Silver Linings/drink the Kool aid

[dinglefritz]

I’m not drinking any Kool Aid. This gets brought up every off season and we aren’t any better of a football program since Frost took over. We’re not far away but considering how inept some are, I just don’t see hope in much change. To me the main issue lies with Frost/Adrian/Jurgens. The play caller, the play maker and the center. One of those three always tends to mess up. When they don’t we see good things, but they mess up far more than any top 30 team in the country. Far more.

Look at this way. We're about 5 or 6 plays away on offense from winning the division. 5 or 6 plays where we crap the bed and it kills us. Holding on a TD, turnovers, bad snaps. Then add in a special teams breakdown. Take your pick. We move the ball many times with ease. At least this year we've been able to get some stops on defense. It's those plays on offense where we shoot ourselves not in the foot but in both balls that kill us. We need to get better on defense and special teams no doubt but man we're our own worst enemy. You can say it's coaching but at some point the individual guys who screw up need to be held accountable.

 

[Oldie but goodie]

One thing about Saban is if he didn't like the way his team played on a Saturday, and if the EARLY practices the following week were less than stellar, he would run a hundred plus play scrimmage, on a THURSDAY! That is one way of getting your teams attention.

but..but...but we have the best practices!

 

[John_J_Rambo]

good teams play an entirely different sport than we do.

we are not close. we're not even close to being close.

using northwestern as a proxy for good teams is pathetic. this whole thread is as sad as it gets.

 

[Lincoln100]

The silver lining comes in the form of seeing how two teams we lost to performed in their bowl games. Hip hip hooray!

 

[Mrs.Jeans15]

Had Adrian played against Illinois I don’t think we lose that one. Minnesota I don’t know what that was. I’m hoping Frost coaches better this year since this board had put him on notice.

They put up 41 and could have score more.

 

[John_J_Rambo]

Look at this way. We're about 5 or 6 plays away on offense from winning the division. 5 or 6 plays where we crap the bed and it kills us. Holding on a TD, turnovers, bad snaps. Then add in a special teams breakdown. Take your pick. We move the ball many times with ease. At least this year we've been able to get some stops on defense. It's those plays on offense where we shoot ourselves not in the foot but in both balls that kill us. We need to get better on defense and special teams no doubt but man we're our own worst enemy. You can say it's coaching but at some point the individual guys who screw up need to be held accountable.

or, look at it this way: we won 3 games all season, got beat by 50 by the best team we played, and got our doors blown off by illinois at home.

reality on reality's terms, doc. there are zero silver linings. we're trash.

 

[CatColumbia]

The silver lining comes in the form of seeing how two teams we lost to performed in their bowl games. Hip hip hooray!

Or the fact that fans are taking credit for Ohio State playing in the natty.

 

[headcard]

I don't get this "we are not far off" sentiment. Is this because we beat Rutgers, who were missing many of their key players? It certainly isn't because we lost at home to a 3-4 team who was missing a one third of their players. We have had 4 players drafted in the past 4 years, none higher than the 5th round. The past two seasons we have had two players on the all conference teams, and one was a transfer kicker. We haven't beaten a ranked team in 5 years, and the last one was #22 Oregon who finished 4-8. We have been on the lower half of the rather weak B10 West standings for the last four seasons. You know who else has finished in the bottom half of the West the last four years? Nobody, only us.

We may be on the cusp of being a 2nd or 3rd place team in the Big 10 West, but that is more hope than anything rooted in factual evidence.

The line between Nebraska and everyone not named OSU in this conference is very thin. All Nebraska has to do is clean up their own issues, something we have not yet done. There have been plenty of reasons and examples given in this thread. If you want to focus on the negative, sky is falling thing and assume things can’t get better, feel free.

 

[John_J_Rambo]

The line between Nebraska and everyone not named OSU in this conference is very thin. All Nebraska has to do is clean up their own issues, something we have not yet done. There have been plenty of reasons and examples given in this thread. If you want to focus on the negative, sky is falling thing and assume things can’t get better, feel free.

so, the line between us and the only good team in the conference would then be what?

there are no good teams in the B1G aside from osu. I don't want to be another nw or iowa. those teams are not good and are not what we aspire to be at NU. you're proving @jlb321's point when he said if we become iowa fans will be happy with this sad losertalk.

 

[otismotis08]

We are a seven penalties and three turnovers a game from being a good team. Tall hill to climb.

Stop pointing the gun at our feet and we might stand a chance against mediocre teams.

 

[headcard]

good teams play an entirely different sport than we do.

we are not close. we're not even close to being close.

using northwestern as a proxy for good teams is pathetic. this whole thread is as sad as it gets.

NW just blew out Auburn and will finish the season near the Top 10. Yes, they are no where near teams like OSU and Alabama. But beating team like NW and Iowa and finishing in the Top 10-20 like they are is the next step for Nebraska and we are fully capable of doing it, not saying we will. Makes a lot more to sense to focus on taking the next step of getting to the top of the division, than just focusing on how far away we are from the top 2-3 teams in CFB.

