Nebraska's Holiday Bowl Loss - Helping You With Excuses

These were pretty crazy seasons for my two favorite teams. For me, hands down, this season was an emotional nightmare given the fact that arguably the two most important games that my alma mater played came against my other alma mater. I could not sleep two nights ago and last night, after the game was over, there was precious little I do other than to sit in front of the television, in a stupor, and just stare. I am still, this morning (or afternoon, I guess) completely shellshocked. The only thing for which I am thankful is that last night, for the first night almost a month, I did not have nightmares about football.

(Although I am also still very upset that the “professionals” at ESPN can’t keep me updated about the world of women’s basketball which, every December, especially while my two alma maters are playing each other in a bowl game, is exactly what I want to know about!)

I am only taking about me, here, but when I sit back and think about the emotional rollercoaster that I have ridden all season long on the backs of the Huskers (and the Huskies), and when I think about what those kids, on each team, have been through, it puts it in a bit of persepctive.

We all hoped for different results this year, and, for me, that has less to do with what bowl game we played in and its result than the season itself that took us to that bowl game. I could not care less about the bowl game. When I think about on this season and why it disappointed me, I’ll be thinking about the Texas game and the Big 12 championship. Speaking for myself, had we won both of those but then lost a BCS bowl, I would feel very differently than I feel today. Again, it’s hard for me to really say because Washington is my “other team” and losing to them doesn’t sting anywhere near as much as it must for everyone else on this board. For me, the biggest thing about this season was saying GOODBYE IN THUNDER! to the Big 12, and that meant saying “goodbye” not just to the Longhorns but to the entire state of Texas.

To a large extent, it felt over for me after the Longhorns loss, and I know a number of other fans in RL who felt the same way. Then came the Aggies loss, another hard one to take, from another Texas team, especially in the way that it happened. I’m not pointing fingers, but it was just unfortnate that all of that happened on a field in that state. It was not the way I wanted us to go out. But I could forget about all of that! I could erase Texas from my mind and make it our shot at redemption. Instead of it being about leaving the Big 12, it became about Big Eight nostalgia, and then that didn’t work out.

(It is also important to point out here that my father-in-law and all of my inlaws, actually, are Sooners, which makes things all that much more extra special.)

There were so many big games this year and each loss brought a huge hangover with it. Again, I’m a Husky, too, so I can’t imagine that I can speak for anyone else here, but if I could go back in time and add one win to the season, I wouldn’t tinker with the game that we played last night. I’d circle the Texas game and wave my wand.

This is my really long way of saying that this was not a normal season for us and it was not a normal season for our young men. With each game, there was something on the metaphorical line that will never be there again, and our young men knew that as well as we did. Leaving the Big 12 put an enormous amount of pressure on all of them that most football teams don’t. As Huskers, we have high standards and high expectations that I think were even greater this season and yes, we have had teams in our glorious past that could have risen to the occasion that was this season. If we could cherrypick players and a staff to lead us through this final year, none of us would assemble a fantasy team that was this one. But life is not fantasy and beyond strength and skill and preparation, a lot happened on the field and off that made it a lot more difficult for them than it would have made things if this had been just another Big 12 season. I think that during the offseason we should keep in mind that there were lot of intangible issues that made this season play out the way that it did.

All that said, I also think we need a new OC and a new QB coach.

But look. The thing is, at the end of the day, at the end of every day, folks, we’re still Huskers, and that’s saying something! Go BIg Red!

Hell no! Atleast until next season starts.

That’s hilarious and makes me feel there is some hope in the world. They’re like a fat kid whose parent (NBC) refuses to stop giving them donuts every day.

That really surprises me to see TCU on that list. Makes sense, tho.

…. as a Husky fan who endured 0-12 while living / working outside of the Pacific Northwest, I’m quite familiar with the concept.

Here are some of my favorites from that 2008 Husky Season:

1. Oh, man, the OC needs to be fired.
2. Oh, man, the DC needs to be fired.
3. Clearly, Cookie fed those boys undercooked chicken and sour milk at the team meal last night.
4. It was a Pac 10 reffing crew … enough said
5. The networks conspired to influence the outcome in order to raise ratings
6. Act of God
7. Recruiting is going well
8. Wha?? There was a game last night?
9. Awww, fuck man, I don’t want to talk about it

Washington played MUCH better than they did the first time, especially on defense. But Nebraska clearly played horribly as well.

