I am starting this thread because i want to know everyone's reasons why they want Bo Pelini as our next head coach. However i also want to know why some people dont want Pelini. So post your support for Pelini, or your reasons you dont like him.
I'll start.........
I really like Pelini and was intrigued with the people who said they dislike him, so i did some reasearch to see how good of a job Pelini actually did for NU in 2003.
And here is what i found.
In 2002 (Craig Bohl's last year as DC) NU went 7-7, however they played a very difficult scheduel. Out of the seven losses, 4 of those losses were against teams that finished the year in the top 20 (Penn. St.- 16, Texas-6, Kan. St.- 7, Colorado- 20), so they didnt lose to a bunch of bad teams.
That 2002 teams Defense finished the year ranked(in the nation):
total defense- 55th at 362 yds/game
scoring defense- 45th at 24 pts/game
turnover margin-73rd at -.21
This defense finished with 32 sacks, 12 Ints and 21 total turnovers, 126 TFL. The top five tacklers on the team were Demario William-91, Barret Ruud-91, Phillip Bland- 84, Scott Shanle-71, Ryon Bingham-67.
Out of those top 5 Williams, Ruud, and Bingham returned the next year. Out of the top 20 tacklers on the team, 13 players returned the next year.
When Pelini got here he had a somewhat experienced team with 7 returning starters on Defense (LB-Ruud and Williams DL- Bingham, Trevor Johnson, Patrick Kabongo CB- Fabian Washington S-Josh Bullocks) Pelini then took this team and made them a dominating, ball hawking defense.
In 2003 (Pelini as DC) NU went 10-3, While they didnt play the most difficult scheduel, out of their three losses two came against teams that ended the year in the top 15 (Kan. St.-14 and Texas-12)
The 2003 Defense finished the year ranked(in the nation):
total defense-11th at 297 yds/game
scoring defense- 2nd at 14.5 pts/game
turnover margin- 1st at 1.77
This defense finished with 27 sacks, 32 Ints and 47 total turnovers, 95 TFL. The top five tacklers on the team were Barret Ruud-149, Demario Williams-128, T.J. Hollowell-80, Daniel Bullocks-69, Trevor Johnson-68. Out of those top 5 Ruud and Bullocks both returned the next year. Out of the top 20 tacklers on the team 12 returned the next year.
When Cosgrove got to NU he had about the same amount of experience as Pelini got when he came to NU. There were 6 returning starters for the 2004 season (LB- Ruud, DL- Benard Thomas, Le Kevin Smith CB- Fabian Washington, S- Josh Bullocks and Daniel Bullocks). After Pelini left this defense was never the same.
In 2004 (the year after Pelini left) NU finished 5-6 while only playing two teams that finished in the top 20 (Texas Tech-18 and Oklahoma-3)
The 2004 Defense finished the year ranked(in the nation):
Total Defense- 56th at 371.5 yds/game
Scoring Defense-71 at 27 pts/game
turnover margin-110 -1.09
The defense finished with 25 sacks, 14 Ints and 21 total turnovers, and 112 TFL. The top five tacklers were Barrett Ruud- 143, Stewart Bradley-67, Josh Bullocks- 63, Daniel Bullocks- 58, Chad Sievers- 54.
So after looking at all these numbers i think it is very impressive what Bo Pelini did at Nebraska. Pelini took a D that was barely in the top half of college defenses and almost made them a top 10 defense, then he leaves and they go right back to being barely in the top half of defenses.
Now i am sure people are going to say that Pelini did a terrible job against any good team he played because of those three losses in 2003. However you need to take a closer look at those 3 losses.
-In the loss to Missouri 24-41 in Columbia, Brad Smith did burn NU's D with 123 rushing yards, however Nebraska's offense committed 6 turnovers. You cant expect a team not to score when you give them the ball that many times
-In the loss to Texas 7-31 in Austin, Nebraska gave up a lot of yards on the ground with 353, but that was to 2 very good players in Vince Young and Cedric Benson. Once again the offense did very little to help the defense, eventhough they only turned the ball over once, the huskers managed only 175 total yards. They punted 9 times.
-In the loss to Kansas St. 9-38 in Lincoln, Again the Huskers got burned by Darren Sproles with 140 yards and 313 passing yards by El Roberson. It was the same old story on offense however, Nebraska committed 5 turnovers and punted 7 times.
*In those 3 losses Nebraska's Defense jsut ran out of gas in the 4th quarter because they were on the field for to long in all of those games. Missouri score 27 points in the 4th quarter, Texas scored 14 points in the 4th quarter and 21 points in the 4th quarter.
-If Nebraska had a better offense that could have held onto the ball and given the defense a rest i think we win the Kan. St. and Misouri games.
I was listening to Mike&Mike in the morning today and they were talking with Mark Schlereth about the coaches Mark and Mike Golic played for in their football careers. Both Mark and Mike agreed that the coaches that win games usually are coaches that can motivate their players. We all know that Pelini can motivate his players and i love that. We all know that Tom Osborne wasnt this fire breething motivator, but i think you need one coach on your staff that has this abilityand Charlie McBride was that coach for Osborne. McBride i think was more of the motivator and Osborne kept eveything in perspective. So why not have the motivator as your HC and then bring in a perspective guy as your OC and other assistants.
Another thing that Pelini has over most of the other top candidates is he is coaching in the SEC right now and doing very well. I do beleive that the SEC is the best conference in the nation, and every week LSU goes up against a very good team. I really like Turner Gill, but he is playing in the MAC conference and he just hasnt faced a tough opponent every week like Pelini has.
OK this is a very long post but i did all this research and need to show it to someone. So if you make it through all that congratulations.
