Lonestar_Husker

Foot pedal to feed wire would lead me to believe some sort of industrial sewing machine. Is there any kind of reciprocating action? If not, I like the flux capacitor idea. Be on the lookout for Delorean parts laying about.

Niles Paul had a planking contest this week on facebook. Winner got an autographed NU helmet.

Not just because of the name.

youtube doesn't have an original version of this one. Guilty Pleasure? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol-KrTTta4g

Nexus reminded me of something.

Since when are we running the triple option offense of the 90's title teams? I think we could run whatever we wanted with that line. As disciplined and cohesive a unit as there ever was. Not very many false starts or holds. Upperclassmen who knew what needed to be done and the athleticism to get it done.

Which radio stations? I listen to all 3 sports talk radio stations here and have not heard anything.

He was also a senior. Yes, Joe Ganz was a senior. He knew more plays. Kind of making my point. What was everyone expecting with a one dimensional redshirt freshman at the most critical position on offense? I'm pretty sure Ganz's commitment to getting better and his hard nosed attitude EARNED the respect of his teammates. The respect has to be earned, even from the QB. I believe respect can be earned from a young player. The comments about this being "his team" demonstrates, in my opinion, that Taylor was expecting to get that respect just by being named the QB. I'm not sure he followed that up with hard work in the film room and on the practice field. The footwork and the panic in the pocket were indicators of something not sinking in. We should have been able to expand the playbook as the year went on. Yet, everyone complains that we were unimaginitive and predictable, and we were. All I'm saying is I'm not totally convinced it was just one man's fault. Although, I think something needs to be done. If Bo doesn't want to run the type of offense that Watson is good at coaching, then he needs to find a coach that's good at coaching(teaching) the offense that he wants to run. I see a red flag, though. How did Taylor light up the first string defense in fall practice? It would seem his defenses are susceptible to a mobile QB. Garrett Gilbert ran successfully. So did Jake Locker. I wouldn't even call Gilbert mobile. And our O-Line was not very good.

How many fumbles did Ganz have?

The current offensive line is not able to block sufficiently to execute that offense. We just don't have the disciplined horses up front to run that. False starts and holding penalties would kill that offense.

So let me get this straight, Taylor should be man enough to take a public over the top azzchewing on a regular basis, yet we must handle Bo with kiddie gloves. The person responsible for the entire universities reputation and standing is supposed to handle this in-house? What goes around, comes around. If you don't want to get publicly admonished, don't publicly embarrass the university. Same thing for Taylor, if you eff up, you're going to get a deserved azzchewing. If you want to handle things "in-house", that's fine, then do it consistently.

