Some SI predictions

[walksalone]

Thisyear is the only doom and gloom prediction I have made.

I have said we would finish just about where we do every year. 9-3 to 9-4.

This year I think the wheels come off, no reason for that thought, but just have a gut feeling we are going to have problems. Looking for all the crow I can eat on this.

Hopefully this is the year that the staff gets their crap together. I think we have adequate talent, not top of the line, but good enough for this team to get to 11 wins. The coaching staff has held this program back in my mind. Not qualified, not ready and not mature enough from head coach down.

So, you'd rather have clownahan back, getting blown out 70-10 by a mediocre team in our conference?

If that's the case, I'll take 9-4

 

[walksalone]

Trust me Saunders, I have a far closer relationship with this program than you could ever imagine. I have been farther away from since the hiring of Bo.

My marriage is far more important than Nebraska football and has been for over 43 years.

I am married to one of the most intelligent women I have ever met, heart of gold and a great judge of character. Her thoughts run much higher than some football fan.

I wish the team luck this year and the years to follow. I wish Coach Pelini luck, and many years of success.

Enjoy the season.

How painful is it, being better than the rest of us? From what I just read, it's gotta be really tough...

 

[BigRedBuster]

I'm actually glad he doesn't go to games. That way I don't have to sit by him and listen to his botching about the program I love.

 

[admo]

Is the Big 10 conference really on the rise? Two teams can't even play for a championship. It has several solid teams, but it doesn't have an elite team. Maybe I'm looking through rose colored glasses, but we have a legitimate shot at winning the Big 10 this year. I don't see us going undefeated, but I don't see us losing four games either.

that's is why it is on the rise, and not quite there.

and i agree with your post.

I guess my main point is that the Big 10 usually has solid teams. There have been several times in the past decade where it had an elite team. If our defense can pull it's weight along with our OL, we could challenge this year as an elite team. Last year, our implosions were mostly mental. I've got to think over the offseason this has been addressed and corrected. I'm not predicting a NC, but I am predicting a BCS bowl.

Wow what a juicy turn of events this topic turned out! SI predictions and thoughts, just all exploding - good stuff!

Some of us know skersfan is diehard, just a driven realist that wants the best but can't get behind it based of the recent past results and own personal reasons. But dang, just comes across as hatin'.....doom and gloom as knapplc mentioned.

Since it's a fiery thread, I'm gonna slightly pick on Junior a tad bit

I agree with us challenging this year. Call it gut, but no matter how "supposedly" better other teams in the conference might be, or how good they have recently been, I just like that we have some solid experience that once was a bunch of youth just learning on the fly. Call me crazy, but the league we came from was WAY better/faster/stronger - and more talented than the B1G 10 has been and currently is. Last year was up and down, some injuries (Crick/Dennard), lots of guys seeing the field to take over from a solid SR group (thinking mostly defense), an unexperienced WR group (Kinnie, Cooper, Enunwa, JTurner, Bell), no true backup RB, a questionable back 7 (on defense), a new league, a new environment, on and on and on. And on a day where Taylor Martinez was most impressive, we thumped a home game to Northwestern - which happened, but shouldn't have. That being said, the impolosions weren't mental. And contrary to what coaching likes to blurb, totally not mental. I think we got outplayed at times, we had newcomers learning on the fly, we didn't have much experience collectively, and coaching wasn't the best. It was all of it combined. Example: We were in an early dog fight with Wiscy, then we started calling non-stop passing plays (on the road - on a saturday night :blink: ) that turned into 3 straight INTs (or like it) which changed the game. At least the big MO (that's momentum) clearly shifted. I'm not saying we would have won that game (Wilson ran all around missed tackles in the first half), but it would have been down to the wire. We definitely were not losing (up 14-13 at the time). And Michigan was another where the wheels fell off (again on the road) and we could not recover from the momentum that shifted to their side. And against South Carolina - hail mary TD at end of half - are you kidding me? Totally killed MO. So okay, maybe some of it is mental toughness for recovering after getting stinged, but that's mostly on youth, lack of experience, game plan adjustments (coaches). It was a weird but good season, and I think this year our team is going to completely learn from it (including coaches). So many guys are back with real experience ready to play and react, and not so much worrying about "executing out the plays" correctly.

