My Take on Yesterday and the Program Moving Forward.

[EZ-E]

I would like to begin by saying that we had enough talent to win that football game yesterday. It wasn't until late in the fourth quarter that we were really starting to get rolled.

Yesterday I saw a long mental lapse where it seemed as neither team was playing organized football. It was prison league bull sh!t. The referees tried to pull the reins back after Fonzie and Jeffery's little tussle with that pass interference call and it just was too late. We were playing USCeast's game.

I am sorry, and I am too young to remember some of the Thug U teams from the 90s, but USCeast did a lot of jaw-jacking yesterday that even was beginning to piss me off. It seemed after every play Rex was addressing the referees about something or another. You never see Rex do that, he normally pops right back up and back to the huddle. It appeared yesterday that our young team was having a very hard time living above reproach and got sucked into this jaw-jacking game. And at that point, we were beaten, hence in my opinion the 3rd quarter of prison league football.

I saw some very encouraging things yesterday. To give USCeast credit, I wish Clowney a long and healthy career. Kid can play. The encouraging things that I saw yesterday were that we were not out-matched athletically except when Blatchford and Thorell were on the football field. Every other spot we had them matched. That part of what I said may cause some backlash, but that is what I know to be true in my heart. To claim we were outmatched athletically yesterday is just not correct in my eyes.

In the first half, we played the best defense I think I have seen us play against a zone-read mobile quarterback. I dont know if that was with the help of Coach K already, or our scheme was good enough, but I was impressed with our LBs flying around and making plays and our DL locating the football, shedding blocks, and tackling the ball career. That is not a short order of things to do for even the best of football players.

Our secondary showed flashes of being really good, and also had some moments that were absolutely forgettable.

What is frustraiting to me is that it seems like we are always one or two plays away from beating a really good team ala USCeast and we can never slam the door and win the game. It was very unfortunate that we couldn't find a way yesterday because I personally do not think that they are a better football team than we are.

In conclusion, we are not as far off from the high and mighty SEC as ESPN wants to lead anyone on to believe.

I know this one stings and I am hurt just as much as you are, we had an opportunity to do something special and I know that we all know we had the ability and it even looked like at times we were going to pull it off. But I have no doubt in my mind about the players we have in this program, the coaches that are in place, and the fans that where their N-shaped hearts on their sleeves in victory and defeat. We will be where we want to be soon.

 

[beanman]

SC wasn't even close to as bad as those ThugU teams. That behavior followed dipwad up to Oregon State(I remember watching them throttle Notre Lame in a bowl game and it was disgusting watching them) and also to Arizona State. Go back and try to get a copy of the 95 Orange Bowl in its original form and you'll see what I'm talking about. Erickson got a fitting sendoff in his last game. He's a douche with a capital D.

 

[Overland Park Husker]

The problem is, In the past 10-15 years, more often than not, when the Huskers face any kind of adversity they back down instead of facing it. And when you don't face it, things snowball out of control fast. Somewhere along the line we lost leadership and swagger that good teams just have. Our guys seem to play well to start games, but one thing goes wrong and they wilt.I'm not sure what the problem is and how to fix it, but someone in the locker room or coaching offices need to figure out what it is or 8-9 win seasons will become the norm.

 

[EZ-E]

I think that both posters above get what I am saying and I feel the same way they do.

OPH - Agreed buddy. I dont think that we backed down yesterday as much as we were so concerned about what was being said or done and we forgot about playing football and worried about them. I didn even recognize what game they were playing in the 3rd quarter. Wasn't any sport I have ever seen.

 

[Overland Park Husker]

OPH - Agreed buddy. I dont think that we backed down yesterday as much as we were so concerned about what was being said or done and we forgot about playing football and worried about them. I didn even recognize what game they were playing in the 3rd quarter. Wasn't any sport I have ever seen.

I can see that and have seen that throughout the season. For some reason, mid way through the third quarter and going into the fourth, our team looked intimidated.

 

[HuskerT]

OPH - Agreed buddy. I dont think that we backed down yesterday as much as we were so concerned about what was being said or done and we forgot about playing football and worried about them. I didn even recognize what game they were playing in the 3rd quarter. Wasn't any sport I have ever seen.

