After having sometime to digest all of the information that has come out since the game Saturday I have some thought that may alter some of your opinions as it has mine. I have seen the results of Mike Riley this year and yes they are unacceptable. I for the most part feel if you are loosing to many close games it is the coaches fault. Now having time to get all the information that has collected over the season and for me to think about it over the last day its giving me a little more compassion for Riley. I have stated several times this year that Riley should be fired. Its not Riley's schemes that bother me its his philosophy. Lets set all this to the side for a while and lets take a look at what is really obvious.
It appears on the surface that Mike Riley has lost the team. When that happens a coach should be fired immediately. You can't loose the team, cause once you loose the team you can't get it back. You can't have your players quit on you. Its so obvious that at least some of the players have quit on him by looking at photographs alone. When you loose a team players don't play as well, so when it comes down to who wants it more like at the end of games you are at a disadvantage. Having a qb that still is prone to mistakes doesn't help the situation. I know the defense has been awful, but I hate to say it I actually think that the defensive scheme is great for Nebraska. I have noticed improvement probably more so in that area then any other area so far. Offense is way to inconsistant, but the defense has slowly gotten better.
So has Mike Riley lost the team? I don't think so based on all the evidence. It doesn't appear that he really had the team to begin with, or at least not fully. I think there was still a partially divided locker room in the begining about the pelini situation when Riley first arrived. I think some were on the fence and the early looses doesn't help. Mike Riley hasn't won over the locker room yet, but as he gets his guys in there and the old ones out the locker room will shift in a better way. Riley does not have a lot of time to do this. Two or three more wins this season could have gone a long ways towards putting that obstacle behind him.
Here's the bottom line though. I am not going to advocate firing Mike Riley, when there is part of the team that is not buying in yet. I can't believe that I saw evidence to suggest that the players didn't care last Saturday. A game when your bowl berth in on the line, a home game no less. Do you really want to go down as one of the handful of Nebraska teams that couldn't make a bowl game. If you don't want Riley as your coach then go play your a$$ off and proof he sucks, and we will fire his a$$. This whole we can't fire a coach for 3 years at least stuff is bogus. There is no way to judge a coach who still has players on his team that aren't fully committed. There are standards at Nebraska, yes we will loose a game here or there, but the players never come to a game not willing to give everything they got. That is far worst than loosing.
It appears on the surface that Mike Riley has lost the team. When that happens a coach should be fired immediately. You can't loose the team, cause once you loose the team you can't get it back. You can't have your players quit on you. Its so obvious that at least some of the players have quit on him by looking at photographs alone. When you loose a team players don't play as well, so when it comes down to who wants it more like at the end of games you are at a disadvantage. Having a qb that still is prone to mistakes doesn't help the situation. I know the defense has been awful, but I hate to say it I actually think that the defensive scheme is great for Nebraska. I have noticed improvement probably more so in that area then any other area so far. Offense is way to inconsistant, but the defense has slowly gotten better.
So has Mike Riley lost the team? I don't think so based on all the evidence. It doesn't appear that he really had the team to begin with, or at least not fully. I think there was still a partially divided locker room in the begining about the pelini situation when Riley first arrived. I think some were on the fence and the early looses doesn't help. Mike Riley hasn't won over the locker room yet, but as he gets his guys in there and the old ones out the locker room will shift in a better way. Riley does not have a lot of time to do this. Two or three more wins this season could have gone a long ways towards putting that obstacle behind him.
Here's the bottom line though. I am not going to advocate firing Mike Riley, when there is part of the team that is not buying in yet. I can't believe that I saw evidence to suggest that the players didn't care last Saturday. A game when your bowl berth in on the line, a home game no less. Do you really want to go down as one of the handful of Nebraska teams that couldn't make a bowl game. If you don't want Riley as your coach then go play your a$$ off and proof he sucks, and we will fire his a$$. This whole we can't fire a coach for 3 years at least stuff is bogus. There is no way to judge a coach who still has players on his team that aren't fully committed. There are standards at Nebraska, yes we will loose a game here or there, but the players never come to a game not willing to give everything they got. That is far worst than loosing.
