Which team was more talented?

[NUinID]

 

 

Folks seem to forget that Callahan WAS getting things done on the both the recruiting and offensive fronts. His downfall is that he wouldn't replace Cosgrove as DC with someone competent (as well as a couple of the position coaches to boot), and Callahan lost the job because of his DC's ¡Olé! 'Matador' defensive scheme. The talent was there, but the coaching (at least for the defense) was not.

 

I and others have rightfully contended that had Callahan given Cosgrove the boot and replaced him with someone competent, he'd still be coaching at DoNU today, and likely with a few skins on the wall.

 

 

This is just so wrong.

 

First off, Cosgrove's defense was the only thing working prior to '07. In '07, the offense hung the D out to dry with too many 3 and outs, low TOP and turnovers.

 

And Callahan's "best" offense in 2007 was a paper tiger. They put up more points in garbage time than any other team in the country. 25% of their production was near the end of blowout games. They essentially didn't even show up against any team with a pulse (until 5 minutes left in the game when they were already down by 4 scores.) Solich's offenses averaged more points per game than Callahan's.

 

And he really wasn't doing that great in recruiting. The touted '05 class turned out to be a disaster. Even with that class's inflated ranking, Callahan's average class ranking on Scout was worse than Solich's.

 

Callahan was a dumpster fire. The biggest mystery is why people are trying to rewrite history to make that hack look better??

 

 

When you start with the premise that the 2007 offense hung Kevin Cosgrove's defense out to dry, the rest of your argument is immediately invalid.

 

That is probably the biggest stretch of logic I have ever heard on HuskerBoard.

 

 

I agree this is a false premise for 2007, but I have always felt that Cosgrove got a bad rep that wasn't deserved before that. The defenses before 2007 were average to decent. They lost some talent off the defense that wasn't replaced and they really looked bad after that. Suh wasn't Suh yet, etc. Defensivley they just fell apart in 2007 they lost them after the So Cal game. They just didn't play well. Some of the players just didn't care for what ever reason. Cory McKeon is a great example of this. He actually played pretty well before 2007. He looked like he didn't even care in 2007.

[StPaulHusker]

Tom Osborne fired Bill Callahan. He hired Bo Pelini because he felt there was nothing wrong with the offense and that the defense was what had problems.

[GBRedneck]

 

 

 

Folks seem to forget that Callahan WAS getting things done on the both the recruiting and offensive fronts. His downfall is that he wouldn't replace Cosgrove as DC with someone competent (as well as a couple of the position coaches to boot), and Callahan lost the job because of his DC's ¡Olé! 'Matador' defensive scheme. The talent was there, but the coaching (at least for the defense) was not.

 

I and others have rightfully contended that had Callahan given Cosgrove the boot and replaced him with someone competent, he'd still be coaching at DoNU today, and likely with a few skins on the wall.

 

 

This is just so wrong.

 

First off, Cosgrove's defense was the only thing working prior to '07. In '07, the offense hung the D out to dry with too many 3 and outs, low TOP and turnovers.

 

And Callahan's "best" offense in 2007 was a paper tiger. They put up more points in garbage time than any other team in the country. 25% of their production was near the end of blowout games. They essentially didn't even show up against any team with a pulse (until 5 minutes left in the game when they were already down by 4 scores.) Solich's offenses averaged more points per game than Callahan's.

 

And he really wasn't doing that great in recruiting. The touted '05 class turned out to be a disaster. Even with that class's inflated ranking, Callahan's average class ranking on Scout was worse than Solich's.

 

Callahan was a dumpster fire. The biggest mystery is why people are trying to rewrite history to make that hack look better??

 

 

When you start with the premise that the 2007 offense hung Kevin Cosgrove's defense out to dry, the rest of your argument is immediately invalid.

 

That is probably the biggest stretch of logic I have ever heard on HuskerBoard.

