With hard part in the past, Nebraska football expects bright future

[QMany]

I think he meant better then Purdue

Thanks! I realized that soon after posting, but the wording threw me off.

 

[Redux]

The Purdue game was a travesty to watch. It sucked in almost every way. We let a 1 win team hang 50+ on us. Yet we were incredibly banged up, on the road and still hung 40+ points with a low ceiling backup QB. It sucked so hard to watch, but it wasn't the worst loss in recent memory.

The 2012 Wisconsin title game was the stuff nightmares are made of and the 2009 Iowa State game where Hungover Monkeys stole our uniforms and played 60 minutes of slop are the two most infuriating losses I can think of. The 2010 Bowl loss to Washington ranks up there for me too.

 

[zoogs]

Yeah, the '12 B1G CCG loss stands out. Here was an unextraordinary 7-5 team and a chance to earn a conference crown on the easy. Completely demolished in a game with everything to play for.

Nebraska was *not* that good this year. A few more back-breakers and the team crumbled. But even then, I think we saw the seeds of a much stronger finish being sown late in that game. They got blasted, but even as shorthanded as they were, they fought back. I don't hope Ryker has to start another game next year, but I really like him and the pluck he showed.

Last year, New England got destroyed by Kansas City. There wasn't much they could do about scoreboard by halftime, but Belichick himself said he felt an optimism about the character they showed at the end (under a backup QB). They proceeded to demolish several NFL division leaders, starting the very next week with "We're onto Cincinnati", and the KC game was credited as one where the team came together, learned a little about themselves, and found a springboard.

I can't look at a turning point loss as all that bad, if ultimately the team responded well and made a positive out of it. There have been embarrassing losses that still stand today as disasters. Those ones are harder to even think about.

 

[olddominionhusker]

Yeah, the '12 B1G CCG loss stands out. Here was an unextraordinary 7-5 team and a chance to earn a conference crown on the easy. Completely demolished in a game with everything to play for.

Nebraska was *not* that good this year. A few more back-breakers and the team crumbled. But even then, I think we saw the seeds of a much stronger finish being sown late in that game. They got blasted, but even as shorthanded as they were, they fought back. I don't hope Ryker has to start another game next year, but I really like him and the pluck he showed.

Last year, New England got destroyed by Kansas City. There wasn't much they could do about scoreboard by halftime, but Belichick himself said he felt an optimism about the character they showed at the end (under a backup QB). They proceeded to demolish several NFL division leaders, starting the very next week with "We're onto Cincinnati", and the KC game was credited as one where the team came together, learned a little about themselves, and found a springboard.

I can't look at a turning point loss as all that bad, if ultimately the team responded well and made a positive out of it. There have been embarrassing losses that still stand today as disasters. Those ones are harder to even think about.

I think the Purdue loss was important because it seemed to trigger a wake up call to the coaches and the team as well. I feel like things started coming together after that and that the coaches started to adjust to the players better and vice versa. It may not have felt as crushing as the other games mentioned, but that's only because we were already so beaten down when it happened.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

The Purdue game was a travesty to watch. It sucked in almost every way. We let a 1 win team hang 50+ on us. Yet we were incredibly banged up, on the road and still hung 40+ points with a low ceiling backup QB. It sucked so hard to watch, but it wasn't the worst loss in recent memory.

The 2012 Wisconsin title game was the stuff nightmares are made of and the 2009 Iowa State game where Hungover Monkeys stole our uniforms and played 60 minutes of slop are the two most infuriating losses I can think of. The 2010 Bowl loss to Washington ranks up there for me too.

I agree with all of the above.

We knew things were bad going into the Purdue game. It was the turd in the already turd-laden punch bowl. We had Ryker Fyfe as an excuse. I was far more incredulous than I was depressed. There's a certain amount of relief in hitting bottom. And 500 yards of offense to appreciate between turnovers.

Wisconsin in the 2012 CCG and Washington in the Holiday Bowl 2010 made it seem like all the progress that had come before was just a mirage. More at stake and more depressing.

And yeah, the 2009 Iowa State game may actually have been uglier.

And Wisconsin 2014. Just because it looked so familiar.

