The Day after jNW: Some Perspective
by jdhusker on Nov 6, 2011 12:41 PM CST
Email
PrintSo, I was planning on going to church today, but I woke up still feeling crappy from my weeklong battle with the flu and since God clearly wears burnt orange pajamas to bed at night anyway, I figured it wasn’t really worth it. So instead you all get to read my ramblings about Husker football!
So understandably, a lot of people are upset about the Huskers dropping yet another home game in the regular season that they had no business losing. Diagnosing the problem isn’t difficult: the Huskers had a let down against a dangerous team. We were elated over curb stomping Sparty and looking ahead to our trip to Happy Valley and “jNW” as our friends over at BHGP like to call them, kicked us in the ass. Following the game reaction on twitter, facebook, and elsewhere I saw people questioning whether Pelini has what it takes to get it done at Nebraska. After all, each of the past three seasons, a ranked Husker team has lost in Memorial Stadium to an unranked visitor (2009, 10-31 TTU, 7-9 ISU), (2010, 13-20, Texas), (2011, 25-28 jNW). Now, don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a good thing. Memorial Stadium needs to be the place where unranked visitors go to get slaughtered, not to derail NU’s season. But what I’ve been hearing is essentially “this never used to happen, so Pelini must be the problem” and that’s what I’ll be addressing today.
First off, yes, Tom Osborne lost a few headscratchers in his day. I will concede that he didn’t lose as many as Pelini so quickly, but no one is immune to letdowns. And no, I am not saying that the early similarities between Pelini and Osborne means that Pelini is the next great Husker coach, because Husker fans, I’ve got a message for you:
The good old days of domination are gone and they are NEVER coming back.
That’s not what a lot of us want to hear. It’s certainly not what I want to hear, but if you invest even a little bit of thinking in it, you will find it to be true:
1. The rules of recruiting have changed over the years, and virtually every change has been to Nebraska’s detriment. Scholarship limits have been imposed, recruiting methods have been limited, partial qualifiers have been taken away and a pile of rules and regulations bury schools in compliance issues.
Here’s what this means: it means that it’s harder to recruit players now. The limited scholarships mean that each “bust” is more costly. This has been immensely helpful to schools that are in a hotbed of talent. They used to have to fight hard to keep schools like Nebraska away from their in-state players, but because the NCAA and conferences have handcuffed the Nebraskas of the world, the high population schools can clean up on talent. I’m sure you’ve heard it before: “Texas doesn’t recruit the players it wants, it picks the players it wants.” Because of this, Texas, USC, Florida etc etc, will always have the most talented teams, and because of sheer probability, will find themselves having great success more often than other schools.
2. Parity is increasing across college football. One effect that the aforementioned scholarship limitations had was that because the powerhouses can’t sign on 40 or 50 players anymore, that leaves more talent to help bolster programs that formerly didn’t have a chance. Add in the fact that many new schools are getting into the facilities arms race and upgrading their facilities and coaching staffs, and we get a burgeoning “middle class” of football. It means that while the Texas’s, USC’s, Alabama’s and LSU’s of the world get richer and stronger, the Nebraska’s, Penn State’s, and Iowa’s of the world beat the crap out of each other to divide up what’s left in hopes that one year the stars will align and they’ll get their shot at glory. It’s almost as if DeLoss Dodds personally wrote up the rules that caused this to happen /ohwaitheprobablydid!
3. In a highly related point, back in the good old days, when Nebraska was a power, everything was tilted in our favor. Liberal recruiting guidelines. We were pioneers in facilities and weight training. And one of the most important things of all: parity was not present. The old Big 8 was a very weak conference by today’s standards. Most years it was Nebraska and Oklahoma and that’s it. Occasionally either Colorado or Missouri would field a decent team. Kansas, Kansas State, Iowa State and Oklahoma State were walkovers every year. This isn’t a diss on Dr Tom, but on average he had maybe 2-3 tough games in a year, and he had to win one (or none!) of them to get to that coveted 9 win benchmark. While I’m at it, I’ll address the letdown thing here as well. Every team has letdowns, but no one really cares about them unless they result in a loss. For a letdown to end in a loss, one thing has to be true: the other team must be good enough to beat you when you’re not at your best. In the 1970s, 80s, and 90s, those games were rare. Partly because Nebraska was quite good, but mostly (particularly in the 70s and 80s) because most of the teams we played were quite bad. We don’t have the luxury of mailing in games anymore.
