The Red & White Knight
Starter
Yes, they have top ranked draft classes. But beyond talent there is something that BC, our staff, needs to work on: Intensity.
I think this is a major weakness for our current team - we don't know how to make, generate, and sustain intensity. Look at Pete Caroll still arguing calls after the game is in the bank. This may not be the absolute most important thing for us to work on, in terms of immediate success, but overall, this is something we need to watch. I would really like to suggest that someone on the staff looks in to how to maintain intensity, focus.
"What's important now - WIN" maybe, but more so than that, just developing the leadership capacity to keep spirit and focus up regardless of what is happening on the field.
Yes their two players were down on the field for what seemed like hours. But that is an excuse we can all make for our lack of composure. We did not have Championship composure in this game.
And quite frankly, in comparison to other teams I see, we don't look as sharp or as fast as we need to be. Everything is always 1 step behind or something, not quite up to speed. USC can train 1-on-1 all the time because they have the talent, but there is another mental aspect that Caroll harnesses well that we need to get.
There has to be a certain winning mentality that is NOT dependent on how we are doing on the field, a confidence and composure, and that is what I don't see from Nebraska. It is a very common human thing - thinking you need some outside success to get it, "momentum". But it is all inside-out, and I don't see that enough from the team. It is almost a spiritual thing - a spirit aspect.
If anything, the USC game, particularly with the long delays, and how we responded to certain things, made me realize that. How we respond to this next week will also answer some questions, but, if I were coaching this team, I would pay very special attention to how the players are using their spirits.
I remember the game before, WF was it? Where one of the announcers were talking about how the D players were lacking throwing the :bonez , a lack of intensity, or team pride. So this is something we need to watch. Yes, we want to get to an NC, yes, that is our recruiting pitch, restore the order. All of that is what it is, and that's fine. But I do not think we have instilled the winning mentality well enough, or at least, we need to work it more, and make sure we have it throughout the rest of the year.
I'm not going to talk about talent or coaching schemes in this post, because those are all mechanical things that are more or less adjustable. This post was about something totally intangible so to say, yet a very important barometer - in my opinion - of what it will take to win some big games, and get to BCS.
What Nebraska leads is some leader to step up and bring this right kind of spiritual fire to the team. I do not see BC as being that way -- does this mean that he should not be our coach? Absolutely not. But I am concerned that he does not seem to show an awareness to what I am talking about in this thread. He doesn't need to do it himself, but he has to monitor it or make sure someone is responsible for it. I am not sure if a player alone can do this, because they are are not in the right sort of position to facilitate this sort of leadership. They're young kids. They need someone, or some thing --- some vision --- given to them real enough and consistently enough to make the spiritual commitment to the team.
I don't think we can WIN big games until progress in this area is made.
Restore the order, et al -- these slogans are nice, but there is not a REAL fire. There is not a sense that We are going to win this game --- not because we are talented, not because of coaching, but because of a certain spiritual confidence in who you are and what you are doing.
This may be a weakness to BC's huge playbook and extremely intellectual approach to the game - it is too mental and does not allow the spiritual aspect to translate readily into the physical. In comparison to USC, and using Covey's "Whole person paradigm", I see USC as firing on all cylinders: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spirit. However, the Huskers seem to be focused predominantly on Mental, and this inhibits true physical reaction, and makes social/emotional based more on our present results, while spirit is neglected.
That is my constructive criticism for now.
What do you think about this matter?
I think this is a major weakness for our current team - we don't know how to make, generate, and sustain intensity. Look at Pete Caroll still arguing calls after the game is in the bank. This may not be the absolute most important thing for us to work on, in terms of immediate success, but overall, this is something we need to watch. I would really like to suggest that someone on the staff looks in to how to maintain intensity, focus.
"What's important now - WIN" maybe, but more so than that, just developing the leadership capacity to keep spirit and focus up regardless of what is happening on the field.
Yes their two players were down on the field for what seemed like hours. But that is an excuse we can all make for our lack of composure. We did not have Championship composure in this game.
And quite frankly, in comparison to other teams I see, we don't look as sharp or as fast as we need to be. Everything is always 1 step behind or something, not quite up to speed. USC can train 1-on-1 all the time because they have the talent, but there is another mental aspect that Caroll harnesses well that we need to get.
There has to be a certain winning mentality that is NOT dependent on how we are doing on the field, a confidence and composure, and that is what I don't see from Nebraska. It is a very common human thing - thinking you need some outside success to get it, "momentum". But it is all inside-out, and I don't see that enough from the team. It is almost a spiritual thing - a spirit aspect.
If anything, the USC game, particularly with the long delays, and how we responded to certain things, made me realize that. How we respond to this next week will also answer some questions, but, if I were coaching this team, I would pay very special attention to how the players are using their spirits.
I remember the game before, WF was it? Where one of the announcers were talking about how the D players were lacking throwing the :bonez , a lack of intensity, or team pride. So this is something we need to watch. Yes, we want to get to an NC, yes, that is our recruiting pitch, restore the order. All of that is what it is, and that's fine. But I do not think we have instilled the winning mentality well enough, or at least, we need to work it more, and make sure we have it throughout the rest of the year.
I'm not going to talk about talent or coaching schemes in this post, because those are all mechanical things that are more or less adjustable. This post was about something totally intangible so to say, yet a very important barometer - in my opinion - of what it will take to win some big games, and get to BCS.
What Nebraska leads is some leader to step up and bring this right kind of spiritual fire to the team. I do not see BC as being that way -- does this mean that he should not be our coach? Absolutely not. But I am concerned that he does not seem to show an awareness to what I am talking about in this thread. He doesn't need to do it himself, but he has to monitor it or make sure someone is responsible for it. I am not sure if a player alone can do this, because they are are not in the right sort of position to facilitate this sort of leadership. They're young kids. They need someone, or some thing --- some vision --- given to them real enough and consistently enough to make the spiritual commitment to the team.
I don't think we can WIN big games until progress in this area is made.
Restore the order, et al -- these slogans are nice, but there is not a REAL fire. There is not a sense that We are going to win this game --- not because we are talented, not because of coaching, but because of a certain spiritual confidence in who you are and what you are doing.
This may be a weakness to BC's huge playbook and extremely intellectual approach to the game - it is too mental and does not allow the spiritual aspect to translate readily into the physical. In comparison to USC, and using Covey's "Whole person paradigm", I see USC as firing on all cylinders: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spirit. However, the Huskers seem to be focused predominantly on Mental, and this inhibits true physical reaction, and makes social/emotional based more on our present results, while spirit is neglected.
That is my constructive criticism for now.
What do you think about this matter?
Last edited by a moderator: