TheSker

2) Clemson is in a much weaker conference and has still plateaued each year the same way that we have with Bo. Plateaued? We lost two games last year, both to top 10 teams (SCar & FSU), and started the 2013 season with a win over #5 UGA and Clemson is now ranked #4. Go on, tell me how Clemson has plateaued. Nothing against Bo, but Dabo took over a non ranked team and now has them consistently ranked in the top 15. That's a pretty damn good job if you ask me. If we plateau around #4, I'd be ok with that. Bo took over a non ranked team....Callahan was 5-7 in 2007. Dabo has done a great job at Clemson as has Pelini at Nebraska. Dabo's past two seasons have been very good. Pelini hasn't won less than 9 games in any season. Dabo has a 6-7 season in 2010 and Nebraska won the bowl game between the two schools. They have done things differently with assistant coaches, but both head coaches have done well at their respective schools.

South Carolina was hot too and they were rocking that stadium on Thursday. Spurrier's visor keeps everything cool

I agree, and the Huskers certainly have as talented a group of receivers as any team in the country. Whether running or passing, turnovers are a key statistic.....and because he's a dual threat quarterback, Martinez turns the ball over both ways. There's also the old adage, when you pass the ball, one of three things can happen and two of them are bad.

It would be great if they pointed the thumb and figured out how to maintain possession of the football

I'll confess to being a bit skeptical of this claim.

If we say this enough, will we start to believe it? Pelini defenses are complex enough that they were learned well in fall camp in 2003 and 2008. Is it possible Pelini recruited poorly and our talent level dropped? I can think of at least two positions now where the returning starter may end up giving way to a more talented underclassman. And yes, the recruiting issue is on Pelini. The good news is swift and immediate corrections seem to have been made.

The formation of the Big 12 changed that

And we know that Taylor Martinez is the worst quarterback in the history of football, so there's that. I like Martinez. His turnovers are frustrating.

Which is a good stat to be good in

Well, except in 2013 we won the game where we gave up 600 yards. And we needed more speed and better athletes on the field on the defensive side of the ball. Pelini and staff have done a good job of taking care of that in one offseason. I'm with you on the turnovers. Those have to stop.

The problem was Martinez threw it to the wrong team. Like many others, I thought Burtch ran the wrong route, but after seeing what Rich Fisher and Taylor Martinez said about it, the INT is on Martinez. Well, TM might have had a bad pass, but the ball almost hit Burtch so it was definitely within arms reach. But Burtch wasn't looking so it went right passed him to a defender. Was that on the QB or the WR? I certainly can't tell; I'm not sure why you're so confident it was the QB. TM said that it was miscommunication. He thought Burtch was going to break off his route earlier than he did. If so, then his ball was thrown pretty accurately and it is understandable why Burtch wasn't looking for the ball yet. Yes. And Rich Fisher said Burtch ran the correct route. So here's what I know. Burtch ran the correct route and the ball was intercepted. Taylor said there was a miscommunication. I'd say so.

The problem was Martinez threw it to the wrong team. Like many others, I thought Burtch ran the wrong route, but after seeing what Rich Fisher and Taylor Martinez said about it, the INT is on Martinez. Well, TM might have had a bad pass, but the ball almost hit Burtch so it was definitely within arms reach. But Burtch wasn't looking so it went right passed him to a defender. Was that on the QB or the WR? I certainly can't tell; I'm not sure why you're so confident it was the QB. Because like I said in my post....I read what Rich Fisher and Taylor Martinez had to say about it.

I thought it was 600? A lot of the play calling was due to the effectiveness of Cross and Newby. If Martinez doesn't commit turnovers, we're not even having this discussion.

This is in part due to the pre-snap motions OCs are utilizing now.

The problem was Martinez threw it to the wrong team. Like many others, I thought Burtch ran the wrong route, but after seeing what Rich Fisher and Taylor Martinez said about it, the INT is on Martinez.

