blasted_imposter

See? I know big ten.

My wife is too pregnant.

GRRRR

GBR!

I understand what Knap and blasted_imposter are saying, and to a point I agree with both. As much as I loved our 60-4 run, and even including what happened in 1993, as much as I loved that because that's what I grew up in, I think there are a few things to point out.

 

1. Weightlifting programs and facilities for Nebraska were SO much more advanced at the time which contributed a lot to our success. Other teams have caught up in these areas.

 

2. The offense itself: Our offense was not slow and big by any means. Our linemen back then were smaller and quicker, so they could pull to the outside, we had speed at the position skills, Frazier, Phillips, Green, and then a WHOLE lot of depth at running back that we don't have today. Clinton Childs, Damon Benning, Makovicka brothers at full-back, Dan Alexander, Correll Buckhalter, DeAngelo Evans, and possession receivers and tight ends that you could count on that blocked like mad men: Reggie Baul, Matt Davison, Lance Brown, Kenny Cheatham, Brendan Holbein, Eric Alford, Sheldon Jackson, Abdul Muhammad. Walk-on's and having more scholarships to hand out helped A TON as well.

 

3. Oklahoma was down. I know the Big Eight was still top heavy in the mid-90s, especially 1995 without Oklahoma, but they were still down none-the-less.

 

4. Coaching staff: Our staff was together for so long, you don't see that in this day in age, we were TREMENDOUSLY lucky to have the same staff for years and years. Our coaching staff had cohesiveness like no one of their kind of coaching staff before. That won't ever happen again.

 

5. Defense and defensive speed: We always had speed and size on offense, but when we got a NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP caliber defense, is when we wont National Championships, when we could stop the big offenses at the right times. We went smaller at linebacker and we were flying all over the field, we got more aggressive and switched from a base 5-2 to a base 4-3 and played balls out. Osborne always said he didn't want to play offense like Miami or Florida State, he wanted to play defense like Miami and Florida State.

 

6. The Option: This used to be a prominent offensive style for high school, now no one really runs this offense, so it is SO hard to recruit for it. I know we weren't a true Flexbone or 90% option offense, but it was just another wrinkle for our power run, but again, our quarterbacks and running backs were much faster than Wisconsin's running backs and quarterbacks now, which is why we pulled it off back then, because of SPEED on offense. We weren't slow by ANY means on offense. Once we got depth and leaders on offense, we were able to sustain drives, much like defense getting critical stops.

 

7. Leaders: Frazier, the Peter brothers, Tomich, Wistrom, and other guys I didn't mention, we don't have "those kind" of leaders anymore, or at least not that we have seen yet. Someone with a little fire in their belly. Is it Bo? I'm sure it is, in fact I know it is, but he has to be able to be himself and fire his team up if no one on the team is doing it. This is a huge miss right now.

 

It is SO important, more than ever, to watch film and study and to know exactly what the offenses are going to do. Which is why I am so glad we have Bo and his staff, more than ever, you need to examine and break down film with so many different types of offenses, I'm not sure if our staff back then could do what is done today. Could they? Possibly, but it's not a fair argument.

 

 

Lastly, you can still have a "power" running game by spreading it out. Osborne even said he would probably run some variation of a spread offense today that gave defenses fits. You can still be power by being in 4 or 5 wide, with motion, fakes, keepers, reads, choices, double options, option pass, etc. It's all about an attitude, and that attitude starts up front that we are going to knock the guys in-front of us over, and our speed guys in the backfield and on the outside are going to get open or get the blocks they need to open the running and passing game. But again, we had speed on offense in the 90s, it's not like we had a bunch of John Clays' or Ron Daynes' back there for us.

 

It's not like saying we are going from 1997 offense to Texas Tech. THAT would be the definition of going from one extreme to the next. Even in the West Coast Offense days, we still had a running game. It just wasn't option, quarterback, or depth oriented like in the 90s or 2000s.

