Today's Presser

[Igetbored216]

The presser was a joke and just sounded like a coach protecting his product.

As for the above conversation; I tend to agree that it appears we have some great potential talent that has been recruited, but it appears we don't have the right coaches in place to make them reach their potential. I mean, it would be understandable to me if young players or even inexperienced players made mistakes during the first few games, but shouldn't we see improvement as the year progressed? I just haven't seen it. Our defense against Michigan was abysmal. The only one making plays out there was David and the scary part is that he's gone next year. Dennard is gone next year. Crick is gone next year. Who on defense is stepping up next year to take their spots? Better question is, are the coaches we have in place capable of progressing players up to the level (and hopefully beyond) to take their spot?

I guess what worries me the most is whether or not we have the right assistant coaches in place to get the job done. The lack of improvement across the defensive line and secondary is troubling.

 

[Forge]

I think we have both recruiting and coaching problems….

When people are comparing recruiting to TO, you have to realize that TO and his staff COULD find 3 star players and coach/develop them into NFL drafted players. So, to compare TO players to Bo players is really comparing apples to oranges. If you can’t develop or coach up players, you need to recruit. If you can recruit, you don’t need to such great coaches to be great. If you can do both, you have national championship runs like Alabama, LSU, Oregon, Oklahoma and OSU over the last decade.

From my view, Bo came in and had a talent filled Callahan team, they just needed some direction. He did great his first three years, much like Solich did his first 4 years with Tom O's talented teams. Solich let recruiting slide and with some of Toms staff retiring, he couldn’t develop the talent like TO and staff could. I see the same thing playing out with Pelini. Now that Callahan’s recruits have ran out, we are seeing the impact on the field.

I think Callahan could find not only physically talented recruits, but also mentally ready athletes. They say 90 percent of being great is mental; the other 10 percent is physical talent. In my opinion, Bo knows physical talent and knows instinct, but he has had issues finding the mental guys, the guys that TO and Callahan could find. (Rex is one of the few exceptions as well as his JUCOs).

I think Bo needs some help from his staff; he needs more experience with both recruiting and developing. I don’t have a solution for him, other than Barney has let him down. I don’t question Cottons dedication, it’s just that some people have “it” and some people don’t. I don’t think Barney has it, and wont no matter how hard he tries. He needs some old salty dude that he respects and will listen to, someone that can help him identify more than just raw talent and help teach the staff how to get the most out of those players every weekend.

I think we have a slightly better Solich now.... Good, but not great. Bo can recruit better than Solich, but not as well as Callahan. Bo can develop some players, but if they aren’t mentally ready, he will struggle with them. The question is; can husker nation settle for being just good? Or, will their desire to return to greatness wear on their patience before Bo and Staff gets better at recruiting and developing it? Only time will tell.

 

[BigRedPowerWagon]

These topics are getting old, so very very old. If you cant see bos team standing by bo then take your fan glasses off. Leader on Offence, Rex Burkhead/Taylor Martinez. Leader on Defence Lavonte David. Head Coach Bo Pelinii, D cordinator Carl Pelini, O cordinator Tim Beck. These are the leaders of our team, these are the people who make nebraska who they are right now. Are you saying the Rex Burkhead doesn't give his balls every friggin play, are you saying that Taylor Martinez, though sometimes inconsistant doesn't give his all. That Bo and Carl and Tim don't scheme gameplans, while the coaches they are playing against are doing the same thing. Some times it works some times it doesnt. I think tim is doing a great job, we need the young players to get experience. Though taylor has made mistakes that probally cost us the Wisconson game look how far he came. The d is young and needs to be built up for the big 10 foes. They need to be bigger up front, losing crick didn't help either. Ball control needs to be emphasized as well as poise on the line to avoid costly penalties. Sometimes it works, some times it doesnt. One thing i am learning fast about the big10 is these teams dont lay down. I was just explaining this to an iowa fan today. In the big 12 there were teams who did there part but never really played the spoiler. In the big 10 its totally different. You can be northwestern and still beat Ohio St on any given day. We have great players and great coaches. I am happy with 9 and 10 win seasons. And on occasion when that perfect storm hits, we get the NC shot. Should we of lost to Northwestern, no but it happened and it happens. Dont forget, even though weve lost 3 we still havent been kicked out of the top 25 yet and are positioned to go to a decent bowl game. All is ok, remember guys this is the last game of the season until the bowls start up. Its not gloom and doom, the sky isnt falling, 2012 isnt goign to cave in the world. Its football and it is hardly ever consistant.

