JJ Husker

+10 to the OP.

There is a difference between criticizing elements of the game (the D-line, the offensive play calling, defensive scheme, etc.) and calling for wholesale changes, the coaches head "Bo needs to go", etc. I have been one of the first to criticize our defense this year for specific reasons but I believe it is crossing the line when people come out and call for the coach to be fired with a 7-2 record especially given our recent history with coaching changes. Everyone is entitled to their opinion but it sure does not look good when you see the threads explode with some of these ludicrous wishes and claims. I don't even want to start in on who is a "good" fan or who is a "fairweather" fan but, for me, a great number of the posts in the last few days have simply been revolting. It embarrasses me to think I may be lumped in with some of these other Husker "fans". I know I have the choice to come on these boards and read the comments or not to. Too many more meltdown weekends like this past one and I guess I'll just have to get my Husker football fix in another fashion. Can we start a petition to remove those "Greatest fans" signs on Memorial Stadium? Because it just simply is not even close to being the case anymore.

Maybe Badgerfan had the best tongue in cheek suggestion; "burn down Memorial Stadium" because it seems to be the main source of a lot of these peoples problems. When a fan from another team notices how irrational some of the posters have become, it sure does no good for our reputation as fans. It's pretty bad when you can begin to make rational comparisons between some Husker fans and some Buff fans. Makes me ill.

I don't know, I think some of these fans on the ledge should probably go ahead and take the old fashioned way off and jump. It would seriously limit and shorten up these many meltdown threads.

Some of you calling for his job have not the slightest idea about jack. You can drink beer and watch the games and you think it's easy and you think you're some kind of expert. Pathetic.

 

I love people who rip on others and accuse them of thinking their "experts." Who do these people think they are, "experts"?

I may not be an expert but it would sure appear that I have a lot more common sense and experience as pertains to this issue. It was one friggin loss to Northwestern. A Northwestern mind you who played their a$$es off while our team sat on theirs. Where was all this dissension 2 days ago? If Bo is such a rotten so and so, where were all these people calling for his head before this one single game? It is simply a meltdown, knee-jerk reaction that the melters are now trying to justify and rationalize. I was around in the late 70's when the same things were said about TO. In the mid 80's to mid 90's the story was he couldn't win the big game. We are still recovering from the decision to fire Solich after a season with a record that most teams would die for. Recruiting gets impacted. System continuity gets impacted. Bo has 2 losses in the first season in a new conference. But, the thing that really gets me are the people saying he can't motivate the players and prevent these types of losses to inferior opponents. I've coached a bit (not at the college level mind you) and I am of the belief that about the only way a coach can influence motivation is negatively. I don't see that with Bo for the team at large. Motivation has to primarily come from within the players themselves. Bo didn't fumble the ball. Bo didn't drop passes. Bo didn't play defense like a girl. I don't know why this team came out and stunk it up but I am pretty certain it is not very closely related to some shortcoming of Bo's not getting them motivated enough. I don't hold the coaching staff harmless. Sure there are things here and there that they can and should do better. We are a young inexperienced team with a relatively young coaching staff. For Christ's sake give them some time to develope their program and for the timing for all the pieces to fit together. A clue; this isn't the year. If your tolerance horizon is only 4-5 years and then you want change, I hate to tell ya that you're never going to get where you're going. And no I did not give Callahan the same courtesy of more time for obvious reasons. The difference is Bo has shown respect for our traditions and ex-players and has many things going in his favor as far as turning us around from the past debacle and the team showing improvement. It don't happen overnight people. And a change at the wrong time can put it off another 5-10 years. If we were to fire Bo at this point, I would not want for a coach the idiot that would be willing to take his place. I love people who get into a much larger discussion but instead choose to concentrate on some little side issue about experts rather than manning up and saying what they really feel about the issue at hand. I should have known jumping into this meltdown thread was a mistake and waste of time. It'll be some of the same people who, after the next victory, will be figuring out how we play in to the NC scene. Like I said- Kneejerk.

This is just an administrative idea for the mods. Maybe we should have an official designated place to archive these meltdown threads. Every loss it's the same story but with different leading players. Today it's Bo has to go. Wiscy it was Taylor has to go. Its really kind of comical. The biggest mistake this program ever made was firing a coach who had just completed a good winning season. That one boneheaded destructive move doomed us to mediocrity to about this point in time. Signs abound that we are improving but we still have much progress to make. It is totally un f'n believable some of you are calling for Bo's head. Anyway, I just think for posterities sake there should be a special place for these "special" bits of wisdom.

Are the Huskers back yet? Hell no their not back to pre- Callahan form. That ought to be your first frikken clue why this program can not have another asinine coaching change at this point. Some of you calling for his job have not the slightest idea about jack. You can drink beer and watch the games and you think it's easy and you think you're some kind of expert. Pathetic.

NW has done this to good teams every year. It is not that suprising. The bigger thing, which has been brought up time and time again in this thread, is the inability of this team to stay on a high, and not play down to their competition. This is getting old.

 

 

Bo cannot get his players motivated even against good competition. NU plays about one complete game a year. This team was under-prepared again.

Well then at least we have that one complete game left to look forward to cuz they haven't come close to a complete game yet this year.

Our D-line picked a very poor time to disappear...

When did they make an appearance? The invisible man cannot disappear.

Perfect analysis "this defense has been victimized between the tackles". Repo the blackshirts and burn em. It's not a viable tradition if the guys that have them play like b#tches.

You could hear a pin drop in the stadium.

OMFG.