 

You can still be power without running I-Form Twin Tight End or Maryland I. It's all about attitude that starts up-front and having guys on the edge having speed or good hands too to keep the defense honest of a play-action, or breaking a run to the outside and relying on a receiver to block. The same concepts still exist, it is just spread out.

 

A power game like Wisconsin works, but they don't have the same caliber players in their backfield that we did in the 90s or 2000s. We were MUCH faster and athletic than Wisconsin's running game. Everyone has an obsession with their offense, but our old offense was so much more different than what they run today, which is why our offense of old would still work today, but you have to recruit for it, and right now, we are not recruiting for our old offense, it seems most high schools aren't running that, and most kids want to get to the NFL, so they are going with more pro or spread offenses. With us, we seem to be going spread option offense with a lot of no huddle.

 

We will be just as fast on offense as we are on defense, and to me that sounds a lot like how we were back then. Not saying we will win it all next year or go 60-4, but it's the philosophy of having speed and starting it up-front, is where it begins.

 

I am not discrediting what we did, I think 1995 Nebraska is the greatest college football team of all-time. But you have to admit, everything went right for us, everything was aligned for us and NO ONE will EVER repeat what we did from 1993-1997. No one. That run was ours and only ours, we should be thankful because everything worked so great for us and I appreciate everything that everyone did to get us that run.

Thank you.

 

You aren't saying anything that wasn't said about Nebraska in the 1990s. Prior to our National Championship run, Osborne's offense was considered antiquated. Then we reeled off 60 wins in four years and everyone was eating crow.

 

There isn't a team in D1A that has significantly greater speed than 1995 Florida, and we beat them like a drum. Did we do it through the air? Do you remember that game?

 

Do you remember 1997 Tennessee? The Vols were another very fast team, who also happened to have a fantastic QB. Kicked their ass something fierce, if I recall correctly.

Way to go!

I wonder where all the other Power Run football teams that win 60 games in 4 years are?

Or maybe 30 games in 3 years?

Or maybe a National Championship in any season over the last ten?

What you're talking about is an aberration, a freakish occurrence. Amazing, yes, but nothing that can or will be duplicated.

NOBODY WILL WIN LIKE THAT AGAIN. Not NU, not wisconsin, iowa, georgia tech, or the like.

Again, whats your point? Shall NU go back? I would have said yes last year, as anything consistent would have won the big 12 for NU.... but now? I'd rather go where we're going. Beck sounds like the right man for the job, and I totally buy what Bo has going on, top to bottom.

Another point, since offense has crept in to the discussion, how did 12-1 KU offense look so fast without a single top-shelf prospect?

ALso, a correction: I never said NU would dominate the slow ten conference from the get-go. I do believe NU's Defense will dominate the slow ten conference from the get go. And It Will Be Ugly.

IMO: NU will win the plains division, and compete in the first league championship game, with or without an offense. With Beck as OC? look out, could be a special season.

Off hand, I'll again (as last year) predict one regular season loss, which I think will come at Penn St, but Michigan St or Northwestern could probably do it as well. I just don't believe Wisconsin, Iowa, or Ohio State will be able to score against the Blackshirts this year, much if at all.

I also believe that 2011 Blackshirt D will allow an average of less than 10 ppg, and yes, I know that means all time great numbers.

React.

Hey knapplc. When you talk about guys who have played a down of football for N, then yes, we don't have a speed advantage. Guys like Kinnie and Burkhead have decent speed, but are not burners. Guys like Bell are burners, but who knows how good he will be until we see him on the field. Turner is supposed to be very quick and shifty, but I really haven't read much about his straight away speed ... so I don't know. Those three freshmen RBs are advertised as being burners, but we won't know that until we see them on the field.

 

So my point is what we have available right now for the spring game you are correct. What we have next fall may be a different story or the same story. Too many folks are basing a speed advantage on what we will have in the future. Can't do that.

