Klondike Cat

Herm Edwards. Good coach, like his attitude. I think he would be a great motivator and organizer at the college level.

You play to win the game!

Ouch. I hope this was a prank post.

No, because he's the best talent we have at the QB position, which is a QB who next year will likely move on to Arena Football or maybe the CFL and definitely is NOT NFL calibre. That's part of the problem.

I was coming here to post a similar view. Last year during the Wisconsin rout I was willing to consider that that was maybe an aberration. Not anymore. Bo Pelini is a decent coach who will get the team winning records as long as we play enough teams like Idaho State. That's fine if you're a small rah-rah college and the game is mainly for fun and school pride. That's not Nebraska. The team has a championship history that just doesn't fit Bo. Bo's better than Callahan (obviously), but he's not a Tom Osborne or a George Halas or a Vince Lombardi or a Lou Holtz. It's not fair to expect him to be. He has much of the same fire in his belly that those men had, but he doesn't have anywhere near the eye for talent, the recruiting ability, or the game planning mastery. It's time to cut him loose, not mid season, but at the end of it.

I really wish we could have lured Andy Reid away from the NFL when the Eagles fired him, but that's a reach when he had NFL offers. But we need someone like him.

This is a nail biter. Hope we hang on to win. Don't blow this lead.

Side note: Who do you hate more, Michigan or Notre Dame?

 

Wish both teams could lose...

Notre Dame for sure. I wish not only would they lose every game, but also all their cheerleaders would all get zits.

So let me get this straight. After the Ohio State loss, everyone was saying there were cracks in the foundation, no trust in Bo or the coaching staff, and they had lost the team. Then we won six straight and everyone agreed that wasn't really the case after all. Now we lose big and all the sudden it's true again?

 

 

Either you guys were right the first time or you were right the second time. Either way, one of those times you were wrong, which makes me ask why your thoughts have any merit at all.

 

Listen, I see what your getting at with this comment because I've seen the same flip flopping here. The fact is, it's human nature. When things are good, people tend to overlook the negatives. When we are winning, unfortunately, the common fan doesn't seem to care how. I don't like to call the average fan an idiot, but approaching the game with a win is a win mentality is just too easy. This game takes more thought than that. There is more to this game than just winning. Far more so in college than the pro game. Progression and improvement is vital. Development and teaching are crucial to success. I have not and never will just be satisfied with simply winning. Hell I can even handle losing. It's the "how" this team loses that is so very troubling. In the same token, the way this team won was also just as troubling.

 

The troublesome thing is that so many fans, coaches and players have a ton of really valid concerns with this team and nobody, including the coaches, seem to have any solutions. It would make me feel better if we knew where to start and what changes are needed to make this right, but seriously, where do we begin.

Exactly. Even in the wins there have been troubling signs. The team plays sloppily. It makes dumb mistakes, dumb penalties. Taylor makes great plays, but he also throws desperation passes into coverage. The team does not make quality adjustments mid-game to what the other team is doing.

After some more thought over the weekend I am still baffled at the 70 points we gave up. You dont give up 70 points at this level of college football because you have inferior players (we beat them earlier in the year). You dont give up 70 points due to missing one player on the defensive line. You dont give up 70 points due to being out of alignment.

 

However, you do give up 70 points if you just quit. You do give up 70 points if you dont trust your coach or the other players around you. We have seen the sideline tirades all season between Bo and the players. There are serious cracks in the foundation of this program and it cant be denied at this point. Three embarrasing losses this year and likely another one in the chamber. They all happened the same way, by quitting.

 

I have actually moved closer to fire Bo train now after time has passed. At first I thought maybe it is something that Bo could address in the off season by getting ideas from other coaches around the country on preperation. However, you cant fix what is already lost and that is trust.

+1

I also moved closer to the fire Pelini camp. I don't know that I'm quite in it, but I'm definitely a lot closer. I saw a team that was ill-prepared. Whatever game plan they had was not a good one. What was worse was they did not adjust. We got burned on the outside with the same play all game long.

I'm starting to think that Pelini is a coach who can put together a pretty good team that can have winning seasons, but fail to win championship games. I don't think there are many Husker fans who would be satisfied with having a pretty good team. The goal is a championship caliber one. If you have a pretty good team that's on its way toward becoming championship material, that's one thing. If you plateau at pretty good, that's not acceptable. The bottom line is if Bo can get this team to the next level, we should keep him. If he's maxed out at pretty good, then there's no point in even continuing. It's time to move on.