 

[BigRedPowerWagon]

I think we have both recruiting and coaching problems….

When people are comparing recruiting to TO, you have to realize that TO and his staff COULD find 3 star players and coach/develop them into NFL drafted players. So, to compare TO players to Bo players is really comparing apples to oranges. If you can’t develop or coach up players, you need to recruit. If you can recruit, you don’t need to such great coaches to be great. If you can do both, you have national championship runs like Alabama, LSU, Oregon, Oklahoma and OSU over the last decade.

From my view, Bo came in and had a talent filled Callahan team, they just needed some direction. He did great his first three years, much like Solich did his first 4 years with Tom O's talented teams. Solich let recruiting slide and with some of Toms staff retiring, he couldn’t develop the talent like TO and staff could. I see the same thing playing out with Pelini. Now that Callahan’s recruits have ran out, we are seeing the impact on the field.

I think Callahan could find not only physically talented recruits, but also mentally ready athletes. They say 90 percent of being great is mental; the other 10 percent is physical talent. In my opinion, Bo knows physical talent and knows instinct, but he has had issues finding the mental guys, the guys that TO and Callahan could find. (Rex is one of the few exceptions as well as his JUCOs).

I think Bo needs some help from his staff; he needs more experience with both recruiting and developing. I don’t have a solution for him, other than Barney has let him down. I don’t question Cottons dedication, it’s just that some people have “it” and some people don’t. I don’t think Barney has it, and wont no matter how hard he tries. He needs some old salty dude that he respects and will listen to, someone that can help him identify more than just raw talent and help teach the staff how to get the most out of those players every weekend.

I think we have a slightly better Solich now.... Good, but not great. Bo can recruit better than Solich, but not as well as Callahan. Bo can develop some players, but if they aren’t mentally ready, he will struggle with them. The question is; can husker nation settle for being just good? Or, will their desire to return to greatness wear on their patience before Bo and Staff gets better at recruiting and developing it? Only time will tell.

I am actually almost physically ill that you are pointing out good things about Callahan. Are you serious are you f'ing SERIOUS.

 

[ladyhawke]

Just curious: What would we have liked to have heard Bo say at the Presser? I'm thinking we would've liked to have heard him say, 'Here are the areas where we are weak and here is what we are going to do to fix them.' Would that have satisfied the fans/media?

 

[bshirt]

We aren't having "poor recruiting." That's a myth, and I'm not sure where people are coming up with this. Bo's recruiting ranks so far:

2008 - 30

2009 - 28

2010 - 22

2011 - 15

At the moment we're ranked 49th by Rivals (where the above numbers came from), but this class is tiny and was always destined to be ranked lower.

Recruiting isn't the problem. It's coaching/developing talent, with a side order of getting the talent you recruit to produce on game day. We are clearly getting kids that should have us competing with pretty much anyone in the nation. We are simply not getting the results out of them.

It's the coaches. Not the recruits.

really? so all the nebraska kids playing for us every weekend were highly recruited across the nation? help me out here knapp....and no top 10 recruiting classes since Pelini has been here.........30 and 28 are poor.......49th is pitiful, no matter how small the class.

Well then by your standards every NU cfb HC has always blown chunks. Nobody.....I repeat nobody has ever come even remotely to getting top ten recruiting classes for NU with any consistency whatsoever. It's not even close.

What you claim as "poor" ranking is what TO steamrolled the nation with in the 70s, 80s & 90's. TO routinely had mid 20 ranked recruiting classes for decades.

Lastly, this year's class is very small and is not even close to being finished. It's "November".

GBR!!

 

[lo country]

If anybody listened to Sports Nightly tonight, Matt Davison made a point that I'm tending to agree with right now.

