Thoughts on Pelini and the State of the Program

[Hooked on Huskers]

Just after Callahan was axed by T.O., I thought Bo was a mild mannered person and Tom Osborne type. I was definitely wrong!

 

[TheSker]

You say we have no leaders who can will us to win, yet we've came back multiple times from double digit deficits. Those are the contradicting statements.

I noted the comebacks and said that despite them we need better and more vocal leaders. Where are those leaders in the blowouts?

blowouts...blah, blah, blah......let's move forward.

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

You say we have no leaders who can will us to win, yet we've came back multiple times from double digit deficits. Those are the contradicting statements.

I noted the comebacks and said that despite them we need better and more vocal leaders. Where are those leaders in the blowouts?

I don't know. It's weird. Sometimes we stop the bleeding and fight back and win, other times we don't. Perhaps maybe leadership isn't the correct explanation for that?

 

[strigori]

Keep him. I mean, we could be worse off. LOL...that's awesome.

We could, could we not?

That's our measuring stick now? That things could be worse? Its like talking with Iowa fans....

I guess if you are happy with multiple blowouts every year, and never wining anything, by all means, lets carry on.

Will you have the same mindset assuming we end up in a Florida bowl game again, and get the doors blown off? If that happens its too late to even fire the guy.

 

[TheSker]

I guess if you are happy with multiple blowouts every year.

Multiple blowouts every year is "possibly" a bit exaggerated?

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

Keep him. I mean, we could be worse off. LOL...that's awesome.

We could, could we not?

That's our measuring stick now? That things could be worse? Its like talking with Iowa fans....

I guess if you are happy with multiple blowouts every year, and never wining anything, by all means, lets carry on.

Will you have the same mindset assuming we end up in a Florida bowl game again, and get the doors blown off? If that happens its too late to even fire the guy.

This is an absolutely baseless argument that, I'll repeat this for the umpteenth time, because we want to keep Bo equates us to being okay with blowouts and never winning anything is a ridiculous assumption.

Dammit, I don't know where anybody gets that asinine idea from. Seriously? Who wants to see their team lose by 35 points? No one!

There's a difference between being unsatisfied with losing by 35 points and thinking that the guy we have in charge can change those things. I still think we can get there under the current head coach, maybe if he makes some changes at other positions, or maybe if he keeps things the same.

 

[Ric Flair]

You say we have no leaders who can will us to win, yet we've came back multiple times from double digit deficits. Those are the contradicting statements.

I noted the comebacks and said that despite them we need better and more vocal leaders. Where are those leaders in the blowouts?

I don't know. It's weird. Sometimes we stop the bleeding and fight back and win, other times we don't. Perhaps maybe leadership isn't the correct explanation for that?

I've thought leadership has been lacking, the culture needs work and and the team needs more focus for some time. I think it's why they commit so many turnovers and other mental mistakes, start out slow so often at the beginning of games or coming out of halftime and why they drop a game a season to an unranked team and get blown out a time or two a season.

In the situations where we fight back and win, we're usually the better team, haven't been playing like it and finally wake up. That seemed to be the recurring theme during the string of comeback wins last season. In the blowouts, we seem to be overmatched on the field and in terms of coaching and unable to make adjustments to stop the bleeding.

But if you don't think a lack of leadership is the reason for the problems we're discussing, what do you think those issues are due to?

 

[jsneb83]

Keep him. I mean, we could be worse off. LOL...that's awesome.

We could, could we not?

That's our measuring stick now? That things could be worse? Its like talking with Iowa fans....

I guess if you are happy with multiple blowouts every year, and never wining anything, by all means, lets carry on.

Will you have the same mindset assuming we end up in a Florida bowl game again, and get the doors blown off? If that happens its too late to even fire the guy.

This is an absolutely baseless argument that, I'll repeat this for the umpteenth time, because we want to keep Bo equates us to being okay with blowouts and never winning anything is a ridiculous assumption.

Dammit, I don't know where anybody gets that asinine idea from. Seriously? Who wants to see their team lose by 35 points? No one!

There's a difference between being unsatisfied with losing by 35 points and thinking that the guy we have in charge can change those things. I still think we can get there under the current head coach, maybe if he makes some changes at other positions, or maybe if he keeps things the same.

