CheeseHusker

1. The fundamentals. Nothing else comes close, IMO. Fumbles, lineman jumping, personal fouls, pass interference, unbelievably poor tackling, muffed punts. 2. Our defensive personnel problems are well documented already... more beef in the middle and more speed on the outside. Recruiting - make it happen. 3. Special teams is a huge problem nobody seems to be talking about. This might have been of the worst Nebraska special teams units of all time. Maher was okay, but regressed. The return units were terrible. We must have set a record for muffed punts this year... and as a result, we stopped fielding them altogether or fair catching and giving up tons of field position. 4. Find a right tackle with a clue. 5. Priority #1 for Taylor Martinez - making sound decisions with the football.

Based on schedule alone, they should be 12-1 or 11-2 in the regular season. UCLA will be avenged. No Wisconsin or Ohio State. I could see Nebraska being 8-0 and ranked in the top five going to Ann Arbor. If they can learn to not turn the ball over and find a little bit of talent on both lines, there's no reason why they won't be. The question is, when they play a significant game, can they keep the opponent under 45 points?

The heart and soul of this team. Just wish he could have played defense too.

I just don't understand why ball security is not our absolute #1 priority. You can not be 100-something ranked in turnover margin and fumbles lost and be an elite football team. You can't. In many games this year, we managed to overcome the bad turnovers. In this game it finally proved to be the difference. This was a winnable game and it was a game in which Nebraska was the superior team - until the turnover.

There was simply no way Nebraska was going to win if they lost the turnover margin. I've felt all year this was our biggest issue, yet it doesn't seem to get a whole lot of traction among anybody on the coaching staff, in the media, anywhere. It finally cost us a game. Nebraska should have won this game.... don't let anyone tell you differently. The fumble lost the game. Nebraska is a four loss team because it turns the ball over too damn much. There are other issues for sure, but this one is the one that cannot be excused. Don't know about you, but moral victories suck, and I'm not about to convince myself this was one anyway. Nebraska threw it away.

It's happened all year.... the difference is this time we ran into an opponent who could use it to sufficiently bury us instead of leaving the door open.

Too bad we can't draft players. I don't have a lot of confidence in our recruiting.

Defense needs talent, bad.

That was weird, did a thread just get merged into this one?

Decision making in general.

So much of it is self-inflicted, that's the worst part.

Murray is 16 for 29, but 5 of the 16 are TDs.

Defensive genius.

Moving from Wisconsin to Colorado didn't do me much good in the road trip sweepstakes.

Didn't even know they played football at Old Dominion.

Anyone made any interesting bowl trips? Favorite / unfavorites you want to share? For me, I've only made one bowl trip to date.... but it was a good one. I saw 62-24 happen. I was a college freshman but I'd flown home to Wisconsin to spent Christmas.... my dad surprised me by booking the trip for the two of us. Got up at 4:30 on New Year's Day to drive 2 hours to Chicago Midway and then flew to Phoenix.... stopped in Kansas City and about a million Husker fans got on the plane. Played golf that afternoon and watched the second half of the Rose Bowl with Northwestern in it, which at that time was a big deal. For the game, I sat on about the 30 yard line on the first row of the second deck. Frazier's famous run happened right about that point. After Booker's pick six I went to get a drink and missed the field goal at the end of the half. After the game we found the ESPN set and taunted Corso for awhile, then went out for food. Embarrassed to admit I ate at a Hooters for the first and only time in my life (nothing else was open). Got up and played TPC of Scottsdale the next day and then my dad took me to Morton's for dinner. Not sure any steak I ever had tasted better than that one did. Haven't gone to another bowl game since, but I'm not sure anything is gonna top that. I imagine that I share this experience.

Interceptions highest (by number) during Callahan era.... no surprise. Penalties highest (by number and by yardage) during Pelini era.... also no surprise. Wonder how many penalties are personal fouls. Would also agree that in the last 5-10 years more penalties in general are called all across college football... particularly pass interference and targeting / roughing calls, both of which we are prone to do.

Hope we get a home and home soon.... I miss the extra home game.

I hope the Huskers make it fun. Play loose and make it fun. I wonder if all the mistakes aren't just a result of a crazy amount of tension. I'll use another golf metaphor (seem to have a bunch of these today) - instead of filling your head with too many swing thoughts and mechanics, stick to one or two really basic idioms, and carry it through. Give every player a couple of simple instructions, and tell everyone to go out and fly to the ball, and enjoy themselves doing it. Embrace the underdog role and play with nothing to lose.

Lookin' for my then 19-year old father in the crowd.... don't see him. I know he and a bunch of friends went into Juarez that night and got pretty hammered.... if you did that today, you might get shot.

Six facepalms in one post, pay that! I remember the later OU losses.... they were soul crushing. Especially '86... After four straight (three at home) from 84-87 I thought we were never going to beat OU again. A week after the Badger massacre and I actually feel okay. I think these blowouts are the result of momentum just building and building to the point where you have no answer for it. It's like golf.... you know the best player in the world can shoot 82 on a bad day and look like an amateur. Sometimes if you make two or three bogeys in a row early, your entire demeanor changes and your whole mindset is completely thrown out the window.