I can see that and have seen that throughout the season. For some reason, mid way through the third quarter and going into the fourth, our team looked intimidated.

I don't think we looked intimidated at all, I'd say they were more demoralized and frustrated by the redzone turnovers, hail mary passes and dropped balls. They were very much in that game, but as usual stupid mistakes and fluke plays took over.

 

[Overland Park Husker]

OPH - Agreed buddy. I dont think that we backed down yesterday as much as we were so concerned about what was being said or done and we forgot about playing football and worried about them. I didn even recognize what game they were playing in the 3rd quarter. Wasn't any sport I have ever seen.

I can see that and have seen that throughout the season. For some reason, mid way through the third quarter and going into the fourth, our team looked intimidated.

I don't think we looked intimidated at all, I'd say they were more demoralized and frustrated by the redzone turnovers, hail mary passes and dropped balls. They were very much in that game, but as usual stupid mistakes and fluke plays took over.

I guess when I see the offensive line fall apart in the fourth quarter cause they can't match up with the defensive line, I see intimidation. Yes we had the hail mary, turnovers and dropped balls, but from what I remember most of that was in the first 3 quarters, when we were down by 3. By the fourth quarter our players were outmatched.

 

[ejay]

Good: Gameplan to contain the mobile QB. In the past, the D line had been getting too much penetration, essentially running by dual threat players, allowing them 10-15 yards of daylight straight up the field. Seemed like they were trying to keep the qb in front of them and focus on coverage downfield. It was working. Also, offence was clicking early with a nice mix of option, power, and easy passes.

Not so good: The 3rd and long where the Defensive call was to "bring the house" leaving single coverage in the secondary. This call was made after an emotional display by coach Bo on the sideline arguing with the official. The play call seemed to be an equally impulsive and emotional spillover. It doesn't rival the "hail mary" as a turning point...but it was an important momentI turning a likely field goal into a touchdown drive.

Overall: A season with some high quality wins and some low quality losses. Critical penalties, poor execution, and some key questionable gameplanning/play calling made for average results. I can appreciate Pelini's fire, but a little mellowing might be what the Dr. ordered to help clean up some of the "focus" type mistakes (both on the field and coaching). You can call mental errors poor execution that has nothing to do with it, but at a minimum, it is distracting. Don't think the players aren't taking some cues from the coaches actions. I don't have any data on this, but I would suspect that the least penalized teams in the country tend to have more "business like" coaches. Yelling at refs for every penalty doesn't make more first downs or three and outs. Obvously, there's a time to show emotion but coach needs to pick his battles for the benefit of his team. After all, you don't see many yellow flags stuffed back in the pocket on a coaches strong suggestion.

 

[zoogs]

For sure there are concerns about recruiting and talent that we can go back and forth on, but this is NOT an untalented team. Not this year.

Too many times we have seen the potential for this team to deny that they are capable of going out there and hanging with anybody.

Too many times again we have seen the team fail to play up to that for quarters at a time, collapsing all over the place. People have been talking about Bo struggling to motivate at times. I didn't buy any of that until the weirdness of this season.

And that is just what this season has been: weird. This team, you can't really put a finger on them. They definitely had the ability to do a lot of great things, but they seemed to be constantly meandering, sometimes on, sometimes off, never really building towards something or operating in the zone. That has me more worried than if we just didn't have the talent to do it.

When you are already talent-laden, it is much easier to fall into the trap of underachieving than it is to overachieve or even break even. But that doesn't mean it isn't alarming when it happens like it did this year. I can see the positives - but I can't share your optimism right now without acknowledging that it is just wishful thinking.

2012 will be a very defining season for this staff.

Hey, is Kazcenski already on the staff and coaching with us this bowl game?

 

[Danny Bateman]

Coach K is/was in Florida and coaching the boys for the bowl, albeit with the reigns pulled back a bit for a guy who just joined staff a week or so ago-- to be expected.

