The Duke

I agree that he is not a miracle worker. It helps us that all three schools will be starting the year with new head coaches. I don't know what it is, but UCLA did not impress me at all this year, and their new head coach Jim Mora Jr. isn't exactly a miracle worker either. Southern Miss has a lot of speed, but we are their first game, so I think our defense has the edge there. I think Gus Malzahn runs a good offensive scheme, and he will find a way to test our secondary. I see the Huskers winning all three of our opening games, I just think Arkansas State presents more problems for us than UCLA and Southern Miss, but I have been wrong before.

My bet, Wyoming comes to Lincoln. Wyoming is already coming to Lincoln August 31st, 2013 and again September 17th, 2016 as part of our original 2 &1 agreement.

I would say our toughest game out of the non-conference schedule is against Arkansas State. I wouldn't have said this at the beginning of the year, but with Gus Malzahn as their new head coach, our secondary could have some trouble. I still like us to win that game, but it will be close. I see us easily beating Southern Miss and UCLA. I haven't had enough time yet to evaluate the depth charts and rosters for the Big Ten teams next year, so I will hold off on my "guesstimate" for the conference games at a later date.

I would rather have a 9 win season and be ranked in the top 25 than have a 7-7 season or a 5-7 season like 2007. Granted, we were not a top 15 team this year, but when 3 of our losses came to teams with 11 wins, I would say a 9-4 season in our first year in the Big Ten isn't too shabby. I can't speak for everyone, but this Husker fan will continue to keep 9 win seasons as the benchmark. If we go above and beyond 9 wins in a given year...fantastic, and if we don't... then that's when you know something is truly wrong with your team. That's when you know your team is slipping in some area (ex. coaching, talent, recruiting, scheme, or whatever).

Well crafted................. And his run over the hapless Hawkeye along with the weave through Mizzou both deserve a spot on greatest Husker moments.............. Thanks for the compliment. And I agree with you about Crouch's run against Mizzou....that wasn't probably...IT IS the most amazing run I have ever seen on a football field. The man was simply a gamer, and one of the most gifted speed runners in college football. You can't say that Eric didn't leave it all out on the field, because he did.

Eric Crouch was quite simply one of the greatest to ever put on the Scarlet and Cream for the University of Nebraska. Who cares if he didn't win the National Championship. Mike Rozier another Husker Heisman didn't win a National Championship either. Who cares what Eric didn't do in the NFL. Sometimes it works for some players, and for other players it doesn't. Eric should be judged by what he did on the college football field, and when it is all totaled up he was one of the greatest dual threat quarterbacks in history. Not only was he a great player, but he is also a very nice guy and extremely genuine. I have met him on a couple of occasions and he is a very respectable person. As a player and to this day, Eric Crouch continues to represent the University of Nebraska with class. Thanks for the memories Eric!

I added another question to the poll to keep it related to Nebraska. Out of all the possible systems that could be used to crown a National Champion, which do you think is the most advantageous to Nebraska?

Wow that's a fantastic idea knapplc! You must have had this thought through for a while. I like that so much I will add your idea to the poll. I still miss the old days where the Rose, Fiesta, Orange, and Sugar bowls were all on January 1st. Having the National Championship game so late in the year like it is currently just takes some luster off of the whole event. It loses it's appeal in my opinion.

In light of the fact that the National Championship game will be played this Monday night, and in light of this recent Sports Illustrated article http://sportsillustr...ml?sct=cf_wr_a1 which method do you most prefer in crowning a college football National Champion?

so how did we not score a point in the 2nd half and remain their equals? by making our own mistakes and what not. But seriously watching that game, I thought it was a good measuring stick and I now believe that our talent gap from us to the top teams is not nearly as large as I once thought it was. I agree with you. We do have talent on this team. The catch though is that I don't think some of the talent we have is being used in the right way or in the right areas. I still think Jamal Turner should have seen more of the field this year. I don't care if he doesn't know the whole playbook, the kid is a burner of an athlete, and if you are going to burn his red shirt then give him a few set of plays to master and use them. The same could be said of Aaron Green. Hindsight is 20/20, but if he was not going to be a key cog in this offense this year than he should have kept his red shirt in my opinion. Let me throw this question out there going into next season: Should Martinez still be our starting QB or should the coaches give a good look at Brion Carnes? Maybe they could do what Solich did with Crouch and Bobby Newcombe where he moved Newcombe over to Wide Receiver. Maybe Pelini could do the same with Martinez? Anyway, I am just tossing ideas out there to see what sticks. What are some of your ideas that this Nebraska staff could do with our talent coming back next year?

