Guy Chamberlin

The talk about Lee feeling like the whole state of Nebraska is against him.

 

Husker fans are vicious.

 

To some degree I don't fault Callahan at all for being defensive, a little bitter, and "good job in every area" towards the end.

You can't blame that loss on Zac Lee.

The whole team forgot how to play football.

You can blame it on Bo Pelini, who sacked up and admitted he was outcoached.

There should be interest in this team. If we can figure out a way to score 21-24 points a game against opponents out of the sunbelt, we'll have a legit shot to win every game.

 

We have a solid, quality defense. That hasn't changed. We just have a very shaky offense. We get that figured out and we're back in contention.

Oh yeah. It could still be an interesting season. The fact that we're back to accepting that nobody on the schedule is a gimme makes it interesting, as does the jockeying between Green and Lee, and I'm certainly interested in how Shawn Watson reacts.

But this remains a team that still doesn't know how to act on the big stage, and the complete team all-four-quarters psyche-out is a coaching failure that I didn't see coming.

I'd be happy with wins over Iowa State and Baylor, but I'm not sure I'd be impressed, and I don't think that 6-2 Huskers team would be ready for the Top 25 yet.

Can we at least retire the complaint around here that Nebraska doesn't get the respect of the national media?

Including ESPN?

Actually, they've tended to give us more respect than we've earned, based on our legacy more than our current on-field performance. They like Nebraska, they like Pelini, the jumped on the Suh for Heisman story. They mysteriously inflated our ranking beyond a strong loss to a higher ranked team, a weak win against a lower ranked team, and three wins against cannon fodder designed to fluff up a record.

The media wants Nebraska to be relevant again, too.

Everything from here we'll have to earn, and the Big 12 North might not matter enough.

I knew we would miss Ganz. He's a couple years better than Lee.

But I still like Lee.

And that was a sh**load of rain out there, Carl. The ball's gonna sail on even the great QBs.

You kinda get tricked watching the game on TV, but it really is worth considering that they played the entire game in a TORRENTIAL DOWNPOUR.

I wouldn't make too much about the stats for either QB. (Well....those three TD passes do look nice on Lee's side of the ledger)

But when the game turned in the fourth quarter, with Missou still very much in it, I thought Gabbert looked increasingly spooked and panicky, dropping back WAAYYYY too far too quickly.

Nah. The defense is definitely back. Everyone knows it. Everyone is feeling it. No one's pride is getting hurt.

So holding off on the blackshirts for a few more games is perfect motivation. And drama.

Bo will choose his spot.

I suggest right before the Big 12 Title Game.

If you act like a junior high jackass, you tarnish the Husker Nation.

In fairness, some of these posters ARE junior high jackasses.

That interception was an amazing defensive play. Suh had a direct alley to Gabbert so of course he's going to charge through it like a mad bull.....except he had already read Gabbert's eyes completely, stops in his tracks, keeps his arms down, and soft hands the pass he knew was coming so he can intercept it.

I'll get on this bandwagon.

It was a funny article.

Grow some skin, Knapple.

Nebraska wins by 17.

I'm not being a homer. Honestly. I just feel like the Huskers are going to put an A-game together and will actually be nastier and more disciplined on the road.

They may lose to a lesser opponent later in the season. But this is a payback game for them.

If you look a little deeper, he's writing about the still unbeaten teams and how most of them won't stay that way and some may not be very good at all.

If you're finding disrespect on this list, you're looking too hard.

(fwiw: I think Nebraska can take KU, but until we get in the habit of winning big games we are getting exactly the respect we deserve: a #23 ranking.)

I think a good indicator of whether NU is back is when we beat a quality opponent ourselves.

I'm not sure if Mizzou qualifies as "quality" but my gut feeling is the Huskers win by at least 17. I really think they're lined up to take somebody out and playing on the road might actually feed a Pelini team.

My kid has a soccer game here on the West Coast at noon.

