Rochelobe

Truly a performance worthy of their special "Blackshirts" uniform.

No discipline. Each week it is like they are a newborn football baby that has to relearn everything about football. No ability to build on what they do in previous weeks. Sandlot football at its finest. Unfortunately, sandlot football will not give you consistent success in a physical and disciplined conference like the Big Ten.

CDC Report released today on effects of mandated mask ordinances vs non-mandated counties. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6947e2.htm?s_cid=mm6947e2_w This data is for Kansas from the time period June 1 to August 23. It looks at the rates of cases across counties in Kansas before/after adoption of a mask mandate (in 24 counties) vs those that did not adopt a mask mandate (81 counties). So, before the mask mandates were adopted (during July), the bolded text shows what the rate in the 24 counties that ultimately adopted a mask mandate in July (3 cases/100,000) vs the rate in the 81 counties that never adopted a mask mandate (4 cases/100,000). Thus the rate was similar, despite the 24 counties having a much higher share of the population of Kansas (67.3%). Then the CDC looked at the data ~1 month later, as the pandemic took off in Kansas, to when the governor stated a mask mandate: So the effects of the higher population density were much more devastating on the 24 counties that adopted a mask mandate - during the one month prior to the mandate, they went from 3 to 17 cases/100,000 (~6x increase) while the non-mandated counties increased from 4 to 6 cases/100,000 (1.5x increase). On July 3, the mask mandates started in the 24 counties, while the other 81 counties continued as before: So one month later, the mandated mask counties had started to slowly decline, while the non-mandated mask counties increased by a factor of 2x from early July. The nonmandated counties were "catching up", as the ratio went from 17/6 = 2.83x higher in the in the 24 counties vs 81 counties on July 3 to 1.33x on Aug 23. This is the reason that medical officials have said and continue to say: "WEAR A MASK". Yet, all we hear from a certain population "Ain't no cloth gonna protect you none, nohow." Medical professionals never promised that masks would eliminate the virus, remove all risk, etc. The goal all along has been to slow the spread as much as possible until the vaccine became available. It is really concerning that a segment of the population cannot see this. It is either gross stupidity or willful disregard for others. Oh, and Sweden, the darling of the anti-maskers? Well they aren't doing so good right now. Guess that "herd mentality" decided to run over a cliff. Summary: Cases per 100000 6/1 7/9 8/23 Notes 24 Counties 3 17 16 Counties adopted mandate July 9 81 Counties 4 6 12 Counties never adopted

True, but Frost just seems to still struggle regularly with the fundamentals in his 5th year as a head coach, 3rd at Nebraska. Nebraska is still rebuilding and will struggle to win a lot of games, but that is compounded by the number of times they just make unforced errors. If they could clean that up they can focus on getting harder to defend, etc. And after the creative ways Nebraska has managed to lose these past few years, I take nothing for granted - certainly not even a short field goal. I'm glad they won - at least now they won't go 0-fer this season, which would have been disastrous for the program. Hopefully they can build upon it, but the one thing we've seen these past few years - just when it seems they get it going, they find a way to destroy their momentum. It would be nice to see them beat Illinois and one or two out of Minnesota/Purdue/crossover game. If they can get 4 wins and go 4-5 that would be something to build on for next year, with the defense looking like they are slowly improving. But, I think Frost needs to seriously look at how he is selecting plays during the game and getting that play into the team.

Delay of game on the last field goal. Seemed that the offense was slow getting off the field like Frost was trying to decide to maybe go for it.

Interesting article showing the current status of COVID cases in counties that host a Power 5 Conference team. https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/sports/ncaaf/2020/11/13/college-football-covid-19-cases-jump-big-ten-big-12-counties/6270975002/ Interesting that currently the new case per day rate/100K residents in Lancaster County is 3x higher than Los Angeles County. The bolded number is the new cases/day/100K residents over the last 7 days.

