Roy CO HSKR

I received this from okmike: Personally, I like the moniker Red Thunder. It brings to mind an impending storm. I believe that next or maybe the following year that is what we will see with the Huskers! Raging on into the future. ___________ I would like to get your reaction to his comment and the list, so as to wrap this up and move on, Roy

Was the reason that Christianson didn't play much last season, being because of injuries? The staff felt that Patrick was playing better than Murtha. Maybe Murtha wasn't 100%. Also, does Austin's knee keep him from starting next season? Some of you are interchanging guards and tackles. Being a pulling guard takes quick feet AND speed. Does Slauson fit that category?

I think we would all like to get this threqd over and done with regarding the Husker moniker. My prior post (above) lists the 4 most popular suggested names for the Husker offense to be alongside the vaunted Black Shirts. If any of you, such as the new member Fat Tire, would jump on this, we can try to get some respectibility to what the outsiders call our offense. Obviously, we need a name that exudes power, speed and fear to the opponent. Give us your favorite!

From rojo on another site: Thank goodness for the salt-of-the-earth values of the Ohio River valley. Surely the Big 10 is not shamelessly scheduling winnable, “pay the bills” games for 2006. Or are they? You bet. As fast as they can sign them up... It's the same problem everywhere: Get six football wins to be bowl-eligible. Pay for your minor sports and facility improvements. . I. Division I-AA opponents for home games in ’06: [Note: Final ’05 Sagarin rankings are given.] A. The Big 12: (So far...) 1) Texas home game: Sam Houston State ( #163 on the final Sagarin poll) 2) Texas Tech home game: Southeastern Louisiana (#158) 3) Colorado home game: Montana State (#118) 4) Missouri home game: Murray State (#210) 5) Texas A&M home game: The Citadel (#173) 6) Baylor home game: Northwestern State (#138) 7) Kansas State home game: Illinois State (#89) 8) Iowa State home game: Northern Iowa (#87) 9) Nebraska home game: Nicholls State (#112) Compare…. B. The Big 10: (So far...) 1) Iowa home game: Montana (#116) 2) Minnesota home game: North Dakota State (#108) 3) Illinois home game: Eastern Illinois (#149) 4) Purdue home game: Indiana State (#201) 5) Wisconsin home game: Western Illinois (#148) 6) Northwestern home game: New Hampshire (#101) 7) Penn State home game: Youngstown State (#99) .III. High-profile opponents for ‘06: A) Big 12: --Nebraska: USC --Texas: Ohio State --Oklahoma: Washington & Oregon --Missouri: Mississippi --Colorado: Arizona State & Georgia --Iowa State: Iowa –-Baylor: Washington State –-Kansas State: Louisville B) Big 10: --Iowa: Iowa State --Michigan: Notre Dame --Michigan State: Pittsburgh, Notre Dame --Minnesota: California --Ohio State: Texas --Penn State: Notre Dame --Purdue: Notre Dame . The Bottom Line: "Football pays the bills" for Athletic Departments everywhere. From Happy Valley to Austin the same formula seems to be at use: 1) Schedule winnable “preseason” home games. (One Division I-AA opponent at home is acceptable). 2) Play one more-or-less high-profile opponent. 3) Go to your conference schedule. _ _ _ FYI… Big 10 Non-Conference Schedules for '06: (So far…) Michigan: --Vanderbilt (#67) --Central Michigan (#72) --at Notre Dame (#8) --Ball State (#104) Penn State: --Akron (#94) --at Notre Dame (#8) --Youngstown State (Div. I-AA, #99) --Temple (#154) Iowa: --Montana (Div I-AA, #116) --at Syracuse (#114) --Iowa State (#30) --Northern Illinois (#60) Michigan State: --Idaho (#145) --Eastern Michigan (#105) --at Pittsburgh (#59) --Notre Dame (#8) Minnesota: --Temple (#154) --at California (#29) --North Dakota State (Div I-AA, #108) --1 opponent to be named Wisconsin: --at Bowling Green (#77) --Western Illinois (Div I-AA, #148) --San Diego State (#63) --1 opponent to be named Ohio State: --Northern Illinois (#60) --at Texas (#1) --Cincinnati (#95) --Bowling Green (#77) Northwestern: --at Miami (Ohio) --New Hampshire (Div I-AA, #101) --Eastern Michigan (#105) --at Nevada (#73) Purdue: --Indiana State (Div. I-AA, #201) --Miami (Ohio) (#66) --Ball State (#104) --at Notre Dame (#8) --at Hawaii (#91) Illinois: --Eastern Illinois (Div. I-AA, #149) --at Rutgers (#53) --Syracuse (#114) --Central Michigan (#72) Indiana: --at Ball State (#84) --Connecticut (#68) --2 opponents to be named Just some things to think about....

