JJ Husker

Anybody who is under 30 years old and doesn't pick RRR simply dislikes Texas (btw that is good enough reason for me). Anyone who is over 35 and doesn't pick NU-OU, either has Alzheimers, doesn't like college football, or is a dbag longhorn fan. The big 12 cast a shadow over the true rivalry we had with OU in the big 8 days.

This isn't my fondest memory but I like the story. 81 or 82 I'm a student at UNL. We get student season tickets for something like $36 or $45, can't remember exactly. Anyway the Oklahoma game is big money maker for selling student tickets so I sell mine and go home for Thxgiving and watch it with my parents on TV. We win the game and tear down the goal posts. When I return to Lincoln on Sunday and head to my rackroom in the frat, a 12 foot section of the curved goalpost is in my bed.

I say if you want to return to the "glory" days of the Bill Callahan era, then you go right after Gilbert. If, however, you want to be realistic and acknowledge where our true weaknesses are and admit that this team can and would win just as many, if not more, games with Martinez as our QB, Then gilbert becoming available means absolutely nothing. Control the line, play lights out defense, and limit detrimental down & distance issues and this team, with Martinez (Carnes-whoever) will be just fine. Some of you may be too young to really remember when the Huskers were truly dominant. We didn't need or even want the type of QB who could go on to the NFL. Gill, Frazier, Frost, Crouch, etc. I believe Martinez is much closer to being that type of player than any QB who played for us during the Callahan years even if they typically could throw the ball better. What I hear when I listen to people wanting to get rid of Martinez is; We need to get back to the good old times of Husker football circa 2000-2008. That tells me those people don't understand the 70's, 80's, & 90's of Husker football or that they just want to head in a different direction than that. If you can't accept a bad game now and then by certain players then I suggest you enroll in college and suit up or apply for Bo's job and show us all how it should be handled.

First of all, yes, I am a first time poster, but am someone who has read this board (and others) religiously for years to get info, to keep up with, and just be amongst other rabid husker fans year round. Time allows me to read, but to not post, so i have refrained this whole time. I am not a troll, but am someone who is ready to post after finally reading enough of this BS. First I have to ask, what makes a Husker fan? Is it someone who openly supports their team through good times(90's) and bad(2000's), no matter the criticisim they recieve at work, from rival fans, etc., or someone who can sit in their living room and badmouth the team, coaches and whoever else that doesn't live up to their expectations, all while not having to show their true face or name? I am all for an active debate on topics such as defensive alignments, offensive plays, the gameplan for upcoming opponents, etc., but to continuously and negatively spew the bs that has come about on this board and many others is starting to show our true colors as the spoiled and entitled must win society that we have become.

 

I remember the years of Osborne and how he struggled to win the bowl games against speedier opponents. I remember the ones in which a call here or there decided a championship, or just another top five finish. The thing that set it apart from today, was that fact that the criticism was done in local coffee shops, in the stadium, or at someone's home during the game.....IN PERSON. If you criticized, everyone saw who it was and you had to back up your claims. Now, anyone can come on here and spew hate and criticisim knowing that no one will know who they are and that they cannot not held accountable for it, which is unlike what the players and coaches have to answer to, because they cannot hide. If you yelled at a quarterback in the past at a game, they could see who it was, as could several hundred fans around you, thus keeping things in check. Now, that same person can Boldly(insert sarcasm) comment on here and remain anonymous.

 

I am as frustrated as anyone and as competitive as anyone when it comes to not only Husker football, but life, but I have realized that negativity does nothing but break down people and solves absolutely nothing. If you have kids, you should know this. Speaking of which, those of you criticizing, would you be doing and saying the same things about replacing the quarterback, safety, etc,. if it was your son, or would you want to encourage and support them to get better? So i go back to my original question, What makes a true Husker fan? Only you can answer that i guess, but please think about it, because these players and coaches have enough to worry about week in and week out from the other teams and fans throughout the country and national media, without having to also deal with it from their own.....so called fanbase.

 

Ok, I'm done, I hope some of you think hard about this and begin actually supporting the team and not being part of the problem. I for one will be at the game tomorrow, standing, cheering and supporting my team, because they need it, and as a fanbase, so do we.........