 

[olddominionhusker]

The Purdue game was a travesty to watch. It sucked in almost every way. We let a 1 win team hang 50+ on us. Yet we were incredibly banged up, on the road and still hung 40+ points with a low ceiling backup QB. It sucked so hard to watch, but it wasn't the worst loss in recent memory.

The 2012 Wisconsin title game was the stuff nightmares are made of and the 2009 Iowa State game where Hungover Monkeys stole our uniforms and played 60 minutes of slop are the two most infuriating losses I can think of. The 2010 Bowl loss to Washington ranks up there for me too.

I agree with all of the above.

We knew things were bad going into the Purdue game. It was the turd in the already turd-laden punch bowl. We had Ryker Fyfe as an excuse. I was far more incredulous than I was depressed. There's a certain amount of relief in hitting bottom. And 500 yards of offense to appreciate between turnovers.

Wisconsin in the 2012 CCG and Washington in the Holiday Bowl 2010 made it seem like all the progress that had come before was just a mirage. More at stake and more depressing.

And yeah, the 2009 Iowa State game may actually have been uglier.

And Wisconsin 2014. Just because it looked so familiar.

Yeah by that point it was actually a Turd Bowl with a tablespoon of punch in it

 

[TheSker]

Wisconsin in the 2012 CCG and Washington in the Holiday Bowl 2010 made it seem like all the progress that had come before was just a mirage. More at stake and more depressing.

And yeah, the 2009 Iowa State game may actually have been uglier.

And Wisconsin 2014. Just because it looked so familiar.

And don't forget.....most importantly, they were worse because each of the above were Pelini coached teams.

 

[Husker Psycho]

Why do you guys honestly care so much about wins and losses? At the end of the day, why does it really matter?

I want our team to win every game, but if they don't, especially on 50/50 plays, I just shrug it off and enjoy being able to watch my favorite team compete playing my favorite sport. One play doesn't diminish the effort those kids put forth, or the enjoyment I have being a small part of it if only by watching.

Losing on one bad decision or play is not even in the same stratosphere of embarrassment as giving up 60-70+ and being turned into roadkill by OSU or Wisconsin. The difference between a 6-7 season with a lot of tough breaks and a 10-11 win season is night and day by a lot of your perspectives, when it's really just a difference of a few inches.

Anyone with any background in playing or coaching a sport would have this as a basic philosophy on dealing with losing:
Don't dwell on losses. Learn from mistakes and make every effort to improve.

In my opinion, that should be the philosophy as a fan as well.

If your opinion differs, fine. You can choose to get upset about a game. You can choose to call people "losers" or "quitters" for having a less emotional reaction to the outcome of a game. I'll choose to err on the side of keeping things in perspective and being entertained by my favorite team.

And another thing.

Talk about hurting recruiting...

What elite high school players do you think would want to play for coaches who don't care about the score of the game...?... or the season record...?

This is all such total nonsense.

 

[zoogs]

Bad, ugly, embarrassments can, and will, happen to everyone. There's a bunch of guys on the other side trying to win, and we know that every dog will have their day in the sun.

It's how a team responds with their own rainy days that defines them. What kind of character do they find? (How) do they move ahead?

Pelini put his own particular stamp on these losses. It was the calling card of NU teams under his tenure. It's why they are remembered in such dim light, and probably had something to do with why it kept happening, too.

 

[FeelLikeAStranger]

I just don't get the thought of "well, at least they were all close losses." I agree that blowout losses to Wisconsin, Ohio State, and other games under Bo were embarrassing. But, going 5-7 this year was embarrassing. Having the BYU Hail Mary replayed on every sports channel numerous times was embarrassing. Losing to Illinois on one of the stupidest coach/player decision I have ever seen was embarrassing. Getting torched by Purdue for over 50 points was embarrassing.

I'm not saying I want Bo back, or those were successful seasons. IMO, any time NU doesn't win their Big Ten division, the season was not successful. Other than that, I am a pretty black-and-white guy. A win is a win, and a loss is a loss. To me, a 9 win season is more successful than a 6 win season regardless of the specific outcomes. If anything, having a bunch of close losses gives me more concern about the coaching staff, because there could have been a few coaching mistakes/decisions in each game that led to those losses.

