RedSavage

My questions for Michigan are: 1) Does Nebraska build around the Hail Mary and do we see an increase in team chemistry on both sides of the ball? Does this become a rallying point for the team? 2) Did the defense really play that much better in the second half, or was Northwestern just too beaten down with injuries at that point? 3) Are the freshman prepared for an atmosphere like the Big House? Cus that place is gonna be rockin 4) Does VV get the start like he should?

Just goin by what they said on BTN "Final Drive". They said it a couple mins ago.

Just heard them say he suffered some sort of shoulder injury in the first quarter. Not sure exactly what happened though.

Speaking of which, I never once saw him on the sideline today. Thought that was a little weird.

What people forget about that infamous A&M game is that the refs weren't punishing Bo for being angry, or questioning a call, or for Nebraska leaving the Big 12. They were punishing him for calling them c**ksuckers. Repeatedly. With spittle coming out of his mouth. His own players and assistant coaches were getting the same treatment on the sideline. Was it really any worse than what Nick Saban does? Yes. Yes it was. By the way, we lost that A&M game. Angry Bo motivated nobody, other than the refs. Except the refs were out to screw us before the game even started. Yes, I'm sure angry Bo put lighter fluid on an already raging fire, but lets not pretend that the refs and Dan Beebe weren't going to do that from the get go.

Sorry computer is being worthless and wouldn't let me quote. From HuskerVBFan above: I agree, but a timetable of one year is what I find ridiculous. However I do NOT agree there is enough talent on the current squad to compete for a conference championship and would question how someone could arrive at that opinion. False. Who in the B1G has more apparent talent than us, aside from maybe Ohio State? Yes they are unbeaten but they certainly have their weaknesses and look beatable (I'll be amazed if they go undefeated again this year). Michigan? If they do they certainly haven't shown it. MSU? Still waiting for them to have an offense. Wisconsin? Another talented but inconsistent team. The B1G is all around far from impressive this year IMO. In the UCLA game, they were out b*tches almost that entire first half. Does UCLA lack talent too? We are no less talented than them, we just purely got out coached, which is a very reoccurring theme for Pelini and staff. Personally I think they would have a legitimate chance of winning the B1G if they were a part of it. Instead they are in what is probably the best conference this year and are doing quite well. So please tell me again how we lack TALENT to compete for a conference championship.

Did I miss this or was there a reason given that VV didn't play much? Or did he play more and I just didn't see him out there? I know they said that he wasn't going to start but I didn't see him on the field much at all. Curry and Randle apparently had a good week of practice. I had gathered that from Curry being announced as the started before the game but with how much we usually rotate, I was surprised VV wasn't in there more - I really couldn't find him on the field when I re-watched the first half last night. Or did I just miss him? Didn't they say he got benched or something along those lines before the game b/c he had a bad week of practice?

Well said. I don't think it's a good idea in any way but most concerning to me is what recruits think when they see this. If I were a high school player and was considering coming to Nebraska this would be a HUGE detractor. I seriously just don't understand why fans do this crap. I can't believe were still getting recruits to schedule visits here and have any interest in us right now with the way things are going both on the field and off it. If your blaming anyone, it should be the coaches. Even then I'm not supporting it. I get the frustration with the blowout losses, the losing to teams we shouldn't and what seems to be a complete lack of preparation and desire to win. Thing is, people are not doing any favors for the program, players, coaches or the university when they start spewing this crap. I love the huskers just as much as the next guy in Nebraska and am quite frustrated as well but I don't understand the mentality of trying to bring us down even farther.

But it's a gateway drug, mannnnnnn. One minute he's puffin the magic dragon and all of a sudden BOOM, next thing you know Carl's huffin glue in the bathroom.

^This +1,000. Ever since Bo was neutered after the A&M game, this team plays with no intensity. I truly believe you take on the attitude of those around you, especially when it is someone above you that you are supposed to be learning from, in this case a coach. If your coach has no intensity, where are you going to get it from? Yes, you can get it from within but as humans we are a product of our environment. That intensity has to carry over to the players to some degree and to me it was there before A&M but has been lacking ever since. Giving me the screaming, about to pop all the blood vessel's in his face, Bo Pelini.

Haha, nah. I still think he's a little stuck up and certainly doesn't do himself any favors by doing any of that crap. Supposedly the "money" celebration is a big joke with the whole team. It's just like any news though, bad news sells, good news doesn't (or at least that's the media's thought process). Makes it much easier to develop a negative opinion about a person when you only see that one side of them (the bad). Same could be said about having a positive opinion about a person if you never see their bad side.

