What we learned today...

[Count 'Bility]

Agree with Bourne.

I kept waiting for our D to blow Wyoming off the line and make way for anything, anything at all, on offense.

It never happened, as near as I could tell.

We are not supposed to be debating anything except whether we won by too much or not. Sorry, that seems a bit entitled, but I grew up watching the teams Osborne and Devaney built. Most of the time, the only real question was how much we would win by, not whether we would win. And farmers in western Nebraska drank a LOT of beers while discussing whether or not a 40 point win over K State was good enough, and puzzling over the very rare loss. A greater topic was how close we were to a MNC and, if not that, what bowl we would blow out some other team in.

I know that was a long time ago, but for an old fart, it is impossible to forget.

We WERE dominant, and a great part of me believes we will be again. Not sure if Bo will be in charge or not, when that happens, but I do KNOW it will happen. It MUST happen.

That is how a coach with all the wins Bo has ends up on the hot seat.

Our history really does not allow for mediocrity. And mediocrity, in these parts, is less than top 5, whether that is a realistic goal or not.

Games different. The landscape of college football is different. The team that was #1 in the country in November just last season? That team? yeah, they just lost at home to a Div 1-AA team. You have to let the 90's go sir. that sh#t's never happening again. Dont bring up Bama. They havent been half as dominant.

 

[Flood]

I happen to agree, Accountability. Bama is the current golden child but they have nothing on the Huskers of the 90's.

I also happen to agree with you, to some extent. Where we differ, I guess, is that I DO think it can happen again. And happen here.

There will come a time when AA schools simply run out of money to compete. They can't ALL build a fanbase and huge stadiums on a student population of less than 10k. Right now, everyone seems to think that a move to the upper echelons is a lottery strike for their athletic programs.

I do have one concern, aside from that. The hurry-up video-game offense is possibly going to be a real problem, an injury laden experiment that hurts more than it helps. It offers a way for lesser talent and athletes to stay competitive but I think it is fool's gold. It will lead to greater injury rates, for one. But it will also cause the top teams to retool on defense and someone will devise a lightning quick substitution scheme that will get some QB killed. And i only speak rhetorically. Someone is going to get badly injured on D or O, and fingers will be pointing. And lawsuits will begin.

I think there should be an automatic substitution time to slow it down. I do not know what that time should be. 15 seconds? 30? I don't know what would be right. But I see that as the next seismic discussion we will be having, aside from a split off from the NCAA.

Strange times we live in.

I have no doubt there are huge holes, HUGE, in my statements. And I am happy to read about others opinions and views.

Finally, I also acknowledge that you might just be right. The game may well have passed me by, too. I was raised in a different era than the athletes and coaches of today. If time proves I am utterly wrong, I will consign myself one day to the sidelines, and watch and hope for the best.

 

[Stumpy1]

Man, it's like a lot of guys on this board have had kids that were walking and talking by the time they were 3 weeks old. I am willing to give the defense a passing grade due to the youth. The offense, not so much.

 

[TheSker]

A greater topic was how close we were to a MNC and, if not that, what bowl we would blow out some other team in.

Tom's bowl record is 12-13, including losing 7 straight from '87-'93. Sometimes what we accomplished in his final 5 coaching seasons is what we remember most.....and for good reason.

 

[beanman]

I just learned that in the past 3 games we've given up an average of 8.9 yds per play. Outstanding. I'm sure Stumpy, EZ and all the other worshipers will find some way to spin that one into a positive.

 

[WhatDoIKnow]

Ok, here's the deal, we're Nebraska, at least we're supposed to be, and they are Wyo. We should not even be having this conversation as we--Nebraska--should have been able to steamroll them 4-5 yds off the ball and leave no doubt about making the conversion. Thats the way I see it and that's why I made that initial comment.

Nebraska wasn't Nebraska and Wyoming wasn't Wyoming in 1994?

How many years has it been since we could line up and blow someone, almost anyone off the ball?

 

[Flood]

A greater topic was how close we were to a MNC and, if not that, what bowl we would blow out some other team in.

