TGHusker

Excellent observation. Even wtout the bowl wins, cc, heisman, or NCC - he will easliy be in the top 10 just on performance alone. He gained some big mo this year wt the come from behind wins, improved passing and what appears to be improved leadership. I expect another jump next year in leadership and reduce fumbling. If our D is good, (not great) we should still challenge and win a CC.

This is a good listing of Top NU QBs. Where would you rank TM now? Where do you think he will end up after next season? Any surprises on this list? i think I would move Taggy to # 3 and Eric # 4. With that being said, If we win the Big 10 championship next year, I think TM moves in at 4 or 5. Although it is still hard for me to place him ahead of Steve Taylor and Scott Frost (emotional response). But, considering his full body of work and with it a CC next year, then I think he will deserve that high of a rating. If he doesn't have a CC, then I think he ranks 9th. He needs some hardware to elevate his ranking IMHO. http://nebraska.scou.../2/1160280.html

That comment really had some people upset. In reality though a team does need many different personalities etc. Try to find a MNC team without a few people you wouldn't want to be alone in an alley with. Our team has too have as wide a range of personalities as any other team out there.... Given that we recruit nationally. What the announcer said is offensive, but probably true.... Yeah, but when the meanest players on our team have their DAD watching their every move from the box... Come on I think we need a few more Incognitos or Jason Peters on this team to give it some attitude. At the very least, get a few players that are like Bo on the field... Wear their emotions on their sleeve, get fired up, hold other people ACCOUNTABLE when they screw up (god we need a few of these!), and don't take no sh*t from no one. It was good to see Taylor mix it up and not back down from that asshat safety from UGA. We need more of THAT on this team. yea it was good seeing TM get in the face wt the UGA D. We do need more 'attitude'. It reminded me, living here in Oklahoma, of a freshman QB name "I'm a Man" Mike Gundy who got in Brian Bosworth's face back in 1984 I believe. Mike was and has been a Ok State fan favorite ever since.

I think with one more summer wt the QB coach, Taylor should be primed for a great year next year. We all know his fumble problem - perhaps he needs to spend time with a running back coach as well to work on it. As mentioned by someone else, I think he needs to know when to hold it and when to fold it - many times he should have thrown the ball out of bounds instead of taking a sack or forcing a pass. The bigger question is can we get some real playing time experience for our back up QBs. This year saw no QB development. Thankfully, TM wasn't injured otherwise we would have been toast or Rex would be constant wildcatter. I hope next year our D improves enough to bring scoring separatation and allow Armstrong or Straton to get some significant playing time. Speaking of TM as a slot in the pro's - I wonder if Crouch ever regretted not going that route instead of holding out unsuccessfully for a NFL QB job. I wonder how Croch or TM would fair as receiver??

It has been interesting following Cody's career here in Tulsa. The Husker Club here has been real supportive of him. This was his 1st season as a starter after sitting out a year. He had a hot and cold season plus he missed some time due to injury (most of one or 2 games I believe - I think it was his shoulder). He appears to be a very positive leader amoung the players and the coaches give him a lot of praise for his attitude, hard work, and character. He did however lead them to 3 critcal wins at the end of the season. Beat USF to get into the CCG in a thriller and then beat them 2 weeks later in the CCG - in OT. He then led them to the Liberty Bown win and revenged the early season loss to Iowa State. They won that game by a large margin the 2nd time around. Tulsa finished 11-3. (lost to Univ of Ark- should have won, ISU, & SMU after they clintched their division) Here are his stats for the year: SPLITS CMP ATT YDS CMP% YPA LNG TD INT SACK RAT Season 228 419 2592 54.4 6.19 74 17 11 8 114.5

So let me get this straight.........You cruised through the board, read the threads, absorbed the content, and decided that you needed to add to it. So, the thing you decided this board needed more of was negativity, Bo bashing, Taylor Martinez criticism, "harsh realities", and glass-half-empty thinking, so much so that you went to another site to find content to match this description? Your comment isn't worth the typing effort to respond to.

