All Hail Herbie

Completely agree with this post. If the intention of extending was simply to add a layer of certainty for recruiting purposes and give this staff necessary runway, than that 1 time grant has been given. Moreover, it seems to me that recruiting has cooled given the on-field performance the past 3 years so there will be no further lifelines from any further extensions. Recruits do not want to be part of a sinking enterprise where perhaps a transfer becomes inevitable.

With the about face taken by University Presidents and Conference Administration, this season has been nothing more than developmental for most schools. I have heard several folks talk about the importance of extra bowl practices, but honestly, the games have been by far the most important aspect of a season where players did not take an eligibility hit. The Kansas idea has merit. With a bowl highly unlikely, and given the strange circumstances around this season, why not request a waiver to play against KU in Lawrence? Clearly, the team needs more game reps.

This is a good point. If the argument is that SP+ provides context, it would seem to be very flawed in a year when there is not any cross-conference play. No matter, this whole discussion of statistics is merely a diversion from reality. Seeking a statistical metric of progress as a substitute for disciplined play and ultimately, wins, perhaps illustrates how far we have fallen. When we were winning league titles in the 80's and 90's, I honestly can say that I was oblivious to what our SP+ or other statistical metrics were. WE WERE WINNING!

I agree that the SP+ assessment is highly questionable. This offense is in the bottom half of college football statistics this season (96th in Total Offense and 105th in Scoring Offense). I would like to see the formula for how such abysmal stats can compute to a ranking that high. It defies logic.

Adrian Martinez is what is good about college football. He is respectful, he demonstrates humility (a rare trait these days), he is dedicated to his team, and he has shown great perseverance given his life experiences. This team needs a model citizen, but it also needs some vocal leadership as well. Maybe we could hire Ed Reed as an assistant?

I absolutely love all of the caveats mentioned. When Coach Frost mentioned that his statistical folks confirmed that his offense scored on 70% of drives (the percentage is likely wrong) where none of the above happened, you must forgive me as I was amused. The old adage applies here, figures lie and liars figure. This offense is its' own worst enemy. Lack of o-line fundamentals, receivers unable to get open, and plays suited for Mahomes (not Martinez). Worst yet, with a lack of playmaking ability, we leave our biggest playmaking threat in the run game (McCaffrey) on the bench. For the last time, he is a utility player and needs to be on the field with Martinez and Robinson. Luke's brother is an All-Pro at running back so let's utilize his talent similarly. Smothers / Masker should back-up.

Departures were inevitable given the program's struggles. As I have said many times though, this program's problems are not the result of one player or position, and cannot be resolved by adding or subtracting a player. With no course or direction, players start to feel as if there are no attainable goals any longer and apathy sets in. Already weak discipline all but disappears. Without a doubt, Wandale would be a huge loss, and not because he is a great athlete, but because he has the makings of a future leader. This is what the team is lacking today; leaders who demand respect, can inspire and who drive results (player discipline). "Caring" about the program is just a baseline, but demanding better performance and then again expecting to see it on Saturday is next level.

Agreed on win totals. CU, IU, Purdue all should have been wins in 2019 as well. Again, like a broken record, poor fundamentals and lack of mental toughness were contributors.

Given this development, as well as the fact that we have a backup that cannot throw consistently downfield, and the fact that we were up against an undermanned team yielding nearly 7 yards a carry in league play, we elected to game plan around a passing game? Now I recognize there must have been something delicious on film that we thought we could exploit (with sarcasm), but this just does not compute. Can someone please have the coaching staff screen one of the many good documentaries on the life and career of Vincent Lombardi?

Even as an optimist, I am struggling to find reasons for future optimism. I suppose one could argue that optimism can be found in Taylor-Britt's, Roger's or Martinez's play. However, we are having to squint now to find these positives. Missed blocks, penalties, turnovers, and poor special teams seem to be the cornerstones of the team now. I agree that Saturday was not our darkest day, it was merely a continuation of the trend line. CU in 2001 or Texas Tech 2004 seem to be more memorably dark to me. Yes 2004 and Mr. Callahan, the architect of our program's swoon.