I agree with you EZ-E. We're not undertalented at all... we might not have the depth or stars of an oversigning LSU or Bama team, but we're not so far off that we're not even in their league. We should be able to hang with pretty much anyone... though I still wouldn't want to face either of those teams chuckleshuffle

As much as I love Nebraska-- my passion for them is unrivaled in my life, and I love them more than almost anything else-- we are a hard team to like. I am too young to remember the 90's glory days-- and ever since then this team has reeked of disappointment. We haven't gotten over the hump since then, and it started with that a$$ whooping Miami gave us in 2001. That was the first game I can really REMEMBER in my life time. I remember getting our clock absolutely cleaned, and I couldn't understand why. I was crushed.

Even since then, Solich, Cally, and Bo have gotten us, at various points throughout their career, to a point where we appear to be approaching the hump. But none of them have gotten us over it. Cally had us playing for the Big 12 title one year, but of course we lost. Bo had us in line to win that league twice in a row, on the shoulders of a manchild playing DT, but of course we lost both of those games in excruciating fashion. And then, honestly, every one of the losses we had this year broke my heart and made me sick.

This is a disappointing team. I can't remember the last time this team played a BIG TIME team and didn't dissapoint me. If you consider top 10 Mizzou last year big time, so be it. I don't. That was a quality win, but I don't think of them as a bunch of world-beaters. Good win, but not great. Michigan State? Good team, but we matched up well and I guarantee you no one is convinced they're a year-in, year-out top 15 team.

OU in 2009 was exciting, but we beat a team that was spiraling out of control. Texas Tech OT loss, all our embarrassing losses this season, any game we played with Texas EVER in the last decade... To me, this team just appears to not show up for big games.

I'm so frustrated with it. I will use the line I always use for my family when I describe my feelings about this: "It's not that we lose-- it's the WAY we lose."

This team shows up to games that matter, plays undisciplined, makes a TON of boneheaded mistakes, and invariably fail to climb out of the monstrous hole they've dug themselves. We're talented enough to be in these games-- but for whatever reason, we continue to make the same back-breaking mistake OVER and OVER again and it kills us.

Just from the game yesterday, examples of what I mean:

• XP blocked after great quick scoring drive. Inexcusable on such a routine play and spots the other team 3 points right away.
  
• Ameer fumbles in the Red Zone and gives points away. I bet Brown was incensed at this one. I know he's a freshman but-- if he's going to run for a run-based team in Nebraska he needs to learn to LOWER HIS PADS instead of running UPRIGHT and thus exposing himself to such helmet on ball hits.
  
• We're driving to punch ball in endzone to end half, and Taylor throws pick. Totally on him, the pass sailed-- his man was open in between the zones. This leads directly to...
  
• Hail mary caught for TD after terrible clock management by Spurrier. If he's gonna screw the pooch clockwise and leave points on the board, LET HIM. DO NOT HAND POINTS OVER AGAIN.
  
• Maher gets in on action by missing routine kick. I know this and the pick on Taylor are questionably "mistakes" and really just miscues, but we could've done without either of these things.
  
• Of course, the BS pass interference call in the 2nd half didn't help, nor did the missed call that p*ssed Bo off so much.
  
• The number of false starts by OL was atrocious. Cannot have all those drive killing mistakes. Overall play wasn't bad, but I made an interesting observation. This game, the role the OL played seemed reversed from a lot of games. Usually, we do ok in the first half, and then really start wearing down the opposing defense in the 3rd and 4th quarters. This game our OL started to give up and get beat in the 2nd half.
  

Enough of these oftentimes boneheaded or self-induced negative plays begins to take its toll on our team. Much like us fans, you can only watch so many of these poor plays before getting physically sick to your stomach. Eventually, seeing too many of them unfold literally BREAKS a team. This is why I think the team started giving up in the 2nd half yesterday, specifically on the OL that last drive. It's hard to care and give 100% effort when you're questioning whether you actually even have a realistic chance to win. I think far more likely our team plays snakebit and a lot of guys just sit around waiting for the next idiot play to unfold that puts another nail in our coffin.

