Chatelain's column - 2003 all over again

[np_husker]

I realize that people on this board get nasty with any member of the media who would dare question the direction of the program, but I agree with this column - it's the same thing season after season and we should expect more.

http://www.omaha.com...n-over-and-over

 

[The Dude]

 

[NUinID]

I guess the thing I dislike about Dirk is the way he does it. Why doesn't he just say it. Just say that you think Pelini should be fired which is what you want.

 

[Husker NoNo]

Just a pipe dream, but someday I would like to be a Husker fan that didn't have to deal with the "put in Armstrong...Martinez sucks...wait Armstrong sucks...RKIII...wait fire Bo. Actually fire them all. Start over!" crap. I long for the day when we simply get beat on occasion, and don't have to fire the whole staff when we lose.

 

[Ziebol]

Very solid article, minus calling the players dudes. It really is the same song and dance year after year;

1.Everyone gets excited for the potential of a great season

2. We start off the year beating up bad teams,

3. We have one scare against one of said bad teams,

4. We go into our first big game against an equally matched opponent,

5.We lose in unreal fashion,

6.Fans flip out,

7.We bang out a few more wins,

8.Fans are back,

9.Kool aid is strong,

10. We choke,

11a. We get embarrassed by a lesser opponent,

12.We start to see that we are not making progress <insert year> of the Pelini Era,

13.We have a comeback win or a grind it out match,

14. We finally beat a team with a pulse,

15. Fans start thinking maybe we have changed,

16. Blown out on national tv,

17. The all is lost moment,

and now we are here at number 18. The part where the fans part like the sea of red and have the same damn debate over and over, ‘We can’t fire a coach who wins 9 wins year after year’ vs. ‘We can’t continue with a coach who fails to win more than 9 games’

Everyone can’t keep trying to pump sunshine into this, but at the moment our beloved program is a crapshoot. We have no idea where we are heading and no idea where to set our expectations. We are a fanbase who expects steak, but we are getting Big Mac’s instead. We have an average at best team and people are not satisfied.

 

[Street Novelist]

Bo deserves another year. You have to chalk up injuries as a major factor to us losing these games. When you don't have your best players available, you can expect the standard of play to go down.

 

[True2tRA]

Can we just stop answering every problem with "fire" this or that.

No seriously, Bo doesn't like the kids playing with fire. He caught JT with a book of matches one time. Apparently him and a few other players were trying to light a hot wheels car on fire after practice. Bo didn't get angry. No like a true father figure, he just pulled JT aside, gave him a Werthers Original and calmly discussed the dangers of playing with fire.

 

[Huskerfan1985]

It's a good article but I have a hard time putting this one on Bo. Unfortunately, this just the kind of game rs freshmen qbs have from time to time. Our errors were self inflicted period. The offense had openings all game long.

The area there is no excuse for is the return game. Been a problem for years.needs fixed a year ago.

 

[HANC]

Ok, I don't "disagree" with the column, but look at the landscape of colleg football. There is so much more parity today than when TO coached. During the 70-80-90's, there truly where only about 10 really good programs in the entire country, and only 2 good programs in our conference.

Based on what d!(k, ( oops ), I mean Dirk, wrote, I am sure glad he wasn't making decisions during the 70-80's and early 90's or Tom, nor we as fans, would have ever had the opportunity to celebrate like we did...

Lets' see.... Winning 9 games a year, filling stadiums, having guys play hard and never quit, and LOSING most of the big games that your team plays.......are we talking about Tom or Bo.... because that is exactly what Tom did for the longest time. If Nebraska was able to beat OU, then you could almost automatically assume that we would lose in the bowl game or NC game... and yes, Tom's teams did get upset more than once.....Missouri, Iowa State, Florida State, Syracuse, on and on....

Now, I am not bashing TO, because he is my role model, (named my son after him), my wife has extremely close (daily) ties to TO and you will not find a bigger TO fan in the world than me.......but just trying to point out that TO and Bo are taking the same path... and TO only had to win 1 big game a year....not UCLA, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan State (last year's schedule)..... and with only probably 10 great programs in the 70-80's, it was pretty stinkin easy to stay in the top 25.

This defense is very young and in given time, they will be outstanding. I predict that even as soon as next year, this team will have a top 10 defense, and if not, it will be in 2 years. The offense was destroyed by injury... You lose an All-American lineman, 1st team All-Big 10 qb, and injuries to basically the rest of the O-line and 2 of your top 3 WR.......WOW.... and you still find a way to beat Michigan at Ann Arbor and you somehow are even "in" a game after turning it over 5 times.....

This team has heart and passion, along with RAW talent.... the heart and passion start at the top....Bo....

