Keeping Bo Pelini was "the safest possible strategy." -Pick Six Podcast (11/3)

[Guy Chamberlin]

This is a crazy season alright.

And you know what's really wild?

Every University has seasons like this in their storied tradition.

Nebraska's 40 year run was unprecedented but overdue for a bit of chaos.

Yeah, the run was really due to Devaney and Osborne, and really it was mostly Osborne's 25 years. Nebraska's football identity can't be one hall-of-fame coach's record of accomplishments. If it is, we will always be disappointed. I doubt there will ever be another Osborne or another era like 72-97.

There will never be another Osborne, especially at the rate we fire successful coaches and replace them with average to sh**ty ones.

So you are 256 posts into your new career as a HuskerBoard poster, and as I understand it you were chased off/wore out your welcome at another Husker fan board?

Just want to know what we're working with here.

Were you wronged on this other board?

 

[walksalone]

This is a crazy season alright.

And you know what's really wild?

Every University has seasons like this in their storied tradition.

Nebraska's 40 year run was unprecedented but overdue for a bit of chaos.

Yeah, the run was really due to Devaney and Osborne, and really it was mostly Osborne's 25 years. Nebraska's football identity can't be one hall-of-fame coach's record of accomplishments. If it is, we will always be disappointed. I doubt there will ever be another Osborne or another era like 72-97.

There will never be another Osborne, especially at the rate we fire successful coaches and replace them with average to sh**ty ones.

So you are 256 posts into your new career as a HuskerBoard poster, and as I understand it you were chased off/wore out your welcome at another Husker fan board?

Just want to know what we're working with here.

Were you wronged on this other board?

If the CM is a reference to that f*cktard wrestler CM Punk, then that pretty much says everything we need to know...

 

[84HuskerLaw]

Bo had his chance and was rightly terminated. Hiring Mike Riley was a head scratcher.

This is exactly 'it' in a short and simple statement. Bo was not fired because he won nine games a year. He was fired because he never won more and we lost ugly in some really important 'big' games. Outside of the one point screwing in the Texas game with Suh, really Bo never got us a championship caliber team in his entire 7 years. And, the group of players on this year's team is Bo's recruits SAVE for less than a dozen or so pretty decent ones who are true freshman and walk ons this year. We have been in every game and had a chance to win each one. We were not outclassed by anyone but I believe the final judgment may end up being that NONE of the teams we have played thus far are really good (top ten type teams). We are a very mediocre or below mediocre team this year. Could we pull an upset on Saturday? Yes, we have enough offense at times to score 30 on anybody. Can we possibly stop MSU from scoring 30? Maybe as we have not had anywhere near our fair share of turnovers. We are due for the opponent to fumble several or give us a couple real breaks in special teams like muffed punts, blocked kicks, bad snaps, etc. We have had very little luck go our way. One field goal kick hit the upright and bounced out. Saving us a few precious moments of hope but really, not much luck has gone our way. You sometimes can be said to 'make your own luck' but we are due for some good things to happen, God willing.

 

[Bowfin]

Bo got the boot because in every game that really meant something, we got our asses curb stomped in embarrassing fashion

Really?...

EVERY game that REALLY meant something?...EVERY SINGLE ONE???

How convenient for your narrative to state that EVERY game Pelini lost meant something and EVERY game he won meant nothing. Did beating Georgia in a bowl game mean nothing? Did coming back against Ohio State mean nothing? None of the wins against ranked teams count, only the losses?

I do realize that a win against Purdue or Illinois means nothing for Nebraska, but it seems that a loss sure does. So you might want to rethink the importance of those "nothing" wins.

All in all, the above sounds like a great big heaping helping of hyperbole to me.

 

[Undone]

Here's another extremely obvious point: you make a hire, you give him and his assistants some support and some time.

Sometimes, the obvious bears repeating ...

Ha, zoogies, you seem to be chastising me with that post. Can you be specific about what you're chastising me for?

If you look at my posts since the BYU loss forward, I've never been remotely even in the same area code as the "let's fire Mike" crowd. I don't want him fired now, and I don't want him fired at the end of the season. That wasn't my point with that post that I made.

The point I'm trying to make is that it's disingenuous to concoct this narrative that a trial by fire (meaning, a 3-9, 4-8, or 5-7 season) was necessary to fix us; that it's the only way things could have gone in order to change the "stuck in 9 wins" spiral. McKewon's diatribe seems to speak to that narrative. It's stupid.

Is it obvious that we as fans can do (and should) do nothing more than support the guy we're stuck with? Sure, yes. But is it interesting and noteworthy to dissect McKewon's take on Bo's firing? Also yes.

 

[zoogs]

Sorry, I don't mean to chastise you in particular. I'm agreeing with McKewon. You argued that his points were obvious; I am arguing that even the obvious seems to be up for discussion this year -- with the plenty of "fire Riley" as evidence of that -- hence the reason for these points being made.

A 3-9, 4-8, or 5-7 season *may* not have been necessary. Nonetheless, here we are.