I'm in favor of ending this thread with a consensus on the most popular moniker. Of the four mentioned above, which do you prefer as a tag for our offense in the national media? Haymaker has a little boxing feel, but also has that Nebraska farmer knockout theme! red Thunder is certainly reperesentative of the weather and violence it brings. Red Swqasrm could mean that 11 guys are overwhelming any defense. MidWest Coast is just a change to the traditional WCO tag. I encourage all of you to end this now with your selection. Then I'll announce the most popular and we'll go from there. Any suggestions on where I should start the promotion of the final selection?

AR Husker Fan: You are correct. St John's Univ is the Red Storm. Thanks for alerting us to that. The latest list of repliers would be: 1) Red Swarm 2) Red Thunder 3) Haymaker 4) MidWest Coast How about a consensus? If you were addressing the national media, what would you want to name our offense if a reporter asked?

Key To A championship Program: 1) Administration comittment & support- Perlman & Peterson are both desiring and pushing for a championship; they are "two P's in a pod." 2) Quality Coaching- Coaching staff must have experienced assist. coaches in all postions. Must have an HC who can manage his coaching staff and provide a winning climate to players. Must have excellent game preparation and game day flexibility of X's & O's. Must have long term continuity of coaches' tenures. 3) Recruiting- Without top talent, then all of the above will be shortchanged. This success is through good contacts, a repore with high schools/JR colleges & hard, hard work. 4) Fan Support- Game attendance, state Husker clubs and across the board enthusiasm. It seems to me that we have most of these elements. The staff is trying hard to get back to the state high schools and the other is the long term tenures of the staff, which hopefully plays out. By the way, BC was burned badly with his experience with the prima donna veterans in Oakland his last year. This may have been almost as bad as the disgruntled Husker fans' complaints following Solich's firing! I believe this is his last stop. Also, when is the last time that NU has been Big 12 North Champions?

I agree with FF. I can understand why some don't want to address this subject. My reason for it was exactly why FF (and many others , I'm sure) can't stand the Jim Rose description. It's "corny", pardon the pun. If we, the posters, can come to an agreement, I, for one, will promote it and try to get it to catch on. If the in-state media gets ahold of something classy, maybe it will catch on and avoid the whole "corny" picture. The Top 4 seem to be Red Storm, Red Thunder, Haymaker and Red Swarm. Which would sound good in the same sentence with Black Shirts?

The Top 3 from your responses: 1) Red Swarm, 2) Red Thunder, 3) Haymaker, Any body else have a an opinion regarding these 3? My personal concern is that an offensive moniker be used that outsiders employ to mock or belittle us, such as Corn Pone/Offense. Red Tide is too much like Crimson Tide.

Thre coaches started Patrick over Murtha at the end of the year. Also, Austin has a permanent knee injury limiting him to about 85%. Although the OL is a priority, the IB/FB position must block in place of a decent job by Ross. This is another reason to put Lucky in a split/wing back postion with Todd/Glenn in protection.

This is from a forum for which I am NOT a mamber as "penned" by rojo: Here’s a quick, somewhat superficial look. I. Last year’s best Big 12 defense? --Kansas, Texas and Oklahoma are right there. See below. . II. Next year’s best Big 12 defense? --Not Kansas. Not Iowa State. Both had solid defenses that now lose many starters. --New Defensive Coordinators at Colorado, Texas A&M, Kansas State, Kansas could mean “transition years” there. --Best '06 defense: Oklahoma & Texas. See below. Everyone else looks to improve with stable staffs and many returning starters. . III. If one could use only one stat in evaluating a defense, this wouldn't be a bad one…. Yards Allowed Per Play: (’05 Big 12 games only) 1. Kansas: 4.3 yds yielded/play 2-3 Oklahoma: 4.4 2-3 Texas: 4.4 4. Colorado: 4.5 5. Iowa State: 4.8 6-7 Missouri: 5.0 6-7 Texas Tech.: 5.0 8. Nebraska: 5.1 9. Kansas State: 5.3 10 Baylor: 5.4 11 Texas A&M: 6.0 12 Oklahoma State: 6.6 . IV. Defensive Starters Returning for 2006: Look at that same ranking and add the number of defensive starters returning: 1. Kansas: 4.3 yds yielded/play---3 starters returning: Note: Lost Co-Def. Coordinator/LB coach Dave Doerren to Wis. 2-3 Oklahoma: 4.4---7 starters return 2-3 Texas: 4.4---7 starters return 4. Colorado: 4.5---8 starters return; Note: New D.C Ron Collins from Boise State; new staff 5. Iowa State: 4.8---4 starters return 6-7 Missouri: 5.0---7 starters return 6-7 Texas Tech.: 5.0---5 starters return 8. Nebraska: 5.1---7 starters return 9. Kansas State: 5.3---8 starters return. Note: New D.C. Raheem Morris from 4 years as DB coach at Tampa Bay; new staff. 10 Baylor: 5.4---8 starters return 11 Texas A&M: 6.0---8 starters return; Note: D.C. Gary Darnell comes from head coach/D.C. at Western Michigan. Replaces fired D.C. Carl Torbush. 12 Oklahoma State: 6.6---6 starters return . The Bottom Line: 1) Nebraska benefits in the Big 12-North from the following: --KU and ISU defenses will be “down” from big losses of starters. --Defensive “transition years” and their uncertainties are possible at Colorado and Kansas State. 2) Nebraska's defense? Good. Not yet great. --Seven defensive positions return starters from last year's very strong improvement. --The third year with the defensive staff. Assignments and expectations are now knowns. --Strong returning experience at LB, DE, CB. --Big questions at Safeties and Defensive Tackles and depth at those positions. --August’s incoming Juco’s will help at some point next fall.... --An expected stronger Husker offense can only help the defense. Just my opinions. And just some things to think about....

