Roundball Shaman

Hayseed: “Aliens don’t make good football players... they’re skinny and have gigantic heads.” Sure they make good football players. Ever get a good look at an NFL high-maintenance diva wide out?

Husker Time Warp Husker fans...consider the following blog comments: “Nothing will change the direction of this program unless donors and supporters demand changes. This program is on a downward spiral and I for one am tired of spending my money on this calamity - embarrassing defense, turnovers, penalties.” “For those who say recruits won't come to a cold climate in a small market I say look at K-State.” “This is the new normal for Husker fans. Nobody thought we'd win. We were excited that we weren't blown out. The optimism for this program is sinking... It's almost indifference now days. We have no big recruiting classes on the horizon. We have a wretched defense but still can't get any recruits. We no longer coach anyone up. Our new normal.” “The NU program is no longer respected and feared.” “When we as Husker fans expect to lose big games against the big boy teams then something has gone seriously wrong... Defense wins championships 98% of the time and we have none. “I've been a Husker fan since 1964, but after this past season, I have my doubts. Our Defense has gone from the Blackshirts to the Pinkshirts, they now play touch football.” Were these comments made yesterday or today? No, they were made in... 2013... by Husker fans. All of us are six years older now. We can easily compare these comments to now. We can think ahead six years to how things will be then. Or do we dare to? “We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them.” - Albert Einstein

Losing games is one thing. Getting beaten by better teams is one thing. But losing because of your own mistakes is something else. The Huskers keep making mistakes. Many of these mistakes keep happening every week. There’s no magic fix to doing away with mistakes. But the Huskers - and their brain trust - need to do some serious soul-searching: Why are these same mistakes happening? Where is the problem? There is some kind of disconnect here. One thing is for sure. If you keep making mistakes, you’re not learning from your mistakes. Why? Some possible reasons... For the players... No fear of consequences. Too much fear of consequences. Not taking things seriously enough. Not trying to learn from your mistakes. Not caring enough. You don’t want to learn. Lack of confidence. Feeling like you’re going to fail. Good teams, great teams, make few mistakes. When they make one, they know how to recover from it. Huskers may need more talent, but the talent they have does not have to keep making mistakes. What some have said about making the same mistakes: “You never make the same mistake twice. the second time you make it, it is no longer a mistake. it is a choice” - Lauren Conrad “I guess if you keep making the same mistake long enough, it becomes your style.” - John Prine “One mistake will never kill you. The same mistake over and over again will.” - Harvey Mackay

OK, it’s not bowl season yet. Both the Huskers and Hoosiers are getting closer to the magic number to qualify, but they’re not there yet. So until then, we could call Saturday’s game the Fragile Bowl. The state of mind around the Huskers right now is... fragile. Lots of questions. Anything but swagger. And Indiana? They’re doing a bit better this year. But this is a football program that has since 2002... Won 29, Lost 110 conference games. Winning percentage 21%. That’s big time fragile. Indiana always has trouble with a football. They keep wanting to throw the thing at hoops that’s inside the gym. That’s what they’re better at. Somebody is going to feel better about themselves on Sunday morning. And somebody else is going to feel... fragile. And Huskers will never ever sit right with fragile.

Ulty: “...Frost didn't come to Nebraska as a stepping stone job. This is home. Secondly, if he has multiple losing seasons at Nebraska, which big name schools or NFL teams would be trying to poach him?” Frost, regardless of what his Husker record turns out to be, remains a better coach than most college programs have right now. And for some programs he is MUCH better. He would be in demand - especially if there is a “better fit” somewhere. If Frost simply feels he isn’t getting it done in Lincoln, he might “for the good of the program” look to open the way for someone else. To date, he clearly was a better fit for Central Florida than he’s been for the Big Red. This isn’t all his doing or fault, just a statement of the results. Not saying he actually wants to leave now or ever. Frost has maybe 30 years of coaching ahead if he wants it. That’s a long time. He pretty much has two possible futures. He either is the new Tom Osborne at NU, or he’s going to seek success in a new direction. It was an act of courage for him to come to Lincoln, as much as “home” that might be. Strong guy willing to take on a big challenge with lots of pressure. Sometimes going home is the toughest thing you can ever do. And sometimes, home isn’t home anymore.

