HuskerBob4

The thing that kills me about all this expansion talk and conference shuffling is that the NCAA has absolutely no oversight. I would like to see the NCAA have a commish like the NFL and begin a standardization process. Take the 120 teams who are currently in the FBS and put together 12 strategic conferences of 10. Have everyone play the other 9 conference foes and then have 3 non-conference games. Then have the conference champs get automatic bids into a playoff and then for the other 4 spots have 8 teams in a playoff game. Then we hypothetically give the whole top 20 or so teams have a shot at playoffs. The bowls would run the day after Christmas thru New Year's eve. If I had more time I would write about my ideas for the conference make-ups... It's just hard for me to believe that no one ever brings up a NCAA Commish...

For the "OKC/Tulsa is the center of the Big XII" crowd... Where exactly would you host a nationally televised CCG??? The population of the Big XII is heavily tilted to the South and the DFW area is a huge recruiting battle ground. If we take care of business and keep winning the north and playing in DFW, we will have more of a shot at the top recruits from that area and thus make us better equipped to compete on the national stage. I can't stand UT for the most part and probably dislike the Horns more than most on this board, but this talk is irrational. I am in favor of dropping Baylor and Iowa State and playing all 9 conference teams. The money lost from not playing a CCG would be made up by not having two extra schools to split the pie with.

I'm glad you brought this up. I feel like we should have a very balanced, ball control, clock eating offense much like Stanford. (Very similar from what I've seen to Bama) I think the midwest is ripe with TEs and FBs and we should take advantage of that rather than trying to get 3rd and 4th tier WRs from the south or Cali. I've always been a proponent of a Pro Style offense with some flair added.

I noticed that you left off Tom Walker, umpire, OMAHA, NE I noticed that too! The main guy in charge of holding calls... El Paso is a 10 hr drive from Austin, Beaumont 5 and Texarkana 5+ also... Enough with whining...try being a fan on ISU or Baylor before you b**** about getting jobbed. Us crying about officiating is like Kansas Basketball fans saying they don't get calls at the Phog...

I'm going to assume the one you are referring to is Texas Tech. I have been hearing that alot lately. Need I remind everyone that had Paul not fumbled and they scooped it up and taken it to the house and we scored that drive, it would have been 24-17...AT HOME! Who knows what could of happened... Like Mack Brown said coming into the game, Nebraska is one or two plays away from being undefeated... Granted that was coach speak and we were one or two plays away from barely being bowl eligible...Gomes strip at KU, 4th Quarter Miracle at Mizzou Part II

But his offense is "young" You were probably being sarcastic... not sure. But... the problem is not just coaching --- maybe not even coaching primarily. We, seemingly, do not have a legit D1 QB on the squad. At least, we do not have a legitimate D1 QB ready to play (we cannot, at this point comment on Spano or Martinez). But neither Lee nor Green --- at least where they are at this point --- would overly succeed in any offensive scheme. Our OL is physically fat and not very strong. They are typically manhandled. Our WR are average, at best. Our QB locks on the receiver and has seemingly never heard of going through a progression. Basically, it appears that Watson is trying to contain the damage. If he let Lee and/or Green sling the ball around --- if he opened up the offense --- the likelihood would be a slew of turnovers and short fields for our opponents. So... he knows our only hope for victory is keeping the opponent under 10 or so points and hope to eke something out. If he opened up the offense the turnovers would lead to points for the other team. It seems to me that the play calling is designed to limit the damage that our offense can cause. Give Watson some tools --- a QB like say.... Joey Ganz --- and a Watson-led offense can be productive. It has been in the past and likely will be in the future. IF, he gets some players. This crap is getting old about the QB play and then saying give me Joe Ganz... give Green a chance to develop and you won't utter the phrase "Joey Ganz" again! Funny too how it only took Joey 4+ years to get on the field....for one average, at best, season

I was actually going to put together some stats about Watson offenses until I started noticing his offenses he's coached really weren't that strong. Kinda makes me wonder. Having said that though, I am willing to give him one more year. This year we lost a lot of good players either to graduation or to injury. If after next year there is absolutely no improvement then I'll jump on the "Can Him!" bandwagon. To your point about losing alot of players this year, why not give the new OC a fighting chance to have a decent transition with some "experienced" players...

