Husker Question

[LundLover]

I asked this in another thread, but didn't get a response, so I thought I would start a new thread....

Do you think the Huskers are still moving forward with the program? If left unbothered, do you think Callaghan and Company will eventually get the program to National Championship caliber in 5 more years? Ever? It took Osborne a long time to win a national champtionship.

Or, are we stalled, destined for mediocrity, until we boot Callaghan, his staff, and Steve Peterson as well?

[Willie Boy]

As for Callahan, time will tell. To judge a coach on W-L's from a historical perspective assumes that the quality of the opposition hasn't changed either.

But one thing is true: coaches with tenure in this league tend to be more successful...either because they've been successful earlier, or have developed the team along the way...Osborne had a lot of patsies in the earlier years in the old Big Eight...typically, it was a bunch of bad teams until the end of the season against either OU, or later, CU...

But this I do know: teams that change coaches often lose momentum too...either way, getting NU to a dominant level decade in-decade out is not likely to occur and I would submit, if NU had been in the SEC during the 70-80-90's it wouldn't have happened anyway...

That's not to diminish in any way what Osborne, Solich and Callahan have accomplished...

but the line between good and great is very small and, I humbly submit, not defined by talent, but by the desire, the 'need' to impose your will on your opponent...

[OldBaldGuy]

Originally Posted by Willie Boy

"...but the line between good and great is very small and, I humbly submit, not defined by talent, but by the desire, the 'need' to impose your will on your opponent...

So if I really, truly, cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die desire it, I, too can run a 4.3 second 40? Are you sure?

[Willie Boy]

Originally Posted by OldBaldGuy

So if I really, truly, cross-my-heart-and-hope-to-die desire it, I, too can run a 4.3 second 40? Are you sure?

please re-read the quote you used... you will note that I said the 'line between good and great'... I've heard is said that the difference between bronze and gold in the olympics is how much pain the athlete is willing/able to withstand...

But I suspect that you will be able to run a 4.3 40 time before I shall...

[OldBaldGuy]

Originally Posted by Willie Boy

I've heard is said that the difference between bronze and gold in the olympics is how much pain the athlete is willing/able to withstand...

Well, that would explain my empty trophy case.

Everything else being equal, I prefer sadism. My only masochistic tendencies are repeated attempts to cast heavy bugs on 9-foot leaders with 2 feet of 6X tippet in a Nebraska cross-wind.

[Alex T.]

Exactly Willie. They have all the necessary "things" needed. The two things I think they miss......the attitude to dominate their opponent and the coaches ability to adjust when needed. They get that and they'll hang with anyone.Until then,they win the give me games and struggle with the others. NU fans got very spoiled with Osborne and the schedule they played. I'd love to see a few teams(not just NU) move to the SEC for a season or two and see how good they really are.

Alex

[muddy river]

Who's your team Alex?

[Alex T.]

I have no favorite team. Just love to watch college football. Especially the southern schools. Sure,I like to watch the Huskers play but I won't pass up shooting fowl,deer,upland,or watching two good southern schools play just to see their games.

Alex

[Willie Boy]

Originally Posted by Alex T.

I'd love to see a few teams(not just NU) move to the SEC for a season or two and see how good they really are.Alex

exactly! got a couple of candidates in the Big 10 and PAC 10 (actually, all of those guys) that come to mind...

[Catfishsteve]

I don't think any team is ever going to dominate college football with national championship teams going back-to-back, 3 out of 5 years or even 4 out of 10 years anymore.

So, if playing in a BCS bowl once every 4 or 5 years passes for "mediocre" these days, well then YES. That's where NU is headed and that's what I think we'll eventually see with BC. I think we will see NU in a BCS bowl more often than any other Big 12 team over the next 10 yrs. I think we should almost never lose the north anymore and will win the Big 12 about half the time from here on out.

I also think folks are pretty much foolish to think that the coaching change brought about the current situation. I think that's the situation we'd find ourselves in, at best, even if TO was still at the helm in modern day college football.

We were never ever going to see a BCS bowl with the teams Frankie was fielding. He was not recruiting well and my mother would make a better game day play caller. Frankie had the success he had with TO's players. You can see the kind of success we've had with players he recruited over the last couple of years. Now that BC recruits are coming online, NU is competitive again.

[burrodebo]

Originally Posted by Alex T.

Exactly Willie. They have all the necessary "things" needed. The two things I think they miss......the attitude to dominate their opponent. Alex

Totally agree.

Remember this?

"Day by day, we get better and better. A team that can't be beat, won't be beat!"

They used to chant that way back when in the championship days before a game. And I don't care if you are a Nebraska fan or not, it gave you chills. It would have even given Willie the chills. They meant it and you did not want to get in their way come game time.

Think about that line. "A team that cant be beat, wont be beat." No excuses. The tougher team wins. Look at a guy like Wistrom. His motor never quit. Madman. Scared the opponent. Tacked you, HARD, stripped the ball, away and started running the other direction. Hell we cant even tackle.

I heard someone, somewhere, some time ago -- that I think was associated with the football program -- say something like the Huskers of old wanted not just to dominate a team but to demoralize them too.

That's the attitude that wins championships.

[Catfishsteve]

***say something like the Huskers of old wanted not just to dominate a team but to demoralize them too.

That's the attitude that wins championships.***

That's right, Bo. Someone at the time was able to instill that certain something in those players.

Lately, it's appeared to me that the D players play like they are waiting around for Wistrom or one of the Peter brothers to tackle someone.

