After 10 years and constant mystical unexplainable insanity regardless of coach….

[BIG TONE SOPRANO]

For peats sake, we had ONE .500 season with 7 wins.....listen to yourself. We bounced back pretty well the next year.

Let them sulk. It’s their MO

 

[Chi7397]

For peats sake, we had ONE .500 season with 7 wins.....listen to yourself. We bounced back pretty well the next year. Plus to add, if TO who built the damn program decided he was the guy then so be it. You give him that respect not turn the keys over to an AD that had little to do with anything that made the program great

Ah yes because coaches traditionally choose their own successors - that’s a normal feature of college football and not at all ridiculous.

And you’re right, Tom Osborne built the program and Bob Devaney wasn’t a year removed from back-to-back titles when he started.

 

[herbie tarlek]

When you are coming off a run like that, why in the hell would you not let him? If you can't comprehend that he built the program to a whole new level then you should just quit. You keep the continuity and don't blow it up, we were damn close to winning it all with Frank but oh yes, you are so correct blow it up, get fucking real.

 

[BIG TONE SOPRANO]

Sulk on boys

 

[tman87]

There’s no evidence for this and the system wasn’t working any more - Nebraska was actively getting worse under Solich and again, I would have gladly sacrificed a few more seasons in retrospect so it could run into the ground hard enough to stop hearing dopes like you argue this point.

I'm not saying Frank was the answer long-term. The staff (Mostly T.O.'s staff Frank inherited) was old and not up to much recruiting.

The year they fired Frank, things were moving in a better direction, though. We had a good team that finished the bowl game strong. I think Frank's teams, if he hadn't been fired, would have had 3 to 5 years of still being relevant. But long term, I don't think Frank was going to take us far.

Our hires since Solich, have been.... well, you know. Callahan was not a fit for our program (or CFB period). Pelini inherited a top level defense in talent when he was hired, and that along with the B1G not being as strong or with as much parity during Pelini's years, made things look better than they were. Still, we had some good teams with Pelini. Just not great teams. And Pelini is an ass who wears thin quick on people around him.

The program has the curse of losing big time. It is their DNA now - zero confidence in their ability to win close games. They are ingrained into that losing mindset, and it is damn tough to shake. The B1G has absolutely stacked the deck against us since our joining, but it is not all on that excuse. From top to bottom, the program is deathly afraid of winning, believe they will lose, and it has carried over for now a decade-plus.

 

[dom91932]

When fans ask "What's our identity?" it's this:

The program has the curse of losing big time. It is their DNA now - zero confidence in their ability to win close games. They are ingrained into that losing mindset, and it is damn tough to shake.

 

[Chi7397]

When you are coming off a run like that, why in the hell would you not let him? If you can't comprehend that he built the program to a whole new level then you should just quit. You keep the continuity and don't blow it up, we were damn close to winning it all with Frank but oh yes, you are so correct blow it up, get fucking real.

Yeah he built it to a whole new level by … 22 years later replicating Bob Devaney’s feat a year prior to him taking over

If you want to credit Osborne with keeping it going, I’ll buy that, but you’re discounting Devaney’s success - he’s the one who actually built it.

 

[BIGSTICK67]

This could be wrong but I seem to remember insiders of the time saying Dollar Bill had Bob Stoops at least interested. Think about that and weep.

What I'm learning ITT is that there seem to be other old people on TPB besides me. The other thing I'm learning is that Nebraska fans still squabble over Solich.

 

[Chi7397]

I'm not saying Frank was the answer long-term. The staff (Mostly T.O.'s staff Frank inherited) was old and not up to much recruiting.

The year they fired Frank, things were moving in a better direction, though. We had a good team that finished the bowl game strong. I think Frank's teams, if he hadn't been fired, would have had 3 to 5 years of still being relevant. But long term, I don't think Frank was going to take us far.