I want to hear everyone else's thoughts on why you want Pelini, or why you dont want Pelini and want a different coach.
I'll start.........
I really like Pelini and was intrigued with the people who said they dislike him, so i did some reasearch to see how good of a job Pelini actually did for NU in 2003.
And here is what i found.
In 2002 (Craig Bohl's last year as DC) NU went 7-7, however they played a very difficult scheduel. Out of the seven losses, 4 of those losses were against teams that finished the year in the top 20 (Penn. St.- 16, Texas-6, Kan. St.- 7, Colorado- 20), so they didnt lose to a bunch of bad teams.
That 2002 teams Defense finished the year ranked(in the nation):
total defense- 55th at 362 yds/game
scoring defense- 45th at 24 pts/game
turnover margin-73rd at -.21
This defense finished with 32 sacks, 12 Ints and 21 total turnovers, 126 TFL. The top five tacklers on the team were Demario William-91, Barret Ruud-91, Phillip Bland- 84, Scott Shanle-71, Ryon Bingham-67.
Out of those top 5 Williams, Ruud, and Bingham returned the next year. Out of the top 20 tacklers on the team, 13 players returned the next year.
When Pelini got here he had a somewhat experienced team with 7 returning starters on Defense (LB-Ruud and Williams DL- Bingham, Trevor Johnson, Patrick Kabongo CB- Fabian Washington S-Josh Bullocks) Pelini then took this team and made them a dominating, ball hawking defense.
In 2003 (Pelini as DC) NU went 10-3, While they didnt play the most difficult scheduel, out of their three losses two came against teams that ended the year in the top 15 (Kan. St.-14 and Texas-12)
The 2003 Defense finished the year ranked(in the nation):
total defense-11th at 297 yds/game
scoring defense- 2nd at 14.5 pts/game
turnover margin- 1st at 1.77
This defense finished with 27 sacks, 32 Ints and 47 total turnovers, 95 TFL. The top five tacklers on the team were Barret Ruud-149, Demario Williams-128, T.J. Hollowell-80, Daniel Bullocks-69, Trevor Johnson-68. Out of those top 5 Ruud and Bullocks both returned the next year. Out of the top 20 tacklers on the team 12 returned the next year.
When Cosgrove got to NU he had about the same amount of experience as Pelini got when he came to NU. There were 6 returning starters for the 2004 season (LB- Ruud, DL- Benard Thomas, Le Kevin Smith CB- Fabian Washington, S- Josh Bullocks and Daniel Bullocks). After Pelini left this defense was never the same.
In 2004 (the year after Pelini left) NU finished 5-6 while only playing two teams that finished in the top 20 (Texas Tech-18 and Oklahoma-3)
The 2004 Defense finished the year ranked(in the nation):
Total Defense- 56th at 371.5 yds/game
Scoring Defense-71 at 27 pts/game
turnover margin-110 -1.09
The defense finished with 25 sacks, 14 Ints and 21 total turnovers, and 112 TFL. The top five tacklers were Barrett Ruud- 143, Stewart Bradley-67, Josh Bullocks- 63, Daniel Bullocks- 58, Chad Sievers- 54.
So after looking at all these numbers i think it is very impressive what Bo Pelini did at Nebraska. Pelini took a D that was barely in the top half of college defenses and almost made them a top 10 defense, then he leaves and they go right back to being barely in the top half of defenses.
Now i am sure people are going to say that Pelini did a terrible job against any good team he played because of those three losses in 2003. However you need to take a closer look at those 3 losses.
-In the loss to Missouri 24-41 in Columbia, Brad Smith did burn NU's D with 123 rushing yards, however Nebraska's offense committed 6 turnovers. You cant expect a team not to score when you give them the ball that many times
-In the loss to Texas 7-31 in Austin, Nebraska gave up a lot of yards on the ground with 353, but that was to 2 very good players in Vince Young and Cedric Benson. Once again the offense did very little to help the defense, eventhough they only turned the ball over once, the huskers managed only 175 total yards. They punted 9 times.
-In the loss to Kansas St. 9-38 in Lincoln, Again the Huskers got burned by Darren Sproles with 140 yards and 313 passing yards by El Roberson. It was the same old story on offense however, Nebraska committed 5 turnovers and punted 7 times.
*In those 3 losses Nebraska's Defense jsut ran out of gas in the 4th quarter because they were on the field for to long in all of those games. Missouri score 27 points in the 4th quarter, Texas scored 14 points in the 4th quarter and 21 points in the 4th quarter.
-If Nebraska had a better offense that could have held onto the ball and given the defense a rest i think we win the Kan. St. and Misouri games.
I was listening to Mike&Mike in the morning today and they were talking with Mark Schlereth about the coaches Mark and Mike Golic played for in their football careers. Both Mark and Mike agreed that the coaches that win games usually are coaches that can motivate their players. We all know that Pelini can motivate his players and i love that. We all know that Tom Osborne wasnt this fire breething motivator, but i think you need one coach on your staff that has this abilityand Charlie McBride was that coach for Osborne. McBride i think was more of the motivator and Osborne kept eveything in perspective. So why not have the motivator as your HC and then bring in a perspective guy as your OC and other assistants.
Another thing that Pelini has over most of the other top candidates is he is coaching in the SEC right now and doing very well. I do beleive that the SEC is the best conference in the nation, and every week LSU goes up against a very good team. I really like Turner Gill, but he is playing in the MAC conference and he just hasnt faced a tough opponent every week like Pelini has.
OK this is a very long post but i did all this research and need to show it to someone. So if you make it through all that congratulations.
I want to hear everyone else's thoughts on why you want Pelini, or why you dont want Pelini and want a different coach.
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