This pandemic has really exposed how anti-science and selfish a significant portion of our citizens are. I just don't get it. Most of the anti-maskers are the loudest "open up our city" complainers. Yet they defy the 2nd best way (after a vaccine) to actually open things up. *sigh*

I know your response will have to be anecdotal, but in regards to number 3 on your list: I would assume your staff is generally wearing medical grade masks - please correct if my assumption is wrong. However, do you have a significant number of patients wearing cloth masks, or are they also wearing masks that are the same as the staff? I ask because we hear one of the "finesse" arguments against masks is that only "N95 masks are effective, cloth masks are worthless" . I somehow doubt it is that binary, and the purveyors of that approach are just trying to excuse their resistance to wearing masks. If the bulk of your patients wear cloth masks, yet you don't seem to have any traced transmissions to staff, that would indicate cloth masks are useful. Or no patients have covid at the time they visit, which seems unlikely the longer the pandemic runs. I'm just tired of the anti mask whiners complaining about everything. Debunking them is a full time job at times.

The scene at Notre Dame with all the fans storming the field doesn't help. Not when the campus had a outbreak in progress. The national optics of that look really bad. And it actually makes the Big Ten look smart for not allowing any attendance at their games. Although part of me would appreciate the irony if Notre Dame's fans cause their team to have to cancel games/have key players missing (just like Clemson did against them), resulting in a loss which eliminates them from the playoff.

I guess we are fortunate it can't be like the epic battle between K-State and Kansas back in the (pre-OT) 1980s when they both came into the game winless. It ended in a tie. I think one of them later managed to win a game, but bleah. Maybe we can have an echo from the Akron game and have weather end the game while it is tied.

Agree - I no longer think Frost will get it done. I don't see any improvement in fundamentals - getting beat by better athletes is one thing. Continuously making self-inflicted errors (how many motion penalties today?) shows a lack of organization on the part of the coaches. If they were very disciplined and just getting beat down because they tire out or the other guy just makes a spectacular play, well that is much easier to fix - recruiting. I don't see that. I think the players are playing hard (particularly on defense today), but at times on offense the term "chickens with their heads cut off" comes to mind. I would think it has to be very frustrating for them. As I write this, PSU is about to lose to Maryland by 20+ points and drop to 0-3. I hope Nebraska can build off of today's good defensive play and reasonable consistency moving the ball and come out ready to go next week. If they lose (and if it is ugly), then I fear Frost will have lost the team for this season.

Look at the guy's posting "history" (all 11 posts so far). Pretty much has "troll" written all over it. I doubt you can expect much in the way of reasonable discourse with this one.

Heisman caliber QB playing in a conference whose idea of defense is prevent all day, all the time. Basically UCF just outscored people that year and it just lined up well, due to a great QB. I don't think Frost is going to succeed. How many coaches with losing seasons their first 3 years at a school ever come back to win a conference championship at the same school? Right now they are 0-2 and the chances they go 4-4 or better are probably about 1%. I think they will be fortunate to go 2-6. And that might only because they will play a really bad team in the 7th place crossover game. I hope they can prove me wrong. The defense is showing some actual signs of improvement. They played well enough for Nebraska to win today, had the offense not just pissed down their leg when they'd reach the red zone. My hope is that this game was sort of like the horrid 9-7 loss to ISU with the 30345487903465 fumbles in the red zone. Next week, if they come out with confidence that they can move the ball against PSU maybe they will get something going. PSU has been pretty hideous as well this year, so far, probably far more surprisingly than Nebraska. But right now it is hard to have any confidence that will happen, until they prove it.

And with the way things are trending, that game could be to avoid an 0-fer season. Seriously, other than Illinois, I don't see how Nebraska wins any other games on the current schedule (without yet knowing who they will play in the last game). I hope they figure something out and at least eek out a win at some point. Maybe they would get some confidence if that happens.