 

Hey, can I invite you for a glass of Kool-aid. What flavor you you like?

Talking Defense much? I am.

And let's put one crazy notion to rest right now - Nebraska didn't go away from the Power Run game because it doesn't work anymore. Nebraska left the Power Run game for the WCO when Solich was fired. Different coach, different offensive philosophies, plain and simple.

 

There is zero reason why a Power Run game can't work today. Athletes are not so much faster today than they were 15 years ago that we couldn't win with Osborne's offenses. We're talking fractions of a second on skill players, nothing more.

Actually, it (power run game) didn't work any more, it doesn't work now, and it won't work in the future. Teams have to be able to throw the ball consistently and attack the perimeter to go undefeated and win the MNC these days, which is how I, and Nebraksa fans in large part, define "working".

This ain't the 1970's - 1990's big 8, loaded with kansas, iowa state, ksu, okie state, missouri, etc. Update: Teams across the country caught up to NU in terms of power and strength training. Other advantages have to be identified. Power Run Football is fine if you want to be a "good" team, winning 7-8 games a year, in fact, it lends itself to that. See: iowa, wisconsin, msu, and most of the big ten. But if you want to be a "great" team, you have to be able to do more than that. See: every national champion since 2000, not including that ohio state team that totally lucked out with critical bad calls against, and injuries to, a Miami team that should have spanked them all over the field, and would have 19 times out of 20.

Power football as a championship team identity is dead, as a whole, and you'll see why, first hand, when NU plays wisconsin, iowa, ohio state, and the like.

I can't believe i'm having to say this stuff on a husker message board.

 

Tyrod Taylor, and Brad Smith also say hello.

 

PSSSST: its 2011 now, Bo doesn't have the cosgrove legacy to deal with.

What in the hell?????

It appears you still haven't recovered from 2008.

However, NU has.

NU scores 20 points each game during the big ten portion of the schedule, and they go undefeated.

Jake Locker in the Holiday Bowl, Robert Griffin in 2008, Todd Reesing a couple of times, there's quite a few on that list.

Are you for real? Reesing got demolished. Locker got pummeled. Griffin who?

Any negatives for the team regarding the washington rematch can be laid at watson's feet.

But obviously, we'll all have to wait until the season, friends.

and damn it i can't wait for that wisconsin game. there will be long faces in cheeze land.

 

Tyrod Taylor, and Brad Smith also say hello.

PSSSST: its 2011 now, Bo doesn't have the cosgrove legacy to deal with.

I dont think Iowa will ever stray from the power game.

Dude, they will have to, or be resigned to runner-up status at best. But, they won't have the cache to regularly acquire the talent required to compete at the level necessary.

I'm just saying programs like michigan, ohio state, penn st. and dear old NU will perennially dominate the conference going forward, even more so than in the last ten years, because the entire conference will be forced to match up talent wise with what NU brings to the party on the defensive side of the ball. This upcoming season will reflect this change, and the beginning of a new era in big ten football.

It ain't chess, its checkers. Unfortunately for the big ten, NU has 11 black-shirted kings.

Nathan Scheelhasse, Dennard Robinson, Dan Persa say hello. What have Bo Pelini defenses struggled with over the years? Mobile quarterbacks, and that's what those three are.

Not worried.

And actually, the only teams that REALLY gave Bo's D problems were coached by Mike Leach or his progeny.

And were loaded with texas speed.

Edit: And so you're saying that any one of those three teams are imposing? On the contrary, the most consistently successful programs in teh big ten conf are now, and have been, SHOCKINGLY "power" football teams, meaning big beefy and slow as hell, with maybe that one wideout who has wheels, gets drafted high, and then never pans out. Which all means: their offense might as well not show up for the NU game.

