Were we as bad as we looked?

[T_O_Bull]

As I look back on the 2007 Season I scratch my head and wonder what happened? We beat a good Wake Forest team. We beat three teams that went to bowl games. Unfortunately when the wheels came off they rolled too far from the wagon to be put back on. I don't think Cosgrove was ever a good fit. You don't bring Big Ten schemes into a better conference and expect them to work. Callahan was too aloof and too much in awe of his own expertise. Some people are made for certain spots in certain places and he belongs as an OC in the NFL. He dosen't have what it takes to be a HC and certainly not in college. What we did have, and this is certainly just my own opinion, is some very talented people wearing scarlet and white. For the most part they were poorly prepared and poorly coached and very under motivated. The question I have for the off season is this, 'What will it take to change paths and get things turned arouned befor next season begins?

 

What do we have to start with? The talent that is left from the Callahan years and I think the one thing the former staff did was recruit. We have a new, young and enthusiastic coaching staff headed by Bo Pelini who has been loved by everyone who has played for him. We have Tom Osborne overseeing the reformation of the Husker Dynasty. We have facilities, traditions and a fan base that is fiercely loyal. Weve got a lot of good things going for us and I think that like that Schwin bike that has been in the garage collecting dust for the past few years that with some elbow grease and oil and hard work we can be back on the right track sooner that expected.

 

JMO.

 

>>>T_O_B

 

[TrumanBD]

As I look back on the 2007 Season I scratch my head and wonder what happened? We beat a good Wake Forest team. We beat three teams that went to bowl games. Unfortunately when the wheels came off they rolled too far from the wagon to be put back on. I don't think Cosworth was ever a good fit. You don't bring Big Ten schemes into a better conference and expect them to work. Callahan was too aloof and too much in awe of his own expertise. Some people are made for certain spots in certain places and he belongs as an OC in the NFL. He dosen't have what it takes to be a HC and certainly not in college. What we did have, and this is certainly just my own opinion, is some very talented people wearing scarlet and white. For the most part they were poorly prepared and poorly coached and very under motivated. The question I have for the off season is this, 'What will it take to change paths and get things turned arouned befor next season begins?

 

What do we have to start with? The talent that is left from the Callahan years and I think the one thing the former staff did was recruit. We have a new, young and enthusiastic coaching staff headed by Bo Pelini who has been loved by everyone who has played for him. We have Tom Osbourne overseeing the reformation of the Husker Dynasty. We have facilities, traditions and a fan base that is fiercely loyal. Weve got a lot of good things going for us and I think that like that Schwin bike that has been in the garage collecting dust for the past few years that with some elbow grease and oil and hard work we can be back on the right track sooner that expected.

 

JMO.

 

>>>T_O_B

 

 

 

As an outsider looking in, it just seems like when the going got tough, your players just gave up. I would think/hope that has more to do with coaching than it does with the players. I really think Callahan never figured out that coaching college kids is much different than coaching professionals who are playing for a paycheck. He never figured out how to motivate. He may be a good X's and O's coach, but coaching in College takes so much more.

[Landlord]

We weren't as bad as we looked, or as bad as the final 5-7 record indicated.

 

 

We hung in there for a while against #1 USC, as well as #3 Kansas, almost beat #19 Texas, and did beat a Wake Forest team that at one point in the season was ranked, as well as a Nevada team and Ball State team that went to bowl games. We also absolutely obliterated a team that did beat top-10 Texas.

 

 

We were just very unlucky, and our defense was abysmal.

[RedDenver]

For the love of god, it's "Osborne" not "Osbourne".

 

I think we seriously underperformed in 07. We won the B12 north and did fine against a good Auburn team in the Cotton bowl in 06, so I'm not sure exactly what happened. And then there was the 73 point drubbing of KSU during a stretch of losing badly to other teams. I think we'll be an improved team in 08, but I have no idea how much we'll improve.

