9 Wins, Who Cares

[HuskerBCS]

People are not happy with 9 win seasons they just don't want less

I don't care if we win 7 games a year but are competitive in our losses and show improvement. Throw in an 11 win season or better every once in a while. Nebrasaka is good enough that it should have a chance to win a National Title at least once a decade. They should also play in at least 1 BCS Bowl in the other 9 years. That leaves 8 years that could go 6-6 for all I care.

 

[3rd and long]

The first half itself was great, except that there were mindless lapses in judgement that cost us what amounted to 10 points.

How can you possibly say this? Those lapses in judgements are exactly why we are and have been a mediocre football team for a long time.

The last 10 seasons have been great too, except for all those losses. :lol:

You were ignoring the context. My point was that it didn't feel like we were down at all, because we were winning both sides of the ball, ASIDE from the 2 silly mistakes. Based on the play of both teams, Nebraska should have been up 17-7 at half or so. The mistakes are what cost the lead.

I think that sums up a lot lately. We are a team that finds way to lose fairly close games to teams we could (should) beat, get blown out by teams we should at least be able to compete with, and make games that we should win comfortably, we make close.

I don't see how anyone can be optomistic about next year. Losing David is going to be devastating, I think TM regressed over that last half of the season (who knows what he will be next year....the starter and every down player, that's for sure), God forbid if something would happen to Rex. I just don't see where there has really been any signs of solid improvement from any year to the next. Oh, but we won nine games, Woo Hoo, I think the bowl games have shown the strength of the BIG.

I for one would most definitely suffer through a couple of bad seasons in exchange for that one where we make a realistic run at a title.

 

[Blackshirt316]

9 wins with the competition we play against is nothing to be satisfied with but it is also no reason to promote heading down a similar path to the Callahan years.

Our competition has been poor. I think you were agreeing with this but Im not sure. Our 9 wins came against.....

Chattanooga, Fresno State, Washington, Wyoming, Ohio State, Minnesota, Michigan State, Penn State, Iowa. Not too impressive. 1 of those teams will finish the season ranked in the top 25.

Kinda like Georgia, who will likely finish ranked but who didn't beat a team that will finish ranked all year. And they had ten wins.

They beat Auburn which won their bowl and was ranked.

Being ranked isn't cracked up to much anymore.

Nebraska will finish 9-4 and though that is by no means a great season still had some solid wins over an 11-3 Michigan State at home and a 9-3 Penn State team on the road and other than the Northwestern debacle, Nebraska's 3 other losses were all to teams that will finish with 11 wins on the year.

Nebraska likely will finish unranked.

Texas for example on the other hand will finish 8-5, had it's wins against Rice, BYU, UCLA, Iowa State, Kansas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Cal. Their best win is by 3 at 7-6 Texas A&M, They lost one game more than Nebraska and like Nebraska those losses were typcially blowouts.

Texas will probably finish ranked around #20.

Deciding how good teams are by their final ranking is becoming more and more of a joke each year.

 

[ILHusker]

I completely agree with what most are saying in this thread. As Bo states himself, football is about winning championships and showing signs of growth. I feel Bo's team peaked in 2009 and it's taken a step back since. This is more disturbing since this year's team should consist of all the guys he has been able to recruit and develop (along with all his coaching hires).

If Husker fans are ok with 8 or 9 wins per season and going to a decent (non-BCS) bowl every year, I think Bo will fit the bill. I personally think Osborne should recognize Bo for turning this program around to being respectable again, but then seeking out a better coach/executive to take this program to the level that I think all Husker fans would like. However, that would require finding a coach that would be a great fit for Nebraska. The one coach that comes to mind is Chris Petersen from Boise. Given his track record, I think he could jump right in and make an impact without having any players or recruits leaving the program.

 

[melscott62]

I completely agree with what most are saying in this thread. As Bo states himself, football is about winning championships and showing signs of growth. I feel Bo's team peaked in 2009 and it's taken a step back since. This is more disturbing since this year's team should consist of all the guys he has been able to recruit and develop (along with all his coaching hires).