Don't post other site's content...that'll get you a PM really quick. Thanks for the tip

I appreciate your positive out look and hope you are right

Good bowl locations and better bowl competition. NU needs to win these to get to the next level. So it is a good measuring stick. I do agree wt the earlier posters that the Rose bowl is to the Pac 12 what the Orange Bowl was to FSU & Miami when we had to play in their back yard each year. Decided disadvantage for the Big 10.

Here is the full article that this tread is based on 2012 Improvements Hard to Swallow Mod Edit - please don't link to other forums here. Thanks.

Agreed. I also have reservations about all the hype towards Armstrong and Stanton. I guess we have just been burned too many times. People tend to fall in love with players before they even see the field. Hit the nail on the head. Ever since BC days we've been hungry Husker fan waiting to bit on any positive red meat news that we think will return us to 'elite' standing. Most of us are now on kool aid overdose and are trying to withdraw from it and be a bit more cleared eye about things. I think most of the 'negative' posters (so labeled by those who never want to hear a discouraging word) on the forum fit this mode. They are true Husker "patriots" but burned by misinformation, hype, and the reality they see on the field .

Title of the article I linked to

Good take on it. More of a 'glass half full' view. An earlier poster mentioned the loss of talent on the D before the season started. Perhaps that was the major reason we were so poor on the D side. With all of the redshirts and medical perhaps Bo sacrificed this year to make a run next year. That is my hope. I have no doubt the O can score - it needs to be more disciplined and not place a inexperienced D into bad situations. If the O can clean up the penalties, the sacks, and the funbles and the young D can learn quick, then next year may be much better than this year. At this point, I don't know if I'm half full or half empty guy. I don't want to be a kool aid drinker and yet I've been a Husker fan since 1970 - therefore hard to get real negative on them - eternal optimist. From my 2013 prediction post: The Dark Side of me says the following: I predict we lose to UCLA (we are too young on D that early in the season to pull it off), Michigan ( I see their QB giving us fits - he seems to have gained some confidence filling in for Robinson), NW - again our D will be the reason for the loss and OSU if we make it to the CCG. We've yet to prove that we can win the big game in the national spot light. Our offense has the ability to make us undefeated if we lower the turnovers. Our D will be young (perhaps more athletic) but untested. I see us loosing 3+ games per year until we do the following on a consitant basis: 1. reduce turnovers - many turnovers aren't so bad if you have a great D - we had a lot of turnovers in our Option years but we had a great D that could 'erase' those errors 2. Develop speed and experience in the D (1990-1992 all over again - this is when we realized we need speed on D. The championship run of 1994-97 was the result) 3. Have dominate DT play that can stabalize the line & free up DE and LB to rush the passer 4. Recruit the talent & develop it. It seems Bo developed players that BC recruited but we've yet to see dominant defensive recruits on the field. Hopefully the redshirts will be that talent next year. 5. Coaching staff showing they can outcoach and make adjustments on the big stage The Optimistic side of me says this: 1. We lose one regular season game to one of the 4 above. 2. The young D shows that talent and speed make up for lack of experience 3. TM learns how not to fumble wt a coach this summer 4. Bo gets the monkey off his back and he wins the CCG 5. We get into the NCG

Below is a link to an article by "Angry Dad". He removes the rose colored glasses and calls it as he sees it. It is hard to argue with his statements. Our come from behind wins this year kind of shields us from some of the issues that made us 'behind' in the first place. My hope for next year is that the redshirts and juco players on D will be as good as advertised. But, I've heard the kool-aid talk before (and believed it and was burned by it) and will reserve belief until the UCLA game. Mod Edit - please don't link to other forums here. Thanks.

