Are Husker Fans Lowering Their Expectations?

skersfan said:
First off BigRed Iowan, my coments were not pointed at you.

Frank got six years, is my point.

We are starting our 4th year, that means counting this year we have 3 to see what BC can do.

In Frank's best year after TO's players were gone, that would be his last, we got trounced by teams that were not National level teams. Why does he get the free pass on those. 9-3 over patsies, and bad losses to any team with a pulse.

Frank had four years of TO's players, BC still has Frank's players for another year. After next year will be when I will start to question if the wins are not where I expect them to be. I have no patience for another Ok State game and I have posted that numerous times. But do you feel we could lose to Missouri, in general a lot of people feel we will, is our talent and experience better than theirs. I truly do not know, but I do know that every program out there that has boosters are making efforts to be better. We had a few years where recruiting was poor and the AD realy could have cared less about football. Money was not channeled correctly. But the new administration has made football the priority. We needed that to stap competitive. In todays college football you can not take a day off, we took about 4 years off. It takes time to make up those steps guys, is all I am saying.

Keller, Culbert and a few others are stop gap players. They are not what BC went after. For this program to be successful like some demand, he has to start getting the first choice, not what can be made to fit the program or the ones the top programs pass on. It does appear that this years class is moving in that direction

I have been against any athlete that has questionable backgrounds, it has nothing to do with BC. I felt the same when Tom and Frank were here.

I compare Keller to the DeAngelo Evans situation years back. I hope he proves to be what all hope he is, but in 60 years I have learned very few people change. Some do and I am hoping as much as all of you that he does the job he is capable of.

I never once harped for Frank to be fired. I felt he most likely should have had another year to see what the new staff could have done. But the second he hit the door, I supported the new coach and would have no matter who it was. Trust me BC was not my first choice. I wanted Pat Hill from Fresno State and then Urban Meyers.

But I have always harped on talent, even after the 1997 championship I made coments as to why we were not mentioned by the top rated kids. Michigan then was taking 20% of the top rated kids in the country and we got very few if any. Recruiting became very important at that time. Withe internet information being provided daily, we just never seemed to grasp that. We recruited only what we thought would work in our program, road graders. But they were now being exposed to the NFL via the internet on a daily basis. Show me the money became the cry. If we would have been active at that time in recruiting we may still have been running the Option. We pulled in our horns. That is the main reason Frank is gone!
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You know, it's funny that Visor Bob won a nat'l championship with the previous coach's players. But if you want to buy into the "it's all Frank's fault" BS, I suppose I can't stop you. It's nothing but a weak excuse IMO.

 
You always buy into what is the easiest to support your story.

Do you remember the job search for Stoops? How almost every big eight/12 coach and most in the country felt all that was needed for that team to be a NC contender was a QB. His cupboard was stocked (Thank you coach Blake) and he would not have come to Oklahoma if had not been. See Urban Meyer, he turned down his dream job because of the talent at Florida.

Most top coaches wanted nothing to do with Nebraska, for two reasons, the way Pederson handled the firing of Coach Solich and the beyond reality expectations of Nebraska fans. BC welcomed the expectations with open arms, knowing full well he had a major job of getting his type of player here.

I understnd your frustration with the play calling. I sat at the SC game last year and wondered why in god's creation he was doing what he was. But within a couple of weeks, Pete Carrol made the coment that BC/Nebraska had shown the rest of the country how to beat SC. We just did not have enough talent to do the job. Pete Carrol made coments when BC was hired that Nebraska would be back in the hunt in a short time. His peers seem to think he can do the job.

He has had three years, but all gave Frank six, and really no much complaining until the 5th year. BC was not and is not the person to be upset with, your hatred should be towards our AD. I can not stand the man, but he is doing things that Byrne would never have done. He is trying to put us back on the map no matter the cost. He is a Nebraskan and I am sure he wants to succeed as badly as anyone.

 
NUpolo8 said:
while I do think Callahan has a chance to succeed, up to now I have been underwhelmed.
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You're not the only one. Nebraska has to at least match last season's success. There are a few things that I must see for me to take Callahan off a heated seat. For one, his game day management has got to improve and we need to stop pulling out trick plays like their going out of style. Just play ball. Granted, his recruits are highly touted, but that doesn't mean jack if wins are not put up, clear and simple.