It appears that there has been no one to convince the players that now is their time to step up. They kinda just go through the motions for the most part.

[Willie Boy]

Originally Posted by Catfishsteve

I think we should almost never lose the north anymore and will win the Big 12 about half the time from here on out.

I think you're still looking through the lens of the past there buddy. Coaches like Pinkel (given enough time) and Hawkins and Prince are going to make that road very, very, very difficult.

Remember, it's not so much that NU has gotten worse...give some thought to the competition getting better too...

And remember, the days of NU stepping on the field and the opponent just 'wanting to make it close' are gone forever. Now NU's opponents believe they can win...not just on their home field, but in Lincoln too...a new day has dawned...

[fish_finder]

Not to say this years team would do well vs. a SEC team but NU is 4-2 vs. SEC teams since 1980. Not bad but not alot of games.

[magnusthebigbrownlab]

No. Here's why...

The offense CAN become good...they ARE improving.

But the defense is horrible. Keep in mind that players should IMPROVE throughout their tenure in college, and ask yourself, "Is Cory McKeon playing better this year than last year?" "Is Bo Rudd playing better this year than last year?" "Is Steve Octavien playing better this year than last year."
The answer is no. Their defense is declining with the current coaching. Watch the game tape, see how many times the defense was not set as the ball was snapped. Cosgrove has forgotten what a "base" defense is, and is coming up with schemes that a child born of Isaac Newton and Dick Butkus couldn't begin to understand. Even if these wild defenses COULD work, the players OBVIOUSLY don't understand them, so they aren't worth a golden turd.

We heard it all throughout the 90's when men by the names of Wistrom and Peter struck fear into the hearts of opposing offenses...DEFENSE WINS CHAMPIONSHIPS.
Octavien...Rudd...McKeon? Those names are a joke.

[Catfishsteve]

:::Even if these wild defenses COULD work, the players OBVIOUSLY don't understand them, so they aren't worth a golden turd. :::

Even in the most exotic and complicated defensive schemes ever thought of and carried out at the pro level (Dick Lebeau/Steelers, for instance) there is still usually one guy whose job it is on the field to simply do whatever it is he can to attack the ball on every play. He operates, "outside" the plan as much as he can.

This would be your Seau's, Taylor's, Eller's, Olsen's, Jones', Lambert's and Butkus' and Polamalu's etc. of the world. This would not be anything resembling a Neon Deion.

None of those guys worry too much about what defensive call was on any given play. Their job was simply to occupy as many offensive players as possible on every play to keep them from seperating the ballcarrier from his head.

It's then everyone else's job to excute the scheme/coverage and tackle/breakup whatever it is that player flushes out or doesn't get to.



With NU's current scheme, it seems like everyone is too lost trying to figure where to line up and what they are supposed do on every play to even keep track of the ball. The linebackers and secondary just hang back and wait for the plays to come to them. We have no monster that teams are struggling to account for on every play.
We used to have monsters, usually a couple of them.

How good can a defensive scheme be when a good offense to counter it would seem to be hand it off and have the ballcarrier run right at the nearest red jersey they see? Everyone then stands around and watches the ball carrier break arm tackles and whiffs and gain 5-7 yds. at a crack because they are all too afraid to get out of their lane or whatever they've been taught is their job instead of attacking the ballcarrier.

[magnusthebigbrownlab]

I'm not denying that the corn-muffin's defense is seriously lacking in the fundamentals of playing d. You're right...arm tackling and weak hitting is piss poor.

[thall]

Alright guys, normally i stay out of these NU thread because they just make me upset about the situation. I am huge football fan and like the Huskers, not a fanatic but they are my favorite team.

I played college football and we ran an offense much like the one the huskers are attempting to implement. Here are the problems I see, but before I say these things please understand that I am not trying to hang onto the past!

The offense that Callahan is trying to install is very difficult even when a coach tries to "dumb it down" which it doesn't sound like he is doing. He is throwing the whole book at them. When watching the games it makes me sick to see how many of Keller's interceptions/incompletion's are from receiver errors in their routes. The office they are trying to run requires that a receiver change his route in while running it. This is very hard to do and takes a lot of practice. It still does not look to me like the coaching staff teaches it very well.

Another thing that really bothers me is that the staff does not seem to coach the detail (not practicing in pads is ridiculous). It amazes me how many dropped passes, missed tackles, missed blocks, poor blocking technique, poor defensive technique period, poor defensive schemes, ect. Nebraska racks up in a game. All of these items ARE COACHING errors. many of which are directly related to not wearing pad for one. How are you going to teach a lineman to chip and cut in the linebackers with out pads on or teach the defensive to get off cut blocks without pads: YOU CAN'T. These players are not professional athletes, they need full blown practice time to learn and perfect techniques.

Not to mention the fact that, how do you get your blood boiling in practice without pads on. I played and have a cousin you played college football, there WAS a fight everyday in practice, for both of our squads. If there wasn't a fight it didn't seem like practice went well. People got into it, and just for the record these were very good different football teams we played for. You must light a fire under the players butts during the week.

This is just the tip of the ice burge as far as I am concerned with Nebraska's problems. I vent more later.

[Mako]

They never practice with pads? That explains the arm tackles...

[fish_finder]

From what I understand USC always goes 1's vs 1's sometime during the week. Just like the '95 Huskers did. They were saying something during the NU vs USC game that the USC players thought their practices were harder than the actual game. To me that really says alot about how Nebraska should be preparing for games.