tmfr15

Really hoping the story that leads us into the offseason is one about how Chubba bloomed in the last three games, broke our bowl-less streak and led us to a bowl win so we can have our first winning season since Mike Riley's 2016 team went 7-0 on the way to 9-4. I really feel like Chubba is playing his way into being the quarterback that bridges our rough past into a brighter tomorrow. PLEASE let that be TRUE!!!!

Coach Rhule gave his last game week presser yesterday ahead of the Iowa game and I left it feeling pretty good about the leadership we have and what that could mean for the future despite a season where Nebraska could finish short of a bowl game for the seventh consecutive year. We had game management issues and we've had play calling issues and blah blah blah. We have had only five wins. We've lost one score games and I am tired of watching that crap time after time. It's frustrating and I get it. But I am excited about our young players. Chubba looked fantastic early on last week. I really hope he is the future. The running back position, starting with EJ, looks good. And the defense has been really nice this year, not only production but also from a development standpoint and from a tackling standpoint. I liked the fact that Chubba got the chance after sitting out and I am glad he wasn't forced into the lineup when he still wasn't 100 percent. That probably took restraint from the coach when Sims fizzled, and Heinrich struggled at times. Rhule waited for the right timing and with Heinrich still dinged up physically and SIms dinged up mentally, it was the right time. I like how he talked about Iowa too. The Iowa rivalry stuff is just lame as heck really. I have never considered Iowa as a rival. They're not very good. We haven't been very good either. This is as high of stakes as they ever get, a fight for bowl eligibility on one side and a lame trophy. Last year, NU spoiled the Hawks from going to the title game where they would have gotten blasted anyway. We probably did them a favor. Rhule signaled respect toward Iowa and the Ferentz family and I liked the spirit of it. They got some wins. Good for them. We just want to go out there and get No. 6 and get to a bowl. That leadership makes me believe in Rhule. It makes me want to cheer for him. It makes it easier to have the mentality of focusing on Nebraska and the work towards an improved product over hating any school, be it Iowa or Wisky or the Bucks or whoever. Respect your opponent. Go get wins. And go from there. Good job Coach Rhule. I hope we beat Iowa and get this bowl business behind us. Regardless though, I am hopeful for the future and glad we have a good HC.

Chubba Bubba Starling sounds Purdy to me

100 percent agree. The feels after Michigan State were just not great. If the current system were in place five years from now, I would have ZERO problem with believing in Coach Rhule to get NU to the top of the West and in a competitive position to go into the title game and pull off a win, even if that was a bit of an upset. The conference shuffle has me a little concerned however, because the valley between us and Michigan at this moment seems so great. I would love to be wrong and maybe with the combination of our central geographic location and a great coaching job by Rhule, maybe this all switches up. That's where I get to the cross your fingers part.

Nebraska can't go back to the Big 12. The $$$$ loss would be too great. As far as competitive advantage for football though, I can see why this is attractive. When Nebraska was in the Big 12, the Huskers competed in a weak Big 12 North Division. If we won the division, we got a shot against a tougher team in the conference title game. Texas or Oklahoma. We played them in back-to-back title games in 2009 and 2010. We lost both, but we were close to winning. Maybe it would have been considered an upset, but we had the opportunity to grab a title that way. After the Leaders and Legends broke down in the Big 10, we were in a similar position in the Big West. The West is way weaker than the East. We could still win the division this year and play Ohio State, Michigan or Penn State for the title. A win over any of those teams would be an upset, but we would get a chance to grab a title. Next year, with Oregon, USC, Washington and UCLA joining the mix, we have at least three new teams and six total teams where it would be considered an upset if we won. And that could be the case going forward. Losing to Michigan State meant that we lost out on a chance to win nine regular season games this year. And, going forward with conference realignment, winning nine games in a regular season seems very unlikely in almost any season. Getting to the CFP seems unlikely too. When will Nebraska finish in the top three of the conference and thus be attractive to the CFP? The bowl games could go away, although they're trying hard to re-work them and make it more likely that players will want to play in those and not opt out. In a world with no bowls, Nebraska's season will end in November every year. Maybe we are used to that and maybe thank Scott Frost for preparing us for the future. LOL In the Big 12, there is not a team that Nebraska couldn't beat. And if the champ gets a bid to the CFP, that would be hope. Got to say, right now, this all feels a little hopeless in the Big 10. All we can do is win these next three, hope for a bowl win to get to nine games and then cross our fingers that the future is better somehow.