[Husker_x]

I find myself asking the same question. When football historians sit down to pen the ancient times of our program, I think they'll look at this season and go, "What the f#*k?" The team just got cancer, that's all, and it spread. I think a lot of things went wrong on a lot of levels. First off, fundamentals were not taught to our defense, and the schemes were laughable. Cosgrove had them built like tanks when they should have been more like ferraris, and their speed suffered. After we got torched by SC, things just went to hell, and more problems surfaced. Our failure as a defense became apparent, and that mixed with poor coaching and motivation started a snowball effect that crippled the entire team. The offense couldn't trust the defense to even allow them to keep them in it, and the defense didn't trust themselves, either, which is far worse. I imagine fingers began to fly at that point, and a few of the players even looked to the fans as though it was our fault.

 

And at the bottom of it all was Callahan.

 

He was either to arrogant or too incompetent to see what had happened, and certainly unable to do anything about it. As the weeks wore on his character began to bleed through the coachspeak. Callahan believed he was doing an excellent job in every area. Look at the numbers. That's coaching. That's system. I doubt it ever occured to him that there's more to football than scheme and film study. He didn't get his players to play. In the beginning their moitvation was built on an NC run. When that well dried up there was nothing to fill the gap, except rhetoric about recruiting and "system." But we all know the truth. There is no system and there never was. Even though our offense was potent at times it showed drastic failures until Watson took the reigns. A lot of our points came after the game was already over in a series of humiliating blowouts our rivals aren't likely to let us forget for decades. Somewhere along the line words lost their value, and with no team leaders to speak of, no motivation to go out and play, and a complete inability to do so even if they wanted to, the team fell apart, and the season fraught with tougher opponents than we'd thought took us to town each Saturday.

 

Where we went wrong was a bad firing decision and an even worse hiring decision in the wake of the 2003 season. I believe the decision to remove Frank would have come under another AD, but I don't think the timing was right. We got stuck with Callahan more than anything, and though we have to give him props for his humanitarian work and at least putting Nebraska on the map of the recruiting game, his failures outweigh his benefits. He's not a head coach. His place is reserved at the NFL table at a coordinator position where he only has to worry about film study and scheme. Leave the coaching to motivators like the guy we got now, Bo Pelini.

 

X

[Bleeding Husker Red]

 

and there never was. Even though our offense was potent at times it showed drastic failures until Watson took the reigns. A lot of our points came after the game was already over in a series of humiliating blowouts our rivals aren't likely to let us forget for decades.

X

 

So we'll just have to spend the next several decades punishing them for daring to raise the heads from the slime at the bottom of the bog untill they don't dare mention 2007 for fear of the suffering we'll inflict on them....

 

 

 

Strap on the pads

[strigori]

No, I dont think we were as bad as we looked. If the defense had actually bothered to put effort into the game, and hit and tackle the ball carrier, it could have been a world of difference. I cant think how many times I watched a ball carrier get contacted(I cant call what these were as hits) he would break loose and go for another 10 or more yards.

 

The fact that in the last two years we have almost beat Texas twice, should have beat Auburn, and played damned close with many other quality teams, I think we have the players to compete with the better teams(we dont quite have the elite talent needed for NC runs yet though). I expect a great shift next season. I also expect to hear commentators(Mark May included) say things to the effect of "How bad was Callahan? How did he lose that many games? Look what Pelini is doing with the same guys"

[MCAT800]

Simply due to the worst coaching job in football history.

[BigRed95]

We weren't as bad as we looked, or as bad as the final 5-7 record indicated.

 

 

We hung in there for a while against #1 USC, as well as #3 Kansas, almost beat #19 Texas, and did beat a Wake Forest team that at one point in the season was ranked, as well as a Nevada team and Ball State team that went to bowl games. We also absolutely obliterated a team that did beat top-10 Texas.

 

 

We were just very unlucky, and our defense was abysmal.

 

 

I think we were worse than our 5 - 7 record. The Texas game is the only loss that could have gone either way, all the other losses were by at least 2 touchdowns. We got lucky in our wins against WF and Ball St. If it wasn't for their mistakes they would have won those games and we would be sitting at 3 - 9 (4 - 8 if the ball would have bounced the other way at Texas).

[BIGREDIOWAN]

I think last season all came down on the defense and how they played with absolutely no passion! The coaches are definately to blame for what happened because it never got any better week after week. It was like watching a slow painful death. I think we were all hyped up for the USC game and when we lost that one it destroyed that team. Then they played crappy for a few games and then the Texas game came and it was our chance to beat a bigdog again. We played well, but gave that game away and the team pretty much gave up after that. They didn't play well again until we played KSUcks and that was probably because of the senior day thing.

