James Moore Oct 27 07

Today was something to smile about even though we lost. I've never been one to throw out the term "moral victories" but today was certainly one. The guys can go back to Lincoln knowing they've taken their first big step forward out of the mental hole they'd been in. The second paragraph brought up a superb viewpoint in so far as what could've been (the 1st 3 quarters) & what has been (the 4th quarter & the last 3 games). I'm expecting wins against Kansas (not knocking their season so far but because these guys NOW know that they can play with anyone in the conference if they execute), Kansas St & Colorado. Not irrational exuberance but proof of what these guys are capable of was shown today. Despite our record I would not trade our players wholesale with ANYONE in our division. Not even close. Did anyone get that feeling in the pit of their stomach that 17-6 wasn't quite enough? That we were on the verge of losing a great stepping stone for the rest of the year if we didn't get that put away/decisive TD? Yeah it's a loss, but much easier to digest than the previous 3 games. . .

Scott Oct 27 07

Just like what was said after the Ball St. win, "A win is a win". Well, a loss is a loss. Nice effort for the first 3 quarters but not enough in the 4th. We gave ourselves a chance and that is all we could ask for.

Great effort and those kids have nothing to hang their head about. They left it out on the field. We need to remember that these are mostly 19-22 year old kids out there each and every weekend.

Shane Oct 27 07

Said McCoy, "I've never been in a game where they blitzed every play." I think that is the strategy in NCAA 2008 and Madden, right?

ze bop Oct 28 07

My hats off to the team and the coaching staff; I have alot of respect for the way they played that game and really deserved to win every bit as much as TX. They had every reason NOT to show up for this one.

You can see that TX fans have a great deal of class.

The near win makes me see how bad I've been feeling about Big Red woes: I want so much for them to win and have that pride. But they played a helluva game for the most part.

What I don't understand is TX! Their offensive scheme leaves me scratching my head. Charles is clearly a great back in space, yet they keep trying to make him into a power guy between the tackles. They ran virtually no slants and the like which is what we've been burned on all year. They kept dropping Colt back when it was clear that they needed to roll him out, or do some play action or something. Their primary yardage came when they went to some read option stuff, but they didn't start that 'til late in the 3rd qtr. Had they been running a spread type O I think they would have come closer to my pregame prediction; that is they might have won more comfortably. Coz's D cannot stop the spread stuff primarily for lack of D line surge. So, I was happy that TX's O was pretty vanilla and we could just stack the box. We had a great D line surge throughout and the blitz packages worked very well this game.

We didn't get enough out of the offense when we needed it, too many 3 and outs again--and too many penalties. However we had our chances to put it away a few times in the 3rd.

The turmoil of this team has me in turmoil, but I'm proud of the way they played; Keller, Lucky, Swift, Ganz, etc, and the entire D played their hearts out.

Keller played a very good and courageous game and I only wish he could be at NE for more seasons to truly develop as a star.
A blogger on another site made a crack about how we should have been playing Ganz all along this year--just after Keller had been injured and Ganz happened to move the team just 30 yds or so for the score. And this is why I'm losing respect for alot of NE fans(but thank god for the good ones). Sure, I can be sarcastic, but some fans are outright heartless.

I feel bad for Callahan and Coz, they just can't seem to catch a break this year.

Overall the team is pretty young. I just wish they could have got this 'W', they desrved it.

Go Big Red.

muller Oct 28 07

Your Husker History lessons do show in your post. 1960 was the last time we won in Austin? That was the Bill Jennings era. The prior year he beat Bud Wilkinson and the chancellor called off school the following Monday.

ze bop Oct 28 07

Calli's real good at 'shopin' for the groceries', just has to 'cook' 'em up better.

ze bop Oct 28 07

The thing about all this potential coaching upheaval is that Calli runs the type of pro offense I most like to watch--well, that or the Patriots.

It's difficult in that he's yet to have a QB that has been long in his system. Probably the receivers and Lucky have the most experience and it shows.

The D is the most puzzling as Coz really has seemed to be severely off the mark this year. McGee, for e.g., was shut down by KU yesterday after looking like an all star just the week before against NE.

How is this possible?

Dwayne Oct 28 07

ze,
good point about the qb situation. I have the same questions about the defense.

ze bop Oct 28 07

Dwayne,

As soon as Colt got hurt for that one play and thet brought in that running QB, it was like the lights went off: "oh, yeah, they can't defend any type of option/spread stuff.
Then they bring Colt back in and that's all they do the rest of the game and finally started getting Charles out on the perimeter.
Hadn't they watched any NE film?

Too bad the Blackshirts so totally sold out in the box those few times as it left noone back to cover a breakthrough run. I thought that was pretty weak.

But over all, I thought the D did a very good job through 3 qtrs--like, they busted through the line aLOT! Assante, et. al. put some hits on!

Maybe they can pull out a few more games and get to a bowl; I know, 'so what', but it would be better than having Christmas dinner at home.

ze bop Oct 28 07

Zac T:

Thoughts from Zac Taylor
Saturday, Oct 27, 2007 - 10:49:52 pm CDT
Former Nebraska quarterback Zac Taylor offered his thoughts on the Huskers’ football program in an email to the Journal Star’s Brian Rosenthal on Friday.

When I came to Nebraska, I was drawn in by the tradition, the facilities, the atmosphere, and most of all, the fans. At that time, it wouldn’t have mattered if Bob Knight was the football coach, I was coming to Nebraska the moment they offered me. Granted, I didn’t have a lot of other big name schools come after me, but honestly I don’t think that would have mattered. I can specifically remember a day when I was a student at Wake Forest and I had come home for a break, and I was driving around Norman. Every car I passed had an OU bumper sticker, or flag, or something showing their support for their team. I remember thinking to myself, “Man, I would give my left arm to play for a team with this much support and tradition.� I could never have imagined how quickly things would change for me, and that in two short years I would hit the college football jackpot and end up in Lincoln, Nebraska, the greatest college football town in America.

