Kool-aid effect

[HuskerNationNick]

Many of us were drinking that kool-aid. As I was as well. I guess I was more happy having more than 9 wins for once. Some of you were realists, and got hit by us kool-aid drinkers in some threads. On a non drinking standpoint...

I really hope Bo stays. I am not letting personal feelings get in the way at all either. Our recruiting is getting better, we went to yet, another CCG. We may not have won, but we are in the right direction. When I look at recruiting, we have really never been strong on it. All but for the 2005 season under Callahan.

The Defense is slacking. The players that were expected to come in and do things, are/were injured. I could name them, but I am sure we all know who they are. The only person who I saw anything out of on that Dline, who didn't play much, was Carter. We are small, lack speed, and we are rather weak on the line. Our recruiting this year is better, and its only going to get better. If I was a defensive kid, watched that game, I would love to step foot on our field, as I would know my chances in starting within the first 2 years would be very likely. Same goes for LB's. Slow and out of position. Stafford was taking the wrong angles. Fisher was on the ground more than anything and was getting burned and sometimes out of position. The whole defense took 3 steps backwards.

Offense, its simple. Taylor has lead the nation in fumbles for 3 straight years. As much as I admire his efforts, and his will to do good, with his passion to find the win, he needs to stop putting the ball on the ground, and stop making poor decisions. I am not going to bail on him, but he needs to work on not being reckless with the ball. On another hand Taylor's position could be in trouble come this spring. If Armstrong is the better option, then so be it. I just hope whoever it is, Taylor or Armstrong, the better players gets the position.

Yes, we should have played that game better, should have even won it, but I am not going to act like we couldn't have had a worse year. We had numerous comeback wins, and I am completely satisfied with a 10, possibly an 11 win season. IF we beat Georgia in the Capital One Bowl, I will probably be more than satisfied with this year, even though I wanted the Rose Bowl.

Lets give Coach K TIME to get the guys he needs and teach them the way he does things. 10 months is not nearly long enough. Ross Els is getting some talent in, but lets give Special Teams to someone, like Garrison. Els needs to focus more on LB's and recruiting.

I am not going to sit here and drink the kool-aid and act like things are perfect, but honestly, when have they been? They haven't since TO left. We are closer now, than we have been in over a decade. I have a bad taste in my mouth over that game on Saturday, but this loss doesn't hurt as much as it does to our kids and coaches.

I hope we can make the changes we need defensively/offensively. We have 4(ish) weeks to do this. Its time to get everything we can out of what we have, coaches and players. If we were to make a statement, January 1st is that time. That wasn't us on Saturday.

The snowball effect couldn't have came at a worse time. Especially when we have done everything we could to dodge it. I guess it was only a matter of time before it came crashing down on us.

I just want to leave this topic on a good note...

is STELLAR and still the best I have ever seen in football! BOOM!

 

[NUance]

I'm not sure I agree with all the points in your rather lengthy post---but I think we are on the same page. We need to tweak a few things to improve. Not shitcan the whole program and start from scratch, like some people are calling for right now.

 

[junior4949]

My takeaway from the game was probably a bit different than some/most. Wisconsin ran a few trick plays, but we had the numbers there. What I haven't put my finger on is whether we're just that slow or we just aren't competent enough to take the right angle. I keep hearing about how we have this speed that we recruited to stop the spread in the Big 12, but I'm not seeing much speed out there on our defense. Stafford had probably his worst game that I can remember. For Wisconsin ending up third in their division and us winning ours, this is probably the most lopsided Big 10 Championship game we'll witness for decades. I watched the game with probably around 20 people, and there were two TV's. Both TV's by halftime spent a lot more time on the channel of the KState/TX game. It was just too painful to watch that display we put out there. It didn't get any better when we drew Georgia for the bowl game that probably should have beaten Bama' who more than likely will blow out Notre Dame in the NC game. Losing the game doesn't matter to me nearly as much as the manner in which we lost it. I sort of expected us to lose the game considering how we've played with fire all year long, but I never expected the buzzsaw we ran into.

