Worth noting....

[Comish]

I understand the agonizing over some of our losses and the roller coaster of performances on a weekly basis.

 

But on the positive side, I think it’s worth noting that just 1 and ½ seasons into the Big 10 conference, we have already defeated ALL of the “traditional” top teams in the league. Ohio St, Michigan, Wisconsin, Michigan St, Penn St, and Iowa. We also have victories over Northwestern and Minnesota and have yet to play traditional bottom feeders Purdue, Illinois and Indiana.

 

For those who wandered about our ability to compete, I’d say the question is well answered.

[HuskerNationNick]

Completely agree. I am honestly most surprised about our turnaround this year. I was just going to ride it out until next year, and I am completely happy where we are right now. The only two teams to defeat us, are in the top 25 as we speak. Rose Bowl is ours to lose

[kchusker_chris]

we've also been utterly dominated by 3 of them in that same span of time. we can quietly have a great season if we keep improving - that'll turn us skeptics into optimists for the offseason.

[ADS]

It's nice to win those games, and some of them on the road means alot as well. Now lets actually win the Big Ten Championship, somethng that will resonate nationally.

[tattooedhusker]

I just wish we would compete consistently

[Husker Richard]

To be fair, we beat Michigan and Ohio State with their backup QBs in the game. I realize it's part of the game, but those injuries really turned the tide in our favor.

[QMany]

we've also been utterly dominated by 3 of them in that same span of time. we can quietly have a great season if we keep improving - that'll turn us skeptics into optimists for the offseason.

 

Promise?

[tattooedhusker]

To be fair, we beat Michigan and Ohio State with their backup QBs in the game. I realize it's part of the game, but those injuries really turned the tide in our favor.

 

They did, no doubt. But I still think we beat Michigan with Dennard, it would just be a little closer.

[kchusker_chris]

we've also been utterly dominated by 3 of them in that same span of time. we can quietly have a great season if we keep improving - that'll turn us skeptics into optimists for the offseason.

 

Promise?

If we win out, heck ya. The reason most of us are still sitting here questioning this team is because this is the time when Bo's teams have gone into the sh!tter the last coupe of years. If we face Oregon and they kick us to the curb Colorado style I might take this statement back - but as of today we're headed in the right direction.

 

But keep in mind - we're 6-2 right now coming off a big win against Michigan (#21 ranking) - last year we were 7-1 coming off a huge win against Michigan State (#9 ranking). We all know how that ended. The year before that we got to 9-1 with a #9 ranking as well. So let's not all get ahead of ourselves.

[Lyons in the Sea of Red.]

we've also been utterly dominated by 3 of them in that same span of time. we can quietly have a great season if we keep improving - that'll turn us skeptics into optimists for the offseason.

 

Promise?

If we win out, heck ya. The reason most of us are still sitting here questioning this team is because this is the time when Bo's teams have gone into the sh!tter the last coupe of years. If we face Oregon and they kick us to the curb Colorado style I might take this statement back - but as of today we're headed in the right direction.

 

But keep in mind - we're 6-2 right now coming off a big win against Michigan (#21 ranking) - last year we were 7-1 coming off a huge win against Michigan State (#9 ranking). We all know how that ended. The year before that we got to 9-1 with a #9 ranking as well. So let's not all get ahead of ourselves.

Good points, and I agree about not getting ahead of ourselves. Something really feels different about this team though. I can't put my finger on it, but the players are aware of the point you are making, and it seems that they are going to be damn sure that they arent going to buy into their own hype.

[Lyons in the Sea of Red.]

I guess in a way, it seems that we have already reached the bottom of this season, and the only way left to go is up. In previous years, we hit that low point later in the season. That bye week coming when it did might turn out to be the key to the success of this season.

[HuskerNationNick]

To be fair, we beat Michigan and Ohio State with their backup QBs in the game. I realize it's part of the game, but those injuries really turned the tide in our favor.

 

Who cares if they had their backups in, that just shows the better TEAM won the game. A team shouldn't be based off one individual, and if it is, your setting yourself up for doom. They didn't have a their backups ready, thats their fault. Michigan, we would have won that game with Robinson in, we had him well contained, and our offense would have been way more aggressive than they were when he went out.

[kchusker_chris]

To be fair, we beat Michigan and Ohio State with their backup QBs in the game. I realize it's part of the game, but those injuries really turned the tide in our favor.

 

Who cares if they had their backups in, that just shows the better TEAM won the game. A team shouldn't be based off one individual, and if it is, your setting yourself up for doom. They didn't have a their backups ready, thats their fault. Michigan, we would have won that game with Robinson in, we had him well contained, and our offense would have been way more aggressive than they were when he went out.

when they generate 68% of the offense it matters a little. the same people that say who cares, are ironically the same that point to martinez's injury as explanation for our 2010 collapse. can't have it both ways. just nice to be on the right end of the deal for a change.

 

(and we had Braxton well contained for about the same period of time...)

[kchusker_chris]

Good points, and I agree about not getting ahead of ourselves. Something really feels different about this team though. I can't put my finger on it, but the players are aware of the point you are making, and it seems that they are going to be damn sure that they arent going to buy into their own hype.

Agree. This feels closer to 2009, where we had our bumps early and finished really strong. That's how I felt last year too though hahahaha

[HuskerNationNick]

To be fair, we beat Michigan and Ohio State with their backup QBs in the game. I realize it's part of the game, but those injuries really turned the tide in our favor.

 

Who cares if they had their backups in, that just shows the better TEAM won the game. A team shouldn't be based off one individual, and if it is, your setting yourself up for doom. They didn't have a their backups ready, thats their fault. Michigan, we would have won that game with Robinson in, we had him well contained, and our offense would have been way more aggressive than they were when he went out.

when they generate 68% of the offense it matters a little. the same people that say who cares, are ironically the same that point to martinez's injury as explanation for our 2010 collapse. can't have it both ways. just nice to be on the right end of the deal for a change.

 

(and we had Braxton well contained for about the same period of time...)

 

We didn't have a quality back for Martinez these past two years. He was not 100%, and your QB is your offense. You don't have a QB with leadership skills, and the ability to throw, or run, your set for failure. When that player is 68% of the offense, its not the opposing teams fault they had the advantage of him getting injured. That team should have been better prepared. To use the excuse a player got injured, and that is why we most likely won, is just ridiculous, because you don't know the outcome if he was in the game. Your also wrong about Braxton. We stopped him for the first 15 minutes of the game. We stopped Robinson basically through the whole first half, until he injured himself.

 

Its funny you bring up the OSU game as an example of our failure, but you fail to mention that we had a different scheme coming into the Michigan game, with DIFFERENT players on the field. We had faster, more explosive players, who were given assignments and were well coached. We pressed their WR's, contained rather than bringing pressure, and we used our DB's to stop the run game. Something we did not do against OSU. We relied on our LB's and DL to do the job, with our Safety in zone to help prevent a big run. Same style of defense went into the Northwestern and Michigan game, but the scheme was way different.