Suffice it to say, sifting through the wreakage of Nebraska's 48-17 loss to Wisconsin was about as fun as a root canal.
The loss dropped the Huskers to No. 14 in the latest Associated Press poll and elevated the Badgers to No. 4. Like most every Nebraska fan, I was pretty embarrassed by the team's performance. Did I expect the Huskers to beat Wisconsin at Camp Randall Stadium? No, because the Badgers are a pretty damn good team and Camp Randall Stadium is one of the most hostile environments in college football for a visiting team. At worst, however, I at least felt Nebraska should have been competitive. Is Wisconsin better than the Huskers? Yes. When you lose by 31 points, there are no grey areas. However, I find it hard to fathom that Wisconsin is 31 points better than the Huskers. 10-15? Yes but that's immaterial now.
While I am a proud Nebraska fan, alum and donor to the University, it's times like this that cause a lot of consternation over being a Husker fan. I logged on to various message boards on Saturday night. Granted, I was in an altered state like many but some of the posts really chapped me to no end. Before go any further, yes I get it, this is a free country. Freedom of speech is something that people fought wars to get and protect. You are entitled to your opinion just like I am entitled to mine. OK, now that I have established that point, the posts that I was really taken aback by were:
1) Get rid of Bo Pelini: Seriously? Look, I am not Pelini's defense attorney but I could not beieve that post. In three years time, Pelini got the Huskers to the Big 12 championship game twice. Nebraska lost both times by a combined total of four points. I will agree that Pelini has not had a landmark win that makes people take notice and it remains to be seen if he will. However, he has built the program up from the Bill Callahan era, which was a dark time for all of us.
The loss to the Badgers was without a doubt the low pont of the Pelini era but to say get rid of him. Come on, who are we Notre Dame? Remember all the nimrods that said get rid of Tom Osborne just because the Huskers lost to Oklahoma 13 out of 17 years from 1972 to 1987? Those are the same Einsteins that wanted Osborne fired after the 1990 season when Nebraska closed the year with losses to Oklahoma and Georgia Tech by a combined score of 90-31. Then a strange thing happened, after leading the Huskers to a 60-3 record from 1993-1997, a run that included three National Championships in four years, all the sudden he could do no wrong. Therefore, if the powers that be listened to the advice to fire Osborne, as Husker fans we probably are not even talking about the greatness we saw in the 1990s.
Chances are those are the same nimrods that got their wish when Frank Solich got fired after a 58-19 tenure from 1998-2003. Well, you got your wish, you got Callahan, who delivered a very pedestrian 27-22 record with two bowl-less seasons.
I am not saying that Pelini is the next Osborne and yes, I acknowledge, the Pelini grace period ended after the Huskers lost 19-7 to Washington in the Holiday Bowl. However, just remember, change only guarantees that things will be different but different does not always mean better.
2) Bench Taylor Martinez: The redshirt sophomore may or may not be the answer at quarterback but to say replace him with redshirt freshman Brion Carnes is a real stretch. If the Huskers do that, they are kissing their season away after one loss.
Does Martinez need to perform better than he did Saturday? Without a doubt he does but other than late game mop-up duty, Carnes has no meaningful game experience. Even with all of his flaws, Martinez knows the offense much better than Carnes and has experience. True, Martinez is not Andrew Luck, Russel Wilson, or Landry Jones but what the hell happens if the coaches insert Carnes and he is worse than Martinez? I know the thought of Carnes being worse than Martinez is absolutely impossible to believe I know but what's next if that happens? Let's call for Ron Kellogg.
I say keep Martinez in there, until the coaches feel that Carnes is capable of running the offense, which could happen as soon as nex year.
3) Blackshirts: I agree that Nebraska's defense looked terrible last night, looking almost like the Kevin Cosgrove. This defense is very young and the secondary is hurting with the loss of Marvin but I trust that the Pelini Brothers (Bo and Carl) will right the ship throughout the season and plug the holes.
I generally think early October is too soon to call a team great but Wisconsin very well could be. Plain and simple, the Badgers kicked the Huskers from one end of the field to the other.
Many people believed Nebraska had a shot, I was one of them. I definitely believe that had the Huskers committed more to their running game, the game would have been closer at least but realistically how good were those chances with a questionable defense and an unreliable quarterback?
I am not trying to insult anybody with my opinions, but I just find it hard to believe how so many people went into "the sky is falling" mode after the loss. We lost, that's it. You think that Florida is saying that they should fire their Will Muschamp after getting routed by Alabama. I doubt it.
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