HQW #10: Where have you gone Grant?

[Eric the Red]

 

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Husker Quarterback Weekly #10: Where have you gone, Grant?

Sun, November 7, 2004

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The team isn’t intense, the team isn’t ready to go, and why do we keep running the ball? Well, there is only one group of people to blame……….the seniors. That’s right, not the coaches, Joe Dailey, or the Cyclones vaunted offense.

 

With a chance to just about clinch the division, to bury a weaker team, and prove to the country that Nebraska does belong; all we got were overthrown passes, dropped balls, blown coverage’s, two missed field goals and one extra point (NU lost by 7 you know), and players who seem to do nothing more than go through the motions.

 

Coaches can only do so much. Just about every coach’s game plan will work if the players are coachable and play. This years team is simply not that…coachable. Blame it on the changes, the talent, the offense, the schemes, whatever. The players still need to want to play. This year they don’t.

 

Callahan made it his first point to mention, on his radio program, that the intensity isn’t there and the passion is missing. He went on to say, “I thought we had overcome that problem last week.” Well coach there is only one group to blame and that’s the seniors.

 

There is no team nucleus. No team leader both on the field and off. Ruud shows by example, Bernard (still one of the biggest jokes out there) and Sievers by their mouths, and several others with one part rather than both. You can not take a combination of a few. But one person who has both must step up and it must be a senior. Not a sophomore or junior, surely not a freshman. All the great teams of the past had it. Mike Brown in 1999, Jason Peter and Wistrom 1997, Tony Veland and Christen Peter 1995, and Trev in 1993. They could always back themselves up, on and off the field. Even TO repeated this point. At some point the seniors must step up and take the team by the balls to be successful.

 

When you have a player with all the tools, there’s respect given. There’s an urgency, a pressure, there’s motivation to get things done and play the best you can. If you don’t get the job done you let down a group of players who have given there lives to a program. But unfortunately, there is none of that on this team. Even if this team was 0-8 there is still plenty of motivation. You are playing for the well being of an entire state. You have the support of 1.7 million and more loud. You are one of the lucky, the few and elite football players in the country playing for a great University with even greater fans. That is simply motivation enough. The “N” always speaks loudest.

 

A saddened, disgruntled

 

Eric the Red

 

Ps I will be attending the CU game and as always cheering as wildly as possible, come join me and hold up “our part”, hopefully the seniors will too. Don’t give up on this team.

[DaveH]

I think you hit the nail on the head. Well, one of the nails atleast. Like you said, TO spoke of senior leadership for years and how key it was and still is.

 

[DJR313]

Amen, Eric. The team is lacking an outspoken leader who WILL back it up.

[HuskerBob]

preachon brotha!!!

[Eric the Red]

Yeah, thanks guys, there's only so much people on the sideline can do. Dailey can't hit the broad side of a barn right now. Callahan isn't going to keep passing for no reason. He's got to think Joey D is gonna hit some of those throws. And eventually he did, but then our receivers fall. Everything that could go wrong this year has. Some of the players on this team are pissed because of what has happened to them (ie coaching changes, training regements, etc) but you still have to want to play. It's going to take a year or two to filter these guys out and get a fresh start and I am very willing to wait. I'm be upset with some of this play, but I know some of the reasons behind it.

[c-husker]

Eric, you're 100% right. Just exactly dead on. Not even a week ago, I said that if we needed to keep bringing out Osborne and McBride to fire us up, we were in big trouble, and you know what people said? "Osborne and McBride didn't work with the team all week and make the scheme." "Sievers was the biggest emotional factor." bullsh#t. Was Sievers not there this week? Weren't the same coaches working up the scheme? This is totally on the players.

 

There's one tiny little nagging thing in the back of my mind, though. Callahan had a similar problem last year. In fact, Sean Salisbury says that the Raiders are the most gutless team in football. So that's two straight years that Callahan's teams lack leadership from among the players. They lack guts, fire, balls, fortitude, whatever you want to call it. Does Callahan promote this sort of atmosphere, or is it just bad luck on his part that he's been in this situation for two straight years? I really hope it's the latter.

