ladyhawke

That's how I felt after the game. They DO get it! I hope that passion/anger translates into some passionate playing on Saturday! GO B1G RED!

Nail on the head. I was surprised so many people expected our offense to run like a well-oiled machine the first day out with a new offense, new coordinator, new position coaches, new system of calling plays, 4 new starters on the offensive line, a handful of kids who were in high school a few months ago, ect. I got about what I expected across the board. Maher exceeded expectations. I was glad ball security and penalties seemed improved. There were still fumbles, but none of them were because of the way the ball was being carried. I expected a better showing out of the offensive line, I expected a better showing from BK and Stien also. Definately lots of things to clean up on all three phases of the game, but that's pretty much what I expected. Do you think we expected a better offense because of all the media hype? It seemed like every time I turned on the radio or tv some sports person was saying that they heard that the coaches were all bragging about how good the offense was doing in practice. So, for my part, I expected that the offense would be greatly improved. They did show some improvement but everything is new. One of the things I did enjoy was the change in Martinez's attitude on the sidelines. He was smiling, talking with the other players. That was great! I agree with you, I think we will get better!

What an astute analogy! Yes, that's exactly it. Perhaps my expectations were unrealistic. Did you really consider it a 33 point blow out? I don't know why I can't be satisfied by it. I think for me is because I'm comparing NU with Ohio St., Bama, LSU, et al. However, some of the top teams didn't look their best. (I thought it was a riot that Baylor beat TCU! I couldn't help it! I like TCU but poor Baylor has been the punching bag of college football for so long! I thought it was great for them to have that win!) Someone else wrote that there are those fans that pine for the days when the Huskers were on top. I'm probably one of them. My expectation when we play FCS teams is that we would win like 72-0. Consider the way college football has changed those days are probably dead forever. I shared with another poster that unfortunately, I thought we would be upset. My reason is that those FCS teams have nothing to lose so they come in and just play their butts off. I had visions of SDSU in my head and just didn't have a good feeling about this game. Anyway, we DID win, we did have great plays and some really good things happen. The satisfaction of the game is my problem not the teams!lol Thanks for your observations!

I would agree if this were Ohio State or Wisconsin but not the team we played. I would think, even as a point of honor, that they would make it a priority not to be scored upon. Was my expectation unrealistic? I did think they played well though. I'm very proud of them but maybe my expectations of the entire game were off. I wasn't one of the ones who thought we would 'beat the crap outta them'. It seems like these FCS teams have nothing to lose so why not go in and 'face the giants' They may get lucky and win like SDSU did last season. Do you think we might've underestimated this team? Or was it truly just a 'glorified scrimmage' and because the team knew that they didn't play up to their potential? Thanks for the discussion! OU-47 Tulsa-14 Bama-48 Kent St.-7 FSU-34 UL-Monroe-0 Stan-57 SJSU-3 A & M-46 SMU-14 Okie St.-64 UL-Lafayette-34 VT-66 App. St-13 MSU-28 YSU-6 A lot of teams with big expectations couldn't shut out there much weaker opponents. It's not like we played a high school team here. It is understandable to want a shutout every game, but even against some weak opponents your going to slip up eventually. Last years team didn't get any shutouts. '09 got 2 with the first happening 4 games in. Give the defense time to mold and let our best d-back get on the field before you write this off as a less than stellar performance. We stopped crucial fourth down plays and blocked a field goal. The defense lived up to most of my expectations with some mistakes that are going to happen on opening day. Hope things continue to get better next week!!! Thanks for sharing. I don't think I'm writing them off but I did expect more given how good our defense is. But I must confess, I expected an upset. I just kept thinking of SDSU last year. Chat didn't have anything to lose and sometimes those teams are more dangerous than the Big Guys. I'm glad we won and as a die hard Husker fan I will continue to cheer them on, good weather or bad. I felt like you did after it was all over (looking at the other teams that played.) But when watching some of those other teams I thought, 'Wow, if we don't play any better than this come Wisconsin/Ohio St. time, we're going to get killed.' Things did get better but again, perhaps my expectations were wrong? unrealistic? buried in the past? I'm probably one of those fans who 'remember the Huskers back in the day' I started watching NU when I came to Nebraska in 1979 from Missouri. I couldn't believe how good they were. My husband is a native Nebraskan and he got me so interested in the Huskers that I'm a rabid fan now! lol But I so miss those days when our boys just rolled over the other team. My husband says those days are gone because of all the NCAA changes. Anyway, I haven't written them off, I just expected more from them. I guess I expected a perfect game. (unrealist expectation for any team, eh?)

