Ric Flair

I prefer night games...or even afternoon games to morning games. I like the buildup and atmosphere. I'd love to see us playing night games starting around 7 p.m. wearing black uniforms and with the stadium doing a "B******." That would be an awesome deal and great for recruiting.

I think there's a good chance Texas loses to Mississippi this weekend. Then they have K-State, Iowa State, Oklahoma and TCU before they play Kansas. So they could very realistically be 1-6 when they play Kansas. I hope they are and can't wait to see their fans meltdown if that happens.

Martinez obviously turns the ball over too much and seems to be the main culprit. But we also seem to turn the ball over a lot as a team. Coaching is a part of that. And I'm not sure why some take such offense when people point out that turnovers are a problem or question why Pelini and his staff have been unable to take care of that problem.

Have you ever talked to anyone... who went to school with him, hung out with him or played college ball with him?

 

Yes.

Me too. Some of the stories from practices, pickup basketball games, etc. were pretty crazy.

I think diagnosing a person based on glimpses of their lives viewed through a media lens is fraught with peril.

No doubt. But we have a pretty large body of evidence to work with. Have you ever talked to anyone or heard stories from anyone who went to school with him, hung out with him or played college ball with him? Have you read about how he engages in the same behavior in practice against his own teammates as he's constantly being disciplined for during games? At a minimum I believe he has some anger management issues. And I think there's a real possibility that his problem may go beyond that.

UCLA 45

Nebraska 34

Rush: 180

Pass: 250

Our offense is good, but not great, has trouble with consistency and commits at least two turnovers. The defense makes some big plays, but also shows significant growing pains and commits too many errors.

The credibility of the cable guy takes a HUGE hit when he claims Suh pointed a gun at him that looked like an AK-47.

 

The surveillance tape shows that Suh didn't point the gun at him, and that thing looks nothing whatsoever like an AK-47.

 

There's a bit of drama queen action happening there.

 

EDIT - here's the gun, for reference's sake:

No doubt the cable guy seems to be trolling for attention and publicity and is probably embellishing the story to get some. But I think professional athletes, celebrities, etc. need to be smarter than wandering around their yards with guns, even pellet guns.

And this incident in a vacuum wouldn't be that big of a deal. But the evidence seems to continue to mount that Suh has some serious issues.

UCLA at Nebraska

 

Saturday, noon, ABC

 

The line: Nebraska (-4)

 

Bender: Nebraska 38-31

Bianchi: UCLA 31-30

Bradley: UCLA 35-31

Carter: Nebraska 23-17

Cooper: Nebraska 34-32

Greenstein: UCLA 34-31

Griffith: Nebraska 31-26

Hayes: Nebraska 30-27

King: Nebraska 28-27

Matter: Nebraska 27-21

http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2013-09-11/alabama-vs-texas-am-week-3-picks-spread-nebraska-ucla-ole-miss-texas

I've suspected for some time that Suh may have some mental/psychological issues. Apparently he was threatening the cable guy with a pellet gun last month. No doubt the cable guy should have asked for permission first, especially at night. But there has to be a better way to handle that type of situation than the way he did. I've been incredibly disappointed with his antics and bizarre behavior since leaving Nebraska.

http://www.detroitnews.com/article/20130911/SPORTS0101/309110107

I love our backfield, but we're a long way from doing anything that is going to worry Nick Saban.

He played HS ball with my brother and is a very nice guy. I think he does a good job.

Sad story. 20 is far too young to die.

I think we move up a spot or two. If we beat UCLA, we probably make the Top 15. If we do so convincingly, we might be in the Top 12 or so.

Yeah, the way it works is that the EEOC has 180 days to investigate. Then they issue a letter with their findings. In reality, the EEOC and their state offices are so overwhelmed that they are often unable to make a finding in that timeframe. But even if that's the case, you can file once the 180 day period has expired.

If this is litigated, she will have a very uphill climb. Courts don't like discrimination lawsuits and do what they can to dismiss them. So they deck would be stacked against her. Any jury would have at least a couple of members who are Texas fans, making things even more difficult for her.

