A Positive Perspective

[TGHusker]

I've been following Husker football since 1970 - yes most of you weren't even born then. So I have seen many highs and many low points over the years. Fortunately the highs far outnumber the lows. So when thinking of this game, I want to place some things in a positive light. We are all disappointed in this loss - another 'streak' ending but in the midst of one streak ending I see the hope of another beginning. My hope is that within this loss we see the seeds of a future conference championship and others to follow. Here is what I mean:

 

1. Granted Tommie will never be a NFL type QB, however, I saw a much different Tommie out there than the one we saw last year. The timing was much better, the communication wt the receivers improved, throwing to where the receivers would be, etc. There was enough improvement here (yes room for more improvement is still apparent) to tell me that once we have a QB that fits Riley's system - we should see a vast improvement with the O.

2. Resiliency: last year and preceding years, this team would have caved at half time being down 10 pts. They never gave up, even after the bad ref calls, the injuries, and the missed opportunities. They responded to Gerry's interception and out side of a poor 3rd and one play, would have won the game - against a more experienced team.

3. While the overall running game was not encouraging, one has to realize that we have a very inexperienced line outside of Lewis. There were enough flashes that if we can turn the corner in the running game and tie it to the improved passing game, we will have a good O.

4. We were competitive without our # 1 play maker - DPE.

5. Coaches were coaching/teaching on the sidelines - not yelling and drawing the attention of the cameras. What a relief not having the cameras focused on an angry Bo. That in itself is worth the cost of admission.

6. This is year 1: I don't expect miracles this year. It is obvious that the cupboard was bare on experience OL,RB and in critical areas of the D. Some of those young guys (including Young on D) stepped up and played well. We have to remember that this is a transition year - I still expect 8-10 wins but I see seeds in today's team that will enable us to eventually end another streak - no cc since 1999 and no involvement in the NC discussion since 2001. I expect in year 3 or 4 we will be apart of that discussion once again.

7. Positive Reinforcement - instead of a news conference blaming the players who 'don't execute' we get a forward looking, positive news conference from a coach who is more of a teacher & not a complainer or excuse maker. That attitude will have a long term impact - not only this year but in years to come. We saw evidence of it when the team did not fold at half time.

 

 

[In the Deed the Glory]

I keep hearing about this team not folding when they may have in the past. To be fair, we have been pretty resilient when we had leaders on the team over the past 7 seasons. I don't feel this team had great leadership last year, especially defensively. Leadership is best done in sports when your best players lead vocally and by example.

 

Gerry making that play ignited the team. He is a special talent on a team without a lot of experienced talent to go around. That is leadership in and of itself. Then they rallied around Tommy on offense and the line finally showed a spark.

 

Coach Cav has a lot of pressure on him this year. We will go as far as that offensive line can take us. We need tough, mean SOBs. They need to dominate games. They need to want to crush the opponent into submission. They have to possess a burning desire to keep everyone off of the RB for 5 yards. They have to beg to run the ball to put the game away because they enjoy physically dominating their adversaries.

 

I don't know if we have 5 of those guys right now. I just hope Cav can find and develop them.

[teachercd]

I don't totally get the "team would have caved" in the past bit...If anything it seemed like NU had to come back to win a ton of games over the last few years...they were down all the time!

[QMany]

I don't totally get the "team would have caved" in the past bit...If anything it seemed like NU had to come back to win a ton of games over the last few years...they were down all the time!

I tend to agree, the "Bo's teams would have folded" narrative is tired. They did pull off some of the biggest *comebacks in Huskers history. Now, might they have also got blown out after trailing by 10 at half, sure.

 

EDIT: Comebacks, not upsets. Thanks, guys!

[307husker]

upsets? Or comebacks?

[Ride My Rhino]

What upsets are you speaking of? The former staff had zero ability to adjust to anything. I saw an experienced staff make adjustments on Saturday, and that to me is one of the reasons I believe we are headed in the right direction. That and actually wrapping up and tackling.

[TGHusker]

Another positive:
8. The D - while not having the huge pass rush I was expecting, did contain the run better than we've seen in the pass. The DBs while giving up the Hail Mary (why wasn't someone in front of that guy) mostly played well against some very tall receivers - outside of Davis loosing a couple of battles. So D - good run support, better tackling, and some overall better play by the LB - even without our suspended player - Rose-Ivy.

 

Regarding the caving of Bo's team, I think last year the team was emotionally fragile when we were down at halftime or when the other team started to roll - we couldn't stop it. - yes we had comeback wins esp the year TM willed us to win the division with his exceptional play- winning I think 6 in a row. We came back against Ohio State, etc. I think the difference was adjustments that were made at half time during the BYU game. A common complaint against Bo was the lack of in game and half time adjustments.

[QMany]

What upsets are you speaking of? The former staff had zero ability to adjust to anything. I saw an experienced staff make adjustments on Saturday, and that to me is one of the reasons I believe we are headed in the right direction. That and actually wrapping up and tackling.

I meant comebacks, my apologies. Can you point to a few specific adjustments Saturday?

[NUance]

What upsets are you speaking of? The former staff had zero ability to adjust to anything. I saw an experienced staff make adjustments on Saturday, and that to me is one of the reasons I believe we are headed in the right direction. That and actually wrapping up and tackling.

 

Yeah, I am encouraged by that too. Not sure exactly what adjustments we made. But we looked better. We were more effective in the 2nd half than the first, on both D and O. Also, Tommy and the offense looked much better in the 2nd half than in the 2nd quarter.

