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Yep. It helps boatloads.

Whatever you say.

One of our unready TEs scored a TD and had at least one other reception. People don't realize how important cotton is to the running game. Yes Jake Long filled in well today but we need a healthy Cotton this year. 100% agree. You bet, when the going gets tough we really, really, really need Cotton out there. T. Reed is a great passing threat but he's not going to block anybody (at all).

Our Oline is mid 90's road graders relative to our Dline. No doubt that will be blamed on Barney too.

The first marginal game he has will have them back like flies on poop.

Great game Buckeyes! Well done.

Hmmmmm...good point. With SRex out and possibly injured we need Tmart out of the game asap. If SRex really is hurt for a couple of games I bet Bo will immediately take out Tmart with any comfortable lead whatsoever.

C'mon Bo.....round up another SuperD and unleash him.

Game two is usually an improvement. I bet our offense will come locked & loaded.

"Or" maybe he just quit because Barney or Garrison or Stai wouldn't kiss his ass? "Or" maybe it had nothing to do wth Barney at all? But by all means, keep dreaming up internet stories about Cotton. Whatever works for ya.

lets not get ahead of ourselves

Absolutely! It was simply wonderful watching our wrs "catch" the ball with ease. Wow!!

Exactly. Also, in that game they also dropped several Z. Lee's passes too (just like all of 2009). So much for the wr's excuses my buddy zoogies dreams up. I'm amazed that so many deny we've had HUGE wr problems after 2008 when Swift & Peterson left.

Take a look at the '94/'95 OL's. That's what we want. T_O_B As long as you understand that is like dating the hottest friggen super model in the 90s and then expecting every other girl you date to be just as hot. It's possible, but you will pass up a lot of good girls while you're striving for that perfect woman. We could have some really good years and not have OLine's as dominating as the 94/95 O lines. That will always be the goal. But, if you aren't happy until that happens they you are going to miss some really fun football. I'd be ok with our 80's lines. Me too. Or the 70s also.

Tear people apart? Zoogies, I spend all my free time hugging trees & singing "Kum-by-ya". I can't imagine how you get that impression from me. I am not sure why you're always the first to claim any rumor has substance, but different strokes for different folks, right? You know, I would have thought coaches were supposed to improve our players? Is that right? Watching K. Reed getting horribly stuffed trying to block people last year didn't impress me much. But I bet if Barney was the TE coach he'd get crucified for that daily. Would you agree? Excuses, excuses.....Barney s*cks so we bring in Garrison/Stai and our rushing stats plummet. Somehow, that's just further proof that Barney needs to get canned and Garrison take over his position with someone else. I don't know why that's a struggle for me to comprehend but I'll keep trying. Haha....zoggies, just win baby!

Because that's the way it should be? Cotton has been the O-Line coach for 4 years under Bo and was here under Solich as well. He has NEVER produced anything close to a great O-Line. A couple were fairly solid but none were great. Barney is the head O-Line coach. The line production falls completely on his shoulders. - expecially when you take into account what the other two guys are responsible for. Garrison is a full time coach right now primarily because Barney couldn't get it done alone, he'd have been one eventually anyways but he was kinda fast tracked from intern to full coach (skipping the GA position entirely) because of Barney's incompetence. He's been on the staff since 2008 but the first three of those were as an intern where he worked mostly with the S&C staff. 2011 was his first year as a full time O-Line/TE coach. His primary responsibility on the line is to work with the underclassmen and the walkons. Guess who the best linemen on the team were last year. Honestly the dude has been kinda awesome at his job with those guys - Caputo, Long. Choi etc. Stai is still an intern and he's been here only a very short time as well. Why the heck would he get any blame for the line? Yes he works with them but his involvement is kind of limited by the rules. Trying to give any blame to Stai would be like giving blame to LaTravis Washington if the Linebackers have a bad game. If we got rid of Barney, promoted Garrison to the actual O-Line coach and promote Vince Morrow to a fulltime staff member as the new TE coach where he can recruit... (something he's actually very good at) Then either promoted Stai to GA where he can help Garrison a lot more (or bring in someone else who can coach the line as a GA if Stai doesn't want to do this job full time), Honestly we'd be in pretty dang good shape. Well then, for you also.....I guess Uncle Milt didn't meet your minimum standards either as he needed help from Dan Young, right? You bet, anybody who needs help s*cks in a major way. And oh yeah, Kyler Reed, while a great threat through the air, just might be the worst blocking TE in Div1 cfb. Who was the TE coach last year? We've NEVER put together a pancaking Oline since we canned smashmouth for fluffball under the mighty Clownahan. Four full years of fluffy performance from the road-graders before Barney came back with Bo. I'm not even going to go into the horrible previous recruiting for Olinemen we had in 2008 & 2009 because you'll just ignore it. In his previous "one" year stint at NU in 2003, NU was the 7th ranked rushing team in the nation (236 ypg) despite having an almost zero passing threat with J. Lord. NU & Barney faced ultra stacked boxes every single game but were still reasonably effective running the ball. Lastly, since the addition of Garrison & Stai in 2011, why did NU's game rushing averages (248 to 217) & ypc (5.7 to 4.6) decrease from 2010?