The sky is blue again. Should/if we lose 3 this year - it would sting and suck the entire week - but we really have a strong solid group this year! All that in consideration, shoot, why not us fighting all season until the last weekend of the season for the BCC?

(Okay not really picking on Junior lol chuckleshuffle just adding more fire for the season to get here!)

 

[zoogs]

That's not a true fan. A true fan roots for the team regardless of who is in charge.

I disagree with this. If you were to have an extremely low opinion of the character of the guy leading the program (one formed, if I recall, from personal encounters), could you cheer with the same gusto, or are you going to end up at the same arm's length distance skersfan is? I don't see any reason we ought to be questioning his fandom, or his relationship with his wife...

A general observation: if you do not agree with someone else's opinion, that's OK. But if you can't deal with it, step away until you can.

As for the topic of the original post...I can sort of see where Rubin is coming from, with the caveat that I'm not sure I agree that this conference is on the rise. That's a bit of an x-factor, I think. It's constantly in flux. Michigan State and Wisconsin have some new quarterbacks to break in, don't they? So that could be a chance that we seize.

How about we end the 'who's a real fan' talk, yeah?

+1 to Addison's post, aside from some formatting issues in the middle

 

[corncraze]

I would take Lars Anderson's pick to have us in the BCS with a grain of salt considering he's a Lincoln native.

 

[The King]

Didn't read both pages - but I'm kind of astonished that people think we are a "flop". A few things come to mind.

1) The media keeps overrating us in the pre-season polls. (I believe I recall the last couple years, Huskerboard members saying that we were overrated in the polls, and that we are more likely in the 15+ range.)

2) With the exception of last year, the last couple seasons in the Big 12 weren't exactly horrific - Hell, we almost won the Big 12, twice, in our "flop" seasons.

3) 4 loss seasons are getting to be annoying, yes, but I wouldn't necessarily state that we have plateaued - recruiting has been looking VERY nice lately, and we are at least starting to make the top 5 of a few highly rated players (and adding some southern speed into our secondary) I'm not a star gazer, but there are reasons players are 3 stars and some are 5 stars. If you look at our secondary, we have a legit chance to send quite a few of them to the NFL - that's only getting to further help recruiting.

4) Florida State, pre-season #1? Notre Dame? Plenty of other schools have flopped WAY worse than us.

 

[The Dude]

Last year many people were predicting 6-7 losses. I'm guessing a lot of those same people thought our 4 loss season was a flop.

 

[Saunders]

That's not a true fan. A true fan roots for the team regardless of who is in charge.

I disagree with this.

Fan - Short for "Fanatic"

fa·nat·ic

   [fuh-nat-ik]

noun

1.

a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal,

 

[Saunders]

Yes my wife hates the man, feels he is the worst possible head coach we could have. Feels he drives away top recruits and runs them off from inside the program. Not sure where I am on this.

Strong enough that we are not going to the UCLA game, she refuses to endorse anything he does. Will not support the program until he is gone. This will be the first game I have missed in California since moving here 35 years ago.

That's not a true fan. A true fan roots for the team regardless of who is in charge. I rooted for the team when Clownahan was head coach even though I couldn't stand him or what he was doing to the culture...I did that because they're the friggen Nebraska Cornhuskers and they are the team I grew up rooting for and the team I will always root for. They are my team. They should be your team. They're definitely not your wifes' team.

So go ahead and keep swallowing the slop that flows readily on this board. Which I used to feel was the best board as opinions were accepted, unfortunately that has changed and if you are not in quick step with the group you are an anti fan.

Fortunately for me, my life does not revolve around an internet board as some on here seem to. I love Nebraska Football and always will, but I see it for what it is, not what some dreaming group think it is.

You don't see anything for what it is. You see it for what it might be. Seeing it for what it is would be seeing a 5-7 year followed by 4 nine win seasons in a row and playing for 2 conference championships. That's not what you see.

Seeing Bo Pelini as one of 6 coaches EVER in the history of NCAA football to win at least 36 games his first 4 seasons...and Nebraska has had 3 of those 6 coach for them (other 2 are Solich and Osborne).

You don't see this..you and your wife refuses to see this. Instead, you've got on blinders to your own viewpoint and you ignore cold, hard facts like those I just stated.

