84HuskerLaw

I think everyone would agree Frank being fired was a joke. 58-19 record with seasons of 12-1, 10-2, 11-2 (went to NC). All I want is a conference championship. 16 years is unacceptable Frank's record wasn't the problem. His off field issues and lack of recruiting was. If he was as good as we want to think ghe could have been, why is he still at Ohio? Frank's only off field issue was Steve Pederson. The rest was propaganda spread by the same Steve Pederson. And Frank was a good recruiter. He had top ten classes in 2000 and 2001, and his '04 class was ranked #14 on Rivals the day he was canned. Frank's off field issues including too many 'cover up' problems with his drinking and driving and cheerleader fetish were major but his recruiting led to his losing football games. The final season was purely 'better' out of luck and scheduling happenstance. His team finished 7-7 with a win in the Shrieveport LA bowl (nameless). He fired the Osborne staff which was basically what he had relied upon to carry the team. He was fair at play calling but had Ron Brown's help as well. His biggest problem because the off field had been carefully kept quiet was a nearly non-existent recruiting. He turned down more 4 or 5 star talent than he recruited. Nebraska got more calls from kids who wanted to come to Lincoln than Frank ever called. The Osborne legacy was totally squandered by Frank. It is sad to say these things because Frank was a Husker tried and true for all of his adult life (though he didn't act like an adult the older he got). Frank was popular - just not Head Coach material.

I see a good deal of validity to the points in this. Obviously, we can't stand to suffer through 2 or 3 losing seasons with a flat or negative trend line and poor recruiting. When we are not landing quality recruits (multiple 3 stars or 4 stars) in each area of critical need each season, we need to change head coaches. Recruiting is the key. Riley has coached long enough in enough different venues and levels to know football. The answer to whether Riley is the right guy or not is going to be answered with signing day in 2016 and 2017. If he can't land a top 20 or better class by 2017, we need to ask him to retire and hire a 'splash' (big name) coach that can utilize Nebraska's remainiing prestige and historic power status (we all must realize this ain't what it used to be!) and turn this around recruiting wise or we are destined to football purgatory.

Blow out losses are NOT acceptable to any team or program, although if we played this year's national champs, it would be unreasonable to expect anything more than to keep the loss from being over 6 touchdowns. I would prefer competitive games against all opponents and while losing a bunch of games is disappointing and based on our 5 decades of good football, we may feel embarrassed somewhat. But blow out losses are downright shameful. We need to avoid the blow out losses if possible. They may not be within our control. We are in the process of completely retooling and rebuilding from the ground up. I personally feel we need to see how the next two games go. If we don't win one, then I feel we need to immediately look to the future and play returning players and sit the seniors to sub in late in games, unless they are likely NFL draftees. I would let them play half games at least to keep their draft stock apparent. We fired a high dollar coach with a bunch of wins and too much baggage to resurrect the program with the goal of championships once again. To do this, we must build up talent and experience to exceed our competition. Sitting seniors and playing younger back ups now will make them better for the future seasons.

Welcome to Lincoln! Go Huskers. Bring all your best football playing buddies and have them call all of their friends, neighbors and relatives as well. Nebraska is reloading, restocking, rebuilding, retooling, retraining, resurrecting, returning, and renewing its entire football program to once again be the BEST ! Come one, come all! Get in line quickly as there are limited spaces available on the next national championship dynasty that is about the begin! We are bringing the very best quarterbacks, running backs, receivers, O linement, D linement, backers and secondary people as well as the nation's best place kicker, punter and returner. In 2016 and 2017 you will not believe the talent - the best signing classes ever in Husker history. Hurry! Time is short so get your personalized invitation to join in all the fun now!

What? Solich's offenses at Nebraska scored an average of 4 points per game more than Callahan's. And about 10% of Callahan's points were scored in the last 3 minutes of games that were already decided. Take those away and Solich's offenses were a full TD per game better. And W/L record is what counts. That's why people use these guys as examples. Frank and Bo had really good W/L records. Callahan and Riley do not. Take away the first four years when Frank was handed National Championship talent and pissed it away. Crouch and Co won in spite of him for his first 4 years. They left and all of a sudden we had to beat McNeese State to make a bowl game in 2002. That isn't a coincidence. Frank and Bo were handed a lot better talent than Bill and Mike were and that isn't debatable. There is absolutely no possible debating the matter: Frank won with Tom's talent and furthermore Frank did NOT recruit. He was the worst recruiter of all coaches in Nebraska since at least the 1950s. Callahan inerited almost nothing talent wise by comparison to all the other coaches being discussed. Even Devaney inherited a few players in '62. Frank turned down Adrian Peterson, Reggie Bush, Danny Woodhead (a Nebraska kid who rewrote rushing record books and I believe is still in the NFL after attending Chadron State. Reggie Bush called Frank and Frank said he wasn't a running back but could walk on as a Safety or corner. LOL Callahan recruited talent such as Suh, etc. We didn't have enough on defense and Cosgrove was unable to guess right enough to slow opponents down.