Very well put 1/2fullhusker. I couldn't agree more even though I slip up from time to time in the heat of moment. It is one thing to offer constructive criticism or even to join in some humorous anecdotes but it is another thing entirely to pile on when it is clear things are beginning to snowball.

God I will be so relieved after we whip OSU and some of this nonsense gets put to bed for at least awhile. What a bunch of hair-trigger, fair weather fans. One friggen loss to a better team and people go into meltdown mode. Sure the loss was bad, worse than it needed to be, ugly, and embarrassing to some extent but in the end it is only one loss. It's really friggin easy to sit back and armchair quarterback and talk like you could coach better. One suggestion; Until you've actually done it better, shut the F up. Go ahead all you know-it-alls, tell me how you could do it better, what they are all doing wrong, and how important you are in the grand scheme. Don't worry, you'll only come across as idiotic once again. If your self perception is so wrapped up and tied solely to Nebraska football, then all I can say is you need to get a life.

I'm surprised Bo is able to maintain his composure as well as he does. If I was in his position, some people in the media would be in traction and I'd be in jail.

Hey, if we're going to fantasize, I'm bringing them both back. If you insist on only one it has to be Suh. I love Tommie but that is not the side of the ball with the biggest issues. In fact, considering we have Martinez, I would probably take virtually any of our past highly decorated O linemen back before TD Tommie. We get the good ole pipeline laying down pancakes and we would never have to pass if we didn't want to.

You're right knapplc, they don't need to be moving on. I was just getting a little irritated with the "our sh%t don't stink" attitude. The discussion started out with them acknowledging that maybe, just maybe, their students gameday behavior might find some disfavor with visiting fans. After reading about said behavior I simply made the comment that they were off the list of possible schools for my son and then the fit hit the shan. Seems some cannot accept the fact that there are other fine schools and a person does not have to attend UW to be successful. I got rubbed the wrong way when badgerfan insisted that my son was not good enough for them anyway. Of course he knows nothing about my son and assumes he is from the midwest, or Nebraska, which is not the case.

One of the stats badgerfan left off his list about academics, in a sports forum no less-

Academic All-Americans;

All time, all sports combined Nebraska 291 (#1 in the country) Wisconsin 99 (tied for 21st) BTW-Penn St is #2 with 172.

Football only Nebraska 99 (#1 in the country) Wisconsin 23

This year Nebraska 14 (#1 in the Big Ten) Wisconsin 3 (tied for 7th in the B1G with Purdue, behind Penn St, Ohio St, Mich, Mich St, & Minn)

Isn't it about time for these badger fans to be moving on? I don't think an NU football forum is really the place to be promoting their little unfriendly party school. Oh God! That ones probably good for another 2 pages of meaningless stats on the Wisconsin backwoods.

Not to be a smart ass but maybe that is why Beck thought we could move the ball by having Martinez drop back and throw from the pocket. Our secondary play has not been anything a person should use to judge their offensive prowess.

 

You're probably spot on with this observation JJHusker1. If Martinez was hitting open receivers against our 2nd string it possibly could have given Beck a false assessment at Taylor's progress in the passing game. I know we practiced a lot 1's vs. 1's during Fall Camp, so it kind of amazes me that they would go away from that once the season started. I understand you don't want to get your top players hurt in practice, but at the same time you also don't want your players to gain a false sense of themselves by how they perform in practice if they are going up against 2nd string talent.

Actually, my intention was to point out that going against our first string, the way they have been playing, probably isn't going change much. Trying to be humorous but unfortunately also realistic. I am currently much more down on our D than I am our QB play. I realize that 3 picks against a team the caliber of Wiscy will kill you but our highly touted D has not lived up to expectations. Based on their hype and last years performance they should have stopped 2 if not all 3 of the subsequent scoring drives. Then maybe Beck doesn't panic and go all Air Correlle(sp) on us. The D needs to start bringing the pain. The real solution in my eyes is to limit putting Taylor in the position where we HAVE to throw deep. I think we get there with much better D, and fewer O-line mistakes. Field position and manageable down and distance. I don't blame Taylor because he isn't that type of QB. Never will be. The people piling on him need to start accepting this fact and temper their criticism with this knowledge.

