Players to fans, "Stick with us."

[BigWillie]

The players should never worry about the fans We'll be angry, and we'll say stupid things, but every Saturday we will be there 90,000 strong no matter what. So no, we won't give up on them.

 

But the players should be asking if they have given up on themselves this year.

[zoogs]

We're with you. Much love.

 

Don't give up (on yourselves, nor the coaches) -- and come out with fight on Saturday.

 

We should be talking about trying to finish this season 6-6, not running around like headless, panicked chickens with visions of 3-9. Cross that bridge when we come to it. Of course, that goes doubly (or mostly) for the team; they are the ones who can control the result.

[It'sNotAFakeID]

We'll all stick together in all kinds of weather.

[necoates77]

I think its the people who insist we have no talent and we have to get rid of "Bo's" players that arent supporting them.

 

I don't understand how people can be complacent with this staff, can we fire them? Probably not, do we have to give the staff a participation award and some, "you'll get em next season tiger" words of encouragement, most definitely not! The staff are grown men they need to figure it out and adapt or be ready for a little fan wrath!

[EmeraldIngot]

This is Nebraska. We have a long history and long memories. It's hard sometimes to be positive about the team when many of us personally experienced those glory days when we were on top of the college football world. Compared to the surety of our victory back in those days, not seeing that kind of dominance is disheartening. We will never forget, and all current and future teams and coaches will be (perhaps unfairly) compared to those heady days of glory...

 

But those days are gone. They left when Dr Tom Osborne retired. They were further removed by the tenures of Solich, Callahan, and Pelini. At times we have been good, but not great like we used to be. Seeing a team struggle to beat teams that the guys in the old glory days would have steamrolled is hard. It doesn't match our expectations, there's a mental dissonance watching our team struggle when we expect them to make it look easy. Regardless of the reasons and justifications we all come up with to explain, in our own personal worldviews, just what exactly is wrong, be it the players, the staff, the changing landscape of college football recruiting, or all of the above. Every team, good or bad, will be compared to our mental images of what we believe the team should be, and many of our mental images of our beloved huskers are memories of one or more of our 5 national championship teams.

 

But it's not fair. Not to the players, who in the days of rising tuition costs chose to come to Nebraska either as walking (at great personal expense via student loans) or as scholorship players. It's not fair to the coaches who have all desperately tried to fill the giant sized shoes Bob Devaney and Tom Osborne left behind. It's not fair to us as fans who, every offseason, drink the kool-aid and get our hopes up of having another national championship team just like the ones we used to watch. It's not fair because we are so overshadowed by past greatness.

 

Scheme isn't the problem. Coaching isn't the problem. Player's talent isn't the problem. It's the expectations.

 

For years, under several different coaching staffs, with completely different rosters, we have had one consistent problem: playing scared. Playing to not mess up, to not give up that big play on defense, to not give up that sack, to not get tackled in the backfield, to not get tackled before moving the chains, to not whiff on that block, to not be too slow firing off the ball and getting beat by the other guy, to calling conservative plays in the 4th quarter, to letting up off the gass, to scrambling desperately to get that much needed 4th quarter stop, to scrambling desperately to get that 4th quarter or overtime game winning touchdown...

 

They, players and staff, have played scared. Since the latter years of Solich through today. Scared that they won't live up to seemingly impossible and unfair standards, such as the greatest college football team of all time like the 95 huskers.

 

So I'm giving up, but not on this team, not on this coaching staff, not on any of the players, but only on my own expectations. I don't care about the score, I don't care about the Winn loss record, I don't care about conference or national champiinships... all I want to see is good, solid, fundamentally sound and we'll executed football. Win or lose, high scoring or low, shutouts or shootouts. And it may sound trite, or soft, or coddling, but I don't care. I just want Nebraska to be the best they can possibly be.

 

I'm behind you, guys, win or lose. 6-6 or 3-9. I'll be there, cheering you on.

 

GO BIG RED!