Perspective from the Outside

[Bruleif]

I've read a lot of the posts here, both before and after the game. Here's the perspective of a Bruin fan.

 

1. The Bruins defense benefited from the matchup with the Nebraska offense. The strength of the Bruin defense is the linebacker corps, especially their speed. That speed seemed to negate the biggest threat from Martinez and that was his running. I do not think that the Bruin coaching staff was afraid of Martinez as a passer. It seemed as if the Bruin defensive approach was to make Martinez pass. And a 3-4 defense with very fast linebackers can do that very well.

 

2. Yes, coaching is important, but I honestly think the Bruins were noticeably faster than Nebraska. Better coaching would have made the final score closer but I think the speed difference would have ended in a Bruin victory more often than not. After the Bruins got clobbered by Baylor in last year's bowl game Mora acknowledged that the team needed to get faster. He got those faster athletes and many of them are playing as true freshmen with good results.

 

3. I agree that the Nebraska coaching staff needs a wake-up call. But isn't it likely that Nebraska will still win 9 games this year? If so, would the adminstration be willing to fire a coach after a 9-win season? That would be rare, wouldn't it?

 

4. This is a great football forum site. I had a lot of fun reading the posts here. Some of the posters here are very, very witty and some are very hip about college football.

 

5. How bad is the Big 10 this year? Can you imagine the outcry if Michigan had lost to Akron, which they almost did? Is there a really good team in the Big 10 other than Ohio State?

 

6. It's unlikey that the Bruins will go undefeated. They have to play Stanford and Oregan away and on consecutive weekends. That will be tough. Arizona State is also good. So is Washington. Who knows about USC? In that rivalry game anything can happen.

 

7. If I were Pelini I would not look to do anything drastic. Usually small changes can reap huge benefits. I would run Taylor more and have him pass less. I would blitz more. I think firing a DC or OC midseason is more of a public-relations move to keep big boosters in the fold than it is an effective adjustment to make a team better. Look at Texas.

 

8. Bruin fans basically had a 13-year run of bad teams, during which only one team had a decent record (10-2 in 2005, mostly due to Drew Olson at QB and Maurice Jones-Drew at RB), so we know what misery is. It is part of the natural cycle of college football for teams to be up and down. Look at Kansas State. Before Bill Snyder KSU was the doormat of college football. If a "down" year for Nebraska is a 9 or 8-win season then Nebraska fans are very fortunate.

 

9. Hundley is going to make a lot of defenses look bad. The Bruin season hinges on how well they can defend against the really good teams (Stanford and Oregon).

[NUinID]

I won't quote your post as I read you don't like that.

 

Back to the subject. First of all I know you are not trying to, but you sound a little condescending.

 

I agree that Martinez needs to run more, but I think he is a little nicked up and can't very well.

 

I don't think Nebraska is markedly slower than UCLA at many positions. I think the game plan offensively was poor for Nebraska. Beck is in love with the wide receiver screen or what ever you want to call it and I don't think that is the game. We needed a little more vertical in the game plan. We also needed to run the ball.

 

Defensively we saw what happens in big games. People say we play soft. They are soft because after a few quick scores by the other team they start doubting themselves and playing tentatively. Which leads to more bad play. They aren't playing with any confidence.

 

Yes, the Bruins were down for a long time, but they have never been a consistently great team. It is a whole different thought process out in Cali than in the Midwest.

 

Mora is a good coach, frankly he is doing way better than I ever thought he would. I thought he would try and run the team like a NFL team and that just doesn't work in college.

 

Lastly a great QB cures lots of problems. Hundley is the real deal. An elite QB cures lots of ills. Martinez is a great athlete and looks amazing a lot of times, but their is some intangibles that are holding him back from being great. He can't put a team on his shoulders and will it to win.

 

 

[sd'sker]

5. How bad is the Big 10 this year? Can you imagine the outcry if Michigan had lost to Alcorn State, which they almost did? Is there a really good team in the Big 10 other than Ohio State?

good post. not condescending at all.

 

only response is that i do not know if i would consider even osu 'a really good team'.

