Why Nebraska Can't Win The Big One

I say all that and it goes back to Martinez, again. All the problems Nebraska faced yesterday and Martinez is still a focus?

This team, these issues, go light years beyond Martinez. If he's a problem, he's a very, very small piece of the pie. His offensive line deserves significantly more criticism than he.

 
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No Martinez is not the sole problem but when you are hurt and lie to your team, you are hurting the team more than yourself at that point.

 
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Fair enough, but I still argue that in the overall scheme of things, that's one of the least relevant issues. I'm not saying irrelevant, just least relevant. I think the mental fortitude of this team is far more distressing than Martinez hiding an injury.

 
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Enhance89 said:
In my opinion, Taylor Martinez is a really good Husker quarterback that's part of and surrounded by a mentally weak football team. Just take a look at our main page and see how many different topics and ideas people have for why Nebraska is playing so poorly. NU has so many problems and it's not just one or two things they need to work on, it's a bunch of things. What explanation can there be at this point other than the Huskers are incapable of mentally preparing for, and executing, a game plan?

There's no feasible way Nebraska doesn't try to make adjustments at half or counter what a team is doing. But, they can't execute those changes. They let adversity snowball. Experienced players (and a captain, no less) admitting they took their foot off the gas and didn't stay focused on the task at hand. And then there's the plethora of actual football fundamentals and concepts that they don't know to maintain and execute during a game. Players have come and gone, the same issues have persisted. Why this team needs insurmountable amounts of motivation and kick-in-the-a$$ moments, I don't know.

I'm not calling for Pelini's head, but whatever he's doing and however he is trying to coach and motivate his players isn't working. It's not just this year - it's the same issues over several years, and his most experienced/talented part of the team crapped the bed in a big way yesterday against a defense comparable to ours. I'm confident he's an extremely intelligent coach, but he and his staff apparently don't know how to make a mentally strong football team that can fight back. I think Pelini's seat is definitely hot after yesterday. Whether some fans think that's fair or not, it's true. There's a disconnect, and at this point, I'm wondering if Pelini only keeps his job by restructuring his staff, or losing his job all together. I would legitimately hate to see that because I enjoy Pelini as our coach.

I'm at a loss myself. We have some really good coaches on this team and what's being put on the field is embarrassing. Whether Pelini himself is the problem, or a couple of the assistants, I don't know. But yesterday, as Pelini pointed out, was an entire team failure.
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Wow. This is the best post I've read on HB for a while. +3 (I went back and +1'ed two other random posts of yours, for this one.)
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Enhance89 said:
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Coaching and motivating players has as a foundation the concepts of respect and perceived competence. That is, players will respond to and be motivated well by a coaching staff that they respect and a staff who the players believe is competent, in control and able to do their jobs well.

I surmise --- though cannot be certain --- that a reasonable subset of the players at this point neither respect the coaches or see the staff as competent. They may like the coaches (nice guys) and admire the coaches intent (rightly motivated, care about the players & want to win)... but respect and admire the coaches ability? Likely not at this point --- they have seen these coaches in over their heads and out coached too often. They have seen the temper tantrums and the response of the coaches to adversity (which has been very poor... with Bo in particular).

It is hard to be motivated when you know your coaches will be eaten alive by the opponents coaches. It is likely hard to hear "its execution" over and over again when they know coaching adjustments (lack thereof) were in large part, responsible.

I'd guess that respect for the staff is gone by now and... as such... the team will not be motivated and/or focused (or confidant) under this staff.

 
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robsker said:
Enhance89 said:
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Coaching and motivating players has as a foundation the concepts of respect and perceived competence. That is, players will respond to and be motivated well by a coaching staff that they respect and a staff who the players believe is competent, in control and able to do their jobs well.

I surmise --- though cannot be certain --- that a reasonable subset of the players at this point neither respect the coaches or see the staff as competent. They may like the coaches (nice guys) and admire the coaches intent (rightly motivated, care about the players & want to win)... but respect and admire the coaches ability? Likely not at this point --- they have seen these coaches in over their heads and out coached too often. They have seen the temper tantrums and the response of the coaches to adversity (which has been very poor... with Bo in particular).

