Losses Versus Wins

[mcrooks7]

Look guys. I am new to this whole kinda thing, and I probibly don't know as much as most of you guys out there, but I do have a couple words of "wisdom," if you can call it that. This post is meant for all the guys out there who are still complaining about the fact that we didn't win against Tech. How many of you guys out there thought we would look this good after the first three games? How many of you would be able to say that you thought we would be able to run with Tech after those games? How many of you thought we would be able to come back to be leading the game in the end after being down 21-0 after a few minutes into the second quarter? How many people thought we Oklahoma weren't going to be the powerhouse team we thought it would be, and in turn wouldn't be an immediate loss for us at the beginning of the season? Now the big one: How many people thought we would be undefeated at the end of the season at the beginning of the season? If you did, I love your enthusiasm, but I doubt that is the worst case scenario for you. Yeah, a loss is a loss, and guess what, teams get 'em all the time. There will only be a handful of undefeated teams at the end of the season, and even though we lost, we have the potential to have only a few more losses, and instead of getting all upset about a single loss that, as has been said, was our game but for one fall to the ground by an excited player, we should be thinking positive about the rest of the season and what our boys can do. So don't get all uptight about the loss, think good thoughts about the future.

 

Sorry, just my personal opinion. My rant is done.

[flwrestler135]

I think most of nu fans are proud of the way our team played, and are looking forward to the rest of the season

the thing i disagree with is how many people are saying we would have won if he would have just fallen down. You cant summerize a game off of one play, if we would have scored on any of the other drives that ended in a turnover we would have had large enough lead that it wouldnt have made a difference what he did with the ball.

[huskerstag]

You cant summerize a game off of one play, if we would have scored on any of the other drives that ended in a turnover we would have had large enough lead that it wouldnt have made a difference what he did with the ball.

 

I agree. There's a half dozen plays that could have swung the game in our favor. Its just that LeKevin's happened at the end. I'm very proud of the entire team and coaches and really looking forward to games now, rather than holding cautious optimism tempered with dread.

[BigRedSmitty]

mcrooks...I am glad you are a husker fan and on our side, but you said your pretty new at this...well it shows. You see for some, Husker football is like Red Sox baseball, a passion. The state shuts down when it is football Saturday. No one ever thought we would see days like we have over the last couple of years. Your right, all teams loose...Coach Osborne lost, Coach Solich lost, even the great Bob Devaney lost. However, we are loosing more often, and in a style that is not common for most fans. There is no professional team in Nebraska, and we take pride in the Big Red and their traditions...things like sell-outs, walk-ons, and standing up and cheering on the other teams...it is ALL Husker Football. As I have said on other threads...there are some who have the attitude that loosing games is ok because we are re-building, so we are to be patient. Well I can't...I'm only 32 and they have always won, not every game, but have always won. There was a day during our streak of consecutive bowl losses that I thought we would never see a National Championship, and I have seen 3. I hope Nebraska wins every week, and every year. Before your make a comment like be patient and look to the future, keep in mind there are some who remember the past, and that's why it hurts so much.

[mcrooks7]

mcrooks...I am glad you are a husker fan and on our side, but you said your pretty new at this...well it shows.  You see for some, Husker football is like Red Sox baseball, a passion.  The state shuts down when it is football Saturday.  No one ever thought we would see days like we have over the last couple of years.  Your right, all teams loose...Coach Osborne lost, Coach Solich lost, even the great Bob Devaney lost.  However, we are loosing more often, and in a style that is not common for most fans.  There is no professional team in Nebraska, and we take pride in the Big Red and their traditions...things like sell-outs, walk-ons, and standing up and cheering on the other teams...it is ALL Husker Football.  As I have said on other threads...there are some who have the attitude that loosing games is ok because we are re-building, so we are to be patient.  Well I can't...I'm only 32 and they have always won, not every game, but have always won.  There was a day during our streak of consecutive bowl losses that I thought we would never see a National Championship, and I have seen 3.  I hope Nebraska wins every week, and every year.  Before your make a comment like be patient and look to the future, keep in mind there are some who remember the past, and that's why it hurts so much.