 

Two final thoughts: Who's worse, Cosgrove or Bohl? Secondly, is it better to just go on winning 8-10 games a year, but never realistically have a shot at a title, or to lose everything you hold dear (streaks like bowl games, non-losing seasons, etc.) for a year or two in order to rise to national prominance again? The first question is whimsy. The second one is something everybody needs to think about and answer for themselves as we drift toward 5-6 and no bowl game.

 

c-husker

[nepolo7]

I was at the ISU game this weekend and while I agree with you eric I had some observations. I sat 20 rows behind the Huskers bench and saw a few things that really disturbed me.

 

Kevin Cosgrove is totally inept as DC. Time and time again did they have to run a player off the field after a time out or a kick return to avoid a penalty. The defense was looking at the sideline the whole time looked confused constantly. Hard to be excited when we have this guy conrtolling the defense. Especially when for the first time all year the offense played well enough to win.

 

There was a lack of fire on the bench, someone on this team needs to step up, I saw no helmet throws or anything on the bench, that game should have sparked some emotion somewhere.

 

Sandro Deangelis is un real. Dyches must have really pissed off Callahan to be not kicking now. Special teams really needs to be addressed in the next season.

Special teams alone took of 7 points from the score board.

 

Joe Dailey may not be the qb of the future but his receivers do not help him out at all. He gets a lot of blame when I think a lot of it needs to be spread on to his receivers as well.

 

Callahan needs to get the play in faster, way to many delay of game penalties and unnecassary timeouts.

 

My feelings in short the offense is making progress Dailey is getting better, the defense is getting worse and I am scared for what will continue to happen wiht cosgrove in charge.

[SeaOfRed]

The lack of a vocal senior leader is a big problem... I mean, look at the Missouri game. The '94 team comes back, Tomich fires up the current Huskers, and they go out and beat Missouri.

 

We need someone on the team who can do this on a consistant basis. I watched the OU/A&M game with jealousy as I saw OU's Dan Cody yell and get so fired up when speaking to the team that he nearly fainted. We need someone who can step up and light a fire under our guys. Obviously, our coaches can't do it. Unfortunately, none of our current players have shown they can do it. We need someone to step up and take matters into their own hands here.

[Pedro Guerrero]

The lack of a vocal senior leader is a big problem... I mean, look at the Missouri game. The '94 team comes back, Tomich fires up the current Huskers, and they go out and beat Missouri.

 

We need someone on the team who can do this on a consistant basis. I watched the OU/A&M game with jealousy as I saw OU's Dan Cody yell and get so fired up when speaking to the team that he nearly fainted. We need someone who can step up and light a fire under our guys. Obviously, our coaches can't do it. Unfortunately, none of our current players have shown they can do it. We need someone to step up and take matters into their own hands here.

That Cody dude reminds me of the DE we had in the glory days of the 90s. We really need a couple guys like him. I still remember all the captians saying when they were elected that the do their talking on the field. That is fine but you also need one of them to step up in the locker room also.

[RedCountry]

Eric, you're 100% right. Just exactly dead on. Not even a week ago, I said that if we needed to keep bringing out Osborne and McBride to fire us up, we were in big trouble, and you know what people said? "Osborne and McBride didn't work with the team all week and make the scheme." "Sievers was the biggest emotional factor." bullsh#t. Was Sievers not there this week? Weren't the same coaches working up the scheme? This is totally on the players.

 

There's one tiny little nagging thing in the back of my mind, though. Callahan had a similar problem last year. In fact, Sean Salisbury says that the Raiders are the most gutless team in football. So that's two straight years that Callahan's teams lack leadership from among the players. They lack guts, fire, balls, fortitude, whatever you want to call it. Does Callahan promote this sort of atmosphere, or is it just bad luck on his part that he's been in this situation for two straight years? I really hope it's the latter.

 

Two final thoughts: Who's worse, Cosgrove or Bohl? Secondly, is it better to just go on winning 8-10 games a year, but never realistically have a shot at a title, or to lose everything you hold dear (streaks like bowl games, non-losing seasons, etc.) for a year or two in order to rise to national prominance again? The first question is whimsy. The second one is something everybody needs to think about and answer for themselves as we drift toward 5-6 and no bowl game.

