Corn Flakes: The Day After OU
by JLew on Dec 5, 2010 3:44 PM CST
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And thus ends NU's football days in the Big 12.
You want to be known as the "Greatest Fans in College Football?" Now is the time to prove it, after a loss. People are going to come and troll us, kick us when NU's "down". Just smile and wave, smile and wave. We'll see where NU is at in the coming years and how the Texas Conference is doing in the future. Maybe it'll be better for all partied involved.
While we're at it. Congrats to Oklahoma. Exciting game, well coached, and major props to Jones. He completed some great passes.
Some more quick thoughts and some really good articles today.
So do you people that wanted Niles benched happy now? No vertical threat means a worse offense.
Disappointed with both lines yesterday.
Just stop with the rumor that Martinez threw the game just out of spite.
The first link really goes into this, but I'm thinking NU really has to seriously look at overhauling the offense staff. This goes beyond Watson. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO? Oregon spread? WCO? Option? This mis-mash isn't working.
I refuse to consider this a "lost year" NU swept the North. Helu has the best rushing game in NU history. I watched the Henery become the leading scorer in NU history, and make 50 yard field goals look like chip shots. And I had fun here with all of you. (AHHHHHHH)
Alright the topics to ponder:
NE StatePaper.com - NEBRASKA FOOTBALL: Tipping Point
But it won't be that simple for head coach Bo Pelini. His decisions – to retain Watson, to hire Cotton, to pursue and promote Martinez at the cost of vocal leadership and experience, to shape the offense so it best serves his magnificent defense – are colliding with one another. He's trying to marry a Oregon-style QB to a West Coast offensive coordinator and protect both with a O-line coached by an old-school option guy. Throw in big, slow receivers who can't separate and an offensive tempo that resembles thick maple syrup, and you have an ungainly hybrid. It's a wonder it's worked as well as it did.
Great article here. A must read with things to ponder. What about recruiting if Watson goes? Does NU want to re-boot again on offense? Can Bo fire Cotton without repercussions from the AD? Where are the reserve WRs? Our best bet is a former pitcher walk-on? Some things to think about before you think firing Watson is the answer.
Report card: Nebraska vs. Oklahoma
OVERALL (C) ... And Nebraska's conference championship title drought continues. Better luck in the Big Ten? We'll see. Nebraska had this one in its grasp but stuck too often with an ineffective Martinez, when it was obvious Burkhead was the guy to ride.
C? I'm thinking F. This was a pass fail sort of game.
More sadness after the jump
Rivals.com College Football - Experts: Week 14 what we learned
For the second consecutive season, poor quarterback play was a major factor in the Huskers' losing the Big 12 championship game. Like Zac Lee last season, Taylor Martinez struggled mightily in a 23-20 loss to Oklahoma. He completed fewer than half of his passes, threw an interception in the end zone and was sacked seven times. To be fair, he played despite injuries to an ankle and toe, but that just raised the question of the reliability of Nebraska's backup quarterbacks.
Wonder what happens if Martnez isn't hurt...
Scout.com: CFN Analysis - Big 12 CHAMP. OU 23-Neb. 20
Nebraska offensive coordinator Shawn Watson called a horrible game for the sorely disappointed Huskers. His insistence on using Taylor Martinez as much as he did – instead of hybrid/Wildcat formation back Rex Burkhead – robbed the Big 12 North Division champions of both momentum and production. Martinez’s perpetual panic and alarmingly deficient level of ball security both sabotaged Nebraska’s best-laid plans and allowed Oklahoma to gain a breather just when it seemed that the Sooners were suffocating in the face of Burkhead’s relentless running. Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson didn’t call his best game, either, but Watson’s wayward approach made the Sooner braintrust look good by comparison.
Ahh the pain again
Cats help the pain.
Nebraska gives Sooners one too many chances - Omaha.com
Four turnovers (three fumbles, one interception) and seven sacks did the most damage. And it spoiled an inspired effort by the Husker defense, not totally unlike a year ago when NU lost 13-12 to Texas in the same game in the same building.
