Great Article about Bo's pregame prep with the team

[knapplc]

Dirk Chatelain is rapidly becoming my favorite writer in the state.

 

Check below the article for some video from Bo, Martinez, some highlights and the OWH's video analysis.

 

 

Chatelain: A glimpse inside the lion's den

 

MANHATTAN, Kan. — The Nebraska football team gathered Wednesday night at its hotel to hear Bo Pelini speak.

 

It's typical pregame routine. Teams all over America do it the night before games.

 

Bo Pelini is anything but typical in the pregame pep talk category. He could fire up a church choir.

 

On the eve of Nebraska's first conference game in its last season in the Big 12, Pelini found a YouTube video.

 

Hunters chasing a lion. The lion escapes, hides in the brush. And then — at the snap of a finger — attacks.

 

“It was crazy,” Brandon Kinnie said. “The lion was seconds away from eating a guy's face off.”

 

Pelini's lesson: Be the hunter, not the hunted.

 

That's Nebraska football the next two months.

 

The Huskers can stumble out of this conference family, absorbing jeers from their kin. Or they can storm through Big 12 hamlets like Manhattan and Ames and Stillwater, shutting mouths and taking names, reminding old rivals that Nebraska is too good to call anyone a rival.

 

Bo Pelini is the man I want in the lion's den.

 

He's frequently volatile, hardheaded on a good day. But the man has pride. Immeasurable pride. And 2010 is all about pride.

 

Impressing millions on ESPN? Forget it. Moving up in the polls? Who cares.

 

Nebraska beat Kansas State 48-13 at Bill Snyder Family Stadium — and that's worth way more than a segment on “SportsCenter.”

 

The Big 12 — if you haven't noticed — hasn't been good to Nebraska. And programs have gotten a good laugh out of striking back at the Big Red bully. Nobody more than K-State.

 

Bill Snyder beat Nebraska 49-13 on this field in 2002 — and never took his starters out of the game. No joke. His backup quarterback didn't play a snap.

 

The next year in Lincoln, Bo Pelini took offense to similar methods, giving Snyder a piece of his mind after another K-State win.

 

Seven years later, hostility toward Nebraska has reached a fever pitch after a summer in which Nebraska declared itself a better cultural, academic and athletic fit for the esteemed Big Ten Conference.

 

In Big 12 country, the Dust Bowl was more popular than Nebraska football right now.

 

You had to be on the sidelines in the first half Thursday night to appreciate the contempt for all things red. Catcalls from K-Staters. A chorus of four-letter words for Pelini. Signs calling Huskers “quitters,” accusing them of “treason.”

 

Hours earlier, a Kansas City radio host — a Kansas State grad — ranted for 20 minutes about Nebraska.

 

“I'm going to tell you something about the character of the Nebraska football program. As long as they're winning, oh my God they are classy,” shock jock Kevin Kietzman said. “... Let me tell you what happens when you beat them, because this is the worst bunch of losers I've ever seen in my life. ...

 

“You wanna leave? Get the heck out of here. We don't care if you're leaving. Go. Goodbye.”

 

What's Nebraska's best strategy under fire?

 

Hunt.

 

Stifle K-State on fourth-and-two on its opening drive. Unleash Taylor Martinez. Pile up more rushing yards than any Wildcat opponent in 21 years. Send K-State students to the exits with 11 minutes left — in the third quarter.

 

Hunt.

 

This is not a task I would entrust to Frank Solich or Bill Callahan or most other coaches in America. This task is perfect for Pelini.

 

Some guys cower under duress, some guys lurch out of the thicket and fight. Pelini fights. His teams play better with an edge. They play better when lonely. Why else do they play better on the road than in Lincoln?

 

“He's built this culture here,” Cameron Meredith said. “It's our team. People are going to be coming at us. We've got to go out with our best shot, no matter the odds.”

 

Eight more challenges await. And Nebraska can't slip. The stakes are too high. The games mean too much to fans, who will forever regret an upset loss to a Big Eight brother on this farewell tour.

 

“So much about football — really anything in life — is about attitude,” Pelini said. “You've got to get after it. You've got to have a certain mind-set.”

 

A long time ago, when Bo was still in the NFL and Taylor Martinez was still in grade school and Nebraska and Kansas State looked like budding gridiron rivals, a giddy Wildcat fan posted a sign outside his little railroad town after K-State toppled Nebraska, directing Husker buses on the way back to Lincoln:

 

“Losers turn here.”