It is perfectly understandable to want to win every game you play. Heck I want the Huskers to come out and blow out every team they play. That in itself is no problem. But since you are so into the past, let me (someone who is new to the message board, not being a Huskers fan) enlighten you on a few points. First, let's not forget our Husker history. Yes Osborne was a very good coach, and when he took over the Devany team, he wasn't planning on making monumental changes. He took over a number 4-ranked Nebraska team, and then made them into a 9-2-1 team. No, this is not bad, especially when considering the past several years. Yet, at the time everyone in the Husker Nation was openly questioning Osborne and whether or not he could make our team into a Championship team. You said that you want and demand perfection out on the field and that losing is unacceptable. As I said earlier, every team but a very few loses a game. Do you know when the first time Osborne was capable of making his team that one that manages the perfection you demand was? What about Devany? I do. Osborne had to coach 22 seasons before he was able to make our team undefeated. Devany had to wait 10 out of his 11 years of coaching to have an undefeated team, that is, unless you count the year before when the Huskers were 11-0-1. But wait! That tie isn't a win, and we must always win. And let's not forget that there are no ties anymore. Who knows what would have happened in overtime, we might have lost, and that would have been unacceptable! I am not saying that Devany or Osborne are bad coaches during this period. I am simply pointing out that even these great coaches that made our football team consistently great were unable to provide immediate perfection, and they weren't completely overhauling the offensive strategy. A loss, as you said, is a loss. Yet the point that I, and many others on this message board are trying to make is that Texas Tech did not beat us. Several people have pointed it out on this thread themselves. There were several key times when we screwed up and gave the football game to Texas Tech, but after the first 20 minutes we looked like we were the best football team on the field. That says a lot for having been down 21-0 at the beginning of the game. This was the best team we have played thus far in the season, and it doesn't look like we have another opponent of that caliber until a possible Big IX Championship game. I'm not saying that the rest of the football teams we play will be easy, nor should we take their talent for granted. Yet, as Huskers fans, we don't have to take our own talent for granted either. A loss is a loss, and during the first minutes of the game after Tech was up 14-0 on us, I thought that the game was a lost cause. When it was 21-0 I was sure that it was curtains for the Scarlet and Cream. Yet, it wasn't. This is a different kind of loss than the ones that we have seen over the last several years. This is a loss where the team with the most heart, and by all accounts looked like the best team for the most time of the field, came up empty and lost the game. If this was our season under either Devany or Osborne you would have said that this was an unfortunate occurrence, but you would not be attacking the coaches and players and speaking of the freakin' past! If you are so caught up in how great the Huskers were in the past, then the last several years must have eaten you up. I know they did for me. Then, when I see consistent, constant improvement from our team that has looked like it might become a perennial powder-puff, I will look at a game well played and realize that our team has the makings of a great one. So instead of having my head in the clouds and in the past, I am going to, yes, look into the future. Yet, you seem to misunderstand me when I say this is what I am doing. I am not looking into the distant future as you are looking into the distant past. I am looking at the future of this team this season, and I am seeing great potential for a great year. So why bitch and moan about this one loss. Every team but 9 has at least one loss at this point. And the way our boys have been playing, with better and more gelled tenacity every week, I am looking forward to only good things for this team. Maybe you don't. But, you know what, that just might mean that you are "newer" at this whole "being a fan" thing, and supporting your team. If you really are disgusted with the way that the Huskers played last Saturday, that is your prerogative, but I will not buy into your school of thought. I have faith in this team at this moment with these players and these coaches. Because I don't live in the past, I live for great Husker football here and now. And this is the most promising team I have seen for a long time. Our next task is in Waco, so let's GO HUSKERS!!!

[BigRedSmitty]

mcrooks, you have just made my point for me...you are ok with a loss, because to you they didn't even lose the game. Buddy all that matters is the final score in the record books. A team could go 0-12 and make improvements all year, they still did not win. OK we did not get blown out, we came back and made a game out of it, and did some good things...but at the end of the day...IT IS STILL A LOSS. You have to play for the whole game...we fell one play short. We fell one play short in the Orange Bowl in the 80's...it still went down as a loss, and we even lost the national Championship. As I mentioned in another thread...the players did not walk out of the locker room saying we played better...I'm sure it hurt that they did not win...I'm sorry last year sucked, losing games we should have won, not seeing our team in a bowl game, and seeing years of winning go down the drain. Mainly because that is all I ever seen of the Huskers...winning...year in and year out. Wake up and smell the coffee...the Huskers lost...say what you want to, they lost. I do hope they win this week, and the week after, and the week after...but I know a loss when I see one.

[BigRedDallasTexan]

It's true that noone probably expected our team to go undefeated this year. But what gets to me is that we had a tremendous chance to be undefeated right now and we aren't. It's not like we just got beat by a physically superior team, we beat ourselves. In a way i can almost accept a loss easier when we get blown out because i can just say "well they were just better than us". It tears me up to watch my team lose a game that we had a great chance of winning. I'm not implying that i want our team to roll over and take a beating rather than fight for 4 quarters, but as a fan it's easier to explain why we lost in a blow out as opposed to a game that comes down to the last play.