The other side of the ball

[Eric the Red]

"I think we've had a lot of fun," he said. "It's been a very physical spring, very demanding. We're excited about it. We liked the way it went. We like the flow. And the attitude has been outstanding."

 

Saturday, the play was outstanding, especially from the defensive line. Maligned for much of 2004 for its lack of a pass rush, the Blackshirts front four combined for nine sacks against the No. 2 offense. Moore tallied four of those.

 

For the game, the Red managed on three net rushing yards on 28 attempts against the first-string defense.

 

The Whites even scored a defensive touchdown when senior safety Daniel Bullock's intercepted a pass from former starting quarterback Joe Dailey and raced 58 yards to the end zone.

 

 

"They're looking really solid right now," Davis said. "They gave us trouble on offense with a lot of blitzes and stuff. They've come along great. They're going to be a big part of this season coming up. I'm pretty sure we'll have one of the No. 1 defenses in the Big 12."

 

Nebraska's defense managed only 25 sacks in 11 games in 2004. Saturday, the Whites posted 11 as a team. Sure, they were going against a second-string offensive line, but Moore said the most noticeable difference with this year's defense will be the presence of a consistent pass rush.

 

Defense

[craigsker]

With an improved offense a much improved defense could certainly help put the Huskers back on the track to its winning ways. Let's hope that we see improvement on the defensive side of the ball as well. Would it be exciting to see the dominance we enjoyed in the 90s?

[formerfan]

With an improved offense a much improved defense could certainly help put the Huskers back on the track to its winning ways.  Let's hope that we see improvement on the defensive side of the ball as well.  Would it be exciting to see the dominance we enjoyed in the 90s?

No, we'll never see that again while these coaches are here, at-least that's what formerfan says!

Its not like these coaches have ever produced anything that resembles that sort of dominance in the past, so why would they in the future??

 

Keep your head in the sand, I hear its warm in there

[Eric the Red]

spring game photo

[Eric the Red]

spring game photo

[formerfan]

spring game photo

Thanks, Eric, seeing this made me throw up on my keyboard

 

Gosh!!!

[c-husker]

FormerFan,

 

I apologize for my previous condescending manner. You are right, I was only voicing my opinion, and I should not have presented it as the truth.

 

I want to take issue with you on two topics. First, in this thread you said "It's not like these coaches have produced anything that resembles that sort of dominance in the past, so why would they in the future?"

 

From what I know, Bob Devaney was at Wyoming before he come to Big Red Country, and had produced no national titles. Tom Osborne was an assistant under Devaney after his attempt at playing in the NFL was over, and took over with no previous head coaching experience. So it goes without saying that he never won a championship prior to coaching at NU. How are these situations different from our current staff in respects to championships won?

 

The other thing you said was in a previous thread, and I'll have to paraphrase because I can't remember it word-for-word. You were talking about the lack of unity between Coach Callahan and staff and our players, and said something to the effect that Osborne never had this problem. I thought that Osborne was concerned about this, which is why he had Jack Stark start the UNITY council in the early '90's. Starting this council seems to be an acknowledgement that there was, at least, concern.

 

It seems likely that you are simply going to point out that Callahan has done away with the UNITY council, which is true. But don't you think it's unfair to say that Osborne never had this problem?

 

c-husker

(the 'C' stands for condescending)

[DaveH]

How did the juco's do in the game on the defensive side of the ball?

[skersfan]

Is there a chance we could just have a FooFooFan thread. He normally destroys every other one. I suggest we give him his own then the rest of us would not hve to read his

[DJR313]

How did the juco's do in the game on the defensive side of the ball?

I thought I remembered hearing that Barry Cryer was a beast according to USA Today. Anyone else hear that or see it?

[formerfan]

FormerFan,

 

I apologize for my previous condescending manner. You are right, I was only voicing my opinion, and I should not have presented it as the truth.

 

I want to take issue with you on two topics. First, in this thread you said "It's not like these coaches have produced anything that resembles that sort of dominance in the past, so why would they in the future?"

 

From what I know, Bob Devaney was at Wyoming before he come to Big Red Country, and had produced no national titles. Tom Osborne was an assistant under Devaney after his attempt at playing in the NFL was over, and took over with no previous head coaching experience. So it goes without saying that he never won a championship prior to coaching at NU. How are these situations different from our current staff in respects to championships won?

 

The other thing you said was in a previous thread, and I'll have to paraphrase because I can't remember it word-for-word. You were talking about the lack of unity between Coach Callahan and staff and our players, and said something to the effect that Osborne never had this problem. I thought that Osborne was concerned about this, which is why he had Jack Stark start the UNITY council in the early '90's. Starting this council seems to be an acknowledgement that there was, at least, concern.

 

It seems likely that you are simply going to point out that Callahan has done away with the UNITY council, which is true. But don't you think it's unfair to say that Osborne never had this problem?

 

c-husker

(the 'C' stands for condescending)

First, I would rather have tried our hand first, with someone who is proven, and apparently there was nobody like that who wanted the job. Then, I would have liked to see an up and coming assistant, one who related well to the kids, taught, and motivated (Pelini?). That was what TO was, as far a Devaney, a little before my time, but if I remember, he was the one who put Wyoming fb on the map (as much as it could be) and had some decent success there. coz had a couple of decent seasons at UW and that is the extent of the success of this staff. cally took another mans team to a SB, but it fell apart the next year. The rest of the staff, frankly, has had little to no success on their resumes, so I dont feel that they can be compared to TO and BD.

