What are/were your expectations for success?

[icedavis]

Given the current turmoil, I am curious to know:

 

When Pelini was hired on, what were your short term expectations? Long term expectations?

 

As seasons have passed, how have those expectations changed?

 

Did you expect a national title every year, conference titles and a bowl win (50/50 bowl win-loss?), just conference titles and bowl appearances with no determination of W/L, perennial top 10 ranking, etc?

 

I expect snarky responses but at least put an honest response too. I am interested to hear where people had set the bar when Pelini took the helm. I feel like this season specifically people have had high expectations which may not have been entirely realistic or had reasonable expectations but as the season progressed and the awfulness ensued that people maintained those high expectations when it wasn't as obvious the team could reach them anymore. It's one thing to support the team to that level, thats fine but it's another to entirely ignore the situation at hand. I feel like people have rightly criticized the team but also kept that bar at that high level when it should be brought down a little. Might just be my perception of the discussions between people I have talked to though.

 

I have always been dis-interested in the "Fire x-coach" talk because I think it frequently is an over-reaction. So, with that I present some statistics that may be of interest.

 

In 5 complete seasons, plus one partial, (1st head coaching job)

 

Bo Pelini's stat line: 54 Wins 22 losses. 31-22 conference record. 0 conference titles, 4 Division titles. 6 Bowl Games with a 3-3 record. 0 National titles, 1 Unranked season (with potential for another this season). Highest ranking 14th with an average ranking of 20th.

 

In his first 6 full seasons (first head coaching job)

Tom Osborne stat line: 55 Wins 16 losses 2 ties. 30-11-1 conference record, 2 conf titles, 6 Bowls with a 4-2 record, 0 National titles, 0 unranked seasons, highest ranking 7th with an avg of 9th.

 

In his first 6 full seasons (second head coaching job):

Bob Devaney stat line: 53 wins 12 losses 2 ties, 34-8 conference record, 4 conference titles, 5 Bowl games with a 2-3 record, 0 National Titles, 2 unranked seasons, highest ranking 3rd with an avg of 5/6th.

 

While its not complete apples to apples because of conference alignment, existent/nonexistent divisions, etc, you can still see that Bo is not far off from the "Holy Ones". I am sure I could have left off names and certain statistics like #of conf titles or whatever and many wouldn't be able to quickly identify which stat line belonged to which coach. That is not to mention that it took Devaney 3 more seasons and TO another 16 seasons to get that National title ball rolling.

 

So this is why I guess I am curious of everyone's previous expectations for success and where you all set the bar.

 

Obviously hindsight is 20/20 and people can BS but I am being honest here when I say I thought that the Huskers could have been a perennial conference title contender and say a once every 5 year top 5 team (maybe national title appearance) and while I am disappointed with how it turned out in 6 seasons so far, I am also not in the fire-pelini camp...yet, because I tend to be more impatiently patient and I think that while setting a bar is good, the season is so dynamic that it can be really hard to reach that bar. Maybe that is my "tough season, we'll get them next year" mentality showing through after going through so many terrible seasons in support of MN Twins baseball.

 

What say you?

[StPaulHusker]

3 expectations for success:

 

Win more than you lose. Done

 

Don't get blown out-Still happening

 

Don't lose to an unranked opponent EVERY YEAR. Still happening

 

 

[Landlord]

The only thing I'll say for sure is that despite our lack of hardware, we've still been spoiled by Bo's consistent success.

 

 

Nebraska fans still expect to be the bee's knees every single season no matter what, not realizing that in today's day and era, even the elite teams have seriously down years. Winning 10 games a year every year is something virtually nobody is doing, and if/when a new coach comes in, if they get a step higher than Bo, they'll likely have the occasional slip-ups where they fall lower than he did as well. So which is really, truly better

 

 

12-2 with a championship or big bowl win, followed by 8-5 with a bowl loss

 

or

 

10-4 with a chance at a championship, followed by 10-4 with a chance at a championship

[Landlord]

3 expectations for success:

 

Win more than you lose. Done

 

Don't get blown out-Still happening

 

Don't lose to an unranked opponent EVERY YEAR. Still happening

 

 

We didn't lose to an unranked opponent last year.

