Analysis: For Nebraska, Bo Pelini, is good good enough? - USA Today

[Junior]

MY BIGGEST FEAR.........Bo wins out, stays and next year is a carbon copy repeat of this sh#t!!!!

I said coming into this season that we should lose no more than 2 games. Anything worse than a 10-2 regular season should be considered an abject failure based on the schedule. That said, I also assumed we would lose 4 games, because that's what Bo Pelini does. There is no reason, at this point, to believe it will be any different if he is around next year.

 

[URSS]

IMO, the article did not say much except that Pelini and the fans are disappointed. Resounding Duh!!!!!

What do we do about it is the main question. I am not asking for Pelini to be fired but I do want to know what is being done to cure our problems. We have persistent problems of the same issues for some years now. What is being done about fumbles? recruit better hands, spray their hands with Gorilla Glue, make the ball carriers run the gauntlet drill every practice, make the fumbler carry a football all day until the next game, ????? All I hear is that we need to execute better.

Pelini has got the defense playing much better for the last few games. But if we have the answer now, why has the defense been so inconsistent all season this year and some past years? Why does our defense often tackle shoulder high and basically standing vertical (little leverage) when taking on a running back with one or more lineman pushing the stack. We usually give far too many yards after contact.

What is it that Urban Meyer and Saban do differently that makes them championship contenders at successive head coach jobs? Is it the coach, his staff, recruiting, or other? If we knew the formula, Bo should be able to copy the program just like many others studied Osborne's methods.

 

[kchusker_chris]

I agree with matthew. The point being, how much of what is brought up against Pelini is he's never won a conference championship? Never played in a BCS bowl? NU hasn't won a conference championship in 14 years? All those points would be out the window if any of several things went slightly differently in the last couple minutes of that game - none of which, by the way, had anything to do with the coaches. The :01 put back on the clock gets the most pub but what about if Kunalic doesn't kick it out of bounds for probably the only time in his career? Texas likely doesn't get anywhere close to field goal range if they have to start 20 yards back. Or the horse-collar tackle. Texas got 18 yards on their own on that drive. Almost no chance they even get to Hail Mary range if we don't help.

You've got a great point. All of those arguments against Pelini would be moot. Two things though...

1) The dominating win over Arizona was a high point of his tenure. If we beat Texas, would we have had another bowl loss? Would we be saying that Bo can't win a post season game?

2) You've got a lot of people defending him by saying we're in a better place now, we're improving, seeing the "process" come to fruition. If he'd won that championship, made the BCS game, got his top 5 win, beat Texas, etc, etc...(assuming we didn't just get an a$$ kicking by whoever we played in the BCS game) - there would be a stark difference between how we finished 2009, and where we are today. It would make the fall from that point even more obvious. Today it's glossed over because he still had the 4 losses, but that 2009 season...even without an offense, was so far ahead of where we are today that it's not even funny.

 

[Sker4Ever]

". . . But as he clarified a few moments later, the standard is not conference championships.

"It's national championships," he said."

This is the best part of the article. I think we are closer than a lot of people realize. I would really like to see how this plays out with Bo at the helm next year. Even with the unexplainable losses, it seems like our main problem has been finding out how to play in the B1G. Specifically, how to play defense in the B1G. Hopefully we have have turned it around, and have figured out our identity defensively. Now, we just need to hang on to the ball, and win the next two.

This just tells me that he gets what the expectations are and that he's not meeting them. This is a Bo PR move more than anything. If someone is worried that they will be looking for a job this is how they sound. He knows what expectations are and that he isn't meeting them. May be trying to make it sound like expectations are unrealistic and he is being treated unfairly. Makes it look better than what is truly happening.

 

[ADS]

MY BIGGEST FEAR.........Bo wins out, stays and next year is a carbon copy repeat of this sh#t!!!!

Are you going to openly cheer against Nebraska then?

 

[Junior]

". . . But as he clarified a few moments later, the standard is not conference championships.

"It's national championships," he said."

This is the best part of the article. I think we are closer than a lot of people realize. I would really like to see how this plays out with Bo at the helm next year. Even with the unexplainable losses, it seems like our main problem has been finding out how to play in the B1G. Specifically, how to play defense in the B1G. Hopefully we have have turned it around, and have figured out our identity defensively. Now, we just need to hang on to the ball, and win the next two.

This just tells me that he gets what the expectations are and that he's not meeting them. This is a Bo PR move more than anything. If someone is worried that they will be looking for a job this is how they sound. He knows what expectations are and that he isn't meeting them. May be trying to make it sound like expectations are unrealistic and he is being treated unfairly. Makes it look better than what is truly happening.