Performance psychology is universal. I'm a golf professional and work with players of all abilities and ages. I can't make a person consistently break 80 if that person won't work on their short game and putting. That's not on me. There has to be a desire to get better and an understanding that I can help them get better. There also needs to be trust that what I am trying to teach will help them lower their scores. If a parent brings me their child and wants me to help them get a scholarship, then dictates what we work on, it doesn't work. I've had parents tell me that they heard on TV, that you need to be in the fairway to score better, so I need to get junior's driver straightened out. Which may be true, but junior 3putts more than he 2putts and can't chip to save his life. Nevermind that having a good short game will reduce tension on full shots, which will then produce better full shots and less reliance on the short game. If you know that you can get it up and down from anywhere, then that shot from the fairway or tee becomes less important and thus, easier to execute. Which Micheal Vick would you rather have? The one who played for Atlanta and eschewed preparation, who took off after one read, or the one who plays for Philly now, who has more patience, goes through his reads and actually spends time in the film room studying his opponents and works on his game. Development is a 2-way street. One has to want to get better and work at it. The player who already knows it all won't get better. Was Joe Ganz more talented than Taylor Martinez? He sure played a helluva lot better. From what I understand, he was a filmrat, he worked very hard to learn every aspect of the offense he played in. He studied his opponents and understood their weaknesses and bought in to the gameplan and had the patience to make ALL of the reads and then took off only when there was no other choice. Minor Orangeblack or Chrissy Simms? One had the pedigree and rocket arm, was pretty much clueless, yet already knew it all, the other just knew what the defense was trying to do and found a way to exploit that with limited physical abilities. I don't know what the hell happened on Thursday night. It looked to me that we got completely dominated on both offensive and defensive lines. Who is responsible for motivating the team? How can Jake Locker keep running wild? Garrett Gilbert ran wild, too. A little help on the play calling might have helped a struggling line. There has to be a lane for the shovel pass to work, why no screen passes? If what Big Willie mentioned about Beck doing prep and Watson calling the game is true, then that is a recipe for disaster. After our previous matchup with them and our running domination, I figured that they would scheme to stop the run. I can't believe that we didn't try to adjust. The only thing I know is our O-line has looked average at best all season. D-Line hasn't looked very good either, but from what I've read about Pelini's scheme, they are to occupy blocks and funnel the ball to LBs, so they could be doing a great job within the defensive scheme. I don't care who the QB is or what the offense is trying to do, if the line can't block then there is not much that will work. A screen pass or 2 will make the defense at least think twice about just pinning their ears back. I'm starting to think that Watson would be better off somewhere else, especially if Bo doesn't trust him and meddles in what he is trying to do. The whole cooking and buying the ingredients thing. I know if I'm being held responsible for results, then you better let me do it my way. If you make me work on junior's driver 90% of the time, don't blame me if he keeps shooting 90. If junior doesn't want to practice chipping and putting, I can't make him break 80.

I'm not a fan of the Big Lebowski. I thought that was the dumbest movie I've seen lately and I just watched it for the first time 2 weeks ago. Everytime Jeff Bridges talked reminded me of an annoying inmate that talked just like that and I wanted to punch Jeff Bridges through my TV. I almost powered off the movie within 30 minutes but stuck it out hoping that it would get funnier but in the end I wasted 2 hours of my life. You got the wrong guy, I'm the dude, man.

We gave up about 1000 yds and 64pts to the state of Oklahoma this year.