So there you have it. Welcome to the age of parity, where no team is safe on a given weekend, except for the elite few that have massive advantages that Nebraska does not. I actually think Pelini is doing a very good job here. Recruiting has been good. As long as we follow the rules, Nebraska will never be more than a top 20 team talent wise because of our location. But we’re Nebraska, we’ve always squeezed more out of our players than experts thought possible. We’re lucky to have Bo. If you stop and think, we’re still in excellent shape to have our third straight double digit win season under him. In four years. After what Callahan left him, the man has not won fewer than 9 games as head coach. Like I said, we’ll never win 3 national titles in four years again, the deck is too stacked against us for that. But there will be division and conference championships. There will be Rose Bowls. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll have one of those seasons where the stars align.
GBR! Now where’s my cough syrup…
This FanPost created by a registered user of Corn Nation.
28 comments
|
3 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
This should be required reading
for Husker fans. Good job, jd.
They're 18 to 22...how perfect were you at that age?
The Power of Red begins with the Passion of Walk-Ons.
From my perspective
I think Nebraska was in for an interesting year no matter what. It can’t be easy for a coaching staff to have to adjust to a new conference. The B1G plays a different style of ball than the Big XII and I think it’s going to take a year to figure out the teams, their strengths and weaknesses, etc. You can watch tape all day, but until you actually get on the field and play a team it’s hard to gauge what you need to pay attention to. Ya’ll are going to be a force in the B1G. You’re our kind of team and once the coaches get a real read on all the teams they’ll have a better chance to game plan. Northwestern is always a dangerous team. Always.
Looking forward to Saturday! See ya at noon in Happy Valley!
"Illegitimus non Carborundum!" (Don't let the bastards wear you down)
Thanks, JD.
I was just about to message Jon and ask “how in the hell I could write a piece to get everyone’s heads out of their asses”, but you did it for more.
Because I’m balls deep in doing absolutely nothing today, I’m thankful for JD.
Because I’m a Husker fan, as hard as it may be, I feel obliged to tell everyone to get their asses back here, start some dialogue, and get excited for the rest of the season. We have Penn State, Michigan, and Bag-O-Douche (Iowa), left. How can you not be excited for that?
Settling
JD’s column was fine and all, kind of fluffy and contrite, in that new sort of way we have apparently gravitated toward since Frank broke the 9-win streak. And it’s easy to look at all of these things and think to yourself, “Well, a rational human being would HAVE to agree all these things are true and we can’t be on top regularly ever again.”
You could. But not me. I refuse to settle for anything less than being the best. And that doesn’t always mean winning every game. However, it does mean giving it your best every game and playing with sound fundamentals. We haven’t had that in years, and it’s evident we can’t get it consistently with Bo at the helm, either.
So, sure, I could agree to settle for being second-class because I can’t take the stress and pressure of trying to be the best anymore, but I won’t. This is Nebraska. We have tradition built on the shoulders of two tremendous coaches that everyone since has completely run into the ground. T.O, in particular, took things to a level where the entire state identifies with the football program, laughing or crying based on how we play on Saturdays. And he took us to a level of expectation that you always do your best, you always play sound football and if you do those things, good things will happen.
We don’t play like that anymore. Certain coaches know how to get the most out of their players, whether they are uber-talented or just average. Is Mack Brown a great coach with all that apparent talent? Not even a little bit. But put that same talent with Nick Saban or Les Miles and what do you get? Championships. Les Miles began bringing up OSU before Gundy had his shot, remember. Saban just wins, even when his talent level was average or lower.
This is what we are missing, top-notch coaching talent. If Bo is that guy, then he should get his butt back to defense and fix what’s happened as he’s given away those responsibilities. But his teams have always been undisciplined and, now that they show a few signs of having some, they’ve become even more passive and unprepared for even the easiest of opponents. There are no excuses for losing to a team like Northwestern, for not being able to run the ball to score and control clock, for being beaten at the line on both sides of the ball by sub-par talent. And make no mistake about it, Fitzgerald is not a great coach. Great guy, yes. Bo repeatedly finds himself stating he’s been outcoached. Sure seems to happen a lot.