Tom's bowl record is 12-13, including losing 7 straight from '87-'93. Sometimes what we accomplished in his final 5 coaching seasons is what we remember most.....and for good reason.

I clearly remember those years. They were a b!^@h as a fan. I was either in the stadium, in the early years of those teams, or in a radio station control room listening, as I worked in broadcasting.

They were tough years for sure.

I guess where that time differs is that, we all knew, or suspected, that we had a winner in Tom. The bowl losses hurt, some very badly, but we had a guy we KNEW could figure it out. And we gave him the benefit of the doubt, regardless of how long it took.

Today's world is different. A coach gets, if they are lucky, three years to turn it around or to reach for a ring. Any kind of ring, whether it be a conference championship, a major bowl, a benchmark win against a serious rival.

Tom didn't really have to deal with as much pressure. There WAS pressure, just not so immediate.

In that sense, I feel for Bo. A lot of the internet fanbase is thinking he has to win NOW. It took tom a LONG time to get to the MNC level, and even longer to get the first MNC. The Florida teams were Tom's bane, and it took awhile. I feel we are close with Bo, that he is close to breaking through.

I only hope we give him the time to do so. It may well be another 5-7 years. The most important point is we have not dropped off the radar nationally. When that happens, I will also accept defeat and say let's move on.

So far, we are in the mix. We are ranked, it's early, and who knows?

Now I am rambling.

Time for another glass of wine.

 

[Branno]

It's also a game of momentum. It shifted when TMart threw the pick. Had he not, worst case scenario we kick a field goal. Kick off and they have no momentum and have 75 yards to go to score.

Playing that game, had Smith not thrown his 2 picks, they probably win going away.

Playing that game, had the refs called holding during the game they would have scored 0 points and had 0 yards of offense.

 

[Branno]

I just learned that in the past 3 games we've given up an average of 8.9 yds per play. Outstanding. I'm sure Stumpy, EZ and all the other worshipers will find some way to spin that one into a positive.

I just learned that in the last 20 years we've won 3 national championships. I'm sure all the negative nancies will find some way to spin that one into a negative.

This team has played 1 game. No more, no less.

 

[tschu]

Here's what I KNOW. Fricking WYOMING put up fracking 600+ yds on us and nearly pulled off the upset of my lifetime vs Big Red, K? Thats all I need to know. The sh&t aint working and putting RG @ at 'roving DE' is just more smoke and mirror, cutesy Bo b.s. We dont have the mojo on the d front to even not get owned by l'il ol' Wyo, and thats sad, so he's just bullsh@tting his way around.

1-8 on third down conversions. That means when we were getting into scenarios to get off the field, WE GOT OFF THE FIELD. A defense that is getting "pushed around" doesn't do that. Good lord Here is an article from last year on the topic. http://www.omaha.com.../708119859/1707 - our issue has continued to be GETTING OFF THE FIELD. Which, for the first time in a long, long time, we actually did! For instance, last year USM completed 50% of their 3rd conversions against our D. So, yeah, I'd say us using Gregory as a drop end has helped us get off the field. Cutesy stuff that works, I guess.

I'm not sure how we are getting owned when our D actually did a good job getting off of the field? Yeah they had a big fourth quarter, but once again, we wanted to fix our issues on third down and it appears we have taken steps to do that. Sheesh.

Okay, but...when you're giving up 9 yards per play, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that Wyoming wasn't even reaching 3rd down all that often. And defense isn't like offense where one total failure of a play has little consequence in terms of game equity. You have a total failure of a play on defense, what you get is an opponent TD. Now it's great that we were moderately successful on 3rd down, but that's like saying "well we got our opponent to leave 14 runners on base" while still giving up 20 hits and 10 runs.

 

[beanman]

It's also a game of momentum. It shifted when TMart threw the pick. Had he not, worst case scenario we kick a field goal. Kick off and they have no momentum and have 75 yards to go to score.

Playing that game, had Smith not thrown his 2 picks, they probably win going away.

Playing that game, had the refs called holding during the game they would have scored 0 points and had 0 yards of offense.

