chuckd

Have to agree, Kansas' offense is horrible. I believe the only way they score more than 14 on us is through turnovers. I'm not predicting a blowout by us, but if we can score some points, it can be.

Great post. I'm glad to see others agree that the sky isn't falling. If you can't stick with a team through the rough times, you don't deserve to be there for the good times.

If all we are doing is spiraling downhill and it is going to be 10 years till we get back to respectability why do you want your time even caring about this team? If husker nation is crumbling I'm sure you have more important things to worry about than a program that is beyond repair. The only thing that is going to cause this program to spiral is more "fans" that share this view point.

Sure seemed to write a lot when you have nothing to say

I'm going to have to agree. Murtha is probably a better answer than Thomas but that doesn't mean a whole lot. I believe Murtha is going to be a heck of a player but he and the coaches are in a bad situation, there is just no depth on the oline. He is forced into playing even though he isn't probably ready yet.

Hopefully Collier can turn this talent into some success. We don't really have the facilities or bball tradition to compete with a lot of schools out there so if he can show that this team can win, I think this team will start to be able to compete and recruit better against the rest of the big 12.

Won't know till probably Tuesday. My guess is we either get on Fox Sports or maybe TBS (not sure if they make decisions ahead of time) Might get an ABC regional, but would probably be another early game. Game time will be anounced tomorrow.

I'm not in to bashing FS, I think he was a pretty decent guy and a decent coach, but there is no way to try to cover up the fact that he didn't recruit well. The simple fact that he refused to recruit during the season to "focus on football" is absured. TO didn't have to do this, I'm quite certain the top coaches in the nation (Carrol, Bowden, Coker, Behmer) all find a way to do a good job of coaching AND recruiting during the season. When you put no focus on recruiting dirung the season it makes a lot of people lose interest. You can go back and look at the recruiting classes from 2002- on rivals site and while I have stated earlier that I don't put as much importance on these recruiting services as some people, the fact is they aren't just making things up. While you don't need all 4 and 5 star athletes to be a top team, the statistics show that those schools that do get them tend to do better. There is NO reason why Nebraska should have the 40th and 43rd best recruiting classes in the nation. That is unexcusable, most to all of the high star athletes that FS recruited were from Nebraska, that is all well and good and I think it is very important to have home state kids, but Nebraska is not Texas or Florida or California we can't get by with just kids from here the state is just not big enough resulting in not enough talent. I wish Frank well at Ohio I hope he has lots of success, but I believe whole heartedly that the drop in recruiting has cause this program to start to decline. 2002/2003 40th and 43rd rated recruiting classes, those kids are mostly sophs/juniors. If you ask most people where this team would be rated, it would probably be right in that area, the correlation is pretty evident. Callahan has obviously improved this area. (#5 class) Three years down the line (barring a coaching change) you take a look at where the team ranks in the polls, I'm betting you it is a lot closer to #5 than it is to #40.

No, Callahan has in no way "squashed" the walk on program. Todd Peterson is a walk on and has obviously made an impact. I believe he has reduced the walk on program some what but definitely has not gotten rid of it.

I agree we have some talent, mostly on the defensive side of the ball, but as a whole we are by no means loaded. There isn't a single player on our offense that could start for either USC or Texas, I'm not saying this to bring them down, its just a fact. I will also agree that a lot of the more talented players we do have on the team are young (swift, nunn, lucky, glenn) I will give the older players their dues. LeKevin, Ross, Bullocks, will all probably get drafted, although Bullocks has kind of disappointed me this year. I'm not saying we are without talent, but we don't have the talent that the top teams in the nation have.

Yup, I agree that he is better off not in the program. He tried to go to Oregon, but they saw he was nuts and said no thanks. He got drafted this year, don't remember what round, by the Rams and signed with them. He was one heck of a player, but just couldn't control himself.

It's pretty evident that you aren't going to be happy until Callahan is fired and the wco offense is gone. Saying that if a true freshman (who was rated as the second best qb in the nation) can't "cut it" we need to recruit better is absured. I also know Taylor is no speed demon, but he has made some huge plays with his feet. Speed is always nice, but not essential for a qb (peyton and eli manning, joe montana, matt leinart)

Yup, you're right, Callahan is afraid to run the option because he's afriad it would work better than the wco. That is idiotic, I don't care if you don't like the offense man, but come on. I'm pretty sure with the way the oline is blocking the option wouldn't have very many options. I loved NU football back in the day but you have to admit the good ol' option wasn't working that great after TO retired. Even with Crouch it wasn't much of an option, it was Crouch being an amazing athlete. The wco offense can work, it has at many places, pro and college, its certainly on to you to not like an offense but come up, there is life after option football.