Right on T Magic! Go Big Red! Husker Power!

The Mackovica boys were all fullbacks although very capable at being I backs as well EXCEPT for the fact that all of our top 5 I backs ran about 4.4 or LESS L.P. was the 'slowest' of the bunch at 4.4. Joel was about 4.55 and would easily be a starter at I Back or Fullback this year. Joel was the BEST fullback and one of the ten best football players in Husker history in my opinion. The Mackovica boys were tough as nails.

LOL The comments on this board are amazing! somebody throws out some wild statement and within a short period of time it has become gospel according to one of the many disciples and from there, it is used as clear and convincing proof of the existence of forces of nature as of yet unheard of by modern science! Until it is confirmed FACT by the parties involved, do not believe any of this crap. Before you post some kind of wild rumor or create one, suggest you simply call the person involved and ask them directly. Otherwise, please stop saying things you don't know are true!

This team has the heart and guts and skills and talent to get the job done against Wisconsin as well as all the teams on the schedule. We have all on this board said this before and it was true when we said it and it is still true today and will be true at the end of the season, no matter what has happened or will happen in each game all year long. The key to winning is for the players to play EACH AND EVERY PLAY as hard as they possibly can. The team that wants to win the game the most almost always wins and there is no reason this game will different. Get R DONE Huskers!!!!!

This is fundamentally true and very difficult to challenge. How many 'passing' teams have won the national championship over the past 30 years? the past 10 years? How many are actually currently ranked in the top ten? As compared to basic power running and play action pass teams.? The Big Ten has historically been known for its big bodies, three yards and a cloud of dust, running and running and throw an incomplete pass once in a while, teams. This is NOT because all coaches north of the Mason Dixon line didn't know how to pass. It was a consequence of the weather issues that dramatically impact the games from Oct 10th on through the season. You may need to run the ball almost every play in Michigan or Wisconsin, etc during a snow or ice storm.

Well, I hate to disagree with you but reality is always somewhere in the middle (between agony and ecstacy) and this is true even in Husker football. We won't 'click' and suddenly become a winning team the rest of the year. Nor will will likely implode into some kind of football black hole and disappear off the face of the Earth. The most likely scenario is "more of the same" as we continue to struggle in each and every game to find ways to win or lose each one and the momentum and tide will ebb and flow in each game. The best advice is to get into to see your physician about your heart medication as there will many cardiac moments yet to come this year. We are facing some very very low lows and a few surprising highs as well. But, in the end, mediocrity is the theme. Nebraska football may one day rise from the ashes ho-hum average status to become Top Ten / Elite again. But it won't be this year or next or the year after. We are a long way from there. We need 15 five star and 25 four star players added via recruiting to the 85 man roster list before any coach will restore the order and put us back where we belong.

I sometimes think the numbers (raw stats that is) don't quite tell the whole story as it is not just how many plays are counted as runs vs passes but also the time during the game and the circumstances of each play. In my view, you are a a run oriented team when you run the ball significantly more times during the course of a game when the winner of the game is clearly not yet decided and the majority of your pass plays are called on obvious passing downs (are those of 2nd and very long and 3rd and more than 4). I think almost everyone would agree that Riley is operating under a pass oriented attack and even thought the numbers may show about a 50/50 balance between runs and passes, those numbers are not truly reflective of Riley's play preferences as a number of QB scrambles on designed pass plays became runs in the statistics. In addition, we also know that Riley will and has run more at the end of games or as half time approaches to simply run out the clock, etc. Those plays arguably should be deleted from the numbers altogether as waste downs much as a spike of the ball to stop the clock is counted as a pass but does not indicate either a run or pass tendency. Of course, a team that faces lots of extra long yardage down and distance situations after penalties, QB sacks, etc will tend to throw whether or not they are a run or pass oriented team. Going by the 'feel' of the games, I would say that I feel like we pass about 2/3rds of the time and run about a 1/3rd. I feel like the pass is our fprimary weapon and the run is the change up. In fairness, Riley is trying to install his system into a whole new team and program. We are only five games into season one and the players are learning a new approach, etc. However it can be argued that Beck was a pass oriented OC as well and threw the ball more. Beck seemed so random to me that one had no idea often whether he would run or pass. That CAN be good and hard to defend but then one never gets the defense off balance as in the end the defense simply waits to react to each play. They play you 'too honest' in such games and you never get the defense leaning one way while you run the other as you might say. Riley so far seems to have some play designs and offensive rhythm and 'gotcha' modus operandi that will get a defense anticipating run and hit them with a pass and vice versa. But I believe our execution has been so erratic and inconsistent at times as to not be as effective as it can be. We also have the issue of new opponents and new coaches for Riley. He will get better at setting up plays as he becomes more familiar with opposing teams and coaches tendencies, arguably.

