Northwestern: Biggest Game in Bo's Career ?

[Comish]

I have to believe it is.

 

Lose Saturday and there is a fearful chance we don’t win again this season.

 

Win, and most of the goals are still out there.

[TGHusker]

Biggest game until the next one - I suspect the rest of the season will be a roller coaster ride But if we drop this game at home, to a team that is on the skids, then Bo will have more to worry about then the next game.

[Comish]

Biggest game until the next one - I suspect the rest of the season will be a roller coaster ride But if we drop this game at home, to a team that is on the skids, then Bo will have more to worry about then the next game.

That's what I was alluding to......

[teachercd]

It will be a HUGE game because if I am doing well in the early games I will drop a lot of money (by a lot of money I mean like 40 dollars) on the Huskers at -6!

[JJ Husker]

It will definitely be a defining game and most assuredly a deal breaker if he loses it. I'm not convinced a loss equates to not winning anymore this season. I think it would seal his fate though.

 

Let's hope the team plays well and wins out and erases any doubts. I'd much rather be proven wrong than have to go through the shake up.

[Ulty]

I agree with the above about what we might learn from this game. But I tend to think the biggest games, or at least most impactful, of Bo's career might have been TAMU 2010 and OSU 2011. TAMU was a $h!tstorm that pretty much galvanized the national perception of Bo and led to an attitude adjustment that limited the team's intensity. The OSU game was a miraculous festival of wonder that bought Bo two more years, but he responded after the game with pure anger toward the fans and media.

[carlfense]

Only if he loses.

[lo country]

He loses, after the loss to Minnie, against a team on a 4 game skid, Bo will all but seal his fate IMO. He needs to show that he can make the tough decisions and actually stop the run. I think we win, BUT allow them to run at will, Bo will feel more heat.

 

I agree with the above. This is a must win game........until next weeks.

[NUinID]

He loses, after the loss to Minnie, against a team on a 4 game skid, Bo will all but seal his fate IMO. He needs to show that he can make the tough decisions and actually stop the run. I think we win, BUT allow them to run at will, Bo will feel more heat.

 

I agree with the above. This is a must win game........until next weeks.

 

I agree he needs to shut their run game down, I mean they only really have 1 healthy running back for this game. I think they win the game, but they do need to look decent doing it.

[onlyHskrfaninIL]

I don't know about biggest game but it is clearly a must-win game for the team and for Bo's career. A blowout loss and I think he will be let go after the game.

[TGHusker]

Carl's post script/quote under his comments says it all: Nebraska has no beaches, mountains or stay-forever good weather. But the loyalty of ticket-buying, check-writing Husker fans is a natural resource that has sustained high-quality athletics in Lincoln for the past 50 years.

 

That fan devotion is a priceless commodity." -Lee Barfknecht

 

I was thinking the other day - NU cannot allow apathy to set into the fan base - acceptance of a mid-level top 30-50 team. If that occurs, there goes our sell out streak and with it the revenue stream that has sustained not only the athletic dept but the economy of Lincoln for so many years. Would we fall into the situation where the stadium is half full, doubtful when NU is the only game in town, but lower enthusiasm results in lower revenue from tickets, to hotels, to apparel (not just at the on campus store), etc.

Since 1999 fans have been hoping for another reason to believe - a championship of some kind. Bo was our hope, those hopes are quickly fading. We can talk about the meaningless 9 win seasons all we want, but when a 'foundational' program like NU fails to win any thing significant in so many years, the older fans loose heart and the younger fans have known nothing different - which is a truly a shame. Sad that a game wt NW has so much riding on it when we think of our proud history.

[carlfense]

I was thinking the other day - NU cannot allow apathy to set into the fan base - acceptance of a mid-level top 30-50 team. If that occurs, there goes our sell out streak and with it the revenue stream that has sustained not only the athletic dept but the economy of Lincoln for so many years. Would we fall into the situation where the stadium is half full, doubtful when NU is the only game in town, but lower enthusiasm results in lower revenue from tickets, to hotels, to apparel (not just at the on campus store), etc.

 

Since 1999 fans have been hoping for another reason to believe - a championship of some kind. Bo was our hope, those hopes are quickly fading. We can talk about the meaningless 9 win seasons all we want, but when a 'foundational' program like NU fails to win any thing significant in so many years, the older fans loose heart and the younger fans have known nothing different - which is a truly a shame. Sad that a game wt NW has so much riding on it when we think of our proud history.

Yep. Apathy poses the greatest threat to Husker football. We can survive poor coaching (for awhile). We can survive blowout losses (for awhile).

 

If a sizeable portion of our fanbase decides that we just can't win anything of significance anymore . . . well . . . then we're in trouble. Then we will become what some people already seem to think that we are: just another landlocked school with recruiting obstacles.

[Count 'Bility]

I know it's hard to put a coach's head on the reliance of wins and losses, championships and/or champ games, etc. I think if we win this weekend, there will still be some proper perspective in judging Bo's future via the performance-not the score-the rest of the season. However, we lose tommorrow-which if we do, it would mean another ugly performance, mentally and physically, considering the condition and caliber of the opponent-and you can pretty much mark it that anything short of a full blown conference title someway or another, or simply win out regardless, will cost Bo his job. It's just the bottom line of the business. He's done a lot of good things here, but it still is about winning and losing. And the program cant afford to keep slipping further and further down the pole. Progress has to start happening now.

[StPaulHusker]

Biggest game? No. Most important for his career right now? Yes.

[carlfense]

Biggest game? No. Most important for his career right now? Yes.

Yeah. It's definitely not the most exciting game . . . but it could be quite important.