I understand your thoughts on this but I'm not sure thats such a bad thing. If he leaves early for the NFL that probably means he has done quite well, which probably means we have done quite well. Also, Callahan has shown than he can recruit big time QB's (Beck, now Freeman) so hopefully, if Beck were to leave early we have a very viable backup ready to step in.

We have had a grand total of ONE holding call called on our opponents. Also we have been called for only a handfull, which is surprising considering the poor play of the oline. It does seem that holding is being called very losely this year for some reason.

I would much rather have a staff that says we are improving each week than one that says we are not. I'm not sure what good that would do. So what if they are just saying to appease, its better than saying we are stagnant.

I don't think there is any doubt that ZT is an improvement over JD, not all Joe's fault, but definitely an improvement. All quarterbacks make mistakes, the ones that don't are truely exceptional, I never said Taylor was one of these, but I challenge you to show me a quarterback (in his first year in a system no less) with an oline like ours that has played better than Taylor. When he has time he is very good imo, unfortuantely he is not an exceptional enough athlete to make up for the lack of protection and drops. I will agree that he is no star, but I believe he deserves a little credit.

I agree that refs don't decide games and I'll also agree that OU played better than us. But there is no doubt in my mind that the refs changed the course of that game. They were bad both ways, yes, but were really bad on a couple of occasions against us.

I don't think anyone believes that Taylor is an extraordinary quarterback, but imho he has done a pretty good job all things considered. As you said the oline is bad and I don't think that can be discounted, Zac is getting hit on probably 80% of the passing plays. Yes, he does make some bad decisions and isn't going to win the heisman anytime soon, but considering what he has around him (no offense to anyone) I think he has done pretty well. If nothing else, I think everyone can agree he's a touch kid.

I'm not really sure why but I kind of want Texas to win out. I think they have the best shot at beating USC and I really would like to see them go down. I guess I just like to see the Big 12 do well (except for CU). But I guess I wouldn't lose any sleep if they lost:)

I agree it would be nice to be able to do those things you mentioned (im sure the coaches would love to) but when you are getting 3 seconds to throw and when the run blocking, is well, not good your options kind of are reduced. When the blocking is this bad, the screen is usually a good call (and has been fairly effective) dvoachek is a good player and made a good play. I did notice once when cody glenn got in that they tried to pass, I can't remember exactly how the play turned out, but I remember the guy behind me saying thats the first time he's seen glenn be in and not get the ball. I agree diversity would help this offense a whole lot, but with the way the o line is playing and the amount of dropped balls, thats easier said then done.

Callahan said in the post game he took the blame for that call. It's a chance you take, if they kick and we block it we are in good shape. I like how you said you made the call from your living room, its a lot easier making it there I suppose

Just want to let the people that weren't able to be at the game that the student section got a good "AJ WALLACE" chant going today. Hope it helps, he would be a great pickup.

Yup, maybe this will appease the people that think Callahan and his staff try to absolve themselves of all blame. I like the call, our FG block team has been extraordinary throughtout the year, why not keep it going.

From that game (and others) I hope most people realize that this offense CAN work. I remember after last year and after the first few games, that some thought that the offense was either too complicated or just couldn't work in college football. If you don't like the offense, that is surely your opinion and have the right to it, but to say this offense CAN'T work is rediculous. Now, as for it working consistantly, that is another thing. It is my opinion that coaches can only do some much. This is not to say they aren't important, or can't make mistakes, but I can't remember one instance of a coach either turning a ball over or scoring a touchdown. I think once the play is called it is up to the players to execute. From what I can tell, on the vast majority of the plays that if executed properly, they will result in yardage. Coaches can certainly call bad plays and I am in no way trying to absolve them from resposibility, but ulitimately, it is up to the players to execute. Now, a few things things that I believe have hurt our offense the most this year O-line: It is pretty obvious this is the weakest link on the entire team. Missed blocking assignments and penalties are touch for any offense to overcome. I'm not saying that an improved o-line would make us national title contenders, but it would definitely help our consistency. This has really been evident in our running game and as any high school coach will tell you "It all starts up front" Lack of rhythm: After the OU game it is very apparent to me that Zac Taylor (like most qb's i suppose) are much MUCH better when he gets in a groove. When he gets time to throw he is very accurate and the offense runs smoothly. Lack of a big play threat: This team doesn't have a Frazier or a Crouch or a Rogers that can make a big play. Cory Ross is probably the closest we have and while he is certainly a fun guy to watch, he still lacks that ability to make a huge play (again lack of oline consistency definitely attributes to this) Hopefully Lucky, or Glenn, or Beck, or someone will be able to provide this for us in the future. Well thats enough for now, basically what I am saying is there is no reason to give us on this team. The offense can work, it has been shown that it can. Consistency is the key and hopefully though practice and recruiting we can improve on this aspect.