Pelini and Beck both said they probably should have went downfield more......but Beck also answered this question with two last names.....Cross and Newby. I don't think many Husker fans will complain about an effective run game.

the easy schedule we have had these last years and will have this year masks the reality of the quality of the team. NU has been winning 9 games a season for a while --- where 4-5 wins come against teams that 90% of the major conference programs would go undefeated against. That is, more than 1/2 the NU wins are against absolute fish... teams that anyone of quality would beat. Teams like Wyoming of this year. Against decent teams, NU over the Pelini era is playing about .500 football. When NU plays good teams, NU loses 80% of the time... and often NU gets obliterated by such teams. Those who trumpet the "9 win thing" seem (at least as I interpret their posts) to think that that is fine. But is it really? Is 1/2 our wins against fish... and then playing .500 against decent teams and getting ripped by good teams really fine? My point is that the 9-win thing is largely a function of a great deal of games against weak teams. Look more closely at the quality teams NU has played and the record is very much not fine. NU has just been fortunate to play schedules where the competition is not that great (really the B1G has only 1-2 good teams a year here recently and only another 2 or so that are even decent... the rest are less than decent). All is not fine. Being .500 against decent teams makes NU well.... merely decent. Given the history of NU football, being merely decent --- even if it is consistently decent and no less --- is not enough. No... things are not fine. Pelini's record vs top 25 is not great.....valid point. Solich's was not good either and Callahan's was the worst of the three. When the Big 12 was formed, Tom Osborne felt the landscape of college football was changing. Many of the changes were designed to create parity......I'd say that's happened. It's only one example, but it's a recent one.....Bill Snyder is famous for scheduling a cream puff pre-conference schedule starting in the late 80's. Well, oops Bill, it's 2013....watch out for NDSU.

I agree completely with this. I've mentioned in several threads that the "vanilla" game plan and secretive coaching just drives me crazy. I'm not sure what all this "secretive" stuff is about. We came out in the second half and ran the ball very well. Beck stuck with that until the Martinez INT. We probably should have stuck with our ground game at that point, but I wouldn't call anything about our offense "secretive". It's widely known we have a lot of offensive weapons......and it's widely known we are quite capable of turning the ball over.

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. No worries. I don't think I'm interested in debating if we are situationally dysfunctional. I really like the upgraded defensive talent.....and it was done quickly, so I'm excited to see what happens the remainder of the season.

Definitely. One of the things Pelini and Pap were looking at during the Wyoming game is who performed once the lights were turned on and the stadium was full. Game 1 gave Pelini and Pap good insight into personnel decisions.

I consider myself a kool-aid drinker & I agree with most of this. The only thing I don't agree with is blaming Martinez for the interception. That was on Beck & the WR. If you rewatch it you will see it was a timed route & the WR ran an "in" when he should have ran an "out". Like you said though it sould have been a run play anyways. Here's what Rich Fisher said about it......Fisher said. “Burtch was fine. He ran the right route. I wouldn’t say it’s on anybody. Burtch did the right thing.”

In Pelini's tenure, being fine has meant being in contention for conference championships in two different conferences and consistently winning a number of games that only a handful of other programs have done as consistently as Nebraska.

Yep, Callahan did it with Cosgrove too......yet somehow Pelini wins games and makes bowls. Callahan can't say that and even Dabo can't say that.....Dabo has a 6-7 season in 2010. Pelini has nothing less than 9 wins in any season.

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

Yes, the yardage given up against Wyoming was an issue and a reminder of Wisky and Georgia. With that said, I would hope most could see the potential in our defensive personnel. Randy Gregory is an improvement over Meredith. Nathan Gerry made an immediate impact with speed that we were missing last season. Jean-Baptiste has stepped his game up. Santos may well lose his starting spot to Bando soon and if Ankrah doesn't pick his game up, McMullen is ready to go. We are much better athletically which we really needed to be.