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2016 Bama > 1995 NU

Nebraska 1995 was able to manufacture a running if they needed to. Even if their top running back was out.

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Hard to argue the points made in that article and the points made in the comments at the end of the article by Husker fans.

Just shows how dominating the team really was. Winning by an average of over 38 points? Averaged 53.2 ppg and allowed 14.5? EekEek

All 4 starting Dlinemen for Florida were drafted the following spring? Nebraska allowed zero sacks all year and only 12 punt return yards all season? EekEek
 
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Yes. He would have used his QB better. Passed way to much. They just needed first downs to give their defense a break.
But that is why Osborne was a better coach than Saban. Saban payed the price last night for having hired Lane Kiffin in the first place. Saban likes to hire these flavor of the day, big splash assistants, in order to boost recruiting. Fine. But when you hire douche bags like Kiffin for the splash effect, you have a price to pay.
No way Osborne loses a major coordinator one week before a national title game.
 
Yes. He would have used his QB better. Passed way to much. They just needed first downs to give their defense a break.


Watch the replay of the coaches round table. While I agree they should havecran the ball morevthan they did, there were multiple plays were the QB locked in on primary target and didn't come off. Or scrambled away from pressure with his eyes down and missed open receivers.

The pass plays were open, just not executed.

I do agree that they needed to extend drives. I just think sometimes your starting QB needs to make one of those plays. 2-15 on 3rd down ain't getting it done sir.
 
But that is why Osborne was a better coach than Saban. Saban payed the price last night for having hired Lane Kiffin in the first place. Saban likes to hire these flavor of the day, big splash assistants, in order to boost recruiting. Fine. But when you hire douche bags like Kiffin for the splash effect, you have a price to pay.
No way Osborne loses a major coordinator one week before a national title game.

Interesting perspective. While I do agree, those big splash guys certainly got them to the title game (again) and seconds away from back-to-back titles, GOAT discussion, etc.
 
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But that is why Osborne was a better coach than Saban. Saban payed the price last night for having hired Lane Kiffin in the first place. Saban likes to hire these flavor of the day, big splash assistants, in order to boost recruiting. Fine. But when you hire douche bags like Kiffin for the splash effect, you have a price to pay.
No way Osborne loses a major coordinator one week before a national title game.


You do realize Kiffin led the Alabama offense to 3 straight final fours, each led by a different QB and each QB significantly different than the previous. He left to become a head coach.

I am not sure questioning Nick Saban's hiring choices, considering the success he has had with those choices is the winning side to any argument. But that's just me.


As far as Osborne losing a coordinator before a title game, you're right. But not because of why you think you are. Osborne only had 1 coordinator, so unless he, himself, left, only the DC would have gone anywhere and McBride had no intentions or aspirations of being a head coach.
 
You do realize Kiffin led the Alabama offense to 3 straight final fours, each led by a different QB and each QB significantly different than the previous. He left to become a head coach.

I am not sure questioning Nick Saban's hiring choices, considering the success he has had with those choices is the winning side to any argument. But that's just me.


As far as Osborne losing a coordinator before a title game, you're right. But not because of why you think you are. Osborne only had 1 coordinator, so unless he, himself, left, only the DC would have gone anywhere and McBride had no intentions or aspirations of being a head coach.
I am well aware that Osborne was his own offensive coordinator. That is why I said "a coordinator" and not "offensive coordinator". And McBride wasn't going anywhere because he was first and foremost committed to Nebraska and to Osborne more than he was to any aspirations about being a head coach. So you state the obvious when you point that out. Osborne hired someone to be his defensive coordinator who wasn't a ladder climbing, me first, asshole. He hired someone who had character and was loyal to Osborne, his players, and the program. So yeah... Osborne retained his coordinators as well as most of his assistants for exactly the reasons I think he did, despite your insinuation that I must be unaware that Osborne was his own offensive coordinator.

But I also am of the opinion that even if Osborne were not his own offensive coordinator that whoever was his coordinator would not have been asked by Osborne to leave the team one week before the title game. Kiffin left the team, not because he was taking a new job, but because Saban asked him to go due to him acting like a prima dona for the press - - late to meetings, missing the team bus etc.... Kiffin was becoming a distraction so Saban sent him packing early. I doubt Osborne hires someone so lacking in humility and a sense of team first loyalty that he would have had to do that. But hey, maybe that's just me.

I am not denying that Saban's hirings have led to success. I wish we were so successful right now. I am claiming that one of those decisions ... to hire a douche bag for an offensive coordinator, came back to bite him in the ass this week. Sure Kiffin has been a good coordinator all these years. But there are lots of coaches who would have made good coordinators and recruiters for Saban who would not have had Kiffin's ego and downside. And about 99% of those other options would have been there on the sideline last night. I don't think they lost the game simply because of the awkward transition from Kiffin to Sark. But it sure as hell probably did not help either.
 
