Billyball

Sorry, but if we keep claiming it's about the kids that decommit rather than something wrong with what they are seeing in Lincoln, we will soon suck. The kids leaving are not of any less character than the kids committed and will come to Lincoln next spring or summer. They saw something they didn't like. I think it is not just our inept offense but the total chaos as to what is going to be done with the offense. Bo's tirades toward staff and players on the sidelines don't help create the "Husker familY" that many are sold by recruiters. If Bo decided as I'm told Mack Brown does and tell these two players looking around "If you look around you are no longer wanted at NU", he screwed up because they called his bluff. Now those two are water under the bridge. It is now only a few weeks to signing day. Our offense is the worst I've seen period. And what do we have in a recruiting class? A great home grown OL, A TE from Texas that played for a running team and caught very few passes and a two star reciever homegrown. We have now lost 3 four star offensive players. We certainly won't be finding 3 four star offensive players to come in this class to take their places. Talking about who we might get in the 2011 class is silly. We need skill players in this class!! At some point we need to stop blaming the recruits leaving and look at the friction, tension and chaos on our team. Pick an offense, pick the coaches to run it, commit to the philosphy and don't belittle those trying to get it done in public. That would help attract highly talented kids more than anything.

Though others seem to think all is well in Husker land, I think part of the chaos that is obvious on these threads led to losing Carter and Gabbert. If you look at the threads, people are throwing the coaches on offense under the bus right and left. They are lower than whale feces to hear some of the posts. Dumber than a post. So why would two 4*s recruited by these same offensive coaches want to come here? The tirades against Lee by some posters also doesn't jive with the "why doesn't everyone want to be a Husker" silliness that seems to pervade Huskerland. Bo's rants on National TV screaming at offensive coaches and the QB, does not give the sort of 'in control' leadership that most are looking for. The anemic performance of the offense 106 yards on national TV; doesn't give them much faith either. They are not coming here to play great defense; those two were coming here to throw and catch. So these kids had to look around and ask the same question I have asked and no one has been able to answer. If watson is so bad and the offense we run WCO is not suited to our team, then WHAT ARE WE GOING TO RUN NEXT YEAR AND BEYOND? What coaches are going to be running it? Pelini seems more suited to having a power running game. I don't think we have the personnel for it and it will be a horrible mistake but if that is what he wants, then he needs to start getting the personnel to play it. None of us has any clue what they will run or who will be coaching it. Half or more of you want Watson out along with Cotton. Why would the kids not see the chaos that is currently a part of this team and say....I think I would rather be in a different situation that is more settled on what they run on offense and matches my skills. C Carter and Tyler G do not want to be a part of an offense that throws a half dozen times a game. If you take off the red colored glasses and look at it from two kid's view from out of state with no bred in Husker pride, it makes perfect sense for them to go somewhere else.

Dylan! Here's a clue. We went for 106 yards in our last game. How'd that work out? How many games does 106 yards get you in the W column? What offense are we going to run next year ? A WCO A spread? An option deal like GT? If you don't know, then why do you think you have a clue as to why we will get more than a first down each QTR and 106 yards a game. I'm calling you out for BS. Tell us where we will be so great on offense. The scheme, the personnel especially the QB. You are just whsitling past the graveyard without a f'n clue.

How'd that work out for us this year in the reciever department. If we don't need a 4.37 reciever with good hands, we don't need to throw the dam ball. We are the greatest fan base for dissing those that choose not to be a part of the program. If Gabbert were our QB we'd be miles ahead. Yet the same people who claim that we "don't need" Carter said that Gabbert was not good enough for us ....after he decommitted. The fact is that any 4* or 5* athlete that spurns us for whatever reason is a bummer. This one it seems Bo decided to put the screws on not to visit other schools. We are not near a program that can do that. Carter told us where to stick it. Now we can say "we don't need you...we need some 3 star that nobody has heard of that is 4 inches taller and a half second slower" ; but the truth is we are spinning. We need to WIN THE RECRUITING BATTLES with Misery or this year will be a fluke. We came back and beat them in a rainstorm in the best or luckiest quarter Lee has played with Gabbert injured. They flat out whipped our butt the previous two years. If they get the players they have on their list and we get ours, I don't like our chances the next 2-3 years. Bleeding red and white doesn't mean you have to be stupid. We are going to lose more 4 star recruits in this class than we sign. That is not something to dismiss.

Maclin is probably said to be 6-0/200 now and no matter what it said when he played for Misery was more like 5:10--170. Probably still 5'10" and a little heavier. No way to spin this. C Carter had the potential to be a big time playmaker-- reciever, reverse plays, punt and kick returns ala Maclin or Johnny Rogers. You can't coach speed and hands and he seems to have them. We don't.

