knapplc

Steve Sipple at the JournalStar did a rundown of their discussion here: http://www.journalstar.com/blog/huskers.php

From what I can tell, Dillard was a product of the Cosgrove/Callahan defensive philosophy, that classic Big 10 bruising run-stuffing linebacker that didn't translate well AT ALL to the Big XII. Dillard is (apparently) having some difficulty unlearning what he was taught by Cosgrove. From everything I've seen he's got plenty of talent, but he's not in shape to play in Bo's defense. If he gets in shape and buys into the system, he could be gold. They wouldn't waste their time putting him "in the doghouse" if they didn't think he had value. They'd just fourth-string him and we'd never hear about him again.

I live in Lincoln and drive by the stadium every day. Sorry. =/

I don't think I'm "wildly" overreacting. I would say "mildly" overreacting. This happens a lot when I drink, so the good news is it'll stop sometime next spring. If you're implying that I was citing ALL Nebraska fans, you're missing the point. Like the righteous indignation you're displaying at the churlish behavior of Nebraska fans? I agree - it would be good if there were far less of that.

Not sure how you mean this, but I think the number of programs that are no longer strangers to the Top 25 means there are more competitive programs, making it harder for a team to get on a roll in any single season, much less to consistently dominate from season to season the way elite programs like Nebraska used to do. It horrified a lot of Huskers that we almost lost to Ball State a couple years ago, but in hindsight it wouldn't have been an upset. I kind of agree and kind of don't. Mostly I think I agree. I think a single-season "roll" is reasonably easy to get on (Kansas 2007), but maintaining that year in and year out is the bear. Kansas' dream season was a confluence of several factors: Easy schedule, upsets galore across the landscape of college football, and a team that jelled under mature leadership. Mangino being a good coach helped, too. Unfortunately for Kansas, and us if we don't keep our noses to the grindstone, those confluences are rare. Next year could be one of those years for us, but what will 2010, 2011 and 2012 hold? If our players get cocky, don't continue to learn and grow in the system, and if our coaches don't continue to glean great football players out of the recruiting muck, we could be in for a Kansas 2008 season just as easily as them. Parity has been legislated into the landscape, but it's still possible to rise above the fray of college football's mediocrity, just like USC, Oklahoma, Florida, Texas, and others have done. It just takes work and some luck, and I think Bo and Co. are workhorses. Let's hope they get a bit lucky, too.

We are better than that. We shouldn't have been bringing them down in the 80s. Nebraska doesn't need to prove anything. What reason would we have to storm the field and bring down the goal post other than to say we beat someone we shouldn't have???? You do stuff like this when you "shock" college football. I went to Kansas and while I was in school we brought the goals posts down 3 years in a row. It was amazing. So much fun. But guess what? That was at Kansas. If we would have stormed the basketball court, I'd have been pissed. We have the opportunity and ability to beat anyone. Even today with our so called lesser quality players. We are still better than the majority of the schools out there. It will never be a big enough shock to storm the field in Lincoln's Memorial Stadium. Never. OK. I'm not going to tell you that your opinion is wrong, but you're in for a fair amount of disappointment coming up. It's going to happen again. Like you, I would prefer to see everyone stay off the field, but not because it would besmirch our honor - I just think it's an unsafe environment, and someday someone is going to get seriously hurt.

FWIW, I heard a fair portion of the team was suffering from brown bottle flu that game. That's not to take away anything ASU did - they played their tails off - but it explains why we were seemingly a step slower all game long. We beat them by 50 points the year before with largely the same team. Maybe we just overlooked them, maybe we just had a "bad game," but a turnaround of that magnitude is unusual to say the least.