I live in Austin and know for a fact that it would be a small minority of fans who pulled for us in the NCG if the roles were reversed. And BernOrange's statement about pulling for the Big 12 South teams is BS too...take out OU, A&M, and Tech for sure (not that anyone besides OU or Texas will scare a NC anyways)

StiffArmTrophy.com is a pretty interesting site I have come across in the past couple hours...

This is not a boy's game...so when are we going to give these young men a chance to develop and learn what it means to be a college student-athlete before we right them off???? I'm so sick and tired hearing about how bad Cody Green must be because he can't beat out a guy who knows the offense and how we can't get the best athletes on the field and so on... There are very few freshman that see the field as a QB in an elite program and the few that do are typically in for not so good reasons (injury to incumbent, etc). With the schemes we run and the physical style of football we want to impose on opponents I honestly don't want to see too many freshman burning redshirts unless they are gamebreakers. The other part of my issue is over-hyping of players...especially ones from Nebraska. Please realize it is a very small fish bowl up there and the collective speed of the game is nowhere near the speed of the high school game played in Texas, where most of the Big XII recruits come from. I don't mind Niles Paul as an average D-1 WR but all the hype about him was way overblown... With that said, I'm glad to see our depth chart is going to be filled with alot of returners next year....and alot of young men will get a chance to step up and raise the level of play around Lincoln!!!

http://www.omaha.com/article/20091205/SPORTS/312059910

Thank you for stating this...I too enjoy NFL talents gracing Lincoln with their presence...

If the Big XII has any sense at all, there is millions of dollars on the line.... If we are winners, there are 2 BCS teams in the Big XII, otherwise just 1....MILLIONS....

If the Big XII has any sense at all, there is millions of dollars on the line.... If we are winners, there are 2 BCS teams in the Big XII, otherwise just 1....MILLIONS....

I don't like to attack people on message boards because I obviously have no idea who they are but it is absolutely naive of you to call Asante a thug for a horse collar penalty... Please remember that without an athlete like Asante, this D may not be what it is with him....

Will someone please post the official rules specific to this play? I am really interested in seeing how it is fully written...

Simple answer is NO, I was not surprised by the 108 yards we produced...

Husker Nation....PLEASE WAKE UP and QUIT B****ING...the PI's were indeed very f'ed up, but the biggest break of the game went to us...the kickoff where they were called down at the 1 and clearly wasn't.... Our O is absolutely terrible and it was obvious to me that Watson was auditioning for a HC job somewhere with some of those ridiculous "go for the jugular" play calls. And Lee is not a D-1 QB.... I feel for our D...all the crap some of these guys had to endure in 2007 and now our O treats them like this... TRAGIC

So now Asante "continually draws unnecessary roughness penalties"??? WOW! I can recall at least 4 or 5 off the top of my head and only 2 of them were stupid plays... Also, I wasn't referring to all DBs, just safeties...Ed Reed, Polamula, Sharper, Bob Sanders, all those physical, run support type guys draw their fair share of flags... btw...I hope you're right about us containing the run, sacking McCoy and having Texas on the ropes...

One major problem here...."WATSON using Rex the right way" If he didn't line up Hollywood (aka Marlon Lucky) in the slot and get him the ball in space 15 times a game what makes you think he would have the vision to get a less talented version of Lucky into that role???

If we can beat Texas, I don't care who the BCS throws our way in the Fiesta Bowl... Bring on Boise, Iowa and/or Penn State....

Ed Cunningham was definitely out of line saying he should be ejected. But back to the root of the issue...Asante the Assassin! Please name one physical safety in the NFL that has not received his share of personal foul penalties. There isn't one that comes to mind... People forget that these guys are typically the most athletic, fastest, physically gifted players on the field and there are times where their sheer speed and momentum cause them to make what look like bone-headed plays. I like the fact that Asante is always in there mixing up because opposing teams DO NOT like it...AT ALL... Trust me, the UT WR's will see some of his hits on film and they know he will be there... Please don't take this as condoning all of his actions this year, but it is a nice change from recent history to see an NFL caliber safety making plays for the Huskers....