The saddest part of everything is that we Husker fans who root for our team no matter who is in charge have seen the ship turn around after that awful 2007 season and we continue to see it turn around....but remember, when you move a juggernaut 180 degrees...it takes a bit to turn that beast around...Pelini is just getting started. It took Osborne 7 seasons to become productive and he inherited amazing players from Devaney. Bo inherited the worst defense in the history of the program. Give him at least the same to make the turn. After 7 seasons if things aren't right, you'll have most of those on this board agitated enough to make a coaching change. Until then, root for the team you have...not for the team you have not.

Don't bring facts into this.

 

[zoogs]

That's not a true fan. A true fan roots for the team regardless of who is in charge.

I disagree with this.

Fan - Short for "Fanatic"

fa·nat·ic

   [fuh-nat-ik]

noun

1.

a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal,

I've never understood the tendency/desire to want to ostracize or put down other fans of the program for supposedly loving the team with less zeal.

 

[Saunders]

That's not a true fan. A true fan roots for the team regardless of who is in charge.

I disagree with this.

Fan - Short for "Fanatic"

fa·nat·ic

   [fuh-nat-ik]

noun

1.

a person with an extreme and uncritical enthusiasm or zeal,

I've never understood the tendency/desire to want to ostracize or put down other fans of the program for supposedly loving the team with less zeal.

I've never understood the tendency/desire to look down on other fans who look at things in a postive light, and condemn them for "accepting mediocrity" or "drinking the kool-aid," something a "realist" never does. I've also never understood how someone can be a judge of character of someone from 2000 miles away, and not knowing a person beyond anything more than a media driven superficial level.

 

[BigRedBuster]

I don't understand people who WANT to live in depression about the team they supposedly love. This is entertainment. Why NOT find positive things about the team and program and get yourself excited about it?

Life's too short to live pissed off all the time about something that should be fun.

 

[zoogs]

I think skersfan has explained before that he and his wife have met Bo, but I won't say any more for him in case I start spouting off inaccuracies.

Discussing each others' predictions and expectations for the team is probably one of the most common pastimes of fandom. It is common to pass off unfair pessimism under the guise of realism. Easy to fall into that trap and there's no problem calling out his opinions as such. Just a reminder that there's never a need to make it personal -- the post that did has since been removed.

I will say this for skers, however. He has been a dedicated Husker and member of this site for a long, long time, and he brings a perspective that is different, but valued. He can't stay away from us, so he clearly cares a lot about Nebraska football. But he can't shake his feelings of disappointment, either (some of which are personal, and most of us will not understand no matter how many times he tries to explain it). For all he's invested into his Husker fandom, cut the man some slack if he's weary about the program's direction and doesn't feel like going to a game. Hopefully a resurgence this year will change his mind about Bo. But calling this place a hell hole really hurts, skers. Tone down your rhetoric, and you might get a better reception.

Back to this whipping out of dictionary.com definitions, though. Can you think of no despised figure that would cause you a somewhat similar internal conflict, if he were to assume the role of Huskers Head Coach & face of the program?

 

[zoogs]

I don't understand people who WANT to live in depression about the team they supposedly love. This is entertainment. Why NOT find positive things about the team and program and get yourself excited about it?

Life's too short to live pissed off all the time about something that should be fun.

I don't either. Maybe a few years ago I would have disagreed, but I'm past the point of caring if we come out flat and have a sucky season. I mean, it's football. Bad seasons happen. Life goes on. I suppose that does make me one of those younger fans who have resigned themselves to mediocrity, but really.......I don't take that as an insult. I want the best for this team, but I'm not that invested to take it personally if things go wrong. I suppose in my case, I'm far removed from my (brief) time in Lincoln and (also brief) time of paying attention to Nebraska football back when we were kings of the world...and I suppose my position is going to be atypical of Husker fans, especially those that were around through much of the Osborne era.

Accepting mediocrity is accepting seasons like 02', 04', and 07'. Damn, we've had too many of those in the past decade.

What? The last of those was 5 years ago. Been pretty good since then, so I'm not sure why you are complaining....

...although I should add I'm not too young that I can't remember when a 4-loss season was a full-blown, unmitigated, tear-inducing disaster, rather than a "pretty good, y u mad?" result. I was NOT happy in 1998.