Our hires since Solich, have been.... well, you know. Callahan was not a fit for our program (or CFB period). Pelini inherited a top level defense in talent when he was hired, and that along with the B1G not being as strong or with as much parity during Pelini's years, made things look better than they were. Still, we had some good teams with Pelini. Just not great teams. And Pelini is an ass who wears thin quick on people around him.

The program has the curse of losing big time. It is their DNA now - zero confidence in their ability to win close games. They are ingrained into that losing mindset, and it is damn tough to shake. The B1G has absolutely stacked the deck against us since our joining, but it is not all on that excuse. From top to bottom, the program is deathly afraid of winning, believe they will lose, and it has carried over for now a decade-plus.

I don’t think we get 3-5 years of relevance insofar as we were irrelevant in 2023 even with the improved record - the good teams we played soundly beat us that year so it’s a bit of a paper tiger. If Osborne didn’t decide to retire comparatively young I’d be thrilled to see him keep it going into the early 00s but Frank was riding a downhill coaster.

If he stays on, we certainly get a better 2004, but 2005 we were already better and 2006 we played for the Big 12 title and you likely don’t get that on Solich’s trajectory. 2007 is probably better but you don’t get 2009-2010 without Callahan recruits which are the best Husker teams since 2001.

The last nearly 15 years has been really bad, but it was an inevitability once Osborne retired based on the decision making from and since.

 

[David Webb]

What I'm learning ITT is that there seem to be other old people on TPB besides me. The other thing I'm learning is that Nebraska fans still squabble over Solich.

Don’t sell us short. We’ll squabble about anything.

 

[tman87]

I don’t think we get 3-5 years of relevance insofar as we were irrelevant in 2023 even with the improved record - the good teams we played soundly beat us that year so it’s a bit of a paper tiger. If Osborne didn’t decide to retire comparatively young I’d be thrilled to see him keep it going into the early 00s but Frank was riding a downhill coaster.

If he stays on, we certainly get a better 2004, but 2005 we were already better and 2006 we played for the Big 12 title and you likely don’t get that on Solich’s trajectory. 2007 is probably better but you don’t get 2009-2010 without Callahan recruits which are the best Husker teams since 2001.

The last nearly 15 years has been really bad, but it was an inevitability once Osborne retired based on the decision making from and since.

I'm not going to squabble over a year or two.

We were going to be better for a few seasons after they fired Solich. I already said it wasn't going to be long term. And yes, I think "relevant" is a good enough term - not relevant towards a nat chamipionship, but also not getting our asses handed to us like Callahan teams were doing. A good, maybe even pretty good, team and program for several years. Long term? Not likely with Solich.

As far as T.O retiring - that was a lot on his wife wanting and pushing him to do that for several years prior. And once T.O. told her he would, he then privately promised to Frank that he would be the next HC. Agree, or disagree, that is what happened.

I would have liked T.O. to take us into the early 2000's also - that was what should have happened.

And as far as Stoops - I do think we could have had him, and that may have changed the trajectory that we have been on for the last two decades or so.

 

[ChocaEgg]

Crazy that Rhule has sucked so badly that it has forced our fans to re-fight the solich and PeLLLLini wars.

 

[herbsinator]

I'm not going to squabble over a year or two.

We were going to be better for a few seasons after they fired Solich. I already said it wasn't going to be long term. And yes, I think "relevant" is a good enough term - not relevant towards a nat chamipionship, but also not getting our asses handed to us like Callahan teams were doing. A good, maybe even pretty good, team and program for several years. Long term? Not likely with Solich.

As far as T.O retiring - that was a lot on his wife wanting and pushing him to do that for several years prior. And once T.O. told her he would, he then privately promised to Frank that he would be the next HC. Agree, or disagree, that is what happened.

I would have liked T.O. to take us into the early 2000's also - that was what should have happened.

And as far as Stoops - I do think we could have had him, and that may have changed the trajectory that we have been on for the last two decades or so.

If we had hired Stoops, he never would have been successful here.