If anyone wants to settle into the middling existence, go right ahead. Not me. I don’t strive to be second best in anything. I have to at least try. This column was like so many others I’ve read and amounts to giving up. Not for this guy.
Correct me if im wrong,,,
but the reason Frank got fired was because the Nebraska powers that be were not going to sit by and let the program slip into mediocracy(sp). Frank always had a winning season while he was head coach! Now, we are suppose to accept the way things are because of the NCAA has changed some rules??BS!
I agree with you JF1Husker! I will not be satisfied loosing to lesser teams, at Home!! I will not accept being a mediocre team in the B1G!! This program is still missing something that will lift them from being good, to being elite!! It may be coaching or it may be talent,i don’t know,,,but something is missing. This team hasn’t had any consistency for years now!
If we come out and play hard and smart, but still loose, i can handle that. But, to come out and look completely lost, and get beat easily by a middle of the road team is unacceptable, to me!
Rock out with your Stalk out!!!
Smoke em' if you got em'!!!
Low and Slow!!!
The Nameless Man
Yeah, that idiot whose name will not be said out loud made that bonehead move the year after Frank cleaned house and got his own guys in. We were improving that year, though who knows how it would’ve gone after that. His offense was pretty stale. He did have that 7-7 year, though, which sparked quite a bit of unrest, and should have. Why? Because, yeah, we don’t stand for being second-best!
I am not sold on Bo as a recruiter. Our best players in his tenure have either been Callahan guys(pains me to say) or Juco players. The minimum requirement this year should be to win a division. That is not a lot to ask. Our division is not good. NW is certainly not very good. They basically ran 2 or 3 plays. Well we are not winning the division. Sorry that is a failure, and not good enough. Bo said we were back after the Holiday Bowl, Carl said this defense was incredibly deep. They brought this on themselves. They are good coaches, not great, and clearly not getting good enough. sorry
1. Why burn all the redshirts on the i-backs and they hardly play?
2. In turn why beat Burkhead up so bad after already burning those redshirts?
3. No reps for Carnes of any signifigance. What if Taylor goes down?
4. Only 2 scholarship QB’s?
5. 21 Blackshirts is a joke. it’s a disgrace. Ask Carlos Polk or the Double Nickel
6. Corey Raymond looks like a suspect hire
7. Is Jamal Turner dead? Kyler Reed?
8. For the 4th straight year the o-line is sub-par. That was proven yesterday
At least the love affair with fisher seems over with. Hopefully we don’t burn the redshirt on Santos to help this lost cause of a season. Colossal failure
This is what we like to call
A massive overreaction.
by Cheeseandcorn on Nov 6, 2011 5:01 PM CST up reply actions 3 recs
One recruiting advantage we do have though
We own our state in recruiting thanks to the fan base and boys growing up dreaming of being a Husker. The walk-on tradition here is second to none. Think about that, the walk-ons turn down scholarships to other schools just to have a chance to play at the university of Nebraska, and they may be paying for it financially for many years. They know that, but they still choose that route because they want to play for Nebraska.
Texas is the recruiting center of the world for a couple reasons. First of all it is a huge state with a huge population. So obviously you have a higher number of athletes because of that. But that state loves their high school football…a lot. It is a HUGE deal down there. Not only do they have an advantage in numbers, but they produce great recruits year in and year out because they really develop them. There might be more reasons than that, but those are proably the most obvious.
I’m just talking theory here, but I wonder if somehow we could make high school football a bigger deal within the state of Nebraska. Maybe we could switch to a 3 class system so we could have bigger schools for football. I don’t know…but all I know is that if we had more high school talent within this state, if we could develop the high school players more and make a commitment to give in-state prospects a good chance…I think eventually the university would benefit. The fact that we already own our own state in recruiting combined with the idea of getting better high school talent could be a solution to countering the advantages that schools like USC, Texas, and Florida will always have.
Any thoughts?
Look me up on youtube sometime...if you're really bored.
I think you should look again
out of the top 5 recruits in nebraska only one is going to NU..I would call it a wash
Not Sure that Nebraska
owns it like they once did. Iowa has come in and pulled out some good players in recent years, specifically from Millard North. And, Iowa State took a received out of here a few years back that could have been a solid player for the Huskers. I am also told that many players are taking FCS and D-II scholarships rather than walk-on.
by Todd Wolverton on Nov 7, 2011 12:54 PM CST up reply actions
As far Millard North is concerned...
