Saint Boseph

after moving from Lincoln and living in New York for the past four years, I've heard some outlandish remarks/questions directed toward me about Nebraska. I don't think the rest of the country will ever abandon their caricature perceptions of NE, so I just laugh about it. At the end of the day, Hicks/Farmers is pretty harmless stereotype considering a lot of other groups have more offensive & unflattering ones.

I feel like even though ESPN ranked us that high, it's not likely that coaches view us as a top 10 coaching job. NU has some of the most unique obstacles compared to the other programs that not many coaches may be experienced to handle. I have a hunch that a lot of coaches could be leery of this job because they may believe that Bo is doing about as well as he can for a program with our kinds of challenges & they feel they may not be able to do much better for a fan base that expects more. Disclosure: if not apparent from my user photo I am a staunch Bo supporter, more-so than most.

Apparently someone on the Georgia Message Board posted that they watched a Sportscenter segment ranking the top coaching gigs in CFB. He didn't provide a link but another poster who saw it remembered the order as follows: 1. Alabama 2. Texas 3. Florida 4. USC 5. Notre Dame 6. Oklahoma 7. Ohio St. 8. Michigan 9. Nebraska 10. FSU 11. Oregon 12. Miami 13. LSU 14. Auburn 15. Georgia 14 teams ranked ahead of them, but DONU is the only one GA board goes ape-s*** about. I posted a link to it below, it's mildly entertaining to see how angry they are and read how they rip on us; I'm always curious to hear other fanbases' perceptions of us. The conversation even devolves into an argument about which state, NE or GA, has more hicks/rednecks. http://www.secrant.com/rant/p/46884099/Georgia-Not-A-Top-15-Coaching-Gig-According-To-ESPN.aspx I think ESPN's list is reasonable. It's an interesting debate about which coaching gig is better overall, UGA or NU. How the average CFB fan feels depends on if they value historical achievement-to-date or the current/future outlook. I think NU is still a more desirable gig than UGA in both categories but I'm obviously a little biased.

^ What he said

My face exactly when I read the starting 3 LB's. These are the 3 I wanted to start before spring practice. Great gif

+2. Sam Keller was indeed a better passer than Lee. I wonder what plays might have made Addison feel like Lee was the best passer. He made some pretty good throws, but those were the ones he had to make. Never really made elite throws that I can recall, partially due to the conservative shift of the offensive playcalling. Two of those TD strikes to Niles Paul in the rainy Mizzou game have always struck me as kind of dumb, even despite the positive outcome both times. He threw it into tight double coverage on Niles Paul both times, and outside of that game, Niles gave no indication that he was a Calvin Johnson type who could go up and take it away from two defenders on a consistent basis like against Mizzou. It was more of an outlier performance than the norm and Zac should have played the safer odds and shorter throws. I'd argue out of the 3 in 2010, Cody Green was the best passer, then Lee, then Martinez. Also in 2010, Bo wasn't blindly in love with Martinez because he saw him shred his defense on the scout team. Just a simple case of picking the guy who he thought gave the best chance to win out of the three viable candidates. He tried the conservative, minimal-risk game manager QB in Zac Lee in 09 with unsatisfactory results and decided to go with an option with much higher volatility; higher risk, but also higher reward. Whether you agree with it or not, he made what he saw as the best available decision. Nothing more than that, like he was obsessed with Taylor and thought he was "super awesome". Even though he'd never say, I wouldn't be surprised to find out if he thinks Armstrong and Stanton have significantly higher upside than Taylor as QB's.

