A Return to Normalcy Starts at Home
8 comments so far
July 18, 2008 by
Across the air waves and all around the Internet, you'll find fans discussing what it will take for Nebraska football to return to its old form. People throw around terms like the "Nebraska Way", laude Osbornes return as athletic director and praise new coach Bo Pelini's intensity and fire. That's all fantastic, but just a bit too abstract for my tastes. Frankly, I think a return to form boils down to winning. And that starts with winning in Lincoln.
Almost Like Death And Taxes
There was a time when the Huskers winning at home in Memorial Stadium in Lincoln was one of the great sports "knowns". Consider this, between 1980 and 1997, NU lost a total of seven games at home. Seventeen seasons, seven losses at home. Stunning. All of those losses were competitive games, and many came at the hands of eventual national champions. Not impressive enough? Okay, in the 1990s NU lost three games in Lincoln. That includes an astounding 47-game home winning streak from 1992 to 1997.
More than anythng, I believe this consistent winning at home generated the expectations fans have of the Huskers. Winning at home was the great metrinome you could count on to pace the season's lofty goals. Fans basically circled the tough road games and hoped for the best there. Winning at home was assumed. In the face of those assumptions, home losses were killers for more than one coach.
Home Losses End Coaching Careers
Under Osborne, it took NU seventeen years to lose seven games at home. Bill Callahan took four years to lose eight games at home. That, more than anything, was Callahan's undoing for many Husker fans. From the loss to Southern Miss in 2004 (just his second home game!) to the very ugly blowout loss to Oklahoma State last season, Husker fans can't stomach losing at home. What good fan can? And, competitive losses to great teams (like Washington in 1992) are very different than the kind of home losses the Huskers suffered under Callahan.
It may be unpopular, but I have to make the argument that home losses were part of Frank Solich's tenure as coach ending too. Under his watch, NU had the aformentioned 47-game home winning streak snapped. It had to end sometime. But, the fact that it came in his first season as head coach and in a pretty big upset (NU was ranked 7th at the time) hardly endeared him to fans.
While Solich had a very solid home record overall, his home losses in 2002 and 2003 set kind of an ugly tone. The 2002 NU squad finished up a mediocre 7-7 due in no small part to two home losses, both in conference play. And, Solich's 2003 team lost an ugly game at home to Kansas State, ending years of wildcat futility in Lincoln and sending Husker fans in to the isles. Many point to that moment as a back breaker for Solich as NU's head coach.
Bo: Follow Bob Stoops' Example
Winning at home is the key to establishing dominence in the conference as well as nationally. NU fans need look no further than our crimson cousin to the south for the best current example of this fact. In nine seasons, Bob Stoops coaching record in games played in Norman is...wait for it...54-2. Two losses, that's it. If Bo wants to be great, he just needs to be a winner at home like his fellow Youngstown Ohio native. Say whatever you want about Stoops' record in BCS bowls. 54-2 at home...that's consistency, folks. That is the foundation for winning the division and the conference title.
Qualifying "8-4" Expecations
So, spin this topic forward to the 2008 season. I have said before that my very informal straw polling of fans sets the expectations mark at eight wins and four losses for the Huskers this season. Here's a hypothical - what if all 8 wins came at home, and all four losses came on the road? Would 8-4 still be satisfactory? Would it be more or less in line with what you want to see?
Winning all eight at home would mean wins over Virginia Tech, Missouri and Kansas among others. That would be great to see. But four road losses would mean NU would lose a game or two that some folks would consider upsets (Iowa State? Kansas State?)
Personally, I think I could live with this prospect. It would mean that fans could pass through Memorial Stadium's gates expecting to see a Husker win most every week. And, that return to normalcy would be great.
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Frnakie Jul 18 08
I agree totally, Darren. It is a sad day in Husker land when we go to a game at home and wonder if we can win - I would love to get back to the point where we didn't question whether we would win at home, but by how many points.
Great Article!
Jeremy in MPLS Jul 18 08
DON'T LOSE TO MIZZOU AT HOME!
That's one of those old-timey streaks that are still going strong. Man, oh, man do I want to beat Mizzou. Ever since the writer of the Mizzou Rivals site said that "MU has passed NU as a program," I want to smack them back to where they came from.
It's especially painful because it seems he's close to right.
My the Good Lord smite me for saying such a thing.
That's why this is what I say to Pelini and co.:
DO NOT LOSE TO MIZZOU AT HOME!
Fitzy Jul 18 08
Mizzou has a long, long ways to go before they can claim they are further along as a program. It's kind of like Hyundai saying they are further along as a automobile comany than Mercedes because they sold more cars last year.
Until Mizzou is packing 5 National titles, a sellout streak nearing 300 games, a number even remotely close in Academic All Americans, etc... keep dreaming.
Just because NU was plagued by a poor athletic director who made a poor hire for the last few years does not take away the tradition and accomplishments that have been earned at NU. Sorry but, one good season does not mean the Tigers are now a better program than NU or even close. Get real. Mizzou still has not won in Lincoln since 1978...even through the dark Callahan years... they have only beaten NU 4 times overall in the last 20 years... So how does that make them a better program or even equal? Answer: It doesn't unless you are only considering last season as the basis for your evaluation.