Iowa has had success because for the four years the Idiots in Lincoln ignored Nebraska schools.
I know that every QB that was playing for MNHS while I was a student was recruited and eventually went to Iowa as a safety.
A Cornhusker through feast or famine. Get up, dust yourself off and run the ball. That's the Nebraska way.
by Salt Creek and Stadium on Nov 11, 2011 3:42 PM CST up reply actions
Excellent article with valid points
I get that the years of total dominance are over due to parity, but I don’t want to give up on having the goal of winning a National Championship. Sure we won’t be winning titles back to back, but the same goes for everyone else.
Also add to this parity clusterf**k, the fact that information, techniques, and secrets on training, weight lifting, practice, etc is easily disseminated via the internet and technology along with assistant coaches team hoping more often then back in the day when the coaching staff for the most part remained consistent when loyalty and long careers with one team were more abundant.
Also way more money is being pumped into football which has arguably become the USA’s sport of choice. With each school getting more money, they can get better equipment, training facilities, and stadiums not to mention staff experts in physical and mental conditioning.
Isn't this just sour grapes
So are you saying it was ok when it was tilted in Nebraska’s favor but now it’s wrong?
This reminds me...
I wanted to make this point in regard to the article.
Several big-name schools were referenced as having a recruiting advantage based on their population. If that’s the case, what would you make of this list?
Florida, Texas, Alabama, Ohio State, USC, UCLA, Miami, Oklahoma, Florida State,..just to name a few.
From what I can recall….these schools have all had down years, and even periods of outright embarrassment over the period of time since the scholarship restrictions that supposedly handcuffed us, went into effect. Some more recent, some closer to the turn of the century.
So why are we any different? With the exception of the B.C. years( A rare plague that was unleashed on NU, that should never be spoken of again.), we haven’t seen performance that is all that different than those schools had during their “re-building” years. I would even go so far as to say that we are a few coaching/player adjustments away from really having a shot at National Title hopes. The merry-go-round just got bigger, but we’re still one of the big horses on the ride.
Thanks for posting, a good discussion!
"Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game;
In the deed the glory"
GO BIG RED!
National Title Contention
I would even go so far as to say that we are a few coaching/player adjustments away from really having a shot at National Title hopes.
I honestly think Nebraska is 1-2 seasons away from realizing this goal.
The reaction that’s being posted so vigorously across Husker message boards, as a reaction to the disappointment of Saturday’s loss, is knee-jerk at its most basic form. People (myself included) allowed themselves to buy-in to the hype and desire that was born out of last week’s big win over MSU. It’s been mentioned several times over since Saturday, but I think people have really lost focus on how young/inexperienced the players and coaching staff is on the current roster, in conjunction with the fact that Nebraska is facing unfamiliar opponents every week. To put it another way: this team, all things considered, was due for a letdown of some sort.
Now, if we as fans can put that behind us, I think the future stacks up pretty nicely. Sure, the team may not make it through the rest of this season unscathed, thus falling short of the their goals, but a 9-10 win season is still very likely. Considering this team is as inexperienced as they are, and that they’re playing in a new conference, I’d say that’s nothing to sneeze at. Looking ahead, taking into account that the team will get better and better (day by day), I see Nebraska being an outside NC contender next season, and a legitimate contender in 2013. (If you haven’t already, take a look at the 2013 schedule, it should make you feel better about things.)
I am as frustrated and disappointed as anyone else, but I feel a sense of relief this time around knowing that there is a stronger sense of “things are actually on the right track” more so than ever before. The inexperience will diminish, and the players/coaches will grow from these setbacks as a cohesive unit. That said, I think a 2013 National Championship run for Nebraska is as likely as any other top team.
by GBR918 on Nov 7, 2011 10:43 AM CST up reply actions 1 recs
I would / wouldn't say that those schools have the advantage
based on population. There is a lot more than that when it comes to recruiting. My son is a high school junior and is being recruited by D1 – not at the rate of the ESPN 150 but D1 nevertheless. He made a list last year after talking to a few other kids that he has been in contact with and with the recommendation of one of his recruiters and here is how it boils down to selection for most kids – not all because not all are NFL prospects out of high school.