Ummm...let's see here, Callahan had two losing seasons at Nebraska in four years. Our consecutive bowl streak went away under his watch. 2007 was and still is one of the worst Husker seasons this program has had over the last century. And yet you wish Callahan was still our Head Coach??? Yeah....no thanks. Give me Bo Pelini any day of the week.

I will grant you that. The South Carolina game and Texas Tech game in 2009 were not major blowouts, but they were not exactly competitive either. I will definitely grant you the fact about 2008 and changing the culture. As I said I knew it wasn't exactly a fair comparison, but I do think you could agree that in our biggest games recently we have lacked that focus, toughness, and competitive will power that many of the nation's elite teams have. I appreciate your viewpoints and the discussion. I look forward to hearing what you & others have to say on this topic.

First of all I am a Bo Pelini supporter. Compared to his predecessor, he has done a great job for Nebraska thus far. We have won at least 9 games every year since he's been here, and we have been to a bowl game each of those years. Yes, he hasn't won a conference championship yet, but I think in another year or two that will change. One thing that does concern me to this point about Bo Pelini's Nebraska teams has been a lack of discipline. However, what is more troubling is a lack of competitiveness. What I mean by that is when a game begins to not go our way, our team slowly loses focus as the game continues and we get stuck on that slippery slope of giving up, folding it in, and calling it a day. It doesn't anger me if Nebraska loses a game or two each season, you can't win them all every year. What does concern me is when we have the blow-out losses or losses where we just flat give up. I came across some interesting bit of information about Tom Osborne's tenure at Nebraska that I would like everyone to review: In his quarter-century as head coach, Osborne was a model of consistency. His teams never won fewer than nine games in a season, finished in the top 15 of the final AP poll 24 years out of 25 (having finished 24th in 1990), and were ranked in every single weekly AP poll barring one week in 1977 and two in 1981. Lately, Nebraska has been lucky to have been in the bottom Top 25 over the last few years. In order for Nebraska to become a perennial Top 15 team every season once again it is my belief that the blow-out losses must come to an end. Nebraska has to become competitive again in every game they play. In Bo Pelini's tenure at Nebraska he has already had 6 blow-out losses: 2008 October 4 Missouri vs Nebraska Missouri 52 Nebraska 17 November 1 Nebraska vs Oklahoma Nebraska 28 Oklahoma 62 2009 October 17 Texas Tech vs Nebraska Texas Tech 31 Nebraska 10 2010 No blow-out losses 2011 October 1 Nebraska vs Wisconsin Nebraska 17 Wisconsin 48 November 19 Nebraska vs Michigan Nebraska 17 Michigan 45 January 2 Nebraska vs South Carolina Nebraska 13 South Carolina 30 Now I know that this is not exactly a fair comparison between Bo and Coach Osborne, I know that Osborne had his share of blow-out losses as well during his 25 years. In my opinion though, if Nebraska is going to take that next step to being among the nation's elite we have to turn the tide away from having these kind of blow-out losses every season. Even more important team discipline needs to increase from both the players and coaches. Finally, I still say that we must bring back naming permanent team captains for the entire season. I know there will be many different view points and opinions on this topic, I am just throwing this all out there for discussion, and I am looking forward to reading the responses. GO BIG RED!

Excellent post!

These are all players that Bo and his staff (minus Raymond and Fisher) recruited. Basically by coming out and saying the talent isn’t there is saying, that until Raymond got here, the staff wasn’t doing its jobs as recruiter and/or talent developers but now that he is here it is all going to change. So pretty much he called out his boss and fellow coaches as well as the players. This is an issue that Bo will definitely have to address this offseason, and very soon. No matter how good a coach or recruiter Corey Raymond is, Bo CANNOT allow one of his own coaches to be insubordinate. You are exactly right, Raymond basically called out his boss and fellow coaches as well as the players that were recruited by those coaches. It showed a lack of class by Coach Raymond to throw his current players under the bus at the end of the season after he had worked with them all year. I expect in the next week or so we will see an apology statement by Coach Raymond about his remarks. If we don't, as a Husker fan I will be very disappointed.