Somewhere along the line, we've lost our edge. In 09', Suh and the defense would impose their will. Now, it appears we just sit back there waiting for the opposing offense to come to us. I can't put my finger on whether it's a talent issue or a coaching issue. This game reminded me an awful lot of the 01' game where we got thrashed by CU. That's all I could think of when Wisconsin kept running the same play time and time again for huge chunks of yardage.

 

[kchusker_chris]

You know things are in a sorry state when HuskerNationNick starts to get down. There are certainly changes that need made.

The offensive line isn't so bad that you can point the finger - but they have been essentially at the same level for the last 5 years. Nothing stellar, but not pathetic enough to make a change. Well - if we are going to start "tweaking" things...then that's an obvious place to start. But what change will be made? I'll give you a hint - promoting another "up and coming" coach which we will train for a new position after we suffer through 2-3 years of them learning on the job. This sucks. It's an opportunity for Bo to remove a weak link in the staff, and bring in a recruiter - but he won't do it. Barney is essentially a non-impact on the recruiting trail. (anyone can recruit Nebraska kids and legacies to the program). When you only get what, 9-10 coaches able to recruit...seeing 10% of that wasted is pointless. Even if we get a similar performer as far as a coach, if we can improve our recruiting by make a good hire then it's worth it.

This season, special teams were as bad as I have ever seen. Watching a team afraid to rush a punter - or run from a punt for fear of the inevitable fumble is pathetic at this level of football. We win 10 games, but so does V-Tech every year. Are they considered a relevant program? Heck no. They get to their 10 wins with ST play though. It's impressive...and we need to reach that level. It's a major piece of the game, and it seems ignored. Always the 3rd "title" of some coaches duties. It needs to be first. And it can be the difference between 10 wins and 12. This season it was dang near the difference between 10 wins and 7.

 

[knapplc]

Why is it that if you have a positive attitude toward this Husker team, you're an unrealistic kool-aid drinker? We must have the most self-loathing set of fans in the country. Half of our fans aren't happy unless they're bitching about the team, or pointing out that others are "too positive" about the team.

If other fans acted like Husker fans, better than half the teams in D1A wouldn't even have fans at all.

It's OK to be positive about this team, our players, and our coaches. We're fans of this team. We can be homers and we can cheer them on, even when they quit in a game. There is no merit to this self-flagellation tactic of denouncing those who are still glad to be Husker fans.

 

[HuskerNationNick]

knapp, I am a proud Husker fan. I was probably one of the few who actually watched the whole game, and didn't flip to another game when it was unrealistic to come back. Myself, along with 7 other people watched the game, just to support and still cheer them on, even though the win was completely gone. I love this team, what it represents and the coaching staff. Like I said, there needs to be changes. Coaches being accountable for their parts, and some focusing on more important things and not having too much on their shoulders. I firmly believe that Bo needs to leave the defense to Coach K, Joseph and Papuchis to run, with of course Pap making final decisions.

kchusker_chris, I am more down for the fact we didn't play to our potential. We all knew were were slow on defense. The coaches knew it. That is why we relied on our DB's to stop the run. Wisconsin knew this. They ran deep or they immediately blocked them out, taking our only strategy away we have had since OSU. I give their OC complete credit for doing this. Their whole team looked magnificent out there. A lot of it had to do with with a fire lit under them by losing their last 3 and losing to us back in September.

All in all, I am still proud to be a Husker, I will still wear my red Husker shirts to work. I do believe we have the talent to put up a great fight against Georgia. The biggest thing we need to do, is have Taylor keep the ball off the ground and make smart throws. He resorted to his old behaviors and towards the end adjusted back to what he has done all year.

Our eyes were bigger than our stomachs coming into Saturday. I think it was a Husker team that thought it was going to be an easy game. We all know how that went lol.