Why do people say stuff like this? Like the 1995 offense wasn't balanced? If I recall correctly, the first touchdown scored in the national championship game was a passing touchdown, by Nebraska. There are lots of ways to be balanced. You can use the run to set up the pass. The 1995 offense, and basically all of Osborne's offenses, were tremendous at that. They'd go 5 yards up the middle, 3 yards around end, 4 yards up the middle, 4 yards up the middle, 3 yards up the middle, 6 yards around end, and then 40 yards over the top on playaction. Our offense this year has been like that at times, so threatening with big runs on the ground that we've been able to pop Kyler Reed for big plays on playaction. Part of what is disturbing about Watson's offense this year is how much less effective they were running the ball once Martinez was hurt. Once they lost that home run threat, the offense didn't know what it was anymore. Instead of asking 3rd year starter Roy Helu or 2nd year co-starter Rex Burkhead to plow forward for 2-4 yards, we'd go into a west coast styled passing game, where we ask a redshirt freshman QB still raw in the passing game to make short throws that are all about timing and accuracy, and 50% of the time we'd waste a down in the process, also putting us into 2nd/3rd and long situations. Even when we complete those passes, the result is the same as a short run, and doesn't help to set up the run like the vertical passing game does. Rather than play to our strengths, we played to our weaknesses, and we seemed to lack the strategy and commitment needed to set up a strong running game once we didn't have two home-run threats on the field at the same time. That's just something we should be able to do, especially given the tools we had this year even without a healthy Martinez at QB. I say this because the offensive lines of the mid 90s were much better than the offensive line we played with this year. It's much easier to throw once in a while when there are 9 defenders close to the line of scrimmage. How many freshmen played on the line for Tom Osborne? We had several get playing time this year including redshirt freshman Jeremiah Sirles STARTING at left tackle. Aaron Graham has said in interviews that he would tell the defensive tackle across from him what play NU was going to run and chuckle because he knew that there was nothing that could be done to stop it. Would any of those lines have been overwhelmed like this years line was in the CCG? It doesn't make much sense to have Roy or Rex plow forward for 2 to 4 yds on first and 15 after a false start of 1st and 20 after a hold. We just don't have the horses upfront to dictate and dominate like we did back in the day. Then, throw in the running backs we had. Lawrence Phillips, terrible human being, great running back. Ahman Green anyone? Damon Benning was about as good as anyone on this years roster. Of course, if the hole appears where it is supposed to on a consistant basis, it can make average backs look pretty good. And coordinators look good, too. As far as a vertical passing game goes, I agree. Does Taylor have sufficient arm strength to go deep? He did look better at passing as the year went on. He looked horrible early, then better and better. His throwing motion definitely improved. But I think he was named the starter because of his running ability, not his passing ability. I think sticking with him was just to send a message that he was our guy, so as not to bring confidence issues into play. The QB position is a little different in that regard. Competition is good for most positions, but you don't want your QB playing tight, looking over his shoulder, feeling like one mistake could cost him his position. He needs to be relaxed and confident to perform at a high level. I'll equate it to something I know about. A 3foot putt should be a 3foot putt. The 3foot putt is a lot easier on the practice green than on the 72nd hole of the US Open. If you're worried about results, execution suffers. Competion before the season is desired. Once a QB is chosen, he needs to have the support of the team and he needs to support the team at the same time. He is the leader. I can think of 3 offensive plays in our losses that would have changed the outcome of those games. I can think of 3 defensive plays, also. Texas game. Offensive play that would have made a difference: Any of the dropped touchdowns, but I'll take Rex's because it was early in the game before the anal pucker factor rose to diamond producing levels. Defensive play: 2nd qtr. 3rd and 5 from about midfield. 40 yard pass to Fozzy Whitaker to our 10yd line, setting up their 2nd touchdown to go up 17-3. Whitaker caught 34 passes this year for an avg of 6yds per catch. This was his longest of the season. Stop that and Texas punts and we don't grip even tighter. aTm game. Offensive play: Kyler Reed is open in the endzone with zero defensive help inside. He has beaten his defender. Taylor throws the ball behind Kyler to the only defender in the area. He did not have to fit it in a tight spot, there was nobody inside, just lead Kyler to the inside and a TD is assured. Even an incomplete gets us 3 precious points. Defensive play: Gotta go with the Roughing the Passer. If Courtney jumps to block or tip the pass, that penalty is probably not called. It was a total BS call to begin with, but the officials were looking to give aTm every opportunity. Don't give them one. OU CCG. Offensive play: Taylor's interception in the endzone. He is the starting QB at Nebraska. He threw the ball back across his "bodeh" into a crowd of defenders. I would think that he learned not to do that in POP WARNER. You just don't do that....at any level. Brett Favre can't get away with it either. It cost the Vikings big time last year. Anyway, it cost us at least 3 precious points. Defensive play: How do you let a player from a team that is down 17-0 and getting it's azz kicked behind you for a 50yd TD? I was a believer until that play. I could feel the air just let out of the team. The confidence really dropped after that play. It seemed like that is when some players tried making plays instead of doing their jobs. Again, the bootyhole pucker was in full effect. This is what I mean when I say it's a team game, there were plays on either side of the ball that could have made a difference. It's not neccessarily just coachspeak. We were very close to having a "magical" season. 3 plays on either side of the ball. What were the expectations for this year? If anyone expected an undefeatd season, then cranial examinations are in order. I expected to win the north and have a realistic shot at the Big 12 title. I hoped to win the Big 12, but I realize that there are other good teams with good coaches, that have players who play hard. We had a good shot, we gave it a shot and fell just short. Boooo Hooooo. Waaaaaaaaa. I wish we had given it our best shot, but we didn't. We played hard. We tried, perhaps, just a little too hard. I don't think it's just one man's fault. To say one dude prevented the team from reaching it's goals is short sighted in my opinion. Next year could be even better. The depth and experience should be more apparant, especially on the offensive side of the ball at key positions, QB and offensive line. If we have to break in a new offensive coordinator and scheme, I will temper my expectations. There is no guarantee that the next guy will be any better. I hope he gets enough time to prove himself. There is a shortage of patience around here. I guess there always has been, according to TO. There is pressure at a lot places, I realize this. It just seems amplified around here.