Back the truck up, I would 60% of the B1G runs a spread attack. The only true "power" (if you could even call them that, since they are multiple) are Wisconsin, Iowa, and maybe Penn State. Other than that, you have alot of shotgun formation, spread the defense out kind of attacks. Next seaosn, before we play them, watch Illinois, Northwestern and Michigan.

Yeah, teams that have no skill players trying to run a scheme that relies on skill position mismatches doesn't work well.

What's your point?

Wrong again, bucko. I watch the big slow ten plenty, born in big ten country, raised there, and as recently as last season said to myself, "god these teams are so freaking SLOW".

and

"Man, i wish NU could play these guys, it would be hillarious. That stone age offense wouldn't go anywhere."

and

"Oh snap!!! Amukamara never would have let that slow ass dude get his hands on the ball!"

and

"That running back that looks like he's running in place never would have made it to the line of scrimmage."

Removing the "leach" factor from most of the teams we play allows Bo and Carl to focus on lock down corners and line of scrimmage play, something that this team has in the bag. But i won't bother with this discussion any more, we'll just have to wait until the teams line up this fall...but best believe I'll be back to scoop up my message board credits when Ohio State gets blanked, Wisconisin goes for 140 yards on the ground, Iowa fires its offensive coordinator after the NU game, etc.

 

 

1) How have you come to the conclusion that Nebraska has greater team speed than the entirety of the Big 10?

 

2) Why does a simple speed advantage (presuming this is true) mean we "own the conference for 2-3 seasons?" Speed alone does not win games.

Talking Defense:

1) didn't say that? I said that NU has speed to stop the fastest offenses around, and has demonstrated such. Team speed is just as much about understanding and knowledge of the scheme as it is about 40 yard dash times. 4 years in, look out.

2) where are you getting that all NU has is a speed advantage? Look who is coming back. Look who our coaches are, what they've done. Look at the league we're going into. Advantage NU every defensive category imaginable, regardless of how you partition it.

- and -

Consider:

(speaking in general terms, don't bother to come back with contrarian anecdotal examples.)

Remember what mike leach's offense did to the big 12? nobody could stop it, everyone tried to emulate it(KU, MU, UT, OU, OSU, etc).

Bo comes along, and figures out how to stop it, most effectively with said '09 D.

Teams begin to change their tac to more "power football" to counter the speed NU plays with on the edges.

NU continues to impress, even with NO FREAKING OFFENSE, even NEGATIVE offense(leading to more points for the other team than they score), down the stretch last season.

blah blah blah

enter big ten.

I believe that Bo's Blackshirt D will have the same magnitude of effect on the big ten that leach did on the big 12, forcing the entire conference to shift away from "power football" and ultimately making the entire conference better. Team will have to be more "multiple" and have more speed on the edges in addition to the tired old power game to consistently move the ball against the Blackshirts.

Nobody in the big ten is prepared for the defensive Armageddon that NU is about to unleash. I'm telling you guys, teams will hope to score a single touchdown this season.

.....and be disappointed.

.....of course, this must be with the caveat that NU's offense actually becomes liability-neutral this season.

Heaven help the big ten if our O can average 20 points a game in conference.

How can you not see this? Are you pulling my leg, knapplc?

Talking Defense:

NU quit doing the "power football" because it stopped working, in particular when facing superior talent and specifically SPEED. (texas, oklahoma, SEC, etc.).

So, Bo got the speed to stop the fastest and most talented "skill position" teams out there, accounting for matchup problems, and has schemed/coached them up for four years now.

Today, Nebraska still has the beef on the D-line(This Is Nebraska), and NOW superior speed and athleticism across the back 6-7. I don't think a better dream scenario could have been worked out for NU, just based on matchup problems NU should own the conference for 2-3 seasons, or until the most traditional, last to the "play fast" party football conference makes adjustments across the board required to counter what Pelini has built. Hell, it could take longer, given the collection of programs we're talking about.

Teams like wisconsin and iowa in particular may never be able to recruit the type of talent that it will take to regularly contend with the Blackshirts between the white lines.

