HuskerfaninOkieland
Heisman Trophy Winner
His head coaching record is 119-26. He's a proven head coach
How did Washington do it? (Comparison between NU and UW)
- Thread starter Red_Payne
- Start date
Huskerfan55
Special Teams Player
500 coach verses .820 hum wonder why?
marko polo
Special Teams Player
Landlord
Banned
Are you unfamiliar with the fairly rational assumption that if Petersen had come to Nebraska and had two near .500 seasons in a row, even more of our fanbase would be talking about him the way that some are currently talking about Riley?
CPT Blackshirt
Four-Star Recruit
Poly swag.
CPT Blackshirt
Four-Star Recruit
Poly swag.
Big Red 40
Starter
Stop with the QB complaining ! Good God Tommy was a 4 star recruit who set records at a university where Tommy Armstrong ,Eric Crouch, Scott Frost ,Turner Gill, Steve Taylor, etc etc all played and excelled.
He was stuck behind a porous offensive line that would have gotten Tom Brady killed, forced into a system that didn't utilize his considerable talents and even tried to play injured to help this team ! Did he make mistakes ? Yes plenty. But given those factors and playing the hardest position on the field, on the biggest stage, under the greatest scrutiny, only an elite few really succeed anyway.
He played his heart out for this university and deserves nothing but love from us in return. I cant think of a single game he lost completely by himself but i can think of a few he had a major role in winning.
He was stuck behind a porous offensive line that would have gotten Tom Brady killed, forced into a system that didn't utilize his considerable talents and even tried to play injured to help this team ! Did he make mistakes ? Yes plenty. But given those factors and playing the hardest position on the field, on the biggest stage, under the greatest scrutiny, only an elite few really succeed anyway.
He played his heart out for this university and deserves nothing but love from us in return. I cant think of a single game he lost completely by himself but i can think of a few he had a major role in winning.
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84HuskerLaw
All-Conference
you make some good points and we all should take into account the circumstances faced by each coach and player etc. While Armstrong may have broken many records, wouldn't it be accurate to say that the records came more as a result of playing so many more games than most other Nebraska QBs historically and not so much because he played the position better. He played longer but not necessarily better. Of course there is something to be said for a guy who earns the job right away and keeps it. But in the cases of both Armstrong and Martinez, did they keep the job because there were no other QBs who were better suited or because we didn't recruit these other QBs for unknown reasons?
zoogs
Assistant Coach
I mean, if you want to go really up top, look at where Clemson is as a program right now. Who would've thought when Dabo Swinney was losing in the Gator Bowl to Bo Pelini? Or when he went 9-5, 6-7, 10-4 in his first three full seasons? (He went 4-3 in 2008 after taking over midseason on a 7-6 team).
I'd call us unusually fragile about this, but I'm sure it's every fanbase.
I'd call us unusually fragile about this, but I'm sure it's every fanbase.
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ZRod
Heisman Trophy Winner
What fanbase has had to put up with this for 2 decades? What fanbase continued to sellout and donate to a school with all the resources and then some, but never saw results? What fanbase saw a .700 coach fired only to hire a .500 coach despite the fact that the money was there to get a big name?
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girlknowsfootball
Starter
Nebraska has a few key problems and have for over a decade. Under Pelini there were consistently fumble problems, penalties, and mental breakdowns every time he would go on a tirade. The team played emotional and their attitude reflected his leadership. They were up and down just as he was. Part of the team felt he played favorites. There were arguments made that he mismanaged personnel.
Mike has cleaned up the fumbles, reduced the penalties, but he seems to have reduced the physicality in practice. They seem to practice a little more like an NFL team. Not tackling to the ground, babying players to some extent. I wonder if we have lost the mental toughness with the change in coaching staffs. Pelini was not right for the university. But Riley seems to have struggles of his own. He could possibly be too nice. Does the team have any consequences for penalties, dropped balls, lack of effort, missed tackles, etc? Like running till you throw up, up downs, etc? The players like Riley, but is he more of a friend than a respected, feared leader? Does he correctly use personnel? Many have asked why Newby is playing when Ozigbo seems to get way more yards per carry when he gets the ball. Newby is more consistent with the small details like pass protecting, running precise routes, etc. but why is Newby used as a between the tackles runner when he gets no yards after contact? Ozigbo can pick up yards carrying 3-4 defenders with him. He is much bigger and more powerful. Why does Dylan Utter start when he regularly gets pushed off balance and carried into the backfield by DT's?
Now on to the defense. Has Banker ever had good defenses? Last year he loaded the box to play the run and we stopped it. But we became vulnerable in the passing game and made Kalu and Jones look like a joke. This year we had tackling problems that became more and more problematic as the season wore on. We are in position to make plays, we just take awful angles, time it wrong, and then if we get someone wrapped up they slip through like butter. At the beginning of the season we showed great aggression and swarmed to the ball. I believe the Ohio state game killed our confidence. The dip started then. It's like our players realized they weren't as good and put forth less effort from that point forward. We see them try... experience some failure and then believe they are outmatched. Ohio State, Iowa, Tennessee. When Tommy was playing at 30% with an artificial hamstring and we had no one else, the team knew they had no shot. And they slacked in their playing. Right now we significantly need depth and more talent. We have talent... but it's sprinkled in. We need much more thank sprinkles of it. Having 5-6 guys come in a year is not enough. If we want a two deep without drop off we need to sign 15 highly regarded and coveted prospects a year. With attrition and misses that's what it will take. That's the difference between a 9 win season and a 12 win season. The other issue is QB play. We have not had a QB with a legit passing threat since Callahan was here. We have been one dimensional for a decade. Our passing game with Martinez was within 20 yards. No one had to cover deep. Our passing game with Armstrong was not developed enough or consistent enough to break through. His injuries and bad mechanics resulted in sailed balls, misfires, and a low completion rate.