Not sure why we're surprised. NU fumbles. has all year. Finally really hurt them.
Notebook: Alex Henery rewrites Husker record books
When Alex Henery split the uprights with the extra- point kick following Roy Helu's 66-yard touchdown run with 8:39 left in the first quarter of Saturday's Big 12 title game, the senior kicker from Omaha became Nebraska's career leading scorer.
I'm going to miss him.
Steven M. Sipple: Magic missing from Martinez's game
Nebraska will enter its bowl game having fumbled a miraculous 42 times, with 15 lost. That stat is, in a word, unacceptable. Yes, Martinez contributed to the fumble issue once again Saturday night. He had a rough night overall. He looked rusty. He looked young. He is young.
Will he be here next year? Will he be healthy?
Mellinger: Nebraska fans’ anger mars Huskers’ Big 12 farewell - KansasCity.com
Read this, not that it really matters anymore.
Social media snapshot of Big 12 Championship - Omaha.com
Kinda cool, but would have better had NU won.
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I will smile and wave as you suggested.
Be miserable or motivate yourself. What's to be done it's always YOUR choice.
Hutch-Tech Class of '76 Buffalo born & bred. Bills fan since 1968.
by MtJulietTNBillsFan on Dec 5, 2010 4:10 PM CST reply actions
The Henery not receiving the Groza Award
is an absolute travishamockery.
Yeah, I’m making the point jokingly, but in truth this pisses me off even more than Suh’s Heisman snub last year. In terms of kickers, there’s really only one standard of judgment: conversion percentage. You have one job – make field goals/xps. Henery has done it better than anyone in NCAA history to this point. Many, many sports people who should know better aren’t paying attention.
"...water for the corn." — petromax spambot
I couldn't agree more
As a Sooner fan, I was convinced that anytime you got it to our side of the 50 you were in legitimate scoring range. Hell, I wasn’t sure that if you were on your own 45 that you weren’t in scoring range. As far as I’m concerned, whoever gets the Groza this year should refuse to accept it. I guess the only upside is this kid will certainly make a very nice living in the NFL for years to come.
"I don't like Texas. I don't like the city of Austin. And I don't like the color orange. It reminds me of puke." The Boz
by Jordan Esco on Dec 5, 2010 4:40 PM CST up reply actions 1 recs
I was convinced we'd got to OT because of a Henery 70 yarder
I was about to soil myself…especially after Stevens missed that chippy.
I still kind of think
We should have tried a 62-yarder on the second-to-last drive after that back-breaking Martinez sack. I really think Henery could have hit it from there.
by Cheeseandcorn on Dec 5, 2010 5:24 PM CST up reply actions
He had a legit shot
But it’s a killer if he misses and OU hits a few plays and gets more points. Kind of a damned if you do, damned if you don’t deal there. As a coach, that is one hell of a tough call. But inside, with no wind or temp issues and Henery’s leg, it’s probably a much higher probability kick.
This Mizzou fan agrees.
Henery is the best kicker in the country, and it is not even close.
It happened to us twice in the last two years: with Wolfert in 2008, and with Alexander and the Biletnekoff award last year.
Suh deserved the Heisman, too.
There's something to be said for range, too.
A lot of college kickers have a high conversion percentage primarily because they don’t try any field goals from beyond 40-45 yards. (See: Congdon, Jordan.) That’s not really doing your offense any favors, because it forces them to go for tougher fourth-down conversions or to drive all the way to the 25 if they want to get into field goal range.
But Henery has incredible range, too – he’s up there with Janikowski in the all-time college football ranks in that category. To be the most accurate kicker in college football history and have one of the biggest legs and be a solid punter … that’s a solid case for the best kicker in NCAA history.
by Cheeseandcorn on Dec 5, 2010 5:33 PM CST up reply actions
Sam McKewon's columns are hit and miss
But he nailed it this time. Nebraska can’t fire Watson right now, but it needs to spend this offseason nailing down a coherent offensive approach – one that actually fits the players we have – and going with it. We’ve seen more than enough to know this indecisive, too-cute-by-half mishmash isn’t cutting it.
