Bo Pelini and the Write Off Season of 2012

[ladyhawke]

Excellent post. I love your description of Iowa. Tis true! We really really REALLY need to focus on that game! 5 down 1 to go. If Bo prepares for Iowa like he has for the rest of the games we will be ok. But Iowa has nothing to gain and nothing to lose-VERY DANGEROUS! GBR!

[Mavric]

Good stuff Knapp. Bowls will tell alot. I just give the B1G that much credit, including my Huskers. I think the B1G gets rolled in the bowls. It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

Bowls aren't always that great of a measuring stick. Significant time off, varying levels of motivation and how the matchups play out can make quite a difference. The B1G will be short their #1 and #4/5 teams (probably #5 unless Penn St. beats Wisconsin) which will have quite an effect on the match-ups. Every team will be one spot "higher" than they should be and teams #6 and higher will be playing up two spots. Also, the B1G has three match-ups against the SEC and none against the ACC or Big East which isn't great for wins and losses currently. Not making excuses but we're definitely starting out in the hole.

 

All that added together probably doesn't bode well for the conference's bowl record this year but you never know.

[totengur]

Coming into this season, I saw reasons for some tempered optimism and reasonable reservations. I saw a likely 8 win season, a 9 win total if we caught a break or two, and a 7 win year if we dropped a game we shouldn't.

 

Here is a guy in only his fifth season as a HC, facing a second straight BRUTAL schedule with a defense that was thin as a result of logical recruiting setbacks in his first two years, yet here we are; looking at a possible 10+ win season. He has a 2nd year OC who has done nothing other than construct the scariest offense in our conference. (OSU could bang on the door there, and they'd deserve to be let in to make a very persuasive case of their own for that distinction.) He put another guy at DC who had shockingly little experience to achieve such a lofty position. Seems like the guys are responding well to him. (Although I still don't know why he puts that tape on his fingers. And I don't care. I like him.) And he brings in some apparent random from the world of golf to work with the WRs. I'd say that has turned out pretty well.

 

I wrote this year off. I figured we'd get gashed on the ground often, claim a scalp or two, (I thought Wisco or MSU were the most likely candidates for a quality win) put up some highlight scoring plays and some pretty rough defensive numbers. All Nebraska has done is *win out since their head coach took the extremely rare if not unprecedented step of privately and then publicly challenging his team to win every game from the OSU loss on. This wasn't "focus on next week," "stay the course" coach-speak. This was a bold gambit, a take two or three shots to land that chin rattling hook. A risk a coach takes criticism for alone if things fall short, a reward everyone shares if they come through and put up the wins. And they've not only done that, they've done it with a resiliency and heart that is frankly as frustrating as it is exhilarating to watch. And in a way that shows one, undeniable trait: Fight. Fight till the final bell, fight after you've been on the canvas for a 9 count that almost reached 10. Teams don't keep swinging when all seems lost for leaders they don't respect. Bottom line.

 

*(SO FAR. Iowa is like a deranged, scorned woman who has nothing left to live for but our suffering. They're dangerous, regardless of what their record shows.)

 

You don't have a season like this if you're a raving lunatic who is so out of control that you're on the cusp of assaulting your own players and officials at all times. You don't take that '09 offense and get it to where we are now by luck. You don't risk the criticism of putting an untested and scar-less Beck at the helm of the O without savvy and good intuition. (And a sturdy spine.) There is only one way you could take this schedule, with this green of a coaching staff, and put together a year like this: You're a pretty damn good football coach.

 

I hope Bo has listened to those who have supported him since '08, rather than the folks who've been quick to express the opposing viewpoint. This guy is putting something together that has the potential to be special. I hope he's completely sold on Nebraska being the place he'll plant his flag and craft his legacy. It's a helluva team to lead. It isn't easy. But those with great ability, those rare football minds? They become eternal legends here. You're carved into a pantheon of permanence that's placed in the most prominent position when you reach the peak at Nebraska. Devaney might fade with time as decades pass at other places...never here. As for TO, I think he reached a level above the erosion of time, frankly. He should have. Innovation wise, he's one the elites. Very little company in that penthouse. (Tom would leave early anyways for a field out in the country on a nice day, just as soon as he could. He's not really a penthouse kind of guy.)