 

[Bowfin]

We are 3-6. We've lost 5 of those games by a total of 13 points.

Why did you separate the Northwestern game out from your math? Any particular reason?

 

[Sparker]

Sorry, I don't mean to chastise you in particular. I'm agreeing with McKewon. You argued that his points were obvious; I am arguing that even the obvious seems to be up for discussion this year -- with the plenty of "fire Riley" as evidence of that -- hence the reason for these points being made.

A 3-9, 4-8, or 5-7 season *may* not have been necessary. Nonetheless, here we are.

So pessimistic! We could be 7-6 In a couple months...

 

[Bowfin]

Just to clarify again, I don't think ANYONE could have kept Pelini here, and I am in favor of giving Riley a lot more than the 2-3 years mentioned by some...at least his full contract time, because a deal is a deal.

 

[Dansker]

Coaching, coaching, coaching. A really good coach can make an average player play great. We've all seen horrible coaching this year, heard arguments about Riley being a career .500 and how all of a sudden is he going to "get it" at 62 years old. 40 years experience and he is still a mediocre coach. Damn it, he's a nice man and all but him and his staff need to do us a favor and pack up and leave. The firing of Pelini was the right call but Eichorst really blew a gasket with this hire.

 

[walksalone]

Sorry, I don't mean to chastise you in particular. I'm agreeing with McKewon. You argued that his points were obvious; I am arguing that even the obvious seems to be up for discussion this year -- with the plenty of "fire Riley" as evidence of that -- hence the reason for these points being made.

A 3-9, 4-8, or 5-7 season *may* not have been necessary. Nonetheless, here we are.

So pessimistic! We could be 7-6 In a couple months...

 

[Landlord]

Really?...

EVERY game that REALLY meant something?...EVERY SINGLE ONE???

How convenient for your narrative to state that EVERY game Pelini lost meant something and EVERY game he won meant nothing. Did beating Georgia in a bowl game mean nothing? Did coming back against Ohio State mean nothing? None of the wins against ranked teams count, only the losses?

lol well. Of the two you mentioned, we beat an unranked 8-5 Georgia team without their star NFL-caliber QB or RB in the 5th best B1G bowl game, and we beat a 6-7 Ohio State team with a deaf cripple at quarterback. Not very good examples my friend.

 

[Dansker]

Really?...

EVERY game that REALLY meant something?...EVERY SINGLE ONE???

How convenient for your narrative to state that EVERY game Pelini lost meant something and EVERY game he won meant nothing. Did beating Georgia in a bowl game mean nothing? Did coming back against Ohio State mean nothing? None of the wins against ranked teams count, only the losses?

lol well. Of the two you mentioned, we beat an unranked 8-5 Georgia team without their star NFL-caliber QB or RB in the 5th best B1G bowl game, and we beat a 6-7 Ohio State team with a deaf cripple at quarterback. Not very good examples my friend.

Well, technically Georgia was ranked #23 when we played them in the 2014 Gator Bowl. They were 3rd in the east division. 4 of their losses were by a combined 12 points and two were against top 10 teams. Their biggest defeat was a 41-26 setback @ #25 Missouri. They weren't a great team but they were pretty solid. Their QB was missing, yes but we held Todd Gurley to 86 yards on 21 carries. That Ohio State team was horrible and if Braxton Miller doesn't go out and if Lavonte David doesn't get that strip, we never win that game. All in all, the Pelini era was nothing but a mixed bag to say the least.

 

[HuskerShark]

Bo got the boot because in every game that really meant something, we got our asses curb stomped in embarrassing fashion

Really?...

EVERY game that REALLY meant something?...EVERY SINGLE ONE???

How convenient for your narrative to state that EVERY game Pelini lost meant something and EVERY game he won meant nothing. Did beating Georgia in a bowl game mean nothing? Did coming back against Ohio State mean nothing? None of the wins against ranked teams count, only the losses?

I do realize that a win against Purdue or Illinois means nothing for Nebraska, but it seems that a loss sure does. So you might want to rethink the importance of those "nothing" wins.

All in all, the above sounds like a great big heaping helping of hyperbole to me.

Hyperbole or not, it's true more times than it isn't, which says something.

I'm still of the opinion that if we were still in the Big 12, Bo would probably still be the head coach with a conference title or two under his belt. His defense was great in the Big 12 because teams don't have power running games, and the offense was doing some good things against those defenses which are nowhere near the physicality of B1G teams.

Bottom line, Bo's teams were one of the best in terms of physicality in the Big 12, and were one of the least physical when we got to the B1G. That's not because anything changed with our team, we are just in a conference now where great teams are truly built on the O-line and D-line.

 

[Danny Bateman]

A few people in this thread get it. A few other people's attitude is the reason we are where we are.

If 9 wins is a firing offense, we might as well close the doors and turn out the lights.

According to Harvey, this is how Nebraska works:

If you have a coach who never has losing seasons and wins 9 games or more, no patience.

If you have a loser who has losing seasons, have patience.