If Husker fans are ok with 8 or 9 wins per season and going to a decent (non-BCS) bowl every year, I think Bo will fit the bill. I personally think Osborne should recognize Bo for turning this program around to being respectable again, but then seeking out a better coach/executive to take this program to the level that I think all Husker fans would like. However, that would require finding a coach that would be a great fit for Nebraska. The one coach that comes to mind is Chris Petersen from Boise. Given his track record, I think he could jump right in and make an impact without having any players or recruits leaving the program.

I think TO knows he didnt do much better in his first 4 years and inherited a much better program(and he didnt have to make wholesale changes like Bo did) he also knows that a better (established) coach wont come here.

 

[husker_99]

9 wins with the competition we play against is nothing to be satisfied with but it is also no reason to promote heading down a similar path to the Callahan years.

Our competition has been poor. I think you were agreeing with this but Im not sure. Our 9 wins came against.....

Chattanooga, Fresno State, Washington, Wyoming, Ohio State, Minnesota, Michigan State, Penn State, Iowa. Not too impressive. 1 of those teams will finish the season ranked in the top 25.

Kinda like Georgia, who will likely finish ranked but who didn't beat a team that will finish ranked all year. And they had ten wins.

They beat Auburn which won their bowl and was ranked.

Being ranked isn't cracked up to much anymore.

Nebraska will finish 9-4 and though that is by no means a great season still had some solid wins over an 11-3 Michigan State at home and a 9-3 Penn State team on the road and other than the Northwestern debacle, Nebraska's 3 other losses were all to teams that will finish with 11 wins on the year.

Nebraska likely will finish unranked.

Texas for example on the other hand will finish 8-5, had it's wins against Rice, BYU, UCLA, Iowa State, Kansas, Texas Tech, Texas A&M and Cal. Their best win is by 3 at 7-6 Texas A&M, They lost one game more than Nebraska and like Nebraska those losses were typcially blowouts.

Texas will probably finish ranked around #20.

Deciding how good teams are by their final ranking is becoming more and more of a joke each year.

Texas was playing two qb's that had no or little college game experience. The only possible reason why i could accept us getting blown out was because of our inexperienced defense otherwise we shouldn't have gotten blown out in thoe 3 games.

 

[ILHusker]

I completely agree with what most are saying in this thread. As Bo states himself, football is about winning championships and showing signs of growth. I feel Bo's team peaked in 2009 and it's taken a step back since. This is more disturbing since this year's team should consist of all the guys he has been able to recruit and develop (along with all his coaching hires).

If Husker fans are ok with 8 or 9 wins per season and going to a decent (non-BCS) bowl every year, I think Bo will fit the bill. I personally think Osborne should recognize Bo for turning this program around to being respectable again, but then seeking out a better coach/executive to take this program to the level that I think all Husker fans would like. However, that would require finding a coach that would be a great fit for Nebraska. The one coach that comes to mind is Chris Petersen from Boise. Given his track record, I think he could jump right in and make an impact without having any players or recruits leaving the program.

I think TO knows he didnt do much better in his first 4 years and inherited a much better program(and he didnt have to make wholesale changes like Bo did) he also knows that a better (established) coach wont come here.

I don't think it's an apples to apples comparison when you look at TO's early years in the 1970s vs now. If you really wanna look at the stats, TO won 3 of his first 4 bowl games, and also finished ranked inside the top 12 at the end of the season from 1973 to 1989. The game is totally different, and recruiting is much more competitive now. I'm just afraid that a few more seasons of beating up on easier competition and losing the "big ones" will solidify NU's reputation as a good but not great program.

If the main reason Bo's teams have lost the big games is due to a lack of execution, why exactly do other teams execute and his teams cannot? Is it lack of game preparation? Lack of mental toughness? Or are the players he recruited just not at the same level?

 

[HuskerBCS]

If the main reason Bo's teams have lost the big games is due to a lack of execution, why exactly do other teams execute and his teams cannot? Is it lack of game preparation? Lack of mental toughness? Or are the players he recruited just not at the same level?

