Guy Chamberlin

What obviously works in one game doesn't obviously work in another -- or even between quarters -- because other teams have defensive coordinators. The first quarter of McNeese State seemed to prove that. Some folks believe that inflicting your will on another team is as simple as inflicting your will. Easy for the armchair fan to say. Among many things, the inflicting-your-will game requires a top-echelon offensive line.

Well that's what I would have suspected, but even coming against McNeese State, Abdullah's run got huge play on the national networks and all sorts of ancillary chatter. Even here in California. The local sports columnist of the San Francisco Chronicle mentioned it in his Monday column as "jaw-dropping." After getting only 54 yards on 17 carries against McNeese State, Ameer's Heisman buzz shot up. The storyline was that Ameer's individual effort saved Nebraska's season. We'll see about that. And yeah, without Cotton's penalty, the fading Amrstrong launching a 40 yard bomb to an on-his-back Westerkamp would have added to Westy's fast-growing legend. People are watching Nebraska football. It's a good thing. Now what did I expect with this thread? I expected it to go at least 4 - 5 posts without someone flinging shite on Tommy Armstrong or Tim Beck. Live and learn.

ESPN has been giving Ameer plenty of love going on two seasons now. They could try to dismiss him with the quality of our first two opponents, but they haven't. Ameer Abdullah has everyone's attention. Between Ameer and Westerkamp, Nebraska is the early season king of Sportscenter clips. It's a good look for us. Heisman-wise, it's Mariotta's to lose. ESPN will have a couple dozen guys with opinions, but they don't have a horse in the race. Collectively ESPN leans to the underdog. The actual voters tend to play it safe.

This isn't going the way I'd hoped.

In fairness, music really has gone to hell ever since Lawrence Welk went electric.

...and we already have two of the best highlight reel plays in college football. That's something. Right?

We get six wake-up calls every year, and are lucky that two of them turn out to be wins. There is no other game but the next game. And the Huskers have to learn their ABCs....Always Be Closing. Because second prize is a set of steak knives.

I really enjoyed Ameer Abdullah's game winning touchdown. I'm betting that's what I'll remember most as the years go by.

Hmm. You sound like a lot of Husker fans.

It was lined up to be a decent test: a tough (but safe) on-the-road game against a team that has often played spoiler and a program that funnels talent into the NFL at near-Nebraska levels. Consecutive blowouts to USC and Utah don't help Nebraska's case here. I was driving down I-5 Monday and caught the Fresno State weekly press conference on the AM. Spoiler alert: they're not afraid of Nebraska. This is their home opener. They haven't lost at home for a couple years. The benefit to playing Fresno State is that -- like every game -- it's a chance for Nebraska to see what they're made of. The best time to figure out what you're made of is when things appear stacked against you. Sounds like fun to me.

Still.......the players need to know you're rooting for them, no matter how much we bitch. No idea if it affects recruiting. Totally our right as a fanbase. Other teams bitch, too. But recent Nebraska teams play better on the road than they do Memorial Stadium. For what it's worth.

Complete player? Jamal Turner has struggled to be a mere contributor, and harder working younger players quickly took his playing time even when he was healthy. Achilles is a problem, but Jamal has to get his head in the game regardless. Hard to see him moving up and on.

Yeah, it's time to put Lou Holtz out to pasture for his own good, but if we're talking about the same broadcast both Holtz and Mark May were far more forgiving of Nebraska's off-day than 98% of HuskerBoard.

Boy, you heard that wrong. Davis and the ESPN panel were actually making the case FOR Ameer, but accurately noting the odds against him (too many quarterbacks in the running, underwhelming Husker team). It was also multiple ESPN crews that created the Suh for Heisman bandwagon in 2009, while doubting that the actual Heisman voters would have the balls to break tradition. Hating Ameer? Where does this sh#t come from?

Yup. Tommy was clearly pressing after the INT. Maybe sit him for a series and put in Fyfe, just to get TA calmed down. Nope. Armstrong actually recovered from the int and led Nebraska on a nice business as usual touchdown drive that made everyone think we'd pull away in the second half. Tommy wasn't the problem today. Not even close. Inserting Fyfe would have been the panic move that blows up your whole season. Offensive line and a bit of credit to McNeese State really took us out of our rhythm in the second half, and the lack of success snowballed in all phases.

