Pelini nailed it. "We need to coach better." Ka-Blamo! Whether that happens or not, at least responsibility is handed out to the proper recipients. I love these coaches, so I'm expecting the best. I love the players always and they deserve the best. Kevin Jurovich said "I thought the crowd...they were nice people. Walking out there, they were just congratulating us, even before the game." Glad to read that's still intact. No matter what the idiot trolls say..! One thing that sickened me last year, was during after game interviews, players had to account for schemes that didn't allow them to compete, athletically. Whatever peoples opinions of Sam Keller, he shouldn't have been subjected to some of those interrogations. The look on his face, stuggling to take responsibility, (take the bullet for Callahan) was just ridiculous. So, no more players being "hung out do dry." This is still a bulky offense, anyway. It needs a few games to hit stride "procedurally." When losing time comes, the losses are still going to be just as unappetizing, just as revealing with where the program is, comparatively. I'm with Bo, I'm just savoring the "W." Loss analysis will come, when the actual loss comes. I'm glad Dick Tomey is doing well.

I think the Huskers will have games like this throughout the year. Some growing pains, but still they will learn from them and continue to improve. Yes, there were mistakes on both sides of the ball, but it is how they recovered from them and regained their moxie that shows signs of the new coaching staff's effect on the team. Game one over all grade would have been a B +, Game two over all grade, B-. I think the offense had more problems at times than the defense did. Yes they gave up yards but only 12 points. I don't know if Watson is saving some stuff for VA Tech and Missouri or what the deal is. Just haven't seen the whole package yet in my opinion. And that plus 50 cents won't get ya a cup of coffee. Have a Husker day! Ron

Austin- that's great to hear (re: Special Teams). Niles Paul is obviously becoming a weapon, but I thought the Special Teams was poor in Week 1 so its good to hear they bounced back. Shortening the field will help out the offense until they can get things figured out. 100 Yards in penalties. Eeesh.

Nice Addition! Go Skurs!

I was fortunate enough to be at the game yesterday, and there was one thing that bothered me. Every time an offensive play was getting ready to start, there were a lot of cheers of "Go Joe!" or "Let's go Ganz!" from fans. It should not be on Joe Ganz's shoulders to make plays every time and win the game. Yes, he's a huge part of it, but it takes a line to block, a receiver to catch, a running back to rush...

In some ways this game was a wake-up call to overly optimistic fans (like me) to set our expectations for this season to "realistic". Brick by brick progress is what we need to expect. However, what was most disapointing is that we have an expectation level of the offensive line set to "high", based on the coaches calling them the strength of our offense. So far, we have seen no reason to echo their claims. And we are accustomed to seeing Ganz tear it up for 300 plus yards of passing. He did not meet our expectations this game anyway. For whatever reason, he was off. And we expect Pelini to gaurantee we play passionate fundamental mistake free football. Instead, the offense came out flat and made 100 yards worth of mistakes. Fundamentals such as blocking and tackling seemed to be severely lacking. Having said that, there were certainly some bright spots. Suh, Stien, Potter, Allen, Glenn, Paul, Helu. Those guys came ready to play and stepped up to help us win this one. I think next game will tell us a whole heck of a lot about this team and this coaching staff. Are they going to step it up as a team, get things corrected, and come out and prove it next Saturday. I for one expect to see a team effort of passionate mistake free football, where these boys are making blocks, staying with their assigments (no mental breakdowns) and tackling with solid technique. That is my expectation level for this team for game 3 and on. Forget about wins and losses...I want to see this team play Nebraska football.

Perplexing is probably a good way to put it. I saw several positives yesterday though. As hard as it is, the special teams played very well. Good punting, kickoffs, FGs, KO returned for TDs etc. Nothing takes the breath out of a team that just scored like someone taking it to the house on them. Over the last several years we would have had to hold our breath and hope a Ball St missed a FG to win. We didnt play great ball, none of us are happy, and I bet the players and coaches arent thrilled and we still won by 23. NMSt will give us another measuring stick and the VT will tell us where we are. Other teams got pushed yesterday as well, look at CO, A&M, etc. We will get this thing going.

Good point, Tom. It wasn't much fun to watch but a lot of teams got pushed on Saturday.

Had to listen to it on the radio (via the web) but the KLIN crew kept emphasizing that the coaches weren't panicking. That's very good, but all we talked about this spring was how Pelini would fire everyone up... and they come out flat in Week 2?! Perplexing. You're right though Tom, we probably would have found a way to lose a game like that last year.