Jeff Culhane asked Matt how to build consistency in a team, and Davison said one of the biggest things is holding players accountable. If there was ever a time where the offense wasn't holding up their end of the bargain or wasn't performing as they should, guys like Jason Peter, Mike Brown, Grant Wistrom, etc., would walk down to the offense on the sidelines and let them know what they thought, whether it was nice or not. Davison said one reason many of those 90's teams were so good, among many other reasons, was because of their commitment to accountability.

Davison went on to to say he didn't notice anybody - from the offense or defense - walking towards each other and trying to hold one another accountable. That doesn't mean it didn't happen, of course, but it was just one man's observation. And I gotta say that to some degree, what Davison is saying makes sense. Who can we definitely say is a leader on the defense? Who, from both sides of the ball, is trying to make players accountable for their actions? Coaches can only do so much. At some point, the players are responsible for what happens on the field.

Outside of talent, coaching, execution, etc., the players have to be responsible for one another's actions. If one fails, everybody fails.

You read some stuff from Peter ie "hero of the underground" ot TO's Faith in the game, and those teams had a completely different psyche. No team would ever come to Lincoln and think they could win. Those teams, as you pointed out held each other accountable and to a higher standard than even the staff. They also had permanent Captains.

A story from TO's book: TO was watching a practice during the spring (coaches not allowed) and saw Peter run across the field (to another intra squad session) and lay a kid out. TO remarked to Peter about it and Peter explained he could tell the guy was loafing and that is not accepted.

We do have leadership in guys like Rex and David by the way they play. But do we have anyone getting in your face on the sidelines, in the locker room, in the film room. Peter also said they caught a guy half stepping in the game, in the locker room there would be hell to pay.

I would love Martinez to get in his receivers face after they drop a pass, run the wrong route etc... If anyone has the right to do that, it is him. He isnt the best passer, so when it hits their hands they better catch it.

We need more fire, more intensity for sure.

 

[bdubb75]

I really think it's all about consistency. We seem to flounder at the first sign of danger. Our offense is an up tempo offense yet....we do almost nothing with it and we have to be one of the worst 3rd down teams in the country. We were like 0 for 6 or something at one point against Michigan. That's awful. I still stand firm by my thoughts on the team though...until Taylor is no longer the QB, we won't be consistent. He's probably the most inconsistent of the bunch (in my opinion).

 

[Hunter94]

If anybody listened to Sports Nightly tonight, Matt Davison made a point that I'm tending to agree with right now.

Jeff Culhane asked Matt how to build consistency in a team, and Davison said one of the biggest things is holding players accountable. If there was ever a time where the offense wasn't holding up their end of the bargain or wasn't performing as they should, guys like Jason Peter, Mike Brown, Grant Wistrom, etc., would walk down to the offense on the sidelines and let them know what they thought, whether it was nice or not. Davison said one reason many of those 90's teams were so good, among many other reasons, was because of their commitment to accountability.

Davison went on to to say he didn't notice anybody - from the offense or defense - walking towards each other and trying to hold one another accountable. That doesn't mean it didn't happen, of course, but it was just one man's observation. And I gotta say that to some degree, what Davison is saying makes sense. Who can we definitely say is a leader on the defense? Who, from both sides of the ball, is trying to make players accountable for their actions? Coaches can only do so much. At some point, the players are responsible for what happens on the field.

Outside of talent, coaching, execution, etc., the players have to be responsible for one another's actions. If one fails, everybody fails.

You read some stuff from Peter ie "hero of the underground" ot TO's Faith in the game, and those teams had a completely different psyche. No team would ever come to Lincoln and think they could win. Those teams, as you pointed out held each other accountable and to a higher standard than even the staff. They also had permanent Captains.

A story from TO's book: TO was watching a practice during the spring (coaches not allowed) and saw Peter run across the field (to another intra squad session) and lay a kid out. TO remarked to Peter about it and Peter explained he could tell the guy was loafing and that is not accepted.

We do have leadership in guys like Rex and David by the way they play. But do we have anyone getting in your face on the sidelines, in the locker room, in the film room. Peter also said they caught a guy half stepping in the game, in the locker room there would be hell to pay.

I would love Martinez to get in his receivers face after they drop a pass, run the wrong route etc... If anyone has the right to do that, it is him. He isnt the best passer, so when it hits their hands they better catch it.