 
I think expectations are different for a new coach when he follows a coach that was let go vs a coach that was hired after the previous one retired in great standing.

For T.O. and Frankie the expectations were higher. For BC its been this is going to take some time. Solich had some successful seasons but they were tainted by some lopsided losses that affected NU fans view of his performance. We have seen seasons like this so far in the BC era. In fact one could argue not quite as good as we have avg 5 losses a yr so far in this new era and being ranked is a rarity. This is why I will always dispute how far down the program went with the last staff. We were usually ranked and considered a major player nationally. I still feel there was a over reaction on the success or lack of in the Solich era. Face it we were spoiled by the last 10 yrs before.

With the vast change in systems, I think most Husker fans saw that this would take time. For that reason alone, I think expectations were tempered with this knowledge. It (expectations) does however grow with each season. Especially with these overhyped recruit classes always thrown in fan's faces.

 
Well I would give Callahan two more years to fix our program. If you don't think a 5 loss, unranked season needs to be fixed, you have lowered your expectations too far. We're not Kansas or Missouri here. This is Nebraska and football is our flagship program.

I like everything that Callahan has done at Nebraska so far, except for his playcalling. :/

All the same, if you haven't righted a program after 6 or 7 years, how can you justify that? Make all the excuses you want, but if you can only manage to break the AP top 25 one in every three years with that much time, it's time for a new coach. I don't want to hear any more reasons why season 8 or 9 will be so much better with new recruits or facilities or whatever. You had your chance and have blown it by that point. As a coach you are hired primarily to make your team win. If you can't do that, we'll need to find someone who can.

 
I haven't been a apart of this thread and haven't even read what you guys are saying but in my opion yes we are lowering our expectations, not to say it is for the worst but After 94 and 95 every years goal was a national championship what was it last year. Win the north while the north is in a lot worse of shape now then when the goal was an NC. What is the goal this year from most fans it is to win the big 12, not many people are serious about us winning the NC. I want an NC but I know it probably wont happen this year.

 
Maybe the average fan does expect a NC every year. But some of us don't and never did. Winning the NC normally takes a lot of luck, good schedule and good exposure. It helps to have true Hypsman type player on your team. (Recruiting raises its ugly head again).

I go into every single year hoping for a shot at the NC. But I never expected to see us play for the NC. Not really expected it, but felt it was a good chance, were the normal years.

I spent many years after TO took over thinking it would be the NC year. It took 20 some years to get that expected NC. In todays world, TO might not have been around long enough, who knows.

So we had a great run for 4years. Many before us have had similar runs. But I don't hear Alabama fans saying they should at least win their conference or play for the NC. I don't even hear SC fans making those type of comments. Pride, high hopes, but not expectations of being the NC. They know they have to play the games, and know anything can happen.

BC will be on the hot seat with me, if we continue to have second half melt downs. Both offensively and defensesively. I do not expect BC to win every game. But I do expect a well prepared team to take the field and play with every ounce of energy, loyalty and dedication they have in their bodies. That in the last couple of seasons is what I have seen. I have not seen this team quit. That is the coaches job, to do the best with what he has. I think BC does that.

I expect a true Nebraska team, you don't win anymore because of the writing on the helmet, all you have to do is look at Michigan, Ohio State, Miami, Florida State, Texas, LSU and Southern California. You have to play the games, and against other coaches, players and programs that want to win every bit as bad as we do. And normally the team with the best talent wins, just as in any business.

 
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i agree skersfan. i EXPECT good talent. i EXPECT hard play. i EXPECT a chance to win every game. add these up and the expectations are high but they're not DEMANDS. i don't demand NC's. but i expect if we put things together (facilites, sell outs, recruits, luck, a competitive sched) then the expectations are within reach. i just personally feel callahan will get the job done and the players are responding to his style. if we were 6-4 5-5 every year, i'd be like "damn, i expect a little more, what's the deal?"

so i don't think having expectations are the same as unrealistic demands. i love this school i want them to win, by 40 or 4 i don't care. most schools, CU, say 'who cares if we win 4 games as long as we beat neb.' well, those are some crappy expectations and they are low. we are not like that. i expect more.