Don't know whether it was by design but your "10 things" --had about 5 concerning the QB and one that is impossible--this year's defense. WE DON'T HAVE A GOOD QB. Might we have one next year -yeah but your "hopes" for Lee, Span and Green tells us that we don't have a clue at that position. Then you say what we need to recruit--dual threat qbs--but you don't tell us what offense we are going to be running. ISN'T THAT THE PROBLEM BO HAS??? There is no identity for this offense. Oh we want to run the ball... but we want great throwing QBs and great recievers....but we don't want to take a chance on an int. The problem is at the top. You don't need 5 on your want list if you know what you want to do as an offense. Decide and recruit. We got 106 yards in a football game. Ironically that is the game many Husker fans are going ape**** over claiming we are some sort of national championship material, though the guy most responsible for that close LOSS is going to be the number one pick in NFL. Until Bo quits yelling, chewing his cud, blaming others and clearly defines what his offense should be, the OC to run it we will likely suck. Should he come up with the answers and act like an adult then we need to recruit the personnel necessary to run the offense he has selected and let the offensive coaches coach the game and stfu while the cameras are on. If you have to throw a fit on TV to your players or your subordinates, you are not ready for prime time and nobody is going to want their kid playing here. It's that simple. Get a plan. Execute it. Do so with Class. That is what made the Huskers great in the past and will if we are ever to become great again.l

Yes, you are correct and he was responsible for the kids that played last year and carried the defense with a dynamite offensive output. Is your point he went from genius to idiot this year and Bo went from idiot to genius with the defense? College ball is always about change. Our cupboard on offense came up empty. You cannot have a really good offense without a really good QB. Watson had Gabbert and he would be here today but they fired the head coach. That would have made this year a whole lot different. Witt left, Spano was hurt(may or may not be any good) Lee is no good, Green is green or not very good. Ergo we had no QB. The OL wasn't very good and neither were the tight ends. Blame Watson if you like, but then do you give him great credit for last year? I don't know the answer to our offense obviously, but I think Bo has to decide what he wants to run and who he wants to run it. Then recruit for that scheme and let the OC do their thing and stay out of their face and the players faces on national TV. If you want to run a GTech option which I think would make Bo much happier, go for it. But then recruit those type of offensive players. But don't let the uncertainty of who is going to be OC and what the offense is going to be run kids away.

NU has a staff that walked into a mess and came out with two straight nine win seasons (and were damn well robbed of more). you tell me which program is headed in a better direction. do we want great players? obviously. but we're going to win with or without any given kid. these coaches will find players that fit with what we want. the only question is which recruits, fans and media are going to feel awfully dumb about doubting a program led by bo pelini and tom osborne. No, you are not going to win without kids like C Carter and Gabbert. Our recruiting is not looking so hot. Tom Osborne is not "leading this program", Bo Pelini is. He has had two somewhat successful seasons with players he did not recruit. That is good. All this "we'll soon be in an NCG" is poppycock. We are not on a par with the elite teams and unless we recruit better talent; this year might be the best we'll see in a while. All summer long C Carter was the key to our recruiting class. As soon as we try to intimidate him into not taking visits and he tells us to shove it (terrible move on Bo's part--the assistant went there most certainly with that message from Bo. ), koolaid fans start whining about C Carter and how we don't need he and Gabbert. Well we needed Gabbert's brother this year. We needed that wide reciever Misery had--heck any of them. We are not the New Orleans Saints in the North. We are a team that had a far superior defense but are also a team that got beat by Iowa State for gawdsakes. If this crew doesn't start acting like adults ( a coach yelling out the tunnel to the opposing team that just defeated you "You should be embarrassed" only embarrasses this program...as does Pelini's whining to Osborne who dutifully tried to get him targets to vent to so Bo could get his tantrum over and stfu), no top players are going to want to play for them. Berating players or assistants, b*tching about the officiating like a big baby every week, looking like you are one inch on the fuse from going into a serial killer rampage, is not going to get it done. Oh I know it's cool now to worship Bo because of our defense and praise his "passion". The defense is good. However with Suh on board with the rest of the cast they should be number 1. Suh, a once in a lifetime player, is the guy you should credit and he won't be here next year. Bo like Muschamp of Texas has a great firey, somewhat out of control temperment that is perhaps fine for an assistant coach or a coordinator. Not sure kids are going to flock to a program with that sort of head coach. the My way or the highway message Bo sent to C Carter seems to show you how that works out with good athletes. He seems to have a lot to learn about dealing with players and subordinates in a manner that makes people look up to him and want to work with him and play for him. My guess, unless he learns and changes, two years he gets the same treatment from TO that Perkins did to Mangino--the "coach of the year" in 2007. JustMHO

