Ten Years Ago Today

[PaulCrewe]

So I am a littlle suprised no one has brought this up even though it was a DARK, DARK day in NU history.

 

Today is the 10th anniversary of the massacre in Boulder that started really showing the cracks in the wall of the giant that was/is Husker football.

 

I remember sitting in the living room with my old man just in shock of what the hell was happening. The lanes sCUm RB's were busting through was mind boggling. Utter disbelief of what I was watching and unbeknown to me a small taste of what NU's future would endure.

 

I used to think if Diedrick doesn't fumble going into the endzone in the third quarter it may have ended slightly differently, but then quickly remember that Craig Bohl was playing a 7-4 defense and sCUm was one hand off away from scoring again.

 

Again, yes this was a sh**ty moment in NU's history. There would be plenty more, even worse. It still is a key moment in the program.

[MCAT800]

Wow, been 10 years already.

 

I guess we all blocked it out of our memory...

[Omaha-Husker]

That was the beginning of the end for the dynasty. Lets start a new Husker legacy this Friday vs. Iowa. Its a new decade, time to move forward.

[Jeremy]

I was going to start a thread with this title, darn you...

 

Anyway, to add to what you're saying. Since that cold, horrible night in Boulder, Nebraska has shown nothing but flashes of relevance, and hardly that. 10 years of little more than mediocrity and beatdowns the likes of which most of us clad in red never thought we'd see inflicted upon the Nebraska Football Program. No conference titles. No BCS bowls. 2 years without a bowl, and in those 2 seasons, watching Texas Tech and Kansas run up 70+ on the defense formerly known as the Blackshirts.

 

But enough doom and gloom. Maybe it's me, but I don't like to stay in 'we have sucked and will continue to suck forever' mode. I want to know how we're going to get BACK. To be NEBRASKA again. I believe we can. Personally, I don't think you fire Pelini, first and foremost. I think you stick with this staff for at least 3 years, and if the results are the same or worse by Thanksgiving 2013, people get axed, depending on how bad things are.

 

Some people hate hearing this, but we really DO need an offensive identity, and that identity should be called 'Smashmouth.' We need to out-Wisconsin Wisconsin. Milk this state dry for O-linemen and whoever else that has actual D1 talent. Offensive line is the first priority - road graders. Nasty guys with an edge that defensive coordinators have nightmares about. Find another Frazier, Gill, Fryar, Rozier - SOMEONE out of state that will be on the Heisman radar after a couple years in Red. If you look back, anytime we've had someone on the legit Heisman radar (and/or won it), we were 1st tier, top 5 - ELITE. (Suh was on the radar, and the '09 defense was the best we'll see for a long time, for a variety of reasons.)

 

I think Pelini gets the defense shored up, and won't be a top 10 unit next year, but we'll be somewhat solid. But the smashmouth running game goes hand in hand with keeping the defense off the field and giving the actual blackshirts rest.

 

Nebraska football, to me, is unlike any other program in the country. If you really take a step back, you see how much incredible support and exposure it gets all year every year. I remember mid-way through the '07 season when Matt Ryan was tearin' it up at BC. Some reporters walked through a couple Boston neighborhoods door to door to ask what the common-folk thought of the Eagle QB. Maybe 1 in 10 of them even knew who the kid was. "Who? Is he gonna play for the Sox?" a few asked. And he was a legit Heisman contender. A kid in Lincoln even sniffs that kind of performance and everyone in the state knows what kind of toilet paper he uses.

 

We love this program - we always have. When last Saturday happens, we get pissed because it makes the whole state look bad - 'cause football's about all we got. Chimney Rock ain't gettin' any taller.

 

What do you guys think? I like to think of ways to fix a problem instead of griping about it. What fixes this problem?

[lo country]

Offensive identity. Recruit specifically for what you want. Look for experts, not jack of all trades. This one size fits all crap has got to go. We have had no real identity since 2003.

 

Hard to really recruit talent when you have no idea what we really even want. Play the kids you recruited. Thow out he NFL mentality tht the starter plays the whole game. We don't have a preseason. It starts for real game one. Use this time to develop depth and to see if your next player X was what you thought he would be. Better to find out you missed on a recruit in game 1-3, hn year 3 or 4.

 

Back n topic, that game sucked. Who new it was not a fluke and a sign of times to come.

[Hunter94]

new age football is where we are headed, we want to be like Oregon, we want to be multiple.....we want to be....to be.......to be.....nevermind.

