tmfr15

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.

That guy was supposed to be so good. Dang it. Kind of like Betts. Frost had more misses than hits on the recruiting side. He didn't go after Burrow. We could have went after Max Duggan. We won't get the QB from Gretna. And that's just one position. The misses are everywhere on this roster.

I said Iowa dodged MIchigan and Ohio State. I meant to say just Ohio State, but if you go back, they've probably been doing a fair amount of dodging Michigan too. They play the heck out of Maryland, Rutgers and Indiana. LOL

Nebraska draws Michigan again, this time at home, and Michigan State on the road. Iowa draws at Penn State and home for Michigan State. They dodge Ohio State. Since Nebraska joined the Big 10, the Huskers have played Ohio State eight times. Iowa has played the Bucks just three times. How is this fair at all?

Mike Leach.

I read an "article" suggesting that Nebraska is only interested in hiring a coach agreeable to an incentive-enhanced compensation package. The idea is that this would limit the possible coach pool. Does anyone think this is happening? I am imagining $6M plus a package that would get the right person to $8M or $9M. Maybe it's not even that good. I get the sense that if we are not willing to pay $8M or $9M with a five to six year deal, then Mickey might be the only one who would want the job.

Bo Pelini lost to teams like Wisconsin, Ohio State, UCLA and the like... but the problem wasn't the losing. It was the falling apart that was a problem. We do want a guy that wins most of his games against the unranked. And Bo was pretty good at that. He wasn't perfect, but he was fairly good. We also want someone who can bounce back from losses and not get beat off bye week. Bo could get the team refocused pretty well. The only problem with Bo was the blow out losses combined with his rotten sideline persona where he attacked everyone from players to refs and his postgame persona where he attacked the media, the fans and the administration. And where he had no answers for what was going on. He always said he pointed the thumb but he seemed to point the finger quite a bit too... not as much as Frost, but some. The Bo quote I will always remember was the one about the 2014 meltdown against Wisky where he said he wasn't sure what went wrong but "when it flipped, it flipped." Thanks Bo. Any Husker fan could make that same great observation.

Thinking about a three-prong test for a coach candidate and thought of these factors as the biggest to look at, at least for starters. 1. How are they vs the unranked. This is the stat that made TO... well, TO. He almost never lost to the unranked. 2. How are they after a loss or bye. Both are momentum killers. It's hard to maintain positive momentum through a bye week and can be difficult to get the team going again after a tough close loss or a blowout. Bo was actually pretty good at this. He gave us a master class in 2012 going on the run to Indy. 3. How are they against the ranked and elite teams? It's hard to win against ranked teams and almost impossible against elite teams. So, the main test here is to be competitive. If you can beat at top 25 team, that's big. A top 10 team, that's huge. A .500 record against the ranked would be more that acceptable. But compete. Stay in the game and don't get boat raced. Bo was awful at this one. He got pounded on by a lot of teams. When you get beyond these things, then you can talk to the candidate about how they're going to recruit and who they had in mind for assistants and the specifics of the plan. But if a coach loses against the unranked, can't bounce back from losses and loses after byes, and is not very competitive against the ranked at the current job, what makes us think they will do anything different at Nebraska?

Frost was a great QB. Won the Natty. And I think most of us appreciate that fact. His short NFL career led to a career in coaching. And the creds seemed right. His associations to a bunch of great coaches, the job he did at UCF and his Husker connection appeared to all line up for a home run hire for us. And most us believed in the guy from day one. Then the seasons happened. The losses happened. And the improved play never happened. Scott will always be a great and former Husker player. He won't be remembered for coaching because all the memories are bad ones. Magic Johnson was a great player for the Lakers. No one talks about his coaching with the team because he was awful. Davison, like most of us, believed in Frost. He helped get Frost here. And he probably got a job title he didn't really deserve because of it. When Frost failed, I don't think anyone felt worse about advocating for his hiring than did Davison. So it didn't work and Matt left. Not shocked. Don't understand why anyone would hold hatred toward Scott or Matt. Hey, it didn't work. We're moving on now. Let this be a lesson to us. Reaching backwards to the past in order to move the program forward is probably a bad idea. Sooooo, before we hire Mickey, we better be sure. Extra Sure. That he has a plan. That he has coaches to hire for key spots. That this has a very good chance of succeeding in 2023, 2024 and beyond. Because otherwise, we will have been guilty of reaching into the past to fix the future. And then people will hate Mickey too.

Being set is one thing. Making good decisions and having good eye-discipline are things that I hear brought up time and time again. The LBs make a quick post snap decision to attack a gap, find that they're in the wrong gap, and then, unable to back out or move left to right due to the traffic, get stuck, and watch a ball carrier run right on by.

Maybe knocking out a few bowls would be OK. Keeping them would be nice though. Maybe doing something to enhance the bowls. Although I don't know what that would be. What can I say... I love football. And, yes, the Huskers being out of the bowls has been very hard. Never thought the day would come honestly. Bill's missing two in four years was bad. Mike Riley missing one and taking a bowl with a losing record was worse in that three year stretch. Now, no bowl for going on five years of Frost. It feels like we are the new Kansas. And with Kansas 3-0 and looking toward a bowl... Kansas might not even be Kansas anymore.

What is the future of bowl games after the CFP expands? Will they exist or not? There are 30 some bowl games, only six of which represent the New Years Six ... which is 12 teams. Nebraska hasn't been in a New Year's Six or BCS game since the 2002 Rose Bowl. Are we going to see all our seasons end on the day after Thanksgiving? Maybe these Frost years were training us to accept that... LOL Is the college football postseason going from 30 games to 11 or so games? That seems like it would suck the life out of college football for a lot of fan bases. Not going to contend for the conference? Season may as well be over before it starts for most. I am thinking of the NFL and the first two weekends of the postseason... Wild Card and Divisional. That's pretty fun. But the steady diet of games, especially when you get a line up filled with interesting matchups, is even better for a football addict. I realize that athletes are opting out of the lesser bowls. That's not fun. So maybe this is all moot. Does anyone care about these bowl games... other than me?

Looking at this game as one of four more on the schedule where I would be comfortable with saying the Huskers are in position to win. We got North Dakota in the bag. Georgia Southern doesn't appear to have the physical component on either side of the LOS to give us trouble. Then you look at Illinois, Indiana and Rutgers as being below average teams. The match up between Illinois and Indiana was less than inspiring as the Hoosiers came back to win. Other than that, Oklahoma will be physical, Purdue's RB will give us problems again, Mo of the same from Minnesota, Michigan at the Big House is not happening, Wisconsin has a better back than Purdue or Minnesota. Iowa, if you look at last week, would be our "get to a bowl game" opponent... but they're going to get at least marginally better by season's end and we are so snake bit against those guys. Yup... 2-10 as worst case... 5-7 or 6-6 as best case.