Gabbert's whole connection with Nebraska was through Watson. With Wats position being tenuous at best, I don't see Tyler coming to Lincoln. While we are all guessing, I think that Tyler has heard over and over that Pelini is a defensive specialist and that his teams will be known for great D. That's great. But then when you see a coach (rightfully with our personell) play as conservative in the CCG and get 106 yards TOTAL (kinda silly for us to talk just about how we shut down Texas-when they got twice the yardage we did) and you are a QB that wants a wide open offense that throws the rock; you might not be impressed. The Huskers have to decide what kind of offense they want to run. I think Pelini would be much more satisfied with the option that Johnson at Ga. Tech uses. It suits Bo's temperment much better I think. Otherwise he is going to be in the face of the OC or QB everytime there is a incompletion or interception. If that is the case, then wide outs like Green and QBs like Tyler G are not going to come to Nebraska. I think if they make up their mind what they want to do first and all get on the same page, I see something of a Carl and Bo making the OC the odd man out developing and together they don't likely know a whole h*ll of a lot about how to develope an offense that will compete. Decide what they want and get it going and then recruit to fill that scheme. How could a kid possibly believe we know what we are going to run or offense or who is going to be the coach running it after this year. And if you don't know that; would you want to come here?

This is just silly. You know you wanted C Carter, I wanted C Carter and every other Husker fan wanted him in Lincoln. He was huge for the coaching staff. I think they tried to keep him from taking his Misery visit and it backfired. He told us to stuff it. That doesn't mean we didn't want the kid and we "don't care" that he is not coming here. And all of this stuff about how we are going to "dominate" him or hurt this player or make them wish they had come here instead of going somewhere else is just happy horses***. We've slipped into one Big 12 North championship and lost close in the CCG in how many years? In your own piece you claim that last year we were fercrap on defense so we were smart enough to play great offense--that makes our coaching staff geniuses since they "adapted". Get real. Football teams change every year, whether pro or college. But in college ball the added diminsion of 4 yrs of eligibility makes the change each year very unpredictable. We had some offensive players last year. This year we have krap. Last year our defense was pretty bad. This year it came together but is a very senior led group. Losing the player of the decade in college ball along with Turner, Dill and Asante will hurt badly. The good news they gave some other players a chance to learn their position without the team getting killed. Next year is totally up in the air until we prove what we can do on D in the PS (post Suh) era.. Crick will not be the force that Suh was, lightening doesn't strike twice. Steinkuler and Crick will be good but neither will require the triple teams, chop blocks and overall mess up the opposing offense. Because of that teams will likely have more time to throw on us. I'd bet anybody our defense will not rank as high or be as statistically sound next year. That's just an obvious conclusion that may not pan out. Our offense should be better, but where is the great improvement coming from? Kinnie seems to be catching on but who is going to consistantly get him the ball? Can Helu stay sound for a season? If your premise is right, we'll just decide as a team to become an offensive jauggernaut next year to overcome the losses on defense. That aint the way it works. We need players like Carter and Gabbert and if we don't get them, we will still be whining about the 2009 CCG this time next year while sitting at home for he bowl season while Misery, Ioway State and Ksucks finish ahead of us. "Being Nebraska" doesn't cut it in this era. We need to have a staff that can recruit the very best players available and get them here and fit them into a system that gives us the ability to compete. The jury is out on whether Bo is going to be good at recruiting or is tempermentally suited to that most important part of coaching. But to claim when other teams kick our butt for a player that "we didn't want him anyway" is whistling by the grave yard.

Well if true, it certainly isn't entirely unexpected. It is hard to get big time recievers when the offense is A) Lousy and B. Unpredictable as to what we will run in the future. I'm sure the kid reads the boards and the online paper articles about the Huskers. He hears all the claims that Watson will be or should be fired. He also sees Bo yelling at the offensive coaches and the QB on the sideline. He sees we put up 106 yards of total offense and all of the commotion on the sports shows that Bo and Carl are defensive experts and our offense sucks. Now if you were a 4.37 reciever that is rather slight of stature I don't think it is hard to figure out why Carter might just want to look around for an offense that is more to his liking and a more settled situation without the angst. I would think it is entirely likely that Gabbert will be next from all the smoke. I don't have a HI subscription but see there is a thread up about the two. We need 4 * players or our 106 yard output in the CCG might be trimmed back. No defense is that good!