I can see a disturbing mental block forming with this team. How long until even THEY begin wondering if they truly play with the big dogs? Obviously guys like Rex, Lavonte, and Fonzie are exempt, but 2 of those 3 are done at Nebraska, sadly, and Rex has one more season.

In short, I'm sooooo sick of watching Nebraska beat Nebraska.

Until Bo finds a way to hammer out such mistakes, we will continue to fall in big games and never return to true prominance. We can be a decent team that comes up with 8-9 wins a year no problem, but a MNC caliber team(s) will require this sh*t getting hammered out. I'm really scared about that mental block becoming a major issue.

 

[bshirt]

OPH - Agreed buddy. I dont think that we backed down yesterday as much as we were so concerned about what was being said or done and we forgot about playing football and worried about them. I didn even recognize what game they were playing in the 3rd quarter. Wasn't any sport I have ever seen.

I can see that and have seen that throughout the season. For some reason, mid way through the third quarter and going into the fourth, our team looked intimidated.

I don't think we looked intimidated at all, I'd say they were more demoralized and frustrated by the redzone turnovers, hail mary passes and dropped balls. They were very much in that game, but as usual stupid mistakes and fluke plays took over.

Agree.

I would just add all those false-start penalties didn't help either.

 

[CheeseHusker]

As much as I love Nebraska-- my passion for them is unrivaled in my life, and I love them more than almost anything else-- we are a hard team to like. I am too young to remember the 90's glory days-- and ever since then this team has reeked of disappointment.

Even since then, Solich, Cally, and Bo have gotten us, at various points throughout their career, to a point where we appear to be approaching the hump. But none of them have gotten us over it.

Enough of these oftentimes boneheaded or self-induced negative plays begins to take its toll on our team. Much like us fans, you can only watch so many of these poor plays before getting physically sick to your stomach. Eventually, seeing too many of them unfold literally BREAKS a team.

In short, I'm sooooo sick of watching Nebraska beat Nebraska.

Until Bo finds a way to hammer out such mistakes, we will continue to fall in big games and never return to true prominance. We can be a decent team that comes up with 8-9 wins a year no problem, but a MNC caliber team(s) will require this sh*t getting hammered out. I'm really scared about that mental block becoming a major issue.

I haven't posted anything on the game yet.... I've managed to make it two days without doing so, mostly because I haven't found the right way to describe really how I felt, or how I see things going forward.

I've abridged this post for emphasis.... but pretty much everything here is 100% spot on and covers my feelings to a tee.

I remember the 90s, but I also remember the years leading up to it. It is ironic that this game was a Citrus Bowl (I'll be damned before I call it by the sponsor name), because I am finding so many parallels between the way things are now, and the way things were in January 1991, after we'd just lost a different Citrus Bowl. The amount of cynicism and despair I'm feeling about the program today is very similar to the way it was then. My thought then was, okay, Osborne had his shot in '83, didn't work out, and now the Florida teams have passed us by (yes, I know it was Georgia Tech). That 1990 squad was considered a national title contender halfway through... they outplayed CU for three quarters and then melted down. Then they were creamed by a mediocre Oklahoma team on a day where they made just about every dumb mistake in the book and had some bad luck go along with it (I'll maintain the late hit that pushed Mickey Joseph into the bench and shattered his leg is one of the worst non-calls in college football history).

For most of my life, that spring was the low point of Husker fandom for myself and a lot of people. It happened to be a bad year for me personally, as well, but for many other reasons. The future for Husker football didn't seem particularly bright at that point.

Osborne went out and got some recruiting classes that were not highly regarded at all at the time, but turned out to be among the best in school history. At the same time, he took all the program's shortcomings in stride. He make tweaks to the system and then went out in earnest and managed to find some incredible players. He also turned good players into great ones, and mediocre players into good ones. They went out and recruited talent, but they also created talent.

This is what Pelini and co. need to do now. This is not the time to fire them. But it is time to push them, to make sure they have examined and re-examined everything and ask themselves if they are doing everything possible to move forward. Re-double our efforts in everything.... recruiting, coaching our system, finding depth, finding better talent at every position.