Xmas32: “...it's natural for folks to harken back to the glory days of Nebraska football because, as we all get older not only have those memories taken on a golden tinge, they also represent a time when a lot of us were younger... probably had a more positive general outlook on things... even though I know that the possibility of Nebraska of ever recapturing that magical run in the 90s is infinitesimal the fact is...I saw it with my own two eyes... the optimist in me creeps into my head and says, "Hey...it happened once...why not again?" It’s always a battle between hope/optimism and reality/frustration. That battle never goes away. In four seasons from 1994 through 1997, Huskers lost a total of TWO GAMES in all those years. That is crazy good. That is also just about impossible to ever see again, unless you’re Alabama. In four seasons from 2015 through 2018, Huskers have won 23 games and lost 27. Winning percentage of 46%. That’s tough for any proud program to swallow. Both of those sets of years are the extremes. Eventually, Huskers will settle somewhere in the middle of those polarities. As years go by, more and more younger Husker fans will lose touch with those glory years. They’ll only know about them from stories. That will make them less real to them, and less of something they’ll expect again. Thus, less frustration.

December 5, 2009. To borrow a phrase, “A day that will live in infamy”. The so-called Big 12 Championship Game. More like, the “What Do We Have To Do To Make Sure Texas Wins” Big 12 Championship Game. This is one of the scariest days ever in Husker history when weird spirits were let loose from the depths of Arlington, Texas upon Husker Nation and have been running about ever since. Neither the Huskers nor Texas have ever fully recovered from that ghostly day. You know the story. Huskers were on their way to winning the title. Game clock goes to zero. Huskers Win! Uh... Wait a moment - No they don’t! The Magic One Second is put back on the clock, and Texas is allowed to make a game-winning (so-called) field goal. Huskers lose 13 to 12. Whether you think it was right to put that second back on the clock or not, things have been weird and “off” with both of these programs ever since. Something in the universe got out of balance and has not yet been set right. Halloween did not happen on October 31st that year. It happened on December 5, and has replayed itself many times on many Saturdays since for two former Blueblood programs desperate to reclaim the high ground again.

Freaky things are starting up. The Fighting Illini of Illinois - who haven't done much fighting for quite a while - have just taken down Wisconsin. The Number Six team in the nation was just beaten by the Rising Illini. Scary for the Madisonites, freaky fun in Champaign. No ghosts have been reported yet in the area. But the chances for Wisconsin to get to the CFB big four table have now vanished in the grey haze of an autumn gloomy and foggy Wisconsin morning. Darkness and doom has descended upon the lands north of Illinois. But, at least they'll always have cheese.

A week without a game for the boys is good time to think about the Halloween season. The time of scary and weird and unusual and out-of-the-ordinary stuff, or so the keepers of the yearly calendar tell us. This time of year brings questions, including for the Huskers and fans. Think about Husker football and the scary season. No, I don’t mean some of the lopsided losses in the recent history books. Other stuff. Has anything scary or weird or unusual or out-of-the-ordinary or strange ever happened to you relating to the Huskers? This can be something during a Husker game itself, in the stands, before or after a game, or something else. Or, if you yourself didn’t experience it, did something weird happen to a friend or family member relating to the Huskers... Strange things during the football season, odd occurrences, premonitions, events, plays on the field, traveling to or from a game...

BIG ERN: “I find it amusing that some Nebraska fans feel we are supposed to win games against Minnesota etc. based on what?” Hope. Lots of hope. Based on how things used to be. Based upon what one hopes will be again... Based upon... “We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” - Martin Luther King Jr “Hope is the last thing ever lost.” - Italian proverb “If it were not for hope, the heart would break.” - Thomas Fuller “It is because of hope that you suffer. It is through hope that you’ll change things.” - Maxime Lagacé “It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop.” - Confucius “Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.” - Winston S. Churchill “Hope is medicine for a soul that’s sick and tired.” - Eric Swensson “The best bridge between despair and hope is a good night’s sleep.” - E. Joseph Cossman

ndobney: “The best option would have been staying in the big 12.” Big 12... This is the Big-OklaTex-Conference and they aren’t inviting anyone else to sit at the big table. Big 10/14... Good for just the money but little else and a poor fit. Lousy rivalries. Pac... Huskers mixed with Sexy Oregon and California and Southern California? Nah. Best future... SEC. Get into league with the real big boys of college football. There’s no shame in finishing .500 in this league. And, you’ll always get into a decent bowl game. Plus, great road trips to Florida and Louisiana and the Southeast when Midwestern weather turns foul. Already got a brother in the SEC with Missou. And a contiguous geographic fit with Arkansas. Plus, this high-profile league will be good for recruiting for the Big Red. Not everyone can make the Alabama roster. Good Southern players who want to play in the SEC will look to Nebraska and Frost’s offense to thrive. SEC gets major network TV priority. And plant some palm trees around Memorial Stadium.... seriously. They’ll grow if you have below ground heating elements. Some like that seen around Missouri.