"You will find injuries (even key injuries), youth, inexperience, bad luck, etc. on just about every team. And yet, most don't fold up and shrug their shoulders when they get shutout of the endzone if not shutout altogether. They find a way to carry on." So you're saying that most teams are undefeated this year? It's also time for the Watson haters to realize that there were plays to be made in all of our losses. Dropped balls vs Texass. I don't even want to go into the aTm debacle, suffice it to say that even after the hosing by the refs, there were plays to be made, and like CCG, turnovers that cost us precious points. We are a young team, QB and O-line have young players that should develop. There is not enough evidence that the current offensive staff can't develop these young men. Cody Green needed a redshirt year. Taylor is a redshirt FRESHMAN, perfection should not be expected by reasonable observers. The offense gave us a 17-0 lead in CCG. How does the defense let someone get deep? I knew that they would have to start taking some desperation shots, yet they threw a 50someodd yd bomb for a TD. Virginia Tech a few years ago? Why not the same vitriol? Reasons are excuses depending on one's point of view. How does Garrett Gilbert avg. over 7yds per carry against this defense? His season avg was 3ypc. Texas rushed for over 200 yds against this defense. They averaged 4.5 yds per rush against this defense, a little OVER their season avg of 4.2ypc. Gilbert threw for 10 TDs and 17 ints. No ints against this defense. They were a turnover machine this year and zero vs NU. Texas scored 20 points and we should've scored at least 30+. Dropped balls. Garrett Gilbert runs for 71 yds? OU had a much more potent offense. Landry Jones threw 35 TDs vs 11 ints. 65% completion rate. We did well to hold them to 23 points. They passed for 342 yds. That's a lot of yds against this defense. They put up 454 total yards against this defense. Time of posession favored NU. 32 minutes-28 minutes, so fatigue should not have been an issue. Turnovers: Nebraska=4 Oklahoma=1. They scored 17 points in the second quarter. Over 8yds per pass attempt against this defense. 4 turnovers. 4 turnovers and one in the endzone taking away at least 3 points. Redshirt freshman athletic QB. It's a team game. Turnovers at inopportune times cost us 2 games and dropped balls cost us the third. It wasn't just the offensive coordinator that cost us those games. I fail to see why it's so hard to believe that it wasn't just one guy, a coach, that lost those 3 games. I just don't think that it's all Watson's fault. We finished with the #22 ranked offense with 414 yds per game. 32.7 points per game. Defense was #10 at 304 yds per game. What's interesting is we had 869 plays ran against us for 3,955yds, by far the most plays in the top 15. One extra game, too. OU ran 79 plays. That is a lot of plays. 790 plays is still the most out of the top 10 defenses. Bend but don't break mentality. Turnover margin wasn't as bad as expected. 19 interceptions and only 4? fumbles recovered for the defense vs 7 interceptions and 42(OMG!) fumbles with 15 lost for the offense. There was a huge difference in penalties. 97 for 891yds against NU. Opponents had 60 for 522 yds. That's almost 30yds per game. Whose responsible for that? Long post longer, it's a team game and I think it's unfair to throw one dude(2 dudes?) under the bus. If he's gone, he's gone, we will still need to be balanced to be effective. It's not 1995 anymore, people need to realize this.

