Husker Disconnect in the Big 12
5 comments so far
October 7, 2008 by
The large disconnect between the top and bottom half of the Big 12 was never more evident than this last weekend. In a strange coincidence of scheduling, the top six teams ended up facing the bottom six teams. The only real surprise this weekend was the fierceness of Iowa State in Ames. Had Reesing not been a gameday engineer, there would have been one upset. Other than that, nothing unexpected occurred. The best teams in this league are so far ahead of the rest, I can imagine that it would take at least 3 years for someone else to unseat Missouri, Texas, or Oklahoma as one of the top teams in the Big 12. For Nebraska, it could be decidedly longer.
The Tigers ran a nearly perfect game (as usual) against Nebraska and Chase Daniel padded his Heisman resume. Nebraska let the big game feeling get in their way of playing football. Bo Pelini can try and take all the blame he wants, but at some point, you have to look at your players and wonder if they just weren't good enough to compete with the athletes on MU's squad.
To unseat the Missouri's of this world, you have to be one of three things: faster, stronger, or smarter. I'm not just talking about being a little better in one of these categories – the players have to be nearly equal in the other two and excel at the third. Missouri reminded us that we are playing with nearly the same team we had last year, who are none of those things when matched up against such a superior team.
Nebraska has its first road test against another top 10 opponent this Saturday. Unless we pull out some amazing heroics this weekend, I think my days as a Husker optimist may be over for a little while. Not to say that I'm going to start being negative, I'm just back to square one – being a realist.
When I predicted the scores for the Big 12 games last week, there were only two scores that I was wildly inaccurate with and that was Iowa State and Nebraska. Now I know exactly what we're capable of against a powerful, national contending powerhouse. An upset against any of the ranked opponents on our schedule will shoot me back up, but seeing how we play at home doesn't give me much hope for doing any better on the road.
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Andrew Oct 07 08
I would say Mizzu is no better than the 2001 Huskers were, and what happened to them after they had to replace there Heisman winning QB. It won't take 3 years to unseat Mizzu, it will take some better tackling.
Mizzu is going to have a big build up, just to be let down, and luckily for them they will not get the benefit of the doubt and get placed in the NC game just to get crushed.
James Moore Oct 07 08
No matter how good Missouri is this year or next, the measuring stick for TRUE success in this conference is if you unseat Oklahoma from the penthouse. Until Texas, Missouri, Texas Tech, or anyone else proves that they can beat Oklahoma in the Conference Title Game or consistently head-to-head, Oklahoma is the program with the bullseye on its back. . .
Missouri, like Texas and Texas Tech have to prove to Oklahoma that they can beat them when the lights are on and all the chips are on the table. . .
tom Oct 07 08
Oklahoma is the most complete team I have seen in a long time. Bob Stoops is right in the middle of what will be called in the future a legendary career. Even future hall of famer Mack Brown is only 3-6 against a Stoops-led Oklahoma. As far as Missouri, I have never seen a more efficient, dangerous offense take the field as long as I have been a fan of college football. No doubt that he put in place an offense built to trample all that stands in its way. Once they lose Chase Daniel, they will still be averaging over 40 points a game. Pinkel should have his best chance to take down Oklahoma this year.
Greg Morrow Oct 07 08
Tom,
I don't mind square one, step one, door one, peg one, job one, at all. You still need to dig a hole, to set a foundation. Nebraska's foundation got broken up, some time back. Rubble is being cleared away, as we "speak."
Bo's got to be real pragmatic, about this. Real flexible and open to suggestions, from those qualified to offer. It could mean incorporating things in, or changing some things wholesale. Like the offense, which confuses about nobody, except the players running it.
Sure, the team has talent limitations. But, it could also be a couple of years before this team stops being out coached. It could simply be that the offense's college adaptation limits it's potential. Maybe, we saw it's peak in '06.
On defense though, you've got a guy who's 5 years removed from being a grad assistant and two others, Ekeler and Papuchis, who are in their first full-time assistant gigs.
Not to mention our new HC... I don't even want to go into recruiting. I'll defer to the more critical and expectant.
Personally, I'm patient. Nebraska reached and overreached beyond any of my expectations, to the extent that everything else really has been gravy.
So, I'll never be harsh with the program. Just with "doink" trolls!
tom Oct 08 08
I don't mind going to back to basics either. I'm just trying to warn our fans what the next few years is going to be like. There's no quick fix to the top. Harshness, however, is justified at times. Stubbornness in sticking with something that isn't working is grounds for critiquing. I don't want Bo to fall into the same trap that Steve Pedersen and Bill Callahan fell into. It was a brainwashing to think that your way would work with all evidence to the contrary. I know Bo has taken responsibility by saying things are his fault, but until I started seeing players bare some of that burden, I thought it was just lip service. Now that players are holding themselves personally accountable, (to go back to your analogy) I believe we're getting to the bottom of the hole.