What makes me feel good is that we sucked and still won. If we had sucked this bad in a game last year (which we did a few times), we would have lost the game.

I like your optimism. I hope we learn from our mistakes and make sure this type of offensive performance does not happen again. On a positive note, I thought the defense and special teams played very physical. Now, we just have to light a fire under those offensive linemen.

Besides the obvious mental mistakes, I thought Ganz looked a little flustered...not himself. I also wonder why we were trying to run up the middle where there defensive ends were slanting into the play on a regular basis??? If Ganz keeps the ball on the zone read, that play is going all day long...along with the option, swing pass, and toss sweep. Helu looked great and I agree they need to get those backs in the rythem of the game. Choose a starter and let him get most of the reps. The line is an enigma. I gave them a pass last week, but now I am starting to wonder. Are they not fired up? Do they need more time to gel as a unit? Is it Cotton's coaching? This offense has Husker Nation worried. And its starting to remind me of last year's slogan "Pound the Rock". Of course, that's exactly what we did not do. Is this year going to be just another disapointment regarding the promises of a solid running attack?

Yeah, can't say I really know what to make of things so far...it felt too much like last year for awhile there. I guess we'll just have to wait to see how they respond and progress. One week at a time...

Brandon, thanks! A guy on the gameday blog said the offense was soft. I told him I didn't have an answer for him. Though, I like "finesse" better. An offense that's the "Reggie Miller" of college football. Watson's a pro, I don't think anyone can logically doubt that. But, when he want's to go "hammer time" and grind out a drive...there's no hammer. Just Reggie Miller. I still don't want the offense to change into what's in vogue, at the moment. I'd like to see it morph into a vicious mutation of something like a Tom Osborne and the great Bill Walsh collaboration, if they got together. Anyway, so far, it looks like teams want Joey to beat them. I'm still on board for 8 regular season wins.

I recall the collective sigh from Husker Nation when Bo annouced Cotton as the Offensive Line coach. The collective sigh is becoming collective husker angst. Maybe I reading into something not here but it seems the performance of the O line in the first two games fairly mirrors the historical performace of Cotton's O line teams. I say if the Huskers do not rush for over 100yds against NMSU, the O line has to run 20 minutes of gassers, Cotton included.

it was a real surprise to see so many mental mistakes from a bo pelini team. whatever happened to allowing running backs to get a rhythm within the game? switching rb's every darn series will not get the job done. nevermind running back egos...this offensive strategy will only breed disatisfaction and instability among the group and between the offensive line. let's not "take what the defense gives us"; instead, let's take what we want from their defense. this is the Osborne attitude.

Greg, Great point on the offense. I don't love it still five years later. When it hums it's a thing of beauty but when it doesn't Nebraska seems pretty punchless. When the things that normally work don't, where do they turn? I never have a good answer for that question and that troubles me.

A win is a win! There were alot of other teams with close calls.

"The NU offense has got plenty to work on. Avoiding false start and holding penalties, better run blocking, and assignment sound pass protection all come to mind." I mean, other than that... In year five of this offense, as much as ever, it occurs to me that this is a "fragile" offense, at this level. Watson has to out coach his opposing side, every time. Ganz has to out execute and be practically error proof against any defense. At the college level, I think that asks too much. Not only do you have to out skill teams, you still have to match the intensity of your most bitter rivals. I mean, if you aspire to win every game. The design doesn't lend itself to ruthless consistency, imo. Fun to watch though, I guess. I won't know until the Hokies visit. The defense is vastly improved, this year. Even if national statistics still put it in the average category. Last season, once an opponent got a sniff the the 20 yard line, Nebraska was as much the "Matador" there as the previous 80. Not now, at least with these lower tier teams. I surmise that the staff is still installing the complete defense. I got a hint of that when Pelini mention more communication problems, during practice this week. Communication means interpreting what you see, as much as making the right call adjustments in response to it. I'm guessing that has to do with Asante, O'Hanlon and Dillard. I hate to mention them, though. They have a complex defense to learn and their efforts will pay off, in conference play. After game two, a lotta "it is what it is". Also, looks like the defense has "dibs" on timeouts. Usually you like to save those as much as possible, for your offense. Still early. That will probably change, once the "D" has it's Blackshirts.

The shoe thing has been going on for about 4 years now, I remember it from the 04-05 season. But I don't know what it means...does anyone?