It's not the Rose Bowl; it's not the national championship game, but it's Husker football. I will watch. In the offseason I'll miss Husker football. I'll watch the remainder of the NFL season and will watch the Super Bowl, probably bored, and already missing Husker football.

Anyone have a spell book from which you can conjure up a miracle? We need one.

I don't believe in having a revolving door head coach system. That guarantees a terrible team. You give a coach about 5 years to get it done, maybe a little longer if he's close. Bo's had his 5 years. The question: Is he close? If the answer is yes, then he's bought himself another year or two. If no, what's the point in keeping him on? Is he a coach who will give us pretty good teams that get winning records, but never any kind of championships? If that's the case, I don't see the point in keeping him on. I don't believe the Husker football tradition is about building pretty good teams that are fun to watch, but collapse in the big games.

I don't claim to have all the answers. I'm not a soothsayer. Perhaps my fellow fans can answer that "Is he close?" question better than I can. At this 5-year point, we need to justify keeping him on. If that cannot reasonably be done, it's time to move on. Thoughts?

If we get blown out like yesterday's game, it's time to look for a new coach.

Threads like these are a cop out. Nebraska fans love to claim that being a husker fan is ingrained into their identity. When things are going well. Now when things go shitshow south the kool-aid drinkers say it's just a game. Which is it? I'm upset, not surprised nor shocked. Anyone that's non-biased could see the glaring flaws in this team. But the kool-aid drinkers claim we'd win the big 12. Right.

 

We were a top 20 ranked defense going into this game. Maybe our defensive ranking is a reflection of the terrible offenses we see in the little 10. Take a step back and see the big picture. Our offense isn't nearly as good as people want to believe. We are sub-par on both lines. You can't win titles with sub-par line play.

It works like this. If you're a real fan, you root for your team through thick and thin. When times are great, you're a Husker fan. When times suck, you're a Husker fan. You don't jump on some other team's bandwagon. That said, there are things more important than football, like family and friends. In another thread, a gentleman talked about having attended the funeral of someone close to him. That's more important. From that perspective, you say it's just a game. When you're watching and passionately rooting, it doesn't feel like just a game.

I need you to physically give my post a +1. To say it and not do it drives me nuts. I'm all about the numbers. The regs here know this. Thanks.

Done. Sorry, I didn't realize this board has a props system. I don't post here all the time.

I'm glad you have perspective. That is important.

 

It's also important to acknowledge that a team that drops several million dollars a year on being an elite football team got 70 points hung on it tonight.

 

This is a football board. Not a perspective board.

 

Truth hurts.

you compare the loss of a college football game to the loss and near loss of close relatives, and that person showing the courage to publicly discuss that as an example that there needs to be some perspective. Your excuse for that comparison is "it's a football board, heh". Whatever.

+1

Yes, it's a football board, and, yes, football's a rough sport. However, the day football destroys my compassion for other human beings is the day I want to stop watching it forever. I hope that guy finds a heart for other people. There is nothing that compares to losing a loved one. When you team loses, it sucks, but it just does not even remotely compare. I hope somehow that guy finds a way to reach inside and find the compassion he's somehow blocked. My God.

I'm glad you have perspective. That is important.

 

It's also important to acknowledge that a team that drops several million dollars a year on being an elite football team got 70 points hung on it tonight.

 

This is a football board. Not a perspective board.

*groan* Dude, have a heart.

You're absolutely right that there are things way, way more important than football or any sport. The holidays are coming up. Love your families with all your heart, folks!

I'm very sorry for your loss.

To me the team seems on offense high risk/high reward. T-Mart makes unbelievable athletic plays. His scramble for a TD tonight was an amazing Harry Houdini escape. I was sure he was sacked for a loss and then we would punt, but it turned into a TD. At that point, I really thought we would come back. He makes great plays like that, but then he turns around and makes absolutely boneheaded plays like rolling out and throwing into heavy coverage instead of just throwing the ball away. It makes me wonder -- hasn't he been coached about when to just throw the ball away? Doesn't he know it's just not there on every play?

