"I wish I knew." -Bo Pelini 10/6/12

[Count 'Bility]

We're resurrecting this one again?

These kind of threads need to be resurrected and brought back to the top on a weekly basis. Besides, this thread contains all the same crap and then some that is spewed in 15 different new threads that pop up on Saturday night-sunday morning anyway.

[Husker_x]

I repeat: Who the hell cares that we lost to Ohio State, which you called mediocre. There was no reason to expect us to get blown out by any of the remaining teams on our schedule and there still isn't.

 

Actually there was, and we almost were. Were it not for a fortunate couple of breaks late last Saturday, we could have easily lost that game by a sizable margin. We play a team next week that has that potential if Nebraska doesn't suddenly correct its turnover problem. The team is playing a helluva lot better than it was against OSU. No denying that. But so what? Our careless style of play is taylor made (no pun intended) for getting your arse handed to you. The worst is behind us, but the same exact flaws that exposed us against Ohio State are still, week after week, clinging on.

 

Your comment: We're not on the ledge. We've fallen off it. Recognize it. Admit it. If you don't, I hope Bo does, else I fully believe we are sunk.

 

Also seems particularly silly at this point. Admit it, you lost your own bearings, drank the kool-aide and went on a petulant tirade because we lost a football game we weren't expected to win. We were 1-1 in the big ten, what horror! I think your own idea of 'let's replace Taylor Martinez' is worthy of hall of fame status in the category of 'football for dummies' comments. This isn't just obvious in retrospect- it was pretty lame at the time.

 

It does seem silly, and that's because you misquoted me. Literally, with quotes around it and everything. I posed a question about accountability. How many mistakes does a player have to make, games does he have to lose (or contribute to losing) before this mystical accountability pops up? This rule does not seem to apply to the QB position, which had been an ongoing conversation since Taylor was named starter. It's also irrelevant now. He's taken the reigns, engineered three comeback wins, and the only other person capable just had surgery.

 

It's been an exciting season. There has been plenty of negative to deal with but no real reason to belittle the team or lose faith. I hope like hell this momentum can continue. None of the next three games are easy- except maybe for Iowa and the moment you expect to beat them easily, bad things happen.

 

And this is the reason your gloating necro-posting doesn't bother me. What we witnessed against Ohio State was characteristic of a body of work. A BODY of work from the Pelini coaching era. I don't have faith in anything. I observe trends and comment on them. The OSU massacre--which still happened, by the way, no matter how much you want to dismiss it--was and is ridiculous, and should never have happened. The only reason you and I are even having this rehash of a conversation is that we squeaked last minute wins over subpar teams. The team's dedication to mastering the turnover and the penalty is still their most distinguishing feature.

 

But, bologna aside, it is an exciting season. The wheels are less likely to come off now than they were after the OSU game. The team has matured. They're doing things they never used to do, and reversing some of the trends. The lack of effort in the finish at OSU startled me--and that's not me talking, that's former players. It was a familiar tune. It represented a lot of running trends in the program since Pelini took over.

 

But.

 

This team is different. I acknowledge and respect that. I also acknowledge and pull hair out over their sloppy play, which is the exact sort of thing that makes you lose games you should win, and miss opportunities you should capture. The B1G is ours for the taking. It's taken a lot of lucky breaks to get us there, but we're here, and I hope we get it done.