84HuskerLaw

Stats would strongly suggest that our dramtic improvement in turnover margin was the biggest single change and would presumably explain most of the difference in the wins and losses. I think the defense was significantly better even though the numbers say otherwise. I believe that the defensive stats suffered greatly due to the weak offense and poor punting. If you continually put the defense in bad situations, you will suffer. When your defense has to constantly play with the knowledge that the offense is unlikely to produce many ball control, clock chewing, sustained drives, the defense always plays under high pressure. The close games all year long put the defense in a 'do or die' predicament over and over. Get a stronger offensive line and sustain more drives, even if they don't necessarily end in TDs or FGs, they give the defense a time to rest, scheme adjust, etc. Also, a defense that plays with a decent lead can take more chances and play more agressively.

Arguably they didn't pass us up as they were already ahead of us and the NCAA issues didn't really hurt that much. They lost a recruiting class basically but I think are back up to where they were before and maybe the penalty actually helped them unload some dead wood in a way - a one time clean out of some stale inventory in effect. Just a possibility?

Don't have a walkon QB to replace Fyfe? And what about Darlington? He's been around awhile and knows the offense and was the third best this year so with the two ahead graduating, he is next in line presumably.

you make some good points and we all should take into account the circumstances faced by each coach and player etc. While Armstrong may have broken many records, wouldn't it be accurate to say that the records came more as a result of playing so many more games than most other Nebraska QBs historically and not so much because he played the position better. He played longer but not necessarily better. Of course there is something to be said for a guy who earns the job right away and keeps it. But in the cases of both Armstrong and Martinez, did they keep the job because there were no other QBs who were better suited or because we didn't recruit these other QBs for unknown reasons?

Finish this recruiting class and find atleast 10 offensive linemen who are better than average in the Big Ten and actually play through the season. By year three, we just should have no more excuses that we lack 'depth'. If our offensive line is not winning or holding their own at the line of scrimmage, then we substitute in other guys from the seconds, thirds and or fourths until we either find a better offensive line or we are getting much needed learning so that the future will not be hopeless. We should have been doing this in years one and two under Riley but I don't feel we ever did. You have to build the team starting in the trenches and if they are not good enough, play the youngest and they might get better and certainly will get more experience. If you are not ready for prime time play by the end of your 3rd season in the program, then you will not be needed. Your scholarship is to be earned on some basic level. If not, let the youngsters play and learn.

I know that as far as my expectations for the 2016 season, I am far more disappointed in the performane of the offense than the defense. I expected better secondary play and decent LB play and I think that was born out by the way the games went in general. I worried greatly about the front four because of the many vacancies that had to be filled with inexperienced backups who really came in without much expectation. I give Parella kudos for the performance we did get from those front four considering their 'talent' level to begin with. Imagine what could be accomplished with top ten level players. The offense may have been slightly better with much more creative and imaginative play calling but really with the poorest offensive line play in the conference, arguably, it is not surprising that our offense was mediocre or less. Our defensive stats would be much better if our offense could have actually sustained drives and scored and given our defense some cushion to work with and confidence that they could play more aggressively as they offense could be counted on to score. We had far to many games when we had to hope the D could stop them to preserve the win or keep us within reach in the fourth quarter. If you can't block basic run and basic play action and drop back and or shot gun pass plays, you are going to lose! It is fundamental that you must atleast battle to a draw in the line of scrmmage play. If we fix the lines on both offense and defense, we will be a top twenty team and even this year would have been in the conference title game.