It’s a tough time to be a former Oregon Duck. Three former Ducks - all of whom each being seen as hot properties until very recently - are all struggling right now. Chip Kelly has had all kinds of trouble since leaving the Pacific Northwest. He’s in the middle of a particularly bad year at UCLA right now. UCLA brought him to be a savior of the program but it’s been less than a stunning success. He has had a miserable record in SoCal thus far. Marcus Mariota was a second overall draft pick in 2015. Now he’s been benched and many commentators are calling him a bust. Always a hard label to shake off. He was brought in to transform the franchise. Didn't quite happen. And now, Scott Frost... At Oregon, these guys were dynamite. Since they went their own ways, you’d have to say that Frost has been the biggest individual success of the three from what Scott did in Florida. We’ve seen it before. One day, you are HOT. A little time goes by, a new job, something changes, and you go from Hot to Not very fast. Athletes and coaches thrive on success. None of them do very well with rocky times and losing. They aren’t used to it. This tests their character in ways they aren’t comfortable with. Some guys handle it fairly well, and others just seem to look lost. Of the three, the one with the greatest chance of success from now on is most likely Frost. It’s during a time of difficulty that the character of a man comes out. He’s getting his chance to meet the Big Red challenge.

10_point_buck: “Lots to do and I honestly feel it could be another decade, if ever. College football has blown right by us and we are always trying to catch up. No kid we are recruiting knows us other than what we have been, which is pretty plain and mediocre. How do you sell that to anyone?” Nebraska had an identity that worked in the 20th Century. The Huskers need to redefine and refresh themselves in a way that works in the 21st. Vince Lombardi - not a bad coach in his day - once said, “Football is blocking and tackling. Everything else is mythology.” As many have stated on this board, if you can’t block and tackle you haven’t got a prayer. Not today and not tomorrow. He also said, “Football is a great deal like life in that it teaches that work, sacrifice, perseverance, competitive drive, selflessness and respect for authority is the price that each and every one of us must pay to achieve any goal that is worthwhile.” That’s something the Huskers can sell in the 21st Century. Teaching those things to young men is, in fact, more important than the outcome of any football game or season. One more from Vince, “The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.” If the Huskers are doing everything they can with everything they have, they are winners in the bigger picture. Pretty numbers on the scoreboard is fun, but being as good as you can be is the best anybody can do. If they are not doing everything they can, then everyone else knows who is responsible for that. No, you can’t sell losing to recruits. But you can sell the fact that you’ll make better young men out of them and you will put them in their best situation to succeed individually and as a team. No coach or program can ever do better than that. And IF you do that, the wins will come. And then, the glory.

“Do we have too much expectation for a college team that used to be good?” Tough love answers here. Yes. College ball today has changed since the Husker dynasty years. Big 10/14 is a tougher conference. SEC grabs much of the top talent every year. College ball is now quasi-pro ball at the top level and Husker program is not at the Alabama-Clemson-Ohio State-Oklahoma level. Huskers can be much better of course. But it’s not realistic to want it to match how things were before. “Is it a new generation of football and we are stuck in our old ways?” Yes and no. Yes, it’s not the same game as a generation or two ago. Huskers have changed their ways but not yet hit upon a winning formula to compete better in today’s game. “Should we really come to a realization that MAYBE we will never be back to how we were?” Some fans already have. Others will resist this at all costs. That’s OK as everybody can make of this what they wish. But wanting something that won’t likely happen just sets one up for constant disappointment. “Would a Pro NFL or NBA team take the focus off the college team?” NO! NFL has big problems (too many to go into here). And now, the NBA has (messed) itself up big time with its PR fiasco with the China money pursuit. NFL and NBA is just inviting more trouble. “What perks or selling points outside of football do we have to bring in the top recruits around the country?” THIS is the high-dollar question that they guys who make those high dollars should be asking every day. “If I'm straight out of High School I know where my mind goes when I think of leaving home for the first time.” So you always find the local library that fast? Now. you’re living in LA. Nebraska is a place where people live or die with Nebraska sports. Except for the Lakers and Dodgers fans, most LA fans are rooting for the visitors who come into town.

