Should Fans Blow Off Blowouts?
10 comments so far
November 18, 2008 by
When Frank Solich was let go as head coach at Nebraska, it wasn’t the number of defeats that did him in, but rather the margin in those defeats. In his final season at the helm, the Huskers lost 41-24 at Missouri, 31-7 at Texas, and 38-9 to Kansas State in Lincoln. The prior year had its share of bad losses (40-7 at Penn State, 36-14 at Iowa State, 49-13 at Kansas State, and 28-13 to Colorado in Lincoln). Even the Rose Bowl season of 2001 ended with bad losses to CU and Miami. If all of those defeats had been by a touchdown or less, you’d think that Frank Solich would not have lost his job.
Fast forward five seasons. Since Solich’s dismissal, the Huskers have experienced lopsided defeats every year. This season included a 52-17 pasting at home to Missouri and a 62-28 bloodbath in Norman. And yet, there’s optimism among NU fans. Some of that hopefulness may simply be that better days are around the corner. Bo Pelini will stop the bleeding on defense and the Huskers will begin competing with top ten teams again.
But will NU fans expect or demand an end to lopsided losses? Tom Osborne took his share of beatdowns to Oklahoma. People were calling for his head. Lopsided losses by Solich and Callahan seemed a large part of their undoing as well. And yet, in the modern era of college football, is that a reasonable expectation any more?
Take the Oklahoma Sooners, probably the soundest program in the conference. Just a year ago they took a 48-28 pummeling at the hands of West Virginia. Was anybody asking for Bob Stoops’ resignation? It wasn’t a fluke either. OU lost by 18 to Texas in 2006, by 17 to UCLA and 33 to Texas in 2005, by 36 to USC in 2004, and by 28 to Kansas State in 2003. The Longhorns similarly lost by 20 to Kansas State a year ago, by 17 to Ohio State the year before, and by a whopping 52 to OU back in 2003. Pick any conference program and you’ll find blowout losses in recent years – and the conference has never looked stronger.
So why make a lopsided loss out to be more than just a bad day? Sure, if your team is getting routed on a weekly basis you’re going to question whether you’ve got the right coaches. But does it need to mean the sky is falling if it happens once or twice in a year? Bo Pelini may well be the guy to bring Nebraska another national championship. But it seems virtually guaranteed he’ll suffer more lopsided defeats before that happens. They’re certainly no fun to experience as a fan. But they’re also no cause for alarm.
Fortunately, the Huskers will probably spend what remains of this season handing out the punishment versus receiving it. And if we see a bad loss or two next year, it’s not the beginning of the end. It’s just something to forget about. The Husker players have been able to get over it, and they’re now in line to win nine games and climb back into the top 25 rankings. You want your team to avoid blowouts, but they will happen to most teams and how you respond is everything. We’ve seen that this year. The Huskers have responded the right way, and that’s why they’re looking at a winning conference record for just the second time in five seasons.
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tom Nov 18 08
Blowouts are the only thing keeping some Husker fans from making outrageous predictions - like 12-0 next year! Don't blow them off. Take from them that we just can't dance with the best of the best yet. I consider a blowout to mean about two years off from being competitive with a team: the next year to make it a non-blowout loss, and the year after that to make it winnable.
Steve Nov 18 08
Sometimes it only takes a year. Nebraska stomps Florida in the Fiesta Bowl and a year later the Gators are national champions. The Huskers pound Tennessee in the Orange Bowl and the next year the Volunteers win it all.
That's not to say the Huskers are in that kind of position but there are definitely teams that have bounced back faster.
darren Nov 18 08
Avoiding blowouts is a sign of consistency, something Pelini and company have talked about all year. As NU gets consistent, fans will notice.
Does it mean that a consistently-good NU team can't get blown out? No. As your examples illustrate, anything can happen these days.
But, those are occational, and typically in bowl or other big-game circumstances, where things can get a little whacky.
JBLING22 Nov 18 08
I think you forgot to mention the biggest part of those blow outs, on why Cornhusker nation seems to be more optimistic now than it had during the Callahan years.. First of all we have 4 loses, 1 to Va Tech that we were competitive in and just didn't get it done.. The Next was a blowout to Missouri.. But the next games important... We go on the road, and play TTech to Overtime, and Looked like we were going to take that one.. Thats a team that controls its own destiny this saturday..I guess what Im trying to say, Is we didn't follow bad games with bad games, and more importantly even in those bad games, we still had kids flying around trying to make plays.. That wouldn't of happened under a Callahan coaching staff... Going back to the Oklahoma game, there are few teams that could bounce back after consecutive turnovers at the bigging of the game.. resulting in a 21-0 start.. If we would have started out that way against Oklahoma would they have bounced back?? I guess all this rambling is to say that the Huskers are at least playing hard, and taking chances thats why your going to see inconsistency at the begining...