"Is the style of play a little bit different [in the Big Ten]? In some ways yes, in some ways no. Football is football. You're going to win by the basics, the fundamentals. If you're good at those things, you're going to win football games, no matter who you're playing, no matter what conference you're in." -- Bo Pelini

http://www.cbssports...ebut-in-big-ten

 

[clyde40]

MY BIGGEST FEAR.........Bo wins out, stays and next year is a carbon copy repeat of this sh#t!!!!

Are you going to openly cheer against Nebraska then?

Of course, he's another "Pro-Nebraskan"

 

[swmohusker]

MY BIGGEST FEAR.........Bo wins out, stays and next year is a carbon copy repeat of this sh#t!!!!

I said coming into this season that we should lose no more than 2 games. Anything worse than a 10-2 regular season should be considered an abject failure based on the schedule. That said, I also assumed we would lose 4 games, because that's what Bo Pelini does. There is no reason, at this point, to believe it will be any different if he is around next year.

Coming into the season we had a 4 year starting qb and a loaded veteran offense. Now we are decimated by injury on offense and being carried by a young defense. It was supposed to be the other way around with our veteran O carrying our young D. Look at what Mizzou did last year with their Offense being loaded with injuries and look how they turned it around this year being healthy. I agree at the beginning of the year I thought we would not lose more than 2. But that has changed with the crazy amount of injuries our Offense has endured.

THe future for this team is really bright. Lots of talent on defense and we are already grooming our freshmen qb for next year.

 

[Landlord]

THe future for this team is really bright. Lots of talent on defense and we are already grooming our freshmen qb for next year.

The second sentence doesn't necessarily imply the first.

We've had a talented defense before. Still hasn't resulted in anything better than 10-4.

 

[carlfense]

If he'd won that championship, made the BCS game, got his top 5 win, beat Texas, etc, etc...(assuming we didn't just get an a$$ kicking by whoever we played in the BCS game) - there would be a stark difference between how we finished 2009, and where we are today.

On the other hand, if we'd won that championship, made the BCS game, got the top 5 win, etc, etc . . . would Bo Pelini still be the head coach at Nebraska? My guess (and it is just a guess) is no.

 

[kchusker_chris]

If he'd won that championship, made the BCS game, got his top 5 win, beat Texas, etc, etc...(assuming we didn't just get an a$$ kicking by whoever we played in the BCS game) - there would be a stark difference between how we finished 2009, and where we are today.

On the other hand, if we'd won that championship, made the BCS game, got the top 5 win, etc, etc . . . would Bo Pelini still be the head coach at Nebraska? My guess (and it is just a guess) is no.

Also true, and I'd tend to agree with you there.

 

[admo]

If he'd won that championship, made the BCS game, got his top 5 win, beat Texas, etc, etc...(assuming we didn't just get an a$$ kicking by whoever we played in the BCS game) - there would be a stark difference between how we finished 2009, and where we are today.

On the other hand, if we'd won that championship, made the BCS game, got the top 5 win, etc, etc . . . would Bo Pelini still be the head coach at Nebraska? My guess (and it is just a guess) is no.

Also true, and I'd tend to agree with you there.

And yet, here we are. Different season, similar bottom line results.

 

[Glendower]

MY BIGGEST FEAR.........Bo wins out, stays and next year is a carbon copy repeat of this sh#t!!!!

Let's say there's a 90% chance Bo stays if he wins the next two games. And a 50/50 chance he gets fired if he loses the next two. Would you rather see us win the next two, or lose the next two?

If he loses badly, then I would rather see him go. After the MSU game, though, I am curious about where this team is going. It really turned the dial back a bit on my Bo'ometer. Losing to a team that is better and more experienced, and losing well, won't be a major strike against him for me. I decided a few games ago that I'd rather see the young players (who will be the core of the team next year) get a lot of playing time to be better able to handle next season than to be concerned about wins that won't really mean anything. There isn't a conference title on the table at this point, so certainly nothing higher, and rankings below 10 or MAYBE 15 are kind of meaningless, so the best, most substantial thing to get from this season is experience for young players.

I saw no improvement through the scrubby games in the middle of the season. It always felt like NU was lucky to escape with a win. Northwestern further convinced me of that, but then Michigan and MSU had me thinking that maybe it WAS inexperience and youth that was causing many of the problems. Was the staff still to blame for not adapting its schemes to the players? Without a doubt-- that needs to be addressed in a major way (teams don't earn points for the complexity or AMAZINGNESS of a scheme if the players haven't gotten it down yet... I am trying so hard not to say any form of "e___ute"... it's my new cringe word). Maybe the staff needs to come up with a multi-tiered scheme. You can, say, be a brilliant architect who drafts amazing, other-worldly structures, but if they depend on materials that don't yet exist, they're just fantasy.