[Redux]

I mean sure we never gave up and we took the lead. But we did let our foot off the gas it felt like in the 4th. We need to be able to put the game out of reach, not just hope like hell a hail mary does't burn us.

[Joe_5700]

I walked away from the game with a lot of optimism for the future. I'll start out with a few things that troubled me early on. I thought Newby was very hesitant in the game early on. TA also hit a streak of many incompletions. What was refreshing to see were those things being corrected for once and not spiraling out of control. Granted BYU's starting nose tackle exiting the game may have had something to do with our second half success. I also liked Riley's post game explanation. What he said wasn't just coach speak. He said the right things and he truly believes in this team.

[BaytownHusker]

What upsets are you speaking of? The former staff had zero ability to adjust to anything. I saw an experienced staff make adjustments on Saturday, and that to me is one of the reasons I believe we are headed in the right direction. That and actually wrapping up and tackling.

Yea cause they didn't come back and beat Ohio St ever did they..

 

And this staff adjusted to the fact that they had a back up Qb come in that couldn't run like T. Hill but could sling the rock pretty well.. How did they adjust you may ask? Well they decided to rush 3 and give him all the time in the world to set up in the end-zone and allow the Qb to find and stare down his target. LOL.. Yes that's adjustments..

[commando]

 

What upsets are you speaking of? The former staff had zero ability to adjust to anything. I saw an experienced staff make adjustments on Saturday, and that to me is one of the reasons I believe we are headed in the right direction. That and actually wrapping up and tackling.

Yea cause they didn't come back and beat Ohio St ever did they..

 

And this staff adjusted to the fact that they had a back up Qb come in that couldn't run like T. Hill but could sling the rock pretty well.. How did they adjust you may ask? Well they decided to rush 3 and give him all the time in the world to set up in the end-zone and allow the Qb to find and stare down his target. LOL.. Yes that's adjustments..

 

[cornographic]

Old time fan too. I am avowed to no longer get caught up in the minutia and general whining and otherwise picking apart of Husker football. "Why corno, why?!", you may ask. Well, thanks for asking and here's your answer:Husker football ain't what it used to be, hasn't been for many many moons now. And you know what? I've found over the last few years that the excessive picking apart of the players and coaches--regardless regime--that takes place on msg boards and blogs, whether the team wins or loses, detracts from my overall enjoyment of the game and the team. It's especially annoying after a solid win when you come on a board and "the best fans in college football" are whining like a bunch of babies that, you know, "their guy kicked our guy in the shin or else we coulda scored another one", and on and on and on.

 

News flash Big Red Fan: we're not a dominant program anymore. It's over, we're officially "2nd tier" and we've been "2nd tier" for over a decade now. Now, this is not to say that even though our "brand" is on the ropes nationally that it isn't there to be given smelling salts should we get lucky at some point and field a real contender. And that may not actually be too far off, but for some reason--namely recruiting--we just can't seem to get over the hump and back up there with the Big Boys.

 

News flash II: parity. Way too many excellent teams out there now with excellent coaches. The window for most programs to be real contenders for any significant stretch gets smaller and smaller every year. NE is one of these programs now due mainly to the inherent recruiting disadvantages, so, IMO, best to just accept it like a man and especially savor the times when things come together in a special way and we "make a run".

 

Mike Riley was brought in, in part, because of his reputation to "get more from less", as it were. Maybe he can, maybe he will, but I'm sorry, unless you have the Jimmies and Joes in a big way, even Urban Freaking Meyer wouldn't be able to get it done. It may be wishful thinking to think that Mike Riley is some sort of miracle worker. So don't lose sleep over it.

 

And this is where the incessant conflict amongst fans and the program exists. Fans--self included--keep expecting the team to be something it's not, year after year and tear at the fabric of the program when it doesn't live up to the expectations. Fine to have high expectations, but also healthier to acknowledge reality from time to time.

 

Under Cali and Bo, there were many good and exciting wins and I enjoyed them, but then felt tainted coming onto msg boards and getting into the 'blah blah blah' minutia with other fans until I didn't even enjoy the wins anymore. THERE HAS TO BE A CHAMPIONSHIP! Yeah, I share the sentiment, but also realize that championships and Big Red may not be going together on a regular basis anytime soon. It's more likely, as far as I can tell, that championships, division, CC, may be few and far between for the forseeable future. And you know what? I'm ok with that. That is, I've decided to be ok with that, for the sake of my sanity and enjoyment of the game, the team, the coaches--and the fans.

 

I very much enjoyed many aspects of the game the other day, especially the way the team stuck with it and turned the thing around to what should have been a win. BYU made the biggest play when they needed too, somewhat lucky, but they did it, they deserve the credit. Maybe I'm too old to take CFB that seriously anymore. After tOSU blazed to an NC last year it was remarkable, but at the same time, after a week or so, it's like, "whatever". I mainly like to see good competitive games at this point.

 

I like Mike Riley & Crew and wish them the best of success. If he turns out to be an 8-9 win/per coach, well, I'll be alright with it, and eventually he will be replaced. If he pulls down a few championships and returns us to glory, all the better.

 

Either way, I'm taking it 1 game at a time and enjoying it as much as possible.

 

GBR!

[StPaulHusker]

 

I don't totally get the "team would have caved" in the past bit...If anything it seemed like NU had to come back to win a ton of games over the last few years...they were down all the time!

I tend to agree, the "Bo's teams would have folded" narrative is tired. They did pull off some of the biggest *comebacks in Huskers history. Now, might they have also got blown out after trailing by 10 at half, sure.

 

EDIT: Comebacks, not upsets. Thanks, guys!

 

"Biggest comebacks" should be put in perspective