[ladyhawke]

new age football is where we are headed, we want to be like Oregon, we want to be multiple.....we want to be....to be.......to be.....nevermind.

I don't want to be like another team-I want to be like the winning teams of Nebraska gone by. When we start trying to be something we're not we get into huge trouble (i.e. Callahan-Pederson experiment!) Let's be who we are: Smashmouth/tough/running football team.

[Scratchtown]

new age football is where we are headed, we want to be like Oregon, we want to be multiple.....we want to be....to be.......to be.....nevermind.

 

 

Why not be like Oregon? at least in terms of tempo. What if we had Oregon Tempo and the Wisconsin physicality? Orrrrr....Oregon Tempo, Georgia Tech offense with Wiscy Physicality. LOL

[Scratchtown]

new age football is where we are headed, we want to be like Oregon, we want to be multiple.....we want to be....to be.......to be.....nevermind.

I don't want to be like another team-I want to be like the winning teams of Nebraska gone by. When we start trying to be something we're not we get into huge trouble (i.e. Callahan-Pederson experiment!) Let's be who we are: Smashmouth/tough/running football team.

 

Oklahoma didn't have to stick to the wishbone.......

[ladyhawke]

new age football is where we are headed, we want to be like Oregon, we want to be multiple.....we want to be....to be.......to be.....nevermind.

 

 

Why not be like Oregon? at least in terms of tempo. What if we had Oregon Tempo and the Wisconsin physicality? Orrrrr....Oregon Tempo, Georgia Tech offense with Wiscy Physicality. LOL

Their tempo didn't help them against USC http://www.pacifictakes.com/2011/11/23/2582367/oregon-ducks-football-chip-kellyOregon Ducks Football Up-Tempo Style Flawed In The Two Minute Drill Vs. USC

[ladyhawke]

new age football is where we are headed, we want to be like Oregon, we want to be multiple.....we want to be....to be.......to be.....nevermind.

I don't want to be like another team-I want to be like the winning teams of Nebraska gone by. When we start trying to be something we're not we get into huge trouble (i.e. Callahan-Pederson experiment!) Let's be who we are: Smashmouth/tough/running football team.

 

Oklahoma didn't have to stick to the wishbone.......

Maybe they should have stuck to what they know best: They got beat by Baylor!

[Scratchtown]

new age football is where we are headed, we want to be like Oregon, we want to be multiple.....we want to be....to be.......to be.....nevermind.

I don't want to be like another team-I want to be like the winning teams of Nebraska gone by. When we start trying to be something we're not we get into huge trouble (i.e. Callahan-Pederson experiment!) Let's be who we are: Smashmouth/tough/running football team.

 

Oklahoma didn't have to stick to the wishbone.......

Maybe they should have stuck to what they know best: They got beat by Baylor!

 

 

I suppose Baylor has stayed the same too eh? No, Football is ever changing, you have to keep up to stay competitive. Thats why Oregon is better than Nebraska, despite being a way lesser program.

[jsneb83]

Dammit Paul, I was trying to forget about that game, and you just had to bring it up, didn't you

[krill]

That game, and many others circa 2002-2007, was emblematic of how we were not evolving with a strengthening offensive league.

 

And really, another discussion about a vague concept of identity? I don't understand how anyone could look at the consistent rushing and points production of Oregon and dismiss it as hully gully new age football that's not for us. At one point TO's playbook was a departure from established convention and gimmicky.

[Scratchtown]

That game, and many others circa 2002-2007, was emblematic of how we were not evolving with a strengthening offensive league.

 

And really, another discussion about a vague concept of identity? I don't understand how anyone could look at the consistent rushing and points production of Oregon and dismiss it as hully gully new age football that's not for us. At one point TO's playbook was a departure from established convention and gimmicky.

 

I know why! The same reason why some people can say that just because we're nebraska we should never lose a game. They are blind that Football changes, and if you don't keep up you will fall behind into mediocrity. Especially when you are a program that can't attract the flashy/best recruits. You know, one of the most known reasons as to why Tom Osborne was regarded as one of the best coaches in Football history is because of how he was always able to be one step ahead of everyone else when it came to scheme. My father always tells me that. Most notably in the 90's. TO's Offense was always evolving into new ways to be ahead of the game. Most people don't realize it, but back in 2001, we started running sets of the zone read...go look at the freakin film (yes I know it was frank solich, however...it was Osborne's staff)....it was once Texas used it with Vince Young that it became so popular (Helps when you have one of the best athletes to play the game as a QB).