nebraskaart
Four-Star Recruit
There was a now famous moment during the 1995 Orange Bowl half-time when Tom Osborne predicted that Miami would lose their composure during the game, and it would cost them dearly with a penalty, just at the right time. Osborne warned his players: “don’t respond” so that we could get the full benefit of Miami’s well known lack of self control. And sure enough, TO’s players kept their cool as Miami grew more and more frustrated. Eventually, one of Miami’s players could not take it anymore and the unsportsmanlike penalty extended a key 4th quarter drive.
One of the Peter brothers recalled that it was like Osborne was a prophet: he told the team what would happen, and then it happened just like he said it would. “Everything he said came true.”
Let me ask: Does anyone doubt what Coach Osborne’s half-time advice would have been to his players if he was coaching against Pelini in yesterday’s bowl game?
Don’t get me wrong. I am an all-in Pelini supporter. I am very impressed by most of what he has accomplished. He is obviously very gifted at about 90% of what it takes to do his job. He has transformed a lot of things for the positive. He has restored the respect for our great tradition; he has re-imposed expectations of greatness. He has raised the energy that players bring to the game. And while we surely want more, 9 or 10 wins each year ain’t all bad.
But the truth of the matter is that after 4 years, the most abiding characteristic of Pelini and his teams isn’t the quality of their play. It ain’t their 9 or 10 wins a season. It’s one thing, and it is apparent to every coach, referee, announcer, and blue-chip player parent in college football:
Pelini is that coach from Nebraska that is a hot head. He can’t control himself. When he gets under pressure, he loses composure. And so do his teams.
The Huskers are consistently in the lower half of the statistics that reflect on the composure of the team. Pelini’s teams are among the most penalized of the top 25 programs every year. Their turnover rate has generally been ridiculous. TV coverage of a Husker game is dominated by coverage of Pelini’s rollercoaster emotions. It is a national joke, frankly, and has cost us game after game after game.
Forgive me, but the old explanations don’t cut it. It isn’t passion. It isn’t a justified response to being treated unfairly. And I am sorry, it isn’t “having his player’s backs.”
Maybe those justifications made sense in year one, or explain an occasional verbal shot at a referee here and there. But we have had four years of this garbage, and those excuses simply fall flat now. The truth of the matter is that a man that is 43 years old with the responsibility he has, and with the now obvious impact on his job that his behavior is having, simply should not be acting as he does.
It is costing his team, and costing the program.
Contrary to some nonsense I keep hearing around the program, passion and self-control are not opposed. Tom Osborne was passionate. Tom Osborne was treated unfairly from time to time. Tom Osborne certainly “had his players backs.” Just ask them. He never acted like this.
More importantly, he never cost the team with his demeanor. He never cost us with officials, and his players lived out his demeanor in the games. It paid off. Nebraska was consistently one of the least penalized teams in college football, and made the fewest mistakes. Over and over again we heard the refrain: “Nebraska does things the right way,” and that was true.
It was because one guy -- one key guy in the players’ lives -- lived it large himself, and his life translated into expectations about how the players themselves would live. They loved Coach Osborne, and they tried to be like him. The apple and the tree, and all that.
It was as though the Big Red culture itself was the personification of one good man’s example. In at least one case, the payoff was a National Championship win over a team that was the exact opposite of who we were.
Unfortunately, it appears that Pelini is proving that this apple and tree thing is a two way street. At the end of the day, in key moments and in key games, the Huskers do what the coach they love does: they lose their focus, they lose their composure, they make critical mistakes at exactly the wrong times.
It’s my opinion, and it’s just one. But if I were Bo, I would stop it with the veiled whining about referees, I would stop it with the Callahanesque talk about players not executing. Sure, the referees make countless mistakes. The players don’t execute what they are taught. As you say, you can’t change how others do things.
Fair enough. Change what you can: Change yourself. Improve your focus. Improve your composure.
If you do this, I am guessing the players will figure the penalties and turnovers out for themselves. For good or for bad, the record around here is that wherever coaches go, players will follow.
Gary in Lincoln
One of the Peter brothers recalled that it was like Osborne was a prophet: he told the team what would happen, and then it happened just like he said it would. “Everything he said came true.”
Let me ask: Does anyone doubt what Coach Osborne’s half-time advice would have been to his players if he was coaching against Pelini in yesterday’s bowl game?
Don’t get me wrong. I am an all-in Pelini supporter. I am very impressed by most of what he has accomplished. He is obviously very gifted at about 90% of what it takes to do his job. He has transformed a lot of things for the positive. He has restored the respect for our great tradition; he has re-imposed expectations of greatness. He has raised the energy that players bring to the game. And while we surely want more, 9 or 10 wins each year ain’t all bad.
But the truth of the matter is that after 4 years, the most abiding characteristic of Pelini and his teams isn’t the quality of their play. It ain’t their 9 or 10 wins a season. It’s one thing, and it is apparent to every coach, referee, announcer, and blue-chip player parent in college football:
Pelini is that coach from Nebraska that is a hot head. He can’t control himself. When he gets under pressure, he loses composure. And so do his teams.
The Huskers are consistently in the lower half of the statistics that reflect on the composure of the team. Pelini’s teams are among the most penalized of the top 25 programs every year. Their turnover rate has generally been ridiculous. TV coverage of a Husker game is dominated by coverage of Pelini’s rollercoaster emotions. It is a national joke, frankly, and has cost us game after game after game.
Forgive me, but the old explanations don’t cut it. It isn’t passion. It isn’t a justified response to being treated unfairly. And I am sorry, it isn’t “having his player’s backs.”
Maybe those justifications made sense in year one, or explain an occasional verbal shot at a referee here and there. But we have had four years of this garbage, and those excuses simply fall flat now. The truth of the matter is that a man that is 43 years old with the responsibility he has, and with the now obvious impact on his job that his behavior is having, simply should not be acting as he does.
It is costing his team, and costing the program.
Contrary to some nonsense I keep hearing around the program, passion and self-control are not opposed. Tom Osborne was passionate. Tom Osborne was treated unfairly from time to time. Tom Osborne certainly “had his players backs.” Just ask them. He never acted like this.
More importantly, he never cost the team with his demeanor. He never cost us with officials, and his players lived out his demeanor in the games. It paid off. Nebraska was consistently one of the least penalized teams in college football, and made the fewest mistakes. Over and over again we heard the refrain: “Nebraska does things the right way,” and that was true.
It was because one guy -- one key guy in the players’ lives -- lived it large himself, and his life translated into expectations about how the players themselves would live. They loved Coach Osborne, and they tried to be like him. The apple and the tree, and all that.
It was as though the Big Red culture itself was the personification of one good man’s example. In at least one case, the payoff was a National Championship win over a team that was the exact opposite of who we were.
Unfortunately, it appears that Pelini is proving that this apple and tree thing is a two way street. At the end of the day, in key moments and in key games, the Huskers do what the coach they love does: they lose their focus, they lose their composure, they make critical mistakes at exactly the wrong times.
It’s my opinion, and it’s just one. But if I were Bo, I would stop it with the veiled whining about referees, I would stop it with the Callahanesque talk about players not executing. Sure, the referees make countless mistakes. The players don’t execute what they are taught. As you say, you can’t change how others do things.
Fair enough. Change what you can: Change yourself. Improve your focus. Improve your composure.
If you do this, I am guessing the players will figure the penalties and turnovers out for themselves. For good or for bad, the record around here is that wherever coaches go, players will follow.
Gary in Lincoln
