Guy Chamberlin

A really needy team can't afford to take the risk on Abdullah. A team like the Patriots makes more sense.

There were games where Tommy Armstrong tried to put the team on his back and will a win through sheer athleticism. It's an admirable quality but it can lead to unforced errors. Taylor Martinez had the same problem. For that matter, so did Brett Favre. Tommy needs a coach who can cool him down without putting out the fire. Armstrong has a rocket for an arm, but he's shown plenty of nice touch passes. I don't consider his passing game a liability at all. Just his decision making. And that comes with every play. I like Armstrong's chances to improve but have no problem putting him on a short leash. This would be his third year as a starter. Now or never.

Why not. We're right there with Alabama and Oregon. Just shows that aggregate winning percentage isn't everything. Nebraska never finished better than 19th in any of those seasons, barely hung in the Top 25 at all.

The saddest part of that graph is that I haven't considered Nebraska a legitimate Top 16 team during that span.

What impresses coaches most isn't so much the numbers being posted, it's the guys who clearly worked their asses off to post them. Ameer Abdullah has natural ability, but if you look at football player he was in 2011 and the player he is now, you see the focus and drive that made him better. Can't coach that.

Numbers for lineman and LBs don't impress me nearly as much as technique. Every legendary defender was about attitude and technique, including getting inside the head of an opponent who is merely a physical specimen.

Should we be proud of that? I'm not proud of using "it's" instead of "its"

I have -- at times -- noticed some inconsistency between the behavior allowed and the behavior prohibited, depending on the poster. If that's what escalated into the banishment, it would be unfortunate. At it's worst, this board was never as bad as say....the Comments section of any internet news site.

Losing a guy like Ameer is a bad thing no matter how you try and spin it... The question is "How bad/much of a loss will it be" Not trying to spin it really. That's why I used the words "not necessarily." But I don't think losing Ameer should be an excuse for expecting less from the Husker offense. A combination of RBs will surely get the 1,500 yards he got on his own. One or two might break out of the pack, as a young Ameer Abdullah did back when people weren't sure we could get over the loss of Rex Burkhead, or that Abdullah deserved the chance over Braylon Heard or Aaron Green. Question is whether any of these guys can single handedly will a win, which Ameer managed to do a time or two.

I didn't really notice this from him until our teams season goals went bye bye. Couple that with nagging injuries and I can understand somewhat his reasoning. Sometimes he'd pull himself out because a minor injury and then go back in a series or two later. Sometimes he'd look a little gassed on the sideline. I couldn't decide if he was a warrior or just out of condition, but he missed enough games and plays to raise a (small) red flag.

I can't imagine our offensive line not being better. I can't imagine our offensive scheme being a difficult transistion. With a better coach, it should be a relief. Either Armstrong will get better in his third season, or Stanton will come in and play better than Armstrong. We don't have Ameer Abdullah. We have multiple backs in competition for carries. Not necessarily a bad thing. Westerkamp and Pierson-El are about as exciting as wide-receviers come, and we appear deep in rangy, competent receivers to back them up. The chemistry that is so important was Bo Pelini's weakest link. Bo's teams were emotionally fragile. I expect the new chemistry to work almost instantly, and get better from there. I don't have a gut feeling on the defense, but most college football experts appeared baffled by Nebraska's unwillingness to change schemes as needed and stop doing what wasn't working. Assuming any DC would quickly correct that, I see no reason not to expect improvement on the D, too, with or without Randy Gregory.

Living outstate, televised games were always a luxury. If I sat down with a Nebraska game, I never turned it off. Now that I'm able to watch almost every game -- often DVRed or paused to speed through -- I still watch every play. Even when it turns into a car wreck. But I do remember 2007 fondly. When it became clear how things were going to go for Nebraska, I went outside and enjoyed the splendor of fall Saturday's with my children.

If Gregory came in at 250 pounds, he wouldn't have the same time in the 40, but that 235 number is what concerns NFL teams the most. Gregory will go high, and to my eye he's still the guy you want coming around the end as a hybrid lineman. But he could do some interesting things as an LB. He's no slam dunk to succeed. They gotta figure out where he fits in.

Polo went all "Jim Jones", some of Polo's followers drank the "Kool Aid" and and the board went all "Jonestown"... We're allowed to have followers?

Wait. Polo was banned? Who else? Why am I the last to know?

