"What If?" Dead time conversation.

[GBR_Atlanta]

Hey Y'all- Was chatting with another member about this, but wanted to get your opinions. I was watching the 2000 Fiesta Bowl last night on YouTube. I just love how we played in that game. We looked fast, we burned Tenn. with option passes. Special teams was great too. We all remember those years. Here is my question. If Solich hadn't been fired, do you think we would've bounced back? What path would NU have taken if Solich been able to stay?

 

[Husk10]

I may be off here, but I seem to remember Solich was not a great recruiter and I don't think he had the vision TO did to venture into any new offensive scheme. With that said, I think he deserved at least a few more years at the helm.

 

[GBR_Atlanta]

I remember recruiting definitely being an issue. He made the changes and brought Bo in, and drastically improved the D. Barney was the OC in title, but who knows if he was actually calling anything. We had Joe Dailey on deck at QB. Would have been an interesting year I think.

 

[WestOmahaFirstWorldProblems]

Here's the 2004 schedule -- Colorado and Iowa State tied for the Big XII North with a 4-4 record. I'd like to think Solich could have done better than Callahan with players that had been recruited for Solich's offense. Southern Miss, in particular, was a game lost because Callahan refused to budge from implementing his system.

9/4 vs. Western Illinois (non-IA) -- W 56-17
9/11 vs. Southern Miss (7-5) -- L 17-21
9/18 @ Pittsburgh (8-4) --W 24-17
10/2 vs. *Kansas (4-7) --W 14-8
10/9 @ *Texas Tech (8-4) -- L 10-70
10/16 vs. *Baylor (3-8) --W 59-27
10/23 @ *Kansas State (4-7) -- L 21-45
10/30 vs. *Missouri (5-6) --W 24-3
11/6 @ *Iowa State (7-5) -- L 27-34
11/13 @ *Oklahoma (12-1) -- L 3-30
11/26 vs. *Colorado (8-5) -- L 20-26

If NU wins the North at 8-3 or 7-4 with Solich, does it stop the negativity? Probably wouldn't have.

 

[St. Anger]

He never recovered from that 7-7 campaign in '02. When you step back and think about that one, it was truly a low point for Husker football, considering where we had been for years leading up to it. 7-7 was just so far outside the realm of what was acceptable at that time.

 

[GBR_Atlanta]

How did it get there in 2002, when we were killing it in 2001? Did recruiting just catch up with us? QB play?

 

[timnsun]

How did it get there in 2002, when we were killing it in 2001? Did recruiting just catch up with us? QB play?

In big games, as I recall, opposing teams could stop our rushing attack now that EC was no longer at the controls... And defensively, Craig Bohl seemed to take a Bo Pelini approach to stopping the rush. Don't know why it changed so dramatically, I'm sure recruiting had something to do with it... But the coaches were a definite step down from Osborne and McBride, which is a totally obvious statement to make, but played a big part as well.

 

[NikkiSixx]

I also seem to remember Fankie was taking a lot of heat in the media and he wasn't real great at dealing with the media either. It was that one year with Jamal Lord (I appreciate that guy in a big way) that we went 7-7 and yeah, the expectations were so way out there, that it seemed the sky was falling. Looking back, Jamal was one heck of an athlete, but I think team talent struggled across the board with recruiting, and unfortunately everyone put the blame on the QB and the head coach. They should have given him a little more time maybe, but I'm not sure the results would have been any different.

 

[nebcountry]

It's hard for me to imagine that NU would have been good. Colorado put it on us in 2001 scoring 60+ points. And then we go 7 and 7. Proverbial signs of the apocalypse. Throw in recruiting sites like Rivals later showing us as 40th or so in recruiting. There was one guy by the name of Eric Crouch that imo won us a lot of games. The coaching staff turned over iirc after the 7 - 7 year.

Now, I wouldn't argue with anyone that would say texas tech wouldn't have beat us 70-10 (I'll never forget that one), but I think they would have blown us out. If the state of Nebraska didn't produce another Eric Crouch, Solich wasn't going to go out and find one.

 

[huskerbaseball13]

Hey Y'all- Was chatting with another member about this, but wanted to get your opinions. I was watching the 2000 Fiesta Bowl last night on YouTube. I just love how we played in that game. We looked fast, we burned Tenn. with option passes. Special teams was great too. We all remember those years. Here is my question. If Solich hadn't been fired, do you think we would've bounced back? What path would NU have taken if Solich been able to stay?