 

[SlumpBuster]

Don’t know of someone else posted this but holy everloving shit this is so fucking depressing:

What is that f'ing real? HOLY SHIT

 

[Irv]

Yeah but imagine how New Mexico feels.

 

[huskerj12]

And as far as Stoops - I do think we could have had him, and that may have changed the trajectory that we have been on for the last two decades or so.

If we had hired Stoops, he never would have been successful here.

We certainly could have had Stoops in 1997, because he was still just Florida’s defensive coordinator at the time… which would have been seen as an insane hire for the best program in the country after the most successful stretch in CFB history.

This is the hard thing about trying to rewrite history, even when things seem obvious in hindsight. If Bill Byrne decided to flip the table over and start from scratch with a DC from Florida, instead of just trying to keep up what we already had going, there would have been a statewide mutiny and Stoops would never have become Stoops anyway.

 

[dom91932]

Loading…

www.nytimes.com

What’s left for Nebraska football to do after another win slips through its fingers at USC?​

By Mitch Sherman

LOS ANGELES — Nebraska football is America’s most emotionally spent major conference program.

Its fans are the most drained of any in college sports.

How do I know? Well, the evidence is anecdotal.

As the Huskers and their travel party left the area of the visitors locker room at the L.A. Coliseum on Saturday after another one-score Nebraska defeat — the ninth in 22 games under coach Matt Rhule — they grabbed plastic containers of lasagna and chicken alfredo and walked slowly up a long ramp toward the row of buses that would carry them on the first leg of their journey back to Lincoln.
There were few long faces. There was little conversation. Mostly just empty stares.

Many of the 20,000 Nebraska fans who invaded USC’s home stadium Saturday wore the same blank looks after the Trojans escaped with a 28-20 win in a game they tried several times to lose.
They all appear lost.

“Husker Nation’s probably got a lot of doubt,” Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola said, “a lot of uncertainty.”

Raiola understands, he said, but he believes the Huskers are set to break out and play well against Wisconsin.

“We’re only going to keep building on it these next two weeks,” the freshman said. “And we’ll get the win next week and get us to a bowl.”

The indicators Saturday around Raiola belie his apparent confidence.

It’s not exactly doubt that defines the Nebraska football community after four consecutive losses, all with bowl eligibility at stake. It’s more the resignation, an acceptance that this state of constant disappointment is the Huskers’ destiny.

For Nebraska and its fans, the dramatic and the absurd have grown to feel like the norm.

The reality is, you’d be surprised if Nebraska hadn’t lost a tight one Saturday on an interception in the end zone as time expired with Jahmal Banks, the targeted receiver on the last play, being held directly in front of an official.

“I thought I saw a lot of cloth,” Raiola said. “But we’re not here to complain and blame the officials.”

Raiola threw for the end zone three times in the final 25 seconds, a third consecutive game that ended for Nebraska with an interception as the Huskers tried to march for a score to win or tie. Raiola drove the Huskers 56 yards on that final possession. Nebraska took over with 2:45 to play. It had two timeouts and the two-minute timeout to aid the drive. It was almost too much time, seemingly, but it ended amid a frantic rush.

The final throw came on first-and-19 after a false-start penalty.

You’d be surprised at this point if any of it went differently. Or if Nebraska had succeeded in snagging any of the five gettable balls first-time USC starting quarterback Jayden Maiava put in the air after Ceyair Wright took a first-quarter interception for a pick six against his former team.

USC’s second touchdown, a 12-yard Maiva throw to Kyron Hudson, went through the fingertips of Nebraska defensive back Malcolm Hartzog. The Trojans’ final scoring march stayed on track after Maiava’s third-down throw to Makai Lemon pinballed through the air between the receiver and Nebraska linebacker Javin Wright.

That unlikely completion set up a fourth-and-1 at the Nebraska 47. USC converted on a speed option toss to Woody Marks that went for 34 yards. Lincoln Riley’s unorthodox play call worked.