At least now Im praying we don't have to go to the Sun Bowl ( El PASO SUCKS) instead of praying for a bowl!!
Bill in Iowa Nov 18 08
Judging a teams value by blowouts/non-blowouts is equivalent to juding a recruits value by their star ranking on rivals. It never tells the whole story. The Mizzou game, our offense was still trying to play power football with a team built for the spread. And the defense was still a work in progress. We learned from that well deserved ugly loss and became a better team. I would love to play them again this year. I think it would be a close game.
Andy Nov 18 08
Almost everyone risks a blowout to a good team. Look at the polls (all ranks according to current BCS):
#10 Ohio State: Lose to #6 USC 35-3.
#11 Georgia: Lose to #4 Florida 49-10. (loss at home v. #1 Alabama could have been much uglier as well)
#12 Oklahoma State: Lose to #2 Texas Tech 56-20.
#13 Mizzou: Lose to #3 Texas 56-31.
On down the line: #14 BYU, #15 Michigan State, #16 TCU, #18 LSU, #19 Cincinnati (twice), #20 Pitt, #21 Oregon State, #23 Miami, #24 Oregon, and #25 Maryland. All these teams have at least one loss by 20 points or more, and not all of them were to ranked teams.
Actually, #22 North Carolina is the only team between 10 and 25 (not including 10-0 Ball State) without a blowout loss (three losses by a combined 8 points.
My point is this. In modern college football, no team is impervious to the occasional blowout, whether at the hands of a highly ranked team or a little guy with a chip on their shoulder. At least we took our beatings from the teams we expected, and didn't get unexpectedly pounded by a Baylor, Kansas, or even Virginia Tech.
Greg Morrow Nov 18 08
I got a little desensitized.
I knew there was going to be a drop off after Osborne, the moment I watched the retirement announcement from a Philly Cheesesteak place.
I knew recruiting would drop off. (Just glance at Osborne's last Feb. 97 recruiting class and see if any compare to it, since.)
I also knew his presence, experience and doctorate in educational psychology- his overall skill set, was irreplaceable.
The degression was predictable and to me, anticipated.
Had Solich's coaching changes and turnaround from '02 been considered acceptable, the rollercoaster ride wouldn't have been so precarious. But, I guess a fringe top 25 team was just way too mediocre moving forward, therefore Nebraska had to have a "Big Time" coach to fix and flip everything. It also seems donor money needed to be re-energized, to build the facilities. I've heard Solich didn't inspire the check writers.
So, we're here now. Players learning to trust again, before they jeopardize their health the "Nebraska way." Recruits looking at Nebraska as an option to realize their goals, instead of a team from back in the day.
Cutting down the JC recruiting spigot to one or two, will help a lot. Maximizing Nebraska's unique walkon advantage, is plain common sense. Developing an offense that's closer to full speed by game 3, is a must too. You can't have a quarterback spend half a season, just getting comfortable. Nebraska is now doing those things. Rebuilding Nebraska's foundation means re-digging first.
I mean, at Nebraska, you're trying to be in the title chase, right?
bnahusker Nov 18 08
Bill in Iowa...........
I live in Springfield, MO and to echo your point, the first words to me out of a co-worker's mouth Monday were "I'm glad we played you're guys early."
While I would never predict a 12-0 season next year, I will say that nobody will count us as an automatic win when they look at their schedules in September.
The blowouts of the past were indicators. The blowouts this year have been reminders and coaching opportunities.
GBR!
Bob
HuskerDeck Nov 18 08
Great article Steve, I know it is hard for the fans to take a blowout loss, but if the players have the resiliency to bounce back. We as fans need to show the same resiliency and not go into a big snit about it.
The ole Swede and Husker in South Arkansas
OU7times Nov 19 08
Hmmm, interesting article.
The things with "blowouts" is that you better blow them off or you sit there and let it fester THEN...you stand the risk of losing your "classy fans" image that you worked so hard for.
Bascally, it's cyclic in nature (for most teams). The "haves and the have-nots". Let me tell you how bad it sucks when you are on the have not side...for the better part of a decade, no less.
Some teams don't even have the pleasure of ever experiencing the "haves". Both Oklahoma and Nebraska have had their rspective turns.