I have always found it mildly humorous when the mainstream media uses the past to predict the future, especially from a previous tenure. Look no further than Dirk Chatetlain's post in the Omaha World Herald. Chatelain posted:
"Tuesday night, I had a flashback.
I know, the talent level is deeper. I know, the coaching staff is better. I keep telling myself those things.
But Nebraska got pummeled on national TV Saturday night. Now Yoshi Hardrick is defending Taylor Martinez from a girl in Spanish class. Bo Pelini is conducting longer, more competitive, more physical practices.
This feels like September 2007 all over again.
Remember that fall, Nebraska also had a fourth-year head coach coming off a Big 12 championship game loss to Oklahoma and a bowl game defeat. Remember the defense was supposed to be pretty good — and wasn’t. Remember the quarterback issues.
Bill Callahan responded to the embarrassing 49-31 loss to USC that was not even that close with full-pads practices. Why, you ask, weren’t the Huskers in full pads before? Callahan didn’t have an answer.
After the USC blowout, NU avoided upset against Ball State. But public scrutiny intensified, prompting Corey McKeon’s famous remarks at a press conference. A few quotes from that day:
“This isn’t a down year for Nebraska. We’re 3-1 and people are looking at it like…we’re Notre Dame, like we’re 0-4.”
“You think it just ends on the field with the fans? No, it doesn’t end there. It doesn’t end anywhere. It’s hard for me to go to class after playing the way I played. It’s hard for me to sit there and know that everyone around me is looking at me thinking something.”
The Huskers of 2011 are coming off a 48-17 road loss to Wisconsin and quarterack Taylor Martinez has taken his share of jabs among the Nebraska fan base.
However, what people do not realize is that what determines a team's success over the course of a season is almost all mental. Talent plays a huge role because it forgives a player when he doesn't perfectly execute the mental part of each play. Obviously some teams are too talented for other teams even at mental perfection, but I don't think that's Nebraska's issue. After watching the game in Madison on Saturday I can still see the Huskers winning out but it depends on head coach Bo Pelini's ability to hold the team.
The Nebraska team that rolled into Madison could have won that game. I'm not saying they were the better team. They weren't. I'm not saying they were equally or more talented than Wisconsin. They weren't. But they could have won the game had they done certain things.
We can point to a lot of reasons that Saturday happened but among them include a poor game plan, many mistakes, inability to close on third down (especially on defense), etc. Now if that was a one-game thing then fine but what's interesting to see is if this team can take what happened in stride, continue to attempt to follow a coherent game strategy and remain focused.
To that end, I agree with chaelain bcause the Huskers face a pivotal game saturday at home against an Ohio State team that is still reeling from its off-the-field issues that led to the dismissal of head coach Jim Tressel. Like the Huskers, the Buckeyes are a wounded animal after losing 10-7 at home to Michigan State.
However, where the comparison is not yet accurate is that the 2007 team was broken. I don't think that this team is broken but what could happen is that players can start getting fed up with other players' mistakes and it can lead to more mistakes and lapses in concentration and effort.
That sort of thing becomes the identity of the team. Mistakes are going to keep happening, especially with Martinez or whomever is at quarterback. So if the coaches can't keep everyone on task, this team will probably fall apart. Also, the coaches could keep coming up with gameplans that re obviously frustrating to the players and the players will stop listening. If any of that happens then yeah, we could see a 2007 like season.
However, I just don't see it happening. Pelini can be caustic but it seems like the players love him and he has a different kind of arrogance than someone like Kevin Cosgrove or even Billy Callahan (who I actually didn't mind as a person, just as a coach). If the Huskers keep up this sloppy play then they won't win as many games as they should because their chances of beating teams like Iowa, Michigan State and Penn State goes from the 70-80% range where it should be given their talent to a much lower range (which I still think is greater than 50%).
This Nebraska team is about as predicatable as the stock market. Lots of highs and lows so far. There is a real lack of consistency overall in both defense and portions of the offense. Coaching as well.
However, a win this week at Ohio State and next week at Minnesota would help point the Huskers back in the right direction.
I have never been so uncertain about a season as this. Of course being in the Big 10 the first year doesn't help either.
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