I like how our fans have resorted to blaming the refs when we were playing f'ing Wyoming. We were holding too. You should probably go back and watch the game again.

 

[308_Husker]

It's also a game of momentum. It shifted when TMart threw the pick. Had he not, worst case scenario we kick a field goal. Kick off and they have no momentum and have 75 yards to go to score.

Playing that game, had Smith not thrown his 2 picks, they probably win going away.

Playing that game, had the refs called holding during the game they would have scored 0 points and had 0 yards of offense.

I like how our fans have resorted to blaming the refs when we were playing f'ing Wyoming. We were holding too. You should probably go back and watch the game again.

+1. We were getting no calls just as many times as they were getting no calls. You man the f#*k up and play the game. Complacency will not get you anywhere.

 

[HuskerfaninOkieland]

A greater topic was how close we were to a MNC and, if not that, what bowl we would blow out some other team in.

Tom's bowl record is 12-13, including losing 7 straight from '87-'93. Sometimes what we accomplished in his final 5 coaching seasons is what we remember most.....and for good reason.

I clearly remember those years. They were a b!^@h as a fan. I was either in the stadium, in the early years of those teams, or in a radio station control room listening, as I worked in broadcasting.

They were tough years for sure.

I guess where that time differs is that, we all knew, or suspected, that we had a winner in Tom. The bowl losses hurt, some very badly, but we had a guy we KNEW could figure it out. And we gave him the benefit of the doubt, regardless of how long it took.

Today's world is different. A coach gets, if they are lucky, three years to turn it around or to reach for a ring. Any kind of ring, whether it be a conference championship, a major bowl, a benchmark win against a serious rival.

Tom didn't really have to deal with as much pressure. There WAS pressure, just not so immediate.

In that sense, I feel for Bo. A lot of the internet fanbase is thinking he has to win NOW. It took tom a LONG time to get to the MNC level, and even longer to get the first MNC. The Florida teams were Tom's bane, and it took awhile. I feel we are close with Bo, that he is close to breaking through.

I only hope we give him the time to do so. It may well be another 5-7 years. The most important point is we have not dropped off the radar nationally. When that happens, I will also accept defeat and say let's move on.

So far, we are in the mix. We are ranked, it's early, and who knows?

Now I am rambling.

Time for another glass of wine.

Tom's world really wasn't much different. It's pretty common knowledge he seriously considered taking the Colorado gig because of the criticism he was taking from the fanbase. I think I read somewhere on HB that even some of the boosters were questioning Tom's abilities and were discussing the idea of hiring a new coach.

Personally, the problem I see are a lot of Nebraska fans are spoiled. They became so spoiled from the latter years of Tom's career that they act as if they're entitled to root for a team that dominates every aspect of every game in every season. It's not going to happen. It didn't happen during Tom's career, it didn't happen during Devaney's career and it sure as hell isn't and won't happen during Bo's tenure.

This is probably the first season in a long time when IDGAF how the season pans out. Win, lose or draw, there will be next season and another season after that and another one after that one and so on. Why stress and get all butthurt over a bunch of kids playing a sport who don't seem to be playing up to fan expection.

 

[WhatDoIKnow]

It's also a game of momentum. It shifted when TMart threw the pick. Had he not, worst case scenario we kick a field goal. Kick off and they have no momentum and have 75 yards to go to score.

Playing that game, had Smith not thrown his 2 picks, they probably win going away.

Playing that game, had the refs called holding during the game they would have scored 0 points and had 0 yards of offense.

I was commenting on that all game also. Not sure what the definition of "holding" is anymore. I guess you can grab the jersey and as long as you don't wrap your arms around the guy, it's not holding. I know one or our OL pulled down a defender by the jersey right in the hole of Cross' short TD run.

 

[Army_Allen]

It's also a game of momentum. It shifted when TMart threw the pick. Had he not, worst case scenario we kick a field goal. Kick off and they have no momentum and have 75 yards to go to score.

Playing that game, had Smith not thrown his 2 picks, they probably win going away.

Playing that game, had the refs called holding during the game they would have scored 0 points and had 0 yards of offense.

I didn't see a play where Gregory wasn't held.