We escaped sacks because both could scramble like a running back.
Now we are getting the QB's who can throw, but if we don't have an offensive line that can pass protect, we will take a step backward, because these guys can't pick up first downs with their feet on broken plays. We can recruit WR all long but they will never been seen if they don't have a chance for the play to develop.
And defense... it doesn't help to recruit defensive backs if we can't get defensive ends to get the QB. We can have depth at DB but if our DE's can't pressure and contain teams will just run all over us. We are unbalanced. Stockpiled on one end and skinny at the other.
so all that to say... the next year for this team fully relies on who they close in this recruiting class. We must land some key players in our skinny areas... DE, LB with speed, OT, and TE
Mike has cleaned up the fumbles, reduced the penalties, but he seems to have reduced the physicality in practice. They seem to practice a little more like an NFL team. Not tackling to the ground, babying players to some extent. I wonder if we have lost the mental toughness with the change in coaching staffs. Pelini was not right for the university. But Riley seems to have struggles of his own. He could possibly be too nice. Does the team have any consequences for penalties, dropped balls, lack of effort, missed tackles, etc? Like running till you throw up, up downs, etc? The players like Riley, but is he more of a friend than a respected, feared leader? Does he correctly use personnel? Many have asked why Newby is playing when Ozigbo seems to get way more yards per carry when he gets the ball. Newby is more consistent with the small details like pass protecting, running precise routes, etc. but why is Newby used as a between the tackles runner when he gets no yards after contact? Ozigbo can pick up yards carrying 3-4 defenders with him. He is much bigger and more powerful. Why does Dylan Utter start when he regularly gets pushed off balance and carried into the backfield by DT's?
Now on to the defense. Has Banker ever had good defenses? Last year he loaded the box to play the run and we stopped it. But we became vulnerable in the passing game and made Kalu and Jones look like a joke. This year we had tackling problems that became more and more problematic as the season wore on. We are in position to make plays, we just take awful angles, time it wrong, and then if we get someone wrapped up they slip through like butter. At the beginning of the season we showed great aggression and swarmed to the ball. I believe the Ohio state game killed our confidence. The dip started then. It's like our players realized they weren't as good and put forth less effort from that point forward. We see them try... experience some failure and then believe they are outmatched. Ohio State, Iowa, Tennessee. When Tommy was playing at 30% with an artificial hamstring and we had no one else, the team knew they had no shot. And they slacked in their playing. Right now we significantly need depth and more talent. We have talent... but it's sprinkled in. We need much more thank sprinkles of it. Having 5-6 guys come in a year is not enough. If we want a two deep without drop off we need to sign 15 highly regarded and coveted prospects a year. With attrition and misses that's what it will take. That's the difference between a 9 win season and a 12 win season. The other issue is QB play. We have not had a QB with a legit passing threat since Callahan was here. We have been one dimensional for a decade. Our passing game with Martinez was within 20 yards. No one had to cover deep. Our passing game with Armstrong was not developed enough or consistent enough to break through. His injuries and bad mechanics resulted in sailed balls, misfires, and a low completion rate.
We escaped sacks because both could scramble like a running back.
Now we are getting the QB's who can throw, but if we don't have an offensive line that can pass protect, we will take a step backward, because these guys can't pick up first downs with their feet on broken plays. We can recruit WR all long but they will never been seen if they don't have a chance for the play to develop.
And defense... it doesn't help to recruit defensive backs if we can't get defensive ends to get the QB. We can have depth at DB but if our DE's can't pressure and contain teams will just run all over us. We are unbalanced. Stockpiled on one end and skinny at the other.
so all that to say... the next year for this team fully relies on who they close in this recruiting class. We must land some key players in our skinny areas... DE, LB with speed, OT, and TE
VectorVictor
Heisman Trophy Winner
Than what? Thinking that our own boosters couldn't see the forest for the trees and blocked our own success?1995 Redux said:
I mean, that only happens in schools that end in -a$$, like Texass, right?
Landlord
Banned
ZRod said:
What do the last two decades at Nebraska have to do with comparison to Washington?
We've been unlucky. It happens. USC had a really uninspired run from the late 80's through to Pete Carroll in 2001. Tennessee hasn't really accomplished much of anything since they won the national championship the year after us. Oklahoma was dreadful in the 90's. Alabama was in the dumpster from '95-'06. We've had a longer down streak than other blue blood programs. Boo hoo. We also had an unprecedented streak of great consistency, so maybe we were due and the law of averages is still evening things out.
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