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And obviously, in wanting to emphasize that Osborne is a greater coach than Saban I am just trying to be a little cheeky as well. I am a Lincoln boy... I have to pump up the cred of our guy over Bama's guy. So admittedly my argument is a tendentious stretch.
But I think it has at least one leg.... lol.
And I really think Lane Kiffin is a douche bag. I don't think Saban should have hired him. So maybe we will just have to disagree about that...
 
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. When I make hiring decisions I want to hire people that want to climb the ladder. I don't want the person that has reached their ceiling, those people get complacent. Those people that are only loyal to you have a tendency to be lesser performers for the company, when and if you move on. (see Solich years 1998-2002).

Both ways of hiring can be successful but your dislike for Kiffin is clouding your judgement with regards to what he did at Alabama. Quite frankly they may not have made all 3 CFPs if they stayed status quo Alabama from 2013.

Whenever you take a new job, you just need to move on. Saban made the mistake of not promoting Sarkisian as soon as Kiffin got hired by FAU. Too hard to do 1 job at the FBS level, let alone 2.
 
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i recall that NU had 24 players on that squad who eventually either played in the NFl or signed pro contracts.
 
I guess we'll have to agree to disagree. When I make hiring decisions I want to hire people that want to climb the ladder. I don't want the person that has reached their ceiling, those people get complacent. Those people that are only loyal to you have a tendency to be lesser performers for the company, when and if you move on. (see Solich years 1998-2002).

Both ways of hiring can be successful but your dislike for Kiffin is clouding your judgement with regards to what he did at Alabama. Quite frankly they may not have made all 3 CFPs if they stayed status quo Alabama from 2013.

Whenever you take a new job, you just need to move on. Saban made the mistake of not promoting Sarkisian as soon as Kiffin got hired by FAU. Too hard to do 1 job at the FBS level, let alone 2.
I completely agree with your last paragraph. No argument there at all. And perhaps you are correct about my visceral dislike of Kiffin clouding my judgement. He always seems to create problems wherever he goes. Only coach I have ever heard of getting fired by his AD while on the tarmac at the airport after a game. You know what that tells me? It tells me that the AD also had a visceral disgust for Kiffin and wanted to humiliate him. Not good in its own way, but very telling I think. So I totally agree with you that Kiffin did an excellent job as Alabama's offensive coordinator. And yet I still think Saban should have hired someone else....

I also am in partial agreement with what you say at the beginning. You do want your employees to have some ambition and who aspire to be the best in their field. You don't want guys who are just settling for where they are because they think that is all they are good for. And you don't want sycophants. On the other hand... I think of coordinators like McBride, or Bud Foster at Vtech, or Bradley all those years at PSU... these are guys who could have been head coaches but chose to remain where they were. They did not lack ambition. They merely lacked ambition to be head coaches or in the limelight or "in charge". But those guys still had a powerful ambition to be successful at what they were doing as coordinators for the good of their program. And I think those are the guys I would prefer in my program as a head coach.
Nice sparring with you Tuco. As usual... you are very insightful.
 
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There is a lot to be said about stability in a coaching staff. It sure served TO well. There is nothing wrong with being a lifetime coordinator. Those guys are often the best.
Bama and other top tier programs can overcome staff turnover. They just pay for the best available and make certain that the talent pipeline remains flowing. Splash hires and unending emphasis on recruiting.
 
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I completely agree with your last paragraph. No argument there at all. And perhaps you are correct about my visceral dislike of Kiffin clouding my judgement. He always seems to create problems wherever he goes. Only coach I have ever heard of getting fired by his AD while on the tarmac at the airport after a game. You know what that tells me? It tells me that the AD also had a visceral disgust for Kiffin and wanted to humiliate him. Not good in its own way, but very telling I think. So I totally agree with you that Kiffin did an excellent job as Alabama's offensive coordinator. And yet I still think Saban should have hired someone else....

I also am in partial agreement with what you say at the beginning. You do want your employees to have some ambition and who aspire to be the best in their field. You don't want guys who are just settling for where they are because they think that is all they are good for. And you don't want sycophants. On the other hand... I think of coordinators like McBride, or Bud Foster at Vtech, or Bradley all those years at PSU... these are guys who could have been head coaches but chose to remain where they were. They did not lack ambition. They merely lacked ambition to be head coaches or in the limelight or "in charge". But those guys still had a powerful ambition to be successful at what they were doing as coordinators for the good of their program. And I think those are the guys I would prefer in my program as a head coach.
Nice sparring with you Tuco. As usual... you are very insightful.

Was that Pat Hayden that fired him? If so, Hayden is known for being an asshole.
 
There is a lot to be said about stability in a coaching staff. It sure served TO well. There is nothing wrong with being a lifetime coordinator. Those guys are often the best.
Bama and other top tier programs can overcome staff turnover. They just pay for the best available and make certain that the talent pipeline remains flowing. Splash hires and unending emphasis on recruiting.
I agree with this. But now I have a question for you. I find the situation you describe kind of depressing. Maybe it is a function of my age (58) and I grew up cheering for a different atmosphere in college football. Maybe I am just an old curmudgeon.

