ESPY

Why the anger for Perlman? The Pederson hire wasn't a horrible call at the time - Stevie had guided Pitt to some pretty good levels of success and had paid dividends in most Olympic sports. Pitt football was even coming back to life. Pederson had strong ties to Nebraska athletics and he's Nebraska-born. That's a pretty solid hire, and most folks were in favor of it at the time, if I recall correctly. Sure, in retrospect the Pederson Era was a disaster for the football team, but the Olympic sports largely prospered under Pederson. When he was ousted (and rightly so) there were a lot of coaches who expressed sympathy for him, Cook and Sadler among them as I specifically recall. Perlman fired Pederson when it became clear the situation was untenable. He then hired Tom Osborne, which was a hell of a move. Judged as a whole, the Perlman AD decisions are a net positive – as bad as Pederson was, Osborne is that much better. The crown jewel in the Perlman tenure is, of course, the move to the Big 10, which will go down in history as perhaps the single biggest decision in the history of UNL. This move, over time, will propel Nebraska into the upper echelon of public universities. Academically this decision is a tour de force. Athletically it'll be a major benefit as well, as we've moved from a conference where ours was the lone voice of dissent into a conference where all members are treated as respected equals. Perlman made a bad hire in Pederson, but it's forgivable since none of us knew what Pederson would turn into at the time. He rectified that decision five years later, hired THE RIGHT GUY, and brought us into the Big 10. I'd say that's a hell of a run as Chancellor. Offhand, I can't think of another Chancellor whose tenure has been more successful. Or, as you just detailed, more of a roller coaster.

Perhaps TO indirectly makes the QB decisions, if he's the lone ranger who's keeping Watson on the coaching staff. Food for thought...

I don't worship Bo. He crazy!

Bo might want "that wisdom to take a hike" because Bo is Bo, and Bo no like someone else running his program. At the same time, I can't think of any real hard evidence (aside from Watson) that TO is doing anything to get in Bo's way of running the football team.

If I had to guess at this point, I'd say Bo will say "good-bye" before TO does. Btw, nice first post. This one's got "controversy" written all over it. Should easily fire up our fellow HB'ers.

I've heard this countless Husker fans, at least a few Michigan fans and now a tOSU fan. Kinda makes me think the B1G ought to survey the possibility of Great Lakes and Great Plains. Surely they'd get a more favorable response than what they're seeing now.

Keep in mind none of the suspensions are on the starting defensive side of the ball. We can contain and control. Braxton Miller, should he get the nod, is going to electrify moreso than Pryor once he gets his feet wet. (think Tyrod Taylor except with a good O-line) All I can say is you better hope Pryor's replacement in those games is up to the challenge (might take more than 5 games for Miller to "get his feet wet"). We Husker folks have seen firsthand (over and over and over again) what happens when your QB doesn't play up to par. Regardless of how good your defense might be (reminder - we've had one of the best defenses in the country over the last 2 years), your entire team can be negatively affected by poor QB performances. I don't doubt Miller's skills (he looks incredible on tape IMO). But, I've seen plenty of QBs with his sort of hype who've fallen flat on their faces with the type of pressure and expectations he'll experience in those first 5 games. No doubt it will be interesting to see how tOSU offense can do in those contests.

Perhaps our friends at ESPN would like to watch the '09 Big 12 title game again, just as a reminder...and the '09 Mizzou game...and the OU game...and about every other game for that matter. We could follow that up with a tour of Suh's trophy case, and a cordial reminder of the incredible number of 1st place votes Suh received for the Heisman. There's also such a thing as class, something Fairley has never heard of. Suh just flat out dominated every game, but he did so with class. No cheap shots or dirty penalties.

^Luck lovefest = truth

At first I was actually pretty surprised to see OSU at the #1 spot simply based on the suspensions. And now after another look, I'm still surprised because their 1st 5 games aren't pushovers by any means. Akron and Toledo will be easy, and Colorado probably will too (but you never know what you'll get against them). But Miami and Michigan State will pose a threat to any team, let alone one with such key players out of the picture.

Not necessarily........unless of course Watson is still calling the shots. Then yes, I agree. OK, that's enough about QBs from me for this thread. IMO #4-7 (MSU, PSU, NWU) and #9 (MU) are gonna be very tough games for us. The wildcard sorta teams could cause some a few bumps on our road.

Here's the link to ESPN's B1G power rankings. Don't you just love that the 3 teams we don't face are #8 (Illinois), #10 (Purdue) and #12 (Indiana) on this list? This is gonna fun.

Teams that will probably be ranked higher than Nebraska to start 2011 season include the following: Auburn, Oregon, Stanford, TCU, Wisconsin, LSU, Bama, Mississippi St, Ohio St, Florida St, Arkansas, Mich St. It's kinda tough deciphering where teams will be ranked because there are so many top teams from this year whose starting QBs and RBs will have graduated or moved on by the time 2011 starts up. Based on that, I'd say we'll be ranked 13-15, potentially higher since we have several key players returning. Of course I don't think the 2011 pre-season ranking will matter too much because we could start outside the top 25 and still end up #1 IF we somehow found a way to go undefeated through that brutal sched.

