Kernal

I don't think it matters to the Huskers, and those two losses don't re-write the season. All games are different and exist in their own set of circumstances. I got the impression during the Iowa game that Iowa players spent too much mental energy being satisfied and celebrating the fact that they made it to the Rose Bowl, and not enough on preparing to execute, and then executing, against a decent team. I got a similar impression from Michigan State It reminded me a little of the 2012 season where NU's mantra became "Make it to the Big Ten Championship." Well, if making it to the game is the goal then what happens after you arrive (and met your goal)? The goal should be to win the Big Ten Championship, to win the Rose Bowl, to win the Playoff Game. Maybe I'm full of crap, but that's the impression I got. Both MSU and Iowa played uncharacteristically and lost badly. Stanford isn't that good, and neither is Alabama. But those two teams also benefited from having "been there done that." They weren't celebrating just being allowed to play in those games. If there's a lesson here for Nebraska, it's that the goal should be to win them all and team retrospectives should be saved for after the last game is finished. If you shoot for 9-wins, you'll probably get no more than 9-wins. If you're happy making it to the CCG, you might get blown out after you do.

You can make your argument with a lot of rules can't you? "Holding" should be just that: Holding! Again, I don't think he should have been penalized for the UCLA hit, but I also can see how it could have been called in that split second. If boxing and MMA had the participation levels that football does at all age levels there certainly would be people trying to clean them up. But "Holding" doesn't rely on replay, and players aren't ejected for it. That's a big difference. I can live with bad penalties, which happen every game. I'm not ok with players being thrown out of games, ostensibly for playing dirty, when they're not. It's a much bigger issue in my opinion.

"Targeting" should be just that: Targeting! Gerry wasn't "targeting" that player with the intent of illegally injuring him. It was a tackle and their helmets unavoidably hit. It's football. It's a collision sport. That's why they wear helmets. On replay, somebody should have seen Gerry's tackle for the perfectly executed form tackle it was. Even Jim Mora knew it wasn't targeting. Does anybody think he would have been on the sideline joshing it up with Gerry if Gerry was trying to injure his players? Sometimes I wonder how boxing or MMA even still exist as sports. People who worry so much about concussions in football should take some of their concern to those sports where the purpose is to concuss your opponent.

QT is always hiring full-time assistant managers.

Sure we stuck with the run game more against UCLA but our O-line, or rather UCLA's D-line, was the reason we had great success that game. Our same line (and backs) weren't getting those types of push and runs most of the season. I think every Big Ten team has a better D-line than what we faced vs. UCLA. So it's a combination of commitment to the run, better O-line play, better RB play, better QB decision-making, better playcalling, and more efficient passing game that we need to run more effectively. I really believe many of the problems we saw this year were simply the coaches and players getting familiar and comfortable with each other and understanding how things work now. This is why we got better overall as the season went along. Also, football is more like a symphony than a solo. Effective passing opens up the run game, and vice-versa. To my mind it doesn't really matter which sets-up which- they can both set up each other and many teams have proven this. But it takes great play-calling to keep opposing defenses off-balance and the offense rolling down the field.

Great audio. I really like Mike Riley as our coach. It's refreshing to have a humble, likable and decent man running the show again. I'm behind him 100%. (I'd like to see more of that UCLA game-plan next year though ).

I'll never say no to an extra Husker game. It's only too bad we couldn't sneak into the Conference Championship Game too. If you think there are too many bowls, or don't like 5-7 teams playing in bowls, then don't watch them. Was Indiana-Duke a better matchup? Was Southern Miss-Washington? NU-UCLA was the best bowl game played so far. Who cares.

Interesting clash of cultures going in in the staff. They came from a pass happy PAC 12 and seemed to homage to smash mouth football only as a sidebar. Will be interesting going into the Spring. I absolutely loved seeing a team get worn down and gasping for breath in the second half. It is interesting. I wonder what Riley is thinking. Was he running his West-Coast offense because that's what he could run at Oregon State, or is he truly a believer in it for all occasions? Maybe he's open to switching up. I also wonder about Langsdorf- would he be down with a power rushing offense? Then again, maybe this game was simply the product of having the time and practices to change-up for a single game. Critics like to attach systems to coaches as critiques, but not all coaches are ideologues. Pragmatism can play a role. Riley's been around a lot of different systems in his time. I also wonder if they (coaches, admin) will get enough positive juice from this game that they reconsider their offensive style. It'll all make for an interesting offseason.

Any season without Pelini is a season I wanted.

I'd like to see us run that offense from last night. I understand what's going on in a game like that. You can see the opponent (UCLA) getting discouraged and the Huskers gaining confidence. It was beautiful. However, UCLA didn't have the horses to stop the run in this game. Many of our Big Ten opponents do. So, it's not as simple as just plug this offense in this season and reap the rewards. We may have had as many 2nd-and-shorts last night as we had all year. That makes a huge difference.

You go for the TD first if you need 11 points. That way you know whether or not a field goal will do it for you, or if you need to score another TD. If you kick the field goal, then score a TD, your fate rests on the two-point conversion. And NU isn't exactly lighting up the short-yardage situations this year. So on 4th and 1 you try to continue the TD drive. On 4th and 10, you kick and hope you hold them and score a TD, and can convert the two-point attempt.

Good on Iowa for playing disciplined football and capitalizing on Husker mistakes. Good luck in the CCG.

Hey, you came out of hiding after three weeks of wins and positive vibes here, coupled with Pelini's season-ending losses and well-publicized meltdowns. You must be so relieved to get back on schedule with your Riley/Nebraska/Eichorst bashing. Cool. Great thread.

Go Big Red, Beat Iowa!

I'd say very little of OSU's problems are on Tim Beck. Does anyone really think Urban Meyer doesn't make every important decision at OSU? http://espn.go.com/ncf/story/_/page/gamedayfinal112115/ohio-state-buckeyes-fall-apart-losing-michigan-state-spartans-put-college-football-playoff-hopes-jeopardy

I hope we're practicing outside this week to get the guys toughened-up.

What does that mean? I'm not familiar with snapchat.

Looked like complacency to me. OSU hasn't been very well tested much this season. And MSU has a huge chip on their shoulders again with the OSU- and Harbaugh lovefests, and then the loss to Nebraska. OSU could sneak into the playoffs if a lot of dominoes fall. Lots of big games left in these next few weeks. Hell, Florida nearly lost today to FAU.

As long as the players know it will take exceptional discipline and effort to beat Iowa, I think we can do it. It's not at all a foregone conclusion. It will take a lot of hard preparation that hopefully began last week and continues through Wednesday.

Very cool. But not nearly as cool as sending the seniors out with a win over top-5 undefeated Iowa, or securing a nice bowl invite.

Yeah, man, Michigan State is a good program and team. Once NU knocked their egos down a couple pegs they went back to doing what they do best: fighting for respect from the underdog position.

BIG refs seem all over the place this year. We got a lot of bad calls against non conference foes too. I doubt it will be fixed. Simple. You don't leave the game in the hands of the officials.

Thats the risk you take playing Dick Chicken. devil's threeway With a honey in the middle there's some leeway... That video is funny as hell.

The only reason that makes sense for waiting for the DNA testing is that there isn't enough other evidence to charge, but rather than dismiss the accusations and risk public charges of "protecting the football team," prosecutors/police can wait for the DNA testing even though they aren't likely to contain anything incriminating. Because what could DNA possibly show that isn't already known? DNA only proves participation, not consent, and participation doesn't seem to be disputed. DNA could show that there was more than one male participant, I guess. Maybe that's the issue here.

The only reason that makes sense for waiting for the DNA testing is that there isn't enough other evidence to charge, but rather than dismiss the accusations and risk public charges of "protecting the football team," prosecutors/police can wait for the DNA testing even though they aren't likely to contain anything incriminating. Because what could DNA possibly show that isn't already known? DNA only proves participation, not consent, and participation doesn't seem to be disputed.