Huskers..Unbeaten with 3 Losses

[robsker]

threads like this make us look like a whiny fan base, own up fact is we lost whether or not were the better team at the end of the day means f all, fact is we lost now lets move forward beat Washington and go into the 2011 season in the Big 10 with a chip on our shoulder

 

You are missing the point entirely --- or, I am not articulating the point well --- or a combination of the two. I am making no statement whatsoever of who is better or who is not. No excuses of any sort are being made. There is nothing to own up to. A loss is a loss -- it happens. The point is simple... NU is inordinately prone to beating themselves by making unforced errors (sometimes getting away with it against lesser opponents --- other times not against better opponents). The number of unforced errors NU makes exceeds, by a wide margin, that of the typical team. Watch other games... rarely, if ever, do you see a team drop so many uncontested passes, fumble so often, repeatedly get so many procedure penalties, etc. Our biggest enemy seems to be ourselves. More so than is usual. Much more so.

 

None of these are excuses for losing ... they are reasons for losing.

 

One poster correctly pointed out that we are "not a championship caliber team." Agreed. I only add that it is not because we do not have "championship caliber" talent or potential --- we probably do --- it is rather because we are not, in the general sense, taking care of what can be controlled well --- basically we are too error prone.

 

I return the questions. Why are we so error prone and how can it be fixed?

[captain obvious]

Why are we so error prone and how can it be fixed?

 

Taylor sucks, Watson sucks, Beebe sucks. Welcome to the last 2 months on this board.

[manitobahusker]

threads like this make us look like a whiny fan base, own up fact is we lost whether or not were the better team at the end of the day means f all, fact is we lost now lets move forward beat Washington and go into the 2011 season in the Big 10 with a chip on our shoulder

 

You are missing the point entirely --- or, I am not articulating the point well --- or a combination of the two. I am making no statement whatsoever of who is better or who is not. No excuses of any sort are being made. There is nothing to own up to. A loss is a loss -- it happens. The point is simple... NU is inordinately prone to beating themselves by making unforced errors (sometimes getting away with it against lesser opponents --- other times not against better opponents). The number of unforced errors NU makes exceeds, by a wide margin, that of the typical team. Watch other games... rarely, if ever, do you see a team drop so many uncontested passes, fumble so often, repeatedly get so many procedure penalties, etc. Our biggest enemy seems to be ourselves. More so than is usual. Much more so.

 

None of these are excuses for losing ... they are reasons for losing.

 

One poster correctly pointed out that we are "not a championship caliber team." Agreed. I only add that it is not because we do not have "championship caliber" talent or potential --- we probably do --- it is rather because we are not, in the general sense, taking care of what can be controlled well --- basically we are too error prone.

 

I return the questions. Why are we so error prone and how can it be fixed?

 

 

gotcha and i do agree championship teams take better care of the football but maybe the coaching staff should of been proactive and sat taylor down for cody when it was apparent he was rattled turning the ball over. also the play calling has been very weird at times rex was running the wild cat well and we could of limited some of these turn overs by simply pounding the rock instead of dropping back and passing.

[robsker]

threads like this make us look like a whiny fan base, own up fact is we lost whether or not were the better team at the end of the day means f all, fact is we lost now lets move forward beat Washington and go into the 2011 season in the Big 10 with a chip on our shoulder

 

You are missing the point entirely --- or, I am not articulating the point well --- or a combination of the two. I am making no statement whatsoever of who is better or who is not. No excuses of any sort are being made. There is nothing to own up to. A loss is a loss -- it happens. The point is simple... NU is inordinately prone to beating themselves by making unforced errors (sometimes getting away with it against lesser opponents --- other times not against better opponents). The number of unforced errors NU makes exceeds, by a wide margin, that of the typical team. Watch other games... rarely, if ever, do you see a team drop so many uncontested passes, fumble so often, repeatedly get so many procedure penalties, etc. Our biggest enemy seems to be ourselves. More so than is usual. Much more so.

 

None of these are excuses for losing ... they are reasons for losing.

 

One poster correctly pointed out that we are "not a championship caliber team." Agreed. I only add that it is not because we do not have "championship caliber" talent or potential --- we probably do --- it is rather because we are not, in the general sense, taking care of what can be controlled well --- basically we are too error prone.

 

I return the questions. Why are we so error prone and how can it be fixed?

 

 

gotcha and i do agree championship teams take better care of the football but maybe the coaching staff should of been proactive and sat taylor down for cody when it was apparent he was rattled turning the ball over. also the play calling has been very weird at times rex was running the wild cat well and we could of limited some of these turn overs by simply pounding the rock instead of dropping back and passing.

 

Good points. man the "do we sit TMart who is hurting, flustered, and struggling and replace him with Cody" is a question I would hate to have to answer in real time during a game. We can look at it afterwards, with the filter of time, and well... it is more clear. But that is a tough call during a game.

 

The hurdle we need to overcome to become a "championship caliber" team is, seemingly, overcoming our tendency to implode. I think we have the talent to be a legit top 10 team --- could be wrong, but I think so --- if we cut back the dropped passes, fumbles, penalties, taking unnecessary sacks, etc. I know most everyone laments the play calling of Watson and wants him gone --- not sure what to say on that. In any event, he is more likely going to be here than not.