Could you posters put the following names (Offenses) in a Top 5? 1...Red Storm 2...Red Thunder 3...Red Lightning 4...Red Swarm 5...Haymaker 6...MidWest Coast 7...Cornchucker 8...Red tide 9...Great Plains 10..Red Cloud 11..Blackwater 12..Red Eye (I) 13..Corn Coast 14..Learning To Fly

Has anyone of you met FF? What is he in person, that is to say, is he knowledgeable, but merely anti-Husker? It's obvious that he despises the current AD and HC, but then what? Was he abused by one of them or does he just hate anything that follows the Solich era? Since none of it makes sense to me, maybe it is either a tongue-in- cheek put-on or he is a closet Buff fan. Would the collapse of the program be to his delight? I would think that asking college and pro coaches what their opinion is of BC's coaching prowess, would enlighten the skeptics. But, is truth, by way of professional opinion, would that be even enough to qwell the hateful remarks? Will this thread continue with this same diatribe? I wonder how many of you are getting fed up with this same anti-success spiel every day? I presumed that we would have discussions about the team, the individual players, the coaching decisions, the opponents, etc., rather than character assassination. I, for one, am getting a little discouraged and tired about reading the anti-Husker Buff comments day after day. I live in Colorado and this is the kind of blather I put up with continually. Many Buff "fans" would love to see the NU team fall flat. I just don't care to be exposed to that contant derogatory hammering.

There is a reason that the coaches that BC hired have stayed. Watson took a position demotion just to be on BC's staff. He has tremendous respect throughout the football fraternity. He has class, (albeit some emotion if jobed), ability to recruit both players and coaches, an elite specialist of offensive line play and offensive schemes and an excellent game day coach. In years to come more and more naysayers will either fall back into the woodwork or will be mature and step forward stating that they misjudged him. For anyone who doesn't buy the above, pick up the phone and call any NFL coach of Div 1 coach and get their opinion. Then report back to this thread. If you are not willing to do that, then your personal vendetta is just that- hollow!

For anyone that has raised teenagers, they know well the saying "I've had it up to here with you!" Can you remember where the hands were when that was yelled out? That is what he was doing. He isn't the fool that FF thinks he is!!

Maybe Coach Kevin is correct, but I thought that a try might be interesting, anyway. My personal favorite is simply RED THUNDER... no other words. It is not obscure geographically or historically, nor cutesy to an outsider and yet is very simple and, therefore, easy to state. RED THUNDER and BLACK SHIRTS, sounds scary to me! With that identity we could wave a red towel on offense and the black towel on defense. What do we do now? If nothing, then this idea is dead!

Red Tide-Crimson Tide? Red Swarm Offense (RSO)...possible, as long as the detractors don't start calling us the grasshoppers/bees/locusts! Thundering Herd Offense (THO)... what does this give to you as an image...wild horses in full gallop..scary for any defense...maybe it would work? We need a top 5 for posters to comment upon.

Somehow Corn Coast isn't a classic type name and we are not on the coast. Since this is ours why not tag it to the geographic area? The Red I (Eye) might be too cutesy for the national writers. I'd like to see something that has a nice ring to it, that outsiders are not going to poke fun with. Corn and Bugeaters would invite that. We have the Great Plains, blizzards, storms, thunder, lightning, tornados, hail, sleet and Red Cloud (Ogallala warrior). Would Red Shock/Wave be too bizzare? We don't need to wait until our offense is at the top, before we name it, because this needs to be enduring, like the Black Shirts name. Incidently, the original German word Blitzkreig means a rapidly advancing force by land and air. Unfortunately, the short term "blitz" is used for defense in football jargon. RTO (Red Thunder Offense)?