If I could only see the vision, I agree that this fan base would want him to shoot for the stars. However, Oregon and UCF this is not. No mistake about it, I think Coach Frost is a good ambassador for Nebraska, and most likely, a good coach at another program. That said, he started his tenure at Nebraska with a hubris that has failed him. He suffered from a lack of imagination when he entered this job. I think he seriously underestimated the league he was entering, the immense task of changing one of the worst losing cultures in FBS (KU may be the worst), and the need to lean on alternative approaches to win games (i.e. kicking game, field position, etc.). He looks exhausted and without answers at this stage.

Amen to this. Do you remember too when the Husker Press once referenced the "stress" that players were under during the Pelini and Riley years? We as fans were to blame for on-field mishaps on Saturday because we were too "demanding" and set high expectations. If we could only watch practice, it would be a different story. I suppose that narrative runs out of steam in a year when there are no fans in the stands! Unfortunately, that could be the future of Husker football as well (post-Covid)!

Complimenting an overachieving program (with talent limitations) should not create a sense of defensiveness or inferiority at one of the Top 10 College Football programs in the country. I would gladly take 4 bowl appearances and 2 Big Ten Championship appearances in the last 5 years. We are staring into the abyss right now, 3 wins. This follows 4 wins, 4 wins, and 5 wins. We need to quit fixating on fantasy comparisons to the Ohio State's and Alabama's of the world and take a look in the mirror. Mr. Fundamental, Pat Fitzgerald, gives us a template from which to build a competitor.

I wish I could believe that we are close, but the persistent penalties, missed assignments and turnovers tell a different story. If you are older than 30, you know what good football in Lincoln looks like. This is not it. On the occasion when we do win, it is the product of an opponent being more hapless than us (i.e. Maryland 2019 or Purdue). Finally, could we ask that the press and coaching staff mercifully end any and all references to "good practices". If they are unwilling to end the use of this terminology, let's at least insist on them defining it for us (i.e. 5 holds or fewer this week, 3 or fewer fumbles, etc.)

Without question we have the requisite talent. This is the standard over-analysis that takes place after yet another inexplicable loss. Simple game; block, tackle, and avoid turnovers and penalties. Case in point, Northwestern. A program that encounters a significant barrier to recruiting top-shelf talent given the academic requirements in place in Evanston. Yet, despite those challenges, Coach Fitzgerald somehow produces a consistent winner each and every year with a reliance on fundamentals. Just imagine if we possessed this caliber of coaching with the talent we recruit every year. Poor culture and complete lack of fundamentals are the persistent issues. I once thought our downward cycle was something akin to Oklahoma (90's) or USC (90's - 00's), but I am now beginning to believe we are in a trough similar to Arkansas (post-Broyles). Arkansas is yet to come out of their 40 year downturn.

Aside from some better playmaking by both Martinez and Taylor-Britt, I am not certain we learned much from this performance. Far too many mistakes and penalties (9 for more than 100 yards). Essentially, we ran into a team that was much more undisciplined than us (11 penalties and a blocked punt) and hung on. The other item that was affirmed was the presence of the poor culture. We had a 21 point lead and needed to hang on against a flawed opponent. In the postgame, it looked as if both Coach Frost and Dicaprio Bootle were letting out a giant sigh of relief. We desperately need to clean up the mistakes and the mentality if we want to be competitive every week.

Completely agree with this sentiment. 9 penalties for more than 100 yards this past week. While I am pleased that we put one in the win column, it was largely because we encountered an opponent more undisciplined than us (Purdue had 11 penalties and a blocked kick). We will not win many more with statistics like this. Bowl practices could help us clean some of this up. Again, we need to stress the fundamentals in order to truly turn this program around.