Sadly, if some of you are arguing that Ohio State is not that good, afterall, then that makes Nebraska horrible by comparison. I don't think that is true. It does remind us that college football is played by a bunch of 19 20 and 21 year old 'kids' that have grown up in a different era of instant everything and the 'reset' button just a couple feet away. I see this as one of the biggest issues for teams today is trying to get the kind of 'do or die' effort from their players in a society in which 'do or die' is a video game cliche' and in reality there is no such thing as 'die' (just restart). The kind of pain and heartbreak that used to be felt by the fans and most certainly the players after a loss on the football field seems to have 'died' a similar techno death in which a simple reset and restart and its 'nevermind' as though it never happened or didn't really matter. I believe this attitude is pervasive in our society today and is probably not healthy in some ways. Perhaps the athletes of the past somehow cared too muich and should have had that 'it is just a silly game and not one of the things truly important in life' mentality? I rather think not though. I believe the heart and desire to win and the hurt inside from losing is sorely lacking amongst far too many athletes (and many others within our society today) today. There never seems to be the kind of anquish and disappointment that eminates from the locker room and the voices of the players in today's sports. Maybe this is just me getting a little too close to senior citizen age ?

There are good and not so good points made by each and every one of those who post on this board, myself included, as indeed we don't have all the 'inside' information needed to be as accurate as possible. That is the circumstance we face as fans and outsiders. But, as the fans and outsiders, we can and do see and recognize problems that are leading to the team failing to win as often and play as well as we all KNOW Nebraska football teams are capable of - we know they can win championships and titles and play with the best and be the best because they have done so repeadtedlty in the past. There is NO reason it cannot be done again in the future, repeatedly. These coaches are paid enormous salaries for doing jobs that only a rare handful are lucky enough to get. They may work hard for about half the year and the other half not so much. Regular Joes and Johns and Jills work extra hard for many hours just to buy a single game ticket seat, etc. They (and we) are surely entitled to offer their opinions, educated or not, There is more than one way to skin the cat as they say but I think most are capable of discerning whether the cat has in fact been skinned. Lately we've not had any cats skinned in my view. Criticism is not unjustified as this team perfomed poorly at times throughout the season and certainly the second half thereof. The entire Athletic Department and the student athletes themselves have a shared responsibility for representing the University and its alumna in a positive and enthusiastic and prideful way. The football teams from the several schools compete in a friendly rivalry for school pride and as a way to keep the school 'on the map' and the students and alums connected and interested. Success on the football field is not just an athletic endeavor, it is a marketing and promtional effort. There can be no debate that Ohio State and Alabama are getting billions of dollars in public relations exposure and marketing advantages as a result of their teams' football prowess. Nebraska once enjoyed the limelight and presumably this attention is very helpful to the University fiscally and academically and etc. Nebraska is a small state financially and population wise so all the help the residents of the state can get to help the public educational institutions operate successfully is great and needs to be encouraged. If the cats aren't getting skinned, there is certainly plenty of cause to ask why and maybe many reasons therefor And some may skin cats better than others. We are paying a price commensurate with the best so we rightfully expect the best results. Not unreasonable in my view. Perhaps we should pay even more to find the best of the best as some suggest? That is our on going debate in a nutshell.

The term really reflects the nickname of the 'starters' on the defense and was born out of a practice of using slipover black practice jerseys for the players back in the early '60s to distinguish defenders from the offense in scrimmages. Over time, it came to be synonimous for tough defense in general. I think it would be a great slap in the face of the many good defensive players over the decades who earned their blackshirts (I would say it is one word and not two ???) if we were to 'retire' the term. I suggest the better alternative is to simply demand more and raise the expecations for the current and future defenders. I believe Pelini may have tried to amend some of the blackshirts' 'tradition' although I am not sure there really is any set form of process and procedures except doing what they did the years before. Are these recent teams living up to the highest standards of 'the Blackshirt' tradition? I guess not but I don't recall anyone ever suggesting that only defenses that finish in the top ten statistically or that hold their opponents to less than 60 yards of offense per quarter or less than 10 points a game 'qualify' as Blackshirts.