Couldn't agree more
He just nailed exactly what I was thinking, and brought up some points I hadn’t considered.
Again it was a great piece.
You can't possibly be a scientist if you mind people thinking that you're a fool.
~Wanko the Sane
Big Red Kool-aid Drinker @ Corn Nation
Yep
Although if he gets that Vandy job we won’t have much choice in the matter. I am convinced that its time for Cotton to go. There really wasn’t any excuse to not have a great line this year, and they ultimately failed to impose their will in a game that we desperately needed them to (again!).
That could be part of the disconnect. We might just need an oline coach who understands the zone blocking schemes of the spread option. Keep in mind, a great offensive line makes everyone else look better and makes an offense more productive, no matter how mediocre the supporting cast (and Nebraska’s skill position players this year were anything but mediocre).
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
Not buying it....
….he needs to go. Two years in a row we’ve had a defense that could win the NC….two years in a row it’s been screwed up by an incompetent offense. There’s no strategy to his game calling. He doesn’t know how to call plays in the first quarter that set up plays in the fourth.
If you get the right guy, he can come in and make Martinez and the rest of the offense better. Look what the Pelini’s did with Suh. You think he was an all-world DT when Cosgrove was coaching him?
I mean maybe, just maybe...
….Martinez would be even better if Watson hadn’t been “developing” him for the last two years.
I refuse to consider this a “lost year” NU swept the North.
We beat everyone in the Big 12 North…including ourselves in the Big 12 championship!
But yeah, this wasn’t a lost year. We have 10 wins, and a lot of programs out there would love to get 10 wins in a season. We’ve got two back-to-back 10 win seasons heading into the Big 10. That says “quality program” more than anything.
They accomplished none of their goals heading into this year.
Call it what you want, but it’s far from success. I guess depending on what this coaching staff’s standards are.
I'm not even going to comment about last night's game
but I will say, there is something inherently wrong in the program when time and time again, you are not developing offensive talent. Period. I’m sick and tired of watching Nebraska play and allowing the game to rest on the backs of the defense and a couple running backs.
Get your shit together or be ready to get embarrassed in the Big10.
And for Shawn Watson...
You’re a nice guy, but don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out. You gotta be a special kind of dumbshit to repeatedly stall your drives where Burkhead is ripping off nice chunks of yardage and making opposing defenses look silly in favor of Captain Panic, a redshirt freshman with a bum ankle and a line who apparently prefers not to block for him.
/end rant….Until the same exact shit happens again next year.
UW rematch
Rumors are popping up that the Insight Bowl has passed on NU in favor of Mizzou, Nebraska to play Washington in the Holiday Bowl.
An inadequate end to a seemingly inadequate season…
by GBR918 on Dec 5, 2010 6:57 PM CST via mobile reply actions
great game
But please stop with the whole ‘Greatest Fans in Football’ nonsense. That ship has clearly sailed. This thus ends my trolling or your little corn website. Now you guys aren’t important anymore and are going to some other conference because you can’t win this one. And by the way…if you’re going to change the name to our conference, it’s probably more accurate to call it the Oklahoma Conference, not the Texas Conference. I think you get it.
Hence it was in quotes
Your trolling is sad and weak.
OU said “they’d follow Texas anywhere they went”- hence Texas owns the conference and evidently OU’s balls to lead them around with.
GTFO of my site.
You can't possibly be a scientist if you mind people thinking that you're a fool.
~Wanko the Sane
Big Red Kool-aid Drinker @ Corn Nation
Thanks for clearing all that up.
Now get to bed so you can make your early shift at Burger King, that grazy ain’t gonna make itself.
Broke my own rule...
You can't possibly be a scientist if you mind people thinking that you're a fool.