 

For the second point you make, there is a misunderstanding. The topic came up about cally slashing the walkon program and how it was good for the team because it was "too hard" to teach all those players and get them the needed reps. What I was saying was that TO never had a problem teaching his players and getting them reps when his rosters had 140+ kids on them. As far as the Unity council you bring up a great point, and it was a mistake for cally to get rid of it.

Another issue was the amount of top line players that had left, starters, top talents, honors candidates, captains and how unheard of this is. I also stated that he had similar problems to this while at Oakland.

 

Did TO have problems, sure. Was he perfect, no. But Id trade TO for this entire staff in one second if we had the chance.

[nebr_bob]

To FF -

 

There are many ways to win a football game - but you keep bringing up the offense so

i will address that side of the ball. 1. the wishbone 2. the option and 3. the WCO

the wishbone ran by Switzer was a thing of beauty as was the Option ran by TO but they had 1 thing in common and that was extremly talented players. Other coaches have tried to duplicate both systems over the years and most if not all have failed.

There is only Switzer to run the wishbone and TO to run the option (they just had IT,

play calling / asst coaches / players / intangibles etc.) IF FS would not have left the cupboard bare (and become so 1 dimensional) we would not even be talking about this, BUT HE DID, so now we must wait until BC can restock the cupboard with D1 atheletes. Patience is a virtue - so I suggest that you sit back and relax for 2-3 years before making false statements about our current staff. Dont even bother bringing up the raiders on your rebuttal (which i know is coming) because the only malcontents on that team were washed up superstars that had very little PT left, BC only had what

that worthless piece of sh#t owner gave him to work with also.

 

 

[formerfan]

To FF -

 

There are many ways to win a football game - but you keep bringing up the offense so

i will address that side of the ball. 1. the wishbone 2. the option and 3. the WCO

the wishbone ran by Switzer was a thing of beauty as was the Option ran by TO but they had 1 thing in common and that was extremly talented players. Other coaches have tried to duplicate both systems over the years and most if not all have failed.

There is only Switzer to run the wishbone and TO to run the option (they just had IT,

play calling / asst coaches / players / intangibles etc.) IF FS would not have left the cupboard bare (and become so 1 dimensional) we would not even be talking about this, BUT HE DID, so now we must wait until BC can restock the cupboard with D1 atheletes. Patience is a virtue - so I suggest that you sit back and relax for 2-3 years before making false statements about our current staff. Dont even bother bringing up the raiders on your rebuttal (which i know is coming) because the only malcontents on that team were washed up superstars that had very little PT left, BC only had what

that worthless piece of sh#t owner gave him to work with also.

 

 

I agree that athletes help, but you need both great coaching and great athletes to be truly great.

 

As for the Raiders, Im just curious, how did the players go from All-pros and SB participants to "washed-up" in one season?? I dont think that they lost their athletic talent over the offseason.

[DJR313]

To FF  -

 

There are many ways to win a football game - but you keep bringing up the offense so

i will address that side of the ball.   1.  the wishbone  2.  the option  and 3.  the WCO

the wishbone ran by Switzer was a thing of beauty as was the Option ran by TO but they had 1 thing in common and that was extremly talented players.  Other coaches have tried to duplicate both systems over the years and most if not all have failed. 

There is only Switzer to run the wishbone and TO to run the option (they just had IT,

play calling / asst coaches / players / intangibles etc.)  IF FS would not have left the cupboard bare (and become so 1 dimensional) we would not even be talking about this, BUT HE DID, so now we must wait until BC can restock the cupboard with D1 atheletes.  Patience is a virtue - so I suggest that you sit back and relax for 2-3 years before making false statements about our current staff.  Dont even bother bringing up the raiders on your rebuttal (which i  know is coming)  because the only malcontents on that team were washed up superstars that had very little PT left,  BC only had what

that worthless piece of sh#t owner gave him to work with also. 

 

 

Good points bob. Most good offenses have a prototype team that has the most success utilizing it. As for defense, I look for a significant improvement. During Franchione's first year at Texas A&M, the team looked lost, uninspired and the problems mounted with the losses. This past year, they played quite a bit differently when they realized that the guys yelling at them were there to teach them. I look for a similar result based upon what I have read from some defensive players from last year carrying over to this season and those players that didn't buy into what the coaches were trying to get done here are now gone. Cosgrove has 3 top 10 defenses in yards allowed and points allowed to his credit from his days at Wisconsin with his players running his defensive scheme. 2 seasons were in the top 2. Let's see what he can do.

 

I agree that athletes help, but you need both great coaching and great athletes to be truly great.

 

As for the Raiders, Im just curious, how did the players go from All-pros and SB participants to "washed-up" in one season?? I dont think that they lost their athletic talent over the offseason.

 

If coaching were the only variable in that equation, the Raiders would have been back in the super bowl this year. They weren't and didn't show much improvement. I think the problems of that organization stem from Mr. Davis.

[rawhide]

Davis is for the Big D and only him. Especially with those fugly glasses he wears. Who knows what behind the scenes(back) of BC strings he was pulling(conspiracy?). Big D definitely has put the screws to bigger things than coaches and players i.e. City budgets.

 

Dynastys end and new ones begin Look at the 9ers. When is their next one The Huskers will be back and most likely sooner than either the 9ers or the Faiders.

 

 

 

GBR