Evidently the 'fake' news propagandists still think they can fool most of the people some of the time and it continues. Latest one is the story put out in past couple days by Washington Post saying the Russians hacked into the national electric grid via a hack into a small New England power company's computers. The apparent facts are that some suspicious malware was found on one individual employee's laptop computer unrelated and not in anyway connected to the local company's computer softward nor anything related to a larger systemic softward system. Still the story was published suggesting the 'Russians are at it again trying to destroy America's power supply by knocking out electrical power all over the place!' This is clearly 'fake' news with only the slightest of truth related elements and completely misrepresents the facts and truth of the matter. More disturbing is this liberal/Democrat agenda of trying to turn the Russians and Putin into Stalin and the vast evil Soviet empire! This is simply BS and it is dangerous to attempt to instill fear in the minds and hearts of the general public of some Darth Vadir (Putin) type threat to the world. Even Obama is pushing this crap with his mostly symbolic (it is the thought that really is the problem frankly) 'sanctions' vs. the Russian government. This comes at a time when the United States has almost NO real allies left around the world as Obama has alienated nearly every western democracy leaning state while cozying up to the Muslim 'states' (mostly of course being totalitarian and dictatorial terror prone and brutal countries). A lot of damage has to be undone by the new Administration ASAP!

I suspect that one of the problems with trying to have more 'physical' practices and trying to toughen up the team is that we are so thin at so many positions that injuries will KILL us. We are effectively too thin to risk injury practicing what we need to practice. A half dozen pre-season and practice injuries to starters and we are facing an uphill battle against most of the teams we play. We are simply too thin to be gambling. I think the first 5 or 6 games we survived with the injuries we had vs the competition we faced. Our lack of depth meant we weren't able to freely substitute and wear our opponents down as quickly, hence the 4th quarters where we did have more success and sort of pulled away at that point. By the middle third of the season, as the bumps and bruises and sprains and etc accumulated across more and more players, our depth evaporated. Playing one third stringer here or there for parts of games can be sort of worked around or hidden or abided, but as one or two became 5 or 6, it took its toll. The opponents got better and we were in trouble. We managed to play with Wisconsin, perhaps, because I seem to recall they were also having some injury fatigue as well. We also had the unbeaten team 'expectations' and as much confidence as we've had in years. But the loss of Tommy A, Westy, Cethan, linemen and so on just was too much to handle. Then we hit Ohio State who has a three deep chart that dam few of our guys could make on their best day. Between injuries and a 59 point beat down following the disppointment of Wisconsin was just all the fragile team could handle physically and mentally. The season finish, looking back, should have been obvious. We recovered some by the bowl but still played with out about half our team captains and several 3 or 4 year starters. Frankly, it is rather surprising in a way that we managed to have any glimmer of hope vs Tenn. We ran out of gas and the result is not unexpected. The key for next year is can we find about 15 very good, hard nosed, strong willed, confident players to step into major roles while some of the young guys grow up big and strong and fast? Maybe it will take 20? Oddly enough, this actually give me a little more hope because, it suggests that while the cupboard is bare when the starters on on the field, atleast most of the starters are able to give a decent showing vs most opponents. We just need a bunch more and they don't all need to be 4 and 5 star guys to get us back into the hunt for the West division and from there, we can claw and scratch and recruit our way back to serious contenders. We are NOT bottom feeders and it doesn't have to take a decade. We are not a bottom twenty program and we have a fighting chance. Finish this class off with some more good and a couple greats and have most of the last couple classes pan out well and we can get there from here. It is NOT hopeless nor will it have to take three more head coaching hires to restore the order.

Not to nit pik because your points are good but the itty bitty committee I believe referred to our receiving corpse and not our DBs. Speed is absolutely essential. 4.65 is LB speed. 4.45 is CB, WR and RB speed. QBs and Safeties run 4.65 or better. DEs run 4.75 or better. DTs run around 5 flat. O linemen are 5.1 or better. Punters run 4.7. The S&C guys can take a point or so off but speed is something that you either have or you don't and can't be developed significantly. Strength and poundage can be added quite successfully and I think some would argue it is almost better to add the desired pounds than to try to take weight off or convert it once it is already there. I rather build up the players to the desired weight, for example, than to try to find them already there as H.S. players. That weight is often excess and hard to 'fix'. The motto once was: Nebraska: where the good get better and then become great! Or something along those lines.