"You want the truth? You can't handle the truth"--to borrow the military movie line. The TRUTH is that we are homers. We want the defense to be as good and the offense a whole lot better. In other words put a hold on the defensive stats and kick up the offensive stats several fold. Unfortunately we are not going to be the team that held Texas to their lowest output in a few years last night next year. Neither are we likely to be the team that let Misery ring up 50 something on us and b-slap us something terrible in 08 and 07. We are not likely to be as totally INEPT on offense, but I doubt that we put up 2008 numbers either. The thing about college ball it's just like Forest Gump--Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get..." Fans projecting their desires is just silly and seldom jives with reality of the next season's team. Everybody has great hopes in the off season--nearly every year. Sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt. We have no reason to expect a all conference QB next year. That is where most great offenses begin. We should be better, cause we can't get much worse. The staff will have to decide what is the priority going forward and try to set it up in the offseason. If it seems (as it does right now that passing is not going to be our strength) --a scheme for exploiting our power running attack needs to be set up in the spring and summer. Goodbye WCO. If we are going to be a passing team and continue the WCO then we better sure as h8ll get some better QB play and better wideout/TE play. I don't see that in the cards enough to be a good offense. The defense will drop off without Suh, Turner, Dillard and Asante. But likely not as much as one would think. However it may not be possible to play 6 or 7 dbacks without Suh. Crick and Steinkuler are good--they just are not likely to be Suh and be able to cause havoc on QBs such that Dbs only have to cover recievers 3 or 4 seconds max. Nobody predicted OU would falter so badly this year. We could be 6-6 next year and the staff do everything exactly right. WE could be 10-2 or 11-1 as well. Predicting next year for our team or the rest of the better teams in the Big 12 is about as iffy as predicting the winner of the Ky derby next May. S-happens. Enjoy a great season and our bowl and hope for the best! We are still trying to become a good football team. We are not nearly there YET!

For years we have been accused of being condescending and patronizing after victories. I think this shows that maybe the best course is to just stfu in the immediate aftermath of a game to our opponents. But when others give their "attaboys, you'll get em next time" krap, remember we could possibly be the former world champs at that sort of nonsense, we should bite our tongue and take it as though they meant it sincerely. Then next year hope we pound the h*LL out of em. If so I think we might have learned something--if you really are a good sport, stfu and stay on your own site.

KU will likely pay Gill as much as Bo is making--somewhere between 1.5 and 2 mil. Thanks to the BB program they have some bucks. It is absurd to think that he would take 350 and work for a guy who got the job when TO passed him over. Ain't happening and it is insulting to Gill to even offer. As a head coach Gill will be the only black QB in the Big 12 and he has some ties to Texas which is our main recruiting grounds. He will in time be a force in the Big 12 North. We may be beat him like a redheaded step child if he takes the job at KU for the next decade, or we may eventually rue the day we didn't give him the job. Time only will tell. He would not be yelling "cheater" nor "they should be ashamed" to an opponent.

Yeah cuz Bama doesnt throw the ball either. Julio Jones is completely irrelevant in that Bama offense cuz all they do is run right? You left this following thought out : <<There will still be room for a reciever with exceptional talent if we can find someone to throw the ball accurately>> No recruit could be impressed with our QB play. Before Julio Jones catches the ball there has to be someone who gets it closer to him than the other team's D back. Our QBs have not shown they can do that. If they can't we will try to pound the ball even more. Blocking wide recievers are essential to a good running team. Not sure that Carter is going to buy into that, but maybe he will.

I hope that he keeps the commit, but I doubt that he will. We are going to try to become a power running team featuring RBs, hopefully like Alabama. I think Bo has seen enough of the West Coast offense and Spread formations. He will pound the rock and the recievers will have to BLOCK and block well. There will still be room for a reciever with exceptional talent if we can find someone to throw the ball accurately. But I think you will see that Cody Green runs the ball nearly as many plays as he throws the ball and the overall mix next year will be 75% run to 25% throwing. Stop the other team cold and pound the rock. Power Football Baby. Johnny Rogers thrived in that scheme. Bo will re-establish power football in the Big 12 and we will be playing Alabama for the NC in a couple years with or without Carter. Big recievers that can block are needed!

Or Shipley takes it back to the same spot they wound up. We can't assume the unknowable. If we had any offense at all, it would not have come down to that play. Though the kicker seemingly didn't help, he didn't do the horsecollar or allow the two passes to be completed. If wishes were horses beggers would ride. Might have been the same result if they handled the ball on the KO. And if the idiot McCoy had not put a little more air under the ball going out of bounds, it wouldn't matter. Always somethin!