[Hunter94]

Pelini can't get these kids to focus?

After a bye week, they look lethargic?

Pelini, yet again, choses to play a crippled QB?

[StPaulHusker]

3 expectations for success:

 

Win more than you lose. Done

 

Don't get blown out-Still happening

 

Don't lose to an unranked opponent EVERY YEAR. Still happening

 

 

We didn't lose to an unranked opponent last year.

Wisconsin was 7-5 in the Conference Championship game. Not ranked.

[Landlord]

3 expectations for success:

 

Win more than you lose. Done

 

Don't get blown out-Still happening

 

Don't lose to an unranked opponent EVERY YEAR. Still happening

 

 

We didn't lose to an unranked opponent last year.

Wisconsin was 7-5 in the Conference Championship game. Not ranked.

 

 

I'm of the opinion that end of year rankings mean a little bit more.

[StPaulHusker]

3 expectations for success:

 

Win more than you lose. Done

 

Don't get blown out-Still happening

 

Don't lose to an unranked opponent EVERY YEAR. Still happening

 

 

We didn't lose to an unranked opponent last year.

Wisconsin was 7-5 in the Conference Championship game. Not ranked.

 

 

I'm of the opinion that end of year rankings mean a little bit more.

I see your point but at the end of the day his coaching record will show losses to unranked opponents in every year he has coached here.

[icedavis]

Pelini can't get these kids to focus?

After a bye week, they look lethargic?

Pelini, yet again, choses to play a crippled QB?

 

First, I see where you are going, but that doesn't answer the question at hand. Second, is it Pelini's job and only Pelini's job to get the kids to focus? No, it's also the entire staff's job AND most importantly the player's job to get focused. Third, how do you resolve lethargy? If they are sluggish perhaps they were tired from working too hard/too much over those two weeks? Everyone thinks its always because they didn't work hard enough, there is another side to that coin. I can't say anything against point #3, if he was injured, I don't see many valid reasons why he gave the Huskers the best chance to win. TA was doing fine the past couple games.

 

Point is, the above is all rhetorical (just presenting the other side of the coin) and you should only answer the questions posed in the initial post.

[NUinID]

All I know is that something is not right at NU and hasn't been right for a while. I think part of the Minnesota loss was the team not taking them seriously. Even listening to BP pregame on the radio, he really wasn't giving the other team the proper respect. Is Minnesota a great team, no, but they play hard and were ready to play. They were also 5-2 at that point and had just beaten NW with about the same game plan they had for NU.

 

I was so disappointed watching the defense look confused again. I really thought they had turned a corner. They looked to bad because they weren't confident in what they were doing.

 

I can't believe how poorly of an offensive performance they had on Saturday. It was like watching a Callahan team. The defense is giving us this so we have to throw the ball, except I have a RB getting 8 yards a carry even though the defense is stacking the box. But we have to go with the defensive tendencies.

 

Throwing the ball 30x when you have a guy running like that is stupid and pick headed. Abdullah should have had 30+ carries and about 250 on the ground the way they were running.

[Lincoln_Crossroads]

I think comparing Bo's records to Osborne's and Devaney's is similar to comparing a the Iphone 5S to whatever computers existed in Osborne's and Devaney's era. Really no use in comparing them. The speed at which culture including football culture moves along at a complete different pace then in the past. Recruiting matter so much more today. I'm not going to go back and check (anybody please correct me), but I'm pretty sure that Nebraska won every game that they should have won and won fair share of games that they shouldn't have won. Bo has only really beaten the soft competition year in and year out and has been abysmal in games that have really mattered. In todays current scheduling with 4 non conf plus 8 conference games, a slightly above average team should win 3/4 nonconf (cupcakes) and 5/8 conference games. This is what I would have expected out of Illinois or Northwestern. You'd think any averagecoach would be able to walk Nebraska to a 8-5 season with the "prestige" and "tradition" the team has going for it. Bo has only added 1-2 wins additionally per season. Furthermore, during his losses, opposing teams would embarrass Nebraska nationally, such as has been seen since Bo has begun to play with his recruits. Nebraska has regressed to the point they've become nationally irrelevent, not to mention irrelevent in their own conferences. Ultimately, I'd like to wear my Nebraska hat where ever I go people know what Nebraska football is and not what it was.