[zoogs]

I thought this was a great post. Especially this:

 

7. If I were Pelini I would not look to do anything drastic. Usually small changes can reap huge benefits. I would run Taylor more and have him pass less. I would blitz more. I think firing a DC or OC midseason is more of a public-relations move to keep big boosters in the fold than it is an effective adjustment to make a team better. Look at Texas.

 

I really believe in staying the course. The only way to get better is to work at it, not to flip out and run in aimless directions. Clearly we have a lot of improving to do. I hope we can get behind the team as they do it, especially that promising young defense out there.

 

Yes, promising. Remember Randy Gregory in the backfield and the job we did stifling the Bruins in the first half?

[Michiganball]

Wondering where that fast UCLA defense was in the first half? And seriously UCLA has been virtually abysmal since the 90's and we are getting condescending "wisdom" after they start 2-0.

[bbhusker]

Most Bruin fans I spoke to at the game this weekend had most of the same thinking. What they don't realize is that we gave the game away by poor play and coaching. Any good team and staff would have buried the Bruins at the end of the 1st half. We don't know how to do that. Period.

[bbhusker]

And I'm tired of hearing the "UCLA was just faster" crap. Talent is not our problem. Coaching and being weak minded is.

[Hunter94]

yup. Jim Mora is a smart guy.

[tschu]

Michigan played Akron, not Alcorn.

Thanks, devnet! Man you're sharp. Nothing gets by you!!

[Syzygyone]

 

. . .

 

3. I agree that the Nebraska coaching staff needs a wake-up call. But isn't it likely that Nebraska will still win 9 games this year? If so, would the adminstration be willing to fire a coach after a 9-win season? That would be rare, wouldn't it?

 

 

 

Commend you on your thoughtful post. Quite an interesting point you make in #3 above. Not to pour salt in any old wounds or stir up a hornet's nest but there was once a head coach at Nebraska who won 9 games and lost 3 and got fired, just two years after winning 11 games and going to the NCG. As I recall, that head coach hired Bo as DC, and when the HC got the axe, Bo stepped into interim HC position for Alamo Bowl win. Then rather than hire Bo permanently for something like continuity, he got the axe and they broght in a "pro" coach. How'd that work out? Just saying.......

[Bruleif]

Michigan played Akron, not Alcorn.

Oops....I stand corrected. Original error fixed.

 

Also, to respond to a previous response, I did not mean to be condescending at all. I have total respect for the history of the Nebraska football program and you can verify that by reading my other posts both this year and last.

[sd'sker]

Michigan played Akron, not Alcorn.

Oops....I stand corrected.

 

Also, to respond to a previous response, I did not mean to be condescending at all. I have total respect for the history of the Nebraska football program.

i do not think you were condescending at all. i appreciated the sentiment, imo.

[Bruleif]

Wondering where that fast UCLA defense was in the first half? And seriously UCLA has been virtually abysmal since the 90's and we are getting condescending "wisdom" after they start 2-0.

If you think I am condescending that is something that your are inferring. I did not mean to imply any condescension. You can check my other posts to verify my high opinion of the Nebraska program.

 

To set the record straight, while the UCLA program has never risen to the level of the Nebraska football program - at least not since 1954 - I would not say that they have been abysmal since the 1990's. We beat SC 8 years in a row in the 1990's. You may not think that counts for much but it is very big in southern Calfiornia. The Bruins went to two Rose Bowls in the 1990's - 1994 and 1999. The Bruins generally had competitive teams with good talent at the skill positions throughout the 1990's. In 1998 we were five points away from playing for the NC and in that year a Bruin QB, Cade McNown, placed third in the Heisman vorting. In 2005 we were 10-2. So it has not been all bad.

 

Yes, after 1998 -- McNown's last year - we fell off the table, To be frank, we had three successive coaching staffs which were not very good (Toledo, Dorrell and Neuheisel), although to be fair the core of the current team, including Hundley, was recruited by Neuheisel. On top of that there was a 3-4 year period when we had a weird string of QB injuries. In one fall camp, the first-string and second-string suffered season-ending foot injuries on consecutive non-contact plays. Go figure. It got so bad that we had to field a walk-on QB in a game against Notre Dame. But I do not dispute that the Bruins have been mostly mediocre or worse since 1998 with the exception of 2005 and last year. But I would not say abysmal. Abysmal is Kansas State before Bill Snyder.