1) the recruiter – this is the first thing on all kids minds
2) the staff
3) school and programs available
4) ability to play
5) location
6) parents
7) location
I agree that there is an advantage on the part of the USCs, Texas’s, Floridas of the world but location is relative because you can always look at the other schools in the area that don’t get the same quality of recruits. I can tell you that most if not all kids going to those schools that are highly and I mean highly recruited have the NFL on their minds.
On your statement about those schools will always have the most talented teams that is only true if you take into account freshman or JV if they still played it because those kids would all be raw. That’s where coaching comes in. The coaching staff – not the head coach but the staff will dictate how well that team will do in the future. Yes the head guy drives the show but the staff is who the kids deal with each and every day.
By the way you can see where I rank on my kids list. FYI, we moved here to Oklahoma away from Iowa and I will tell you that the level of football in this part of the country is 100 X better and faster than it’s counterpart up north.
Sour grapes?
Not at all. Obviously I’d prefer things to be tilted in Nebraska’s favor because I’m a partisan Husker fan, but I made no comment on the rightness or the wrongness of the rules then or now. I just pointed out that rule changes regarding scholarships clearly and indisputably put Nebraska at a disadvantage compared to some other schools.
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
One other major factor:
Most years a team has to prepare for 3-4 opponents they did not face in the previous year. Bo Pelini has to prepare for 11 entirely unique opponents from last year. Although I’m sure there’s a quality staff involved to prepare as much as possible, there’s nothing like previous experience with a coach, a team, and his tendencies against your team from previous years as preparation for a new season of football. This is particularly true of Northwestern, a team that Nebraska players may regard lightly but are very well coached have an ability to excel at just the right moments with the limited skill players they have. They won’t forget in 2012.
I would cut Bo Pelini so much slack for the 2011 season.
Bloggin' at JoePasDoghouse.com
by J.Schnauzer on Nov 7, 2011 7:49 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
Oh certainly
I kind of expected us to have at least one derpy game this year because of the newness of it all. This was more directed at people who are going after Pelini’s entire body of work.
"My hardest job is to convince the people of Nebraska that 10-1 is not a losing season." - Tom Osborne
I tried to approach this subject....
With my own little rant on the fanposts page. It’s not really generating the attention that I thought it would get, but that’s probably because what started as a little blurb turned into a long post. If any other readers would like to give their own thoughts on it, I would love to have more opinions.
Also not mentioned
What do Texas, California, and Florida have in common besides having tons of people and tons of high schools to choose from? They are all warm climate all year round. When it comes to recruits, where do you think the recruiters take the prospects when they visit Cal and Florida?…..the beach. Where would you rather go? A sub-zero winter Midwestern state school or go to a university thats 30 minutes from the beach and never gets below 70 during the winter. Also the high school players from those states get to hone their skill year round. You don’t see to many high school kids outside playing football in the middle of December or January, or any other winter month in Nebraska.
This point was made by Colin Cowherd and it is does make sense.
Bo Pelini is making progress.
We cannot make the mistake of comparing Pelini to Osborne’s run. We did that to Solich and we got Callahan.
If we start doing that, we’ll never be able to keep coaches. No one wants to be Caesar on March 16th.
A Cornhusker through feast or famine. Get up, dust yourself off and run the ball. That's the Nebraska way.
by Salt Creek and Stadium on Nov 7, 2011 9:48 PM CST reply actions
Husker fans
Saturday was my first visit to Memorial Stadium and I was blown away by the fans. I’ve never experienced a more friendly and welcoming fan base anywhere. The fans went out of their way to congratulate us and welcome us to Lincoln AFTER the game. It even happend down on O street around a bunch of drunken red revelers at 1:00 a.m. Not one negative comment in our 3 day stay. Just three weeks back, fans were swearing at us as we left Kinnick and they WON!
Good luck next week! Go Big Red!
by Iowacat on Nov 8, 2011 2:17 PM CST reply actions 1 recs
Great Article !
This was the first game in Lincoln that I’ve attended, and I must say that I was pleasantly surprised. Great fans, great stadium, and a great game ! Welcome to the Big 10.
by desertrunner on Nov 9, 2011 9:50 AM CST reply actions 1 recs
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recommended FanPosts
Recent FanPosts
SHOP THE CORN NATION STORE
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recent FanShots