But from Texas' perspective, this is obviously a PR nightmare. So I would expect they will be working to try to settle things quietly. The last thing they want is an aggressive team of lawyers asking uncomfortable questions, uncovering what actually transpired and airing their dirty laundry.

I'd take the over, but don't think we cover the spread.

You would have been better off if you just stuck with your theory. Trying to allude that saying they are "tight" with each other is a cry for help in some Freudian way is really stretching it a bit.

 

Its just your theory.

 

My theory about the blowout losses is that yes ,there are too many by Nebraska lately, but I see way too many period in college football these days. Lots of good teams have been blown out in recent years.

 

Not just NU but Clemson vs. WVa in bowl game/ Louisville vs. Florida bowl game, Florida vs. S. Carolina regular season last year can't remember who won. KSU loses to Baylor bad last year etc. That's just 4 I thought of off the top of my head out side of Nebraska.

 

I think kids just have a different make up than they used to. I think, in general, they don't have as much fight in them when things really go bad. Call it lack of mental toughness or culture if you want, but it happens a lot more than it used to.

You pointed to a few games by a few teams that ended in blowouts. But can you think of another Top 25 team that gets blown out as regularly as we have the past couple of seasons? Can you think of another Top 25 team that's surrendered roughly 600 yards of offense 4 times in the past year and three consecutive games in a row? No doubt blowouts happen on occasion. But why do they happen so frequently to us? Why are they such bad blowouts when they do? And if your argument is that kids across the board now lack mental toughness, let's assume that's true. So why does our lack of it seem to exceed that of other teams?

Our football team seems to crumble under pressure against teams with comparable or superior talent and coaching. Why? Based on what I know, read about, hear and observe, I don't believe that Pelini and his staff have built a culture of trust, discipline, winning, etc. Call that a theory if you want. But in my view there's now ample evidence to support that theory.

So than please elaborate on how BP never talked to TO about team culture, I would like to know.

 

It has been written in many articles that BP did in fact talk to TO about things from time to time. I could only speculate, but he probably talked about things other than x's and o's with TO.

 

So please elaborate.

I know people who work in the Athletic Department. They indicated that Pelini rarely asked TO for advice and TO, wanting to avoid stepping on toes, did not offer it when it was unsolicited. The gist was that Pelini wasn't very interested in picking Osborne's brain. I think that's a missed opportunity, more even in terms of learning how to build a successful and thriving organization than in terms of X's and O's.

How is this related to a "culture" or lack of. Everything written about this team is that they are very tight. What "culture" are you referring too? Unless you think its Bo's set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution or organization that are lacking. I don't agree.

They describe themselves as "tight." Why do you think that is? And what do you think they really mean when they describe themselves that way?

I see a team that doesn't really believe....not in themselves, not in each other and not in the system. They can beat bad teams and compete with mediocre teams based on pure talent. But that doesn't work against top caliber competition. And we get streamrolled in those big games far more often than is normal. My theory is that the wheels come off in those games in large part due to this lack of trust. That goes beyond simply being "tight" or dealing with issues related to nerves. It goes to the heart of the culture of the organization. Pelini and his staff don't seem to be doing an effective job of building trust or developing leaders. And the results are there for all to see.

Put me down as another vote for dismissing this as yet more of the same. How many wake-up calls does this team need? And how many times do we need to read the same tripe about how they now finally have gotten it?

 

I think the team lacks leadership, accountability, desire and motivation. Part of that is on the players for not stepping up and providing those. More of it is on the coaching staff for not building a culture that instills them. But the problem starts at the top. And it's inexplicable to me that with Osborne working just down the hall, Pelini never seems to have gone to him (that I know of) for help with regard to fixing or building that kind of team culture.

 

It is statements like this that I don't get. You nor I have any idea about the inner workings of the athletic department. You can speculate all you want. BP may have talked to TO everyday of the week about something or another. He may have never talked to him.

 

But, because you think the team lacks leadership, accountability, desire and motivation than he must never have talked to him. You yourself would say talk is cheap, so why does it matter.

 

TO didn't start out being this highly respected HC, in fact, many of his first players were very skeptical of his abilities as a HC after having the fiery Devaney. This is straight from one of their mouths.

 

Remember Tom Osborne didn't become a legendary coach until 1994. Up until then he was just a coach that couldn't win the big one.