While it is worrisome that the line didn't get a good push, it doesn't help when the defense knows what's coming. Beck will have learned from his mistakes (hopefully) and this sort of problem won't arise. Also, looking back at the highlights, the line does have some very good plays. For me, it was refreshing to have a coach who didn't just smile and give 'coachspeak' rather a coach who honestly shared what he thought didnt go well and what did. He also took total responsibility for any/all mistakes. I think this coach is going to be good because he's honest, realistic and he is a learner. He's not afraid to ask questions (I can see him picking Tom O's brain on things he doesn't understand) and growing into a fabulous OC!

I would agree if this were Ohio State or Wisconsin but not the team we played. I would think, even as a point of honor, that they would make it a priority not to be scored upon. Was my expectation unrealistic? I did think they played well though. I'm very proud of them but maybe my expectations of the entire game were off. I wasn't one of the ones who thought we would 'beat the crap outta them'. It seems like these FCS teams have nothing to lose so why not go in and 'face the giants' They may get lucky and win like SDSU did last season. Do you think we might've underestimated this team? Or was it truly just a 'glorified scrimmage' and because the team knew that they didn't play up to their potential? Thanks for the discussion!

Wow! Interesting weekend, eh? Our boys won but I think, from what I've read, they played 'below expectation'. I would be curious to hear what your expectations were for this game. I'll start with mine: >I didn't think we would almost fumble the ball on the first kick off return. >I thought our offense would've looked more diversified? >I thought we would see different people run. Martinez ran way too much for my comfort. When he runs he also places himself into an opportunity to get hurt, which we can ill afford this season. >While I thought our defense was good, why did we allow even 7 points? If they are our strength then why are we allowing points to be scored? >I was hoping our O-line would be tougher. It is not. Why? Coaching? If coaching is a problem then why haven't we hired a new O-line coach? Athletic ability? If this is true then I need to simply be patient. If the talent is not there can it be improved upon with our current O-line coach? Unfortunately, I think not. These things were pleasant surprises: >Our new kicker is da bomb >That Stafford kid is a stud as well as the Loerch (sp?)kid >Jamal Turner can RUN-GET HIM THE BALL! >Get Brion Carnes in there as QB as much as possible. So, what were YOUR expectations?

This offense needs Taylor to be the biggest playmaker which is precisely why you will see something eerily similar to 2010. It's not there guys and it won't be. Just curious-Why do you think it 'won't be'?

I agree. We have so much talent in the RB positions, let's use them! If we are a 'running team' then let's run but not always have the qb run. He's going to end up getting hurt. I would much prefer to just move the ball up the field, burn up clock than to have a few big plays and stall the rest of the game.

The O-line seemed to be a major weakness. Question: Can our O-line person be fired during the season or do we have to suffer with this person's coaching for the entire season knowing it's not going to get better? Why was this person retained? Or could it be that we simply don't have strong enough/athletic enough/tough enough players on the O-Line? One of my major 'gripes' about yesterday's game was all the holding the other team did and the refs didn't call it. I didn't think the officiating was very good yesterday. Martinez was whacked a couple of times after he had scored and the refs turned a blind eye, yet when one of our boys, who couldn't stop their momentum, was called 15 yards for tackling out of bounds? Blah! I hate that kind of crap.

It's nice because the BTN obviously only covers Big Ten games leaving them a lot of time to talk about each game. No problems here (Omaha area) I have Cox advanced. However, I didn't like it when they came back to our game and we had missed some of it-not cool. Question: BTN2Go-I am a Verizon subscriber. Can I get that service on my Smart Phone?

Seriously. He's a gamebreaker. He needs lots of touches. I can't wait until teams load up the box and blitz Taylor (which is inevitable). Beck will hopefully have the sense (that our former OC did not) to dial up a screen pass to Green/Heard/Abdullah/Turner/Bell. Look out when any of those guys gets into open space. Question: The commentator with Kevin on Saturday gave some really good suggestions for the offense. Do you think Coach Beck, et al ever listens to those suggestions? I think the commentator was a former quarterback? I thought some of his suggestions were spot on. Thanks!