~Wanko the Sane
Big Red Kool-aid Drinker @ Corn Nation
Get a grip BSO...
I’m a lifelong Sooner fan, and your trash talk is totally unwarranted.
I for one will miss Nebraska in the Big 12!
I just wanted to come on here and say congrats on a great season and to wish you guys luck in your new conference! I hope you guys dominate in the coming years! I will always follow you guys! Awesome fans in Lincoln!
Just a guy from Texas Tech…
"Yeah one time I was 11 and 2...well that doesn't make a S*%T anymore.......As soon as we have a little bit of success we think were too Fn good.." - ML
We appreciate it.
BTW, I’m still kinda pissed about Leach being fired.
It’s a shame he isn’t employed at another school (hint, hint Bo).
@GochfaceKillah on Twitter
by Screwface on Dec 5, 2010 9:59 PM CST via mobile up reply actions
I come not to praise Caesar...
…but not really to bury either. I was a fan of NU when they were in the Big 8, and was excited to join up in the Big XII. You were my favorite North team, and I always rooted for you against non-Texas teams. I am still a little bitter about NU deciding to leave the Big XII — and please, let’s not rehash the he said she said on that one, it’s all said and done anyway — and was therefore mighty pleased that a team leaving the Big XII didn’t take the championship trophy with them.
However, I am happy that I can now root for NU in another conference without guilt, and look forward to many years of hot Midwest-on-Midwest action. Best of luck in your bowl game, and in your new home.
Does it really matter anymore?
You want to be known as the “Greatest Fans in College Football?” Now is the time to prove it, after a loss. People are going to come and troll us, kick us when NU’s “down”. Just smile and wave, smile and wave. We’ll see where NU is at in the coming years and how the Texas Conference is doing in the future. Maybe it’ll be better for all partied involved.
See what you did there? You juxtaposed “Greatest Fans in College Football” with “Texas Conference”. We all know that the Big XII has yet to announce a new conference name. But you encourage the base with a “prove it” challenge and then in the nearly same breath stick a dagger right into the flaming troll pit to continue the stir up.
I for one am going to miss Big Red. I have a lot of respect for the tradition of Big Red. However, I don’t like so much this version.
Congratulations on your final season in the Big XII and good luck in your new conference. I will be rooting for you guys.
Of course it matters ...
‘Cuz I can’t wait to see Big Red prove to the CF world what the Big 12 has known all along: That the Big 12 has better football than the Big 10.
Calling the Big 12 the "Texas Conference"
Is about like calling USC a dirty program. It’s such a given, and people have been saying it for so long, that it hardly counts as an insult – more as a shorthand statement of acknowledged fact. Anyone who’s offended by that was looking for a reason to be offended in the first place.
by Cheeseandcorn on Dec 6, 2010 3:17 PM CST up reply actions
You missed the point entirely
The fact that the Big XII is the “Texas” conference is patently false, despite your insinuation otherwise, is exactly why it is provocative. Given your endorsement of this fabrication only reinforces my postulate…this new brand of Nebraska fan is, in fact, not your father’s Big Red fan.
It's not just Nebraska
Ask just about any fan of any other school in the NCAA outside of the state of Texas. Heck, try to tell the SEC guys at EDSBS that the Big 12 is an equitably run conference with no undue influence by UT. You’ll get laughed off the thread in about two posts – the same way you would if you tried to argue that SEC football is totally on the up-and-up.
Come on, man, it’s common knowledge. Only complete homers and those who were comatose during the entire month of June 2010 would ever actually try to argue otherwise. Just admit it, accept it (as a Longhorn fan, isn’t being the big kid on the block something to be proud of, anyway?) and move on.
by Cheeseandcorn on Dec 6, 2010 9:05 PM CST up reply actions
No, it's not - but the Big 8+4-2 is not my father's Big 8, either.
