Pipe Down Back There

The lid came off my sippy cup and I just spilled what was in it all over the back seat. Can we stop at McDonalds?

Great Post Steve.  Huskers fans need to check themselves before they go throwing their team under a bus.

Did everyone really expect us to come out of non-conference play without a loss?  I mean REALLY??? Of course we thought they could win, we are Husker fans.  The USC game is not nearly as important as the conference games coming up; this is when we need to be a Husker fans the most.

Now quit crying and Husker Up!  Keep your eye on the prize—San Antonio or Bust!

Last night during the Sunday night NFL game between NE and SD, I kinda felt like I was watching the USC v NE game all over. 1 team clearly dominating the other.

But not once did I ever hear the idea that San Diego lacked the ‘talent’ to compete. It had everything to do with execution and coaching.

Bo Pelini made a top 10 defense out of players from a period often referred to as ‘slow’ and ‘lacking talent’.

USC has more depth, no doubt. But Nebraska has players. USC also gets there players in the right places to make plays.

I’m worried the same cannot be said for Nebraska.

Great post!  This was obviously a hard loss for those of us in Husker Nation.  But, from where I was sitting, USC looked pretty darn good.  Sure our defense showed signs of problems, but they are the number one team in the nation for a reason.  In the whole scheme of what we need to accomplish this game really doesn’t mean a whole lot.  Did people honestly think we would win a national championship?  It will happen in due time.  For now, let’s keep our heads in the game (and in the stands, those of you at the game know what I’m talking about) and our eyes on San Antonio!

Like I said in a previous post, I don’t won’t a continual case of the “next year’s”.  I fear that we will only be able to win the big games if we have such superior talent that it overcomes the coaching shortfalls of this staff.  This may or may not happen in the time until Callahan’s contract runs out.  This isn’t a time to try and pump the team up - this is the right time for introspection.  They say coaches learn over their years, but some of the biggest eureka moments can appear in a week.  Let’s hope that Coach C has got some time to think about what went wrong.

Are you Red Reign on the HP boards?  If so, glad to know that I can respond to you here - I’ve been lurking there for ages.

Anyways, great post here and I couldn’t agree more.

Check - thanks.

Yeah, this loss bugs me.  But it bugs me less because of the final score, and more because of the reaction to the final score.  Yeah, Nebraska got taken to the woodshed, and things didn’t look good.  But like, the original post says, sometimes good teams get blown out.  In fact, I think that if Bill Callahan had been able to assemble a team that could defeat USC in 4 years, he’d be twice the genius that people claim he’s not.  Bottom line is that we have not yet seen Callahan at his best yet.  But we’ve seen enough to know that this team might be scary good in 3-4 years.

The worst part is, if someone Bill Callahan got fired, then what?  Do the people calling for Callahan’s head have a better idea?  Do you think Urban Meyer is going to have a change of heart and leave Gainsville to come to Lincoln?  We have a coach with tremendous experience who WANTS to be there.  If we run him out of town, it’ll be 20 years before we’re a top program again, not 3-4.

I really thought before this game that we had a good chance to win. I felt that we matched up better this year than last year. I felt the whole key was putting pressure on Booty. Assuming they could stop the run. Obviously I have no clue. I just want us to compete in every game like we did in the first half. I don’t expect us to go unbeaten every year. Even at 21-10 I still felt we could win that game. This is a good post from Steve and everything will be better after this week rolls through. I will be chearing on the Huskers once again this weekend, after all, it’s in my blood. Now fill my sippy cup with some BIG RED kool-aid.

Lost by 18 but we gave them 14-21 by some pretty ugly turnovers.  Anyway, the USC game SHOULD NOT be a measuring stick to use for NU’s pregress. We win the north and play in the Big 12 game (against OU) with a better record than last year. Than we are progressing which I know we are. 

I agree, we are raising the bar a little too high.  Progress would be for us to win the north and “hopefully” win the big 12 game and go to a BCS bowl. this is a tough season with a schedule that is not very forgiving.  All the tough North games are away like Kansas, Miss and Col.  We go to Texas.  But I think we win these games because we are better than last year and we are better than the team that showed up on Sat. night.  Even though that was the time if any to shine, we didn’t.

If we run him out of town, it’ll be 20 years before we’re a top program again, not 3-4…..