Nebraska fans and observers nationally would have been surprised if it hadn’t. Victory — at least a better shot at it — slipped through the hands of the Huskers once again.

“For me, it means I need to get one step quicker or reach one step farther to impact this game,” defensive lineman Ty Robinson said.

That’s a fine thing to say, but Robinson harassed Maiava into a pair of turnovers. The second, a forced fumble that linebacker Mikai Gbayor recovered, allowed Raiola and his offensive teammates to take over at the USC 16-yard line late in the third quarter. They got only a field goal, pulling to within 21-20.

“The worst thing that could happen,” Rhule said, “is if I start feeling snakebit. I feel like I’ve been entrusted to coach the program, and I’m trying to help us break through. Any time you break through, you punch something, and you want it just to open up. But you keep punching until finally it breaks.”

What will break first, that door or Nebraska’s stamina as a program?

There’s danger in play. When the losing becomes so normal that players, coaches and fans are numb to the pain, the bid to recover turns more challenging.

It’s already hard enough at Nebraska, which is staring down the possibility of an eighth consecutive season without a bowl game. Everything appears way too hard.

The dramatic action Rhule undertook in the bye week did not produce results. Dana Holgorsen, hired from the outside as the offensive coordinator, added a few wrinkles in his first game. Some of it looked innovative and intuitive.

Holgorsen found a soft spot in the Trojans’ man coverage to squeeze out a few big runs. He quickened the pace, simplified the packages and tinkered with personnel.

But the yards gained and points scored did not reflect improvement for Nebraska.

“I just expect us to elevate,” Ceyair Wright said. “We came out here to fight and we fought really well. Next week we’ve got Wisconsin; we just got to go out there and bring it to them.”

In finishing against Wisconsin and Cockeye, unless Nebraska finds a way to shake free of its swoon, there’s no helping this program. It must help itself. And frankly, that can only happen on a field in the fall. Forget the quick fix.

There’s no five-star quarterback prospect on the way to win an offseason hype contest. No coaching change to explore; Rhule is still owed $62 million on his contract after this year, so don’t even talk about that.

The progress evident is no greater in this moment than at the darkest times of the past decade. So what’s left to do, other than to accept your fate as a Nebraska fan?

Acceptance is the final stage of grief. Beyond it on this path comes an action that’s difficult to consider for even most of the blank-staring players and fans who streamed out of the Coliseum on Saturday.

To move on from Nebraska football.

 

[Sous Chef]

Loading…

www.nytimes.com

What’s left for Nebraska football to do after another win slips through its fingers at USC?​

By Mitch Sherman

LOS ANGELES — Nebraska football is America’s most emotionally spent major conference program.

Its fans are the most drained of any in college sports.

How do I know? Well, the evidence is anecdotal.

As the Huskers and their travel party left the area of the visitors locker room at the L.A. Coliseum on Saturday after another one-score Nebraska defeat — the ninth in 22 games under coach Matt Rhule — they grabbed plastic containers of lasagna and chicken alfredo and walked slowly up a long ramp toward the row of buses that would carry them on the first leg of their journey back to Lincoln.
There were few long faces. There was little conversation. Mostly just empty stares.

Many of the 20,000 Nebraska fans who invaded USC’s home stadium Saturday wore the same blank looks after the Trojans escaped with a 28-20 win in a game they tried several times to lose.
They all appear lost.

“Husker Nation’s probably got a lot of doubt,” Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola said, “a lot of uncertainty.”

Raiola understands, he said, but he believes the Huskers are set to break out and play well against Wisconsin.

“We’re only going to keep building on it these next two weeks,” the freshman said. “And we’ll get the win next week and get us to a bowl.”

The indicators Saturday around Raiola belie his apparent confidence.

It’s not exactly doubt that defines the Nebraska football community after four consecutive losses, all with bowl eligibility at stake. It’s more the resignation, an acceptance that this state of constant disappointment is the Huskers’ destiny.

For Nebraska and its fans, the dramatic and the absurd have grown to feel like the norm.

