84HuskerLaw

It would be smart for Michigan State to run up the score if they can. They would like a chance to play for the national championship. It is a beauty contest of course so they need to look as good as possible. Now, if they are up by 40 at the end of the third quarter, it might be a good idea to simply kneel down three snaps and punt all the way through the 4th quarter. That would actually embarrass Nebraska more and make all the TV highlight show and really make all the writers and voters and committee take note. It would be unprecedented but could happen. I hope we come out and play like crazy and win this one. It could turn things around and get Nebraska immediately on the way back to respectability.

This is exactly 'it' in a short and simple statement. Bo was not fired because he won nine games a year. He was fired because he never won more and we lost ugly in some really important 'big' games. Outside of the one point screwing in the Texas game with Suh, really Bo never got us a championship caliber team in his entire 7 years. And, the group of players on this year's team is Bo's recruits SAVE for less than a dozen or so pretty decent ones who are true freshman and walk ons this year. We have been in every game and had a chance to win each one. We were not outclassed by anyone but I believe the final judgment may end up being that NONE of the teams we have played thus far are really good (top ten type teams). We are a very mediocre or below mediocre team this year. Could we pull an upset on Saturday? Yes, we have enough offense at times to score 30 on anybody. Can we possibly stop MSU from scoring 30? Maybe as we have not had anywhere near our fair share of turnovers. We are due for the opponent to fumble several or give us a couple real breaks in special teams like muffed punts, blocked kicks, bad snaps, etc. We have had very little luck go our way. One field goal kick hit the upright and bounced out. Saving us a few precious moments of hope but really, not much luck has gone our way. You sometimes can be said to 'make your own luck' but we are due for some good things to happen, God willing.

Other than the typos and the lack of correcting - spoken words don't always read like carefully drafted, proofread and corrected prose - seems like a reasonably good discussion by Riley. Not sure the exact questions as they are not given. But interesting. Reads like something provided by a coach with 40 years of experience. Nothing surprising there. Only real news is the recruiting item and of course only time will tell on this. I have to believe Riley will do reasonably well in recruiting based on his personality and demeanor. I have not met him in person nor of course had any long conversations so I don't know him in that sense. Based on all that I have seen from his pressers and the many articles and so on, he comes off to me to be a very good and sincere and honest and decent man. Someone that almost rational parent and kid would feel comfortable being around. I can't imagine any recruit or his parents or coaches saying after a recruiting visit "I don't like the man and would not want to play for him!" He should have some success based on that - at least he won't repel the recruits being some kiind of jerk or ass personally. He will recruit as well as anyone in the circumstances, in my opinion. Now, can he go out and recruit the nation's top class? I don't think so. However, based on the way Obrien and a number of the current commit such as the Spielman kid in Minneapolis where I currently live are doing, he is doing well. We have two of the best from California and the best from Minnesota. I suspect a few others are doing well. Now, we need about 8 more of this caliber to have a 'great' class. I doubt we can do that with the negativity associated with the program. Hopefully, all the talk of firing Riley doesn't scare away these guys because he was doing pretty well all things considered. Let's see what he can do. Fire him without the big time 'splash' hire (there are NONE available guys) and you will do much more harm than good.

You guys who are so over the top outraged about the state of the program are NOT helping. That is the point. You just can't seem to realize and acknowledge that the program is in the dumpster and Mike Riley didn't put it there. It was already there but you couldn't see it. A couple lucky wins here and there throughout the Pelinia era and several lucky wins in the Solich and Callahan eras as well. The program must be rebuilt from the foundation up. Now we can argue about the process and the whos and what fors of that process but simply attempting to live in the past and forgetting about the future won't help at all. Bashing the program won't attract recruits. Why do all you Bolievers insist on trashing the current program. Bo is gone and he is NEVER, EVER, EVER coming back. Almost NOBODY but you handful of posters on this board (likely the same ones on the other sites as well) want Bo back. That is simply not happening. It is history. There is a better chance of Tom Osborne coaching again than Bo or Frank. Please. Stop with the Bo crap. Offer something positive instead of just bashing everyone associated with the program.