Stil amazed how many people want to lay this at the feet of Tim Beck. Nebraska didn't go away from what it does well. They just stopped doing it well. They know they're better than this. But when another team punches them in the mouth, they don't get angry. They get confused. Then they press. They literally take a step back on defense. Their body language changes. They let McNeese State get into their heads, and that's AFTER a first half that should have been a wake up call. Playcalling counts, but in meltdown mode its just as easy to envision Cross getting stuffed up the middle, or an Ameer sweep getting sniffed out because we've already seen those happen. The play that didn't get called will always be more successul than the play that failed because......hindsight! Meltdown mode is mental and teamwide, and its traced to head coaching on most teams.

Isn't there a video of the Minnesota OC talking about Nebraska's defensive tendencies and how he planned to exploit them BEFORE the game was even played? Meaning he wasn't afraid of telling Nebraska his strategy and daring us to prove him wrong? Which we didn't? Talk about loss of respect.

"Never Letting Up" is somewhat different from not being intimidating in the first place. Possibly outside of Wyoming last year, I don't recall many situations where a clearly superior Nebraska had an opponent down but failed to put their foot on the neck. I think the mindset of Nebraska is definetely where the problem lies, but I don't see much debate that we've lacked enthusiasm on the sideline, much less a killer instinct. Worse, I think some teams look at Nebraska as a wounded warrior; easier to beat but it still means something because we're still Nebraska. You earn it on the field. But then, you always earn it on the field. Every game. Every year. UCLA last year, if you think we were superior. Minnesota last year? Up 10-0. At the end of the games I thought both UCLA and Minnesota were superior. It wasn't that we let down our guard, or lost a killer instinct we had earlier in the game. It's that the other teams made the proper adjustments early, we made virtually no adjustments to their adjustments, and both opponents won going away. Attitude had something to do with it, but that's also part of being a superior team.

"Never Letting Up" is somewhat different from not being intimidating in the first place. Possibly outside of Wyoming last year, I don't recall many situations where a clearly superior Nebraska had an opponent down but failed to put their foot on the neck. I think the mindset of Nebraska is definetely where the problem lies, but I don't see much debate that we've lacked enthusiasm on the sideline, much less a killer instinct. Worse, I think some teams look at Nebraska as a wounded warrior; easier to beat but it still means something because we're still Nebraska. You earn it on the field. But then, you always earn it on the field. Every game. Every year.

Alabama beats FAU by less than 48 points this Saturday. Ergo, Nebraska is better than Alabama. booyah.

Of course you post the FAU captain's quote. It's pretty funny. Too funny to ignore. But if you go back through 40 years of Husker dominance, you'll find someone on every underdog team claiming they weren't intimidated by the Huskers, that they had every intention of coming into Memorial Stadium and shocking the overdog. It's what you gotta think when you take the field, and what you gotta say if someone puts a microphone in your face. That this dude said it AFTER the game, losing the way they did, makes it funny. No big deal either way.

If FAU's outstanding talent and unshakeable confidence prevails against Alabama this week, everyone wins.

Nicely done. And I didn't know we could say "mutherfukker" on HuskerBoard until now!

Again, big optimist about this season. Loved the opening win. But the title of the thread suggests we weren't concerned about rankings in recent years, when in fact we were in the exact same place: 1 - 0 after the opening game and expecting Nebraska to be ranked at the end of the season, higher the better. Advising caution at this point doesn't equate to mudslinging, nor does it take away my enjoyment of a well-played season opener. I'm just trying to avoid premature ejaculation.

No chief, the AP and Coaches Poll are in virtual lockstep with each other and always have been. No idea where you're finding evidence of your claim. If you're still sore about 1997, be thankful Nebraska got its own share of the National Championship. The Coaches that year had also ranked Michigan above Nebraska after our near disaster against Missouri, and it's pretty rare for a team to go undefeated, win their bowl game and drop a position. I think the Huskers earned it that year, but much of the country thought the Coaches were being sentimental (biased) in bucking tradition and awarding the spot to Tom Osborne, who some believe made his pre-game retirement announcement for that very reason. They want to pick and choose which poll as the argument suits them. No argument there.