It really doesn't have anything to do with the players or the culture. It's about being able to make the decisions that result in ugly wins instead of head scratching losses. Against Minnesota, if you kick the FG at the end of the first half, it's tied. And you're leading 13-3 in the second half. If you put in the running back who is less likely to fumble and play field position, you win 13-3. Not exciting, but a win. We threw a pick at the end of the first half. Fine. Still up 10-3. And would probably win by that count. Play the RB that fumbles a lot and then the game is tied. OK ... run the ball and play field position and you go to OT and maybe pull it out. Our physical play was getting to them. Heck, we might have got an FG and won in regulation with physical play on our last drive. Instead, we throw a pick. And they walk it off. Until we make decisions that result in ugly wins, we are going to suffer head scratching losses. FACTS

three, four, five....... all seven. There is not a game left on the schedule that strikes fear in the hearts of anyone. Nebraska could win them all. Nebraska could lose them all since we get in our own way. I am seeing a run here that could take us all the way to 9-3 and a pretty decent bowl. Got to agree with ... TonyStalloni ... Now is the time to strike and get this done. With the additions to the BIG, it's going to be harder, and we need momentum.

The focus of the DONU build, both recruiting and development, should be around and in front of the QB on offense. Georgia is great. And the QB being great is part of that. But they won with Stetson Bennett. And he's not at the level of DR. Tennessee didn't win the title with Peyton Manning. They won it with the much less talented Tee Martin. If you have the guys to make plays and the system that allows guys to shine, then the QB looks great. If you don't have much around a great QB, then the QB looks bad. I say all of this while feeling disappointed too. And it's mainly due to missing out on the boost of energy from getting a legit player and the boost in recruiting from peer-to-peer recruiting. We won't have that, so it's going to be a longer build. That's my feeling at this point, but I am feeling pretty negative so.... on we go.

I would come down on the A-side. And this is rating the hire, not the results. And the rating comes front the idea of other people wanting him right away after he left Carolina, there was talk because he has a rep as a program builder. And then he got hired, and most of the feedback from the national side was positive. I heard him speak. He sounded like was a together sort of guy. Wait until September. And then we find out. We were all over the moon excited for Frost and blinded by his Husker history and UCF success, This time we go in with our eyes wide open. The coach has a good rep for college. People are saying good things. As Husker fans, we wait and hope. That's all we can do.

Way too early to say. Ask this question after spring ball and I think we'll have a better idea.

Coach Prime may end up being better. But it's not that easy to evaluate this. There are a lot of grey areas. First off, from Nebraska's perspective in not hiring the guy, Coach Prime is intense. He has a certain edge to him that some perceive as cocky and some as confident. If you bring a guy like that in and he does not succeed, you look like a fool. There is a lot to lose. It's a gamble that Colorado was willing to take. Trev was not. Also, Coach Prime might be in Boulder for a few years and then bolt for a big SEC opportunity. That would leave Colorado back at square one, especially since guys would follow Coach Prime from CU to wherever, just like some will follow him from Jackson State to CU. Nebraska wanted a longer-term solution and felt Coach Prime would not be in for the long haul. Coach Ruhle may work. He may not. Coach Prime might shine at Colorado. He may still be a bust. Trev played it safe. If that is rewarded, we will thank him for it. But if it doesn't, I think we should all acknowledge that Coach Prime's success at Colorado will look like it had always been assured when it wasn't at all. Prime isn't a sure thing and even if he comes through, he'll make as much sense as putting a bunch of money on an underdog to win outright. Hey, it works sometimes, but that doesn't mean that smart money makes that play.

What needs to happen is that Ruhle needs to develop the offense and defense and hire O and D Coordinators to execute his vision and not their vision. I am convinced that's what Saban does. He sets the strategy, and the coordinators follow it. If Satterfield is someone that Ruhle can trust to execute Ruhle's vision, then I've got less of a problem with this.

I know, it's another thread about the Blackshirt tradition. Just an attempt to put a new spin on it. Seems like every coach we have is asked about when they'll give out the Blackshirts. If they do, and we have a bad performance, it becomes, when are you taking them back. It might be best to just tell everyone that the Blackshirts simply represent clear cut starters at each position on the field and leave it at that.... Or What if the Blackshirts were handed out at the end of the season at the awards banquet. The winners would be players who were clear cut starters at their positions and cleared certain performance benchmarks. At the start of the next season, you could indicate the number of defenders who are returning after winning a Blackshirt the previous season. The questions would then go away both about when to give them out and when to take them away. And we would have an award that lived up to the tradition of Blackshirt excellence on defense.