This bugs the crap out of me. It seems like every single time Bo is interviewed he says "we just didn't execute." Really Bo? Thats the best you can come up with?

I wanna know WHY we didn't execute and what he's gonna do to change it so next time we do execute. Im beginning to think Bo recognizes there are problems but he doesn't know how to fix them, therefore we will not see progress.

He has ideas in his head about how things should go and how he'd like to see things, he just doesn't know how to execute them.

 

[Count 'Bility]

To the OP, you put and asterisk next the MICH St win because of their big win the week before, so does that mean we get to put an asterisk next to losses against Northwestern and Michigan because of big wins the weeks before them? After the trade offs we're up to 10 wins. Good call.

 

[COMPTON]

Im tired of all the people on here who are satisfied with 9 win seasons. All the people who say Bo should be our coach as long as he wins 9 games are crazy. Why can't people understand that 9 wins today isn't the same as 9 wins 20 years ago? Combine playing more games each season with also playing more cream puffs in the non conference and a 9 win season becomes a facade for a good season pretty easily.

This season we had 1 win which was decent, Michigan State. Even that game has an asterisk beside it because they were coming off a huge win the week before. Yet on the other side we have 4 losses that were absolutely pathetic losses. You also have a win against OSU that was probably the luckiest win Ive ever witnessed as a fan. We lose that game big if Miller doesn't get hurt. Things don't balance out. 1 good win with 4 bad losses? Something isn't right here. That's not a good football team.

I would be much more optimistic about Bo and Co. if we were going 9-4 every year and our 4 losses were respectable, where we had a chance of winning the game. Keep your losses close, 7pt ave, not 19.75pts.

Every year we get blown out in multiple losses, play a tight game/lose against a team that doesn't deserve to hold our jock strap, beat a handful of crappy teams, and people are always satisfied. "Next year will be our year", yet it never is.

Nothing is changing. There is no progress. Same problems since year 1 with Bo. What is there to be excited about?

Not a whole lot after the past two years and it goes well beyond just the on-field play...

 

[gobiggergoredder]

If the main reason Bo's teams have lost the big games is due to a lack of execution, why exactly do other teams execute and his teams cannot? Is it lack of game preparation? Lack of mental toughness? Or are the players he recruited just not at the same level?

This bugs the crap out of me. It seems like every single time Bo is interviewed he says "we just didn't execute." Really Bo? Thats the best you can come up with?

I wanna know WHY we didn't execute and what he's gonna do to change it so next time we do execute. Im beginning to think Bo recognizes there are problems but he doesn't know how to fix them, therefore we will not see progress.

He has ideas in his head about how things should go and how he'd like to see things, he just doesn't know how to execute them.

I think Bo knows there are things that need to be fixed, but he is still developing how to fix them. The most obvious example of this to me is the train wreck sideline blow ups he had last year. Pulling Taylor, putting in Cody, throwing in Lee. I think he knows he screwed up. There points this season where he probably should have pulled him, but didn't.

I think he is still learning recruiting.

I've got the Husker goggles on, but I think next year is going to tell us a lot. I think we too often forget that this is Bo's first head coaching gig. He's going to make mistakes, but will those some mistakes continue?

 

[Haspula]

I thought that Iowa win was pretty good as well

 

[zoogs]

Just curious: If tomorrow you had to create a completely new NU coaching staff who would you pick? Hypothetical question but would be interested in who you think would come to NU and change things.

I can only think of one name I'd feel good about, if Bo were to go.

Chris Peterson.

 

[Scratchtown]

in this day and age its not about how many wins you have, its about how many losses you have, who its to, and how you lost.

in my opinion the way we have lost recently and who we've lost to. These are definitely head scratchers

 

[ILHusker]

Just curious: If tomorrow you had to create a completely new NU coaching staff who would you pick? Hypothetical question but would be interested in who you think would come to NU and change things.

I can only think of one name I'd feel good about, if Bo were to go.

Chris Peterson.

Yep, I just said the same thing a few minutes ago. I completely agree he would be the only candidate out there worth conducting a coaching change immediately. I honestly don't think TO will do it though.