Let's have an email "suggestion box" and put in names that could be used to select an ideal name for the current Huskers offense. Something that will stick and would catch on with the rest of the country as the moniker would make us identifiable and unique. The MidWest Offense sounds pretty lame and boring. It probable shouldn't have a coaches name attached, so it would be more enduring. If we can somehow come to a consensus, we could push it out there in public, likely to the media. Last year, I had thought of Haymaker Offense. I don't know if names like Red Storm/Thunder/Lightning are too trite? Since a winning name could possible be used nationwide to describe the NU offense, it should be worthy of the reputation of the team. I thought that if we received some decent names that we could agree on a Top 10 and then a winner. Maybe someone like Eric The Red would need to monitor, since this Board is full of disagreement on different subjects. Do you gals/guys think this is an endeavor that is worth the effort?

I see a roation of Todd, Glenn and Lucky as starters; 2 backs at one time. Lucky, as Mr Outside, would be able to line up split or H-back with Glenn, Mr Inside, in the I set. Or Todd at FB with Glenn as I-back. Todd is not an excellent route runner/receiver, but more of a blocker. With NFL teams they have their FB doing more in route running and with speed to block on sweeps. I think that pulling guards are the key to our running game. What do you think?

There has been much ado about Freeman changing his mind. There have been others and there will be more who change their mind, because that's the nature of this business. If we sign someone who has comitted with another team, it's wonderful; if we get a commitment from a player and he then signs elsewhere, we're depressed and sometimes angry. My take on this is that the best players for our future are those who really want to be here, meaning no misgivings. Better they bail before signing than later when we've put a lot of energy into their development. This period, before the sign date, is a great time to let the process WEED OUT those who don't have their heart with OUR program. We must have the attitude that occurs when a player gets injured; it's going to happen and that is what back-ups are for. If a player is not commited with his heart he should be encouraged to move on. Always look forward and never regret!

In the past we have had graduates who enroll in grad school and finish their last year of eligibility with the team.

Given that Herian is solid at one TE, how about the other when 2 tight end sets are in or a backup for Herian? My sense is that Phillips is a blccker who rarely will catch the ball. Is Mueller the heir to that other postion and as a backup to Herian? The TE is crucial to the WCO and it's absense hurt us last year.

As many of you know, I share posts from another thread that is free (I'm not a member). Kudos to rojo: In 2004 Nebraska had the worst Special Teams in the conference—12th place. But in '05 we finished in a virtual tie for the best in the Big 12. I. Ranking Special Teams: The Method Use the final Big 12 rankings for these available categories in this order: --Punt Returns. --Net Punting --Kick-Off Returns --Kick-Off Coverage --Field Goal Percentage. Score a ranking of 1st place = 12 points, 2nd place = 11 points, 3rd place = 10 points... 12th place = 1 point. . II. Last year’s Special Teams Rankings: 2004 final stats. 1. Oklahoma State: 43 (12 +7+8+9+7) 2. Colorado: 41 (4+12+7+8+10) 3. Baylor: 40 (9+11+9+2+9) 4-5 Kansas: 39 (8+6+10+10+5) 4-5 Kansas State: 39 (2+4+11+11+11) 6. Oklahoma: 38 (7+10+5+12+4) 7. Texas Tech: 32.5 (11+9+4+7+1.5) 8. Iowa State: 29 (5+3+12+6+3) 9. Texas: 26 (6+5+2+5+8) 10 Missouri: 25 (10+2+3+4+6) 11 Texas A&M: 20 (3+1+1+3+12) 12 Nebraska: 17.5 (1+8+6+1+1.5) . III. This year’s Special Teams Rankings: 2005 final stats 1. Texas: 51 (12+7+12+10+10) 2. Nebraska: 50 (11+12+7+8+12) 3. Kansas: 42 (9+8+8+12+5) 4. Colorado: 40 (6+11+5+9+9) 5. Baylor: 38 (8+9+11+7+3) 6. Iowa State: 35 (3+6+10+11+5) 7. Oklahoma State: 28 (1+5+9+2+11) 8. Missouri: 26 (10+4+6+1+5) 9. Texas Tech: 22 (5+1+3+5+8) 10 Kansas State: 21 (7+3+4+6+1) 11 Oklahoma: 20 (2+10+2+4+2) 12 Texas A&M: 17 (4+2+1+3+7) . The Bottom Line: A complete turnaround. Perhaps with the emphasis of installing a new offense and defense last year, Special Teams got slighted. Whatever. Callahan didn’t stand pat. He brought in “Special Teams consultants” last winter, reassigned coaching responsibilities, and moved Special Team work to the middle of practice instead of at the end. The results are a great compliment to coaching and to our players. Coaches get players "in position to make plays." That's much of what coaching is all about. Players then get their chance to actually make the play. This year it all worked. It's good to recognize that fine turnaround. Just something to think about…

This isn't the Coloradans For Nebraska recruiting party. I don't know which one you're describing.