Why do you assume I "have no idea" and and simply "speculating?" Neither of those is actually the case.

You seem to be missing the key distinction between talking and doing something. Saying you've finally gotten a wake up call is talking. Discussing issues related to team culture with your AD, who coached for about 30 years, held your current job for about 25 of those years, is one of the winningest coaches in college football history and has a Ph.D in educational psychology is doing something.

And how hard is it to watch one of our blowouts and figure out that there are serious issues with the team's culture? Isn't that pretty much self-evident at this point? And don't the quotes in the original post in this thread and the dozen of so other stories we've read over the past few years about how they finally "get it" make that apparent?

My skepticism is at an all-time high. It was quite high after the Ohio State game last year too. Not much has really changed since then.

 

Until we have some meaningful success, I will continue to be skeptical. And I will continue to be a die-hard fan.

legit take. rack 'em.

 

Huge Call of the Day

Yep. Good take.

Put me down as another vote for dismissing this as yet more of the same. How many wake-up calls does this team need? And how many times do we need to read the same tripe about how they now finally have gotten it?

I think the team lacks leadership, accountability, desire and motivation. Part of that is on the players for not stepping up and providing those. More of it is on the coaching staff for not building a culture that instills them. But the problem starts at the top. And it's inexplicable to me that with Osborne working just down the hall, Pelini never seems to have gone to him (that I know of) for help with regard to fixing or building that kind of team culture.

What gets me is people read the "opinions" of sports writers who have zero coaching experience and actually think they have all the answers.

 

 

I read them. I have 42 years of coaching experience in 4 different sports, from little league, high school to college. I have also officiated various sporting events. I do not have all the answers. However, one does not have to have those credentials to to have an astute awareness of the major problems on this current football team. It all comes down to coaching. After coaching, recruiting and player development are the main ingredients. To add to that, I have been a Husker supporter for the major portion of my life and I am 69 years old. Until we have better coaching for the kids, we will ultimately have the same results. We have not seen the last of the defense giving up 600 yards to an opponent. Pelini says the defense can be fixed. How many times has he said that? To date, I have not seen a change or the fixes.

I think you just won the internet. Great post.

So Shatel wrote down what every Husker fan I know has been discussing for 2 years. And he adds nothing to the discussion. Good job, Tom.

 

It used to be that we read the articles of our local sports guys because they were the "ones in the know."

 

Today, the media troll social media to guide their work. You see it in print, you hear it on the radio, you see it on TV. So much of what they produce stems from social media because regurgitating what fans are already thinking is an easy way to seem correct.

That's a good point. It's also a good way to be popular. Fans like reading stuff they agree with. The best way to be sure they'll agree with your column is to write what you know them to be thinking.

But now that he has his own staff, the dysfunction just continues.

A team doesn't win 9 or more games each year of a coaching tenure if things are seriously dysfunctional.

 

I respectfully disagree. It's possible that the dysfunction only shows up at certain times, such as when they're matched up against a superior staff and challenged to make adjustments on the fly. That's when the dysfunctional nature of this staff becomes apparent. And it's a recurring theme during the blowouts. It was also on full display on Saturday.

 

So are you the same Tfree from over at Huskerpedia? Isn't there enough hate going on over there from GFOA, Big D, Pops, and Bilsker? That you have to bring it over here.

My thoughts exactly^.

I'm not "hating," but simply expressing my opinion. Some think Pelini is doing a great job in all respects. I respectfully disagree. I think he's doing a good job in some aspects of his job and a terrible job in others. And I think that's reflected by the fact that we win 9-10 games a season but also lose four, with an average of two blowouts.

When we play top teams, we struggle. Part of that is that we have failed to recruit and develop quality talent and depth at some key positions. Part is that the scheme doesn't seem to work, possibly because good coaches have figured it out and part is because Pelini and his staff seem to routinely be outcoached in big games against quality coaches.

I'll also take Southern Miss against the spread and the over.

All three looked great to me. They're very different backs too, with different styles and skill sets, which makes it difficult for a defense to gear up to stop them. But one good part of the game Saturday was how all of our running backs performed. Ron Brown is unsurprisingly doing a heck of a job with that unit.