John Blake was then hired here at Nebraska! He was a good coach and good recruiter we were told anyway. But he also got in trouble.

These are the same types that would also say Tom Osborne and his out dated and 'slow' teams couldn't win against the Gators and the Hurricanes and Seminoles and all those 'fast' teams that would run rings around the slow 'plodding' Huskers. Their opinions are worthless to me. Nebraska needs to take care of its own family and issues 'in house'. Everybody else should "butt out'!

All the Nebraska bashers come out in force. It is such a joke. Time will tell but I don't think the University of Nebraska should be following the instructions of people whose only way of making a living in sports is to criticize those who are actually making a living in sports! The failures offer their most valuable opinions on others' failures! I don't think we need pay much attention to the 'national' media (basically those who don't have any real idea what Nebraska and Nebraska fans are all about!

I heard it the day he was fired by source(s) inside the Athletic department. The department was not going to spill that kind of scandal out in to the public and let that trash the image of the University. No doubt if too many of the details of such off the field failings of the Head Coach were to be put out there by the department in order to void the payment on his contract, then the department may well have been facing financial issues involving allegations by the persons involved. I believe the sources to be very reliable and knowledgeable. Frank also had serious drinking issues which were flaring up and posing problems. He knew why he was fired as did other insiders. The biggest issues were the drinking and inappropriate other personal things and of course recruiting disasters. Our talent level plummeted. I personally know walk on recruits on his last team that were not even good walk on candidates at Hastings College (they tried after Callahan let them go and were not good enough). I know of one case personally.

Didn't you post in another thread that you observed during the game that Banker had to say "look at me" in order to get their attention in order to coach them and the players looked disinterested? How can you claim this is coaching if the players aren't accepting coaching? That kind of player behaviour is inexcusable considering they aren't even playing to the same level as OSU under Banker. This sounds like a case of players missing their BoBo and considering Gerry dissed Banker's D at B1G media days this piss poor attitude has been there for a while. If it sounds like I'm calling out the players, I am. So a coach is incapable of commanding respect from his players, and that makes him a great coach with bad players??? You guys don't even realize the crazy contortions you're going through to excuse inexcusably bad coaching at the expense of student athletes. I'm not defending the coaches and think there are plenty of problems with coaches and players. I could change your last sentence to read "You guys don't realize the crazy contortions you're going through to excuse inexcusably bad effort by the players at the expense of coaches". It really depends on one's agenda. This concept of buying in by the players is nonsense. They should be executing the coaches scheme to the best of their abilities and let someone else evaluate the coaches. Their scholarship is being paid by UNL, not Bo. Earn it. Fans are criticized for wanting to fire a coach in his first year but we give the players a pass for giving up in the same time frame? If players are giving up it makes it very difficult to evaluate the coaches. It was incredibly stupid of Eichorst to bring in a .500 coach to replace Bo if he wanted to get instant respect from the players. I'm not sure it would matter. Look at Texas. Strong brought a good rep into Austin but I wouldn't say he got immediate buy-in from the players. Maybe we're coddling the players too much. Do they realize that their lavish locker rooms were purchased with the sweat of players that made huge sacrifices to achieve great success? Do they think the fans shouldn't have high expectations for them? I think they're big boys and should be able to handle criticism of how they are playing. This is very well said as well. This season is the product of many things combining together. Among them in no particular order of importance: Decades of mediocre recruiting by coaches dating all the way back to 1998. Decades of staff changes and turnover that would be almost impossible to really expect much better. I would not want to hazzard a gues at the sheer number of coaching changes made in Lincoln since Tom retired in 1997 but it has been a bunch. While these players didn't experience the majority of those changes, they have had plenty of their own. We have had a different secondary coach each year for about 5 years in a row. Those changes have taken a toll. I would be shocked if we were to find the current players have not been taught about 3 different ways to play a given situation depending on the schemes, techniques, other players and so on. Naturally, confusion sets in and doubts abound. Then, add in the coaching sabotage and all the fan and outside criticism and bitching that puts doubts in the players' minds. We experience this every year for decades. Tom Osborne was not perfect and made his share of mistakes but one thing he tried to do was hold onto his staff and build consistency and some sense of constancy. You reload instead of rebuild. A well oiled machine is like a factory producing widgets - you don't get efficient if you are shutting down the line and retooling it all the time. We need to pick a staff and stay with it awhile.