Sometimes we all need to take a time out and get a fresh perspective. Sometimes our passions for life, politics, and Husker sports can weigh on us. Someone said that 'Stress is the gap between our expectations and our reality." So if we have high expectations and they aren't met - the higher our stress. This happens to all of us. I took a year off from the forums because of this. I found I was becoming stressed out by politics, talk radio, and unmet Husker expectations. This was reflexed in how I talked to those I cared about - anger was raising it's ugly head. I posted previously on this forum and Huskerpedia (as a Mod also) as Tulsa-Husker. Having realistic expectations and placing things in perspective (Husker sports or politics are never as important as family and faith) has helped me to be a calmer person. Thanks for showing the courage to confess and being honest. We all like to puff out our 'man chest' by posting behind a fake name, but it is a real man who can recognize & confess his faults and still go on with confidence in who he is in his beliefs and passions.

So far based on your stats, we haven't been successful. Bo said he came here to win championships. Well we could give him credit for making it to 3 CCG games. I think he is 1-3 in those games - Beat Texas but not the refs Got out coached and out adjusted by OU Got totally out coached by WISKY. Enough has been said about that game. We are caught in no man's land of a 4 loss team - enough wins to be respectable but not enough losses to make drastic changes in the program. I guess we have to decide if 'respectable' is acceptable or if we want to be a national championship caliber team - if the latter - the bigger question is if Bo can get us there?? I think next year will tell us a lot wt the easier schedule.

Unfortunately so true. With no pass rush, I wonder what our pass def ranking would be in the pass happy Big 12. Teams just ran over us - why risk a 20 yard pass when you can do it more safely on the ground.

The only thing I would say about this part, is all a coach can do, is put a your players in position to make a play and hope they can get the stop. MANY plays, we had players in position to stop the counter and jet sweep, but wrong angles, poor tackling and just horrible decision making made for a long ugly night. Our defense was obsolete, and so was our tackling and ability to take right angles to stop the run. This goes on Players and Coaches. I don't count the UCLA game as a thumping, point wise, but I do think it was a horrible defensive game. They exploited us, and exploited our weakness early in the season. Many teams took advantage of it. But isnt that the coaches job? Teach players how to tackle, how to run persuit angles, how to execute? If players arent executing, isnt his job to replace them with someone who will? If you say he doesnt have the players..... isnt it the coaches job to recruit players who can tackle, learn persuit angles, execute? I have a much easier time placing blame on a grown man making 3million a year, whose sole job is to the do things listed above; then i do placing blame on 18-22 year old kids putting their bodies on the line for the entertainment of the fans and a free education. Just my 2 cents. Yeah you shouldn't be 'hoping' your kids can do anything by year five. Except for kicks which can go any which way. You should know the product you put on the field and be knowledged enough to know that what you have out there will get the job done. No hoping about it. You make the changes necessary to win which means if Stafford couldn't get the right angles, take him out. If the DE's can't keep the plays inside, play the younger, more athletic (less experienced), kids in the game to at least see some kind of change. But when we came out in the second half and looked the exact same, I lost a lot of confidence in Bo's ability to do what's necessary to win a big game. I'm being a realist, not a pessimist and that is what I see. And until the thumpings, yes they happen, stop, then I can't say I can do anything but 'hope' Bo can change my belief in him. I truly think if we either don't win or don't even make it to the B1G championship, that Bo will 'find' another job either in the sec or some gig in the pros until Urban leaves in a few years. I posted this on the 2013 thread: I see us loosing 3+ games per year until we do the following on a consitant basis: 1. reduce turnovers - many turnovers aren't so bad if you have a great D - we had a lot of turnovers in our Option years but we had a great D that could 'erase' those errors 2. Develop speed and experience in the D (1990-1992 all over again - this is when we realized we need speed on D. The championship run of 1994-97 was the result) 3. Have dominate DT play that can stabalize the line & free up DE and LB to rush the passer 4. Recruit the talent & develop it. It seems Bo developed players that BC recruited but we've yet to see dominant defensive recruits on the field. Hopefully the redshirts will be that talent next year. 5. Coaching staff showing they can outcoach and make adjustments on the big stage