It suits their argument and agenda.

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

You say we have no leaders who can will us to win, yet we've came back multiple times from double digit deficits. Those are the contradicting statements.

I noted the comebacks and said that despite them we need better and more vocal leaders. Where are those leaders in the blowouts?

I don't know. It's weird. Sometimes we stop the bleeding and fight back and win, other times we don't. Perhaps maybe leadership isn't the correct explanation for that?

I've thought leadership has been lacking, the culture needs work and and the team needs more focus for some time. I think it's why they commit so many turnovers and other mental mistakes, start out slow so often at the beginning of games or coming out of halftime and why they drop a game a season to an unranked team and get blown out a time or two a season.

In the situations where we fight back and win, we're usually the better team, haven't been playing like it and finally wake up. That seemed to be the recurring theme during the string of comeback wins last season. In the blowouts, we seem to be overmatched on the field and in terms of coaching and unable to make adjustments to stop the bleeding.

But if you don't think a lack of leadership is the reason for the problems we're discussing, what do you think those issues are due to?

It's not like I don't think that a lack of leadership isn't part of the reason for the problems. I definitely wish we had somebody like redshirted freshman (last year) Jameis Winston on the sideline. And maybe we do, but we just don't hear about it. It's hard for us to make judgments on leadership because we don't spend time on the sidelines with the team during the game nor do we spend time with the team during practice or in the weight room. Or maybe we don't. But who knows? It's certainly hard for us to make that claim.

So I think the simple answer maybe that, we just panic in certain situations. Most of the time in our blowouts, things happen so quickly that you as a fan are left thinking, "when did all that happen." UCLA this year is a perfect example. We were up 21-3 and then we were down 41-21 before we knew what hit us. Certainly maybe the leadership wasn't as good as it normally is in those situations, but leadership is certainly not the only issue. Football can't be explained with a simple, "x happened because of y" answer. It's more like, "x happened because of y, z, w, and q."

I'm betting, in the blowouts, we:

(1) get out-coached for a couple of drives

(2) panic

(3) execution falls apart

(4) give up

I'm betting in the comebacks, we get out-coached, and maybe panic a little, but come out and execute and then everything is okay.

Now, to be fair, the only game where we got "blown-out" was UCLA this year. And I'm willing to bet that with this defense now with this philosophy, we manage to win that game, or lose by 10 or less. There's a turnaround happening; it's hiding behind a similar record as previous years, but there's an attitude about this defense that makes me think that we'll be okay moving forward.

 

[Nuke LaLoosh]

How about a 10-3 finish this year? I think that'd help coach Pelini. I seem to recall Pelini and Jammal Lord getting it done winning their bowl game over Michigan State to complete a 10-3 record back in 2003 when Pelini was NU's interim head coach. He finishes 10-3 with a bowl victory this season - and this is a mute point. After that, maybe Pelini can recruit a 5-star running back and find the next Mike Rozier.

Agree this may be a mute point if we go 10-3, but we don't need a 5* rb. We've done more with less *

 

[strigori]

Keep him. I mean, we could be worse off. LOL...that's awesome.

We could, could we not?

That's our measuring stick now? That things could be worse? Its like talking with Iowa fans....

I guess if you are happy with multiple blowouts every year, and never wining anything, by all means, lets carry on.

Will you have the same mindset assuming we end up in a Florida bowl game again, and get the doors blown off? If that happens its too late to even fire the guy.

This is an absolutely baseless argument that, I'll repeat this for the umpteenth time, because we want to keep Bo equates us to being okay with blowouts and never winning anything is a ridiculous assumption.

Dammit, I don't know where anybody gets that asinine idea from. Seriously? Who wants to see their team lose by 35 points? No one!

There's a difference between being unsatisfied with losing by 35 points and thinking that the guy we have in charge can change those things. I still think we can get there under the current head coach, maybe if he makes some changes at other positions, or maybe if he keeps things the same.

And again, 6 years is a trend. One that has been getting worse, not better at that. And the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

3 double digit losses this year, and expect the bowl game to be a 4th.

3 double digit losses last year.