Anyway, I'm getting off track... if the team continues to show improvement but still loses, I think he should get another year. However, if the "improvement" was really just an anomaly, then he should be out. A couple weeks ago, I thought he should be out for blaming the players so gd much when the staff should be adapting to the materials they have (if all you have currently are bricks, don't give me a design for a steel-and-glass skyscraper... can't do that with bricks). Improved play is a major plus, though. AND it does look like the defensive scheme has changed recently.

Maybe he and his staff are learning a hard lesson this year. I'd rather see if it pays off next year than just scrap the whole thing.

 

[knapplc]

I agree with matthew. The point being, how much of what is brought up against Pelini is he's never won a conference championship? Never played in a BCS bowl? NU hasn't won a conference championship in 14 years? All those points would be out the window if any of several things went slightly differently in the last couple minutes of that game - none of which, by the way, had anything to do with the coaches. The :01 put back on the clock gets the most pub but what about if Kunalic doesn't kick it out of bounds for probably the only time in his career? Texas likely doesn't get anywhere close to field goal range if they have to start 20 yards back. Or the horse-collar tackle. Texas got 18 yards on their own on that drive. Almost no chance they even get to Hail Mary range if we don't help.

You've got a great point. All of those arguments against Pelini would be moot. Two things though...

1) The dominating win over Arizona was a high point of his tenure. If we beat Texas, would we have had another bowl loss? Would we be saying that Bo can't win a post season game?

2) You've got a lot of people defending him by saying we're in a better place now, we're improving, seeing the "process" come to fruition. If he'd won that championship, made the BCS game, got his top 5 win, beat Texas, etc, etc...(assuming we didn't just get an a$$ kicking by whoever we played in the BCS game) - there would be a stark difference between how we finished 2009, and where we are today. It would make the fall from that point even more obvious. Today it's glossed over because he still had the 4 losses, but that 2009 season...even without an offense, was so far ahead of where we are today that it's not even funny.

There are a lot of "buts" for #2.

Let's say we win that 2009 Big XII Championship. Let's say we play well in, but lose the bowl game. The perception of Nebraska as conference champions and contender is very different at that point. Recruits would look at us differently. Rather than "the team that lost the conference championship" we'd have a different cache.

The butterfly effect is what I'm on about, I guess. You just never know what that difference could have been.

 

[NUpolo8]

If the win against Northwestern came down to a lucky bounce, it's worth wondering what might have happened, and how things might have been different, if the Big 12 officials hadn't found another second for Texas. Nebraska has been very close, during Pelini's tenure, to breaking through.

This + 1,000,000.

I've said it time and again that this Championship that was stolen from us did more lasting damage to this program than any of the tirades, conference moves, or anything else out there. If we actually get the Big XII to not give Texass a fraudulent extra second, the whole trajectory of this program is suddenly different.

I wonder how many times Bo isn't coaching against another team...but against the ghost of that win that was stolen from us back in 2009.

Do ya one better: the 2010 championship game vs Oklahoma. Leaving the conference, very good team with a lot to prove and rallying behind its coach after the A&M debacle, against an immensely beatable OU team, that was kind enough to spot NU a three score lead.

Man if they had found a way to hang on there, they go thrash UConn in the Fiesta bowl, everyone here goes wild in happiness, and Nebraska probably strolls into the Big Ten with a preseason top 5 ranking. Hell, if 2011, 2012 and this year play out EXACTLY the same, that win probably assuages all of the angst on this board.

Looking at it, that's where I see the tides switching for Bo Pelini and this program. I was optimistic and pretty hopeful up until now. But this team just hasn't looked right since that night in Arlington.

As for this article, frankly I've read better pieces here. Football is a funny game, but the implication that EVERY bounce has bounced the other way for NU in every big game? No. Doesn't work that way. Complaining that all this turmoil makes it "harder to get guys?" uh, well sure, you're kind of in control of that, Bo. The quote "Pelini has gotten farther than his predecessors, Solich and Callahan did..." is utterly false. Solich won a XII title, played for the big one and beat a top five team. And I noticed that Pelini himself dismisses the alpha excuse made for him on this board when he says "I knew all that coming in...." when the real or not "disadvantages" Nebraska has were discussed in the article.

The article clearly had a point it was trying to lead to (most do) and the quotes were used as such, but he didn't sound like a coach counting on picking out a Nebraska sweatshirt and khakis to wear on Saturdays in 2014.