 

 

I agree this is a false premise for 2007, but I have always felt that Cosgrove got a bad rep that wasn't deserved before that. The defenses before 2007 were average to decent. They lost some talent off the defense that wasn't replaced and they really looked bad after that. Suh wasn't Suh yet, etc. Defensivley they just fell apart in 2007 they lost them after the So Cal game. They just didn't play well. Some of the players just didn't care for what ever reason. Cory McKeon is a great example of this. He actually played pretty well before 2007. He looked like he didn't even care in 2007.

 

Agree. I wasn't trying to say that the offense was entirely to blame for the poor defense in '07. Just that the offense contributed to the poor defense.

[GBRedneck]

Tom Osborne fired Bill Callahan. He hired Bo Pelini because he felt there was nothing wrong with the offense and that the defense was what had problems.

Nothing wrong with the offense? That's not even close to what TO was thinking.

 

He hired Bo over Turner because he thought the defense was the bigger problem. This was pretty obvious. The fact that he strongly considered Turner shows he wasn't all that enamored with the offense either. He just knew it was best to focus on the bigger problem first. Classic TO.

[Guy Chamberlin]

 

Tom Osborne fired Bill Callahan. He hired Bo Pelini because he felt there was nothing wrong with the offense and that the defense was what had problems.

Nothing wrong with the offense? That's not even close to what TO was thinking.

 

He hired Bo over Turner because he thought the defense was the bigger problem. This was pretty obvious. The fact that he strongly considered Turner shows he wasn't all that enamored with the offense either. He just knew it was best to focus on the bigger problem first. Classic TO.

 

 

Yeah, this might be another swing and miss.

 

Osborne recommended keeping Shawn Watson as OC, and Pelini obliged.

[hskrfan4life]

 

 

Tom Osborne fired Bill Callahan. He hired Bo Pelini because he felt there was nothing wrong with the offense and that the defense was what had problems.

Nothing wrong with the offense? That's not even close to what TO was thinking.

 

He hired Bo over Turner because he thought the defense was the bigger problem. This was pretty obvious. The fact that he strongly considered Turner shows he wasn't all that enamored with the offense either. He just knew it was best to focus on the bigger problem first. Classic TO.

 

 

Yeah, this might be another swing and miss.

 

Osborne recommended keeping Shawn Watson as OC, and Pelini obliged.

 

He is with Texas still right?

[Kiyoat Husker]

 

 

 

Tom Osborne fired Bill Callahan. He hired Bo Pelini because he felt there was nothing wrong with the offense and that the defense was what had problems.

Nothing wrong with the offense? That's not even close to what TO was thinking.

 

He hired Bo over Turner because he thought the defense was the bigger problem. This was pretty obvious. The fact that he strongly considered Turner shows he wasn't all that enamored with the offense either. He just knew it was best to focus on the bigger problem first. Classic TO.

 

 

Yeah, this might be another swing and miss.

 

Osborne recommended keeping Shawn Watson as OC, and Pelini obliged.

 

He is with Texas still right?

 

yes. recently "strong - armed" away from play-calling

[GBRedneck]

 

 

Tom Osborne fired Bill Callahan. He hired Bo Pelini because he felt there was nothing wrong with the offense and that the defense was what had problems.

Nothing wrong with the offense? That's not even close to what TO was thinking.

 

He hired Bo over Turner because he thought the defense was the bigger problem. This was pretty obvious. The fact that he strongly considered Turner shows he wasn't all that enamored with the offense either. He just knew it was best to focus on the bigger problem first. Classic TO.

 

 

Yeah, this might be another swing and miss.

 

Osborne recommended keeping Shawn Watson as OC, and Pelini obliged.

 

See bolded.

[BigRedBuster]

 

 

 

Tom Osborne fired Bill Callahan. He hired Bo Pelini because he felt there was nothing wrong with the offense and that the defense was what had problems.

Nothing wrong with the offense? That's not even close to what TO was thinking.

 

He hired Bo over Turner because he thought the defense was the bigger problem. This was pretty obvious. The fact that he strongly considered Turner shows he wasn't all that enamored with the offense either. He just knew it was best to focus on the bigger problem first. Classic TO.

 

 

Yeah, this might be another swing and miss.