As time passes by ... I think many in the fan base are starting to feel this search drifting toward one of two outcomes. 1. Mickey is named HC and then we all find a way to get behind that even if our first instinct is to be skeptical. Or, that there's some splash hire made and we spend the next nine months thinking that Nebraska has a shot to be Nebraska again. The former feels a lot more certain than the latter. I mean kudos to Trev if he has been having high level contacts with great coach candidates and is about to pick from that field while having kept the whole thing totally quiet for months. Or it could be that almost zero conversations were happening. That Trev was getting a lot "thanks, but no thanks." And that he's about to say, "Roll with Mickey" while also trying to convince us that he looked far and wide and just kept coming back to Mickey.

There are a number of ways this could be seen as a fail. Mickey might be one of them. Campbell could be. There are others as well.

We don't know it's not Mickey. It could very well be Mickey and the rumors we are hearing, like Ruhle, are about coordinator jobs and not about HC. We know ZIP. And looking like we won't until probably the Sunday after Iowa.

We all are suffering a bit of fatigue from the coach search because the fans still care about this program. Despite year after year of bad results and with the program on its worst six year stretch in history, the fans are hanging tough, in part because of the hope this search creates. No matter who the coach is, the next nine months are going to be nerve racking as we wait to see what it means. If the new coach fails, the hope created by the search and hire vanish. And, at that point, a ton of us will stop paying attention. We'll care but we won't spend hours on message boards about it anymore. And eventually, we will care less and less until it won't matter at all. I have always loved this team, but like everyone here, I am fatigued from all the bad with no hope of good. And it has been hard to get fired up about games. This week with Wisky. I mean, most of us are thinking loss and realizing that a win just gets us to four wins. It's hard to care about four wins or even five. In the end, maybe we should not wish this search away. It's the hope we need. And as soon as it is gone, the clock starts ticking to the day where we find out whether or not it was fool's gold.

Rhule? But it was supposed to be announced yesterday and it wasn't, so you can't say that. LOL Jerking your chain...obviously. Ruhle would be an interesting hire.

Regardless, Urban could be announced this week. Maybe the speculation was a week off. We don't know. Next week after Iowa? Maybe. Or it could be the Coastal Carolina guy. Or, out of left field, it could be Mack Brown or some goofy deal like that. We don't know. Buzz around Urban. Ok. I am thinking Urban is still in the running because....why not. Could we say Urban isn't likely. Yes. You already did. But what's the fun in that exactly? If I wanted cold rational thinking, would I be sitting around debating who is going to be the coach of a football team made up of 18-23 year olds? Ummmmmmmmmm. No

Husker Power are you the type of person that goes to the convenience store and stands by the counter. I can just see you there when the Power Ball was $2 billion. Every customer comes up and buys a Power Ball ticket and you say, "I don't know why you are doing that. You aren't going to win. What a waste of money. The only way the Power Ball gets to $2 billion is because no one won for drawing after drawing after drawing despite there being millions of tickets sold. But you go ahead. Buy a ticket. I am sure it will work out." Thought so.

Urban as HC Ruhle as OC Patterson as DC Bill as Special Teams Mickey at WR plus AHC and recruiting Ed O as Recruiting Coordinator LOL

Agreed. Mickey with those two as OC and DC. I would be excited.

This stuff about Mickey's wife and Trev's attitude about Mickey as possible HC makes me laugh. We all know what was going on here was about 5 percent related to current on field results and 95 percent related to what Mickey would do the day he was named HC. If Mickey had a staff in mind with a legit OC and DC plus strength and conditioning plus a great plan for recruiting... you hire him and you do it with confidence. Nobody is an island. You don't hire them for what they can personally do alone. You hire them for all that they can bring to the program. If Mickey is out, it's because he lacks a plan and a staff and all that. It's not because he lost to Purdue and Ill and Minny and blah blah blah

I will bite on the Urban rumor. Here is why... because I want to. In a world where Nebraska has made every manner of bad football headline possible, this would be a bit of great news for us. Urban brings swagger. Urban brings credibility and confidence. He also would bring a staff and a focus for recruiting that would be second to none. And mainly, it's just fun to think about. A Sunday surprise, Urban to Nebraska. YES. And if it doesn't happen, then I will return to earth and think about whoever we do bring in. But for the next few days, I am entertaining the Urban speculation. Because... why not

Well, there went our chances for Luke Fickell. Well, there went our chances for Lane Kiffen. Well, there went our chances for Dieon Sanders.