Players come and go while a coaching staff remains. When you start seeing the same results year in and year out, you have to wonder about where you should expect improvements to come from. Usually after yet another nationally televised Nebraska beatdown we get a lot of coachspeak protecting the kids and pointing to a brighter future. But this year so far? Not so much. At least not from Pelinis staff. Cases in point after the UCLA game:

Beck: "I think (Taylor) hurried some things back there. I don't know if he got hit a few times or if he felt like he had to get rid of the ball and get it to the receivers faster so they could make plays. I think he was pretty efficient going into the fourth quarter and the game before, but he forgot. He tried to create plays instead of letting them develop in the confines of the offense."

Ouch. Someone get Taylor out from under that bus.

Beck again: "I just think late in the game, we pressed a little bit. We just didn't execute well. I don't know for what reason. We just didn't."

Oh! Oh! Pick me! Pick me! Not adjusting. Moving away from what was working and then sticking to what wasn't working. Trying to execute a called play that didn't fit the situation. OK, all that is not really fair, but come on.

Coach Kaczenski: "We're going to need more guys, and we're going to need more guys playing better, and I got to start coaching."

Hey, there's that thumb, kind of. If only the players would play better and we had better players.

Barney Cotton: O-Line play was "absolutely unacceptable."

Hey Barney, we've been saying that for years. Hint hint.

Coach Garrison : "They stopped trusting their (fundamentals). And it showed. They try to start doing their own thing, and it doesn't work like that. We've got to put ourselves in a better situation by trusting the fundamentals we're taught."

Let's see.....why would their fundamentals break down? Must be their fault they don't trust what is getting them blown out of their shoes.

Coach Els: "We're not very dynamic. We didn't make plays in the open field like we needed to, but we needed to have that eraser mentality at linebacker ... we're a little cautious right now. And maybe lacking a little confidence. You're not going to gain a lot of confidence until you make plays in a game. And we haven't."

I give up.

To be fair, Beck did say about the UCLA game: " I didn't make calls that I made in the first game. I made some stupid calls in the game."

Yes! There's that famous thumb. Kind of tough to see in among all the finger pointing, though.

Admittedly my comments are slanted to make a point that may be entirely wrong. But it struck me reading postmortems how much the kids were being blamed. As Bo said, there is no lack of "want to', and I agree. Not that the players don't make mistakes, but that should be expected and those proclivities should be no secret to those directing them on the field. It is the coaches job to get them in the right position. To teach them what works. To properly prepare them for each opponent. To make the right adjustments during the in-game chess match. To call a play that speaks to the teams strengths and not a coaches agenda.

What do you think?