 

What I would have expected from a Nebraska coach is a conference championship approximately every 3 or 4 years, with either close losses or 50% W/L in BCS Bowl Games. Meaning, Bo should have had a conference champion from the Big 12 and the Big 10 with a one BCS bowl win in 6 years. I expect Bo to recruit all year, get experienced assistants and have a top 15 recruiting class especially because Nebraska needs it to make up for the geography.

 

What does matter, just as in most other facets is staying ahead of the competition. Devaney and Osborne figured it out in their time, Bo has not done it in this era. Teams such as Oregon and Alabama have figured out a system that other schools are only trying to replicate. In Chris Petersen, in his own BCS buster kind of way has also figured out a little piece of that puzzle. You have coach innovatively and set the trend, not sit back and stay stubborn. You cannot just play "execution" and provide excuses.

[presidentjlh]

Look at the final season rankings that Osborne and Devaney averaged.

 

There's similarities, but also glaring differences.

[Landlord]

I think comparing Bo's records to Osborne's and Devaney's is similar to comparing a the Iphone 5S to whatever computers existed in Osborne's and Devaney's era. Really no use in comparing them.

 

 

 

So you're saying Bo should be getting 3,476 wins per year due to the exponential increase in football wins to match the exponential increase in transistors on computer microchips?

[beanman]

I want to see a team that plays hard-nosed football and with great effort. Something that reflects the attitude of the people of this state. The wins and losses are secondary to me. It's how we play that makes me want to throw up.

 

Whoever can bring a nasty attitude and swagger back would be an improvement.

[icedavis]

I should specify too...this is obviously a post resulting from the loss but I have an interesting perspective on it.

 

People are using terms like "debacle" to describe the loss to the Gophers. But I feel that is very introspective in that it was like losing to the worst team in the land or something like that. Apparently no one in Husker Nation really knows the potential of this Gophers team. Remember the Gophers were 5-2 going in (with their only "proven" win against Northwestern) and was in a bowl game last season. That doesn't guarantee a win but they have been steadily improving the past 3 seasons under Coach Kill and are no longer your walkover kid brother. Sure they have a bad loss this season against Iowa but that is part of the growth process. They may not have been the successful Gophers of way back in the day but it was only a matter of time before the Gophers started getting higher profile wins.

 

Being that I live in the Twin Cities and frequently attend/watch the games, I probably can see that easier than most. I thought going in the Huskers would win but each season the spread in my mind grew pretty close, this season they just played above that expectation. I think the Huskers didn't play well but I also viewed it from the Gopher fan perspective that the Gophers played really well, finally living up to the potential.

 

I think comparing Bo's records to Osborne's and Devaney's is similar to comparing a the Iphone 5S to whatever computers existed in Osborne's and Devaney's era. Really no use in comparing them.

 

I disagree. The comparison is pretty relevant. Sure the decades between them are evident but the root of the comparison lies in that its their first 6 seasons as head coach for nebraska (2 of which were in their first head coaching job). There is a learning curve there that they each had to overcome and the stats are showing they are of fairly equal comparison with respect to their football generation and the adjustments that need be made. It shows that Pelini falls in line with the two coaches the Nebraska fan base holds in pretty high regard yet fans are calling for Pelini's head.

 

The statement about a game "we should win" sort of solidifies my point above in that people think this is an easy win and I don't believe that to be true. Plus you can't really quantify "should wins" as we have all learned in "should win game" blowout losses to teams like Texas Tech and Colorado in the past. Its all a matter of perspective. Perspective that I don't think husker fans have a good angle on right now.

 

Sorry, back on topic now...