It is the worst it has been in over 60 years. With only the smallest whispers of turning it around. The defense played good enough to win today. I think there are some indications of improvement there. The offense pissed away 20+ points today. Just total chaos on offense. It looks like they really don't have any idea of what they want to do. Several people keep saying this year doesn't count. But if they go 1-7 or 0-8 (assuming no more canceled games), it will just about destroy what remains of this team's cohesion - meaning 2021 basically becomes another "We are going to rebuild and come back strong" season. Looks more and more like a 1 year awesome record in a no-defense league does not a coach make. I hope I'm wrong, but the horrid discipline, particularly on offense, in year 3 does not bode well.

I have an endoscopy scheduled for Monday. This game has made me look forward to that.

Nice article on Lavonte and his fellow inside linbacker Devin White: https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/30222727/buccaneers-devin-white-lavonte-david-emerging-league-top-linebacking-duo Its good to see him getting some national credit finally - I think if he had played for a team that had been a real contender during the first part of his career, he'd already be talked about as one of the greatest. The lack of Pro Bowls is due to how poor Tampa Bay has been overall, particularly on offense the last 9 years. Now that they have an offense their defense, and in particular, David, seems to finally be getting justified attention.

I guess because some bright boy in marketing figures since E comes before S in their station name, that is the route they will go. They have chosen to emphasize the Entertainment part over the Sports part the last 20 years or so, and thus the slide. As great as ESPN was from ~1985-~2000 (when their focus was much more on the actual sporting events). When you compare their current lineup of sports "personalities" (e.g., Stephen A Smith, Finebaum, etc.) to what used to be on the sports reporters, it is really sad. I remember when Lupica seemed like the whiniest idiot ever on TV. Now he'd barely even move the needle. I miss John Saunders, Bob Ley, and Tom Mees. Those are the guys I remember - when they talked I wanted to hear what they had to say. I always found Berman tiring, but at least it was sports-centric. Olberman was also exhausting. Didn't Disney basically get controlling interest in ESPN in the late 90s, due to the ESPN shares that ABC held? I struggle to find anything good that Disney has done for Entertainment (there is that word again) during that time. I had hopes for the FS1 and FS2 channels, but once they hired Skip Bayless, I figured that tipped their hand of how they wanted to go - an ESPN echo.

Agree. Has the Big Ten botched some of the response to the pandemic? Yes. Is there some evidence of conflict behind the scenes between Nebraska and the conference? Based upon what has gone public, I think that would be the case. Do we have any idea of how severe this conflict is? Not at this time. It could be severe. It could be just minor run-of-the mill disagreements. The national media can conveniently use Nebraska as a foil for criticism (like they did during the initial cancelled season period). Somehow the media has not seen fit to criticize Ohio State in the same way, despite it being quite obvious they want to play. I think it is a big positive that Ohio State has made some public statements that can be clearly read as supporting Nebraska's position. Just because you have some disagreements does not mean you run away at the first sign of trouble. Yeah, Nebraska left the Big XII, but in that case, (unless you want to accuse Osborne of lying), it had more to do with instability of the conference - the aborted Pac-12 romance with Texas/A&M/Oklahoma, which Nebraska saw as a real issue undermining not just the athletic programs but the academic future of the school. In other words, I don't think "Texas is a mean girl" was the reason Nebraska left the Big XII, as much as many people think it was. Now many just want to say "Big Ten/Michigan/? are mean girls". It was pathetic when we left the Big XII, and it is pathetic now. Am I happy with how the Big Ten has done things the last few months - no. They've made some major faux pas, since they probably didn't expect a team that had losing records the last 3 years to be so anxious to play. I doubt Nebraska has been different in their messaging within the private conference meetings than they have been in public. The fact the Big Ten wasn't ready for that is on them - and I think a big part of why their response has been so (outwardly) confusing at times. However, does that mean we just run away? I think that would be crazy. Now, if we end up with a rash of every opponent scheduled to play Nebraska suddenly canceling - then an evaluation of staying becomes more serious, since that would probably imply an actual conspiracy. Particularly if no other games are canceled for the rest of the teams. We are a long way from that - and at this point the evidence is still that this is a legitimate cancellation by Wisconsin. We can revisit after this weekend and see if anything funny starts happening around Northwestern.