The big ten is about to find out in a very real way, that if you can't score, you can't win. I will guarantee right now that barring catastrophic injuries across the D, that this year's D will surpass the Suh led D statistically. There is no offense in the big ten, when comparing to the big 12. Who's going to score?? Does any honest person here really think Pelini, who's D stopped the SEC AND the BIG 12 consecutively, will not continue to dominate, but even more so, in the big ten? just think about it.

Its almost scary.

Well yeah, but c'mon. This is a thread about Kenny Bell.....?

Don't cross the streams, man.

Lee??? Ganz???

???

!!!

Yesterday ain't got nothing for me, but pictures that I'll always see. Time to turn the page on this book of memories.

Ooo yesterday, has got nothing for me....

 

 

 

Cool your jets BI. We still aren't what we were and they are better than what they once were. I can remember when Hayden Fry took over the Iowa and we signed a 4 year hme and home series with them. A lot of people in Nebraska thought 4 wins in the books and I said they will win at least one and they did.

<-- Disagrees completely. I think NU is in better hands now (defense wins championships) then all but the last few years under T.O., and also believe it can be clearly evidenced that Iowa is worse, and the big ten is worse in general.

IU is handing out schollies to players that NU doesn't even look at. Do some research. The talent disparity is greater now than ever between iowa and NU, and that will be seen on the field throughout the season this fall. Remember the bowl games last year? Boy the big ten sure looked great.

Slow, predictable, out-manned.

There is no competition in the conference in terms of speed.

The big ten is going to look like a one-legged man in an asskicking contest this fall vs. the flying Pelini's.

IMO etc.

I am very skeptical about this 'sandlot' offense talk. I think some positive media spin quotes have been taken and carried off to the point where perception is now far from reality. I mean, I would not know, but I'm very worried if we are indeed going to throw a backyard football offense out against D1 defenses.

 

 

i agree, winging it isn't a consistent play calling philosophy....this experiment makes me nervous.

 

What do you mean, "winging it?" Tim Beck is still going to scheme, just the way every football coach in America does. His players simply have the ability to read the defense and react mid-play, which they couldn't do under Watson, because they were bound to the play-call. That's the whole point of teaching concepts and not just plays, is so that the players understand the bigger picture and can adjust on the field when the defense throws something new at them. The way Beck is coaching our offense is more like how Pelini coaches the defense. It's a good thing.

 

It's also not really an experiment, they're not doing crazy new things that nobody else has done. Their teaching methods and schemes have been tested throughout the country and throughout the history of college football.

 

I don't think there's anything wrong with the rhetoric they're using, except that they may be pushing people to have pretty high expectations a little too soon. But they should have high expectations in general - this is Nebraska, and we want our offense to look a million times better than it has the past few years. There's no point in moping around with the rhetoric just because it might not happen right away.

 

 

i am merely questioning the discipline of Beck's system, which we honestly only "think" we know what it will be like. suddenly we throw in a qb, who is not the most prolific of passers and he is going to watch his receivers change routes based on how the defense sets up and all the while looking to the sidelines for a play call.....that's a damn handful for a guy who made quite a few wrong reads while running the ZR last season...just sayin', it's gonna be hard to execute and ripe for motion penalties as well, but we'll see, it's new for everyone, it may be fast paced and exciting, but the self destruct ratio will be there as well.

 

We'll see. But "winging it" implies that guys are just going out there and running around like chickens with their heads cut off trying to get open, and you used it in a way that implies that Beck won't do any planning before games with regard to his playcalling. There will be a method to Beck's playcalling, and there will be a method to what the players are doing out on the field.

 

As for "discipline," I have no trouble believing that our offense this year will be more disciplined than last year, if only because it can't be much less disciplined. I mean, I just don't think we're actually going to fumble the ball as often as we did last year, just because of how ridiculous last year was.