BTW- I enjoy your comments.

People need to learn how to comprehend what im saying a little better. Where did i say Callahan would have an impact on coaching or being around the players? All im saying is that Callahan's RECRUITING expertise would be combined with Bo's coaching. Never, in this sentence, did i say bill callahan would be a coach, coaching players or be at the practices/games. I mean, Callahan did recruit the players of one of the best defenses we had of all time. We are just taking his recruiting abilities and putting that in bo. I still dont understand how you guys think his coachig ability, or lack thereof, comes into the equatioo. Did I ever say "Callahan's coaching ability, or lack thereof?" No, I did not.

I'm pretty sure I understand what your trying to say, I just disagree with it totally. The MO for Nebraska has not historically been to recruit high numbers of nationally high ranked prospects nor do I think it ever should be. You can't just look at what some blue chip report says was a good recruiting class without also looking at the on field results. Even if Callahan could get us the top 20 prospects every year, I wouldn't want them in our program. Those types of players typically (and the Bill years proved this) do not play with heart. I'll take the junkyard mutt over the pedigreed best in show every time. I don't want that clown associated with NU football in any way, shape, or form, even if it is limited to recruiting. He and that idiot AD ruined a dynasty. Period. It's not even funny to imagine it. I don't care how limited you claim his involvement would be. Not cool. Just my opinion of course.

We have been going through the process of selecting a college for our HS senior son. Wisconsin was one of the schools we were looking at. It's off our list now. It is apparent wiscy is not properly helping to develop well rounded people. Hopefully you get a handle on dealing with your problems.

 

 

You just denied your son a shot at success...

 

 

 

I'm pretty sure he'll be just fine. Denied a shot at success? Simply because he will not be attending Wiscy. Me thinks you exaggerate too much. I went to UNL and I am successful. Not going to Wiscy didn't hurt me one bit. And don't worry, I doubt if I would have got accepted there anyway. You went to a whole bunch of trouble (way too much in my opinion) to prove your point but it had virtually nothing to do with what I was saying. My point was, it doesn't matter how many peace prize winners (BTW if Obama can get one the way he did, the validity of that whole thing is up in the air for me) or your rank in some arbitrary poll of best places to get a burger, if the environment doesn't promote good sportsmanship and basic manners, there are better places for a young person to attend college and learn how to interact with others. I'm not impressed with Wiscy. Not in the least. Just so you know, he has the grades, class rank, and ACT's to go virtually anywhere he wants.

Also, very convenient how you list football accomplishments since 2000. How'd you do for the 30 years prior to that? Thought so. And, I'll take Husker fans over Badgers any damn day of the week. We know how to win or lose with class and dignity. Some people struggle with losing and that may be understandable in the heat of the moment but not knowing how to win without capping it off with jerkish behavior is beyond my comprehension. I guess I haven't been exposed to it like those in Madison.

Favorite and best are two different things. Gill and Frazier are my favs but they had help. Crouch did the most with the least. I wouldn't even include Ganz, Steve Taylor, or Zach on the list. Where's Humm and Ferragamo?

Not to be a smart ass but maybe that is why Beck thought we could move the ball by having Martinez drop back and throw from the pocket. Our secondary play has not been anything a person should use to judge their offensive prowess.

WTF huskerfan333157. You can't be serious. Epic? Callahan? All in the same sentence? Without the words meltdown and/or program destruction? I've picked up "epic" piles from my dog in the backyard. Epic is over-rated.

Dillard is way out of line and doing an extreme disservice to his alma mater. Knapplc has this issue nailed to the wall.

I agree that it is not time for wholesale changes. In fact, maybe things turning totally to st in this game really was a blessing in disguise. Wiscy is good enough that we would have had to play completely flawless to beat them. It was most assuredly a 7-14 point loss to begin with. So I guess we took advantage of that L by getting to deal with some very real problems before they cost us an L in a game we should win. Being totally serious that is the bright side of this debacle. Losing is losing whether by 1 point or 31. We basically got a free education in that game.

