All Hail Herbie

I used to fly in and out of Philadelphia all the time (with business in DE) and can confirm that. Philly is also the only airport that I successfully ran through in under 5 minutes without shoes! Made my flight to raucous applause by all the gate personnel!

Sincerely, enjoy the games for what they are worth. I was winterizing gardens on Saturday and had honestly forgotten that the Minnesota game was even on. Stats and highlights are about all I could tolerate these days.

That is still a distant second to the Eagles. No fanbase can demean opponents, or their own players for that matter, better than Philadelphia. Throwing batteries and having a court inside the stadium to adjudicate criminal behavior at games will always reign supreme in this department.

Since Coach Freeze was at Briarcrest Chistian School in Memphis until 2004 (high school), I doubt he was offered any FBS head coaching jobs in late 2002 (when Coach Solich was terminated). He only joined the Ole Miss staff as an assistant in 2004.

Minnesota: What did we learn? For Frost Supporters: The team was heavily fatigued as a result of poor scheduling created by Shawn Eichorst, Mike Riley and Bill Moos. Coach Frost is a coaching giant besieged by an overly negative fanbase, a bloodthirsty media cohort, and Conference leadership determined to put Nebraska in its place. Against these odds and many others, he is somehow keeping us competitive. In Year 5, the program will breakthrough these obstacles with the CFP in sight. For Frost Detractors: Minnesota was an event befitting of immediate termination and is the culmination of 4 years of disastrous performances. AD Alberts has already formed a "secret" exploratory head coach search committee and prominent boosters are plotting a coup to expedite the removal of Bill Jennings' prodigy. For Realists: Minnesota is a yawn. It is merely the continuation of poor game execution and coaching that we have witnessed now for 4 years. While a coaching change may occur in the future, our aim is simple; with or without Coach Frost, we just want to return to respectability and a degree of relevance.

Is that a real threat or did you just return home from the Tennessee / Ole Miss game over the weekend? Better question, did the UT fans learn this behavior after watching Colorado home games?

As I have stated before, and assuming the fanbase is prepared to overlook past conduct (both professional and personal), the best available coach in my opinion would be Hugh Freeze at Liberty. Freeze and Liberty play his previous employer (Ole Miss) later this year so keep an eye on that game. November, 2022 will be here before you know it...

He will get a 5th year as a favored son should. In terms of not having a schedule supportive of success, I might tend to disagree. I am not quite prepared to elevate Illinois, Minnesota, Purdue and Northwestern perhaps to the degree that some might. While Coach Fitzgerald has done a remarkable job with little in Evanston and Coach Fleck seems to be establishing an identity for sustained success in Minneapolis, I still find our underwhelming performances against these programs to be largely of our own making. All 4 are winnable games year after year, and yet we find creative ways to lose several of these each season.

I would venture to say that we go 1-3 in the final 4 with our lone win coming against an underachieving Wisconsin team. Interestingly enough, Wisconsin looks more like us this season than Badger teams of recent memory. Fascinating how a team can completely scrap its' identity (devotion to run game) and crumble in games. Does this sound familiar?

Honestly, the best outcome for all parties would be for Coach Frost and AD Alberts to reach a mutual separation agreement at the end of the season. Coach can walk away with the respect and gratitude of a fanbase for his contributions and the University can pursue other options. While we are more competitive, we should be at a point where we are seeing results in games against lesser opponents consistently. The Northwestern game now looks like more of an aberration than part of a trend.

I sincerely hope that your optimism pays dividends in Year 5. Based on your comments, it appears that Coach Frost's ardent supporters are quickly running out of rationale for staff retention beyond 2022. In terms of optimism, I am optimistic that this fan base will be respectful, kind and above all grateful to Coach Frost for his contributions to NU upon his departure next November.

I join the board this morning and this is the topic I see. Welcome to the ever-growing club of fans who love the program, but cannot bear to witness the same horror film each and every week. As a founding member of this group in 2018, I understand the frustration you have endured. In terms of the game, I caught a few of the lowlights this morning and it was sadly, predictable. This program cannot become bowl eligible again until it conquers the program titans of Northwestern, Minnesota, Illinois, and Purdue each and every year. Had Coach Osborne gone 1-3 or 0-4 against the likes of Kansas, Missouri, Iowa State and Kansas State each year, he would not have lasted long. As I have said repeatedly, Coach Frost will get a 5th year so you should prepare for that reality (unless there is mutual agreement on resignation this season). He will not be terminated. With bowl eligibility now unlikely for a 5th consecutive season, AD Alberts will sit down with the Coach this offseason and establish metrics for performance next year (on a plan). If those are not met, he will be terminated in November, 2022. As simple as that.

Perhaps. But it seems like we are taking our eye off the ball if this becomes the focus right now. It would be a bit like saying we are going to focus on hiring a top flight nutritionist or sports performance analyst when our problems can largely be traced to in-game tactical failures. While improving body mass index might be desirable, it will do little to change the results. Let's spend the money on personnel that will truly alter our position.