 
I see there is a fine line between being a realist and having a chicken little complex and some people appear to be crossing over into the second.

As I've said before the program is headed in the right direction. I believe the corner is about to be turned with the "new" system Coach Callahan put in place.

If it continues at the current rate the 2008 recruiting class may be the best ever at Nebraska and is stacking up against the other elite programs. Keep your fingers crossed on Arthur Brown.

My expectations have never waivered.

 
I think everyone is taking this a little far. All Trev was saying is that if we are okay and continue to say we're making progress but we're still losing 5 games a season, then yes expectation have been lowered here at Nebraska. Not once did he say that BC needs to be fired. Not once did he say he's not the right coach for the job. All he said is that he should be feeling a little bit of heat going into year 4. He's saying he needs some big wins. Just like Solich losing badly to Colorado helped seal his fate, BC should feel a lot of heat from the loss to OSU and the near loss to KU last year. Yes, we almost beat some big time programs. However, we did lose one and nearly lost another to some lower class programs. Basically it comes down to this: if you were satisfied with last year then yeah the expectations are probably lower.

I don't know what the big deal is with expectations. I have to be honest. Throughout 70% or more of TO's career, I expected to lose every bowl game we played in. The 80's and early 90's were not good for TO and NU especially in bowl games. Whenever we played a powerhouse team during TO's tenure in regular season, I expected to lose (ie Washington). After the 2004 season, I expected a loss in about every game we played in 2005. After the 2002 season, I was ready to throw Jamal Lord under the bus. Expectations come from dealing with history. Now that we've been totally off the radar for 4 years, of course our expectations are lower. The only way the expectations will be higher is when we really do something out of the ordinary again. Will it be this year? Will it be next year? Who knows.

 
I agree, I very seldom expected to win Bowl games. I knew if we got by Oklahoma and made it to the Orange Bowl we would most likely get beaten by a smaller, faster team. Trev just happened to be around when all was rosey, but there 20 years prior that most had lower expectations.

New fans only remember the mid 90's, there were a lot of sad days during the previous 20 years trust me.

 
skersfan said:
Winning the NC normally takes a lot of luck, good schedule and good exposure. It helps to have true Hypsman type player on your team.

I don't even hear SC fans making those type of comments. Pride, high hopes, but not expectations of being the NC. They know they have to play the games, and know anything can happen

You have to play the games, and against other coaches, players and programs that want to win every bit as bad as we do. And normally the team with the best talent wins, just as in any business.
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:yeah This is so true. First, luck is a tremendous factor. You can't recruit it, practice it, or perfect it. You know the old saying, "I'd rather be lucky than good."

Schedule, not only who you play, but when you play. Example, what do you think the SC-NU game would be like later in the year?

Big mouth SC fans say that stuff, but guys who have been around and have seen what can happen don't. You have to play the game. UCLA last year is a good example. They were not the team we demolished in 2005, but we played like they were.

Honestly, on paper you guys don't have a chance against us. But so did Oregon State. But the game isn't played on paper. It will be played in front 70,000 plus hostile huskers. I honestly don't know who is going to win.

Lou Holtz once said something that caught my attention. He said, "You can't win without players, but coaches can lose the game." (Not implying anything about BC)

Anything can happen. Anything. Thats what makes college football so great and pro football so dull.

 
Who's expectations haven't been lowered? Last year when they won the big 12 north there was some huge celebration after the colorado game which I thought was over the top because any other year that the huskers won the big 12 north there was no stupid trophy celebrations. I thought it was a bunch of bogus BS and they shouldn't have celebrated unless Nebraska won the big 12 title game.

My expectations are lowered because obviously were not gonna win a national championship, we probably won't win the big 12 title game if we even get there because they could choke against Missouri. I expect less out of Callahan because he's simply just not that good of a coach. I also expect to lose to USC because come on, with their talent and their coach which is one of the best in CFB makes it pretty hard to win. I'm not saying its impossible, just unlikely. I really hope that we have a breakout year but I'm not expecting it. It'll probably be similar to last year. Except we might try this time against USC.

 
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