I am aware that Wisconsin chose to cancel. However, it is (according to the current rules) NOT Wisconsin's choice to allow players that tested positive to play. My understanding of the procedures laid out by the Big Ten is that players that test positive must sit 21 days. For their QB from the Illinois game to be allowed to play against Purdue, I think the Big Ten has to approve a waiver of their 21 day sit down. Wisconsin is still increasing their number of positive tests. Does that not mean they can cross over to Red/Red status - which per the Big Ten is a mandatory shutdown, meaning a cancellation of next week's game? That is my understanding of the rules - and I would think they have to be getting pretty close to the Red/Red situation with the additional 3 tests. Maybe they are still below it. I wish I had a better understanding of the convoluted Red/Red criteria. 1. If they do cross it AND the Big Ten says "no problem" that will be when the hypocrisy becomes apparent. 2. If Wisconsin does cross Red/Red and the Big Ten says "you must sit", then all of this goes away. 3. If the Big Ten chooses to on-the-fly redefine Red/Red (and assuming Wisconsin is over the initially defined limit) then I think any criticism by Nebraska is quite fair. Granted we are not at this point yet - but if item 1 or 3 comes true then this will get ugly.

What will be interesting to watch will be the reaction of the national media if Wisconsin plays on the 7th, after still piling up positive cases today. And players that tested positive are allowed to play without sitting for 21 days, because the Big Ten changes the rule. If that happens, I think that ESPN will hammer the Big Ten and Wisconsin pretty good on Gameday. If the Big Ten states the Wisconsin-Purdue game will be played, then I'd put the chances that Northwestern suddenly has an outbreak announced on Nov 1 requiring cancellation of the game on the 7th at 50-50. Not because those teams are necessarily scared to play Nebraska, but because of the Big Ten being miffed at Nebraska trying to still schedule an OOC game. And releasing an announcement that had (mild) criticism of the Big Ten. If that happens, the national media mockery will go up even more. I would hope the Big Ten will not try to pull something like that, but at this point its hard not to become more concerned about how the Big Ten treats Nebraska. It all depends on how the Big Ten treats the Wisconsin players that tested positive. If the Big Ten says they won't play until the 14th or 21st, then this situation cools down. If on the other hand, they let them play (particularly if the covid+ players play), then it shows they have two sets of rules. None of this means you immediately run off to another conference, but it does start to add some uncertainty. The academic side, the additional research money, etc. will still hold a lot of weight.

Okay ITG, what conference and team?

Makes you wonder: what are the chances that their new wonderboy QB will suddenly test negative on Monday or so and Alvarez will say - "Cardiologist clearance to play? We don't need no stinking cardiologist clearance! Wonderboy plays against Purdue!" If they pull that off after canceling against Nebraska, the national media will eat them alive. At least we won't be the bad guy anymore (at the national level)

While I think it is highly unlikely that Wisconsin "ducked" Nebraska intentionally due to having only a 4th string QB (when has it mattered who the Wisconsin QB is lately against Nebraska?), however, this will have some very ugly optics if they play Purdue. What if Wisconsin and Purdue play while simultaneously Northwestern "suddenly" has an outbreak starting this Sunday that results in Nebraska's next game being cancelled. The complaints out of Nebraska would be at an all time high. At that point, even conspiracy skeptics would have to start wondering what is going on. I highly doubt that level of conspiracy is in place, but the Big Ten had better hope that Nebraska plays Northwestern next weekend if Wisconsin plays Purdue. The national media will have a field day if Wis-Pur play and Nebraska-NW don't - they will pick up on the story at that point pretty heavily that Nebraska is being punished. Doesn't matter if that is really the case, but ESECPN will love to tear down the Big Ten if the Big Ten is dumb enough to give them something that easy to mock. And at that point, intentional or not, the Big Ten will deserve it.

I doubt most people expected all games to be played, but the fact that Nebraska is involved in the first cancellation is just so 2020/Nebraska football for the last 20+ years. I think for a lot of people its just a venting situation. It will get really ugly if Wisconsin plays next week.