Have a family friend that is fairly high up the totem pole as an administrator for the athletics department at A&M. Can't remember her exact job title but she works with a lot of the players in every sport. I asked her about Manziel and her opinion of him and she thinks he is a great kid and thinks quite highly of him (she has met him in person). Says he does all sorts of good things off that field that you never hear anything about (lots of work with kids and various charities, etc.) She actually feels sorry for him b/c of how negatively the media portrays him. It's difficult for me to imagine him as anything but a prima donna, self entitled rich kid but that's the only side I've ever seen of him from the media, so it makes sense. It's got to be quite frustrating if you're Manziel; a 20 year old kid trying to live your life but constantly being in the spotlight and not for any of the good things you do. Anyways just thought it was interesting to hear her take on Manziel, knowing him a little more personally than the rest of us.

Taylor was hurt in game one but he will be the starter for Northwestern and MSU, barring any further setbacks with the injury. You can take that to the bank. I do agree that we may never see a 100% Taylor again though. Turf toe can be a real b#tch to get over.

I will never understand why if Nebraska fans are supposed to be so smart, that they give Frank a pass for putting the program in the tolilet in the first place. I also don't care about what those two schools do in the SEC, if anything I agree that it is funny that the SEC can't defend against Big 12 offenses. It's not hard to make your defenses look good when nobody in that conference's playbook is larger than four plays. Which toilet are you talking about? That he didn't win every game and an NC? Did he get the same kind of grace period that TO got. Did he have a supportive AD like TO did? Davaney as opposed to Pederson? No he didn't? Frank was basically picked by TO and Pederson couldn't handle that. He wanted to have his coach and install a new flashy offence. Sorry Steve you F'ed up. As for everything else you said, so what? No the toilet that he took a program coming off of winning a MNC and was left with MNC talent and was too lazy to recruit to replace it. Anyone could win with the talent that Frank inherited. I guess you forgot that TO also handpicked Peterson too..lol. I agree that Steve F'd up, but not by firing Frank, but by not letting him have one more year so he could be the one that blew the bowl streak, just like he blew every other streak with the exception of the Kansas one. He was still responsible, but Bill took the blame for having to try to coach a team with little or no talent with the exception of the LB's and Secondary. I agree with the bold. I had high hopes when Frank took over but quickly realized that once T.O.'s leftovers were gone, he was doomed. The guy couldn't recruit his way out of a brown paper bag. The cupboard was pretty bare when BC took over.

Pretty sure being tied for 1st in the nation with 3 sacks allowed is not a weakness. As for the linebackers and defensive line, they may be our biggest weaknesses right now but I don't see that being the case for too much longer. I will take this years linebackers and d-line over last years or the last couple years even, any day, they just need to keep gaining the reps and experience. We should be pretty pleased to have some of these players next year or the following year at the latest. I also think the staff is very slowly learning how to make second half adjustments. I think there is a very big learning curve to being able to make the proper adjustments, when you have little to no prior experience in this area. So you are saying that we have bad coaches that you hope get better over time? I think I have heard just about every excuse for this coaching staff possible after that one. As for the DL/LB's just because they are better than the pile of crap we had there last year doesn't make them good. Just average at best, but it is better than being totally worthless as they were last year. Sometimes false hope is the only hope and that is that they are young. The OL is doing a lot better than any other time under Bo, what a difference getting Barney's worthless butt away from them does. Now we just need to get him away from the program and stop wasting over 200K a year for nothing. Some people sure do love to put words in others mouths on this site. No I don't think this staff is necessarily bad so much as I think they're inexperienced. Beck is fairly new to being an OC, Poopoochis still doesn't know what he's doing and Bo is still learning how to be a head coach. I think that is one of our biggest weaknesses right now as a team both from a coaching standpoint and defensive standpoint. It's what EZ alluded to a couple posts above, that we have shown at times that we can adjust in the second half but not every time like we should. I think a big reason for that is because of inexperience and lack of proper knowledge how to adjust. They seem to be learning as they go, since none of them had any experience at their respective positions prior to coming to Nebraska. I'm pretty sure you don't just learn how to make those necessary adjustments every time overnight. In year six, Bo should know this already, so he is either not a smart man (Which I don't believe) or isn't a very good head coach. (Which I believe is the case) Beck was an OC at Kansas and Poopoochis is irrelevant as he just signals in what Bo calls. It all falls on Bo for not hiring people who's strengths cover for his weakness (recruiting, adjustments) and just hiring yes men instead. No coach is perfect, but they need to be humble enough to have people around him that complete a good coaching staff, not have the same issues that he does. This I completely agree with. Although, Beck was not OC at Kansas, he was Passing Game Coordinator. With experienced coordinators Bo makes himself look much better as a HC. You absolutely need to have knowledgable coordinators that cover your weaknesses and it completely falls on Bo for failing to do this. Instead, he did hire a bunch of yes men but I don't think they are total idiots when it comes to the game of football, just lacking experience. I'm with you on wanting experienced coordinators and not yes men but that's what we have so they better figure it out or get out. At least Beck seems to be figuring things out, as he is simplifying the offense somewhat. JP should eventually figure things out if he's learning from a defensive genius. Now whether or not he can last that long, remains to be seen. If they can't figure it out, Bo needs to find guys that can or they will all be gone.