I remember hearing a poll on KFAB or 1620 the Zone and the question was: 'If Nebraska doesn't play as you expect, how will you react?' I have to admit I didn't have a good feeling about this game. We have a tendency to 'hype' our first game. There was so much talk of 'Oh, we're going to beat the crap outta this team, yeah-we're gonna hand them their a--. but I remember South Dakota State last year and IMHO we should never underestimate ANY team that comes to our house to play. I thought we did ok. While we have a lot of things to work on, there were 40 points on the board. We only let the other team score 7 on us, our kicker was solid and there were great flashes of what is to come with some of these new players. My favorite was that Stafford kid! Man! He hit like NU players back in the day. We will get better. For those who hated the game, what were your expectations? Truly, I would like to hear what people expected would happen? I know my husband said that he thought we would hand Chat. their backsides. I disagreed. Those boys were so psyched to play and sometimes that backfires on you (remember Texas last year?) The nerves will calm down, the O-line will learn to play together and up their tempo. I think it will be exciting to see them at the end of the season. GO BIG RED!

AND LOVING IT!!! WHOOOO HOOOO!!!! (Throw Confetti!!!)

Do you just have cox basic cable? We have cox advanced and we have like 3 or 4 BTN channels. If you upgrade you'll get to watch Huskers all season. It's not an issue of upgrading tiers. Cox in Oklahoma does not have BTN. When I've called and sent an email requesting it they sound like they have absolutely no interest in adding it to their list around here. I'm really sorry to hear that for you (Hey, don't mean to change the subject but since you like in OK do you really think OU will leave the Big 12 and if so have you heard as to what conference they would be leaning to?) Back to the game day issue-switch to Direct TV! When cox starts losing viewers maybe they will think twice about adding BTN to their line up!

Me either. It would be a blast to have OU come to the B1G!

Do you just have cox basic cable? We have cox advanced and we have like 3 or 4 BTN channels. If you upgrade you'll get to watch Huskers all season.

OH YEAH!! Doesn't it seem like just yesterday we were all whining and pining for this day and now it's finally HERE! GOOOOOOO BIIIGGGGGG REEEEDDDDD!!!!!!

I remember that! It was SO funny!

Sorry! It's gotta be the '95 team!! It has 47% of the votes so far!! GBR!

Are you kidding? I'm still laughing!!

Since I wrote this request I found a 'Top Ten List' of why Nebraska Hates Texas. See how many of these you agree with: 10. Texas gets Steve Hatchell as new commissioner 9. Big 12 title game moves to Arlington 8. Refusal to rotate Big 12 Championship Game to Kansas City 7. Texas jumps on board for championship game 6. Texas getting bigger piece of pie 5. Texas hi-jacks the Big 12 for Pac-10 4. Moving Big 12 offices to Dallas from Kansas City 3. Texas stomps out partial qualifiers 2. UT’s obnoxious fans 1. 2009 Big 12 Championship Game controversy

Hi, I had an interesting discussion at lunch today with a friend. She is from Oklahoma and we were discussing how OU is ranked #1 this year, etc. She said that she hopes that NU beats the crap out of Ohio State. I told her that I hope OU beats the crap out of Texas. She said, 'Why?' I said, 'Because I HATE Texas!' and she said, 'Why do you hate Texas?' AND SHE WAS SERIOUS!!! I sat there dumbfounded for a minute and said, 'Well, first of all, they destroyed the Big 12.' She asked, 'How did they do that?' I told her that they didn't agree with spreading the 'wealth' across all of the teams, but my mind just went blank. Would someone please list the reasons that NU hates Texas. Please include the oppositions that Osborne had. If they are already listed somewhere else on this board, please direct me to those posts and I won't waste your time with this. It just blew me away that someone from OU-Big 12 former Big 8 didn't know why Nebraska would hate Texas!! Thanks! -ladyhawke

Mine-That we win all of our regular season games, win the B10 conference championship then go on to the BSC title game against Texas and beat the crap outta them!! (In reality, even if we do lose any games this year, I hope that our Huskers would be competitive!)

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