It was a heartbreaking loss. Did we get cheated? Nope. Should our players and coaches have been disappointed. hellyeah. But C Pelini's comments show a lack of character that Nebraska football has never been about. You can rant and rave in private with officials, conference officials or your spouse if she doesn't have a nine iron handy, but you don't scream about the team that just defeated you "being ashamed" and claim you have been "cheated". TO obviously was upset to lose, but reading the story I don't think he shared any of the feelings of being "cheated" or thinking Tejas didn't deserve to win. He just wanted to calm down Bo and have Pelinis feeling better about things before they made comments that were detrimental to NU's football program. Both need to learn to keep their mouth shut when the only thing they can do is come off looking childish and classless. I know some of you point to tantrums and claim that is the fire in the belly that we need and everyone in the program needs that and it will take us to the next level. My take is that we need the fire in the belly alright, but channel it ON THE FIELD to make good plays and not have to whine about losing or not getting this call or that one. Every team in every game thinks that a call went against them. What we have to do in addition to 'restoring the order' is restoring the class of the Nebraska football program. It has become almost to be expected that Bo will throw a hissy fit about something during a game or berate those who are on the same team for the camera. We have a ways to go. Whether they fire Watson or get better offensive players, at some point Bo and his bro are going to have to grow up or poor sportsmanship will become what NU is known for. I would be concerned if I were Bo after watching the Fat Magino go from hero to "hotheaded coach we need to get rid of" --in one season of losing, that the same fate awaits. Fans and ADs overlook a lot when winning. But have a clunker of a season and if you are an AH, they'll boot you right out the door. Let's win a bowl game and win it with CLASS!

The entire Big 12 is down this year including the south teams. I agree that Tejas will get creamed. The only good news is that the South teams even though their recruits on paper are much better should not be all that great next year. Whoever wins the North should have a great shot at winning this game we came so close to winning tonight. We lose the best player perhaps to ever play DT in college. That and other seniors will hurt but we will still have a better defense than most of D1 I think. I just don't see where we are going to get the offense. We pure D suck on offense and I think the plan will be to try to be Alabama of the Big 12 and we won't have the hosses to get it done.

Gabbert was in Columbia today. I wouldn't count on him being our salvation. To get **** recievers and QBs here we're going to have to show that we have the coaching that will allow them to use those talents. It looks like we are going to be a 3 yards and a cloud of dust and let the defense do it sort of program.

Sounds like he is going to TCU and Mizzou in the next two weeks. I don't care what it says about "solid", when a kid says he is getting happy feet on his website and he's taking visits to two schools a lot more proficient in the use of the wide reciever than we are...he's not "solid". I just hope he goes to TCU if he decommits. Missouri has a QB unfortunately that can get him the ball and we don't need them having another playmaker. We need to find some offense starting with a QB to get a kid like Carter. That "pound the rock" mentality that many have wanted us to use won't attract guys like C Carter. He's not about being a blocker for RBs most of the time. I think he leaves us and if so I hope it's to TCU. It will be interesting to see if T Gabbert hangs on if C Carter decoms. We'd better hope for some offense tonight and a close game or a win. Otherwise this recruiting may have been better off if we'd not have won the North. If we lose big, I think we could lose them both. Here's hoping it's OUR TURN.

Sounds great. But you don't lose a player like Suh and expect to have a better defense. Oh, you can hope that the losses of Suh and Turner along with Dill and Asante will be replaced by star redshirts or kids that improved this year. It might happen. You have to doubt that to be the case if you are not drinking the 'aid. On the positive side, our offense cannot possibly be any worse than it has been this season. Surely some improvement will be made. Blockbuster offense? Doubt it. But if we can be at least a capable offense next year and still have a decent, albeit not stellar defense, we should be in pretty good shape. As to Bo leaving for OSU. I wouldn't worry until we win the conference and smoke someone in a BCS bowl. That ain't likely to happen this year. Ohio State who is not near ready to fire their coach; would go for any number of coaches who are getting the press for the Notre Dame job before looking at Bo. Our offensive stats alone would preclude a major program at this time from considering Bo in his second year. The time may come when Husker fans have to be concerned about Bo leaving, but not anytime soon imo.

I think Holiday is more likely especially to fans traveling since the Cotton Bowl will be in Jerry's world just as the championship game. If on the extremely rare chance we are blown out in the CCG, it is likely that the Cotton Bowl might want to take another team. Holiday is good.

Great we won, but if anyone thinks that this offense can stay on the field against Texas when Colorado's offense outscored ours, they are more into miracles than reality.

Yeah, just brilliant. How'd that work out for us?