Watching a game from 1992 and a couple things really jumped out: You could exert a lot of violence on a quarterback without penalty. A fullback as a lead blocker is a pretty handy thing. The networks had zero permanent graphics on their screen. I kinda like that clean look, but I'm not sure I could live without the game status box and yellow first down line anymore.

The defense collapses in November, too. I'm thinking it's related to the quality of opponent, the established tendencies they can exploit, and teamwide jitters when expectations rise.

Yeah, but the more I read about it, the more I realize it was Bo's preference for loyal unqualified underlings and the anger he reserverd for anyone who questioned him that kept us from getting the hardware. It was all part of the same package. Some might argue the 9/10 wins were the cover for Bo's apologists, who painted his outbursts as a creation of the national media instead of a sign that the coach - and team - were out of control. Let's face it, Bo Pelini might still be here if he was willing to throw Beck and Papuchis under the bus. To his credit, Bo stayed true to himself: a bad coach who refused to change.

I have no trouble talking about Bo Pelini in the off-season, and I'm pretty sure his name will come up in seasons-to-come. I want to know what happens to him at Youngstown State, and if anyone learns things about the man that people didn't want to mention while he was still here, I'm all ears. I'm not obsessed. I'm not even dwelling. I'm just curious. Human nature.

Assuming we average around 75-80 snaps a game, I don't think I'll be much of a fan of heaving the rock 40 times a game especially in mid to late November. This gets so overplayed. And its mostly a creation of media and analysts who played down south. Most northern teams made a living in pro-style offenses forever. Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Peyton Manning get better in November. In Green Bay, Boston and Denver.

Not quite sure what apology needs to come from the fans. Bo didn't need to apologize either. He just had to say something. I'm going to write a response for Bo Pelini that took me no longer than that breath you're holding: To the People of Nebraska, For the past seven years it has been my distinct honor to coach the University of Nebraska football team and be part of one of the greatest traditions in college athletics. I will always remain grateful for this rare opportunity. In these seven years we have accomplished a lot. And yet there remained much to be done. I regret that we weren't able to take the Cornhuskers to the championship level the program both expects and deserves, and wish the best for my successor as he takes over this remarkable roster of talented young athletes. I will always remember the young men I had the privilege to coach, the fans who stood shoulder to shoulder with us, and the many friendly Nebraskans I met throughout the state. Go Big Red indeed, Bo Pelini

Despite what you might think from this thread, or this board, Bo Pelini had plenty of loyalists, even after Tapegate Two. Many of those willing to admit it was time for Bo to go still gave the man his respects. Personally, I was baffled why so many Husker fans came to his defense. I'm guessing the majority saw Bo being criticized by outsiders -- which they hate -- or the target of pencil-pushing administrators -- which they hate. But they defended this a-hole to all comers. They're Nebraskans. They shook off Tapegate One with remarkable foregiveness. And unless I'm mistaken, to this date Bo Pelini has offered no statement to Husker fans, or to the people of Nebraska who made him the highest paid state employee by an entire decimal point. Awkward? Absolutely. But all you have to do is talk to the people who were in your corner. And Bo had a lot of them for a very long time. You can layer in a lot of vitriol with the things you DON'T say. But you gotta say something. Unless you are hopelessly thin-skinned. And have no class.

Also, you want to be able to change the formula from season to season, having appraised the talents of each roster. As much as some posters want to believe otherwise, you can't simply impose your will to run the ball. Not against a good team.

You want to be able to run as much as possible. You want to be able to pass when they stop the run. You want to be able to change the formula in-game as the other team makes adjustments. You want to be able to change the formula from game to game, according to the other team's strengths and weaknesses. There's not a magic number. Just a willingness to use all the weapons at your disposal. When given a Steven Jackson or Jacquiz Rodgers, Mike Riley ran the ball pretty well.

Let's just nip that in the bud. The negative nannies are not out "in force." It's a handful of skeptics, and they're not entirely wrong, given that nothing can be remotely proven yet. After a bumpy initial 48 hours when nobody knew who in the hell Mike Riley was, I'd say the reaction to his hire has been extremely positive and getting better by the week. If anybody didn't know "who in the hell Mike Riley was" then they're an idiot and hasn't paid attention to college football the past decade. So you're calling the majority of Husker fans idiots? Can you walk me through every Pac 12 coach right now, off the top of your head? Well good for you. Was Riley on your candidates list? Cause according to every professional NCAA analyst, he wasn't on anyone's radar. "Who the Hell is Mike Riley" was a trending topic, Ed. Glad you're on top of things, chief, but you may want to walk back the idiot talk.