If you want to set the program back another 5-8 years, listen to d!(k (oops, did it again), I mean Dirk....if not.... pray that Shawn makes the right choice. I can 100 %, without doubt, say that TO is hoping that Bo sticks around....and no, I will not a source on the last comment...

 

[NUpolo8]

Ok, I don't "disagree" with the column, but look at the landscape of colleg football. There is so much more parity today than when TO coached. During the 70-80-90's, there truly where only about 10 really good programs in the entire country, and only 2 good programs in our conference.

Based on what d!(k, ( oops ), I mean Dirk, wrote, I am sure glad he wasn't making decisions during the 70-80's and early 90's or Tom, nor we as fans, would have ever had the opportunity to celebrate like we did...

Lets' see.... Winning 9 games a year, filling stadiums, having guys play hard and never quit, and LOSING most of the big games that your team plays.......are we talking about Tom or Bo.... because that is exactly what Tom did for the longest time. If Nebraska was able to beat OU, then you could almost automatically assume that we would lose in the bowl game or NC game... and yes, Tom's teams did get upset more than once.....Missouri, Iowa State, Florida State, Syracuse, on and on....

Now, I am not bashing TO, because he is my role model, (named my son after him), my wife has extremely close (daily) ties to TO and you will not find a bigger TO fan in the world than me.......but just trying to point out that TO and Bo are taking the same path... and TO only had to win 1 big game a year....not UCLA, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan State (last year's schedule)..... and with only probably 10 great programs in the 70-80's, it was pretty stinkin easy to stay in the top 25.

This defense is very young and in given time, they will be outstanding. I predict that even as soon as next year, this team will have a top 10 defense, and if not, it will be in 2 years. The offense was destroyed by injury... You lose an All-American lineman, 1st team All-Big 10 qb, and injuries to basically the rest of the O-line and 2 of your top 3 WR.......WOW.... and you still find a way to beat Michigan at Ann Arbor and you somehow are even "in" a game after turning it over 5 times.....

This team has heart and passion, along with RAW talent.... the heart and passion start at the top....Bo....

If you want to set the program back another 5-8 years, listen to d!(k (oops, did it again), I mean Dirk....if not.... pray that Shawn makes the right choice. I can 100 %, without doubt, say that TO is hoping that Bo sticks around....and no, I will not a source on the last comment...

Yeah it would really be a scary thing if Bo Pelini got fired and Nebraska stopped being ranked, lost twice a year at home, usually in embarrassing fashion, constantly shot its foot off in big games, and didn't win a conference title for a decade and a half.

 

[suh_fan93]

It really depends on what you want for this program. Are you happy with just the number itself? Hey look we won (insert # or wins here) x amount of games this year and x amount of games last year so things are fine! Or are you someone who wants this program to be relevant again in terms of being legitimate contenders for conference championships and yes even national championships instead of a team who struggles just to be ranked.

Most fans at least on here it seems fall into the former category. Per the article the reality is indeed this:

"Nebraskans are watching the same season over and over while the standards of success slowly fall like a balloon running out of helium."

If you're happy with winning a certain amount of games each year or moreso how that looks on paper then Pelini is your man. Leave him be. You'll get your x amount of wins each year guaranteed. If you want to be legitimately relevant again then I think at least for me anyway the writing was on the wall years ago. There are plenty of other programs out there with relatively inexperienced and/or new head coaches who have programs that don't have the history of success that Nebraska does yet they have managed to turn their respective teams into winners/contenders.

For me Chatelain's column is spot on but doesn't tell me anything I didn't already feel.

 

[True2tRA]

Personally, I thought a football coaches job at this level was to compete for championships, but Bo listed his priorities when he was hired here. I don't know if many of you remember that press conference, but he listed quite a few other things above winning games. We shouldn't be surprised. He is taking care of these kids, academics are up, he's teaching them to succeed in life after football and apparently winning games is on the back burner to those things. Okay I guess? I wish we could have both, but maybe both are not possible. What is possible? Are we doing our best? Or does this off the field stuff matter to people as much as the on field performance?

 

[Branno]

Ok, I don't "disagree" with the column, but look at the landscape of colleg football. There is so much more parity today than when TO coached. During the 70-80-90's, there truly where only about 10 really good programs in the entire country, and only 2 good programs in our conference.

Based on what d!(k, ( oops ), I mean Dirk, wrote, I am sure glad he wasn't making decisions during the 70-80's and early 90's or Tom, nor we as fans, would have ever had the opportunity to celebrate like we did...