I dont recall two losing seasons - thought it was just one under dollar Bill and Bill C. Frank had a 7-7 season I believe.

Certainly negative comments won't help recruiting in my opinion but realistically it won't really hurt it much either. If the Johnson boy and or others which seem to be 'packaged' with him are seriously interested in Nebraska, then they should come and visit and see for themselves. They should then commit and become Huskers or NOT and it is as simple as that. What a few fans say or don't say on a message board is meaningless to the team, the coaches, the players, the recruits, etc.

Any activities like this would be grounds for legal action. For example, I can assure you that if Bo tried to undermine the team or 'stir the pot' against Riley, that would be grounds to terminate any further payments to him on his contract as well as a suit for damages etc. You can darn well bet Bo has ZERO goodwill remaining with any of the Administration and or Perlman etc. They would not hesitate to save the budget a few million and embarrass the hell out of Bo if they can. Assistant Coachs who may still be collecting money would also be in similar jeopardy. Alienation, interference with contract, slander, libel, etc. There would be numerous legal actions against anyone that is 'bad mouthing', etc. Trash talking if it is provable is actionable legally. I would think Riley and Company would have legal grounds as well. No, those cases would be laughable (apart from a breach of contract case which would be dependent on the terms of the contract). Nothing laughable about libel and slander. Anyone spreading falsehoods about someone engaged in their business or profession is certainly subject to legal action for such torts. Tampering with scholarship players is also a NO-NO under NCAA rules and any schools for which a coach may now be working would have some serious problems as well.

I realize we are all grasping at straws at this point in time trying to come up with a few glimmers of hope and a couple reasons to remain a little bit hopeful about the near term and even long term future of Husker football! I guess I can offer the following: 1. If we can come up with a win Saturday over a pretty decent Wisconsin team, we can say this is Riley's best win as a Husker coach and perhaps on of his best wins ever! 2. The team desperately needs a confidence booster and a win this week would be a great way to make a fresh start on this season. 3. A win this week can keep the goal of a winning season alive. A loss makes the battle much more difficult as the home games are critical in finding wins every season. 4. Win this one and we can remain in the hunt for a bowl and of course every win means a chance for little bit better bowl game. 5. Respect and recruiting will get a boost. 6. Our current players and coaches came here to win and wins are expected in our stadium. 7. We truly do have a chance to win this game. IMO if we played Wisconsin ten times, we could win 4 and maybe even 5 or 6. The team can get better.

Any activities like this would be grounds for legal action. For example, I can assure you that if Bo tried to undermine the team or 'stir the pot' against Riley, that would be grounds to terminate any further payments to him on his contract as well as a suit for damages etc. You can darn well bet Bo has ZERO goodwill remaining with any of the Administration and or Perlman etc. They would not hesitate to save the budget a few million and embarrass the hell out of Bo if they can. Assistant Coachs who may still be collecting money would also be in similar jeopardy. Alienation, interference with contract, slander, libel, etc. There would be numerous legal actions against anyone that is 'bad mouthing', etc. Trash talking if it is provable is actionable legally. I would think Riley and Company would have legal grounds as well. I hope the "Law" in your username means you are knowledgeable about the subject. Indeed, it is a good indication of my graduation and area of study and knowledge, including Mr. Perlman who was then Dean of the Law School as matter of fact.

This game is almost totally unpredictable really. I would not be surprised if oddsmakers take it off the board altogether as too hard to set a line for. It could go anywhere from Huskers by 14 on the high side to Badgers by 31 on the down side. It will largely depend on how Tommy bounces back from last week. I believe the weather will be quite good and favor the pass game nicely. Assuming Wisconsin has very poor pass game (I believe their offense has been struggling at times), then we have a chance to hold them to less than 20 points. The question is can we protect Tommy long enough for him to complete atleast 23 passes out of the 40 or so we will need. I don't believe we can run. However, here is my prediction: Huskers 31 Pass yards 245 and 2 TDs and Rush yards 170 and 2 TDs, We 'ice' the game with a 55 yard field goal with 12 seconds left after good clock management and then kick the ball through the goal posts leaving 12 seconds left. One play for Wisconsin which is a SACK of the QB thereafter on their own 17 yard line. Badgers 24 Pass yards 153 and 1 TD and Rush yards 185 and 2 TDs.