 

Bo? That's what waits for you too. Nebraska football stands alone here. And the giants live forever. I think you've got it in you to achieve that level of accomplishment. Do it in Lincoln, Nebraska, coach. The well never runs dry here. And the greats never die, and they never, ever fade.

 

2012 was supposed to be a flyover year into the Illinois-Purdue 2013 changeover season. I guess we should've known better. After all, Bo Pelini makes the CCG in a full half of every season he's at the helm. Take care of an Iowa team living to see us hurt, and go fight for the conference title ahead of the schedule we set for you that you all collectively dismissed. GBR!

 

 

Well said. you put into words what i think we have all been thinking but have been unable too spit out.

 

Excellent observations and GBR!

[NU5XChamps]

Wheres my helmut and mouth piece. After that speech, I am ready to run through some walls for him.

 

AWESOME!!!

[knapplc]

The OP in this thread has accounted for 10% of Nebula's total rep points. That's crazy.

[Hoosker]

Helluva post, brah!

 

Being a Bo supporter, this felt very theraputic to read. I'm glad this whole situation has been put into a great perspective via your post.

 

Thanks, Nebula!

[Nebula]

I'm just happy you guys liked the post, honestly. You all put up with some really long winded bs from me at times...I never mean for them to be so verbose, but I can't help myself sometimes. So I really took a hard look at this before I posted, because I didn't want to subject my HB mates to yet another loooong post.

 

But I felt really passionate about it, and I also felt like I wanted to put it out there that a lot us support the hell out of this staff and these kids. That gets lost in some of the more negative opinions that float all over the fan base sometimes. And I know damn well this board has a legion of folks who appreciate these kids, *see them limping to the sideline and come back out just a few snaps later and making physical plays, and who believe in this staff and support them...and furthermore, recognize just how much they've accomplished. (*Enunwa immediately jumps to mind, Jackson popping his friggin shoulder back into place and daring anyone to try and keep him off the field) There's more of us out there than you might think based on call-in stuff and certain posters who's entire schtick is aggressive denigration of our players and our staff. That's a loud group, but I think we're a pretty large group, honestly. Just not heard as much.

 

Thanks for all the kind words guys, I genuinely appreciate it. I wanted to write a post for all of us who support this team rather than tear it down when things don't go the way we want. I know I'm not alone, not by a long shot. So I wrote that for all of us who care about these kids, who realize how much Bo has matured and grown. (I love how the Stafford exchange seems to have maybe really been about Stafford telling Bo what was going wrong on the field. Not pissed at Pelini...pissed they weren't playing like Blackshirts. And Bo goes on the radio and puts it all on himself. It wasn't, "we didn't execute." It was, "I put our kids in bad spots, and I wish I hadn't done that to them." Not, "I wish I hadn't put us in that hole." It was almost saying I hate the fact I let my kids down. You think they don't notice that?

 

Players wanting an extra media opportunity to stand up for a guy who's painted as someone he clearly is not leads me to believe that, yeah, they notice. Players turning down Blackshirts because they want to earn them. I suspect that maybe, just maybe, a big part of that was wanting to truly earn them in the eyes of their coach.

 

Here I go again, getting riled up

 

Again...thanks for really giving me more credit than I probably deserved. Plenty of folks could've written that.

 

And I know a ton of us are fans though the good and the bad. It's good now, but this post was made with those of you in mind who weren't tearing people down when things were bad. That's what a true supporter does. And we've got a ton of that ilk on this board. Thanks for making being a fan of NU the special experience it is. GBR my friends!!!!

[QMany]

Awesome. Just plain awesome. GBR!