The “In Or Out” Speech... There’s something wrong when you have to make this kind of speech - at any time. 1. Lack of personal motivation to pay well on the part of too many players. 2. Failure to establish a sense of a winning attitude and pride of performance in the program. 3. Generational change. Older players generally took for granted the need to play hard and meet expectations. Many younger ones have a harder time paying the price. 4. “Not having fun out there”. This is football, guys. This isn’t supposed to be torture. Maybe you are undersized. Maybe you have match-up problems. Maybe the weather is bad. Maybe the stars are not aligned right. But you STILL can look like you want to be out there. You still can find some joy in the game. Pouting and being downcast is not the path to greatness. Sure, losing is not fun. But you have to CHANGE YOUR ATTITUDE. Find the joy, and the wins will come. 5. Is the in/out speech a reflection of where the coach is right now? Is he regretting his decision to take on this challenge? Is he projecting undue pressure that the players are picking up on? Does Frost need more time? Yes. Are Husker fans frustrated? Yes. This is not a good mix. Patience and wanting immediate results are polar opposites. Sure, Husker fans want to see SOME progress at least. But where is that progress? What is better now than it was two years ago? It’s clear that nothing will come quickly, except... Bottom line... the most important thing a person has control of is “attitude”. The Huskers need a serious attitude adjustment. In or Out? How about, Pride or Not? Fun or Not? Standing tall or shoulders slumped? Wearing the “N” means something or not?

Classic song titles that best describe the Huskers’ glory years: “Good Vibrations” “Groovin’” “I Feel Fine” “Light My Fire” “Respect” “Stairway To Heaven” “Tell Me Something Good” “We’re a Winner” “When You’re Number One” “Wonderful World”

Husker in WI: “I have no idea why either team would go to Ireland.” Lots of Notre Dame fans in the Chicago area. Also, lots of Fighting Illini fans around Chicago. Also, lots of people of Irish heritage in Chicago and the State of Illinois. This gives the Illini a chance to reclaim a bit of media splash territory in Chicago and Illinois with the buzz about this Ireland game. Also, the Illini football team sees a good chance to be competitive with the Huskers as things stand right now. It’s a total win for the Illini. As for the Huskers, they get a cool trip and a chance to stay off of Interstate 80 for a change. Yeah! Wins all around for everybody. As for the bigger picture, between the NFL and NCAA they keep trying to sell American football to the British and Irish. As a novelty, it looks fine. But whether those folks over there will ever be sold on American football is a big question. You have to grow up with the game and develop some deep family roots with it. Unless they start playing American football seriously in the schools over there, these games will just be a side show to the serious kind of Euro/World football they are actually passionate about.

There are lots of good threads and detailed posts about what is wrong with the Huskers and a few about what is right with them. Lots of good game and overall football program analysis. Know what’s missing? Something simpler. Which of the following classic song titles best describes the current state of the Husker program - or state of mind of Husker fans? “A Change Is Gonna Come” “Bad Moon Rising” “Big Girls Don’t Cry” “Crazy” “Dancing In The Street” “Dazed And Confused” “God Only Knows” “Help!” “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” “I’m a Believer” “I’m Sorry” “I’m Still Standing” “It’s Now Or Never” “It’s The End of the World” “Nothing But a Heartache” “Ring Of Fire” “Stairway To Heaven” “Stand By Me” “The Tracks Of My Tears” “Tossin’ And Turnin’” “We Gotta Get Out Of This Place” “Will You Love Me Tomorrow” Or, maybe you have one?

BigRedBuster: “I just have to roll my eyes at this conversation. Over the Riley years (and possibly more) I read posts where fans were upset that the players would show no emotion on the sidelines and didn't act like they were into the game. They then go out and win a hard fought (albeit sloppy) game with a third string walk-on and some fans say...."They should act like they've been there before or it proves their expectations have dropped so far". Some fans choose to view the Husker program and games from the wide lens of a 20, 30, even 40 or 50 year wide lens field. They want to place everything into a wide historical context and then lay on top of that their own personal expectations for any event. That’s OK to do that as there are no holy rules about this kind of thing. But we can be reminded from time to time that these young men - most of them being men much larger than most guys on the street - are young adults but they (like all of us) are also kids at heart. You feel the joy of winning, something working out well, being stunned by unexpected favor, or that fact that YOU did it, and you react just like a kid would because inside you are still partly a kid. Even if we make to 100 years old, we should never ever lose that feeling. Plus the fact, you can’t expect another human being to react in any particular way or as you might think they should. You feel, you react, as an individual. If you are 20 years old today, everything (even making an "easy" field goal) is new to you. Both points of view: that the Huskers should have high expectations - and the one that knows that celebrating something (even minor) can be a good thing - are valid. Both need be part of the Husker culture.