 

Besides, don't you think it is bad sportsmanship to dredge up the twenty-year-old record of a team that has just beaten your team the last two years? If Nebraska had beaten the Bruins the last two years I would have tipped my cap to the Cornhuskers. Why do you find it so hard to do likewise?

[Ratt Mhule]

Wondering where that fast UCLA defense was in the first half? And seriously UCLA has been virtually abysmal since the 90's and we are getting condescending "wisdom" after they start 2-0.

If you think I am condescending that is something that your are inferring. I did not mean to imply any condescension. You can check my other posts to verify my high opinion of the Nebraska program.

 

To set the record straight, while the UCLA program has never risen to the level of the Nebraska football program - at least not since 1954 - I would not say that they have been abysmal since the 1990's. We beat SC 8 years in a row in the 1990's. You may not think that counts for much but it is very big in southern Calfiornia. The Bruins generally had competitive teams with good talent at the skill positions throughout the 1990's. In 1998 we were five points away from playing for the NC and in that year a Bruin QB, Cade McNown, placed third in the Heisman vorting. So it has not been all bad.

 

Yes, after 1998 -- McNown's last year - we fell off the table, To be frank, we had three successive coaching staffs which were not good (Toledo, Dorrell and Neuheisel), although to be fair the core of the current team, including Hundley, was recruited by Neuheisel. On top of that there was a 3-4 year period when we had a weird string of QB injuries. In one fall camp, the first-string and second-string suffered season-ending foot injuries on consecutive non-contact plays. Go figure. It got so bad that we had to field a walk-on QB in a game against Notre Dame.

 

Besides, don't you think it is bad sportsmanship to dredge up a twenty-year old record of a team that has beaten your team the last two years? If Nebraska had beaten the Bruins the last two years I would have tipped my cap to the Cornhuskers. Why do Nebraska fans find it so hard to do likewise

 

Look at his handle and signature. Hes not even a Nebraska fan...

[Michiganball]

Wondering where that fast UCLA defense was in the first half? And seriously UCLA has been virtually abysmal since the 90's and we are getting condescending "wisdom" after they start 2-0.

If you think I am condescending that is something that your are inferring. I did not mean to imply any condescension. You can check my other posts to verify my high opinion of the Nebraska program.

 

To set the record straight, while the UCLA program has never risen to the level of the Nebraska football program - at least not since 1954 - I would not say that they have been abysmal since the 1990's. We beat SC 8 years in a row in the 1990's. You may not think that counts for much but it is very big in southern Calfiornia. The Bruins generally had competitive teams with good talent at the skill positions throughout the 1990's. In 1998 we were five points away from playing for the NC and in that year a Bruin QB, Cade McNown, placed third in the Heisman vorting. So it has not been all bad.

 

Yes, after 1998 -- McNown's last year - we fell off the table, To be frank, we had three successive coaching staffs which were not good (Toledo, Dorrell and Neuheisel), although to be fair the core of the current team, including Hundley, was recruited by Neuheisel. On top of that there was a 3-4 year period when we had a weird string of QB injuries. In one fall camp, the first-string and second-string suffered season-ending foot injuries on consecutive non-contact plays. Go figure. It got so bad that we had to field a walk-on QB in a game against Notre Dame.

 

Besides, don't you think it is bad sportsmanship to dredge up a twenty-year old record of a team that has beaten your team the last two years? If Nebraska had beaten the Bruins the last two years I would have tipped my cap to the Cornhuskers. Why do Nebraska fans find it so hard to do likewise

 

Because it's not the Bruins, it's the lack of proper calls and execution vs ranked opponents. Actually Bruins will be forgotten shortly, as Nebraska was far more disgusted by their performances vs Wisconsin. In the end the team has lot's of potential and I've watched every one of their games, but something really goes wrong with either play calling or execution in their games. Loosing a 21-3 lead is a prime example. There's plenty of threads on what the problem may be so no point going over that again.

Anyway good luck on the rest of your games, maybe will see you in the Rose Bowl, or some sorry ass bowl not worth watching, who knows.

 

 

 

"Look at his handle and signature. Hes not even a Nebraska fan..."

 

Actually I've been one for a long time.