The Duke

Agree with you 100% especially the part about the players holding themselves accountable for their actions on the field. I remember one shot of the defense sitting on the bench with their heeads hung, no fire no one trying to provide a spark. The coaches can only do so much from their its on the players. Exactly! The other night on Big Red Wrap-Up Jason Peter said that back in the 90's the defensive line's philosophy towards the secondary was "we don't need you." And what he meant by that is that no matter what the coaching scheme was, no matter if someone in the secondary was out of position, that D-Line was going to put the team on it's back and do whatever they could to get a victory. We need that kind of leadership from the players again.

Thanks BIGREDIOWAN! I look forward to seeing you around also. I have followed huskerboard.com for a long time now, and after last night's game I was like "ok I need to join in on the conversation."

No doubt knapplc, Wisconsin is certainly the best team in the Big Ten. What is sad is that they beat us with our old formula: a physical & punishing running game, which set up smart play-action passes. The only thing they were missing from our old formula was the option game. I was very impressed with Wisconsin last night, and their QB Wilson is the real deal. I think we will get back to that style of offense eventually, and when we do, the future match ups between the Huskers & the Badgers are going to be some great games to watch. We just need to establish an identity on offense first.

I have been a follower on HuskerBoard for a while, and a Nebraska fan for over 20 years. I just joined HuskerBoard, so this is my very first post, so bare with me. It is obvious after the Wisconsin debacle that Nebraska football still has many glaring issues and concerns that need to be addressed and fixed before we can even be considered to be approaching the nation’s elite again. There is no question that our overall history still makes us one of the Top 5 teams in the country. However, this last decade Nebraska football has lost its way. We have forgotten who we are, and what made us one of the most dominant and most feared teams in the 70’s, 80’s, & 90’s. At our core Nebraska football is about: LEADERSHIP, ACCOUNTABILITY, & TOUGHNESS. I have complete faith in Bo Pelini. He has won 9 or 10 games in each of the four years that he has been here, and thus we have also been to a bowl game each of those four years. The man has been a winner everywhere he has coached, and I have faith that he will get this program back to the top. We cannot forget that it took Osborne over 20 years before he finally won his 1st National Championship. If Bo continues to win 9 or 10 games every year I will be happy. My biggest complaint I have with Bo, and I think this has had the most profound effect on the team, is in the way he selects new captains for every single game. This team needs leadership. The players need to hold themselves accountable when things don’t go right in a game. I wish Bo would take a look at this current policy and really consider choosing whom he & the coaches thought are the best 3 or 4 leaders on the team, and name them Team Captains for the entire season! Example: Rex Burkhead. The next issue that Nebraska must figure out is: What is our IDENTITY on offense? I am ok with us being Multiple. Heck, Tom Osborne believed in being multiple and having 12 to 15 different formations. But many times during a game we would run the same play from different formations, which is very confusing for a defense. Now that Callahan & Watson are gone….(thank God) I think things are on the right track now that Tim Beck is our offensive coordinator. I am thrilled that we are slowly brining back the Power Off-Tackle runs, the Power Iso, the Toss Sweeps, and yes the Triple & Speed Options. But the Wisconsin game was proof that we still look like we are calling plays from a grab bag. In the first quarter the power running game and the option game were working well, and it was helping Taylor with the Play-Action Passes. Why we started doing drop back passes from the Pistol formation the rest of the game still baffles me? So again, what is our IDENTITY? I think Nebraska is perfect fit in the Big Ten, and while the Wisconsin game was a huge let down I am confident that Bo, Carl, and the rest of the Husker coaching staff will get Nebraska back to where it wants to be. But we need ACCOUNTABILITY & LEADERSHIP…not just from Bo, but more importantly from the players. So it is my opinion that if we bring back naming season long Team Captains and then finding a true identity on offense and sticking to that identity that the dominant Nebraska program we all crave will return sooner than we think. What say you fellow Husker fans?