Did Bo sound "defeated"

[Stu]

I think he sounded like a guy who just finished a run in which the game was played with an unfair deck in a conference under Beebe's Lusitania leadership last year, and then jumped into this season in which he had to prepare for 12 teams (including the bowl) that we did not face last year, who all feature a different style of play, all while juggling major setbacks in terms of injuries to key, vital players all year long.

 

I don't know what some of you expected out of this season, but I'd encourage you to incorporate some reason into your rationale. I swear to god, if I wasn't there to see us win today I'd think we lost handily by some of the posts I'm reading on the board.

 

If we get 10 wins out of this season I'd consider it a rousing success. I want championships, just like any other fan. I just don't expect them to fall into our laps every year because "we're Nebraska." That's not enough. Things need to fall into place just so to rise to the pinnacle of college football, and if you scoff at that then feel free to refer back to Columbia, Missouri 1997.

 

I think this guy can get us there. Just my 2 Rubles.

 

Completely agree.

Bo turned the team around. And he did it FAST. People forget how bad the program was just a few years ago, everyone seems to be drooling for an instant championship. I think most people here need to stop getting their NC hopes up every freak'n year and just enjoy the season. It's unreal how ridiculous people's expectations are on this board.

[irafreak]

I guess when I stop and think about the coaches that have had quick success they have all rode the rollercoaster. We're complaining about a few games each year but some teams have seasons worth complaining about. Look at Auburn....decent....champion....decent. Bo has us playing back at the 9 win level and I believe he is the type of coach that can elevate that if given enough time. We'll see. Sometimes I see things that really make me wonder if he can but then we always seem to bounce back.

[HANC]

I find it helpful to think "What if he would have said the opposite?" Is Bo supposed to go out at the end of the regular season, with recruiting really heating up, and on Senior Day and say he's really disappointed? Bo has been consistent that championships are his #1 goal. However, that doesn't mean it's the only goal.

 

My reaction is that's good coach-speak. Obviously disappointed in not getting to our third straight conference championship game but you have to put as good a face on it as possible. This season isn't even over, let alone preparing for the next one and down the road.

 

 

This probably best describes the way I took it.... like I said earlier, I was interested in the other members "take"..... on a call in show after the game, a few guys ripped Bo for these remarks, but I am HAPPY to see that a lot of the members are actually reading into his remarks somewhat positively

[HeyBurke]

Some of you guys are reading waaaaaaaaaay too much into this.

[roundegotrip]

It could be that Bo has made a conscious decision to stop regularly feeding the beast that is fan expectations. We all know Bo wants to win, and the expectations from fans are already extremely high every year. No need to keep banging that drum all the time, especially moments after watching his team play hard and earn big win at home to finish the regular season.

[True2tRA]

He definitely sounded defeated. He also contradicted a lot of the things he came into this program saying. And I have to say. It shows that he is learning the job. He came in setting the expectations way too high for himself and for his team. Thus, the fans followed suit. He is learning a lot about the "process" as he calls it. This is all part of the process and part of learning. Building good young men and good students is truly his job. The best coaches are the ones that can do that, and put a winning team on the field. He can do it. He's only been at it 4 years, and he's starting to figure it out. Intelligent players make great student athletes.

[Count 'Bility]

I think too many people-TOO MANY-look way too much into what Bo says and how he says it and the fact that he usually is now where close to what he actually feels or means. The guy isnt exactly a polished public speaker and he sure the hell isnt Barack Obama with a teleprompter and a team of 50 govt employed speech writers. He has to do pressers immediately after a game that he coaches in and is very passionate about when the adrenaline is still flowing. I wouldnt worry too much into it, he just seems relieved that the coaches and team gets a break. With fans busting his balls all the time, new coaches all over the staff, young players at critical positions, pile on the injuries that just never seem to end, added to the fact the out of control expectations because of local and national media putting us on the Big 10 pedestal all off season, and it all has to be wearing. I think this team needs an offseason.

[Redmusky]

Next year it will be Michigan not Nebraska on the off season pedestal

[huskerfaninbuckeyehell]

I think Bo was thinking to himself " I really need to come up with a scheme that can throttle dual threat QB's"....Bottom line is this they beat ALMOST everyone they were favored to beat and got blown out by the one team that most thought they would get blown out by and blown out last week by early xmas gift giving. The guy will continue to grow as a coach and hopefully get the program back to being a fixture in the top 5 competing for championships.....I truly believe had he been hired way back when he would have the program there now ( I also thought solich got the shaft). Lots of ups and downs this year, looking forward to the bowl game and a 10th win. GBR!

[It'sNotAFakeID]

Maybe it was the turkey, I mean, I didn't even wake up into the halfway point of the 1st quarter.

 

Ya'll are looking too much into how he said things.

[The Big Red Husker]

On defense if you look at all the injuries to key guys... Dennard out for the first several games....Crick hurt in preseason, no one knows what that injury was...then torn pectoral, Rome gets hurt, Randle gets hurt, Osborne and Smith rarely play?...Fisher was an absolute BUST....Then today against a team that Martin would have been a huge help/force he is out.

 

I think Bo meant the team had to overcome a lot of these things, and the injuries played a big role in the season, and it was a grind. I think he was very disappointed in the overall play in several games, and only now are we seeing what the team was capable of. If we can get Martin back for the bowl game we should have a pretty decent defense on display, hopefully it won't be against an athletic QB

[Danimal]

It was senior-day, he was just trying to put things in a positive light and give his guys some recognition.