3 double digit losses in 2011

1 double digit loss in 2010

1 double digit loss in 2009

2 double digit losses in 2008

Its not getting better, and this year's schedule is beyond pathetic, the best win this year will be against a 7-5 team. Where is a shred of evidence that next year will be better?

Here is a simple set of questions.

Do you think Pelini can beat Gary Anderson with Wisconsin on a regular basis?

Do you think Pelini can beat Urban Meyer with Ohio State?

Those two are what he has to beat to get a conference title. If the answer is 'No' then its time for a change.

And for the record, No I do not think he is capable of beating either one of them more than 1 in 4 or 5 tries.

I see nothing to convince me that under the visionless program Pelini is leading we will ever be more than we are now. A team that struggles to get a nice number of wins, but one that gets embarrassed several times a year, and is a continual also ran.

 

[It'sNotAFakeID]

Keep him. I mean, we could be worse off. LOL...that's awesome.

We could, could we not?

That's our measuring stick now? That things could be worse? Its like talking with Iowa fans....

I guess if you are happy with multiple blowouts every year, and never wining anything, by all means, lets carry on.

Will you have the same mindset assuming we end up in a Florida bowl game again, and get the doors blown off? If that happens its too late to even fire the guy.

This is an absolutely baseless argument that, I'll repeat this for the umpteenth time, because we want to keep Bo equates us to being okay with blowouts and never winning anything is a ridiculous assumption.

Dammit, I don't know where anybody gets that asinine idea from. Seriously? Who wants to see their team lose by 35 points? No one!

There's a difference between being unsatisfied with losing by 35 points and thinking that the guy we have in charge can change those things. I still think we can get there under the current head coach, maybe if he makes some changes at other positions, or maybe if he keeps things the same.

And again, 6 years is a trend. One that has been getting worse, not better at that. And the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

3 double digit losses this year, and expect the bowl game to be a 4th.

3 double digit losses last year.

3 double digit losses in 2011

1 double digit loss in 2010

1 double digit loss in 2009

2 double digit losses in 2008

Its not getting better, and this year's schedule is beyond pathetic, the best win this year will be against a 7-5 team. Where is a shred of evidence that next year will be better?

Here is a simple set of questions.

Do you think Pelini can beat Gary Anderson with Wisconsin on a regular basis?

Do you think Pelini can beat Urban Meyer with Ohio State?

Those two are what he has to beat to get a conference title. If the answer is 'No' then its time for a change.

And for the record, No I do not think he is capable of beating either one of them more than 1 in 4 or 5 tries.

I see nothing to convince me that under the visionless program Pelini is leading we will ever be more than we are now. A team that struggles to get a nice number of wins, but one that gets embarrassed several times a year, and is a continual also ran.

I'm glad you know how the friggin bowl game is going to go. You are really frickin amazing.

Do I think Bo can beat Gary Andersen with Wisconsin? Definitely

Do I think Bo can beat Urban Meyer with Ohio State? Yes, but with less confidence than Wisconsin

We're reverting back to a defense that we ran back in 2009 and 2010, and we have the talent in those positions. What we also have is better skill players on offense. We'd be nuts if we don't let Bo have a chance with the players he's helped put on the defensive side of the ball.

 

[strigori]

It is looking like its going to be a Florida match up with an SEC team, and one on the upper end of their conference too, I have seen nothing to make me think this team is capable of beating a SEC team with 8 or 9 wins.

 

[RedDenver]

It is looking like its going to be a Florida match up with an SEC team, and one on the upper end of their conference too, I have seen nothing to make me think this team is capable of beating a SEC team with 8 or 9 wins.

Have you watched the SEC? They aren't exactly world beaters this year. Mizzou might be the best team in the conference.

 

[suigeneris]

We're reverting back to a defense that we ran back in 2009 and 2010, and we have the talent in those positions. What we also have is better skill players on offense. We'd be nuts if we don't let Bo have a chance with the players he's helped put on the defensive side of the ball.

First, we're not reverting to the defense we ran in '09 and '10. If anything, we started the year with a scheme more similar to what we ran in those years and began moving away from that scheme during the middle of the season.

Second, do you think that the talent we've recruited the last couple of years is any better than the talent Bo had in '09 and '10?