Didn't really bother me because I love my son and this is why God invented DVR.

But this morning I found out ESPN2 will be airing Arizona State vs. Another Team I Don't Care About. I know ABC slices the country up in regional games but I thought ESPN always ran a national game based on the BEST AVAILABLE FOOTBALL GAME IN THE NATION, of which NU vs. VTech offers the only ranked teams playing each other.

So now when the soccer game is over I gotta drag my kid to a sports bar and make his plate of french fries last three hours.

This probably deserves its own thread, but:

Everyone growing up in Nebraska was a Nebraska football fan because.....well just because.

But when it came to pro football it was a free-for-all. Proximity to Nebraska had almost nothing to do with it. We jumped on and off bandwagons whenever we wanted, often to follow our favorite player. Sometimes we just dug the uniforms.

So with absolutely no college or homestate allegience to make your decision, just pure football pleasure, who do you guys root for in the NFL?

I waited until Bill Jennings was fired and Bob Devaney was hired before I jumped on the bandwagon.

I was only three years old, but that's the way I rolled.

So the reasoning his team couldn't score against good defenses was because of Cosgrove defense?

As mentioned, Watson offenses did manage to score against elite teams, but your gameplan is kinda compromised when the defense spots your opponent 60 or 70 points.

Four quarterbacks and two head coaches into it, I think it's time to admit that Shawn Watson might be something special. He comes in with good gameplans and adapts during the game even better than Osborne.

Watson is going to have more talent than ever in the coming years and be able to show why a modified WCO is hell for opposing defenses to prep for. Not to mention more fun to watch.

Let's hope we can hang onto him.*

*all comments subject to change if the offense stumbles in Blacksburg.

Know what?

It's still about winning. And Quentin Castille wasn't going to help us win this year.

You may think he would have helped because the dude always looked like The Man.

But he rarely played like The Man.

And guys who demonstrate a death wish with multiple team violations are never gonna be The Man. They know they're gonna get caught, and deep down they're relieved. Cause they know they're not The Man. And the coaches have figured it out, too. And Helu said nice things because he's a nice guy.

It was an ethical issue but a football decision. The Huskers will be better for getting a new RB in now rather than later.

That being said......pot? Come on. How else are you supposed to study?

Frankly I'm far more disturbed to find out he's Twittering, period.

Virginia Tech is going to be better than us.

But one of these years we're going to have to beat a team that's better than us.

I'll take a V-Tech win and a loss to Baylor.

I grew up with the Nebraska vs. OU rivalry. There was nothing on the schedule like it. That's why they made it the last game of the regular season.

But for the last 20 years it's been Nebraska vs. CU. That's why they made it the last game of the regular season.

This is definitely a rivalry.

I would say it's a huge honor to be #34 on this list.

Not sure I'd give Phil Jackson the nod over Red Auerbach yet.

Maybe it's because I spent last week in my home state of Nebraska and have never seen the corn so tall or so thick. Maybe it's because God strung together 7 consecutive days of perfectly temperate Nebraska weather. Maybe it's because I was reading the local sports pages every day. Maybe it was finding a warm 18-pack of Grain Belt for only $10.99.

I don't know what it is, but I left Nebraska yesterday suddenly convinced that Zac Lee is gonna be a revelation and this is going to be a fun team to watch.

I guess what I'm really trying to say is I think we can take Florida Atlantic.

Also, check out Grain Belt. Good beer.

If you're not a Husker fan, it's hard to make the case that this team is any better than last year's team, and last year's team was #27 by most counts.

But as a fan, I gotta go with the intangibles, and I think the return of pride on defense and one more year of a coaching culture that is both more intense and more fun counts for something. I'll take another 9- 4 year, but this time the Big 12 North comes with it.

I like rooting for the defense, especially when we're breaking in a new QB.

Hopefully Suh and Pelini get everyone to raise their games. Maybe we can start calling them Blackshirts again.