To re-state a position I have asserted on many prior occasions, do we really believe our on-field struggles are the result of a talent gap? Do we really need additional help with talent identification / recruitment? I thought the competitive games against OU, MSU, UM would have finally dispelled this notion. While I like Coach O as a recruiter, this is not an area of essential need for this program right now. Maybe a motivational speaker or exorcist would be a better use of resources!

Back in August, I said that while it was rare for a first game, the Illinois contest had the feeling of a "must win" given our schedule. That is now more evident than it was at the time. To show progress, this program must again become bowl eligible. Repeating the utterance that this is a "good team" does not make it so. We are 3-4 for a reason and the issues plaguing the program are a bit like whack a mole. One week it is kicking, the next it is punt coverage, and the next it is offensive turnovers. All FBS teams make mistakes each week, but those that find consistent success limit them (both in terms of number and gravity). While we are doing better with the former this season, the latter remains the sticking point. We spend so much time on this board talking personnel, scheme, playcalling, etc. However, the one element that we do not discuss is whether this team is mentally ready to handle success. While it is an intangible and difficult to measure, it might better explain the collapses week in and week out. We simply do not have any experience with success and thus do not know how to win. A coach can change that...

Without a doubt the team is far more competitive than it has been in quite some time. Let's hope that this fact alone will finally put to rest the ridiculous notion that our struggles originate with recruiting. In terms of game results, the history that this staff has amassed in 3 1/2 years should be evidence enough that this is not a string of misfortune. A program does not lose 16 out of 21 one score games due to unforeseen misfortune. Similarly, an 0-10 mark against Top Ten teams is also not the result of bad luck. Make no mistake, the staff will receive a 5th year so any talk of coaching change is premature. That said, and as I have maintained all along, failure to reach a bowl game for the 5th straight year will start the clock on the end of this Coach's tenure in 2022. Seeing Coach Frost's reaction to the Martinez fumble, the end of his time here may actually come as a relief.

Agreed and good call. Incidentally, what happened to music? So many good ideas on the board today.

With clean execution, this program has the potential to win 8 - 10 games every season. Your point is aimed at enlisting better personnel to run the same scheme (again in clean fashion). Where that is helpful is in transitioning from a solid, consistent program into a contender. Let's take the first step, whoever may be the coach, and then we discuss the second.

It also works well when you line up properly, avoid moving before the snap, avoid holding and above all, avoid putting the ball on the ground. All of which have been elements in our prior losses. Play design, scheme, personnel are all secondary to clean execution.

We could play "Good Thing" by the Fine Young Cannibals every time we win a game.

While I recognize that we have not shown any consistency to date to warrant this, and moreover do not wish to raise expectations, I keep drawing parallels to another Big Ten team in a similar situation, 2016 Penn State. If you recall, it was Year 3 for James Franklin following two mediocre seasons at the helm. PSU had lost to a pedestrian Pitt team early and was absolutely pasted by Michigan. No one, and I mean no one except true believers thought that PSU would defeat Ohio State at home. PSU won a thriller 24 - 21 and ended up launching as a program following that victory. Avoid the penalties, the turnovers, and the identity crisis that has plagued the program for decades, and the opportunity for growth on Saturday is there.

While the score was indeed a pleasant surprise, I could have covered the score and simply looked at the stats that concern me the most, penalties and turnovers, and known that we had won. The question we will answer this week is whether this was an anomaly or part of a trend. Even a broken clock is right twice a day. Pair mistake-free football with a running game that now establishes an identity, and you can see what this program could be. I stress "could be" as potential is sometimes unrealized.

True. But the issues are not specific to this group of personnel. They are endemic at this stage. We have been unable to generate a consistent run game for three years running. The pass blocking has been inconsistent throughout this Coach's tenure which has led to a Jekyll and Hyde scenario each week (many sacks / penalties and conversely, many good scrambles by an athletic QB). Believe it or not, the scramble is our best play! With so many peaks and valleys during drives, it is no wonder that we are unable sustain offensive momentum during a game.

Completely agree. As Lombardi used to say, we are going to relentlessly pursue perfection knowing full well that we will never catch it. Nothing is perfect. But in the process of pursuing perfection, we will catch excellence. Instruction, including effective communication of concepts, is core to this profession. If the kids aren't demonstrating knowledge on the field, than there is a need to re-evaluate your approach to instruction.

Unfortunately, I do think it is being worked on. I use the term unfortunate, because the results after 4 years speak for themselves. Whether the concepts are not being properly conveyed, or the offense is too complex for players to digest, I do not know. John Madden once spoke of a Vince Lombardi coaching seminar that he attended early in his career. He entered as a young Junior College coach that "knew everything". After 8 hours of listening to Coach Lombardi discuss the intricacies of "one play" (the Green Bay Power Sweep), he knew there was much more to learn. That may be where we are, a coaching staff teaching the equivalent of calculus to algebra students. They do not understand the fundamentals well enough to learn the advanced. Focus on mastering the basics and the results will follow.