For how many seasons will this be the response to a lack of improvement? I don’t feel the need or desire to start listing the shortcomings, but, the bottom line is that this team is not improving and when you are going the wrong way the only practical action is to change direction. There is no pleasure watching the Huskers develop into just another mediocre passing team with no real identity or strength.   

You want to hire a new coach every four years, and fire him for not beating a #1 team?  That is going to make us look more like Kansas, not SC. 

Bill Callahan needs more than 4 years to turn this program around.  It’s pretty clear.  Personally, I say we give him ample time.  6-8 years, min.  The next time Nebraska fires a coach, it had better have everyone behind that move, or it’ll be even harder to bring in another coach.  You think firing a 9-3 coach makes other prospects frightened?  How about firing a coach that had made steady (even if slow) improvement every year on campus?

Good article.

  I’m still kinda depressed following the SC game. I avowed yesterday to stay off the boards for at least a few days…..so, here I am again:  “I JUST CAN’T QUIT YOU BIG RED!”

After Sat. night’s confrontation with REALITY, any Big Red fan can only frustrate him/herself for some years to come by thinking in terms of a NC anytime soon.  Ain’t guh-n ‘appen.  Maybe expecting to start finishing regularly in the 10-15 range is more realistic.

It suddenly looks like there are no gimmes on the schedule anymore, with the possible exception of Ball St.  Psych-clones shouldn’t be a major prob either, but ya never know when Coz will be off on his blue tooth to Misty’s when he should be coaching a game.  If that guy ever learns to consistently ‘wipe front to back’ his feel for the game might improve significantly;  o.k., that wasn’t at all nice.  Actually, last year’s D was pretty lock down against the run.  But Sat. night’s showing was just inexcusable.  Put it all together, already!

I thought Keller played very well FTMP, and the offense showed an aggressive passing attack.  I saw Glenn just totally clueless on picking up the blitz a few times which is a bit unusual.

Que sera, sera, hombres/mujeres.

It’s probably not going to be until the later stages of the Gabbert era that NE will be a legit NC contender, so as suggested above, enjoy the ride folks.

BTW, I saw on another board that ‘Ozzie’ Osborne pretty much lost to every team rated above NE for the vast majority of his tenure.  Not ‘til the mid 90’s monsta teams did that trend turn around.  So don’t go there.

Here’s to hoping we win the North, but I sure wouldn’t want to play the Sooners in a CC game—OUCH!

Nice Post Steve.  Would you let an SC fan chime in?  I am a loooong time SC season ticket holder (with many sad sad seasons prior to Pete) who lives and dies with the Trojans.  However, I have always pulled for the Huskers as well since the 70’s.  As a kid, I liked reading about the run game and smashmouth style of play.  I just wanted to help put things into perspective for the Husker nation.  You have had many years in the spot light as the top team in the nation with a stroried tradition similar to SC.  Both teams have gone through rebuilding years and this happens to be yours.  Nebraska just happens to be that you are working your way back to the top.  Compare both teams from 1990-2000.  Nebraska 120-18-1 (3 NC’s) and SC 76-54-3 (with bowl losses to TCU and TCU0 and a joke in the Pac-10 let alone the national stage).  This just happens to be SC’s run since 2001 and Pete Carroll.  When Pete came on board, we thought here we go again, another Paul Hackett.  We got lucky with a fast turnaround.  We don’t take this for granated,  becuase it took a long time to get here (1978 was last NC) and we know it will not last forever.  Nebraska fans, don’t get too down, you will be in the NC hunt in 2-3 years and may even put a beating on SC in a future bowl game.  Kick some Sooner and Longhorn tail this year.  I hope you win the North and are the Big-12 Champions.  Best of luck from a West Coast SC Fan.

Thanks a lot, Jason.  Enjoy USC’s success this season - I’m sure it’s going to be a lot of fun to watch.  I was rooting for an OU/LSU BCS Title game, but now I really think that the USC Offensive Line will win them every game they play this year.

Darren,

I was thinking the same thing, after the game.  But in the end you don’t loose 49-31 and give up 300 yards on the ground at HOME.  I am a Billy C fan, but if the lines are only that good, it is going to be a long season.

To Jason SC fan….

Thank you for your post.  I was thinking about that last night and I was looking at some of the results for USC in the 90’s and early 2000’s.  What we need to realize is that we got beat by a team that at the beginning of the year was by far the overwhelming #1 in the polls and I think Saturday night showed us why.  USC did to us what we did to Florida in ‘95 and Tennessee in ‘97.  The USC defense has 10 of 11 starters back from last season and we didn’t get to see Ellis last year so that was a difference.  That guy is a man up front.