The top ten ain't what it used to be. In the last two years South Florida, Missouri, Kansas and Rutgers were ranked in the top ten, programs that even a few years ago couldn't dream of cracking the top 15. There are more, of course, but these serve as examples - we could skyrocket if we get on a roll.

well, we assume we don't recruit THAT type of character, so we should be satisfied with players who have alcohol problems? If you're hoping that every kid we recruit will never get into trouble then I have bad news for you. If you're hoping that our student-athletes are getting arrested at a lower rate than our other students, I'd say you have a better chance of seeing that than zero arrests. These are kids. Kids do dumb things. I did dumb things when I was a kid; heck, I was arrested and hauled to jail in handcuffs once, but I turned out all right. I'll bet half the members of this board have had brushes with the law as minors, from traffic violations to MIP. It's wrong, it sucks, but it happens. And no, robbery and getting shot by another kid (formerly) on another team doesn't fix that, but it is what it is.

It could be as early as this year or it could be never. It's impossible to answer that question. We have a whole bunch of new athletes taking the field this year who could be the second coming of the 95 team or they could all fall flat. Who can tell until we watch them play the game? In a really generic way of answering this, I would say the fastest a coach could turn a program around, starting from what amounts to an empty cupboard, would be three years. By his third year he'll have his players playing with enough of his coaching to get them going in the right direction. But that presumes that the players are all exactly what he wanted (as in, not just bodies to fill spots), and that he's able to coach them up, keep them injury-free, and that fluke/weird things don't conspire against them. The 1997 MNC owes everything to that freaky kick-pass at Missouri. Without that play, probably the most fluky in Husker history, we don't win that title. Luck is a non-quantifiable factor.

So cry me a river, Guy. What are we supposed to do, hold a vigil for their players? Pass the hat for bail money? What's with this whining about Miami and Oklahoma players? Do you know any of them? I know a former OU athlete. The tales he'll tell you of their athletic dorms in the 80s will curl your toes. And you're wringing your hands because SOME Husker fans threw gibes their way? In your perfect world, what should have happened?

Agreed. There is a clear disparity between Oklahoma/Texas and the players we've got now. Whether that's pure athletic ability or coaching or some combination of the two I don't know, but we have a long way to go before we're in their league again.

Brian Rosenthal on the JournalStar blogs is saying that three kids got booted off the team at Arkansas State for attempted burglary. One of them was shot in the robbery and is in the ICU. All things considered, an MIP isn't the worst thing that could happen.

I appreciate your blessing. To answer your edited-in second line - since when have you been elected to speak for everyone else in this thread?

This is a weekly occurrence during the summer on MANY campuses. It's a testament to what we expect from our team that we get reactions like this: when one of our players does something like this. At Florida, Penn State, USC, etc this wouldn't even be a blip on the radar. Here's to higher standards.

There's a kind of person who allows someone to mock them to their face and there's a kind of person who doesn't. I'm the kind of person who's going to stand up to that kind of behavior. If you're not, fine, but don't get bent if some here take exception to it.

Paterno is a little more "saucy" when giving interviews, and maybe he was even more so a couple of decades ago, but recent interviews I've seen with him... meh. He's not lighting my world on fire. =) I'm probably showing a little bias towards my home boy Osborne there, but Paterno has never really been exciting to me.

I thought that was a pretty good article. Didn't see many holes in their logic. The good news is, all ten of those guys can improve enough to make an impact this year, I have no doubt. The question is, will they?

Maybe... I'd think Blue, Dennard, and Amukamara would have just as good of a shot. Maybe even Lance Thorell? DBs are decently deep this season it seems like I think Hagg has more potential than Amukamara. Both are really good athletes, but the light just seems to be more "on" for Hagg than it is for Amukamara. Of course, I expect all of our DBs to make drastic improvements this year after another year of Bo Time. I was somewhat shocked to see so little improvement last year.

I dropped him a note saying if he gigs Osborne for being "bland" then he has to do the same for Paterno. If Osborne is Vanilla, Paterno is French Vanilla.

Some did. Most just let Nebraska's own experiences with "troubled" players remind them that there are stupid kids in every program, everywhere. Most reacted with typical Nebraska aplomb and moved on.

With all due respect, Mr. Chamberlin, stick it in your pie hole.

Where did they get those Nebraska helmets?