One of the reasons most of us are looking forward to the Big 10 is the understanding that every school is an equal partner in the conference. Rumor has it they don’t even do “votes;” they discuss matters until a consensus is reached on which everyone agrees. Compare that to the conference we’re leaving, where NU was the odd school out on so many 11-1 votes, and then ask yourself why we might not have felt less than welcome, even among our former Big 8 friends.
When the Big 12 was formed, I was really excited – it felt like we’d be adding some great schools to a strong conference, and even though I hated to see the yearly tilt with Oklahoma go away, I felt like it was a sacrifice necessary to making things work. But as the center of gravity moved toward Austin, I quickly lost my stomach for the way this conference conducted business. The conference realignment shake-up was just proof that the Big 12 just isn’t a conference dedicated to each other. When your commissioner starts issuing ultimatums instead of working to build bridges, it’s pretty clear the end is within sight. I just wish we could have taken the rest of our former Big 8 schools somewhere else with us.
Sam McKewon wrote an opinion piece last week estimating the Big 12 lasts less than five years. I’d be really surprised if he isn’t proved right in the end.
"...water for the corn." — petromax spambot
I am not arguing that Texas is not the big cog in the conference wheel
There are other inputs that can be made disputing those claims.
I was merely pointing out that “The Greatest College Football Fan” would not on the one hand be magnanimous in defeat and “smile / wave” to the troll on the one hand and then on the other offer up an invitation to someone (ie. FortySeven) to pile on with “Texas” conference dig. Understand that referencing the Big XII as such is not “moving on” but rather rehashing the same old, tiresome, argument.
Further, I don’t think JLew, as TGCFF, would even need to suggest to his readership how to handle themselves with outsider BS posting. To me at least, a TGCFF would inherently turn the other cheek and not acknowledge the presence of a troll looking to push buttons.
Not a knock on JLew as I enjoy reading his takes, but all I was doing was pointing out the “do as I say, not as I do” aspect of the comment.
Good luck to Nebraska on their new conference adventure. I hope it turns out better than what seemingly has been your time in the Big XII.
I totally disagree....
…with keeping Shawn Watson. His game plan and play calling lack one thing that every offense needs for success….deception. It doesn’t take much of a football mind to know that when you’re under a heavy pass rush, you run a screen or a draw. Do we have those in the playbook? I remember one draw play against OU, but it was called on first down. Here’s a little hint Wats…draw plays don’t work when the defense is looking for a run.
How about a little reverse once in awhile? Or even a counter play….ANYTHING to slow the defense down. We did none of that Saturday night. It was zone read right, zone read left, 5-yard slant…..punt. The only time zone read worked was when Burkhead was running it….then Wats kills it with the pass to Martinez. I love the play call, but not on second and 8, especially when the run was working.
Watson had one call all night that had me thinking we had a chance. Deception was the key, and it went for 35 or so yards on 4th and 1. It was a beautiful thing to see.
I live in Colorado, and there were some Buff fans that literally laughed when Callahan hired Watson. I talked to them yesterday and they were wondering now why it took NU a few years longer to figure out what they did, Shawn Watson is not the solution.
Totally off the subject, but....
As a diehard Sooner fan I have known disappointment (see Boise St…West Virginia….etc) But I have to say I thought it was a great game. Both teams had their opportunities. Oklahoma just barely squeaked by. So I know how the Corn Nation feels.
That being said I really think that NU has some good things to look forward to in the Big 10. I’m really hoping that NU will compete straight away and bring some excitment into that conference. Tired of it being the Ohio State conference. So good luck NU faithful! Still hate to see NU/OU broken up but I’ll be pulling for you in your new home!
Thanks, man,
and the same right back to you. I’m just glad it was a fairly clean, well-played game; with all the bullshit that’s gone on this year, it was almost a relief to know we got beat fair and square without any shenanigans.
"...water for the corn." — petromax spambot
Thanks.
I think I’m really going to enjoy watching the Big 12 from the outside next year. The Big 12 South is going to be absurdly talented, thanks to guys like Jones and Broyles.
by Cheeseandcorn on Dec 6, 2010 9:08 PM CST up reply actions
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