Former Nebraska head coach Bill Callahan made national headlines in 2003 while coaching the Oakland Raiders. After a 22-8 home loss in 2003 to the Denver Broncos during a season that saw Oakland go from Super Bowl participant in 2002 to a 4-12 disaster the following year, Callahan erupted with, “We’ve got to be the dumbest team in American in terms of playing the game.”
Callahan, who has been an assistant coach with the New York Jets since 2008 after being dismissed by Nebraska, could very well be referring to the Huskers of right now. There were penalties (10), ejections (cornerback Alfonzo Dennard) and just an overall lack of discipline in the Huskers season-ending 30-13 Capital One Bowl loss to South Carolina.
Anyone who thinks the team wasn’t playing well because Husker head coach Bo Pelini had to restrain himself need to look no further than Monday. Sorry, you people in the, “You go Bo!” camp every time he blows up at referee or has a tense press conference moment with a media member, you are in serious need of a reality check. He has had three 15-yard penalties in his career, enough said. Say no more. Being fiery is all well and good but at some point it reaches diminishing returns.
You have an offense that can’t get out of its own way thanks to five yard penalty after five yard penalty. Not to mention you have receivers dropping catchable balls. See Tim Marlowe. See Brandon Kinnie. See Kyler Reed. It’s bad enough that quarterback Taylor Martinez has issues throwing the ball but when you add receivers dropping balls, that’s no help either.
Including the bowl loss, the Huskers finished the season 9-4 with three double-digit losses. The optimists characterized those three games the exact same way: The games would have been close but a mistake was made and “things just snowballed.”
Which is a load of BS but before I get into that, those people reason this:
Martinez threw a couple picks against Wisconsin. Nebraska led that game 14-7 early in the second quarter. The Badgers retook the lead 20-14 late in the second quarter but the game turned into a 48-17 route. Otherwise NU was right in there, so the reasoning goes. Nebraska had Michigan pinned deep and roughed the kicker, trailing just 31-17 late in the third quarter on. After that, “things just snowballed. We could have just as easily won,” but lost 45-17. Against South Carolina, Nebraska led 13-9 but Gamecocks quarterback Connor Shaw throws a Hail Mary touchdown pass to wide receiver Alshon Jeffery as South Carolina takes a 16-13 lead into halftime, “and then things just got away from us. NU was the better team.”
Seriously?
At some point, you just face the fact that quality teams overcome mistakes. They don’t let them “snowball.” The team should not melt down under pressure or let one mental mistake turn into a half dozen.
Though some Husker fans sipped the Kool Aid thinking the team was conference champion material in 2011. I honestly was not surprised at the team’s 9-4 record: New league, first year offensive coordinator, and lots of staff turnover. What I didn’t expect is for mental errors - turnovers, penalties, missed assignments and even an ejection - to continue to bedevil the Huskers.
The fact that one NU mistake is commonly compounded by several more speaks to leadership. Does Pelini’s temperament impact the team? Would it be helpful if he remained more composed on the sideline? Might not be the only reason but it would sure heck help. Lose a hard-fought and well-executed game. Fine. Lose when your seniors are committing stupid penalties and getting ejected from games. Not so fine.
All that said, I think Pelini has done more good than bad in his four years as Nebraska’s head coach. At the core, I think that he cares a great deal about the youngsters who play for him. He wants them to succeed both on and off the field, and I think they will all be better men after four-years in the program. On the field, Pelini is winning games at a clip equal to all but a handful of coaches at this stage in their careers and doing it at a school with some obvious recruiting disadvantages. If he continues to run a clean program, graduate the kids and win nine-plus games per year, he will stay at NU as long as he wants.
In year four of the Pelini era, however, Nebraska fans are left with a disturbing sense of déjà vu. Once again, Nebraska ends the season with four losses, as they have in each of Pelini’s four seasons. In each of the last three seasons, Nebraska’s season has been derailed by an inexplicable home loss to a mediocre team (Iowa State in 2009, Texas in 2010 and Northwestern in 2011).
As someone who lived in Lincoln, NE during the glory years, I did not necessarily expect National Championships by Year No. 4. However, I expected to be flirting with one by being Top Ten material but continued mental mistakes won’t even guarantee Top 25 finishes.
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