It is hard to be motivated when you know your coaches will be eaten alive by the opponents coaches. It is likely hard to hear "its execution" over and over again when they know coaching adjustments (lack thereof) were in large part, responsible.

I'd guess that respect for the staff is gone by now and... as such... the team will not be motivated and/or focused (or confidant) under this staff.
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I have some friends that played for Cally and they all felt this way with him. They didn't respect him and/or care for him. To me, it sounds like the players we are recruiting do not have that killer instinct or they do and the coaches take it out of them. There is no way that our kids should be letting off the gas, even when up by 18. This has been an issue through out Pelini's tenure here.

 
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the fact that UCLA, a middle of the pack, 20ish type of team is now considered "the Big One" for Nebraska says about everything you need to say about the state of this program.

 
kchusker_chris said:
the fact that UCLA, a middle of the pack, 20ish type of team is now considered "the Big One" for Nebraska says about everything you need to say about the state of this program.
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Middle of the pack 20ish type team according to who? Let's see the year play out before acting like they are a nobody.

 
StPaulHusker said:
kchusker_chris said:
the fact that UCLA, a middle of the pack, 20ish type of team is now considered "the Big One" for Nebraska says about everything you need to say about the state of this program.
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Middle of the pack 20ish type team according to who? Let's see the year play out before acting like they are a nobody.
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Agreed. UCLA will make a run for the Pac 12. We have no idea what November and October will bring. I know it sounds like a long shot assenine comment, but I said in a status update yesterday that we're all gonna look pretty foolish if this team improves and wins out (or even just loses one more game) and Wyoming and UCLA both win their conferences and Wyoming is this year's BCS buster. LOL.

 
Enhance89 said:
In my opinion, Taylor Martinez is a really good Husker quarterback that's part of and surrounded by a mentally weak football team. Just take a look at our main page and see how many different topics and ideas people have for why Nebraska is playing so poorly. NU has so many problems and it's not just one or two things they need to work on, it's a bunch of things. What explanation can there be at this point other than the Huskers are incapable of mentally preparing for, and executing, a game plan?

There's no feasible way Nebraska doesn't try to make adjustments at half or counter what a team is doing. But, they can't execute those changes. They let adversity snowball. Experienced players (and a captain, no less) admitting they took their foot off the gas and didn't stay focused on the task at hand. And then there's the plethora of actual football fundamentals and concepts that they don't know to maintain and execute during a game. Players have come and gone, the same issues have persisted. Why this team needs insurmountable amounts of motivation and kick-in-the-a$$ moments, I don't know.

I'm not calling for Pelini's head, but whatever he's doing and however he is trying to coach and motivate his players isn't working. It's not just this year - it's the same issues over several years, and his most experienced/talented part of the team crapped the bed in a big way yesterday against a defense comparable to ours. I'm confident he's an extremely intelligent coach, but he and his staff apparently don't know how to make a mentally strong football team that can fight back. I think Pelini's seat is definitely hot after yesterday. Whether some fans think that's fair or not, it's true. There's a disconnect, and at this point, I'm wondering if Pelini only keeps his job by restructuring his staff, or losing his job all together. I would legitimately hate to see that because I enjoy Pelini as our coach.

I'm at a loss myself. We have some really good coaches on this team and what's being put on the field is embarrassing. Whether Pelini himself is the problem, or a couple of the assistants, I don't know. But yesterday, as Pelini pointed out, was an entire team failure.
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Good post, the team is mentally weak, they don't know how to fight through adversity and they do take the foot off the gas when they are up. I think that is a Pelini thing. I think he does get conservative when he is up and before half time.

 
Taylor Martinez. IS an Elite QB. What he isn't.... a one man team. He has lightning speed and tons of ability, but he needs help from the defense.

 
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