Red-5

You're right Barnett is a smug panty-waist. How did he end up getting Big-12 coach of the year? I guess back to back trips to the National Championship are overrated. Right on the mark about Brent Venables. OU's defensive system has been in place since Stoops arrived, and don't forget Bob Stoops made a name for himself as a Def. Coordinator at K-State and later at Florida.

You're right Callahan is not Pete Carroll. Carroll runs the defense for USC. Norm Chow is the OC for the Trojans. Seems like Chow's name comes up more than Carrolls. Besides, USC had been running that stuff for awhile. This is NU's first year with that system. I don't think you can compare the two.

Pretty cool...ripping a player. Coaches yeah, but these guys are still kids, not self-absorbed NFL primadonnas.

Interesting article, but for every Texas there is a USC that has been reborn with an infusion of young, top talent.

If winning wasn't such a big deal, I'm sure Tom Osbourne wouldn't have played Lawrence Phillips, Christian Peter and whoever else found their way across the police blotter. Spare us the sanctimonious ideological utopia about winning isn't everything. Nebraska is in the Big-12, at the front and center of college football. If its not about winning perhaps NU should drop its scholarships and maybe move down a division. Face it, winning is important, if it wasn't 90% of the posts on this board wouldn't exist. We want NU to win. We want NU to return to 90's glory. Solich is gone. Its been a year already. Life sucks get a helmet. If the Huskers get better athletes things will get better. Stop living in the past and look at the future.

Certainly its an improvement. I think you have to look a little deeper. They went 10-3 with essentially the same personnel as the year before. Maybe they would have improved over the course of a couple of seasons, maybe they would not have. The only thing I don't like about the change is the style of offense. Callahan we'll see. Solich did a solid job. Sometimes the right course of action is not always the most popular.

The last time I checked the Raiders had one of the oldest rosters in the NFL. If things were so great there do you think Gruden would have left? Ultimately it boils down to the players getting it done on the field. I don't recall any team dissent on the way to the Super Bowl or AFC title runs...and Callahan was on the staff. Gruden certainly had his detractors on the team. Age and parity had caught up to the Raiders. Obviously, Callahan needs players to fit his system. If he can get the players he needs he will be successful.

10-3, without a doubt is a good record. But lets face it, you're not fooling anyone, when the three losses are by second letdowns/meltdowns or just plain butt-kickings. On paper it looks good, NU beat the teams they were supposed to beat, but could not beat the teams needed to be to reclaim their place. I think Pederson realized this. The gap between UT, OU was growing. Pay now or pay later.

I've been checking out the posts about Nebraskas season and its future and I have a few observations of my own... 1. I can't think of one powerhouse that has not recently stumbled and had to reinvent itself. Miami, USC, FSU, Michigan, ND, OSU, OU, Texas. Sooner or later it happens to everyone. 2. I was saddened by the firing of Solich like many, and I was further dismayed at the death of option football by the last big school to run it. However, OU didn't win the national championship in 2000 with the wishbone. 3. The class of athlete the Huskers had to dominate the mid to late 90s has dropped off a bit. I think there is more parity in CFB now, than there was in the 90s, and the gaps between the haves and have nots is slowly closing. More schools are getting their fair share of athletes. Barrett Ruud is a solid yeoman backer, but in terms of athletic ability hes no Terrell Farley. Frankly, I think DeMorrio Williams was better. You could go down the roster position by position and make comparisons. Maybe, Solich was getting out-recruited. 4. Coker lived off Davis recruits, Callahan lived off Gruden, wonk wonk wonk. Who's to say Solich didn't live off Osbournes table scraps for a few years. 5. The Big 12 North is certainly not as strong as it has been. Solich may have had a winning season, but I doubt NU would be BCS bound. I don't see the outcome of the OU game being any different. Do you? Honestly? 6. As a football coach myself, one axiom holds fast...the fans never lose a game.