Thank you Blackshirts

Craig Bohl or Frank Solich.

I was told that he would not make Osborne's short list. really? people have inside sources for a job search that doesn't even exist? I've actually heard the same thing EZ-E heard.

That's the kind of open space shiftiness we'll need from him. That was very promising.

And he held onto the ball too. The guy can do it all

Who's fighting against the Rumorville section? Someone who's job pays more than your job? Here's my take on it: This is a spectacular board - and it's free. The reason it's free is due to traffic/impressions. These "rumor" threads...while often annoying...get a lot of traction in the football section where probably 70% of HB users hang. While creating a Rumorville section might reduce the clutter and BS arguments that each "rumor" generates, it also reduces the interest in the topic because none of us really hung out in Rumorville. So while it's nice to talk about Jared Crick's draft stock, or Cody Green as a passer - these rumors more effectively pay the bills during the offseason if they are where we can all see em. Yahtzee!

I'm trying. Rumorville was 90% full of trash though. Carl and his mistresses, etc. IMO there's a difference between rumors and legitimate speculation (that actually pertains to football). Will Bo end up at Michigan? No. But could the Michigan vacancy impact his status at NU? Certainly. I don't see the harm in discussing it. It's no different than projecting the draft spots of our top prospects IMO - all speculation...but they are are going to the NFL and they will be picked somehwere. Bo is leaving NU eventually and he'll coach somewhere. When/where is up in the air, but Bo has been tied to a number of jobs this season considering he didn't even lead a top 25 team. We didn't hear it last year after finishing strong at #14. Why are we hearing it so much this year after a pathetic finishing stretch to end up out of the top 25? (assumption) Going off memory here, but you don't see Bielema getting named for every big opening. Haven't really heard Dantonio mentioned much. No one is really after Chris Peterson, Beamer, Pinkle, Gundy, etc. All have produced top 25 teams recently. Why? Because Peterson is content at Boise, Bielema has a great thing going at Wisconsin, Pinkle is settled at Missouri, Beamer enjoys VT. Gundy is even firmly planted into the Oklahoma State program. But for some reason Pelini doesn't seem to be as firm, and therefore he is mentioned for most of the big-time jobs that are coming open, despite his "loose cannon" image and complete inability to deal w/ the press. Despite finishing out of the top 25 2 out of 3 years at Nebraska. It's a small world out there when it comes to these athletic programs and coaching circles. If he was so "firmly" our head coach - we wouldn't be having these conversations. His stock hasn't improved so much over last year that he all of a sudden is a front runner for every top program without a coach - so what changed? It has to make you wonder. Excellent points. Just goes to show you he's not at the elite level of those coaches...yet. He could be. Shoot, take away that horrible 2nd half vs OU + the loss to Washington to end the season, and he'd be much closer to reaching the status. Alas here we are. What a huge difference 6 quarters can make.

Is this the article in the OWH today? (If so, it's at cnnsi.com too) yep! Does anyone else think it's funny our redshirt frosh QB "wants to quash speculation that he's thinking of transferring" before his sophomore season? If you step back and look at the fact this message was even sent to the media in the first place, you'd have a hard time thinking of any other player this has happened with...for any team in the nation. How strange.

I'll believe this when I see the Michigan job filled by someone other than Bo Pelini. Really? Do you really give this rumor that much credibility? Not just that, but more credibility than Bo himself saying it's bogus? I'm not saying Bo's an Honest Abe, but if he's gonna leave for another program, he's gonna leave. Why would he flat-out lie about it? No, I'm not giving the rumor credibility. That's not my intent with that statement. I simply meant there's no telling exactly what someone might be thinking about a possible new job, including Bo. This is the approach I take with any potential coaching change these days. I'll believe Bo's statement "there is no truth to that report" when I see it, and the only way I'll see it is if someone else takes the MU job.

I'll believe this when I see the Michigan job filled by someone other than Bo Pelini.

I can't believe nobody here believes what I said two days ago on the front page. My Alabama fan/co-worker told me DickRod was almost definitely maybe out at Mechicken and assuming Harbaugh went to SF or stayed/followed Luck, they'd go after Hoke or Pelini next. Bo is a favorite among some because it's been so long since they've had a Defense that the Offense could win with and it would be a great way to put the screws to tOSU again (like a sequel to Bo Shembechler). I'm almost positive UM will end up with Bo before we "officially" enter the new conference..even though my source denies ever having cleaned a salt water aquarium in his life..He also denied ever fishing for Salt Water fish or even eating them yesterday, so I still have a slight thread of doubt. LesMiles has long been exposed as being more lucky than good as a head coach. Most don't "believe" you because you "still have a slight thread of doubt." "Most" does not include me. I'm thinking what you're thinking.

I wouldn't discount Bo to Michigan too quickly. It may sound ludicrous, but what if Bo is seriously considering? You'd have to think Michigan would like him considering how poor their D has played recently. Seems like a similar situation to when he came on at Nebraska 3 years ago.