Wow…I am at a complete loss to explain this team. As proud as many of us were with this team leaving Happy Valley we are equally embarrassed by the thumping that took place in Ann Arbor.
I guess to say that the Huskers have rodent type animal problems (badgers and wolverines) would be the understatement of the season.
Consistently inconsistent. You could certainly say that about this team. You could also say that they apparently can’t get up for two big games in a row. How pathetic…
If you can’t get jazzed about playing ball in front of 108,000 people followed the next week with playing in front of 110,000+ people, well – maybe you are playing the wrong sport and for the wrong team.
Sure, the refs absolutely sucked…but that is no excused to be embarrassed on nation-wide TV.
T-Mart had his worst game of the season (yes, worse than the Wisconsin game), the defense couldn’t tackle to save their lives, the receivers couldn’t catch a cold if they tried. Hell, the ONLY player wearing red that actually showed up at the Big House was LaVonte David. Too bad we don’t have about 21 more of him.
Here is my long-term concerns:
- Everyone has heard of “peak oil” that point in which the world goes backwards with regard to overall oil production. I have a growing concern that we may have seen “peak Nebraska”. I mean, we have not been competitive on the national championship level for over a decade. Does everyone realize that next year will mark 15 years since the Huskers won a national championship? We might have hit “peak Nebraska” in 1997 for all that I know…
- I am pretty sure we have hit “peak T-Mart”. I think he has maxed out at the QB position. Lets be honest, T-Mart is not a play-maker and if he has two more years at the Husker helm, then there is no reason to believe that we will be any better in the next two years.
- While we are a relatively young team, in order to improve, you have to develop the players – at least two deep. Is there some super secret why Carnes has only seen a handful of snaps all season and why he was not in at the end of last weeks game? The same can be asked about the three frosh running backs as well as Jamal Turner. It would not shock me one bit if half of these talented freshmen hit the road at the end of this season. There is NO EXCUSE for not developing better depth across this team. Does anybody really believe this defense, for example, gets better without Crick and Dennard next year, or that the offense gets better under the leadership of T Martinez? Me neither.
- The 8-3 record is not all that unbelievable. What is is how we have lost to Wisconsin and Michigan and the failure of epic proportions by losing to Northwestern at home. The blow-outs are not only embarrassing but systemic of bigger, more fundamental issues within this program right now. The talent pool is not that far apart between NU, UW and MU yet we were spanked hard in each of those games. This team has quit on the field…at least twice this year.
- Bo is in year four and this might be one his worst teams yet. The Blackshirts have taken one, if not a couple of huge steps backwards. The offense has not progressed and he refuses to play anybody else at QB. This year’s squad is not very good in any phase of the game. This is not at all what this teams should be looking like in year four. Afterall, Bo is fixin to run out of Callahan players real soon here. By contrast, Brady Hoke has been a winner wherever he has head-coached. In his first (1st) FIRST year at Michigan, he has taken the Wolverine defense from 108th to 8th and is working on a recruiting class firmly ranked 2nd in the nation right now. I don’t know but maybe we have also hit “peak Bo” as well.
Sorry to be so down here but that’s just the way I see things right now. I recall an NU athletic director once saying that he would not have “Nebraska sink back into mediocrity”. Unfortunately, we are nearly a decade after those infamous words were first uttered and there is not doubt that we have reached that milestone.
Go Big Red.