[zoogs]

OP, it's a fair point how we have only beat ourselves this year, but as "unbeaten but with __ losses" is a claim many, many, many teams could make about many seasons, it does take away from the luster of the claim, as it's nothing compared to being truly unbeaten - and the hint that this is somewhat close to being truly unbeaten which is the only reason a claim like this is made in the first place. As stands I think it's hard to think of us as more than a Top 15 team.

[skersfan]

If the kids have the talent, display the ability and desire to get better, it falls back on coaching. We have to play more in control, the perfect storm so to speak.

 

We had no attituded before Coach Pelini got here, now maybe we have a little too much. He is young head coach, still learning his trade and his niche. He will figure it out. He has accomplished what I wanted to see. A team that wants to win every game, and gives that type of effort. The finer adjustments to coaching will come with time. I think we are in good hands, just has to learn from experience.

 

Almost all games are lost due to the losing team making mistakes, seldom are the two teams vastly different in talent or coaching.

 

Every team could claim the same thing I think. We just need to keep the faith, but I do agree next year could very easily be a major set back from what we have seen. We need to pull it together to have a chance at winning the conference next year. It will be far tougher than what we have faced in the recent Big 12.

[BornRedCornFed]

we lost. accept it. stop making excuses. if we played poorly then the other team made us play poorly

 

a loss is a loss is a loss

[akita]

It was the texas tech game where I can say we were beat. I look at the iowa st virginia tech oklahoma texas am and texas games and just see self destruction plus 16-2 penalty disparity/lol

[Hunter94]

My opinion --- for what it is worth --- is that NU was not beaten once this year. That is, no opponent played sufficiently well against NU so as to earn a victory. Against Texas, Texas A&M, and especially against OU, the Huskers lost the game by turnovers, penalties, and blown plays (pass drops, blown tackles). Rarely did the other team contribute overly to the Husker implosions --- they were self-inflicted. The Huskers gave the victories to teams that were undeserving --- none of the three (Texas, A&M, or Oklahoma) played well enough to win on their own merit --- each were the gracious recipients of gifts from the Huskers.

 

We almost gave one to SDSU as well.

 

My point? Washington is likely not capable of beating NU on their own merit --- but the Huskers are perfectly capable of imploding and beating themselves (as they have three... and nearly four times this season already).

 

With this Husker team... do not assume anything.

 

So my question is this.... why do we self destruct so often? And, perhaps more difficult to answer.... how do we make it stop?

 

As we go against a schedule next season that is roughly twice as difficult as the one this season, well... small implosions that we may get away with now (like those against SDSU and ISU) will end up in the "L" column next year. How do we prevent this from happening?

 

 

the intensity and drive on offense is no where near the same as on the defensive side of the ball....

Bo changed things on defense, Wats is sitting on his nuts, time for him to leave and for us to find an intense offensive coordinator, a real up tempo coach....

[Hunter94]

threads like this make us look like a whiny fan base, own up fact is we lost whether or not were the better team at the end of the day means f all, fact is we lost now lets move forward beat Washington and go into the 2011 season in the Big 10 with a chip on our shoulder

 

You are missing the point entirely --- or, I am not articulating the point well --- or a combination of the two. I am making no statement whatsoever of who is better or who is not. No excuses of any sort are being made. There is nothing to own up to. A loss is a loss -- it happens. The point is simple... NU is inordinately prone to beating themselves by making unforced errors (sometimes getting away with it against lesser opponents --- other times not against better opponents). The number of unforced errors NU makes exceeds, by a wide margin, that of the typical team. Watch other games... rarely, if ever, do you see a team drop so many uncontested passes, fumble so often, repeatedly get so many procedure penalties, etc. Our biggest enemy seems to be ourselves. More so than is usual. Much more so.

 

None of these are excuses for losing ... they are reasons for losing.

 

One poster correctly pointed out that we are "not a championship caliber team." Agreed. I only add that it is not because we do not have "championship caliber" talent or potential --- we probably do --- it is rather because we are not, in the general sense, taking care of what can be controlled well --- basically we are too error prone.

 

I return the questions. Why are we so error prone and how can it be fixed?

 

 

it's called coaching, good old fashioned coaching, drills, conditioning........

[Big Red 40]

I agree with the O.P. I dont think any of the teams we lost to were clearly superior teams at all. Over the years we have been soundly beaten by better teams, but this year i dont think that was the case.The problem with this team IMO is the lack of a Stud playmaker on Offense.Look at most of the championship teams over the years, and you with find at least one. Usually a QB or RB (Upperclassmen usually too) that you get the ball to when the game is on the line, and they go win it for you. Think Tommie Frazier, Vince Young, Tim Tebow ETC.Nebraska doesnt have that player right now. Burkhead would be the closest i can see, and maybe Taylor will grow into that someday but he isnt now. Players like those erase all the coaching questions too.

[cdw]

I blame it on the QB

[Enhance]

As far as the Oklahoma game is concerned, if you want to call us the better team despite the fumbles, than they were the better team in 2009 despite the interceptions. I'm not saying whether that's a bad train of thought or not, but I think you have to accept one to accept the other.

[DJR313]

I blame it on the QB

 

I blame it on the Rain.

 

[Enhance]

I blame it on the QB

 

I blame it on the Rain.

 

I blame it on the ah-ah ah ah-ah-alcohol, baby.