Thank You! After seeing numerious Pelini sideline tirades - I'd say Mangino might be mild in comparison. It's quite hypocritical to talk about Mangino in this way, when Bo has brought more than his share of negative media attention to the program recently. Tom's a guy willing to give guys a second chance. I wouldn't doubt that Mangino learned plenty with his experiences as an HC. In fact, the HC possition is probably what got his ego to that point anyway. No one else that commented while that played out had ever seen that side of him on the football field. That included guys like Stoop. Honestly, if you wanted to analyze him, you're probably looking at a guy that has been put down his entire life (just look at the demeaning comments on this board thus far) - now after 2007 he has most of the state of Kansas kissing his ass and talking about him in a way no one has ever praised him. It would be impossible for that not to go to someone's head. He got taken down a notch. I highly doubt it would happen again. It's one thing for us to bash Watson's play calling, or to critisize Paul's ability to catch a ball. I saw plenty of people on this board come to their defense. But personally, I think it's BS that a "Mangino as OC?" thread fills up with nothing but fat jokes. The sideline behavior is something that happens in the heat of battle. It was a crazy atmosphere at aTm. There isn't much time to think about the consequences of one's actions. There was/is room for improvement in that regard. I think the team will reflect a coaches behavior during a game. If the coach is borderline out of control, the team could very well play that way and go over the line on the field. I think there was a lot of "stuff" happening at that game, and the behavior displayed was a culmination of the pent up frustration of officiating from the last 3 or 4 games before College Station. To a man, the players on this team love Bo, they know he has their backs and will go above and beyond for them. There wern't many Kansas players that came to Mangino's defense. Criticizing a players play on the field or effort is one thing, bringing up a players family issues and race as a way to demean that player is not only just plain mean spirited, it's counterproductive if you're rying to educate your players on how to get through life honorably and honestly. When people demean others' family and race, things people have no contol over, then the goal is not educating, but just trying to make ones self feel better about themselves by tearing others down. It's even worse if the abuser is in a position of authority. That's what he was doing, abusing his players, not criticizing their efforts. I have spoken with one of his former players, also. A personal trainer at a local gym that I attend was a linebacker for KU in the mid 2000s. I usually don't have "inside" information, and I wouldn't describe this as such, it's just the topic of his firing came up during a workout and I heard some stories. I don't want the guy as a coach.

I don't want Mangino, he seems to have deep psychological issues. Morbidly obese and very abusive to players would indicate self loathing. Mike Leach would drive everyone nuts in Nebraska. He ran a successful offense at Texas Tech, but he did not "pound the rock" as so many seem to want at NU. He is arrogant beyond comprehension. I don't think he will settle for a coordinator position, anyway. Bo would have to keep a tight reign on him and Leach would not like that. He hates punting and eschews conservative field position football. Our current QBs and those hopefully coming in are not the type of QBs he uses. I just don't think we as a fanbase are openminded enough to handle Mike Leach as OC. Bo is an old school conservative type of coach, Mike Leach looks at the "percentage play" as a challenge to his intelligence, which he has in abundance, along with arrogance. If Watson is gone, then he's gone. No biggie, I think we could get a very capable replacement. I think the dude who runs the Nevada offense might be a good fit. I don't know if it's the HC or OC there that does that, but that pistol thingy seems to fit our personell. I believe that balance is essential, we can't just line up and mow teams over, anymore. Keeping the defenses honest is the best way to be successful. We're sure as he!! won't be mowing over too many Big 10 defenses. I would like to see more of a pro-style offense. QB under center is not such a bad thing. That is one issue that I did have with what we ran this year, too much shotgun. But I realize that I'm a golf professional and as such I am perfectly content to let those who know more than me do what they think is best. We are still a young team, especially at QB, so I expected some mistakes.