Yet another post rationalizing and justifying the lack of sportsmanship and poor behavior of this large student body. It seems many wiscy fans are embarrassed by it and would like it to change but just can't get beyond the reality of it. We have been going through the process of selecting a college for our HS senior son. Wisconsin was one of the schools we were looking at. It's off our list now. It is apparent wiscy is not properly helping to develop well rounded people. Hopefully you get a handle on dealing with your problems. You've at least made the first big step in realizing there is a problem. Now you just need to do something about it.

This, to me, seems a little irrational. You're indicting the university's ability to produce high-quality kids because they get drunk? You're muddling the university's reputation as a fairly high-ranked educational institution because the football atmosphere is hostile (which it is). I'm not telling you where to send your kids, but I can at least tell you you won't be disappointed with the education they receive. The drinking atmosphere is relatively widespread in Wisconsin as a whole. If you're not comfortable with that, that's fine.

I don't doubt the quality of the class room education students are being offered at Wisconsin. That is why they were one of the schools on our list to begin with. And, being totally honest, some of the reason they are now off the list has to do with the out-of-state tuition cost. Our son will be getting a fair amount of scholly dollars but not enough for him to justify attending Wiscy. I have always been a firm believer in "well rounded" developement. There is much more to a college education than just the education part of it. Sports play a huge role in teaching people how to deal with others, accept personal responsibility, and in learning how to react to adversity. In my mind, these things are more important than getting a piece of paper that somehow qualifies you for a supposedly better paying job for the rest of your life. One thing I know for sure is that 18-23 year old yound adults will have a lot of their social behavior shaped these first years out from under their parents wings. Becoming a loud-mouthed, foul-mouthed poor sport and using the excuse of alcohol to justify it, doesn't seem to be the way to go to me. When I went to the Univ. of Nebraska (early 80's) we also drank too much and very often. I doubt I was ever sober at a home game. We would sneak in Yukon Jack, Southern Comfort, Jack, whatever, into the games and we had already been partying for hours before kickoff. But we still managed to treat the visitors with the respect a guest deserves. I'm not sure what or where things have gone wrong in Madison but that doesn't seem to be the case up there.

The one caveat I have in making these claims is that "I have not been there myself". I am basing my opinions on the opinions and accounts of others. I usually try to resist this as many times it will cause a person to look stupid. But considering you and other seemingly reasonable and hospitable WU fans have admitted this is in fact the norm for your student body, I feel fairly safe in accepting it as the gospel.

Yet another post rationalizing and justifying the lack of sportsmanship and poor behavior of this large student body. It seems many wiscy fans are embarrassed by it and would like it to change but just can't get beyond the reality of it. We have been going through the process of selecting a college for our HS senior son. Wisconsin was one of the schools we were looking at. It's off our list now. It is apparent wiscy is not properly helping to develop well rounded people. Hopefully you get a handle on dealing with your problems. You've at least made the first big step in realizing there is a problem. Now you just need to do something about it.

NU 17

OSU 10

Passing yds 29

Rushing yds 326

I always thought I wanted to attend a game at Camp Randall someday. I'm not so sure after reading through most of these home team accounts of the general behavior that one can expect to be subjected to. It's not my or any other Husker fans place to tell you what should be acceptable or unacceptable behavior in your house. I am simply astonished at the huge amount of justifying you guys do to explain the poor behavior of your students. Saying that's just the way it is, is no excuse. Saying you used to be terrible at football and therefore it is now simply a party first and throw respectable behavior out the window attitude is no excuse. Telling the guests that they need to get thicker skin and basically bow down and accept verbal insults and taunts without letting it bother them is only a wishful request. Somebody gets in my face hurling insults and I'm probably gonna drop em. But you make it sound like that would be my fault for not just bending over and taking it. This is the same type of mentality that places the blame for a rape on the cute girl. I can take a group A-hole chant and off color language but if it gets personal up in my grill, there's probably going to be a problem. One thing is for sure; the behavior at Camp Randall is all your baby. You can blame visitors all you want for being the real problem but that doesn't change the facts. I am reminded of an episode of the Sopranos where Tony and his son are in a very dilapidated crackhead neighborhood and a couple locals come up to them and tell them this is their neighborhood, Tony looks around and says "I can see that".