[Hercules]

I think he sounded like a guy who just finished a run in which the game was played with an unfair deck in a conference under Beebe's Lusitania leadership last year, and then jumped into this season in which he had to prepare for 12 teams (including the bowl) that we did not face last year, who all feature a different style of play, all while juggling major setbacks in terms of injuries to key, vital players all year long.

 

I don't know what some of you expected out of this season, but I'd encourage you to incorporate some reason into your rationale. I swear to god, if I wasn't there to see us win today I'd think we lost handily by some of the posts I'm reading on the board.

 

If we get 10 wins out of this season I'd consider it a rousing success. I want championships, just like any other fan. I just don't expect them to fall into our laps every year because "we're Nebraska." That's not enough. Things need to fall into place just so to rise to the pinnacle of college football, and if you scoff at that then feel free to refer back to Columbia, Missouri 1997.

 

I think this guy can get us there. Just my 2 Rubles.

 

Completely agree.

Bo turned the team around. And he did it FAST. People forget how bad the program was just a few years ago, everyone seems to be drooling for an instant championship. I think most people here need to stop getting their NC hopes up every freak'n year and just enjoy the season. It's unreal how ridiculous people's expectations are on this board.

 

I don't think anybody's particularly disappointed that we didn't compete for a national title this year, because I don't think any remotely objective Husker fan thought we were capable of that. People might be a tiny bit disappointed in that, as they should be - if it doesn't hurt to know there are other teams out there better than you, then the competitive edge isn't where it should be.

 

That said, the thing people are disappointed about is that we didn't compete for a conference championship this year. And it's not like people are expecting an "instant championship." It's Bo's fourth year in the program, he's had the team in CCGs the previous two years, and the Big Ten was vulnerable this year (no truly elite teams). We're Nebraska, and we haven't won a conference championship since 1999. Fans that are disappointed in that are hardly being impatient. I'll be way more worried about the state of the fan base when they aren't disappointed after a season like this one than I will be when they find a season like this one not quite up to standard.

 

P.S. By the way, you can be disappointed in the outcome of the season and still be proud of the team. I'm proud of the players and the coaches for what they did this year - how they carried themselves on and off the field. I mean, I can't think of a single off-the-field incident, and that is pretty damn incredible. In their first run at the B1G, they took down Ohio State, Michigan State, Penn State, and Iowa - that's pretty good, even though it didn't get us the division title.

 

Now, I hope those guys get to work, win their bowl game, take a short break to reflect on both their successes and their failures from this season, and then get the heck back to work to bring a conference championship trophy back to Lincoln for the first time since 1999.

[COMPTON]

I think he sounded like a guy who just finished a run in which the game was played with an unfair deck in a conference under Beebe's Lusitania leadership last year, and then jumped into this season in which he had to prepare for 12 teams (including the bowl) that we did not face last year, who all feature a different style of play, all while juggling major setbacks in terms of injuries to key, vital players all year long.

 

I don't know what some of you expected out of this season, but I'd encourage you to incorporate some reason into your rationale. I swear to god, if I wasn't there to see us win today I'd think we lost handily by some of the posts I'm reading on the board.

 

If we get 10 wins out of this season I'd consider it a rousing success. I want championships, just like any other fan. I just don't expect them to fall into our laps every year because "we're Nebraska." That's not enough. Things need to fall into place just so to rise to the pinnacle of college football, and if you scoff at that then feel free to refer back to Columbia, Missouri 1997.

 

I think this guy can get us there. Just my 2 Rubles.

 

Completely agree.

Bo turned the team around. And he did it FAST. People forget how bad the program was just a few years ago, everyone seems to be drooling for an instant championship. I think most people here need to stop getting their NC hopes up every freak'n year and just enjoy the season. It's unreal how ridiculous people's expectations are on this board.

 

I don't think anybody's particularly disappointed that we didn't compete for a national title this year, because I don't think any remotely objective Husker fan thought we were capable of that. People might be a tiny bit disappointed in that, as they should be - if it doesn't hurt to know there are other teams out there better than you, then the competitive edge isn't where it should be.

 

That said, the thing people are disappointed about is that we didn't compete for a conference championship this year. And it's not like people are expecting an "instant championship." It's Bo's fourth year in the program, he's had the team in CCGs the previous two years, and the Big Ten was vulnerable this year (no truly elite teams). We're Nebraska, and we haven't won a conference championship since 1999. Fans that are disappointed in that are hardly being impatient. I'll be way more worried about the state of the fan base when they aren't disappointed after a season like this one than I will be when they find a season like this one not quite up to standard.

 

P.S. By the way, you can be disappointed in the outcome of the season and still be proud of the team. I'm proud of the players and the coaches for what they did this year - how they carried themselves on and off the field. I mean, I can't think of a single off-the-field incident, and that is pretty damn incredible. In their first run at the B1G, they took down Ohio State, Michigan State, Penn State, and Iowa - that's pretty good, even though it didn't get us the division title.

 

Now, I hope those guys get to work, win their bowl game, take a short break to reflect on both their successes and their failures from this season, and then get the heck back to work to bring a conference championship trophy back to Lincoln for the first time since 1999.

Agree, agree, agree, it's not time to drop our standards quite yet. +1 great post

[irafreak]

If you watched Bo (and didnt' fall asleep like many here ) on Iowa's scoring drive he was pissed about the officiating... he was certainly not defeated.