Thurston from Pender said: “And it is against federal law to jump off of bridges and commit suicide. The FBI will have to investigate this event when they should be investigating Russians.” Now you’re on to something. They should be looking way East to do their investigating. They need to find out if it was the Russians that actually caused the downfall of the Huskers twenty years ago. Think about it. Nebraska calls itself the Big RED. The Russians hated that. They thought THEY had the copyright on Everything Big Red. They thought they were the Big Red. You know your history, The Red Scare and all that. They’ve been mad about it ever since. Look, Husker fans have blamed everything for the twenty-year Husker Slide from greatness - bad coaching hires, poor recruiting, poor conditioning, bad weather, bad karma, SEC bias, on and on. Everything got blamed except the Russians. Well, it’s about time to correct that mistake right now.

“I - for one - am getting very impatient. I'm also getting old. Time is mighty precious when there is less of it waste... a very sad and frustrated UNL alum.” Whether you’re being serious or not, the fact remains that time IS precious, we can’t spend any of it being impatient or wasting any of it or being sad or being frustrated. Doesn’t help you and it doesn’t help the Huskers. Win or lose, enjoy the Husker games somehow. It’s not meant to be an ordeal for Husker fans to grind teeth during and endure. The Huskers will get great again - or they won’t - on their own timeline and in their own way. The past is gone. And there’s absolutely nothing any of us can do to change that or speed the rebuild process up. Might as soon try to order the sun to rise or set faster any given day. Any pressure on the Huskers to be great TODAY is not helping. These guys are working their best at it. Don’t hold them responsible for the past 20 years. If Nebraska loses to Minnesota what that means is Nebraska lost a football game to Minnesota. Won’t be their greatest moment and won’t be their worst. Won’t make the history books as one of the most significant moments in all of human history. Won’t be something you’ll tell your grandchildren about on a cold Nebraska night huddled around the fireplace. Will be something everyone will forget about sooner or later. Probably sooner.

There’s a related issue to the One-and-Done that also needs to be considered. That is, the future of college football in the age of concussions and physical health concerns. We know what Andrew Luck did and why. Other pros are doing the same. College players are going to be concerned about the long-term affects of playing football on their health and will begin to deliberately shorten their careers. That will mean, leaving school early and going to the pros (if they have the ability and size to compete at the pro level). They can try all they might to make the game safer, but at its heart it’s a violent game that takes a toll on those who play it. It takes courage to play, but with the medical studies coming out about how the game affects players long-term, more young people are going to be taking notice and making different decisions. One-and-Done is going to help players who want to play at the next level. It won’t have an affect on four-year players who don’t want to go pro.

A media report says that Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh is in favor of first and second year college players being eligible for the NFL Draft. This would essentially install the one-and-done system in college football as already exists in basketball. Yet another potential big game-changer for college ball. We’ve got pay-to-players quickly approaching. And now, there is talk of the footballers with a fast track to pro ball. The Cornhuskers are having to deal with a lot more than just building up the program. They have to formulate a business plan of how they are going to deal with the new college football landscape of tomorrow and how they want to fit into it. And, one-and-done would certainly have a big effect on the coaching profession. It’s one thing to know that the guys in the locker room you are mentoring are going to be there next year. It’s quite another to know that some of those guys will be gone in a few months. It looks like some of the guard walls that the NCAA has been fortifying for generations could be coming down real soon. This is great for the young men on the field. For everybody else, it brings lots of question marks.

Here’s some comments that America heard from the broadcasters about Nebraska during the national TV coverage broadcast of the Northwestern game: “From the Heartland of America”...“From the Land of Corn”... “Lincoln. It’s something special, isn’t it?”...“Took a walk around the campus. It’s magnificent”... “This Nebraska team is just an inch away from being...better”... “I think Scott Frost thinks he’s the modern day version of Tom Osborne”...“Scott Frost is the right man to turn this thing around”... “This game today is the most important to his (Frost) program.” And here are the most poetic comments: “When the leaves begin to turn, the Boys become Men in the Heartland of America”... and then, the game winner: “The Limbo Field Goal! How LOW can you GO!”

"NOW I know why they named this game... FOOT ball!"