WHOA. "Husker Fans" do not think this. Crazy whackjob nutcases think this. Husker Fans are not defined by the tiny percentage of idiots who do stupid things. There are Husker Fans in the Nebraska State Pen who are rapists, murderers, etc. They do not define the fans any more than idiots who send death threats to Dan Beebe. The vast majority of Husker Fans are good people and do good things. Let's let the majority define the fans, not the minority. Yes, I guess you could say they are not fans. But they identify themselves as fans, and criticize a team they are "fans" of, and do affect the players. I wish everyone could just drop the rumors, and realize if they went out there with a facebook page full of dbag comments, it'd be a little nerve racking. JUST SUPPORT THEM, that's all i'm asking. I'm with you, I can't stand rumors. But also if you can't take a little criticism you have no business playing D1 football. A little criticism is OK, even productive when given without hateful vocabulary and negative emotions. What has been said about Taylor and some of the coaches has been over the top, in my opinion. I, for one, really appreciate the efforts of the whole team this year. We play hard, every down, every play, and I couldn't say that from about 2002 to 2007. That is all we should ask of these young men. Play hard, play your role, never give up, and stay out of trouble off the field. In the deed, the glory. Everyone is going to get knocked down, Nebraska has been getting back up the last 3 years and looking to knock someone else down. GBR!

Look on the bright side, if he leaves, most of the staff, including Watson, will probably be gone, too. Isn't that what "the whole state of Nebraska" wants? I would think that there are numerous canidates available here on HuskerBoard. Most seem to think that they know more about football than 75% of the coaches on staff. So, polish up those resumes, Tom Osborne could be looking for a few good men, soon. I don't think he will go. But to claim Miami is a huge step down is ludicrous. It is a program that the media will pump up as soon as it shows any signs of life, kind of like Nebraska. National perception is that Miami is a good coaching job, a good program, and just slightly more "thuggish" than Nebraska. We don't get much benefit of any doubt if one of our players goes astray, thanks to our mid90s teams. I think he is a great coach and really hope he stays. I want the whole staff back. Gimore, Cotton, and Watson included. There would be varying levels of despair if Cotton or Gilmore left, but I have seen improvement each year. I thought our O-line would perform a little better later in the year, so Cotton wouldn't kill me. I think our receivers have been concentrating on blocking more than catching, but with our chosen offensive scheme, it seems both skills are of equal importance. No, I'm not in the Watson can do wrong mindset, either, before I get labeled as such. A few screen passes would have gone a long way in slowing down the pass rush against OU, but, overall, I'm pleased with this year. We started a redshirt freshman at QB for chrissakes. Flawless performances should not have been expected. I expected a shot at the conference championship and that's what we got. We played hard, but tightened up, on both sides of the ball, as soon as OU threw that bomb for a TD. It was an exciting nailbiter of a game, which is why I watch in the first place. It would have been a whole lot better had we won, but I was entertained and emotional and fired up and excited for 3plus hours. I'm 44. This rarely happens anymore. I think it's easier for Miami to find a good coach than for Nebraska. There is still a perception that as a fan base, we are unreasonable. After firing a coach that goes 9-3, we are seen as expecting too much. It doesn't matter to people that the idiot who did that is gone. Hey, I did not like what I was seeing with Frank at the helm, but you just can't fire a coach that goes 9-3. I really want Bo to stay, he kind of reminds me of my dad, before he passed 20+ years ago. No nonsense, looks you in the eye, tells you like he sees it kind of guy. His media relations leave something to be desired, but I understand how much that part of the job must just straight up suck. Neither man is/was perfect, but they did what they did with good intentions and seemingly pure hearts. I don't know Bo personally, so I could be projecting, that is just what I sense.

Bad pass. I feel for the kid. Redshirt freshman. That is a lotta pressure.

This is it. Make a play...somebody, please.

Do we have a "hot" receiver? recognize and anticipate.

The pass to Martinez was there. Line needs to do their job.