I tend to agree with much of this and the sentiment certainly. It is very disappointing. I don't believe the talent is there to play much better. Last year, we were a couple miracles and last second plays from being about 7-5 and maybe could be or should have been worse. We showed we could play at the level of mcneese state guys! This year, the cupboard is almost empty. Truly, I believe our talent is maybe around 75th in the country, especially when you take out the injured guys each week. I read in another post we actually started 6 guys who had no other offers but ours and assume that did not include walk ons. That tells you we are NOT playing with a full deck of decent and above average players. It is hard to win when your opponent is better than you. I think many Nebraska fans have based their judgement about our talent and recruiting on the hype the LJS and OWH write. Those newspapers and reporters get their news from the PR people who of course are interested in spinning things to promote themselves. We know Pelini was getting desperate in recruiting the past couple years as the AD had to arrange private jets to fly him around and bring in recruits, etc. Our recruiting has not been sufficient to produce top ten teams - there is just no debating this point.

I have to say this is some of the best news out of the program in many years. It is great to hear the players showing signs of really caring and wanting the fans to care about them as well. the players need to know the fans DO CARE. We all care very much. This is exactly the reason why all the discussion and this board and all the radio shows, Husker clothes, etc. Fans care very much about the team, the coaches, the players, the former players, each all, SO LONG AS THEY ARE A PART OF THE HUSKER FAMILY. That means they are loyal, devoted and undivided and giving their all. We as fans give our all each and every week. We travel, devote a large portion of our free time and money and energy to the cause of Husker sports and football particularly. We rightfully expect the players, coaches, students, University administration and everyone else associated in anyway with the program and the teams and the games and so on to be equally as dedicated and determined to be the very best and represent Nebraska and Nebraskans the best way possible. This is where so many are very disgusted; we don't see and don't 'feel' the Huskers are doing their best. We feel the coaches are capable of doing much better and we demand that they do. They are highly paid when many of the fans work dam hard for small paychecks. We sacrifice financially and emotionally and in many ways to support the team. We require that the program return the favor by delivering the best product possible. We all need to be pulling in the same direction and doing our part. The players need to play harder! Obviously, the players believe they have some talent; it is time for them to play harder and use that talent to win the games, not mess around and lose them. Fans are seeing a lack of the extra effort it takes to be winners. We know the difference between doing your absolute best and going through the motions. We don't see the tears, the blood, the sweat, etc. The losses are being 'accepted' by the team far too easily! These losses, every loss, needs to feel like a death in the family almost! The pain and tears must be real: the effort must be all out! The guys on the bench should be every bit as engaged in the entire game, as those playing.

