Hagg

Guy at our watch party said: "I get the feeling Trev Alberts is breathing a sigh of relief as he watches MJ and the team fail. I would not doubt if he wants to start fresh." I hope he's wrong about that. Well maybe I don't. I don't know. Everything is still very unsettled at Nebraska Football.

So I guess Mickey and crew are thinking about the 4th quarter.

Crap O-line. Crap deep D. Damn.

Aw Shucksers 28 Red Faced at Night 17 Land 236 Air 312

The joke was Scott Frost, as he showed us all just how misguided hero worship can be. Now we've got a coach who has the team listening. If the feeling of winning sets in we'll have a monster, but realistically we'll likely beat Rutgers and Purdue (Purdue a bit less likely but still not in the sure loss column). Two more wins in addition to those two, and those two would be listed as a "quality wins," and we're bowl bound and also we're going to be challenged to believe in yet another "great hire" as our new coach, not to mention how challenged the returning players would be and here we go again. It's also a plus for this program to have an African American as a Head Coach, another great reason to stop the search until after the season. But yeah, those next 4 wins and the bowl have to be there.

Plus 1. But that keeps bumping up against the fact that Nebraska fielded an African American Head Coach for any sport for the first time when we fielded Micky Joseph. Startling and shameful, especially in a sport wherein about half the players are Black (seems to depend on whose stats we look at, could be 67% and could be 42%, etc). Nebraska does seem to have a race problem when it comes to football coaches (perhaps basketball as well). "Proven" coaches are those who have been in environments where they could flourish, from their bosses to their assistants and their players. Rare for a Black coach with the notable exception of schools in the UNCF universe or other schools that receive support akin to some sort of affirmative action. I think that our AD and Regents should be looking long and hard at those facts. Perhaps they are, it's been brought up. Of course they run into the "reverse" racism noise once they begin openly a process of seeking a Black Head Coach. Well, tough luck, in my opinion; it's too overdue for White people to pretend like they have not been represented as college football Head Coaches. Deion Sanders does come to mind, as upward mobile in his career. But what grinds me about him is his seeming lack of a center; he's got irons in all sorts of fires, including singing, acting, and other endeavors. Would he be fully focused on what we need here? Lovie Smith is a bit long in the tooth, and has left college coaching. Tony Elliot? Marcus Freeman? Stan Drayton?

When looking at "reported coaches being considered for the Nebraska HC job" do we see any proven great coaches for the current era in college football (one who seem to have the pedigree publicly denied interest, Stoops). This O'brien guy (according to social media) has quite a cadre of fans who would be happy to pack for him and give him a ride to Lincoln, get him a hotel room, and wave buh-bye from O Street as they head happily back home.

You want to get recruits? Lovie Smith on our sideline would do that. (ducking from coming blizzard of laughy emojis)....

..to work here.

He talked a good game. Said all the right things. Displayed knowledge, verbally. Improved UCF's D. https://www.postindependent.com/sports/attitude-adjustment-makes-chinander-confident-in-husker-d/ What went wrong? He looked and sounded like an excellent hire. So did Frost. Honestly, what went wrong? They had several full seasons here, and produced dreck right from the git go.

I guess Chinander's role is now a cinnamon roll at Runza. With chili, of course.

Can you say it with nicey language? They won't ban you for hating on coaches or players here, will they? My take from the game came in two big categories as we walked back to our car after the game: 1. Fans. Not.Like.It.Used.To.Be. The cheers during the game came less loud and with no fire, no hope. Downtown Lincoln seemed different for being so crowded. It might as well not have been crowded. Sooners fans were treated well, as usual, but they had no smiles for us, just contempt. 2. Coaches and our play. Loud coach. Mickey was loud. We could hear his words. He stayed that way for quite a while, too. The team did nothing to indicate that they wanted this game. Skill levels were mostly low to mediocre. Speed was gone. Tackling sucked, as usual. O-line looked like they were in fear throughout the game with the notable exception of the first drive (which they paid for during the rest of the game). The defense was lost on most plays and the word "disarray" was heard around our section more than once. I found myself wondering if a beloved Husker like Mickey Joseph could be part of the problems we've been having. Those problems were here prior to him, of course, but did he add to that or help? I can't see the help since he's been here, not just since he got Interim, of course; just one game/one week. But is he a fit for success for us? I don't know. Lots of "I don't know" around the stadium about a lot of things in the Nebraska football program.

'Cept for the occasional "Good luck in the bowl game" from a fan of the enemy team.

In the end, Nebraska’s energy is easily surpassed by the talent and stability on the other sideline.

Young couple (30s) in Husker gear getting into their car on M street by the library.. the guy said, rather matter of factly, "I guess Nebraska doesn't have football anymore." Gal, "The Haymarket is cool for food, then we can go to that rabbit hole place downstairs for the dessert stuff they have cake pops and amazing cheese cake..... blah .(voice trailed off).." Kansas plates. Must've driven up for the game. "..Nebraska doesn't have football anymore."

Yeah, a is about it for that game.

Headed downtown but this time not stopping at our haunts. Just the union then the stadium to watch The Upset Of The Century as we outscore The Pretenders To The Throne, Oklahoma. Johnny Rogers and others will be there, but Johnny the Jet will inspire the win for us.

Ehhh.. okay.

Okay. If you have a handle on who and what positions these highest level skill players are, along with a bit of depth in those positions, what sort of plays should we be running for success? Anything new? Anything we've seen but need more of? It's an honest curiosity, as we've driven downfield several times in every game and racked up yards and points enough to win. Do we run that same stuff? Do we honestly need to make many changes at all on offense (other than O-line discipline)? The mirror image of my questions about that have to do with the D nearly always giving up enough yards/points to lose games in which we've scored plenty of points. So that is the Chinander conundrum and wrt to his hopefully diminishing role.

As compared to what top coaches out there would demand, it's a very safe bet that MJ would sign for heavy on the incentive side and lighter on the salary side. On the cheap is an egg saturation, of course. But still there.

That's a durned good question, and one that is practically behind every other discussion since Frosty the No-Showman melted. I'm thinking that the manner of the losses may not matter, after so many close games in the past couple of years, so yes he needs to win and show real, real progress, it he's to be our HC. It'd likely be an on-the-cheap contract, so there's that incentive to keep him, but he'd need six wins and a good showing in a bowl game to cap the season to have an argument to be promoted, imo. A small peripheral question would be are we asking for 6 wins in addition to the one already won, or do we mean 7 with him at the helm for 6 more? Is it 5 by him and one for Frost? I'll go with give us the 6 altogether and the 7th in the bowl, Mister Joseph. Do that for us and the Seniors.

No. He’s the salaried DC. But I’m liking the way MJ is moving chess pieces around. I’m very much looking forward to Saturday.

Glad he took them away. Dump it altogether, it’s from an era that was too different. OR award them for extraordinary performance only. Make them coveted… again.

I have no idea what you're on about. Is this a case of two people who agree but one of them does not like that?

One of my anxiety sources, wrt Husker football. I'm hoping Coach Joseph is pondering all that.