GO BIG RED
We will see just how far along Mizzou is this year. If they do great, I will be happy for them, but lets not call them an equal or better football program until they have EARNED it.
DT Jul 18 08
Great points here Darren...one of the reasons for optimism that I continue to cling to is that I still contend the Huskers to be a better team at home, to the tune of 7-10 points at least--and some days even more (which, in turn, makes me shudder to consider the results had we played USC/Ok. St./A&M on the road last year!)
This sort of goes with one of the reasons I can see for the self-referential "greatest fans in the freaking universe" title being valid. In addition to the many, many NU blowouts I've attended in Lincoln (where being a good fan was easy) I've also been in the stadium on more than one occasion where the crowd seemed to almost will the team to a victory. There is no doubt in my mind that the sell-out streak and NU's four-decade run of very successful home-season campaigns are symbiotic in nature.
But Frnakie's mention of past days being "not a question of if, but by how many" reminded me of my college days, where our ticket stub entitled you to a discount at a downtown frozen yogurt place, that varied according to the point difference of an NU victory . So in other words...beat CU 52-7 and you'd get 45% off your yogurt with your ticket stub. I have distinct memories of this, for as we'd be filing out of the stadium and the band would be playing "Dear Old Nebraska U" and they'd hit that middle part where everyone cheers "Go Huskers!"...a group of us would always replace that chant with "Cheap Yogurt!"
(Now, I'm no marketing genius...but I'd assume that they stopped doing this a long time ago...as it seems that 1% off on a yogurt after a big home win over Ball state would probably be considered a complete waste of time in promotion.)
But I agree with the points presented here, Darren...if Bo can succeed in making this among his top priorities, happy days could well be on their way to return and he'll definitely avoid one of the main pitfalls that ensnarled his predecessors.
Bill in Iowa Jul 18 08
Home games during the C years were not quite the same as previous years. After all, how many former players did you see cheering from the Husker sidelines? Lets not forget last years negativity spewing from the stands, actual "booing" of players and coaches. Undoubtedly, this year is going to be quite different. I expect to see quite a few old player's faces on the sidelines and fans that are 100% behind the players and coaches...a family atmosphere again. And very loud cheering, in response to very hard hitting and aggressive Defense! So, I agree, I think this year that just might be worth 7-10 points and a high percentage of home game wins.
Greg Morrow Jul 18 08
Along with the man, what also retired the first week of January '98, was the preparatory process the man developed in his program. He was irreplaceable. As irreplaceable as Washington would have been to the Colonial Army. Maybe not THAT irreplaceable, but think Packers after Lombardi. Okay. There, I said it.
Frank, or anybody else, couldn't have had the same success his first 20 years, let alone his last 5. No shame in that.
Franks record has been well dissected. Callahan's will get a thick coating of asphalt, over his. His biggest wins are starting to look like they're not worth bothering with, apart from the battling Zac Taylor and Cory Ross, among others.
Pelini will blow a gasket if necessary, to bring this team back to the 75% winning percentage of Frank's stint and Osborne- pre '93. He will not let the team continue the malaise. You won't see that resignation, on his face. That's what Osborne evaluated, along with the college football skill, when he offered the job.
Osborne btw, had some "gaskets" worked on, after the '84 season. Amazing, that he soldiered on, as long as he did.
Mike Jul 19 08
One thing Husker fans need to realize is that we are NEVER going to see the 1993-1996 run we had come back. That was a unique period in college football history, and the landscape has changed so much in the last decade that no team -- including ours -- will be able to duplicate that.
We became SO jaded during the final days of the Osborne era that we lost complete perspective of what being a college football fan is all about. Winning wasn't enough by that point. People would complain about a 30-point win, a 40-point win...I even heard somebody bitch about a 50-point win over Kansas once.
I used to work in the newspaper business, and during Osborne's last year I wrote a column about how we, as Husker fans, had lost perspective and needed to have some crappy seasons to make us realize just how good we had it at that time. Now that we've been on that side of the ass-whipping brigade, I hope we can realize just how good we had it and can temper our myopia.
I'm not expecting Bo to go 14-0 and win it all this year. I'm not even expecting a Big 12 title and a BCS game. What I AM expecting is to see our team play harder and with more passion. If we do that, the wins and losses will take care of themselves. This team has the talent to do very well this season, but it's not going to be a national championship year this year. Anything beyond 8-4 and a bowl game would exceed expectations, IMO.
Dwayne Jul 19 08
Mike,
I agree with everything you mentioned, however, I do think it can happen again as far as a stretch like NU had. Maybe not to NU, but some team, some program can put together a streak. I would never say never to anything. I also feel, and many may disagree with me, that at some point in college football, there will be 3 and maybe even 4 teams from major conferences that will go unbeaten during the regular season prior to their bowl games. Improbably slightly, impossible never.