I would not be surprised if one calculated the 'stars' of the 2 deep chart that played against Purdue yesterday, you would find an 'average of about 1.5 stars per player. I would assume you would assign a zero (0) stars for all walk on players whether or not they have been recently awarded scholarships by the team. I doubt we have even 2 five star players on the team and probably less than 5 four star players playing considerable minutes. One might reasonably also weigh positions differently, perhaps, such as deducting points if we are playing non "4 star or better' guys in key places such as QB, WR, RB and tackle spots. You can get by arguably with 3 star guys or so at the line positions if they have the size and are red shirt juiniors with plenty of time to develop and some good experience playing late in games while developing their talents and strength. Two star quality TEs and FBs are usable but to win championships you will need 4 star or better across the board (two deep) with your third string being solid 3 star quality players. You can fill in with some walk ons on special teams and scout team and in the 4th quarter of the domination games but you can't win at a national high level without the requisite talent! Everyone is losing sight and is just not accepting the facts: Nebraska is a mediocre or less program and has been for years with very low average level overall talent. How many of our players that started or played over half the minutes of the game against Purdue could start for Ohio State? I don't think we have any! How many would make their second string? I don't think any! How many would make third string? Perhaps two or three. I don't think we have more than a couple that could start for Wisconsin or Michigan or Michigan State or perhaps a number of other Big Ten teams. We could find 5 or 6 starters from each of the following teams - Minne, Illinois, and Purdue. I believe we could find 15 starters on Penn State, Wisconsin, and better. Be real: we are not very good. I am doubtful Tom Osborne could have done much better with the talent on this team this year.

Dillard never made a historic contribution to Husker legacy so I would give only marginal weight to his opinions. This whole thing is getting way out of hand. Some people need to stop trying to wreck the program. Comments which attack either current players or coaches are simply out of line. Period. They need to be ignored and have, in my view, no value whatsoever.

There is much good in this post. We all need to stop the panic attacks and get real and reasonable. We are going through the process of rapid change. It is necessary and expected that many will have difficulty with change and rapid change is more difficult.

I wouldn't say that much of the toxicity is caused by poor coaching, and I do think we're underestimating the effect of the "attitude problem" that exists in this program and on this team. But that doesn't absolve Riley of any blame because I'm willing to bet there would be less of this stuff going on if the Huskers were 6-3 instead of 3-6 (ouch). Basically, he's inherited a problem and hasn't done much to fix it. But to say the toxicity is caused by Riley is a bit of a stretch; the toxicity existed long before Riley's name came up for the Nebraska job. Most of the players had bought in early. Through spring ball, we heard lots of good reports. But how do you expect players to stay motivated when their coach repeatedly makes bonehead moves, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory? How do you expect 2nd string OL to feel when they have no chance of seeing the field? How do you think excellent running backs feel when they have no chance of running the ball due to their pass blocking abilities? How do you think any defensive players feel when they're stuck with Banker? How do you think they feel when they know they would likely be 9-0 if Pelini was still here? I don't think the record would be much, if any, better if Bo were still here. I am tired of hearing about him. He did his damage throughout the years. He is history. It's over and done. bo is NO MORE. I personally feel like he and his 'contribution' needs to be forgotten and disregarded. We know he did some positive things but he did many negative things which for most fans and the University administration outweighed them. Move on from the Bo stuff. It is past and done. There is nothing positive left. Just damage repair and moving forward.

I think for the most part these players are 'buying' what Riley is selling but they simply can't execute. Bo repeatedly declared "poor execution" and he was right. The players did not execute what they were told to do. It is not nearly as complicated as many want to make it out to be. We are NOT a good football teama and that has been the case for a LONG time. The deterioration was dramatic and team wide as early as 2001 and bottomed out finally in 2015. There were a few minor ups and downs but Nebraska has never been a top ten team since 2000 honestly. The Bo years, we probably averaged around #40. today we are #75. Last year we were 65th and we lost a few key players that we are really missing, particularly with the injuries, etc. Our cupboard is so bare that we literally have NO capable back ups in numerous positions. There is NOTHING wrong with our program that a dramatic upgrade in talent won't fix and fix fairly quickly. However, absent the ability to give out 50 scholarships to top 100 level players for three consecutive years, we won't be able to be a national title contender within the next 5 years. We don't have any all conference level players in most positions, let alone all Americans. We have some possible honorable mentions, perhaps two or three, at best.

