Sunday, July 3, 2011

Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better

Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better. When you enter a football season with gaudy expectations of being a BCS bowl team like Nebraska did a year ago, such a statement is a hard sell.
Nebraska made coaching staff changes for the 2011 season on the heals of finishing 2010 with a thud capped by losing three of its last four games, culiminating with a 19-7 to Washington in the Holiday Bowl. The same Huskies team Nebraska chewed up and spit out 56-21 three months earlier. On the offensive side, out went offensive coordinator Shawn Watson and wide receivers coach Ted Gilmore. Both were Bill Callahan holdovers.
Running backs coach Tim Beck became ofensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Ron Brown slid from tight ends to running backs coach. Offensive line coach Barney Cotton remained the O-Line coach and became the associate head coach. Former Husker offensive lineman John Garrison became tight ends coach annd assistant offensive line coach. With Garrison and Cotton, the Huskers went old school in this move because keep in mind for several years Milt Tenipor and Dan Young were co-offensive line coaches.
The Huskers went through defensive staff changes too as linebackers coach Mike Ekeler became the defensive coordinator at Indiana and defensive backs coach Marvin Sanders resigned. Ross Els replaced Ekeler while Corey Raymond replaced Sanders.
The offensive changes, however, are much more significant because suspect offense alone cost the Huskers consecutive Big 12 title games in a 13-12 defeat to Texas and a 23-20 loss to Oklahoma in 2010.
In 2009, the Husker offense was especially inept as only 18 Div. I-A teams averaged fewer than the Huskers’ 317.2 total yards per game and only seven teams averaged fewer than the 15.9 first downs per game that Nebraska compiled.
The 2010 offensive stats, however, are a little bit skewed because while the Huskers finished 34th in total yards per game, they only averaged 18.4 first downs per contest. To add further perspective, Memphis was dead last at 14.3.
Keep in mind, the first eight games featured a healthy Taylor Martinez at quarterback. Martinez’s speed alone masked a few deficiences from Nebraska’s offense. However, when Martinez became limited phyically by his sprained ankle, his confidence and swagger went South as well. So too did the Husker offense.
The Huskers finished the regular season 10-2. One week later led Oklahoma 17-0 in the Big 12 title game only to lose 23-20. The season was capped off with a giantic thud in losing 19-7 in the Holiday Bowl to Washington, whom the Huskers destroyed 56-21 in September.
Yes, it stunk to end the season that had so much promise with a thud. However, let’s say best case scenario Nebraska beats Oklahome and goes to the Fiesta Bowl to play Connecticut. If that happens, I think there’s a good chance Nebraska runs UConn off the field and goes 12-2. If that happens, there’s probably a good chance Watson is still with Nebraska.
Granted, it was generally believed that the Huskers would blast Washington in the second meeting. However, bowl games are often decided by who is more motivated, in which case the Huskies clearly were and the Huskers were not. Keep in mind, Washington was playing in its first bowl games since 2002 and the Holiday Bowl was not even on Nebraska’s radar in its preseason goals. I don’t Nebraska would have been unmotivated to play UConn.
Rewind to 2007. Nebraska falls to 4-4 just one week after Tom Osborne becomes athletic director. The Husker offense, while inconsistent, was putting up good numbers. The defense, meanwhile, was a sieve. So head coach Bill Callahan and his staff asked Osbore for benchmarks on what it would take for the coaching staff to save its jobs. Osborne said if the team won out and finished 8-4, there’s no question the staff would return. Anything less and the possibilities would range from not at all (4-8 or 5-7) to slim (6-6) to perhaps (7-5).
Let’s say best case scenario, Nebraska wins out and goes 8-4. Then Callahan and his staff return. There’s probably a good chance the Huskers would have maxed out at that point under Callahan.
Let’s face it, sometimes winning can sometimes insulate you from the reality of changes needing to be made. Whereas, finishing last season like the Huskers did left no gray areas that changes needed to be made.

No comments:

Post a Comment