Basically the pipeline disappeared with Solich's dismissal of Milt Tenopir. Callahan knows linemen and he recruited some big tall 'stretchy' guys but really we lost our running game dominance with the dink, dunk and duck of the Callahan version of the famed "West Coast Offense". Unfortunately, we never ever returned to anything even resembling that since. The passing game is flashy and gets lots of kudos from ESPN and far too many of the talking heads of the sports world but it doesn't win football games consistantly. Very few places have stadiums filled with fans who actually want to watch the smashmouth brand of Husker Power football EXCEPT in Lincoln. Tenopir literally built the majority of his linemen in the weight rooms with the help of Epley and company. We reloaded every year as the next bunch of short 'squatty' Nebraska cornfed beef eaters, born to wear the red, who learned how to get down and dirty and punch their way down the field. We found a number of diamonds in the rough and the once a decade guys like Will Shields when one of our top ten competitors slipped up along the way. Nebraska produced the lion's share locally I do believe. We are missing some of these guys in our fly all of the country 'grass is greener' mentality in recruiting too. Perhaps part of this is a result of hiring so many coaches in the past 15 years that are not from Nebraska and vacinity and therefore believe there are no good football hearts/minds/bodies in this state. The Wyomings, No Dakota States, K States, etc all have found a handful each year.

I remain hopeful still that somehow our missing link (talent) will no longer be redshirting and or hidden somewhere off camera and will suddenly appear on the field during the games. This needs to start this coming fall. Perhaps, quietly, the coaches held back as much as possible and wanted to stock up before unveiling the "new Nebraska" that we all long so much to watch on football Saturdays. Can someone offer me even a short list of the guys who will be introduced to us this fall that will add strength, depth and power. While we are not exactly a fast, speedy and or quick team, as a whole, it think we lack power. We had some success in the power aspect last year vs. Michigan State and UCLA and Minnesota but I don't recall any others. These were glimpses and perhaps the biggest difference was the FULLBACK being used (Jano was a dam good player btw). Nebraska should always have a couple bruisers at that position and they should be found within the borders of our state. I believe this will go a long way toward fixing the biggest problems.

I had to 'watch' the game by listening only to the Husker radio network broadcast and of course you know who great Gary Sharp is at describing the action. Often he is lucky to have the down and distance 'close'. Many of those first down runs barely got back to the line of scrimmage. There was maybe one or two series where we had a little run success. However, those plays seemed to follow a successful pass or two. We were very predictable and ran on first down so much that it was fairly easy to say we would be facing third and very long (8 to 13). Those are swarm and blitz downs for the defense and with a QB with dam little escapablity or rush avoidance technique and a O line that could not hardly slow them down let alone keep them out of the pocket, Fyfe was left with only the option to throw quick to anyone who might be open. This is NOT a good strategy for any offense, much less Nebraska's after a long layoff and time to prepare something new and different to come out with against Tenn. I also didn't hear of any 'trick' type plays to get something going. We should have tried some half back tosses and sweeps or reverse action passes or something. Nothing 'regular' was working so you throw the kitchen sink at them and hope to find something to atleast change the field position. The first quarter field position was poor and THANK GOD our punting was dramatically improved or the game would have been a blowout by half time. On a positive note, the special teams was marginally better, although we still had virtually NOTHING in returns and failed to field a bunch of punts again. You will never get a return if you don't catch the ball and try. Unless the refs missed the calls, it seemed we did play a full game without having the wrong number of players on the field in the kicking game. A step in the right direction. If Drew and Caleb had not been kickiing pretty well, it would have gotten uglier too. If you have great defensive lineman across from your struggling offensive line, you better design and customize your blocking schemes, atleast for some plays, to help out. Double teams, pulling, a FULLBACK or something. None of this happened, all season long, that I could tell.

