Phil Steele says no dice for Huskers in AP

1995 Redux said:
Landlord of Memorial Stadium said:
1995 Redux said:
Interesting numbers but the thing thats missing is overall performance in said games. The team plays with a bit more grit and tencity and focus.
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When?
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Dangit....Im at work doing this from my phone so no links are gonna happen.

Okay take 2011 for example. We drip a horrid game to Wiscy. Were getting manhandled by tOSU but a spark happens and we comeback big time. Same year we drop an uninspired game to the purples and travel up to Happy Valley and play some smashmouth old school ball with PSU for a win.

2012 we get blasted by the buckeyes after dropping a game to the bruins. Bo says win the eff out.

Comeback win at NW, Blast Michigan at home, comeback at Sparty, hard fought win over PSU, handle Minny, and hold off Iowa to win out. Granted what followed that was god awful but winning out that year was some fun gritty, entertaining football. It felt like the 2 losses on their record at that point made them more focused and more ready to do whatever necessary to win.

Even last year when the chips were down, injuries piled up, we found ways to win with our backs against the wall. Maybe our W-L record isnt the greatest but were a hell of alot of fun to watch. Its seemed like the last few years it was "National Title Year" mentality from the team. Theyd play tight and uninspired. Once that first loss or two set in the monkeys off the back and they playmore loosely but also play with more purpose because if not things could go really badly.

Maybe Im alone on this, just my perception.
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I'm just confused as to the actual point you're making. I agree with your observations but what are you getting at? The original point made was that we play better with less pressure and expectation. Then I offered up some numbers for how we do depending on where we are ranked. So I'm not sure if you are agreeing or disagreeing with Guy Chamberlin's post or not :lol:

But all of those examples would serve to imply that pressure and expectation can't be grouped together, but are opposites. We seem to perform better with more pressure (2012's win out mantra, for example), but perform worse with more expectation.

 
Yeah I see your point. But for me it was that 2012 season where Taylor was spoutting off about winning the BCS title and Bo backed his statement. The pressure was certainly on that year. After UCLA we were still "in it", but after the Ohio State beatdown the pressure was lifted because there was no longer a realistic shot at a national title. We just had to play loose and win our division.

On the flip side, Id like to see how this years squad could handle being 6-0 or 7-0 down the stretch with the pressure rising to levels unexpected.

 
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1995 Redux said:
Yeah I see your point. But for me it was that 2012 season where Taylor was spoutting off about winning the BCS title and Bo backed his statement. The pressure was certainly on that year. After UCLA we were still "in it", but after the Ohio State beatdown the pressure was lifted because there was no longer a realistic shot at a national title. We just had to play loose and win our division.
On the flip side, Id like to see how this years squad could handle being 6-0 or 7-0 down the stretch with the pressure rising to levels unexpected.
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You have a very different opinion on how the team looked after the Ohio st game.

 
NUpolo8 said:
1995 Redux said:
Yeah I see your point. But for me it was that 2012 season where Taylor was spoutting off about winning the BCS title and Bo backed his statement. The pressure was certainly on that year. After UCLA we were still "in it", but after the Ohio State beatdown the pressure was lifted because there was no longer a realistic shot at a national title. We just had to play loose and win our division.
On the flip side, Id like to see how this years squad could handle being 6-0 or 7-0 down the stretch with the pressure rising to levels unexpected.
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You have a very different opinion on how the team looked after the Ohio st game.
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Why dwell on the negatives all the time.............holy smokes, forgot who I was talking to.

 
1995 Redux said:
NUpolo8 said:
1995 Redux said:
Yeah I see your point. But for me it was that 2012 season where Taylor was spoutting off about winning the BCS title and Bo backed his statement. The pressure was certainly on that year. After UCLA we were still "in it", but after the Ohio State beatdown the pressure was lifted because there was no longer a realistic shot at a national title. We just had to play loose and win our division.
On the flip side, Id like to see how this years squad could handle being 6-0 or 7-0 down the stretch with the pressure rising to levels unexpected.
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You have a very different opinion on how the team looked after the Ohio st game.
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Why dwell on the negatives all the time.............holy smokes, forgot who I was talking to.
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yeah, but that is quite the re-characterization of that season. we were not really ever too much in the title hunt. and it seemed like the pressure was really on after the osu game an bo declared we had to win out. which we did, by the skin of our teeth. and it turned out to a pretty awesome regular season. but i would not say they ever really played loose.

 
sd said:
1995 Redux said:
NUpolo8 said:
1995 Redux said:
Yeah I see your point. But for me it was that 2012 season where Taylor was spoutting off about winning the BCS title and Bo backed his statement. The pressure was certainly on that year. After UCLA we were still "in it", but after the Ohio State beatdown the pressure was lifted because there was no longer a realistic shot at a national title. We just had to play loose and win our division.
On the flip side, Id like to see how this years squad could handle being 6-0 or 7-0 down the stretch with the pressure rising to levels unexpected.
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You have a very different opinion on how the team looked after the Ohio st game.
Click to expand...
Why dwell on the negatives all the time.............holy smokes, forgot who I was talking to.
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yeah, but that is quite the re-characterization of that season. we were not really ever too much in the title hunt. and it seemed like the pressure was really on after the osu game an bo declared we had to win out. which we did, by the skin of our teeth. and it turned out to a pretty awesome regular season. but i would not say they ever really played loose.
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Pretty much what I meant. I don't think a loose team falls behind to a lot of those teams they were playing or commit that many errors. They won though, and that stretch was fun.

 
Everyone (In a big 5 league) is in the title hunt until they lose

That stretch was one of the most fun seasons I can recall. You literally had no clue what would happen next.

 
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We sure didnt appear to be playing very loosed in 2012 after the Ohio St game-digging ourselved into multiple score holes week in and week out.

 
Maybe we started games tight. But the way those comebacks fell together took playing with a little fire and freedom to make plays happen.

 
NUpolo8 said:
1995 Redux said:
Maybe we started games tight. But the way those comebacks fell together took playing with a little fire and freedom to make plays happen.
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Then the CCG?
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That debacle was the culmination of taking an opponent for granted and showcasing just how thin we were on the line with a couple of dinged up guys.

Kenny Bell and Taylor Martinez played loose......

 
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