If this were to happen, Bo will be toast! It could have happened this year- we got lucky in a couple of games. Now some would say that 'experience' creates luck but in our case - a missed field goal by NW, a interception TD called back by MSU, and the PSU fumble at the goal line were lucky occurances out of our control. The Dark Side of me says the following: I predict we lose to UCLA (we are too young on D that early in the season to pull it off), Michigan ( I see their QB giving us fits - he seems to have gained some confidence filling in for Robinson), NW - again our D will be the reason for the loss and OSU if we make it to the CCG. We've yet to prove that we can win the big game in the national spot light. Our offense has the ability to make us undefeated if we lower the turnovers. Our D will be young (perhaps more athletic) but untested. I see us loosing 3+ games per year until we do the following on a consitant basis: 1. reduce turnovers - many turnovers aren't so bad if you have a great D - we had a lot of turnovers in our Option years but we had a great D that could 'erase' those errors 2. Develop speed and experience in the D (1990-1992 all over again - this is when we realized we need speed on D. The championship run of 1994-97 was the result) 3. Have dominate DT play that can stabalize the line & free up DE and LB to rush the passer 4. Recruit the talent & develop it. It seems Bo developed players that BC recruited but we've yet to see dominant defensive recruits on the field. Hopefully the redshirts will be that talent next year. 5. Coaching staff showing they can outcoach and make adjustments on the big stage The Optimistic side of me says this: 1. We lose one regular season game to one of the 4 above. 2. The young D shows that talent and speed make up for lack of experience 3. TM learns how not to fumble wt a coach this summer 4. Bo gets the monkey off his back and he wins the CCG 5. We get into the NCG

I don't see any of them as a "thumping". Only one you could even count as a thumping, besides this year, is the TT game in 2009. You just seem to be a very unhappy fan and a part of the "Anti-Bo Committee". You can't win them all, especially when you have a program working from the bottom up. You act like he was given a healthy franchise. Honest question... did you expect a National Title or at least be in one by now? I'm not as unhappy as you may think - ask my wife. I am more frustrated that I see other programs turning things around and it feels like we have met the glass ceiling. My expectations were a conference championship, a top 10 finish, and no huge thumpings on national TV by year 5. An occassional thump may happen to any program - on any given night. But we had 3 this year if you count UCLA - which was much worse than the score when you look at the 600+ yards given up. Our offense kept that game close. Bo look lost on the sideline with no answers against Wisky. Maybe in year 6 in our coaching training program we'll reach some of those expectations.

No, it's not a defeatist attitude - it's just an honest assessment that while we can be that good, it doesn't last forever. Ok - I appreciate honesty. I however, think we can be that good again. I want it to be wt Bo - I want him to succeed. Perhaps my expectations are set too high - I've drank enough kool aid over the years to get them dashed by too many games we are not prepaired for in the national lime light or too many games in which we get blown out - I never expected this year 5 of the Bo reign - esp not due to our D. This fall, I'll probably drink the kool aid again as a true believer in NU football since 1970. They say stress is the gab between one's expectations and reality - that is why many Husker fans are stressed! They've had one good year. It's entirely too early to say what the state of their program will be consistently. True - but they are in the national discussion again. That is what I want - is to be apart of that discussion at the end of the season This isn't accurate. What 2-3 huge thumpings did we take in 2009? What were the 2-3 we had in 2010? The last two years have had worse losses, but the Michigan and OSU games were competitive and within one score halfway through the third quarter before unraveling. I wouldn't exactly call that getting blown off the field. That leaves the last two seasons with 2 (not 3) "thumpings", and half of the thumpings being debatable. But you see a trend - Bo's 1st year - we got thumped by OU which could have been expected. 2009 a semi thumping from TT. , 2010 - 4 very frustating games - 3 in which we were not prepaired for prime time and 1 very uninspired win over lowely South Dakota State - who looked better much of the game. Enter 2011 & 2012 - Mostly Bo's recruits and the thumps start in earnest. The trend should be the other way by year 5. 2009: 10/17 #Texas Tech Lincoln L 10-31 a semi thumping. 3 TDs 10/24 #Iowa State Lincoln L 7- 9 This isn't a thumping, unless you consider the opponent. Totall unprepaired to play - 8 turnovers, multiple penalties 2010: these aren't thumpings - just terrible meltdowns - not ready to play 09/25 S. Dakota St.-HC Lincoln W 17- 3 We won - but SDSU was more prepaired - ugly win against my old school (yes I'm a SDSU grad) that shouldn't have been close 10/16 #Texas Lincoln L 13-20 The game of the year - marked on the calendar and we lay an egg against a bad texas team 12/04 *Oklahoma Arlington L 20-23 Led by 17 - OU made adjustments, we fell apart in the 2nd half 12/30 ‡Washington San Diego L 7-19 We Beat them by 35 earlier in the season .