Close call between Meatchicken and UCLA. Gonna go with scUM simply because the division title will most likely be on the line. I pray this budding rivalry stays intact even though it's not likely in the new divisions. Bigger than the development of Devin Gardner is the overall development of Brady Hoke's stockpile of top-notch recruits, which should be now well integrated into the program that they should start validating the hype. Pretty crucial period in their program, we went through the same transition with reasonably good, though not great, results. Since I hate scUM more than any other team in our conference, my negative bias likes to think that Hoke is a schmuck at coaching and will not maximize the talent on his roster. He can recruit, Mattison can recruit, but only one of them can coach/develop to an elite level. I think Hoke will eventually be run out of town. Also very biased, but I think that Bo is a better head coach than Hoke. Hoke has been riding the coattails of Mattison ever since he got there. As long as Mattison is there, they'll give Nebraska hell on Defense, but Bo is going to own Al Borges and ultimately, Hoke. Since we're farther along in Bo's "process" I like to think we're a couple steps ahead of Michigan and will consistently beat them, rarely seeing debacles like Ann Arbor 2011 in the future. They'll most likely top out and stay stagnant like us presently, at 8-10 win seasons with decent florida bowl game appearances as long as Hoke is their coach. We have better odds of maintaining consistent BCS top 10 success. I'm not so confident making my assessment of UCLA. Jury's still out on Jim Mora as head coach. Great offensive tactician, and great recruiter, but he needs a reliable D. I wouldn't be so quick to say the season's tone would be irreparably damaged if we lost to UCLA respectably. They're underrated a bit, JM is stockpiling some serious talent also. It's flashy and sexy California speed compared to Hoke's comparatively slow midwest plodders One thing we have going for us is JM won't be able to exploit that motion back outrunning our MLB on a crossing pattern or that 6'7 tight end on our safety or LB for mismatches. Compton couldn't keep up with Franklin but Santos and Anderson can, not to mention our other young bucks at LB. Their TE Fauria and Alonzo Whaley/Damion Stafford are both gone. UCLA will most likely own the Pac12 south for a decent stretch. Hundley is good and what is a slight paranoia of mine is their WR Devin Fuller, the kid I wanted so badly for QB here (not so upset anymore, Armstrong and Stanton will be just fine for us). He makes plays and could burn us if he cracks their Depth chart and we're not playing sound on every play. Before we jump to a scenario of a loss to UCLA ruining a potential national title, we have to start with smaller steps and plan first and foremost to win the conference. scUM is our biggest obstacle, Northwestern a distant but still significant second place. Losing to UCLA, no matter how bad, would do no harm to our Big 10 championship quest, which should be the first goal.

I have little knowledge on the private prison industry, but my initial guess is that it's not an overly competitive industry that would necessitate such a move. I would think the "world-leading provider" of correctional facilities would have a safe enough place in the industry that it wouldn't have to advertise its name to persuade a government official, who also happens to be a random college football fan attending/watching an FAU game, to contract GEO for its facility construction as opposed to other competitors in the industry. I could be wrong though and this could end up being a brilliant business move. Sure is strange no matter how you look at it.

EZ's reference completely flew over my head. I'm an idiot, I can't believe I forgot that. It's been a while since I've watched that movie.

^^ I don't think I'm making too outrageous of a case in the post above yours. There's mostly agreeable things in there. Obviously I'm ignoring the whole awkward staff dynamic of having a former HC work for the guy who replaced him, but it was more of a theoretical exercise than one rooted in practicality.

I'm sorry but we're going to have to ask you to log out and never come back to the board. Say what you will, but the man could do a few things well, one of them being the ability to attract top talent. He just could not do a lot of things well, which doesn't cut it for a head coach at Nebraska. He was stretched too thin and couldn't focus on his strengths because he had to divert some of his attention to the little details of running a program that Bo is better at managing. Bill Callahan has huge downside risk as head coach, that's already been proven here. But hiring him as a head of recruiting hedges that coaching risk to a very low level and in my opinion would be a boon for the program since you're allowing him to specialize at what he's good at. I was kind of amazed that the guy could so consistently attract the interest of elite recruits, because he seems like an extremely bland and boring guy that couldn't sell something to save his life, but his results speak for themselves. Pair a recruiting whiz with an ace developer in Bo (and a better head of the program) and you have an ideal combo.

Bill Callahan.

Not necessarily. As much as I hate to admit it, the ball did hit before the clock hit 0:00. My issue was that I had never seen the scenario after the clock hitting 0:00 where the play gets reviewed, much less reversed. One game during the Callahan era @Colorado, the clock hit 0:00 before half when there was clearly time left (3-4 seconds drained off the clock incorrectly vs. 1 sec in the CCG) and despite this, they didn't review it and replay the down. There was the citation of the rule where "egregious errors" in clock management can be corrected, but I think the CCG one was clearly not egregious. The clock operator was off by a split second, that's hardly egregious. Short version: the ball did hit the stands before the clock hit 0:00, but it should not have been reviewed. But I know if we were on the other side of that scenario, Husker fans would have burned down the stadium in outrage.