Coach Callahan gave me that opportunity, and he took a BIG chance on me. He did not promise me a single thing (although my mom did put him on the spot several times on my recruiting trip), all he said was that he would give me a great opportunity. He sold me, even though there were 5 other scholarship QB’s on the roster at that time. Not once did he talk bad about any of the other QB’s in order to get me there, and I have seen him do the same firsthand with several other recruits since then.

I know that this season hasn’t shaped up the way everyone had hoped for. I am disappointed, the fans are disappointed, but most of all, these players and coaches are 100 times more disappointed than anyone else out there. If fans could only see the amount of time, energy, and preparation that Coach Callahan and his staff put into each week, it would blow their mind. I have never seen someone so dedicated to accomplishing his goals as Coach is. It kills me to read papers, internet ramblings, and tv shows, knowing that they don’t know what I know, they don’t know what these players know. We still have talent. We still have a great staff. This has been a crazy year, and I am still confident that this team will rebound and salvage the year.

Fans say this system won’t work, in college or at Nebraska. This system does work. If you could have a one on one conversation with any player on that offense, they would assure you that this is what we need to be running. It will be successful, and it has been successful. My first year I ran this, my head was spinning, and so was everyone else’s. But then it clicked. My second year, I was a totally different player, whether fans saw it or not, and I would have paid ANY amount of money for a third. Sam Keller is a great player. He is competing his tail off, and he wants to win as bad as anyone else. But I know Sam would tell you that he would have loved to have one more year in this system to learn the ins and outs, and not have to of come in his Senior year with only one shot. The improvement each player sees in Year 2 is incredible, and I feel bad for Sam that he won’t get that opportunity. Even when I was a player, I often told people close to me, “Wait until they can get me out of here, and play a QB who has come through this system since their freshmen year. That’s when you will see this offense take off.� I was just there to plug the hole until they could groom someone behind me to be the guy, and I have NO problem with that whatsoever.

Trust me, I know people are frustrated because they look at this season and see what is happening. I can completely understand that. I just think this staff needs one more shot, one more season to see what they can do. We have the talent to make this thing work and turn it around. The fans will not be disappointed. I honestly think this season is a fluke; I was there for two months this season, I see the problems and I know that they can and will be corrected.

I wouldn’t write this just to defend Callahan. The tradition of excellence is too important at Nebraska for us to waste a year. The fans deserve to see this team have great success; it’s what they are used to, and it’s what they should expect. If I didn’t think he and his staff could get this done, then I wouldn’t put myself out there and I would just sit here in Canada and keep my mouth shut. I just want to ask people to hang tight, ride this out, and give Coach one more chance to prove that we will win Championships with this staff at Nebraska.

:

James Moore Oct 28 07

Shane,

I loved that quote from McCoy, that's what I want people to say about my defense. What I wanted to add was that IF Coach Cosgrove was comfortable leaving our corners on islands against Texas for the whole game then they should do the exact same for the rest of the year. Kansas, Kansas State & Colorado do not have the talent or athleticism at WR that Texas does. I thought for a second that it was Coach McBride's defense out there (MLB plugged pre-snap in A gap w/ Sam or Will rolling up the edge simultaneously). The important part was that they were able to execute, disrupt to a great degree, and stifle the Texas offense until they finally adjusted & went w/ zone read option. Also wanted to add that these guys (the D) have been asked to run "joker" one week, LB scrapes, D-line slants & a million other different tactical schemes this season. It's been so hard for this bunch to establish an identity because of all the different things they've been asked to do. Keep It Simple Stupid, something everyone who's played football has heard before. Coach Cosgrove don't get away from what you did in Austin. If you do something considerably different against Kansas then you'll make me pull my hair out because you're not sensible to stick with something that worked. Build on it. These kids can execute what you asked them to do in Austin. Let them play. I've always been a believer that since offense has 2 huge advantages (they know snap count & play) it's important to make the offense adjust to what the defense does. If you try to substantially scheme & adjust week-to-week you do this at the potential risk of failing to establishing a consistent presence on the defensive side of the ball & more importantly an identity. I think we might've found both down in Austin. Last note, the posting of Zac Taylor's was great, great stuff. He knows a little more than all of us. IF these guys go out & play like this the rest of the year then I'll be bold enough to say right here that Coach Callahan should get one more year.

Bill in Iowa Oct 28 07

I agree with Zac Taylor, in terms that I think a QB in a 2nd year with this offense could really tear it up. The problem though...is next year we will have a rookie at the helm again, albeit Ganz (if he gets the nod) could tear it up like the 5th year senior he is. Plus, are guys like Gabbert going to sign when they know Cali may not be there by their sophmore year? I'm glad I am not TO assigned to make this decision.

As far as Coz goes...I think he's a great guy and players love him, but I just don't have faith in his ability. The TX game proves to me that we probably should have been blitzing more than 20% all season...and maybe a little less than 80% during the TX game. I think the TX game proves that we have been severly in need of a more agressive defense. The agression we witnessed on Saturday was disruptive and inspiring. I just wished we would have mixed it up a little bit more (fake blitzes/fall back into coverage) to keep them guessing and maybe held off a little on the "send everyone and their mother" blitzes, especially when we were ahead and they had a long field.

One last thing...Saturday proved that this team CAN play with emotion. And emotion can help you win games...or come a lot closer to winning. Has this been one of the main problems all along? It does beg the question that the Huskers need a coach who can motivate and get his players up since these players are not pros with multi million dollar contracts and incentive pay.. Maybe coach C and staff are learning in college football its not just about x's and o's?