I really see no shame in giving up 19 points to the Washington offense. That really is as good as our defense is, great against the pass, but susceptible against the run. But the offense has been a growing concern for the last 1/3 of the season, which most thought it was simply a nagging injury to Martinez, but last night showed that there is systemic issues with the entire offense, esp the line. No offense should give up sacks with the d is rushing 3 guys. Which isn’t to say that the Washington D didn’t play well, it did, but if the Neb offense is competent, it should get 17 points against really any D, not merely 7.

were a class act I must say. Even after a blowout like that, not one gloated or tried to rub it in, they were just friendly football fans. One of you even called in to our local sports radio station 950 KJR after the Holiday Bowl at 1am PST and gave us congratulations in an honest, classy way that college football has come to revere from Nebraska. My hats off to your storied program and loyal fans, and I will see you for round 3 next Sept. =)

…it appeared all year that this team was lacking a true leader on both sides of the ball, and this goes to the coaching staff as well. Notwithstanding the talent Nebraska has on DEF, no one truly stepped into Suh’s role, although that would definitely be a tall order. Thinking back to last year, I cannot recall anyone being the leader on OFF, and that seemingly carried over into this season. Maybe I am wrong about Martinez (he is a redshirt-frosh, after all), but he does not have the makings of a leader.

I am not on the sidelines and, consequently, can only observe the team from afar, yet whenever the cameras pan the Nebraska sidelines, all I see is Pelini chewing and screaming at an official (or a player), and Martinez limping around. Hurt or not, or angry at the officials or not, a leader still rallies the troops. I don’t see that on the sidelines.

… We are a six loss team and I would point out that three of those were to top 10 teams in Neb, Oregon and Stanford. Sagarin ranks UW as the #2 toughest schedule in the nation. Underestimating us based on our record is a mistake by the fans. Assuming we hadn’t improved as the season went on was a mistake by your players. We are in no way better than you, but we were always good enough to make it a game

But now I can’t say that at all. This season was really a tale of two teams that claimed to be one. The Nebraska team that went to Seattle and beat the living daylights out of Washington, and the Nebraska team that went to the Holiday bowl and got their butts handed to them by Washington. The first team played in about 7 of the games and dominated, and the second team played in the rest and was lucky to get wins against South Dakota State, Iowa State, and even Kansas to a certain degree. The second Nebraska turned the ball over repeatedly, had tons of penalties, couldn’t block, and just sucked in general. No consistency whatsoever. This team looked like a national championship contender at times and looked like a team that was lucky to be bowl eligible at others. So who’s responsible for closing that gap and making this team be consistent? THE COACHES, and they failed.

but have not hopped to the other side. Honestly, I cannot remember a disaster anywhere close to what we all witnessed last night since the Callahan days. I don’t agree with those that T-Party is selfish. I think he has been overwhelmed. When he could get away using his God-given ability to make things happen, he was everyone’s darling. But when that was not available to him, we see a poorly prepared young man in a situation that he cannot handle. I saw an offensive line performance that must rank with one of the worst in NCAA D-1 history. I saw better earlier in the year, as we all did. But when the All-Big 12 dude gets flagged for once of the most obvious holds ever captured on television leading to a safety, to me that speaks volumes. The line has to be nasty, aggressive, and confident. What we witnessed last night was a line that was inept in every aspect of the game. (Note: Ricky Henry is not nasty. He is a punk. He is a dirty player. He is no different than Richie Incognito, other than he doesn’t have near the physical talent) This was a performance on the other side of the ball that other than Lavonte David, it appeared the players believed they could just show up. I don’t know if I can articulate this the way I want, but you know how it is when the big dog shows up on the playground knowing he is better and then when the other guy/teams goes right at them full speed, the first response is to laugh it off. He hasn’t prepared himself properly so the fundamentals aren’t there when he finally realizes he is in a battle. If that makes sense, that is what I saw last night. When the little guy realizes that he can go toe to toe, it feels good and he gains confidence. The last thing that can happen is when the prohibitive favorite lets the other guy even think that he has a chance.

Hats off to Washington. Hats off to the Nebraska seniors who put together a 10 win season. I’m going to miss Helu, Henery, Prince, Paul and some others. But, I will need a lot of time and reflection before I can summon up optimism for the future.

Generally it’s the fringe lunatics who do that. Like the only Mizzou fan commenting on this post, for example.

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