Cotton Mouth
Nebraska fans were left parched after an uninspired 2nd half in the Cotton Bowl. Nebraska dropped to the Auburn Tigers 17-14.
Year #3 of head coach Bill Callahan is in the books, let’s take a look at his tenure here:
Year #1: 5-6 No bowl game
Year #2: 8-4 Alamo Bowl Victory over #20 Michigan 32-28
Year #3: 9-5 North Division Title, Big 12 Runners Up, Cotton Bowl loss to #10 Auburn 17-14
So I ask you, improvement from year #2 to year #3? No improvement?
The Comments
Mr. Wilson January 2, 2007 at 2:56pm
I don’t put much value in being Big 12 Runner Up this year. Just take a look at how poorly the Big 12 did this bowl season. I think we were marginally better this year, but there wasn’t as much improvement as I would have liked to see. There were bright spots, of course. But overall, this fan didn’t see a whole lot to leave him inspired.
foxspit January 2, 2007 at 3:44pm
Agreed. The last two games the Huskers played this season should have been wins. They were, at least, winnable games.
I would say there was improvement this season except for the team’s consistent second-half struggles on offense.
I’m with Mr. Wilson, put my vote down as marginal improvement as a team this year. Zac Taylor improved greatly and I think the offensive line was somewhat improved. The defense was better but the secondary was tough to watch at times.
Fletch January 2, 2007 at 6:22pm
I’ll vote for YES on the improvement. We (myself included) are so fond of the mid-90’s run we had, that we all want (and expect) to be there already, and it just takes time. I think there were a lot of positives:
* We were the only team in the conference to sweep our division. I think we can replicate that again.
* There was only 1 really “bad” loss this year, as opposed to, for example, losing to TTech by 70-10 a couple years ago, or to KU by a ton last year. We were competitive in every game with the exception of OSU.
* We did a solid job of setting up the run first, and stopping the run first—those are key steps.
We still have some clear deficiencies, but I think we are moving in the right way, and are much closer than many people think to being a top-10 and BCS-caliber team. I’d be glad to elaborate if anyone cares.
Maybe I need to start my own blog… Hmmm…
Mr. T January 2, 2007 at 8:29pm
Hey DMB you should do predictions for the NFL playoffs now that college football is over.
Mr. Wilson January 2, 2007 at 8:36pm
I’d be glad to elaborate if anyone cares.
If you want to put that into an article, I’d be happy to post it. Drop me a note if you’re interested. (mrwilson at lincolnite)