Lets' see.... Winning 9 games a year, filling stadiums, having guys play hard and never quit, and LOSING most of the big games that your team plays.......are we talking about Tom or Bo.... because that is exactly what Tom did for the longest time. If Nebraska was able to beat OU, then you could almost automatically assume that we would lose in the bowl game or NC game... and yes, Tom's teams did get upset more than once.....Missouri, Iowa State, Florida State, Syracuse, on and on....

Now, I am not bashing TO, because he is my role model, (named my son after him), my wife has extremely close (daily) ties to TO and you will not find a bigger TO fan in the world than me.......but just trying to point out that TO and Bo are taking the same path... and TO only had to win 1 big game a year....not UCLA, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan State (last year's schedule)..... and with only probably 10 great programs in the 70-80's, it was pretty stinkin easy to stay in the top 25.

This defense is very young and in given time, they will be outstanding. I predict that even as soon as next year, this team will have a top 10 defense, and if not, it will be in 2 years. The offense was destroyed by injury... You lose an All-American lineman, 1st team All-Big 10 qb, and injuries to basically the rest of the O-line and 2 of your top 3 WR.......WOW.... and you still find a way to beat Michigan at Ann Arbor and you somehow are even "in" a game after turning it over 5 times.....

This team has heart and passion, along with RAW talent.... the heart and passion start at the top....Bo....

If you want to set the program back another 5-8 years, listen to d!(k (oops, did it again), I mean Dirk....if not.... pray that Shawn makes the right choice. I can 100 %, without doubt, say that TO is hoping that Bo sticks around....and no, I will not a source on the last comment...

Yeah it would really be a scary thing if Bo Pelini got fired and Nebraska stopped being ranked, lost twice a year at home, usually in embarrassing fashion, constantly shot its foot off in big games, and didn't win a conference title for a decade and a half.

The last time we fired a coach for these reasons we got Callahan. But hey, let's fire Bo cause that will fix EVERYTHING.

 

[True2tRA]

No. Don't fire anyone. I'm too scared of what might happen.

I'm not saying fire or don't fire, but this line of thinking is just crazy to me.

 

[The Dude]

Ok, I don't "disagree" with the column, but look at the landscape of colleg football. There is so much more parity today than when TO coached. During the 70-80-90's, there truly where only about 10 really good programs in the entire country, and only 2 good programs in our conference.

Based on what d!(k, ( oops ), I mean Dirk, wrote, I am sure glad he wasn't making decisions during the 70-80's and early 90's or Tom, nor we as fans, would have ever had the opportunity to celebrate like we did...

Lets' see.... Winning 9 games a year, filling stadiums, having guys play hard and never quit, and LOSING most of the big games that your team plays.......are we talking about Tom or Bo.... because that is exactly what Tom did for the longest time. If Nebraska was able to beat OU, then you could almost automatically assume that we would lose in the bowl game or NC game... and yes, Tom's teams did get upset more than once.....Missouri, Iowa State, Florida State, Syracuse, on and on....

Now, I am not bashing TO, because he is my role model, (named my son after him), my wife has extremely close (daily) ties to TO and you will not find a bigger TO fan in the world than me.......but just trying to point out that TO and Bo are taking the same path... and TO only had to win 1 big game a year....not UCLA, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan State (last year's schedule)..... and with only probably 10 great programs in the 70-80's, it was pretty stinkin easy to stay in the top 25.

This defense is very young and in given time, they will be outstanding. I predict that even as soon as next year, this team will have a top 10 defense, and if not, it will be in 2 years. The offense was destroyed by injury... You lose an All-American lineman, 1st team All-Big 10 qb, and injuries to basically the rest of the O-line and 2 of your top 3 WR.......WOW.... and you still find a way to beat Michigan at Ann Arbor and you somehow are even "in" a game after turning it over 5 times.....

This team has heart and passion, along with RAW talent.... the heart and passion start at the top....Bo....

If you want to set the program back another 5-8 years, listen to d!(k (oops, did it again), I mean Dirk....if not.... pray that Shawn makes the right choice. I can 100 %, without doubt, say that TO is hoping that Bo sticks around....and no, I will not a source on the last comment...

Yeah it would really be a scary thing if Bo Pelini got fired and Nebraska stopped being ranked, lost twice a year at home, usually in embarrassing fashion, constantly shot its foot off in big games, and didn't win a conference title for a decade and a half.

The last time we fired a coach for these reasons we got Callahan. But hey, let's fire Bo cause that will fix EVERYTHING.

When we fired Solich it was a.) not for those the reasons and b.) Peterson was calling the shots. And firing Bo won't automatically fix everything. But that in itself isn't going to keep him off the chopping block.

note: I don't think he'll be fired. Penn State is awful, and Iowa is still Iowa.