Yep. Our CBs are 10 yards off and concede any pass 5-6 yards. I do not understand why our corners play off so much. I know the idea that Riley always brings up is to prevent the big plays given up on defense. But playing off the line of scrmmage is not preventing our Corners from getting beat deep as they did plenty of times today. Luckily Tenn WRs dropped most of the passes instead of catching TDs against us. Not good and when we play off, we give up too many first downs and drives and lose field position and our defense has to tackle too much, etc. IMO

Many have pointed out that the entire discussion of 'what's wrong with Nebraska football?' really boils down to the same issues that have been the problem for about 18 years or so now. To win the championships, we need to have the best facilities, best fans, best coaches, best players; all working together like a well practiced symphony. Let's look at each then. Coaching: Frank Solich is still coaching and winning quite a few games in college football after all these years and has remained in ONE place since. Apparently some people think he is a good coach. Bill Callahan is still coaching, at the NFL level btw, and considering the very few NFL coaching spots available for so many possible coaches, he apparently is a good coach. Bo Pelini is still coaching and winning in college football. Apparently some people think he is a good football coach. Mike Riley is still coaching and has been coaching at the college and pro level and apparently some people think he is a good coach. Facilities We have modernized our stadium and other facilities and they are as good as they have EVER been. I believe we have all the plant and equipment and tangible assets we need to win titles. Fans: We are still selling out the stadium even with more and more seats being added and despite being less than championship on the field for a LONG time, and the fans still get pretty loud at games and we cheer and suppor the team pretty well. I think the fans are still somewhere near or at a championship kind of level. We had a decent contingent go to Nashville TN (not exactly a vacation destination in winter months or any other time really). THEREFORE, we have only one area left to consider. We are all hasing and rehashing the same topics because the underlying problems REMAIN the same as they have been for more than a decade and a half. Players: Ever since the fourth season of Frank Solich, we have NOT had the 'best' players in order to win those championships. I think you will find, if you go back and look at the depth charts and look at the winning point margins, total offense stats, total defense stats, etc etc etc. you will find that our general decline from supremacy to medocrity is evident as the talent in the players declined. Our 'depth' chart has gone from a three or even 4 deep across all positions to the current one of really barely 'one deep' in some spots. We used to be able to substitute wholesale across the offensive lines, defensive lines, even secondary at time and certainly we could start one of three or four different I backs and expect similar production. NOT ANYMORE. Now, we have a 'starter' and we are practically lost and the next question is always "Oh my goodness, who will will bring in now?" We used to know most of the names of the third stringers and expected them to play 10 or 15 snaps a game. NOT ANYMORE. Now, most fans have no idea who the starting 22 are and have not a clue if we even have a third string left side offensive tackle let alone what his name, height, weight and class may be ? This therefore, in my view, identifies the most important problem ---- talent. A championship talent = three deep 'starting' caliber players across ALL positions.

I think Riley's fate for beyond next year will depend on his recruiting. IF his new QBs that we have been forced to 'wait and see' while we desperately needed on this year are NOT really good (and that is tough to expect as they will be completely inexperienced and 'young') it will be tough to recover. But the dismal finish to this season is not good so wins are going to be preciouis indeed in the coming year. And with the extreme difficulty of the schedule in both '17 and particularly '18, the play of the first couple Riley recruiting classes are going to be critical.

It is too early to tell but they complete lack of offensive line play is certainly a major concern. Obviously Fyfe is not doing well but he has had dam little chance to do well. Not sure what the story is with all the 'injuries' but we certainly need to get the experience for the young guys anyway. So play them. Bench those seniors if we see another TD added to the 21-7 margin in the second half. I am not sure the technical score of win or loss is as critical as that we not get beat by several TDs and look awful in the process. Right now, we are being pummeled in my view and if there is not some serious magic at half time, then the embarrassment will follow. If we are being hammered, let's atleast get some playing time for the younger guys and begin getting ready for next year.

Good thing Tenn is playing so poorly or we'd be down by 5 TDs or so. LOL Team is just not ready to play at all. Sad.