Pretty sure being tied for 1st in the nation with 3 sacks allowed is not a weakness. As for the linebackers and defensive line, they may be our biggest weaknesses right now but I don't see that being the case for too much longer. I will take this years linebackers and d-line over last years or the last couple years even, any day, they just need to keep gaining the reps and experience. We should be pretty pleased to have some of these players next year or the following year at the latest. I also think the staff is very slowly learning how to make second half adjustments. I think there is a very big learning curve to being able to make the proper adjustments, when you have little to no prior experience in this area. So you are saying that we have bad coaches that you hope get better over time? I think I have heard just about every excuse for this coaching staff possible after that one. As for the DL/LB's just because they are better than the pile of crap we had there last year doesn't make them good. Just average at best, but it is better than being totally worthless as they were last year. Sometimes false hope is the only hope and that is that they are young. The OL is doing a lot better than any other time under Bo, what a difference getting Barney's worthless butt away from them does. Now we just need to get him away from the program and stop wasting over 200K a year for nothing. Some people sure do love to put words in others mouths on this site. No I don't think this staff is necessarily bad so much as I think they're inexperienced. Beck is fairly new to being an OC, Poopoochis still doesn't know what he's doing and Bo is still learning how to be a head coach. I think that is one of our biggest weaknesses right now as a team both from a coaching standpoint and defensive standpoint. It's what EZ alluded to a couple posts above, that we have shown at times that we can adjust in the second half but not every time like we should. I think a big reason for that is because of inexperience and lack of proper knowledge how to adjust. They seem to be learning as they go, since none of them had any experience at their respective positions prior to coming to Nebraska. I'm pretty sure you don't just learn how to make those necessary adjustments every time overnight.

Pretty sure being tied for 1st in the nation with 3 sacks allowed is not a weakness. As for the linebackers and defensive line, they may be our biggest weaknesses right now but I don't see that being the case for too much longer. I will take this years linebackers and d-line over last years or the last couple years even, any day, they just need to keep gaining the reps and experience. We should be pretty pleased to have some of these players next year or the following year at the latest. I also think the staff is very slowly learning how to make second half adjustments. I think there is a very big learning curve to being able to make the proper adjustments, when you have little to no prior experience in this area.

So it should play out something like this

I really liked the fact that we weren't afraid to take some shots down the field with Armstrong. I know a lot of people weren't happy with that bc it wasn't really working and we were deviating from what was working. I can't remember the last time Nebraska has taken shots like that down the field. It seems like we are pretty consistently too afraid to take those shots with Martinez in. I think there's a multitude of reasons why we don't take these shots with Martinez in; probably the biggest is that it obviously doesn't play to his strengths. I also don't think we are in a position to be able to take those shots very often. I think getting Armstrong and the receivers these real game time reps is invaluable. Hopefully with more reps, would come more consistency from both the qb position and the WR position, as they were both at fault for the incompletions. I love Enunwa but he should have caught that long pass from TA for a TD, with more reps in those long situations, I imagine he doesn't drop that. .

You guys do realize that HS kids and JUCO kids want a package deal where they play together at the next level quite often, right? I don't think getting 2 players from the same school is even close to out of the realm of possibility.

Completely agree with this post. How you can bash someone with the heart of Taylor Martinez I will never understand. He truly bleeds Husker red and ALWAYS gives it his all. I've lurked on this board for a very long time and just recently decided to start posting. I'm not a sunshine pumper by any means but good god some people just spew negativity around here and like skersfan said, it's actually kinda depressing. It makes frequenting the board much less desirable. I hope the team continues to grow and we can finally get over that "hump", as it seems to be one of the most talented teams on both sides of the ball that we've had in a very long time. Which in turn, will send the negative Nancys back into the woodwork hopefully. Anyways, here's to wishing Martinez the best and him coming back strong and putting the haters in their place.

No reason for Martinez to play this week and possibly make the injury any worse. Taylor may never fully recover from it either. If I recall correctly, Roy Helu first got turf toe his Senior year at Nebraska and missed some playing time. It's a problem that's been hampering him ever since. He had to sit out all of last year for the Redskins because he re-aggravated it. That should tell you how long it truly takes for Turf Toe to go away, if ever. Let's give Martinez as much time as he needs to get that foot as close to 100% as possible. Especially when you're playing powerhouses like Turdue.