My take - Let it all play out

[bimmerman323i]

I don't post very often (obvious by my post count), but after going to the game Saturday, the Frazier tweets and the Deadspin article, I feel like I need to get some things out, so here goes.

 

1. I think Frazier was out of line to call for staff changes, especially on the day the university recognized his Hall of Fame induction. I'm not saying he isn't entitled to his opinion, but I think it was a classless move to publicly call for the staff to be replaced. I bet if he called Osborne, Tom could tell him about all the negativity surrounding his staff in 1990, and that was without social media. You can bet the outcry to remove Tom would have been just as loud, if not louder, after they got hammered by Georgia Tech in the Citrus Bowl if Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc. would have been available at the time. Thankfully Devaney stayed patient with Tom and we all know what happened from there.

 

2. The Deadspin article is overblown. Was it in poor taste for Bo to speak about the fans that way? Absolutely. However, we've all said things in high pressure or emotional situations that we regret. Should he be fired for something said off the record immediately following a game? No way. Besides, in my opinion his comments weren't that far off considering what happened that night at the stadium. The booing was a pretty pathetic display. Plus, I happen to know many Nebraska fans that I would call fair weather fans. I recognize you don't get to 320 some odd consecutive sell-outs if your fan base as a whole is "fair weather" but I think we all know those fans who jump on or off the bandwagon based on the prior week's results.

 

In addition, whomever held the recording until today is pretty gutless. I'll leave it at that.

 

3. Finally, when it comes to his future, I say let the season play out and see where we stand. Bo's leash is probably about one-inch long right now. If he has any other indiscretions, or blowout losses, he's probably worked himself out of a job. I don't see him being removed mid-season so we might as well support the team and the staff for the next few months and see what happens.

 

On the field, the perceived lack of athletic talent on the defensive side of the ball the past two years was due to recruiting misses / errors Bo made during his first two or three years as coach. This led to the current situation in which they're playing so many young guys on defense at the same time. However, I think we can all agree that recruiting has improved from an athletic ability standpoint in the past few classes. We can also agree that we've seen his system work when he has athletes on the defensive side of the ball. It will take time for these young guys to develop, but I think there is hope and excitement in what they can become because of their youth. These aren't a bunch of seniors who may have maxed out their abilities; they're freshman and sophomores who are very raw, but because of their natural abilities have much higher ceilings. Honestly, does anyone think Randy Gregory, Vincent Valentine, Greg McMullen, Avery Moss, Kevin Maurice, Maliek Collins, Nate Gerry, Josh Banderas and Michael Rose won't be better by the end of this season, let alone in two years when they've played a lot more football? They'll take some lumps while they mature, but man, I think the potential to be a lethal defense is there.

 

I'll finish by saying I think we should do what we can as a fan base to help these guys out. Like Pelini or not, he'll probably be the coach for the rest of this season. The results between now and then will determine if he'll be back. In the meantime, let's try to support the players. All the negativity around Bo inevitably affects them, and that will directly impact the results on the field. Let's try to rally up a bit, and see if we can help the team shock some people. Maybe they'll be most dangerous when nobody expects them to do anything of significance.

 

(Getting off my soap box now.)

[Kiyoat Husker]

Nice post. You should do this more often. I agree with most of what you are saying, and I think that once the dust has settled from this game most fans will be back to cheer the team, albeit with a little less rampant optimism.