[Cy the Cyclone]

Don't kid yourselves...we were really as bad as we looked. The only reason we showed any improvement at all wasn't because the starters were improving as the season went on but because they were replaced by other people. The regulars showed no improvement during 2007...no signs that they were getting better or had suddenly "got it". They consistently sucked...the same stupid mistakes, the same bad technique...the same bonehead mistakes....no improvement whatsoever. There were a lot of teams out there that stunk up the joint at the start of the year but almost all of them were playing better as the season ended (case in point - ISU) however NU never reached that point. They looked bad from Wake Forest through Colorado. The only time they showed any life at all was when Mo started playing regularly and Ganz became the starter.

 

So, yeah, we were as bad as we looked.

[BIGREDFAN_in_OMAHA]

Simply due to the worst coaching job in football history.

I'll agree. They just weren't coaching or teaching or developing the players. It got worse each year they were here. So players that were here for the entire four years had very little improvement or development. Throw in the fact that they weren't making strides in the weight room.

 

All that will start to be corrected soon.

[REDSTEEL]

Simply due to the worst coaching job in football history.

I'll agree. They just weren't coaching or teaching or developing the players. It got worse each year they were here. So players that were here for the entire four years had very little improvement or development. Throw in the fact that they weren't making strides in the weight room.

 

All that will start to be corrected soon.

 

I just hope we don't have to look back next year and realize the defense wasn't Nebraska only problem.

 

That great offense everyone is hyping right now did nothin against Texas A & M, Okie St, Missouri, USC (look when most the point were scored) Wake Forest, Oklahoma (big 12 game) Auburn (Bowl game). The really sad thing is that 3 of those games were in Lincoln.

 

The team needs to learn how to run when needed and hopefully BO will implement that into the offense.

[junior4949]

Simply due to the worst coaching job in football history.

I'll agree. They just weren't coaching or teaching or developing the players. It got worse each year they were here. So players that were here for the entire four years had very little improvement or development. Throw in the fact that they weren't making strides in the weight room.

 

All that will start to be corrected soon.

 

I just hope we don't have to look back next year and realize the defense wasn't Nebraska only problem.

 

That great offense everyone is hyping right now did nothin against Texas A & M, Okie St, Missouri, USC (look when most the point were scored) Wake Forest, Oklahoma (big 12 game) Auburn (Bowl game). The really sad thing is that 3 of those games were in Lincoln.

 

The team needs to learn how to run when needed and hopefully BO will implement that into the offense.

 

 

 

This is what I'm leaning towards as well. Each and every turnover the OFFENSE committed against KU resulted in a KU score. In fact, I think each and every turnover resulted in a TD. When you really break down the games, the offense in many cases let the defense down. Was the D good? No. However, I don't think they were as horrible as advertised. They simply just were put into some very bad positions by the offense. The offense nearly handed Wake Forest the game late in the 4th quarter.

 

The Homecoming game in Lincoln against Okie State really spoke volumes about the team this past year. Okie State's D this year was a far cry from stellar. However, our hyped up powerful offense didn't score one single point against them in the first half.

 

IMO, we're going to see an offense this next year that will be kind of a blend of OU and Texas. If the running game emerges like Texas's did, then we put a lot of emphasis on running the ball. In order to win the time of possession battle, we have to run the ball. The passing game will still be there, and I expect the short passing game to continue. However, I think we will see a lot more emphasis put back into the running game. Look at how many yards running and how many points Texas scored against us this past year in the 4th quarter alone.

 

I don't have the stats, but I'm willing to bet we lost the turnover margin this past year by quite a bit. I'm also guessing for the season we lost the time of possession battle as well. It really doesn't matter if you have a top 10 defense if your offense continually turns the ball over and can't maintain some drives because you are still going to lose the games. In 2002, the D was bad. However, I don't think they were nearly as bad as advertised either. I think there are some parallels that can be drawn in terms of the defenses of 07 and 02. The offense simply put them into too many poor positions.

[EbylHusker]

Yes, the Huskers were every bit as bad as they looked.