I remember Vick being lighting fast. I think he ran a 4.25 or 4.33 or something like that. That's just straight ahead speed without pads on. I can see what you are saying though. Speed with pads on is different than running it with tight shorts and tight shirt with track shoes on. Yeah I remember reading he ran a 4.33 in college, which is unreal. But I completely agree on the difference. I know when I played high school ball I couldn't get that extra pep in my step in a sterile 40-yard dash measurement setting, as I did when I had the pads on and the adrenaline was pumping. Will Ulmer is football fast.

I hope this isn't initial euphoria-induced hyperbole but I feel reasonably comfortable in saying he is the fastest quarterback I have ever seen take a snap on any level of football. He looks faster than Martinez, Denard Robinson, Pat White, Vick, or RG3. From my perspective, those are the fastest I've seen at QB, in terms of pure speed. Anyone feel free to knock me on the head and say I'm delusional, and that my assessment is just a product of my young age. I hope we get this guy

I miss Bubba terribly and still pains me to this day that I will never get to see him run our offense. Of course he has to do what's best for himself but it's probably the saddest I've felt out of any Husker's departure from the program. I was too young at the time to remember when Deangelo Evans left (ironically another highly touted Kansas recruit), but reading back on it now I bet I would have been pretty sad about that too.

I went back and reread your post and I did kind of jump the gun, apologies for that. The specific comparisons you make are valid and those factors mirror each other closely. I had taken it to mean that you were implying that we will inevitably have the same sort of relationship with OSU that we did with UT. That relationship with UT is what I was saying was unique, and based on different factors that I don't think we will see be replicated ever again. Point is, I think we're both right since we are speaking to slightly different issues. As you were.

I guess not one specific moment, but the first 4 weeks of the 2010 season were probably the best I've ever felt under Bo. Our offense was racking up points, had a pretty good defense, and we were ranked 5th in the country going into Texas week.

let the boys play. as Gus Johnson said after the Kenny Bell block: "Charles! That's Football! That's Football!"

My God. This gif is a masterpiece

And without knowing anything about you I'm going to assume you've never lived anywhere near Carolina. That is why Duke and UNC fans in the midwest are pathetic. ^ Post of the year (so far). When I used to live in Nebraska I was amazed at professed Duke and UNC "fans" who had no connection to the teams, would appear depressed like Nebraska just lost the national championship, when their respective teams lost.

The OSU-Texas comparison is a very lazy and superficial assessment. I don't think you can make a comparison of any team in the Big 10 to UT. The Big 10 has equal revenue sharing, unlike when we were in the Big 12, where Texas had the most influence because they brought in the most revenue. Everyone has an equal say in the meeting rooms in the Big 10. You can't always draw a correlation from on-field performance to board room politics. OSU is nothing like Texas in my opinion. Pretty good fans, much less cocky than Texas fans in my experiences with them. Michigan fans are unbelievably more cocky than OSU fans so if you absolutely had to name one team that compares to UT, I would say Michigan. But our gripes with Texas are unique and I don't think we'll have a relationship with any other team like we had with UT.

Conference pride is unbelievably stupid. I am amazed at how the SEC's circle jerk keeps growing in intensity and ESPN getting caught up in it gives it an illusion of legitimacy. I thought it was stupid the first time I heard the amazingly creative "SEC!" chants in the BCS championship games in 2006 and/or 2007. I just don't get how you can root for the teams in the bowl season that you hate during the regular season. I don't care if Wisconsin or Michigan plays Alabama/LSU in the national championship game and the SEC has won the past 30 national titles, I will never root for the badgers or wolverines and I would hope that they get clobbered back to the stone age.

Great example. But more often than not, not very many undersized players can make up for the lack of size by excelling in other areas. However Lavonte was one those special ones who could and I think Charles Jackson is one of those guys also. CJ does kind of remind me of a DB version of Lavonte now that you mention him.