Knocked.out.of.the.park

 

[walksalone]

Winter has come to Nebraska, and with it the offseason. This is the part Mike Riley loves most.

In the past, during stints at Oregon State and elsewhere, Riley used the offseason to layer another floor upon his team’s existing foundation — to establish “things in the program that we can grow from,” he said. There is a rhythm to the annual rebirth, Riley continued, of cadences, formations and plays, and of an offense, defense and team working in unison.

That wasn’t a luxury afforded a year ago, when Riley inherited a group that remained up until the Cornhuskers’ season opener “a mystery” to be solved; admittedly, Nebraska remained a riddle for much of the new staff’s debut.

“Like coaches do, you build up some general concerns about what things are going to look like,” he told USA TODAY Sports. “I really wasn’t worried outwardly about how that was going to be. Then we got into the year and started with losing a game on a Hail Mary, then it kind of went from there.

“It just can’t be played off as bad luck. That’s really shallow to do that, and it’s a trap. It’s pretty self-indicting when you get in close games and you don’t win.”

The offseason he likes the most?

This really says nothing as to how MR's going to fix what plagued this team time and again this year...

 

[FeelLikeAStranger]

No way is 2015 Purdue the worst loss in even recent Nebraska history. That was a thin team in the midst of a tumultuous season, down its starting QB, its best offensive lineman, two of its starting DBs, and one of its WRs, and they'd lose both their starting RB and most dangerous playmaker in the course of the game too, if I recall. It was a spectacular disaster for the skeleton crew and a very poor showing by them, but that Purdue team also took Michigan State to the wire.People will forget this game, and it won't be a shame, because it was a blip on the radar. If it helped light a fire under some of the NU players who made sure that it became the nadir of the 2015 season, great. We can close the book on that game at this point, IMO.How about this, by the way:

Nebraska played with just 44 active scholarship players from the previous three recruiting classes, a paltry total compared to its major-conference peers.

That's not including the '15 class of what was it, 21?I'd like to see those numbers in better context, but I expect Riley to start building these numbers back up. I'm actually really surprised by the 44 number.

1992 loss to Iowa State is the only other loss that compares to Purdue '15 in the modern era. Absolute bottom of the barrel, even with the excuses.

 

[Guy Chamberlin]

Wisconsin in the 2012 CCG and Washington in the Holiday Bowl 2010 made it seem like all the progress that had come before was just a mirage. More at stake and more depressing.

And yeah, the 2009 Iowa State game may actually have been uglier.

And Wisconsin 2014. Just because it looked so familiar.

And don't forget.....most importantly, they were worse because each of the above were Pelini coached teams.

You know now that you mention it, you should put the lifeless home loss to to a mediocre Texas in 2010 in there, too, when Nebraska was ranked #5, everyone was healthy, and the team sh#t the bed in all phases of the game.

 

[TheSker]

Wisconsin in the 2012 CCG and Washington in the Holiday Bowl 2010 made it seem like all the progress that had come before was just a mirage. More at stake and more depressing.

And yeah, the 2009 Iowa State game may actually have been uglier.

And Wisconsin 2014. Just because it looked so familiar.

And don't forget.....most importantly, they were worse because each of the above were Pelini coached teams.

You know now that you mention it, you should put the lifeless home loss to to a mediocre Texas in 2010 in there, too, when Nebraska was ranked #5, everyone was healthy, and the team sh#t the bed in all phases of the game.

Agree.

A Pelini team could lose an "important game"......even get blown out at times.

With Riley, throw 12 games in a hat, pick out 6 randomly and you'll have the average season for him.

You can play for championships at 9 wins. Never at 6.

 

[skersfan]

Again wrong, we were the champions of the Foster Farm Bowl. Sorry sker had to.

I remember a game in Lubbock, Texas that I feel was our worst game in my lifetime.

Purdue loss was terrible, but there were reasons for it.

You learn from losses, normally more than you learn from wins. We got a lot of learning this year, hopefully we can put it in the rear view mirror and not learn as much next year!