I think he sounded like a guy who just finished a run in which the game was played with an unfair deck in a conference under Beebe's Lusitania leadership last year, and then jumped into this season in which he had to prepare for 12 teams (including the bowl) that we did not face last year, who all feature a different style of play, all while juggling major setbacks in terms of injuries to key, vital players all year long.
I don't know what some of you expected out of this season, but I'd encourage you to incorporate some reason into your rationale. I swear to god, if I wasn't there to see us win today I'd think we lost handily by some of the posts I'm reading on the board.
If we get 10 wins out of this season I'd consider it a rousing success. I want championships, just like any other fan. I just don't expect them to fall into our laps every year because "we're Nebraska." That's not enough. Things need to fall into place just so to rise to the pinnacle of college football, and if you scoff at that then feel free to refer back to Columbia, Missouri 1997.
I think this guy can get us there. Just my 2 Rubles.
Completely agree.
Bo turned the team around. And he did it FAST. People forget how bad the program was just a few years ago, everyone seems to be drooling for an instant championship. I think most people here need to stop getting their NC hopes up every freak'n year and just enjoy the season. It's unreal how ridiculous people's expectations are on this board.
I don't think anybody's particularly disappointed that we didn't compete for a national title this year, because I don't think any remotely objective Husker fan thought we were capable of that. People might be a tiny bit disappointed in that, as they should be - if it doesn't hurt to know there are other teams out there better than you, then the competitive edge isn't where it should be.
That said, the thing people are disappointed about is that we didn't compete for a
conference championship this year. And it's not like people are expecting an "instant championship." It's Bo's fourth year in the program, he's had the team in CCGs the previous two years, and the Big Ten was vulnerable this year (no truly elite teams). We're
Nebraska, and we haven't won a conference championship since 1999. Fans that are disappointed in that are hardly being impatient. I'll be way more worried about the state of the fan base when they aren't disappointed after a season like this one than I will be when they find a season like this one not quite up to standard.
P.S. By the way, you can be disappointed in the outcome of the season and still be proud of the team. I'm proud of the players and the coaches for what they did this year - how they carried themselves on and off the field. I mean, I can't think of a single off-the-field incident, and that is pretty damn incredible. In their first run at the B1G, they took down Ohio State, Michigan State, Penn State, and Iowa - that's pretty good, even though it didn't get us the division title.
Now, I hope those guys get to work, win their bowl game, take a short break to reflect on both their successes and their failures from this season, and then get the heck back to work to bring a conference championship trophy back to Lincoln for the first time since 1999.