 

[John_J_Rambo]

NW just blew out Auburn and will finish the season near the Top 10. Yes, they are no where near teams like OSU and Alabama. But beating team like NW and Iowa and finishing in the Top 10-20 like they are is the next step for Nebraska and we are fully capable of doing it, not saying we will. Makes a lot more to sense to focus on taking the next step of getting to the top of the division, than just focusing on how far away we are from the top 2-3 teams in CFB.

blew out auburn in a game where they had no coach and had lost the exact same game the year before against MN

maybe we need to clarify what 'good' means to you.

NW, iowa, purdue, indiana are sh*t programs. we get beat by all of them at least half the time (purdue, NW), and at most every single time(iowa, indiana).

the chasm between us and even wisconsin, much less ohio st, looks like the grand canyon from where I'm sitting.

 

[Lincoln100]

The line between Nebraska and everyone not named OSU in this conference is very thin. All Nebraska has to do is clean up their own issues, something we have not yet done. There have been plenty of reasons and examples given in this thread. If you want to focus on the negative, sky is falling thing and assume things can’t get better, feel free.

Problem is, there are a lot of issues, and Nebraska cleaning them up, with our current group of coaches, makes the line not quite as thin as you would hope. What if one or more of the issues is coaching, or leadership (or lack thereof)? Things can get better, probably by accident.

 

[headcard]

blew out auburn in a game where they had no coach and had lost the exact same game the year before against MN

maybe we need to clarify what 'good' means to you.

NW, iowa, purdue, indiana are sh*t programs. we get beat by all of them at least half the time (purdue, NW), and at most every single time(iowa, indiana).

the chasm between us and even wisconsin, much less ohio st, looks like the grand canyon from where I'm sitting.

Wisconsin and us is not big at all and replacing them atop the division needs to be the immediate, short term goal. I watched most of their games and if you didn’t look at their results this year, they were no better than Iowa or NW. That is the next step for this team, we can’t be Alabama over night and no I don’t want to be Iowa forever, but being that the next couple years would be progress. To ultimately get back to a playoff type team, we will have to create our own formula. Because we will never be able to do it like OSU, Clemson and Bama, but recruiting a roster full of 5-stars.

 

[artguy68]

The line between Nebraska and everyone not named OSU in this conference is very thin. All Nebraska has to do is clean up their own issues, something we have not yet done. There have been plenty of reasons and examples given in this thread. If you want to focus on the negative, sky is falling thing and assume things can’t get better, feel free.

Pretty sure the sky already fell... the moment Melvin Gordon was handed the ball. We've been trying to prop it back up since, but it is not structurally sound and keeps collapsing.

 

[headcard]

Pretty sure the sky already fell.

That sums you up pretty well.

 

[headcard]

Problem is, there are a lot of issues, and Nebraska cleaning them up, with our current group of coaches, makes the line not quite as thin as you would hope. What if one or more of the issues is coaching, or leadership (or lack thereof)? Things can get better, probably by accident.

Whatever the issues are, they need addressed. They can and should be fixed. Now we probably interpret that differently, as I do not think we need to fire everybody and completely start over to do it.

 

[cecilB]

The only thing separating us from being the best team in the West is special teams and dumb costly mistakes. We lost to Northwestern by 8 with a wide receiver playing QB. We lost to Iowa purely because of special teams. Wisconsin was mediocre this year. It's up to Frost now to clean things up and get us playing for division titles again.

You’re assuming the team got their opponent’s best effort to make wins elusive. Arguably that narrative only works for who? Illinois? This years team would have lost 7-8 of every 10 played against NW, PSU and Iowa, 9-10 vs OSU, over 50% vs Wisky and Minnesota. Lots of work to do. Improvements you highlighted indeed improve the odds.

 

[artguy68]

That sums you up pretty well.

Oooo, sick burn! Tell that to the patient I saved last week. Yeah, definitely judge me based on my opinion of the current state of Nebraska football. That is totally rational. Happy new year!

 

[kbowe1sat]

It appears we aren’t too far off. With what Ohio State is doing to Clemson and what Northwestern did to Auburn if we make some changes we could be very good next year. If Luke moves to receiver and comes in at QB for wildcat purposes I think we will be okay. Probably not making the playoffs but 9-3 or 10-2 isn’t out if the question. Just need a few more pieces and Frost to make some adjustments but I think January 1st, 2022 we will be playing a Bowl game. Can you feel it?

Nonsense !

 

[countrybob]

Whatever the issues are, they need addressed. They can and should be fixed. Now we probably interpret that differently, as I do not think we need to fire everybody and completely start over to do it.

I tend to agree. I have to think and hope when Frost looks at the tapes, he has too see the reality of it all. I hope he is competitive enough to realize some changes are needed. If there isn't more improvement next year, not sure I would be willing to give him another.