Do you think this is going to be a staple of the Pelini era?

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The first three seasons under Bo Pelini have had far more positive than negative elements to them, and a few recurring themes have, so far, emerged. Playing much better football during the second half of the season is one, playing in a funk at Memorial Stadium is another, dropping at least one game in the first half of the season that by all accounts, probably should have (perhaps the correct term is could have) been won is another.

This third one has me worried, quite a bit. In 2008 we were more than capable of beating Virginia Tech, but weren't able to get it done. We also got absolutely trounced by Missouri in Lincoln, another game that Bo came out and took the blame for. In '09, we all remember how close we were at Va Tech, and also remember the debacles that were Texas Tech and Iowa State.

My question is this:

Do you think the only reason our team gets motivated, focused and disciplined enough to play great football in the latter stages of the season is only because of the shortcomings they experienced early on fueling them, making them work that much harder? Do you think that those early season mishaps can and will be shored up, or is this problem a result of a fundamental flaw in the way our coaching staff is going about things? If they can be shored up, does that affect our momentum and execution later in the season?

 
Yeah I think your thoughts have some merit. It just goes with having some younger players at key positions and a younger coaching staff. They will figure it out.

 
Good questions. I think I would consider the near wins of Va Tech (both years), Texas Tech 08, and Texas last year as positives (for that matter, a game like Texas '07 or '06). Sooner or later we will break through. I do think they make the team more hungry. The negatives I see are games like ISU/TT last year, SDSU this year, and Texas this year. Those are games we could have won, but something was clearly lacking in the preparation. That's what sort of worries me, but not in the grand scheme of things. Just something we could watch out for when aligning our expectations.

 
There definitely seems to be some sort of motivation and/or focus issue with this staff, especially the first half of the season but occasionally later as well. Hard to say exactly which coaches are to blame. Even though Osborne went through growing pains, it's hard to imagine any of his teams having a game like '09 Texas Tech.

 
I think we're still transitioning this team to the culture Bo has wanted all along. This goes back to Bo's "We're back" statement following that convincing win over Zona. The one thing we saw from that game that I haven't seen nearly as much (if at all) this season is the swagger, the way we carried ourselves in that dominating performance, and I think that's part of the culture Bo is working toward. Our entire team was confident and geeked throughout that entire Holiday Bowl performance, whether it be the guy making the tackle or the 3rd stringer standing on the sideline. That confidence was generated from the belief they could AND SHOULD beat anybody anytime anywhere.

IMO we won't see consistently focused and dominant performances from our players and coaches until we get this swagger back 'cause somewhere along the way after that Zona win, we lost it.

 
JTrain said:
There definitely seems to be some sort of motivation and/or focus issue with this staff, especially the first half of the season but occasionally later as well. Hard to say exactly which coaches are to blame. Even though Osborne went through growing pains, it's hard to imagine any of his teams having a game like '09 Texas Tech.
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Wow, I don't know about that. Even later in his career, TO had a few games like the 09' Texas Tech game. I'd put the game against Arizona State in 96' right up there with Texas Tech. We looked and played horrible in that game.

 
It's like after Bo stated we were "Back" the players took that and decided that they were now good enough to simply go through the motions and win and it took the SDSU game to snap them back to reality and they focused and destroyed KSU, then they reverted back to that same thinking of, well, we're back to being "back" now, then came Texas. Let's just hope the outcome this weekend is similar to the KSU bounce back after SDSU. It's a weird deal, I know that. All good questions by the OP though.

 
I have been thinking the same thing for the last few months. But even Dr. Tom took a little more than 3 years to make it to a MNC...

 
honestly, you can not be disappointed in a ten win regular season, regardless of when the losses come. i will wait until the end of the season to pass any judgment (harsh judgment). the tu loss hurts because we underperformed (catch the ball, and we win) and we could/should have won. but it happens.

 
Nowledge_U_Interrelated said:
The creamers are just EXPOSED as usual. After they lose to Okie State this weekend they will again be a team of the past. SEE THROUGH THE HYPE. SEE THROUGH THE HYPE.
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This is what you want us to do, right?

greatwhitehypever1.jpg


 
I believe and continue to believe that our early season woes should be blamed on the offense the last two years. Last year's Texas Tech and Iowa State games were extremely winnable, and the Nebraska offense even spotted Texas Tech a touchdown and good field position a couple of times that game.

And in the Texas game, despite our clear issues at linebacker, our defense played well enough to win that game and early game turnover close to the red zone led to (I believe) a Touchdown for Texas.

In short, I think this has more to do with getting the offense focused and ready to play than the defense. Whether that should go on Bo's shoulders, Watson's shoulders, or both, something has to be done there.

 
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Enhance89 said:
I believe and continue to believe that our early season woes should be blamed on the offense the last two years. Last year's Texas Tech and Iowa State games were extremely winnable, and the Nebraska offense even spotted Texas Tech a touchdown and good field position a couple of times that game.

And in the Texas game, despite our clear issues at linebacker, our defense played well enough to win that game and early game turnover close to the red zone led to (I believe) a field goal for Texas.

In short, I think this has more to do with getting the offense focused and ready to play than the defense. Whether that should go on Bo's shoulders, Watson's shoulders, or both, something has to be done there.
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it was a touchdown. they went up 10-0 quick. i think it is an attitude problem, myself.

 
sd said:
Enhance89 said:
I believe and continue to believe that our early season woes should be blamed on the offense the last two years. Last year's Texas Tech and Iowa State games were extremely winnable, and the Nebraska offense even spotted Texas Tech a touchdown and good field position a couple of times that game.

And in the Texas game, despite our clear issues at linebacker, our defense played well enough to win that game and early game turnover close to the red zone led to (I believe) a field goal for Texas.

In short, I think this has more to do with getting the offense focused and ready to play than the defense. Whether that should go on Bo's shoulders, Watson's shoulders, or both, something has to be done there.
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it was a touchdown. they went up 10-0 quick. i think it is an attitude problem, myself.
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Edited. Thanks.

 
I am going to chalk this game up to a one time event. Maybe they were confused and thought this was a flag football game.

Last year, Bo said the team was a work in progress and by the end of the year that 4 loss team could play with anyone. They couldn't score consistently but they were a top 5 team. Considering how they played against UT and UA, NU was a top five team.

It is hard to imagine this team not being prepared or motivated for such a huge game. This team can still win the North, Big 12 and a BCS bowl game.

If those goals are attained I will feel this team made great strides over the last 5 years.

This would set up a top 5 finish and a great way to enter Big 10 play next year.

 
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