Solich hired Barney Fricken Cotton as our OC. Needless to say....we would have went nowhere with him running the offense. We would have certainly ended up with a better record compared to Callahan but we still would have struggled against good teams.

 

[mwulf]

one thing is for sure ...the .500 streak and bowl streak would still be going but I was all for Solich getting the boot....it was the lack of planning after the firing that screwed us

 

[jlb321]

If Frank was kept he would have been found in a stupor with his car in the road facing the wrong direction while on NUs dime rather than Ohios

 

[Hoosker Du]

It's hard for me to imagine that NU would have been good. Colorado put it on us in 2001 scoring 60+ points. And then we go 7 and 7. Proverbial signs of the apocalypse. Throw in recruiting sites like Rivals later showing us as 40th or so in recruiting. There was one guy by the name of Eric Crouch that imo won us a lot of games. The coaching staff turned over iirc after the 7 - 7 year.

Now, I wouldn't argue with anyone that would say texas tech wouldn't have beat us 70-10 (I'll never forget that one), but I think they would have blown us out. If the state of Nebraska didn't produce another Eric Crouch, Solich wasn't going to go out and find one.

Frank and his staff were let go after the 2003 season after going 9-3. Bo coached the bowl game and won, making us 10-3. I believe the the 7-7 season was 2002.

 

[canthesniffgetthekick]

Frank and his staff were let go after the 2003 season after going 9-3. Bo coached the bowl game and won, making us 10-3. I believe the the 7-7 season was 2002.

That is correct, but after the 7-7 season, Frank let go of Bohl and brought in Bo and Barney

 

[GBR_Atlanta]

We got killed on those 3 losses though. Texas, K-State and Mizzou really put the hammer down on National TV. These were the years that started my most hated stat. Every year since 2002, we've had 1-2 games a year where we just get killed on National TV. I'm ready for those days to end.

 

[canthesniffgetthekick]

2004 would have been much better with Solich. We would have beaten Southern Miss, Iowa State, and Colorado.. but "at the end of the day" we still would have been a pretty mediocre team with QB issues.

 

[WestOmahaFirstWorldProblems]

2004 would have been much better with Solich. We would have beaten Southern Miss, Iowa State, and Colorado.. but "at the end of the day" we still would have been a pretty mediocre team with QB issues.

Agree. But that would have been good enough in 2004 to win the North division and a second meeting with Oklahoma in a three-week span.

Does anyone think in 2004 Pedeyshine and "the greatest fans in college football" could stomach just eight wins with two losses to Oklahoma/Bob Stoops in the same season?

Me neither. Solich would have never gotten out of Arrowhead alive.

 

[huskerbaseball13]

Agree. But that would have been good enough in 2004 to win the North division and a second meeting with Oklahoma in a three-week span.

Does anyone think in 2004 Pedeyshine and "the greatest fans in college football" could stomach just eight wins with two losses to Oklahoma/Bob Stoops in the same season?

Me neither. Solich would have never gotten out of Arrowhead alive.

Nice quotes. Extreme butthurt out of you.

 

[nebcountry]

Frank and his staff were let go after the 2003 season after going 9-3. Bo coached the bowl game and won, making us 10-3. I believe the the 7-7 season was 2002.

The coaching staff turn over statement refers to Solich replacing most of the staff after the 7-7 season.

 

[huskerfan66]

I would have been happier letting Solich go after the 7-7 year. In my opinion, Stevie P gave Solich the ultimatum to change staff or be let go. Didn't want to let him go with the buyout and figured he would have 2 bad years in a row AND a bargain buyout.

However, it backfired and solich's house cleaning produced results and we wind up firing a 9-3 coach who's team won their bowl game.

Can't say Solich would still be our HC, but I felt he was never given fair opportunity after making drastic staff changes. Agree that the .500 and bowl records would still be in tact but not sure we'd but any better than we've been recently.

 

[bleed husker red]

OL recruiting and health absolutely derailed the program. I think over 10 years later we still haven't recovered from that. Our numbers are better, but still off.

Then local talent dried up, and college got stupid expensive, and the walk ons started taking smaller school scholarships.

Frank was not doing anything to fix the long range problems. We would have sunk to mediocrity, Callahan and pedeyshine just helped us get there faster.

PELINI SLIGHTLY better than frank. This hire will either pan out or we will be Iowa for ever.