 

Osborne recommended keeping Shawn Watson as OC, and Pelini obliged.

 

See bolded.

 

He strongly considered Turner? That wasn't the feeling at the time. The main opinion was that he gave Turner an interview out of curtesy for a friend. He wanted a defensive minded HC at the time.

[Guy Chamberlin]

 

 

 

Tom Osborne fired Bill Callahan. He hired Bo Pelini because he felt there was nothing wrong with the offense and that the defense was what had problems.

Nothing wrong with the offense? That's not even close to what TO was thinking.

 

He hired Bo over Turner because he thought the defense was the bigger problem. This was pretty obvious. The fact that he strongly considered Turner shows he wasn't all that enamored with the offense either. He just knew it was best to focus on the bigger problem first. Classic TO.

 

 

Yeah, this might be another swing and miss.

 

Osborne recommended keeping Shawn Watson as OC, and Pelini obliged.

 

See bolded.

 

 

You sure have a knack for knowing exactly what Tom Osborne was thinking.

 

You've been categorically wrong an awful lot this week, Redneck. May want to put down the keyboard for a bit.

[GBRedneck]

 

 

 

 

Tom Osborne fired Bill Callahan. He hired Bo Pelini because he felt there was nothing wrong with the offense and that the defense was what had problems.

Nothing wrong with the offense? That's not even close to what TO was thinking.

 

He hired Bo over Turner because he thought the defense was the bigger problem. This was pretty obvious. The fact that he strongly considered Turner shows he wasn't all that enamored with the offense either. He just knew it was best to focus on the bigger problem first. Classic TO.

 

 

Yeah, this might be another swing and miss.

 

Osborne recommended keeping Shawn Watson as OC, and Pelini obliged.

 

See bolded.

 

 

You sure have a knack for knowing exactly what Tom Osborne was thinking.

 

You've been categorically wrong an awful lot this week, Redneck. May want to put down the keyboard for a bit.

 

I'm a quick learner. I learned that TO thought Callahan's '07 offense was perfect and that he only interviewed Turner Gill as a token of their friendship.

[Guy Chamberlin]

Wouldn't it have been heartbreaking if we had hired Gill, and found he wasn't up to the head coaching task, either?

[74Hunter]

Look like So. Miss. is as talented as we are,

 

 

Or not

[gorp512]

2008 by far. So many really good players on that team.

 

It's not even just Pelini, though. We have 15 years of inadequacies this coaching staff is trying to undo. 9 months isn't exactly a lot of time to change all that.

No, but it's more than enough time to set precedents on how you expect the game to be played. Some mind blowing penalties have happened this year that even I (as anti Bo as anyone) wouldn't think would occur under a non-nice guy coach. The players are slow to get back to the line and already better at celebrations than they have ever been before. That mind set gets put in place day 1 on the job.

[Enhance]

 

2008 by far. So many really good players on that team.

 

It's not even just Pelini, though. We have 15 years of inadequacies this coaching staff is trying to undo. 9 months isn't exactly a lot of time to change all that.

No, but it's more than enough time to set precedents on how you expect the game to be played. Some mind blowing penalties have happened this year that even I (as anti Bo as anyone) wouldn't think would occur under a non-nice guy coach. The players are slow to get back to the line and already better at celebrations than they have ever been before. That mind set gets put in place day 1 on the job.

 

Building a culture and program isn't something that just changes, though, even if you start implementing day one. Seven years of doing things a certain way leave it's imprint. Sometimes, a coach can come in and make magic happen right away. Other times, it doesn't work like that.

 

Just as an example, Nick Saban took over a 6-7 Alabama team and they only went 7-6 in his first season. They had some decent wins, but, also lost to a 6-6 UL Monroe squad at home. In Tuscaloosa. Think of how Husker fans would've reacted to that...

 

I defintely understand what you're saying, and I'm not saying Nebraska will go 12-2 next year under Riley (like 'Bama did with Saban in year two). I just take a very conservative approach to coaches building teams and culture, and I'm not drawing many conclusions (good or bad) from this season. It's not really fair in my opinion.