We need more fire, more intensity for sure.

i don't think many players have the same value system now as we witnessed way back when, i really don't. glorified hits, highlight reels, individual records, the team concept has gone to hell......along with mental toughness, you know, we wouldn't want to hurt someone's feelings.

 

[HotGrillonGrillAction]

maybe Bo has hit his ceiling as a HC. All I could think about reading the first comments he made in that article was "I've done an excellent job in all areas"

Ugh.....sucks that it hurts because it did feel like that type of comment.

 

[Foppa]

I really think it's all about consistency. We seem to flounder at the first sign of danger. Our offense is an up tempo offense yet....we do almost nothing with it and we have to be one of the worst 3rd down teams in the country. We were like 0 for 6 or something at one point against Michigan. That's awful. I still stand firm by my thoughts on the team though...until Taylor is no longer the QB, we won't be consistent. He's probably the most inconsistent of the bunch (in my opinion).

It's also hard for a QB to find any consistency when you've got less than a second to make a decision because your offensive line is imploding in on you faster than a neutron star.

 

[quitou]

maybe Bo has hit his ceiling as a HC.  All I could think about reading the first comments he made in that article was "I've done an excellent job in all areas"

Ugh.....sucks that it hurts because it did feel like that type of comment.

This is really a point I don't get. Bo has a total of about 4 years in his pocket as a head coach, every single one of those years is a 9 or 10 win season, and everyone's already in a 'what have you done for me lately' attitude. How soon we forget that just 5 years ago Callahan gave the Huskers their second losing season in four years. Maybe you should ask Kansas if they'd be okay with a 9-3 season right now, because their coach had zero experience coming in as well.NE just started in the Big Ten, just changed almost half their coaching staff, and just changed both their offensive and defensive schemes. And they're STILL going to give their fans a 9 or 10 win season. But no, it's NCG or bust for Husker fan... Huskers aren't officially back until we can have 1994-1997 all over again. You guys are pathetic... I don't remember TO having much different pressers other than him being a bit more cordial. He wasn't throwing self defamation out there that often unless he had to.STOP ASKING FOR MIRACLES EVERY SEASON, you spoiled brats...

 

[HuskerinSunDiego]

Here's a way to fix the problem with recruits that don't pan out: In the future, tell recruits that they have to remain in the top 85, or else they can lose their scholarship. These recruits all think that they'll be #1, so they will laugh at such a disclaimer. However, when they later fall off the radar, they cannot claim they weren't warned. This would solve the problem of carry Micah Kreikenheimers (I think that's his name) for four years.

 

[Enhance]

i don't think many players have the same value system now as we witnessed way back when, i really don't. glorified hits, highlight reels, individual records, the team concept has gone to hell......along with mental toughness, you know, we wouldn't want to hurt someone's feelings.

If that's true, you have to wonder where it all went wrong and why these kids are even playing football.

I would love to see players getting in each other's faces more often. Think about it. What hurts more and what motivates you more - someone in an authority position telling you to do better, or one of your closest friends coming up and telling you you're letting him down? For me, it's the latter. If I were a player, I'd much rather face the coach after something bad than I would my teammates.

 

[BigRedPowerWagon]

maybe Bo has hit his ceiling as a HC. All I could think about reading the first comments he made in that article was "I've done an excellent job in all areas"

Ugh.....sucks that it hurts because it did feel like that type of comment.

This is really a point I don't get. Bo has a total of about 4 years in his pocket as a head coach, every single one of those years is a 9 or 10 win season, and everyone's already in a 'what have you done for me lately' attitude. How soon we forget that just 5 years ago Callahan gave the Huskers their second losing season in four years. Maybe you should ask Kansas if they'd be okay with a 9-3 season right now, because their coach had zero experience coming in as well.NE just started in the Big Ten, just changed almost half their coaching staff, and just changed both their offensive and defensive schemes. And they're STILL going to give their fans a 9 or 10 win season. But no, it's NCG or bust for Husker fan... Huskers aren't officially back until we can have 1994-1997 all over again. You guys are pathetic... I don't remember TO having much different pressers other than him being a bit more cordial. He wasn't throwing self defamation out there that often unless he had to.STOP ASKING FOR MIRACLES EVERY SEASON, you spoiled brats...

:worship :thumbs