 

As for the ability to improvise once the play has started, that will rely upon players understanding the offense. If we were running the same offense as last year, that would be a problem, but instead we are simplifying it in a way that allows our players to understand it on a deeper level, or at least that's the whole idea.

 

The skeptics keep saying that they think our offense sounds more complex this year than it was last year, because we're allowing players to do more on their own. But we want our players to do more on their own, that was the whole point of simplifying our offense. It's not that the coaches are expecting the players to learn a more complex offense, it's that they're expecting the players to have a more sophisticated understanding of a simpler offense.

 

That's what it sounds like to me. If true, I don't see why it's referred to as "sandlot" football. Players having a simpler system that allows them some room for inititive gives me no problem.

 

But once again, it would be almost impossible to do worse than the last couple of years. Let's bring it on.

ditto.

1. @Penn State

2. @Wisconsin

3. Ohio State

4. @Michigan

5. Iowa

6. Washington

7. Michigan State

8. Northwestern

9. @Minnesota

10.Fresno State

11.@Wyoming

12.Chattanooga.

This.

Conversely, all the money being pushed into the center of the table does mean there is more importance given to that particular hand.

....as opposed to any hand at the low-stakes kiddy table down the hall.

I thought they were moving Crick to DE?

Okay, I need to pass some time. Fill in the blank on the new match-ups or possible rivalries.

 

Nebraska vs Colorado = Nebraska vs. _________________

 

Nebraska vs Oklahoma = Nebraska vs. _________________

 

Nebraska vs Texas = Nebraska vs. _________________

 

and just for fun

 

Nebraska vs Iowa St. = Nebraska vs. _______________

 

Iowa will replace Colorado as the Traditional Friday after Thanksgiving Day "Border Rivalry" game but Iowa will be better.

 

Oklahoma is a tough one for me. Do you choose PSU where Nebraska will have annual battles with or OSU, a more relevant team now, with likely match-ups in the CCG.

 

Michigan will replace Texas. Does some bad blood from the 97 split championchip spill over into this annual match-up? If you look back at history, Michigan was a bad team until Bo Schembechler got there. They got their defining win against a supposedly unbeatable Ohio State team in 1969. That win jump started Michigan's resurgence. 2011, they have a new hard nosed coach and do they get their defining win against Nebraska this year in Ann Arbor? Does some clock shanannagins come into play?

 

Northwestern will replace Iowa State. Should Nebraska handle NW easily - Yes but NW can be opportunist and steal a win every now and again.

 

Feel free to add other games.

Iowa will not be better. CU > iu forever, until iu wins a MNC. Missouri also > iowa, mizzou actually won 12 games in one season once.

Michigan is not texas. Texas has nfl talent up and down the roster, michigan does not, and has not. When is the last time michgan was in the national title discussion?

Ohio st. is clearly the oklahoma/texas replacement, wisconsin reminds me of okie st., they have a good run every now and then but can't put it together.

Northwestern is ksu.

Purdue and iowa seem like a even deal.

Michigan state could be missouri or colorado, and wisconsin the other.

Michigan probably is texas a&m, used to be good but haven't been for a while.

Somebody needs to step up, because there just aren't two consistently good football programs along the lines of texas and oklahoma (sans NU) in this scenario, maybe penn state could get into the discussion, but for now OSU is oklahoma and Nebraska is texas, or vice-versa, in the new big teN football conference.

IMO etc.

...probalby similar to what you guys went through when you lost the annual game against Oklahoma.

No, not really. NU v. OU actually usually mattered in terms of the MNC for any given year, whereas the iowa wisconsin rivalry hasn't mattered at all.

In fact, the reason they didn't continue the latter "rivalry" is likely because it has been so meaningless, for so long.

And I'm guaranteeing that the new "rivalry" will matter just about as much. Anybody want to over/under on how many years it will be before the hickeyes win one? I'm saying 9.