As the OP for this topic let me throw these thoughts into the discussion: I think we can all agree that this Nebraska team needs some major improvement in certain areas going into next season. I think we can also agree that there IS talent on this team. However, over the last 4 years that talent has sometimes been overshadowed by undisciplined behavior by both the players & coaches. We are lacking in: 1) Mental toughness from both players & coaches. (When you commit the amount of stupid penalties that Nebraska has done over the last 4 years it is not just "a lack of execution," it is a trend... and a trend that needs to be reversed.) 2) Fundamental football. (If you have a hard time blocking & tackling you are going to have a tough time winning week-in-and-week-out.) 3) Poor decision making/accuracy from the QB position. (Taylor has improved in this area from last year) 4) Player development. (While it is important that your starters play most of the game, a team must also strike a balance of building depth and developing younger players. Some Red Shirts we have used wisely, others we have not. Example of players who should have redshirted: Aaron Green, Jamal Turner, Braylon Heard.) 5) A pass rush from our defensive front four. (Our lack of pass rush comes down to one of two things or both; Either, A-we do not have enough speed from our front four, B-our scheme is set-up to where our front four is not supposed to be rushing the passer, or C-both.) I could go on, but I will stop there for now. We can all agree there is work that needs to be done with our Cornhuskers, and things that need to be addressed on both sides of the ball. But let me ask you all this question: In order for this team as a whole to improve, which side of the ball needs more work going into next season and why? The offensive side? Or the defensive side?

I completely agree with you! Right now our defensive scheme is for our d-line to contain the blockers to free up our linebackers. It is part of Bo's conservative Tampa 2 Cover approach. I am like you in that I really wish we would be more of an aggressive/attacking 4-3 defense where our DE's just pin their ears back and harass the QB all day.

I actually that Taylor threw the ball fairly well today. His throwing motion is getting better. Even more importantly I noticed that his foot work has improved even since the Iowa game in November. You give him a whole off-season and then spring ball to work on these mechanics, and it does give me some hope for our passing game in 2012. Taylor definitely improved as a team leader and game manager this year. So what does he need to work on besides his passing? I would say his lateral speed, so that he is more effective on those speed option & load option plays to the sideline.

Obviously things get a little hectic after a loss and some people take it to extremes, but the OP had a valid question. When you lose games the way that we have all season long, it's a justified question. That wasn't directed at the OP, and it had nothing to do with how valid or invalid his question was. Not sure where you came up with that. Just look around at the board. It's not difficult to see what I'm talking about. No worries knappic & The Maudfather. I actually thought knappic's comment was quite funny. As it was intended to be. I'm not that busted up over this loss, and sadly, I'm not surprised by it. I'm not that surprised by the loss either. I wasn't worried about our secondary today, but I did have big concerns about our line play on both sides of the ball, and in the second half both of these sides fell apart. Oh well we were 9-4, in another January 1st bowl game. Can't complain too much about that. Time to move on to 2012.

I guess one of the biggest concerns I have about Nebraska over the last few years has to do with our offensive playcalling. It was true with Shawn Watson and it has been proven true with Tim Beck.....they both, for whatever reason get away from continuing to call what is working during a game. It is very frustrating. I wish we would develop a more physical running game with the QB under center, and not in the Pistol, and then set up some good play-action passes from there.

Obviously things get a little hectic after a loss and some people take it to extremes, but the OP had a valid question. When you lose games the way that we have all season long, it's a justified question. That wasn't directed at the OP, and it had nothing to do with how valid or invalid his question was. Not sure where you came up with that. Just look around at the board. It's not difficult to see what I'm talking about. No worries knappic & The Maudfather. I actually thought knappic's comment was quite funny.

We certainly need better play from our receivers. We had too many drops today. The WR group was better this season than they were last year, but they are still average at best.

Well, we certainly played like a Big Ten team in a bowl game today.

I will say that we must get better play from our front four on defense. We have not had a consistent pass rusher at defensive end in some time.

Ha ha! Well that's a start