I find it hilarious that people bitch about how much we don't run the ball, then they want to hire an inexperienced ex QB that is the Co-OC of a spread offense to run the program. That makes perfect sense. Agree. Scott Frost may someday be a great head coach (or not) but we surely don't want to gamble again on this. I don't see a need to overreact and knee jerk fire this staff. The pain is going to endured no matter what. The program has had deep problems for 15 years now. Tom Osborne was AD for a good part of the time and things were not fixed. I don't see why anyone realistically things another HC without any experience and therefore absolutely no track record can fix what men with many, many years have not done. Patience people! Patience. Panic attacks don't help anything.

the only about Nebraska that would not be as attractive for a player like Pat Obrien is the obnoxious fans screaming about firing everyone in the Athletic Deparment and dumping players, etc. this rabid speculation and silly hyperbole about the won/loss record this year and the future would cause anyone to rethink things. For a player like Obrien, this situation is almost ideal so long as fans don't do something crazy. He is coming in with the absolute best opportunity to get quick playing time and run an offense he is ideally suited for at a program with tremendous upside and heritage and facilities, etc. A great pack of receivers who make a mediocre passer look like an all conference candidate often.

I say this is NOT true whatsoever. Just a line of BS. don't believe it at all. Riley will be given a reasonable time. That is the RIGHT thing to do and if anything I know about Nebraska is we do the right thing when given the chance.

This not the worst loss in NU history by any stretch. I would tend to say it is the worst loss this year, so far! I am expecting more of the same in the remaining three games. If we lose to Rutgers, that will be the worst loss of this season. But if Iowa scores 55 on us, we won't score more than 24 on them. that will be worse. Michigan State may pound the remaining spark out of us too! This will be the worst SEASON in modern Husker history without question. That being said, I don't feel we can blame it all on Riley. He has not done well but this is NOT all his fault. I blame everyone from Tom Osborne for sticking us with Frank Solich who Tom had to know was not Nebraska head coach material and could not recruit on to Eichhorst for hiring Riley if in fact Riley is not capable of doing well at Nebraska. Callahan, Pederson, Byrne, Osborne, Pelini, etc, etc. etc. All of the men who played big roles in Husker football over the past 18 years since 1997 are partly to blame. Riley and company don't escape their fair share but they surely can't bear the bulk of it this quickly. These players were recruited and put in positions by Pelini and his staff. Riley can't remake the entire team in less than 12 months are about 75 practices. The players bear about 50% of the blame in my opinion. current coaches perhaps 15% and 30% reverts back to Pelini. 5% goes back to prior coaches. Lots of bad decisions have happened. Players have screwed up and made mistakes on and off the field, leaving the team short handed in games, etc. recruits have failed to give their best and some were not good players.

You are not going to win more than about 5% of your games when your opponent scores 55! You must play DEFENSE and SPECIAL TEAMS. Both we awful today

I believe we should have benched seniors a couple weeks back and started to true rebuilding process. Step 1 is to play your younger players and begin building depth. You may still have to recruit future starters but you have got to have backups even after your manage to recruit some better players. Obviously, our seniors are just not very good and are not going to win you a championship this year. You have to REBUILD a DEAD PROGRAM. What we are watching is a very poor team playing poorly against mediocre (at best) teams. We have games upcoming against teams that 'on paper' are MUCH MUCH better than we are. We should expect to be soundly defeated in the Iowa and Michigan State games (even though in Lincoln) and Rutgers will be tough as well with all the injuries to our juniors and younger guys with the most talent on the team. Our BEST players are now or have been playing hurt or not even playing. This hurts a team without any depth at all. We don't have a first string frankly, much less any good seconds and thirds. None have experience. Play them. It can hurt. We need to build depth.

Another career day for their QB

Bottom line is clearly: the defense can't stop anybody! Clearly, it is not debatable. The worst offense in the conference one of poorer offenses in the Nation just put up 55 points and bunch of yards (457).

Riley came believing he could right the Huskers' ship and get things moving forward in a positive direction. We have done some good things. Even today, we moved the ball well at times despite playing a walk on back up QB that wouldn't play anywhere else in the big Ten. He wouldn't be on the roster of any other big ten team. We know Riley has been trying to attract some quality players and got some interest. We should certainly hope and think there are a portion that will stay committed.