Any activities like this would be grounds for legal action. For example, I can assure you that if Bo tried to undermine the team or 'stir the pot' against Riley, that would be grounds to terminate any further payments to him on his contract as well as a suit for damages etc. You can darn well bet Bo has ZERO goodwill remaining with any of the Administration and or Perlman etc. They would not hesitate to save the budget a few million and embarrass the hell out of Bo if they can. Assistant Coachs who may still be collecting money would also be in similar jeopardy. Alienation, interference with contract, slander, libel, etc. There would be numerous legal actions against anyone that is 'bad mouthing', etc. Trash talking if it is provable is actionable legally. I would think Riley and Company would have legal grounds as well.

In discussing the running backs and their successes, failures, skills and fortes, it appears the one key thing we all need is some basic data and the most glaring piece of missing information is the accurate 10, 20 and 40 times for each. We used to get those back in the day when spring testing occurred and the sports information people put the entire team's results out. All were electronic and appeared to be honest. We used to read a lot of this stuff on possible recruits. Of course, we used to recruit many of our RBs out of Omaha so data was a little more available to most fans. I ask you guys: can anyone on here actually report the respective speed and agility and quickness times for the stable of backs we have on the team? Without the basic data, we are all just speculating. When we read all spring and fall articles in the papers about the quality running backs, we all were just speculating on their speed and ability to run inside, outside, break off the big plays, etc. Sports writers had no hard numbers to go by either. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder but true speed is measureable. I would suggest that NONE of our running backs has the speed or quickness of Ameer and as it turned out his 40 time was not exactly blazing! If he is dramatically quicker and faster than all the backs we have, (he ran something OVER 4.5 in the 40, then we have NO real breakaway backs. Without 4.35 speed, we should NOT be running plays to the outside much and stretch plays are out of the question. Those plays require the back to outrun the defenders to turn the corner and run up the sideline. We really don't have those backs and unless we block the play perfectly, they are not going to be successful consistantly. Therefore, the better option is the keep the ball between the hash marks and run right at our opponents with power and 'slashing' type runners. (That would be Ozigbo, Jano and Cross mostly). The reverse plays and receivers on jet sweeps is an obvious attempt to introduce more speed into the ball carriers in an attempt to run wide. When you can't out run the defenders to the sidelines, you have to fool them into over pursuing and running the wrong direction. Effectively, use their speed advantage against them. Running up the gut is the way a power team overcomes a speed team. Also, screen passes, swing passes, throw backs, shot gun passing, etc. are all techniques used to help the offense deal with a team speed disadvantage.

I don't think this week end is so critical so long as we play well (competitive). Most or nearly all fans expected the Wisconsin game as a loss or maybe a toss up because it was home and for those who thought we had a chance before the season began, it was because they over estimated the capability of the team. We have a number of players who have played winning level football at times. Really NONE have played at that level all the time yet. Only a few have played that way most of the time. Many have played winning football perhaps half the time and quite a few albeit a minority have played well perhaps 1 play out of 4. The key is to not lose the team - and by that I mean to have the team keep its collective head up and play hard and keep on plugging away in practice to get smoother, better, and play faster as the repetitions allow them to react more instinctively and without hesitation and stopping to think about things so much. It needs to become routine and instantaneous and not a delay or pause while the mind processes and decisions are made as to where to go and what to do in a given situation. If Riley (thanks in large part to the great mass of hysterical fans bashing each and all concerned) loses the team's faith and confidence, the losses will come as naturally as the sun rises each morning. This team does not deserve the fans' harsh criticism at this point. Each and every player on this team has played well and done good things at times as well as being normal and making a few mistakes so far. Obviously, penalties have really hurt and killed many drives and aided the opponents' in their drives. These are dramatic impacts in the overall tone, statistics and impression of the games for the fans' evaluations. Keeping opponents' drives alive makes the half time stats look even when maybe they should have been a bit more lopsided in the Huskers' favor. This in turn has an effect on the fans and pundits' opinions and rightfully so. But, the team is still capable of playing MUCH better football when the players, the coaches, the fans, the medical staff, etc. get it all put together. Too many injuries have hurt the performances. Opponents have had injuries too but we lost some key players in key positions at key times. All this added up to enough to keep the games close and allow three opponents (two on the road by the way) to pull off last second wins. All is not lost people. Give this team a little more time to come around and be fair to the players at least. No matter how much you don't care about the Coaches, the players deserve to be encouraged and enabled and support in every way we can. We as fans can do better than simply gripe and complain and bitch and moan and piss around all the time. Most members on this board expressed the willingness to give the coaches time and support during the transition. Perhaps that was just lip service and insincere. If so, then you were wrong and remain wrong. Give the team a chance. Let's support the players and encourage. It can't hurt!