 

c-husker

I think you bring up some interesting points c-husker. I would lean towards the latter, and prefer a run at greatness rather than accepting consistent mediocrity. And I think the people that say they dont agree need to ask themselves how they felt about Solich's last 3 yrs, when we all knew damn well we had no shot at the title.

[Blackshirt]

You know all those cheesy quotes people at work have in their signature lines? Like "reach for the sky and you'll be a star"... blah blah hurl.

 

Well I finally read one that I thought was insightful, and applies to this discussion.

 

"Ability is what you're capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it. "

 

I really think it comes down to the overall attitude/moxy/internal fortitude or whatever the hell you want to call it, to get a team to the next level. The fact is that the playing field IS getting more and more level every season - based on training programs being more accessible, better facilities etc., due to more money being allocated towards football, which many institutions are beginning to recognize as the legitimate cash cow that the sport is.

 

IMO the college game is beginning to mimic the pro game more and more, where as we know parity is becoming the norm. And in the pro game, due to the fact that most ALL teams have plenty of players with enormous "ability", it comes down to "attitude" week after week to propel one team over the other. We all know that when one team has all it's players hyped up for some reason or another, it seems like any team can beat the supposed "big dog" on "any given sunday".

 

So my point is, like many of you have pointed out, attitude is quickly becoming the key determining factor in winning CF games. Not that it didnt make a difference in the past, but IMO its that new "x factor", like a progressive weight program was in the past. Finding players and/or coaches that can stimulate that in an entire team is the trick.

[HuskerBob]

Finding players and/or coaches that can stimulate that in an entire team is the trick

and right now we have neither. but OU has both and then some. scary combo.

[RedCountry]

I think the question still applies. No need to write a new article until something changes I guess...

[Eric the Red]

 

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Husker Quarterback Weekly #10: Where have you gone, Grant?

Sun, November 7, 2004

--------------------------------------------

 

The team isn’t intense, the team isn’t ready to go, and why do we keep running the ball? Well, there is only one group of people to blame……….the seniors. That’s right, not the coaches, Joe Dailey, or the Cyclones vaunted offense.

 

With a chance to just about clinch the division, to bury a weaker team, and prove to the country that Nebraska does belong; all we got were overthrown passes, dropped balls, blown coverage’s, two missed field goals and one extra point (NU lost by 7 you know), and players who seem to do nothing more than go through the motions.

 

Coaches can only do so much. Just about every coach’s game plan will work if the players are coachable and play. This years team is simply not that…coachable. Blame it on the changes, the talent, the offense, the schemes, whatever. The players still need to want to play. This year they don’t.

 

Callahan made it his first point to mention, on his radio program, that the intensity isn’t there and the passion is missing. He went on to say, “I thought we had overcome that problem last week.” Well coach there is only one group to blame and that’s the seniors.

 

There is no team nucleus. No team leader both on the field and off. Ruud shows by example, Bernard (still one of the biggest jokes out there) and Sievers by their mouths, and several others with one part rather than both. You can not take a combination of a few. But one person who has both must step up and it must be a senior. Not a sophomore or junior, surely not a freshman. All the great teams of the past had it. Mike Brown in 1999, Jason Peter and Wistrom 1997, Tony Veland and Christen Peter 1995, and Trev in 1993. They could always back themselves up, on and off the field. Even TO repeated this point. At some point the seniors must step up and take the team by the balls to be successful.

 

When you have a player with all the tools, there’s respect given. There’s an urgency, a pressure, there’s motivation to get things done and play the best you can. If you don’t get the job done you let down a group of players who have given there lives to a program. But unfortunately, there is none of that on this team. Even if this team was 0-8 there is still plenty of motivation. You are playing for the well being of an entire state. You have the support of 1.7 million and more loud. You are one of the lucky, the few and elite football players in the country playing for a great University with even greater fans. That is simply motivation enough. The “N” always speaks loudest.

 

A saddened, disgruntled

 

Eric the Red

 

Ps I will be attending the CU game and as always cheering as wildly as possible, come join me and hold up “our part”, hopefully the seniors will too. Don’t give up on this team.

I love diggin up old threads, but a year ago I asked this question and gave my best explanation.

 

I asked, "Where have you gone Grant?" I got my answer a year later - his name is Cory Ross

[DaveH]

Huskerboard needs more HQW's.