But my question is, don't you think something is lost in, what we call for the sake of a shorthand here, "the Saban model"? I don't think, for example, that TO and Beamer and Paterno and older generation guys like Bear Bryant, chose who they did as coordinators and coaches just for the sake of stability. I think there was also more of a sense that a football team is like a big extended family. I don't want to go all Grandpa Walton here and fall into a false nostalgia. But I do think successful programs in the past developed powerful bonds that lasted decades, with long term coaches and coordinators establishing deep roots in the local community as well. There is something amazing about a guy who played for a coach who is able, 17 years later, to send his son to play for that same coach. That is unusual, of course, even in the older model, but it did happen.

The snap crackle pop of the Saban model might be successful. But at what cost to the game?
 
Bama had talent and has had for many years, with that being said it isn't even close the 95 Husker team rules the roost and it isn't even that close of a comparison.
 
I agree with this. But now I have a question for you. I find the situation you describe kind of depressing. Maybe it is a function of my age (58) and I grew up cheering for a different atmosphere in college football. Maybe I am just an old curmudgeon.

But my question is, don't you think something is lost in, what we call for the sake of a shorthand here, "the Saban model"? I don't think, for example, that TO and Beamer and Paterno and older generation guys like Bear Bryant, chose who they did as coordinators and coaches just for the sake of stability. I think there was also more of a sense that a football team is like a big extended family. I don't want to go all Grandpa Walton here and fall into a false nostalgia. But I do think successful programs in the past developed powerful bonds that lasted decades, with long term coaches and coordinators establishing deep roots in the local community as well. There is something amazing about a guy who played for a coach who is able, 17 years later, to send his son to play for that same coach. That is unusual, of course, even in the older model, but it did happen.

The snap crackle pop of the Saban model might be successful. But at what cost to the game?

I completely agree. The older, stability, family-based model is ideal but in today's money-hungry society it is hardly existent. As I think you so eloquently put it before..."say it ain't so".
 
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I completely agree. The older, stability, family-based model is ideal but in today's money-hungry society it is hardly existent. As I think you so eloquently put it before..."say it ain't so".
I think it is also important not to get too caught up in the hype surrounding some of these big time teams right now, and to also avoid falling into the pitfall of thinking that somehow basic human nature has changed.

What I mean is that for all of our hand-wringing about the Saban model and how this is what kids want today, the fact is there is probably more than one model for being successful even in modern college football, and there are probably still a lot of high quality recruits who would rather not have all of the hoopla and would really like to just play football for a good set of coaches at a good school.

I don't think that we just have to roll over and say "Well, its over. We will never compete against all that sizzle sitting here in the agricultural plains of Nebraska". So instead of the Saban model, Eichorst chose the Mike Riley model. And I think it suits Nebraska far better, AND I think it too can be successful. You really can build a championship level program with teams filled with Rex Burkhead types. Kids who don't have flash, don't want flash, and prefer the path of working their asses off in a program filled with great human beings, to a program filled with Deion Sanders types.

So I remain hopeful for our program. I do not believe in the defeatist notion that we can no longer compete in modern football. I know you don't either....
 
I think it is also important not to get too caught up in the hype surrounding some of these big time teams right now, and to also avoid falling into the pitfall of thinking that somehow basic human nature has changed.

What I mean is that for all of our hand-wringing about the Saban model and how this is what kids want today, the fact is there is probably more than one model for being successful even in modern college football, and there are probably still a lot of high quality recruits who would rather not have all of the hoopla and would really like to just play football for a good set of coaches at a good school.

I don't think that we just have to roll over and say "Well, its over. We will never compete against all that sizzle sitting here in the agricultural plains of Nebraska". So instead of the Saban model, Eichorst chose the Mike Riley model. And I think it suits Nebraska far better, AND I think it too can be successful. You really can build a championship level program with teams filled with Rex Burkhead types. Kids who don't have flash, don't want flash, and prefer the path of working their asses off in a program filled with great human beings, to a program filled with Deion Sanders types.

So I remain hopeful for our program. I do not believe in the defeatist notion that we can no longer compete in modern football. I know you don't either....

I would love for this to be true. Trust me...I'm an old-school guy (but not that old Eek ). I prefer no flash, blue collar, slobberknocker football.
I guess I've just grown very impatient with this program. As I've said before, I truly hope HCMR is the guy but jeez man, can we pedal the bike a little faster? :):):)
GBR
 
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I would love for this to be true. Trust me...I'm an old-school guy (but not that old Eek ). I prefer no flash, blue collar, slobberknocker football.
I guess I've just grown very impatient with this program. As I've said before, I truly hope HCMR is the guy but jeez man, can we pedal the bike a little faster? :):):)
GBR
I like this. Well said
 
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