You are likely making way to much out of a simple mistaken in the verbage or something like that. Most likely the play was a 51 QB roll out right - no pass option and he simply caught it all but the 'no' in there. then Tommy speaks the play into the huddle with the pass option in instead of out. As a result, the players ran the play wrong. Probably very similar in many or nearly all ways except that it is designed for Tommy to run laterally to burn some extra clock and maybe get lucky and find a hole to cut up and get the first down. Safer than a hand off arguably and yet with his running ability, a chance for a first down or more even. Nobody's fault as such - simply a failure in the communication process or Tommy forgot the play or as I say he heard it wrong. It can happen easily I am sure. Why don't we all give all involved the benefit of the doubt rather than convicting them or some of them to some capital offense and the sentence is banishment forever. That is simply nuts!

Frankly, after attending almost every home game from 1972 through 2012, there were only a couple of times when I heard any meaningful boos of the team. Now I heard many boos for various coaches, refs, opposing teams, TV people, politicians, etc. But almost NEVER a team. The times were when it was clear the team had quit trying - in blow out losses (Callahan, Frank, Bo). The biggest boos I remember ever hearing in an Osborne coached game were following the 2nd quarter TD drive by back up QB Frankie London who came in after the first quarter of action of Scott Frost the game following the disasterous first start for Frost in 1996 in Arizona when he played so poorly and we lost for the first time in a couple years! Most fans knew - it was obvious as everyone knew how Osborne thought - that Tom had pulled Frankie London when he did TOO WELL in leading the team right down the field for a TD. Frost had played so poorly for his first 5 quarters of playing and London came in a fired up the team and crowd. We scored in about 5 plays, Frankie was overjoyed and so were the fans. Tom immediately put Frost back in to prevent Frankie from looking too good as Tom knew it would create a backlash and a "QB controversy" as fans always pull for the back up to get a chance and Frost (now already nicknamed "Frosty the throw man" for seemingly throwing the Arizona game (many speculated he had gambled on the game.). To your point, I don't see any possible way of booing 'the team' but perhaps some boos for Eichhorst, Riley, and even perhaps Alex Lewis as he is not making any new fans I am certain. The team itself does NOT get booed in the stadium that I have ever seen unless it is clear it has quit trying. About twice. Oops. I see I omitted a key part of my statement: the point of booing in the Frankie London situation was they were clearly booing Tom Osborne. Although Tom knew it, he did try to turn it back on the fans, amazingly, by accusing the fans of booing the team. The boos were directed only at Tom (a few at Scott Frost as well but mostly Tom). This was the only time I ever felt like booing anyone or anything Husker. There were 76,000 (capacity at the time( who were very angry at Tom. Frankie was doing well and it was grossly unfair to yank him because he was doing TOO WELL!. Tom didn't want anyone to every second guess his judgement on players or who was or was not starting! It was a golden rule of Tom's throughout his tenure.

Frankly, after attending almost every home game from 1972 through 2012, there were only a couple of times when I heard any meaningful boos of the team. Now I heard many boos for various coaches, refs, opposing teams, TV people, politicians, etc. But almost NEVER a team. The times were when it was clear the team had quit trying - in blow out losses (Callahan, Frank, Bo). The biggest boos I remember ever hearing in an Osborne coached game were following the 2nd quarter TD drive by back up QB Frankie London who came in after the first quarter of action of Scott Frost the game following the disasterous first start for Frost in 1996 in Arizona when he played so poorly and we lost for the first time in a couple years! Most fans knew - it was obvious as everyone knew how Osborne thought - that Tom had pulled Frankie London when he did TOO WELL in leading the team right down the field for a TD. Frost had played so poorly for his first 5 quarters of playing and London came in a fired up the team and crowd. We scored in about 5 plays, Frankie was overjoyed and so were the fans. Tom immediately put Frost back in to prevent Frankie from looking too good as Tom knew it would create a backlash and a "QB controversy" as fans always pull for the back up to get a chance and Frost (now already nicknamed "Frosty the throw man" for seemingly throwing the Arizona game (many speculated he had gambled on the game.). To your point, I don't see any possible way of booing 'the team' but perhaps some boos for Eichhorst, Riley, and even perhaps Alex Lewis as he is not making any new fans I am certain. The team itself does NOT get booed in the stadium that I have ever seen unless it is clear it has quit trying. About twice.