Where does Texas outshine Nebraska? Unfortunately, everywhere but DT, TE and P/K... QB - Crystal clear, no explanation needed RB - Even at best...lean to Texas because they don't lean on their backs to win games like Nebraska, but when they need them, they are there WR - Shipley isn't even their biggest threat...Malcolm Williams is a freak and hopefully Greg Davis (Texas OC) continues to struggle to get him consistent touches. Niles Paul will only be effective if we force the Horns to bring their safeties to the line to help stop the run TE - McNeill because quite frankly the TE in UT's offense is non-existant due to numerous injuries and adjustments made to formations not using TEs much OL - UT has a much more experienced OL and does the job and avoids being penalized DE - Houston is pretty damn good, and it would be fun watching him line up with Suh and Crick LB - Phil Dill is the only one that will really be on the field in this game and is not as good as UT's top 3 LBs CB - This is an interesting comparison because I think if we are to win we will have to expose Curtis Brown and I have really enjoyed the growth of our CBs, but still would lean towards UT only slightly S - Earl Thomas and Blake Gideon are solid and consistent...Asante is solid and aggressive but not always consistent, O'Hanlon is still on my sh*t list for his lack of aggression about 90% of the time PR/KR - Shipley is a game changer in the kick game, Paul is not... K/P - Henery should win the Guy award for his accuracy and important placement of short kicks but the national writers don't pay attention to the importance of that..they like big averages... Our D will be solid if the DL has their legs under them the whole game, either way we will need to be +2 or 3 in the TO Margin to win but this game will be within reach if we don't give them the ball... UT - 31 Good Guys - 20

Seeing as our goal is to play 14 games a year, I don't like 9 being a good point to be satisfied...BUT... 9-3 thru 12 and playing in the CCG yearly would be acceptable for now! However, I would like to see 10-2 as the perennial benchmark. If we continue to be the North Champs for 3 out of the next 4 years, I think that will let us lay the groundwork of getting back to a legitimate NC caliber team.

Many times I find it very hard to sift through the garbage that is posted on here...most of those times are after losses obviously! What really gets me is why there are never legitimate discussions as to what the real root of the problem is.... Playmakers, Game-Breakers, Difference Makers....words not associated with Nebraska football lately (save Suh and Co. on D-Line) This is the fundamental problem with Nebraska football right now! (And in the recent past) After watching a few of the top-ranked programs today, I sat and discussed with a few different buddies and it is so abundantly clear that outside of the D-Line and maybe the whole D, we don't have ANYONE that can change the game on a dime.... A couple of ideas came to mind to nullify this issues... 1 - True identity on offense - Establishing an identity and getting the 15-17 guys that make up that identity reps in practice should be a major priority. I'm tired of the 9-10 WR rotation we have and 4-5 TE rotation. Florida doesn't do that....Texas doesn't do that....Bama doesn't do that....SC, well they sort of do it, but only at RB....they keep it simple and make sure their best athletes are on the field. We have a WR that was drafted in baseball as a CF that can't even get on the field...I have an issue with that! Dumb it down or do whatever to get him involved.... 2 - When is the last time a Defensive-minded football team had bad special teams??? Bama, Iowa, Texas, Florida, SC, Va Tech all use starters on Special Teams because those are the guys that make plays!!! Get the play-makers involved...and if Niles Paul is such a player, you shouldn't have to have 10 guys creating a wall for him...he should be able to make plays in space... 3 - Change the tempo....now I am taking some principles I learned from 7th grade basketball...if you are going slow and running set plays all the time, and they are stopping you, sometimes the best thing to do is give it to the playmaker and let him create!!! With that said, basically, what I am getting at is changing the tempo, go no huddle and run some iso plays...throw once to the left (Zac does know you are allowed to throw left, right???) and let Paul/Holt/Gilleyen/Mendoza/Bell/Kinnie/or whoever the hell is over there make some plays and then get right back up on the ball and do it again, maybe going right...but for God's sake change the pace!!!! If those 3 basic issues can't be addressed, than what we saw today and last week will become more and more frequent....which is UNACCEPTABLE! The last thing I will say is that if any of you were ever in platooning roles as athletes, or just fighting for playing time, remember how many times you thought "If I don't beat this defender I will get pulled" or "If I don't get extra yards, they'll put him back in"...those thoughts can't creep into athletes' heads OR mistakes will happen! 8 Turnovers WILL happen...the kid shouldn't have to beat a guy out all winter, all spring, all fall camp and then make one mistake and get benched! If Paul is "The #1" than even when he makes a mistake, he needs the ball back...otherwise, you will get guys who are hurt convinced they need to play or they will lose their spot (ie Helu).... Sorry for the rant....just thought it was time to open up an honest conversation about the underlying issues here