Whats the "old normal" to you? Please don't reference the 90's, because that is not the old normal once TO left. Here is breakdown of how its gone since our last 11/13 season (2001) 2002- 7/14 2003- 10/13 2004- 5/11 2005- 8/12 2006- 9/14 2007- 5/12 2008- 9/13 2009- 10/14 2010- 10/14 2011- 9/13 2012- 10/13* This "new normal" is something I am more than happy to live with. If you can continue to win 9-10 games, your showing your good enough to get that 11th to 14th win. In the last decade, before Bo, we were winning 58% of our games. NOW, we are winning 72% of them. If we beat Georgia on the 1st, we will have our best winning season, since 2001, with 11 wins, granted its not for a BCS game, but this is ABOVE the normal in my opinion. Quite being spoiled and look at the big picture and say hello to 2012. The 90's were gone a long time ago. Isn't that kind of a defeatest attitude - that we will never be a consistent premier football program again? Don't get me wrong, Bo is much better than BC and I agree 11 wins is much better than the alternative & 72% is much better than 58%. In my post I wasn't calling for firing Bo, I'd like to see Bo succeed by accomplishing what he said he would do - Win Championships. But I don't think NU should settle for being a top 25 team. We have the facilities, the academics, the fan support, and yes the tradition - including the 90s, to be a top 10 team consistanty and even a top 5. If N Dame, another traditional power with higher academic restraints, can turn it around, we should be able to do the same. Nick, from the above quote: "If you can continue to win 9-10 games, your showing your good enough to get that 11th to 14th win." TG: So far the difference between the 9-10 win season and the 11-14 wins has been the 2-3 huge thumpings we have taken each year. So therefore, we have not shown to be good enought to win that many games as we get blown off the field. . We only show that we are good enough to win 9-10 games - which will not win any championships. There is a huge gap between 10 wins and the next level it appears - a glass ceiling we haven't been able to break through yet. Maybe next year. Our offense will be better due to experience and I hope with new blood on the D we will be better there as well.

I agree - I would like to see us play Louisville - besides my own town team Tulsa.

Hey, bring the Huskers here to Tulsa and play at TUs 30K seat stadium. Do it quick - next year is Cody Green's last season at TU.

Let me play the devil's advocate here: What happens if we take another Wisky like thumping? 1. Does the Forde become a prophet and the admin fire Bo on the spot for coach to be named later? 2. Does the administration quietly warn Bo to "Right the ship next year and win something or you are toast" ? 3. Do Husker fans storm the AD office and hold a 'sit in' until they are satified that 'thumpings' will not be tolerated again?? 4. Do recruits abandon NU in droves and Bo states "We didn't execute". 5. Nothing: We accept that this is now the new normal at NU - 9-10 wins a season with 2-3 good thumpings along the way just for the the pure pleasure of it.