. So what happens is this running back pops through the Mike linebackers gone and he’s 1:1 with the safety in the open field and that’s how big plays happen.

Now defensively, if this guy penetrates, if he penetrates, if the Mike linebacker penetrates, that’s how you get big plays on defense.

Now, Mitch Olson: If we did go to the Outback Bowl, between Tennessee, Florida and LSU, which team do we have the best chance of beating?

Well, LSU has four losses to four really good football teams. In my opinion, Florida is probably the best team. Just look at what they did to Florida State. They were without seven starts and that game was close going into the fourth quarter. How many other teams could have done that?

In my opinion, Tennessee has a couple of lucky wins and a couple of bad losses. They would be the easiest team-not easy; but the weakest team we could play.

But it looks like we are either going to play Florida or most likely LSU in that bowl game.

Logan Begamen: In your opinion, where does Tommy Armstrong rank among the best quarterbacks in Nebraska history?

When I think of the greatest of all time I think of Crouch, I think of Frazier, I think of Gill, I think of Tagge, I think of Scott Frost (he had a rough junior year, senior year National Champion). With all the records that Tommy has I would put him somewhere in the top ten. You got to keep in mind he was playing in a system the past two years that didn’t suit him; and that hurt him individually.

Kenneth Nicestrom Jr. (hope I got that right): How do you think Nate Gerry will do at the next level? He has a motor.

I think he will do very well, he has speed, he has an attitude, he can tackle, he can catch, he’s going to be a very good NFL player.

Jay Kastlen: And this literally just came in since we started recording: When can we see your book or books Life as a Husker and Experiences in the NFL?Wish I would have known that was going to be there before the show. Here’s what I can do, I can make a call and let you know in the future. Thanks for the question.

Rich Lockwood: Washington and Clemson both lose, do you think we could see three Big Ten teams in the playoffs?

I looked this up and it’s a possibility if they both lose. Michigan would get in I think because they beat Penn State and Wisconsin. Then for that fourth spot you’d have the winner of the Big Ten Championship game or you’d have Colorado if they beat Washington, or you could have Oklahoma if they win the Big Twelve Championship. So it could get wild and crazy this weekend depending on what happens.

Jeff Wilson: Why are our O and D lines being dominated? As much as I don’t like Iowa, Ferentz is a really good O and D line coach. Why has this diminished so badly at Nebraska?

Again, I’ll come back to it’s an attitude. The two most basic things in football: blocking and tackling don’t take a lot of physical gifts (obviously they help); but it’s a mentality. You can’t have an attitude of entitlement. You got to have an attitude of whoop-assedness and that’s the biggest thing that needs to happen going forward to improve the trenches for the Huskers.

Matthew Lawrence Jones: Who is the dude pinching your booty in the profile pic?

I don’t know, I’m going to assume it’s an offensive lineman who is trying to block me.

Barbara Arp: Do you think other coaches should be fired?

And the first name that comes to my mind is Mark Banker and several people have asked me about him. We are only in year 2. You can’t go firing everybody already. Also, Iowa and Ohio State were really bad defensive performances; but as an overall whole there was a noticeable marked improvement by the Blackshirts this season. So give Mark Banker some leash. A short leash; but give him some more leash and some more time.

Jay Chevemint (hope I got that right): What do you think of the 2017 defense?

I haven’t seen spring practice. We have guys who have committed and guys who haven’t signed yet so I cannot comment on that just yet.

Eugene Rosales: Still digging that intro music, Adam.

Thank you!

Glen Cox: Does Ohio State deserve into the final four?

I go into this more in depth in my video from Monday; but the answer is yes.

Mark Parker: my question, do you think officiating in the Big Ten is good or bad compared to other conferences?

So here’s what I’m going to say; and I don’t want to whine or complain; but I’ll say this: it seems Nebraska never gets the benefit of the doubt, the calls seem to go against us. I’d like to see a discussion amongst people about this. But it’s part of the game, don’t want to whine or complain.

Erron Rhodes: Looking to the 2018 schedule, it’s a bit brutal. We have Colordao, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan State and more. Will it be a make or break year for Riley in his fourth year and how do we win those games?

It will be a make or break year and as far as how we win those games, we have to be more physical on defense and as far as offense we have to find an identity. We don’t have an identity. We have to find that identity.

Let me switch over to Twitter real quick and get to those questions.

Matthew Lawrence: Was reminded you have a business background, made me curious if you prescribe to the Austrian School of economic thought?

I don’t know what that is, so I’m going to say no; but thank you for your question.

Joseph Summers: Do you see Les Miles getting consideration as an assistant or coordinator considering his son will be a Husker?

Probably not because we’re not firing any more coordinators. I don’t see Les Miles coming in to be a special teams coordinator and he’s also good enough to be hired as a head coach somewhere else.

Let’s see, next question we have Navy Thomas 8: Are you going to put in for the Special Teams Coaching job?

Well, here’s something I’ve never said publicly before or let people know. When the D line coaching job came open last February I had several conversations with the folks down in Lincoln. Now, Coach John Parella got the job, he deserved it and he’s going to do a great job; but you never know when you might see Carriker back on the sidelines in Lincoln.

CWhit: Do you fear that once Riley has the players he wants that we might be a soft finesse West Coast offensive team?

Yes, I do. But you have to let him run his system, you have to. He’s our coach, we have to back him, we have to let him run his system. I do have the concern that we will be soft. I’m not saying it’s going to happen. I do remember a Purdue team winning a Big Ten Championship with Drew Brees-I know, a great quarterback-but throwing the ball all over the yard. You gotta give him a chance, you never know what could happen.

Steven Westra: With two injured quarterbacks going into the Iowa game, why wasn’t Darlington given a chance? Run the ball, shorten the game.

I agree. Wildcat. I said it before the Minnesota game, turned out Tommy was 100%. Said it before the Maryland game, turns out they’re really bad. And Fyfe played really well. But Fyfe was banged up, Tommy clearly wasn’t 100%. We needed a spark against Iowa. Wildcat. Do something different. Make Iowa defend something they’d never seen before. I wish we would have done it against Iowa. I completely agree with that.

There was some more questions about the current state of the offensive and defensive lines in the future.

On the defensive line I’ve said it before, we miss the three guys who would have been three year starters on the defensive front, and two of them are in the NFL doing very well.

As far as the future, we have a lot of commits. Still haven’t signed yet; but a lot of commits for the defensive line that will be expected to contribute right away. Maybe not as starters but in nickel situations and as backups to spell the starters. Carlos Davis did a great job of that this year.

Offensive line, we’ve got a bunch, well we’ve got some guys who have redshirted who are waiting to play so I’m excited to see these guys come in for the defensive line and these guys who have been redshirting for the defensive line. So I’m excited to see how the trenches could improve going forward.

Now as far as the Carriker Chronicles going forward, up until the bowl game at least I’m going to go twice a week: Monday, Wednesday. Monday, Wednesday. Every week up until the bowl game.

So until Monday, Husker Nation, Go Big Red and always remember to Throw the Bones!