But seriously, great post NU. You've long been one of the more positive guys on the board during this debacle of a season, and I applaud you for doing so. I will continue as well. Just the type of guy I am-- I prefer to deal in good vibes and positive vibes rather than going through life (or the season) angry and irritated. Just makes life suck a lot more for me.
I think you speak for a lot of us, putting the positive from this season into words and trying to focus on that. The team needs it, the university needs it, and the board sorely needs it to balance out some of the negativity that has flooded in.
Redux, there's no reason it's too late to try to join the crowd putting a more positive spin on things. I guess the narrative there would read that this is one
weird-@ss season. We're transitioning, but still managed to be competitive n most every game (with the possible exception of Miami and Purdue). Even those games we lost by a total of ten points. All while dealing with numerous extenuating circumstances which made it very difficult to be successful. Riley and Langs have their handpicked QB coming in as an early enrollee, and while he's obviously very green, he's a much much better fit for the current scheme than any QB we have on the roster currently. Hopefully, they get some major things ironed out with another offseason of work and we get a few bounces to go our way in close games next year, which we've gotten basically 0 of this year.
Suh Fan, my only rebuttal would be to say I don't think we're in any danger of becoming OSU or McNeese overnight. We're Nebraska, damnit, and I don't buy that "we can't return to national prominence... the 90s will never happen again" crap some talking heads will peddle. I think our expectations are in line with national powers. I just think it's fair to expect him fixing the issues Bo left our team with AND winning at the clip we want to win at to be more than a one year project. I can overlook one Murphy's Law season with some poor coaching decisions to go like this. Proof's in the pudding next year... if we continue to drop a ton of close games and look like we have no identity in others, Riley will be deservedly well on his way out the door.
Brophog, way to nag up the positivist thread. Cmon man.
I guess one of the oddest silver linings I've heard is this. If there's anything good about bottoming out, it could be twofold. One, I think you'd sew a lot of attrition of guys who really don't want to be here, who probably don't want to compete, who don't like fighting through adversity, and most of all, don't take a whole lot of pride of wearing the N on the side of their helmet. Basically, guys you don't want anywhere near your program. Secondly, for those who stay, a season like this has to be humbling. It has to eradicate any sense of entitlement from the mindset of guys who think you can just show up on Saturdays and win because you're Nebraska. We got in that position in the first place due to the hard work of a bunch of guys who just plain outworked the opponents. They busted their tails every day in practice and then showed up on gameday and executed what they practiced. They reaped what they'd sown... domination. You earn that. It isn't just forked over because of that N on the helmet. It's earned every day. I'd wager there's a good deal of guys on the roster now who either don't get that, or don't wanna go through what they gotta go through to earn it.
Just my .02. Wound up longer than I thought... sorry!