Our defense is sooo freakin slow. Reminds me of that commercial with the guys swimming in caramel.

Are there any recruits at the game?

If so, we should suit them up. Maybe they want to play.

NW wants it more. So far they deserve it. We should rip every scholarship that we're wasting money on. What a bunch of pussies. It's Northwestern for f#ck sake. We're making them look like they should be in the bcs championship game.

Helluva an effort by Colter. That's a td.

I wish this team would get their sh#t together. Are they a bad team that plays just good enough for the shortest time possible or are they a good team that plays like sh#t most of the time? I really have no clue.

If we're lucky we'll get half a game out of the huskers once again.

Burkhart? WTF? Who is this 4tth string announcer team?

Nebraska wins out, that's a given, so we're there.

MSU & Wiscy win out.

PSU has 3 losses coming- NU, OSU, & Wisc

OSU will lose to Michigan.

Does that get wiscy to the ccg? I have no idea.

That would get us there

What if OSU beats Michigan? Cuz I'm changing that prediction.

After watching Iowa-Michigan I am a lot more confident in Nebraskas chances. Michigans passing game is worse than ours. Why is Robinson even in the Heisman discussion?

Uhmm I don't think Northwestern is a crappy opponent and they're sure not anywhere near KU crappy. I equate them to KSU crappy only with more class and a better fanbase.

There's one thing in the B1G that we can start to change today. Nebraska is the real NU. Northwestern is gonna have to accept another acronym. May I suggest; NW

Nebraska wins out, that's a given, so we're there.

MSU & Wiscy win out.

PSU has 3 losses coming- NU, OSU, & Wisc

OSU will lose to Michigan.

Does that get wiscy to the ccg? I have no idea.

Well this may make an interesting thread for many different opinions but I don't feel there is any right or wrong way for Pelini to administer the blackshirts. There are no hard and fast rules, only what others before him did. Who is to say the way they did it was the correct way? I think a lot of people side with the past based on the quality of those defenses. That doesn't make their blackshirt traditions necessarily the way it should be done now. I also have an opinion but until I'm the coach, it doesn't mean squat. Pelini is in charge of this team and it his job to motivate his players any way he sees fit.0, 11, 14, 20, 50....it's Bo's decision to make.

I didn't take what Dirk wrote as having a problem with how or how many blackshirts Pelini hands out. The only thing in the article that hints at that is what Carlos Polk said. Like many ex-players recently, Carlos should probably learn to keep his mouth shut. The defense that Pelini runs tends to regularly use more personnel in different packages than when Polk played so Carlos's comments are ill advised. I have no problem with Pelini determining when or how many blackshirts to hand out. My preference would be that the starters (in every package-which may be as many as 19) get them prior to the first game but, last time I checked, I was not the coach and Pelini is. It is his job to administer the blackshirt tradition however he sees fit and to choose how to motivate the players. I am not sure why Dirk felt the need to include Polk's inflammatory opinion. If Dirk has ulterior motives, he sure didn't speak out loudly one way or the other.

 

Look, these guys come from a different period in Husker history. They were taught that a blackshirt, more than anything, meant you were a starter on what was likely an outstanding defense at a major program. The blackshirt tradition was started by simply picking out a color of jersey to differentiate the starters from everyone else. Pelini created this concept of 'earning' your blackshirt, which I guess is okay. Although I gotta say, when they're being given out, then taken away, then awarded again....it brinks on gimmicky.

 

It's his program right now, and he's putting his stamp on it. That doesn't mean that ex-players don't have a right to take some issue with it, and being an ex-player who still cares about the program, it certainly doesn't mean that he has to 'shut his mouth' when someone wants his opinion on something NU football related.

 

So apparently we've got people who think that everyone but them needs to keep their opinion to themselves, even writers whose job it is to share their perspective. Odd that so many people who joined a message board to share their, and presumably hear others', opinion, are the first ones to shush a dissenting one.

Thank you for calling me out on this. When I'm wrong I will admit it and I was wrong to suggest Polk keep his mouth shut. A better choice of words would have been "measure what he says" or "be more knowledgeable about what he's commenting on". I fully understand that in the past it was 11-13 blackshirts. But considering the way our current defense is, I feel that Polk is not making allowances for the 19+/- heavy contributors to our defense. If he can't see the difference between his time and this time then he is either not well informed or purposely trying to cause an issue. Heck maybe he doesn't like Pelini, I have no idea. I was wrong with what I said but I do wish ex-players would keep in mind the ripples their comments, especially to OWH writers, might have. It sure did not strike me as a comment supportive of the Husker football program.

I want a rematch also.......with Wisconsin. 2nd meetings in the same season all most always tend to go in favor of the first game loser. I understand Ohio St wanting another piece of us but we have nothing left to prove to them this season. Wiscy is another matter.

I didn't take what Dirk wrote as having a problem with how or how many blackshirts Pelini hands out. The only thing in the article that hints at that is what Carlos Polk said. Like many ex-players recently, Carlos should probably learn to keep his mouth shut. The defense that Pelini runs tends to regularly use more personnel in different packages than when Polk played so Carlos's comments are ill advised. I have no problem with Pelini determining when or how many blackshirts to hand out. My preference would be that the starters (in every package-which may be as many as 19) get them prior to the first game but, last time I checked, I was not the coach and Pelini is. It is his job to administer the blackshirt tradition however he sees fit and to choose how to motivate the players. I am not sure why Dirk felt the need to include Polk's inflammatory opinion. If Dirk has ulterior motives, he sure didn't speak out loudly one way or the other.