And IMO, you are being unrealistic if you think this team will win more than 9. I predict them to win 8 this year. Let's wait til the end of the season and see how it all played out. Next year should be better; I am hoping for a double-digit win total and a Top 10 finish. It's totally realistic to expect a 10 plus win season! If it wasn't then expecting progress is unrealistic! 9 last year. Progress as far as wins and losses equates to at least one more win. 9+1 equals ten! Maybe you using the word "unrealistic" has set me off. I realistically expect us to be better this year! An not better by means of not getting blown out in our losses. I expect better as in better outcomes. I've been on record saying we get to 11 wins this year! And the closer we get to the season and the more I read about this team, the more I think we may be in for a special season! GBR! I disagree. While it is logical to expect progress on a yearly basis, it isn't realistic to expect it this year, based on everything I've seen, read, and heard. The schedule this year is really tough, IMO. I am one of the few who thinks that Southern Miss has a legit shot at at upset. I also think it's totally possible for the Huskers to have 5 straight losses in the middle of the season. I'm sticking with my opinion, that nine wins is the best-case scenario. I hope I'm wrong, but we'll see! It isn't realistic to expect 5 straight losses either. Unless you believe that every team got better but us, and Bill Callahan is taking the program back over. The Pelini 9 win baseline that we've established has been done with worse teams and harder schedules. It's almost a certainty that MSU and Wisconsin will regress, unless you believe that both are going to replace the best QB's in school history with someone better. In fact, every thing you said was based solely on opinion, with nothing of substance or fact to base that on, yet you claim it's more "realistic" than someone elses opinion. Saying a best possible scenario with all the right breaks is 9 wins, while also saying it's possible for us to lose 5 straight goes against every precedent and trend. I'd take that bet any day of the week.

Rumors that get around. If you believe it, it must be so.

This^. Those guys, while not thee O line coach" are associated with the performance as well. Can't say the line stinks, but these two guys get a free pass. I said on another board about two years ago was that with the new OC, Cotton will get at least 3 more years. Year one under Beck, "We were all learning a new "scheme", year two we are finally getting up to speed, BUT it is only year one with guys we have recruited for this new scheme and year three he either makes it or breaks it. If there is no marked improvement, IMO, Cotton stil gets one more year. Did you ever think that those two were brought on solely to help an incompetent coach try to save his job? If Barney wasn't so "well connected" in the AD, he would have been gone a long time ago. The second paragraph is pure lunacy....stop making excuses for poor performance. So you think Uncle Milt was incompetent too? Go ahead and google "Dan Young" and see what you find.

Best in the Big10 or the country? Lol! When they actually start catching passes that hit them in the hands, remember what routes they're supposed to run & can block someone over 140 lbs I'll take it seriously. So far I'd take Swift & Peterson over these guys any day of the week.

Which is precisely what the talking heads claimed in the late 80s. How we needed to be "balanced" to reach the next level. Three NCs in the 90s had them STFU in a big way. However, it's a weapon that needs lots & lots of reps. Used as only a minor part of being "multiple" or "balanced" is a total waste.

I wonder why internet posters always crucify Barney but give Garrison & Stai free passes? Our Oline was marginal at best during the Clownahan era too (of course, due to Barney).

So you would rather be lied too? I think the Journal Star, and OWH both do a fine job, and I appreciate the honesty/critique that the OWH offers it's readers. McKewon, Chatlein, Nawyata (?), and Shatel all do a fine job in my opinion.... A lot of Nebraska fans don't want to hear the truth, and I think that the OWH offers alot of harsh truth in their stories. Having said that, I do get annoyed with some of their opinions, but a lot of times its because I don't want to accept the "truth" or the perception of the "truth".... Well sure if you accept that the only "truth" is in what they say. That is why I put (" ") around truth.... I think most Nebraska fans have a hard time handling an opinion that is even the slightest critical of Nebraska football. I would imagine that Chatlein, and McKewon's opinions are well informed, and well thought out.... Most Nebraska fans want rainbow, and kitten reporting, or so it seems.... That's absolutely ridiculous. The overwhelming majority of posts here on Huskerboard and Rivals, Scout, etc are wayyyyyy tilted on the negative slant. I bet the ratio of negative to positive posts regarding Bo & TO are both easily 10 to 1. Tmart & Barney probably close to 100 to 1. Some of our recent hires like Clownahan 1,000 to 1. Pedeyshine maybe 10,000 to 1. Where in the world you dream up that these same ultra hard-core fans would only accept "kitten" reporting from their newspaper is beyond me. Also considering the usual casual fan really doesn't care what they say so the only ones that really count are totally the opposite of what you claim.

Don't forget what a sterling silver jewel Pedeyshine was too. Thank God those days are gone.