@Xmas32 I will always welcome a dynamic playcaller to the mix. I just know that the depth and breadth of our problems are such that 1 player will not alter our course. We witnessed what the addition of a Frazier meant to a 9 win team (National Championships) or even a Mahomes to a perennial playoff team in Kansas City. That said, those teams were already fundamentally sound and had strong foundations. The foundation for this team may have been poured, but it remains structurally unsound. Believe me, I would love a quick fix, but it just seems like we are whistling past the graveyard if we place our hopes for next year in an offseason transfer.

First and foremost, I understand the excitement given the current state of this program. We are all looking for a football messiah to change this program's fortunes. Having said that, our situation will not change significantly with the addition of one player. The turnovers, penalties and mental mistakes that plague this program will not disappear with this addition. Fix the fundamentals and we will return to competitiveness. Incidentally, how did Sam Keller turn out for NU?

Without question, Adrian is the better fit for this offense at this point. LM should be on the field, however as a utility player given his shortcomings in the passing game. It makes little sense to keep his speed on the sideline when we have such a lack of playmaking ability with our skill positions. All of that said, I do feel as if we fixate too much on the QB and spend too little time discussing line development. Out of curiosity, when was the last time NU had an offensive lineman named to a first or second All-Conference team? Speaks volumes about where our deficiencies lie.

I only speak truth after 34 years of following this program. It is realism, not optimism or pessimism. This is a results business. Now that we are finally compensating like a top flight program, we should expect a reasonable return on this investment. Demonstrable annual progress is the name of the game (fewer mistakes, improved competitiveness, and ultimately more wins).

Could we actually be headed for darker days in the future? We may end this season with a single win. In what was a developmental year and with little pressure to perform! I used to believe that hitting bottom for NU was missing bowl games (circa 2004). Must we actually achieve 0-12 in order to hit bottom? Will paper bags with eye holes be available for sale outside Memorial Stadium next year? Sounds possible.

I learned that we have truly descended as a program. When we complain about a "clap-cadence" and difficult scheduling, we can no longer call ourselves an "elite" program. Does anyone recall K-State Quarterback Chad May complaining about Husker defenders "gouging" his eyes out following their 24-7 loss to a Frazier-less, Berringer-less Husker team in 1994? If it looks like one, and talks like one, it is one (an excuse). Let's fix our fundamentals and quit complaining about externalities. Snapping, blocking, tackling, turnovers. Finally, and separately, do we really need a data analytics team to interpret what we see every Saturday? I heard something yesterday about percentage of scoring success when we snap well and fail to commit a penalty on an offensive series. A pencil and paper are sufficient to track our problems. We are making our problems far more complicated than they are.

Given the persistent discipline problems that I have seen for 10 years (spanning 3 coaching staffs), I do not think staff changes now will fix our problems. These are structural issues that seem engrained in what is now a losing culture. Moreover, staff changes not only mean disruption, but also come at significant monetary cost as well as time to transition to a new approach. At this point, while I remain skeptical of this staff's ability to turn it around, I think we have little choice but to stay the course for another couple of seasons. Not out of confidence in there being light at the end of the tunnel, but out of a true lack of options. We are truly in a box.

I think it is profoundly unfair to lay the blame for this program's ineptitude at the feet of this Athletic Director. Hindsight is always 20 / 20 and we know that three years ago we had a fan base, a donor base and an administration clamoring for the strongest head coaching candidate in years (who just happened to be a favorite son) to return. Had AD Moos gone a different direction, and even succeeded, fans and donors would always question why Moos had "failed" to sign the favorite son. I believed too that this was the best choice at the time. However, after 3 years, and with comparison to other recent hires (Mullen - UF / Fisher - TX A&M / Kliemann - K-State) it is very difficult now to call this a good fit. The problems with this program are now bigger than 1 coach can resolve. We are fast becoming Arkansas, a traditional power whose history is now completely detached from its' program. Very sad.