 

Friday morning, just after midnight in the middle of nowhere, Nebraska buses entered that little railroad town where the sign once stood. Quietly they passed through the dark.

 

Like a lion.

[Moiraine]

great article.

 

I watched the Taylor Martinez interview. There's something endearing about his interviews. When people ask stupid questions (and most of them are stupid) he gives them the answers they deserve. I know he's not purposely being that way but I like that he doesn't try to stretch out the answer just to sound good. "How explosive is your offense?" "As you guys can see it's pretty explosive." Dumb question deserves "dumb" reply. 90% of the questions he's asked, anyone who watched the game could answer.

 

Pretty much all of them can be summed up like this: "What happened on that play?" "I ran real fast-like"

[hosker]

ROAR!

[hosker]

[ESPY]

Chatelain's been my favorite writer since a piece he did on our win over Mizzou last year (statistical criticism on Watson's playcalling vs Mizzou's so-called "loaded box"). His investigative skills and knowledge of the game are what set the guy apart from almost every other reporter in the state. This article is no different. Great read, Dirk!

[Skull&Bones]

Great read...But I want to see the youtube video

[ESPY]

Here's the youtube I've been picturing.

[Apathy]

I think this is the youtube video that Bo showed to the players. There is another Lion hunting video but the lion dies where in this video the lion is getting hunted but then turns to the table to become the hunter and lives which Bo message was all about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQahgDP8d_k&feature=related

[huskernumerouno]

Great article

[ESPY]

I think this is the youtube video that Bo showed to the players. There is another Lion hunting video but the lion dies where in this video the lion is getting hunted but then turns to the table to become the hunter and lives which Bo message was all about.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQahgDP8d_k&feature=related

That's intense! No wonder Bo used that to get the blood boiling.

[Husker_x]

The team we need to rip apart is Texas. K-State was never going to win. No 4 YPC back was going to rush 25 times and beat Nebraska's D without a complementary passing attack and a few gifts from our offense and special teams.

 

Next Saturday a much more physically gifted team, a much faster team, and a much more wounded team is coming to Lincoln. Find another video. This is a week where motivation had better be at 110%, and the execution needs to match come game day.

[knapplc]

The team we need to rip apart is Texas. K-State was never going to win. No 4 YPC back was going to rush 25 times and beat Nebraska's D without a complementary passing attack and a few gifts from our offense and special teams.

 

Next Saturday a much more physically gifted team, a much faster team, and a much more wounded team is coming to Lincoln. Find another video. This is a week where motivation had better be at 110%, and the execution needs to match come game day.

 

Bo has all the motivation he needs for this game. The only thing he needs to put in front of this team is:

 

 

00:01

 

 

If the guys aren't motivated by that "unfinished business," nothing Bo says will motivate them.

[Moiraine]

I wish the lion had won. I'm not sure why but I feel like killing predators like that is far more offensive than killing deer. Probably because there are a 100,000 deer/predator and it's unfair that you can kill this magnificent animal by moving your finger. Okay, that was my rant for the month.

[Seattle Red]

The team we need to rip apart is Texas. K-State was never going to win. No 4 YPC back was going to rush 25 times and beat Nebraska's D without a complementary passing attack and a few gifts from our offense and special teams.

 

Next Saturday a much more physically gifted team, a much faster team, and a much more wounded team is coming to Lincoln. Find another video. This is a week where motivation had better be at 110%, and the execution needs to match come game day.

 

I know what video I would suggest right now if I were a part of Bo's inner circle or a member of the team. It pretty much sums up what Bo has been preaching and teaching since he got here on Day One and every time I watch it I feel like I could suit up again and run through walls for 4 quarters.

 

[TheCheshireCat]

I wish the lion had won. I'm not sure why but I feel like killing predators like that is far more offensive than killing deer. Probably because there are a 100,000 deer/predator and it's unfair that you can kill this magnificent animal by moving your finger. Okay, that was my rant for the month.

 

Agreed. If there is a purpose to hunting, like eating the animal, I don't mind it. In fact it can be very necessary with deer because they can become overpopulated and there can be famine, destruction of crops, etc., where many would die anyway. But killing animals like bears, lions, etc. is pointless and wrong. If this lion was a maneater then okay, but if they were out hunting it for the hell of it that's not right.