Add up the number of OC's since 2002
FRANK
BARNEY
CALLAHAN
WATSON
BECK

Every 3 years on average, can't even recruit players for a system and make it work. HELL we keep this up and we may be closer to iowa st or kansas then iowa

 

[sparky62]

Hey Y'all- Was chatting with another member about this, but wanted to get your opinions. I was watching the 2000 Fiesta Bowl last night on YouTube. I just love how we played in that game. We looked fast, we burned Tenn. with option passes. Special teams was great too. We all remember those years. Here is my question. If Solich hadn't been fired, do you think we would've bounced back? What path would NU have taken if Solich been able to stay?

Personally I think we would have kept going down hill. I just don't see FS as a great coach that could have kept our program in the elite, but then again the next 2 choices didn't really take us down the path of righteousness either. This is where it changes. Just a gut feeling.

 

[SilentCommit]

That year was just...brutal. I'd say that although I don't think Solich would have been able to sustain success, for that one year, he would have exceeded Callahan. Oh, those games:

Southern Miss - the disbelief as Joe Dailey ran out of bounds on 4th down at the end.

Pittsburgh - Possibly the worst football game I've ever seen. It was like watching 2 mentally challenged individuals have sex with a deflated football. No one deserved to win that game. No one.

Texas Tech - I returned from my honeymoon (Hawaii) and thought maybe the jet lag was making me hallucinate. 5 interceptions in a row, and we kept on dialing up passes. I'm still not sure that was real. Heck, even Mike Leach probably couldn't believe it.

Iowa State - We ran the ball very well, which is of course why we lost the game passing 9000 times in Jack Trice Stadium.

Oklahoma - the OU DB who told a recruit to watch the first play of the game, as he was going to intercept the ball. He then did, and scored. And then OU was up to 28 before most Sooner fans had time to even kiss their sisters (some tongue). *Edit* - I think this was another year. 2004 was the year we kicked a field goal for pride and angered Bobby Stoops. In hindsight 2004 was the highlight.

That year pulls even with 2007 as the rock bottom.

Callahan is a fine NFL line coach, and a smart football mind. In terms of his coaching here, he was the very definition of the wrong person at the wrong time.

 

[GBR_Atlanta]

Remember how horrible our uniforms were in the 7-7 year? Oh lord. We had ugly uniforms before they were cool! We're trendsetters! lol

 

[Yossarian23]

Oklahoma - the OU DB who told a recruit to watch the first play of the game, as he was going to intercept the ball. He then did, and scored. And then OU was up to 28 before most Sooner fans had time to even kiss their sisters (some tongue). *Edit* - I think this was another year. 2004 was the year we kicked a field goal for pride and angered Bobby Stoops. In hindsight 2004 was the highlight..

That pick was 2008.

I remembered Joe Ganz throwing it and Shawn Watson as the coordinator.

Had to look up that it was Dominque Franks that picked it, and I think Gabe Lynn was the recruit in question.

OWH Link

 

[omnione]

Personally I think we would have kept going down hill. I just don't see FS as a great coach that could have kept our program in the elite, but then again the next 2 choices didn't really take us down the path of righteousness either. This is where it changes. Just a gut feeling.

That's how I feel too. For all of Solich's accolades at Nebraska, he ended up at Ohio.

Barney Cotton was the OC, enough said. Bo's disdain for recruiting would've been revealed sooner if he somehow stayed here for a few years.

 

[Suvey101885]

That's how I feel too. For all of Solich's accolades at Nebraska, he ended up at Ohio.

Barney Cotton was the OC, enough said. Bo's disdain for recruiting would've been revealed sooner if he somehow stayed here for a few years.

Bo Pelini never has nor ever will understand the concept of stopping a running quarterback.

 

[Cornicator]

The college football landscape changed in the late 90s to the early part of this century, both on the field and off.

Nebraska football, as an entity, failed to adapt. You can partially lay the blame at the feet of Solich, but all parties involved were short sided.

The Internet and the way college football recruiting was covered changed the way programs could attract and pursue players. Solich and staff could no longer just show up on someone's door with an N on their shirt.

Frank also failed to "fill in the cracks" left over from the loss of Prop 48 players after the '96 season. Nebraska still had a few on their roster in'99 and 2000.

However, he could no longer bring them in by the'98 recruiting cycle. That started to effect things by the 2001 season, and it really came to a head in 2002.

There are dozens of other examples, but I don't feel like writing a book.