The reality is, you’d be surprised if Nebraska hadn’t lost a tight one Saturday on an interception in the end zone as time expired with Jahmal Banks, the targeted receiver on the last play, being held directly in front of an official.

“I thought I saw a lot of cloth,” Raiola said. “But we’re not here to complain and blame the officials.”

Raiola threw for the end zone three times in the final 25 seconds, a third consecutive game that ended for Nebraska with an interception as the Huskers tried to march for a score to win or tie. Raiola drove the Huskers 56 yards on that final possession. Nebraska took over with 2:45 to play. It had two timeouts and the two-minute timeout to aid the drive. It was almost too much time, seemingly, but it ended amid a frantic rush.

The final throw came on first-and-19 after a false-start penalty.

You’d be surprised at this point if any of it went differently. Or if Nebraska had succeeded in snagging any of the five gettable balls first-time USC starting quarterback Jayden Maiava put in the air after Ceyair Wright took a first-quarter interception for a pick six against his former team.

USC’s second touchdown, a 12-yard Maiva throw to Kyron Hudson, went through the fingertips of Nebraska defensive back Malcolm Hartzog. The Trojans’ final scoring march stayed on track after Maiava’s third-down throw to Makai Lemon pinballed through the air between the receiver and Nebraska linebacker Javin Wright.

That unlikely completion set up a fourth-and-1 at the Nebraska 47. USC converted on a speed option toss to Woody Marks that went for 34 yards. Lincoln Riley’s unorthodox play call worked.

Nebraska fans and observers nationally would have been surprised if it hadn’t. Victory — at least a better shot at it — slipped through the hands of the Huskers once again.

“For me, it means I need to get one step quicker or reach one step farther to impact this game,” defensive lineman Ty Robinson said.

That’s a fine thing to say, but Robinson harassed Maiava into a pair of turnovers. The second, a forced fumble that linebacker Mikai Gbayor recovered, allowed Raiola and his offensive teammates to take over at the USC 16-yard line late in the third quarter. They got only a field goal, pulling to within 21-20.

“The worst thing that could happen,” Rhule said, “is if I start feeling snakebit. I feel like I’ve been entrusted to coach the program, and I’m trying to help us break through. Any time you break through, you punch something, and you want it just to open up. But you keep punching until finally it breaks.”

What will break first, that door or Nebraska’s stamina as a program?

There’s danger in play. When the losing becomes so normal that players, coaches and fans are numb to the pain, the bid to recover turns more challenging.

It’s already hard enough at Nebraska, which is staring down the possibility of an eighth consecutive season without a bowl game. Everything appears way too hard.

The dramatic action Rhule undertook in the bye week did not produce results. Dana Holgorsen, hired from the outside as the offensive coordinator, added a few wrinkles in his first game. Some of it looked innovative and intuitive.

Holgorsen found a soft spot in the Trojans’ man coverage to squeeze out a few big runs. He quickened the pace, simplified the packages and tinkered with personnel.

But the yards gained and points scored did not reflect improvement for Nebraska.

“I just expect us to elevate,” Ceyair Wright said. “We came out here to fight and we fought really well. Next week we’ve got Wisconsin; we just got to go out there and bring it to them.”

In finishing against Wisconsin and Cockeye, unless Nebraska finds a way to shake free of its swoon, there’s no helping this program. It must help itself. And frankly, that can only happen on a field in the fall. Forget the quick fix.

There’s no five-star quarterback prospect on the way to win an offseason hype contest. No coaching change to explore; Rhule is still owed $62 million on his contract after this year, so don’t even talk about that.

The progress evident is no greater in this moment than at the darkest times of the past decade. So what’s left to do, other than to accept your fate as a Nebraska fan?

Acceptance is the final stage of grief. Beyond it on this path comes an action that’s difficult to consider for even most of the blank-staring players and fans who streamed out of the Coliseum on Saturday.

To move on from Nebraska football.

Sums it all up