It is true that TO was criticized for 'not winning the big ones' at times because we didn't win those big games vs OU on Thanksgiving in the Switzer era. OU was the best in the country (like Bama today) and we were a notch to big and slow in the LBs and DEs mostly. That darned Sooner Wishbone was unstoppable for the most part - a big reason why Osborne adopted many of its features when he turned to the option oriented approach dubbed "the Osbone" by the late 90s. Ultimately, recruiting a notch or two higher enabled Tom to finally climb the mountain (along with OU's scandals and coaching mis-hires that followed Barry's move to Dallas which opened the door to our ascendency to the throne. Osborne proved, when OU got in trouble, that with enough talent, he could outcoach them all and he was the nation's best in the 1990s. He could have stayed on top for another decade had he elected to stay. His retirement (the timing anyway) remains the biggest unsolved mystery of Husker football in the past 50 years! Why then? Many theories and I suppose I have some myself but suffice it to say that during Tom Osborne's tenure, the teams remained nationally relevant at all times and rarely dropped out of the top twenty rankings. I believe his teams may have been ranked at year's end EVERY year for his 25 year reign. I am not sure but I suppose Nebraska has not been in the top 25 many times in the 20 years since despite the best efforts of Solich, Callahan, Pelini and Riley! There really is not debating the facts: Nebraska used to be better than we are today and the 'mediocrity' which we all so desperately wanted to avoid continues to hang over us like those late June thunder clouds, ready to dump all over us once again.

Wishful thinking going on this AM I'd say. Nonetheless, I appreciate the sentiments and spirit evidenced thereby. In the same Husker prideful spirit that I proudly display every game day, I will say that QB Fyfe has the best QB numbers of the entire year and miracles happen and the Huskers pull off the upset of the season with a 31 to 27 win on the final drive of the game. Both receivers and runners have satisfactory days although the stats are spread around such that none will be outstanding, except Fyfe of course. The defense plays hard and although there are several big plays vs them, they make enough plays here and there throughout the game to keep Big Red in it until the final few minutes when a penalty aided drive leads to the winning margin. Go Huskers! The crowd will be awfully orange today but the score will be red!

How 'bout those Cats?' Or maybe better question is 'How 'bout those Texans?'

I definately saw the positive 'direction' and apparent momentum building in the first half of the season after the bowl game which I thougth was one of our better wins in years in terms of program direction indicator. I have argued for years we lack the requisite talent and depth to become a legitimate contender for conference and national titles. There is not that much difference between the two titles in terms of talent requirementas the Big Ten is on par with the SEC if not better at the top tier so winning the Big Ten is about the same as winning the national championship. There is talent on this year's team but barely 'one deep' in some positions and a thin two deep in many others. We need another 50 or so players that can honestly compete to start across the board. I don't know exactly how we got to this minimal level of depth but it must stop now. I had suggested Riley should immediately redshirt his best and play the rest in season one to begin to rebuild the depth and recruit and recruit and recruit by bringing in every possible scholarship level guy plus doubling the walk-ons to earn future scholarships. Now, after two years, it appears we may not have done nearly enough. Maybe they have a load of talent waiting in the shadows to unveil this coming fall? Hope so as it will be 'now or never' looking at the schedule and depth chart, etc.

I view this 'statement' which is certainly a rarity by the AD as the first 'injuries and lack of depth' excuse for the upcoming bowl game outcome. This complete lack of depth across so much of our team is just an outrage to me as I have been reiterating since August. The QB spot is just plain inexcusable. While prior staff should have left the cupboard with some degree of depth, this staff should have recognized this problem and found a couple JUCOs or something. Just not acceptable. These coaches should, after this many years of college and pro coaching, be able to determine QB talent and ability and have made the judgment to go out and find someone sooner. Tanner Lee is a clear indication that they saw the problem but his lack of immediate eligibility should have been reason enough to find us another QB somewhere! Yes, you don't panic but you do take due and deliberate action. Hope is not a strategy. Of course I suggested right away that POB should not have redshirted and needed the on the job training this season. By fall, we will be hoping and praying that somehow, magically, Lee and POB and Gebbia will be 'the next coming' of a real QB although we will have nothing but a spring 'game' to go by really. Since 2017 is YEAR THREE of the Riley Experiment things are going to be getting serious now. The 'give them time' and 'be patient' will no longer be so easily rationalized. I am still a Riley supporter BUT this injury plague after a long pre-bowl layoff is just very shaky in my mind.