Our offense actually played pretty well other than some turnovers and a not so good rushing attack.  Defensively, that was some of the worst tackling and angles I’ve seen by a NU team.  In my opinion it starts with coaching and I think Cosgrove is not really earning his keep.  I know he arrived here through the Buddy System but someone needs to step in and say enough is enough.  At least with Pelini our guys played with fire and emotion and I just don’t see that out there right now. 

Dave Canny:

You posted: “I don’t feel the need or desire to start listing the shortcomings, but, the bottom line is that this team is not improving and when you are going the wrong way the only practical action is to change direction”

Do you REALLY think that this team is not better then it was 3 years ago?  Have you REALLY forgot so soon?  Please back up your comment, because we didn’t beat the #1 team in the nation?

I won’t speak for Dave, but overall, this Husker team is NOT better than it was 3 years ago.  Offensively, we are much, much better.  Not where we’d like to be, but much much, much better.

Defensively, we are a mere shadow of our former self.  2003 was a top 10 defense full of playmakers that are now playing on Sundays in the NFL.  No such players exist on our roster anymore.  This might be the worst Husker defense in 40 years. The dropoff on defense is the reason why the Huskers are NOT better than in 2003.

Let’s put those games in perspective:

Missouri:  4 turnovers inside the Husker 10 yard line.  That’s putting your defense behind the eight-ball.  Not the defense’s fault at all.

Texas:  I see NFL teams struggling to contain Vince Young and Cedric Benson.

Kansas State:  Calling KSU “unranked” is selective memory.  They were conference champions, demolishing an Oklahoma team that was getting mention as the latest “greatest ever” team.

I’ll give you some 4th quarter scores in those games:

NU 24, Missouri 14

Texas 17, Nebraska 7

KSU 17, Nebraska 7

Now I give you another score…middle of the 3rd quarter, when USC called off the dogs:

USC 42, Nebraska 10

If you want to argue that the 2003 defense melted down in the 4th quarter a couple of times, fine.  If you want to argue that USC is a great team, fine.  But the 2003 Huskers were in all of those games in the 4th quarter.  Last Saturday, Nebraska put 21 points up in the 4th quarter on USC’s third and fourth stringers to make it look a little less disastrous.

Wow these posts are the most positive that I have read following the big game.  I do wonder about the defense.  They seemed so unprepared.  If I had a nickel for every time last night that I yelled tackle him…Cos’s d’s just don’t feel like blackshirts.  It seems so reactive and not acting.      I understood last year that we had a weak secondary so we laid off on the blitzing.  But now it seems that the back 4 not the front seven are our strength.  I am bummed about the whole thing.

When you get an entirely new coaching staff and completely change the offensive and defensive schemes of the team, it takes more than 4 years.  The team is progressing for sure.  The talent coming in is getting better and better every year.  We are a year or two away from what I would expect a Nebraska team to be.  This year our schedule is not real favorable but you take what you get because not every year it is going to be favorable.

Look at how long USC was down before they became another dynasty these last few years.

Although no fans have much patience, don’t expect this team to beat the #1 team or be a National Champion this year.  We are not there yet and it is that simple.

IF ANYTHING POSITIVE CAME OUT OF THIS WHOLE THING.  WE HAVE THE BEST FANS IN THE COUNTRY.

THERE WERE MANY CELEBRATIES ON HAND IN LINCOLN AND THEY ALL RAVED ON THE NU FANS ABOUT HOW CLASSY THEY WERE.  DID NOT BOO THE OTHER TEAM. ETC, ETC. 

Steve,

I here what you’re saying, but a good team just shouldn’t have ‘worse’ days like NE’s D had Sat. night.  I normally haven’t been a basher of these coaches, but I’m back on the fence with Coz.  And, not to go down Pelini Lane too far, but I think we all can admit that watching his ‘03 NE D playing left one very impressed considering what he had to work with—he DID have Demorrio Williams(Octo should be playing that well), though.  Pelini’s Ds hit hard and are disciplined, similar to OU, and I haven’t seen that from any Coz D.

Can I get out of the car now?  After the Missouri game I’m car sick and wanna yak all over this article.