History can repeat itself if this program is willing to be introspective enough about the present and to be understanding about what it needs to do to approach elite status again.

 

[ladyhawke]

As much as I love Nebraska-- my passion for them is unrivaled in my life, and I love them more than almost anything else-- we are a hard team to like. I am too young to remember the 90's glory days-- and ever since then this team has reeked of disappointment.

Even since then, Solich, Cally, and Bo have gotten us, at various points throughout their career, to a point where we appear to be approaching the hump. But none of them have gotten us over it.

Enough of these oftentimes boneheaded or self-induced negative plays begins to take its toll on our team. Much like us fans, you can only watch so many of these poor plays before getting physically sick to your stomach. Eventually, seeing too many of them unfold literally BREAKS a team.

In short, I'm sooooo sick of watching Nebraska beat Nebraska.

Until Bo finds a way to hammer out such mistakes, we will continue to fall in big games and never return to true prominance. We can be a decent team that comes up with 8-9 wins a year no problem, but a MNC caliber team(s) will require this sh*t getting hammered out. I'm really scared about that mental block becoming a major issue.

I haven't posted anything on the game yet.... I've managed to make it two days without doing so, mostly because I haven't found the right way to describe really how I felt, or how I see things going forward.

I've abridged this post for emphasis.... but pretty much everything here is 100% spot on and covers my feelings to a tee.

I remember the 90s, but I also remember the years leading up to it. It is ironic that this game was a Citrus Bowl (I'll be damned before I call it by the sponsor name), because I am finding so many parallels between the way things are now, and the way things were in January 1991, after we'd just lost a different Citrus Bowl. The amount of cynicism and despair I'm feeling about the program today is very similar to the way it was then. My thought then was, okay, Osborne had his shot in '83, didn't work out, and now the Florida teams have passed us by (yes, I know it was Georgia Tech). That 1990 squad was considered a national title contender halfway through... they outplayed CU for three quarters and then melted down. Then they were creamed by a mediocre Oklahoma team on a day where they made just about every dumb mistake in the book and had some bad luck go along with it (I'll maintain the late hit that pushed Mickey Joseph into the bench and shattered his leg is one of the worst non-calls in college football history).

For most of my life, that spring was the low point of Husker fandom for myself and a lot of people. It happened to be a bad year for me personally, as well, but for many other reasons. The future for Husker football didn't seem particularly bright at that point.

Osborne went out and got some recruiting classes that were not highly regarded at all at the time, but turned out to be among the best in school history. At the same time, he took all the program's shortcomings in stride. He make tweaks to the system and then went out in earnest and managed to find some incredible players. He also turned good players into great ones, and mediocre players into good ones. They went out and recruited talent, but they also created talent.

This is what Pelini and co. need to do now. This is not the time to fire them. But it is time to push them, to make sure they have examined and re-examined everything and ask themselves if they are doing everything possible to move forward. Re-double our efforts in everything.... recruiting, coaching our system, finding depth, finding better talent at every position.

History can repeat itself if this program is willing to be introspective enough about the present and to be understanding about what it needs to do to approach elite status again.

Bingo! When I look at this team since Bo took over one of the things I see missing is team play. The cohesion doesn't appear to be there. There is a sort of disconnect that I just can't put my finger on. This team seems to be spotlighting individual players instead of really playing as a team. Does this make sense? I've been around awhile and when I think back at our 'glory days' those kids played as a team. If one kid was having an off game the coach took him out and put someone else in who was having a better game. There was alot of subbing, switching up plays, trying new things right there on the playing field-right there on the learning field. There are a lot of things you can teach in the 'classroom' (i.e. during practice) but the actual application is on the playing field. So maybe a kid didn't get it in practice but the light bulb might come on as he sees it in action on the field. Let those kids play.

I also miss seeing the players themselves holding each other accountable for mistakes. When kids made mistakes back in the day, those players were in each others faces motivating, rebuking (for lack of a better word) teaching. It was so cool to watch. The players also hardly ever sat down. They were cheering, they were active they were into the game all four quarters. I'm not seeing that now. THAT is what really concerns me the most. Good posts.