This diatribe is mostly directed at Panthers post on the previous page. I doubt things are that much different with the general fanbase but I do get the idea that your students might need to be brought in line with some acceptable social behavior norms.

I'm just hoping this season doesn't end like last. It's beginning to look earily familiar. Wisconsin = Texas? What excuse is there now that Taylor is no longer a "freshman" and he makes it through the entire season healthy?

Football is played with 11 guys on the field at a time. If you think the other ten guys don't matter, the defensive unit doesn't matter, field position, clock management, down & distance situations, etc. all don't matter; well then you are missing a whole lot of football. Sure 3 picks and ineffective throwing play into it but this ain't a one man rodeo. The team lost. Accept it.

Any team that does not have the intestinal fortitude to overcome some bad/missed calls does not deserve to win. Period. I saw no slant to the officiating whatsoever. Sometimes you will get near perfect officiating, other times it can be pretty bad. The key is if they are being consistently good or bad with both teams equally. I have seen the complaints about holding our D- linemen. Well, if they aren't calling holding then you get your O line to do a bit of it too. The punch in the head was nothing that should've been flagged but it could've been without it being a bad call either way. Personally, it looked to me like our guy was still trying to tackle him well into the endzone so I really don't blame the Wisc players reaction. Officiating had not one thing to do with the outcome or even the momentum of this game. Once in awhile you will get a game changer like years ago in the Penn State game but those are rare now with replay. And of course you can get cheated for virtually a whole season when you are leaving a conference but, that won't happen very often.

On when the Blackshirts should be handed out, I have tossed this around too, and I think there could be a way where you combine both the way Osborne & McBride handed these out to the way Bo does it today. My suggestion would be at the end of Fall Camp Bo and the defensive coaches would get together and decide who would be the starting 11 on defense going into Game 1. Whoever those starting 11 are will get the Blackshirts hung in their locker. Now after Game 1 if a few players didn't measure up to the Blackshirt tradition than they would be stripped of their starting role and Blackshirt status for Game 2 and new players would take their place wearing the previous starters Blackshirt. It's a combination of both ideas: You want to be one of the starting 11 on defense for Nebraska....earn it! Earn it every week!

What do you Husker fans think of this combined approach for handing out the Blackshirts?

I like the idea. If our defense is to be known as the blackshirts then the starting unit should have them. I don't think we can get wrapped up in the subpar play of the whole unit and simply say no one has earned it yet. I realize it is a team game but there are those who are deserving of the blackshirt right now. The "blackshirts" should be the 11+ best we have to offer and should not have to meet some subjective criteria compared to other teams or group results. If our top defensive unit is not very good then it will simply tarnish the mystique of the blackshirts. Some non-starter situation players and substitutes may also be deserving. But, if you slack off and don't earn it every week then it goes to your replacement.

I have mixed feelings on the blackshirt issue. I sort of think that if you make the starting unit after fall camp then you should be considered a blackshirt. But, when that unit plays as they have the first 5 games of this season, being called the "blackshirts" kinds of loses it's luster. At this point in time I am simply for whichever method will get them playing more like a blackshirt and less like a doormat. Along with many others, I just wish I knew what that method was.

I have a very strong opinion about the captains. They should be elected by their teammates. 2, 3, 4, 5 however many they deem worthy. Team captains should not be appointed by the coaching staff. The players themselves have a much better idea of who these true team leaders are. Maybe there is a senior "Rudy" type who busts his hump every day but just isn't that gifted. Captains are not necessarily your top stat guys or starting QB. They should be the guys everyone else respects for their work ethic and attitude. If Pelini or other coaches are simply plugging in 4 new names every week, that alone could explain a whole bunch of problems. Maybe they should give them participation ribbons while they're at it. Next thing you know it will be equal playing time for everyone on the team.

I love the BTN. Not having to PPV 3 NU games a year is well worth the extra $6 monthly it added to my cable bill. Some of the programming is maybe repeated too much and there can be a slight hint of low budget but I'm sure it will get more professional as it comes along. It really isn't fair to compare it to an ESPN. I just wish our local cable provider offered the HD version in our area.