Osborne Talks Husker Expectations

[Mavric]

Do you think the expectations here at Nebraska are very reasonable in your opinion?

I don’t know what reasonable is. It’s a trade-off. Obviously there is a lot of passion surrounding football. Here we’ve had over 50 years of consecutive sellouts, and with that kind of interest and that kind of passion, inevitably there are going to be some pretty high expectations. So you take the good with the bad, and there is no question that expectations are high. ... A .500 season is not good in the eyes of most fans, and unfortunately a 9-3 or a 10-4 season at times are not perceived as very good. However, having looked at a lot of football this last year, examined a lot of schedules and looked at a lot of teams, you have to realize that in the last seven years we’ve won either nine or 10 games per year, and I think there are only three or four schools in the country that have been that successful over that period of time. So you have to say that the bar is raised pretty high and expectations are pretty high. Under Bo Pelini, we didn’t win a national championship or a conference championship, and so often the focus is on what you haven’t done. I heard that for 21 years — “Well, you haven’t won a national championship” — then we did win some. But the focus is so often on what you have not done. I’m not sure we didn’t maybe win one against Texas a few years ago when they put a second back on the clock. That’s about as close as you can come without winning one. Then we almost beat Oklahoma a few years ago, too. So I guess you take the good with the bad, but there’s pretty high expectations.

 

OWH

[zoogs]

We almost beat Oklahoma?

[commando]

i think Tom thinks that Bo as fired for "only" 9 wins. I thought Bo was fired for his piss poor attitude towards everyone not on his football team and the way he acted in front of to many cameras and microphones..

[swmohusker]

We almost beat Oklahoma?

Yep. Lost in the 2010 Big 12 Champ game 23-20. Had 4 turnovers. 1 in the endzone that I believe was a pick thrown by TM.

[NUance]

I’m not sure we didn’t maybe win one against Texas a few years ago when they put a second back on the clock.

 

Ha ha! That's awesome! And true. We did win the B12 CCG. For a couple minutes anyway—until the Whorns had their refs give them a little extra time in the game. Fricken Whorns.

[Landlord]

We almost beat Oklahoma?

 

 

 

We were up 17-0 and lost by 3 when we were driving late into the 4th

[Hedley Lamarr]

TO still sour about not getting his way

[JJ Husker]

I'm a huge Osborne fan (or was) but every time he opens his yapper about Pelini and expectations. I wish he'd stfu. He is as annoying as some of the fans that think 9 wins, while getting your doors blown off twice per year and winning no games of importance, is something special. Never thought I would get to this point but Tom needs to ride off into the sunset and quit throwing in his 2 cents. Pelini was never going to morph into TO #2, the glory years were not on the horizon as they always seemed to be when Tom was on the sideline.

[Moiraine]

 

We almost beat Oklahoma?

Yep. Lost in the 2010 Big 12 Champ game 23-20. Had 4 turnovers. 1 in the endzone that I believe was a pick thrown by TM.

 

 

Not to mention TM was still in bad shape.

[knapplc]

I'm a huge Osborne fan (or was) but every time he opens his yapper about Pelini and expectations. I wish he'd stfu. He is as annoying as some of the fans that think 9 wins, while getting your doors blown off twice per year and winning no games of importance, is something special. Never thought I would get to this point but Tom needs to ride off into the sunset and quit throwing in his 2 cents. Pelini was never going to morph into TO #2, the glory years were not on the horizon as they always seemed to be when Tom was on the sideline.

 

Agree. Much as there was to like about the Bo Regime, there were fundamental problems that didn't seem about to be fixed anytime soon. Schemes were broken, the relationship with the fans was broken... so many things needed to be fixed. In hindsight the hill was too steep for Bo to climb, being a first-time head coach. Maybe if he'd have had the experience at another school before he came here, made those mistakes there and knew how to fix them, it would have been better. But the die appeared cast here with Bo, and it was clear that it was time to move on. Should have done it a year earlier, honestly.

 

And Dr. Tom's hand in all of the Bo drama probably wasn't as helpful as we'd like from a Husker Legend. Both in hiring Bo and managing his departure.

[ColoNoCoHusker]

I don't see anything wrong with Tom's statements. I certainly don't see him being hurt over the situation. Tom knew BP personally which affects his perspective. Like Beck, BP needed a lot of mentoring & active management. SE is just not going to be that kind of AD. Add in the personality issues/style, it was gas & fire.

 

If you balance Tom's comments against the BP negatives, the firing still makes sense. It's not a "black & white" equation. Problem is fans/media making it #9wins vs anti-#9wins or bo-leavers vs bo-lievers. The reality is on balance, BP cost more than he generated. My issue wasn't the blowouts themselves, it was HOW the team played & was coached in those situations. A team that fights to the end & a staff that is willing to do something that works would have made the Wisky games competive. Most Husker fans can deal with competitive losses.

 

I think ALL parties (AD, BP, players, fans, media) could've handled the situation better than we have. IIWII, tho

[shyndy]

You know, I think he is wrong bringing up 2009-2010 and having that mean much at this point. If we were fielding teams like those couple years, there wouldn't have been a problem. But somewhere along the line Pelini just broke and had years of moping. Turning point seemed to be that first crushing from Wiscy in the big 10 when we were supposed to run roughshod over the conference.

[StPaulHusker]

 

We almost beat Oklahoma?

Yep. Lost in the 2010 Big 12 Champ game 23-20. Had 4 turnovers. 1 in the endzone that I believe was a pick thrown by TM.

 

We almost beat Texas and Oklahoma. Thanks for the memories, Bo.

[VA Husker Fan]

I don't see anything wrong with Tom's statements. I certainly don't see him being hurt over the situation. Tom knew BP personally which affects his perspective. Like Beck, BP needed a lot of mentoring & active management. SE is just not going to be that kind of AD. Add in the personality issues/style, it was gas & fire.

Pelini had that kind of mentor for 4 years in Osborne. By the time SE took over, Pelini should've been able to stand on his own better. The fact is, he didn't mature much under Osborne, so he did struggle under a hands-off guy.

[MichiganDad3]

 

 

We almost beat Oklahoma?

Yep. Lost in the 2010 Big 12 Champ game 23-20. Had 4 turnovers. 1 in the endzone that I believe was a pick thrown by TM.

 

 

Not to mention TM was still in bad shape.

 

And we were in easy range of the tying field goal, but Watson called three consecutive drop back passes for sacks, and took us out of field goal range.