The D looked like the biggest mess I've ever seen in a Husker game. We got burned on the edge all day. Ran up the middle at will. They completed most all of the passes they wanted to. Three different runners gained over 100 yards each. Absurd! If the team keeps Bo, the D must be revamped. But he's been here 5 years. That's the unofficial going rate for a coach's window. It's not an absolute. You keep a coach after that who hasn't gotten it done if you think he has a good chance to get it done. After a game like tonight, that's highly questionable. If it had been a tight game with us coming up short by a single score at the end, then maybe we keep Bo and keep trying. However, this was a ridiculous embarrassment. I'd doubt any Husker fan thinks this is what Nebraska football is all about.

Or how about how after the ridiculous 80 yard run before the half by Wisc, they line up with 6 seconds left in their "Barge formation" and---pass the ball to a wide open guy in the end zone. Really Papuchis and Bo, they had 6 seconds left and you thought they were going to run the ball?

I was screaming at that one. There was NO coverage on that guy. It was like playing catch in the back yard with your kid.

Jimmy Johnson, but I'd doubt he would return to college coaching or any kind of coaching. He loves warm climates like Florida, but if he could somehow be convinced to brave the cold in Nebraska, he knows how to build a super disciplined team and how to recruit.

We got beat to the edge everytime. I cannot believe we did not adjust. Their running backs were just faster than our defense everytime. It was like watching pee-wee football...just send the speedy kid to the edge when you need a big gain.

I was thinking the same thing, "Is this Pop Warner?" They burned us with the same dirt simple plays over and over. Terrible angles. Terrible tackling all game long.

Football is over. We just dont know it yet. Wait till they blame the Chiefs/Jevon Belcher incident on concussions/head trauma. It's only gonna get worse.

 

Sorry I had to bring that up again. But it supports my point.

 

Sadly youre correct. I just wish if they're going to decide to go to flag football or put lighted targets (think laser tag) on the players of where its legal to hit them, they would do it already, and make the rules clear so that the players, coaches, refs, and fans are all on the same page of what is a legal hit. I can't stand it when a flags are thrown, yet no one knows what anyone did wrong.

A while back Mike and Mike had an interesting conversation with some dude high up in the officiating office of the NFL. It got pretty heated when Mike Golic demanded that he specifically define what players are supposed to do now. It was after Ed Reed was suspended for a hit, and before the suspension was reduced to a fine.

 

This is the problem. The hits are happening way to fast for proper judgment and caused widespread inconsistency. Sure the Stafford hit and Bell hits looked bad, but as it turns out, not a fraction of bad as the wiscy defender that stuck his helmet up under Taylor's chin.

 

Over the last couple years, you have seen defenders beginning to make a conscious effort to make the right hit. 5 years ago, kenny bell probably leads with his head, going head to head. Tonight he goes shoulder to chest and it's still not good enough. The problem I see arising from this is guys saying to hell with it. I'm gonna get flagged anyway, so I might as make the hit regardless. I see a reverse effect possible happening here.

 

If these goons in charge of this thing want to correctly police this situation, they need to take the flags out of the hands of the officials, let the hits happen unpenalized, and then review the hits after the game and pass out necessary suspensions. in this case, Bell and Stafford are scott-free, while Borland and the doosh that hit Taylor under the chin are not playing in the bowl game. That would have a much great positive effect on this concussion bs. Right now, the wrong hits are the ones getting penalized.

Props for a great post. I also wondered if it might work if the league made it legal for a ref to pick up a flag after he saw the replay. With how fast the game is, it's easy to see how the ref probably thought it was a helmet-to-helmet hit. How much do you want to bet a ref has thrown a flag and then sees the replay up on the big screen and thinks, "Oops, I blew that one," but can't do anything about it.

I think we'll be facing Community College of Aurora in the 7-11 Slurpee Bowl.

I was yelling at Pelini to bench him.

 

It isn't that Taylor isn't any good. The problem is, he was rattled beyond belief.

 

 

 

Yeah.......benching a quarterback helps reassure him and get rid of the rattled play.

 

 

Some of the stuff you guys are coming up with tonight >>>>>

It might be different from sport to sport. In hockey it's standard to bench a goalie who's gotten rattled by a lot of goals. It gives him the chance to recover. I haven't typically seen that done in football, but I wouldn't rule it out. Maybe tell him he's only sitting for one series while he refocuses. Maybe it could work in football if it works in hockey?

And they run the same defense that gets burned over and over on the outside. It was ugly.