The dawn of a NU era.
Bo knows Nebraska. Bo knows defense. Bo knows motivation…
but does Bo know head coaching?
We’re going to find out here soon enough as Nebraska kicks off their 08 season against Western Michigan on Saturday.
People want this season to start, people need this season to start. I’ve heard people say “I can’t remember being so excited about a season!” Well...I can. I can remember a couple Bill Callahan seasons that there was fever pitch excitement. Remember all those recruits that we had coming in? Remember this fancy new offense that was being implemented? Remember this excitement that we had for the eminent return to glory that was Nebraska football? Yeah...not so much.
I have found a couple things interesting though. There have been a couple moves by Bo that don’t seem like a big deal...but we all know that anything and everything that has to do with Nebraska football is a big deal.
1) Bo wore a blue shirt to the press conference on Tuesday. *GASP* I know...it was BLUE! No Nebraska insignia ANYWHERE! But wait...where is the anger? Where is the call to arms to get our head coach to wear red/white? WHY IS HIS SHIRT BLUE?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! Of course, I’m over reacting but Nebraska football fans should be used to that...they do it all the time. But I seem to remember one certain coach of a previous era doing the same exact thing and the whole god damn state was up in arms. I seem to remember Bill Callahan being asked questions...DURING HIS WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE, about his attire. Where is the uproar now? I can hear it now: “Oh its Bo, it doesn’t matter.” or: “He can wear whatever he wants, just as long as he wins games.” Why the free pass for Bo and not for BC? I don’t get the double standard.
2) Bo hasn’t handed out the blackshirts yet. The iconic symbol of the starting defense that is a big piece of Nebraska tradition and source of pride is missing. Now wait just a tick...I thought Bo was being brought in because he understands the tradition? I thought that we were supposed to be getting back to our roots. How can we get back to our roots if we don’t have the blackshirts? Where is the outcry? Instead of mobs forming outside of Memorial Stadium, people are letting it be...in fact, they’re actually embracing the idea. “They should earn them!” “Its a privilege, not a right!” Heck, even Steve Sipple is on board. He wrote a whole damn column on it. Can you IMAGINE the outcry of the fans if Billy C had held the blackshirts back at the beginning of a season? Talk shows would be flooded with calls, the athletic department would have been flooded with emails, columnists would have roasted him till he was burnt to a crisp. But because its Bo...its ok. Is that what I’m hearing?
No, this isn’t an anti-Bo blog. Nor is it a pro-Callahan blog. I’m glad BC and SP are gone. I’m glad Bo and TO are here. But how quick we are to forget everything that we were so mad at when BC was here, when Bo seems to be doing the same exact thing...well...because its Bo. I guess my point is when things go wrong, and they’re more likely to go wrong than not, it doesn’t matter what your coach wears during the press conference, it doesn’t matter what color jersey they have on during practice, it doesn’t matter what the uniforms look like...its just a game. If we win, great. If we lose, so what. Its just a game.
“Not the victory but the action; Not the goal but the game; In the deed the glory.”
The Comments
Fletch says Get your predictions in now... August 27, 2008 at 12:46pm
Get your predictions in now… let’s reflect in January after the bowl season!
I say 8-4 regular season, plus a bowl win.
Gene says 7 losses for the fourth August 27, 2008 at 3:04pm
7 losses for the fourth time in eight years.
Carnac says First year = a bit of slack August 27, 2008 at 4:16pm
I think we gave BC a bit of slack his first year. I remember giving Frank a bit of slack his first year. Shoot, I even gave TO several free years! I don’t think it’s so unusual to let Bo off the hook for a bit either.
I’ll wait until after the first game to make a season prediction. Not just for the Nebraska game, but for the other Big 12 teams’ games. Lots of people are hyping up the league...I’ll believe it when I see it.
GO BIG RED!!
Fletch says I will throw my reasonings August 27, 2008 at 4:45pm
I will throw my reasonings into the hat. Not trying to look with Husker-colored glasses. We have 8 games at home. That bodes well for us. We have 5 games against highly ranked teams. I think we can win one of those 5, lose the other 4, but win every other game on the schedule (most of which are at home). I think we end up in a bowl like the Independence Bowl, and I see us being able to win that. I am not predicting miracles, but I think this defense will be a lot better, allowing us to do on offense more that we *want* to do (a la RUN) and less of what we *have* to do (for example, passing since we’re down by 32 points).
As for the losses, I see us being pretty competitive with everyone we play, and when we lose, we lose by much smaller margins than last season.
hbrogan57 says Well.... August 28, 2008 at 3:39am
As for those much coveted blackshirts. Bo say the defense needs to “earn” them and I think that the players are probably agreeing with that. After all, it WAS the defense last year that made the choice to STOP wearing them.
As for the games???? Well...I certainly hope that Nebraska is BACK to old style, smash mouth, wear-you-out, football.
And you KNOW we aill ALL be watching the Jets to see how BC manages to screw that team up.
Gene says Seeing as how this is August 28, 2008 at 7:26am
Seeing as how this is essentially the same defense as last year, I don’t see why Missouri, Texas Tech, Kansas, and Oklahoma won’t hang 42 plus on us again this year. We heard all of the same hype last year, kids, and hopes were high until that USC game.
Fletch says RE: Seeing as how this is August 28, 2008 at 9:07am
Uh, I wouldn’t say it is the same defense. Same players. Different coach (huge), attitude (hopefully), and schemes. I’m not saying no one will hang 42 points on us, but they won’t all hang 42 points. And no one should ever be hanging 62, 70, or more points on us in the foreseeable future.
Plus, if the offense can stay on the field for more of the game (way less three and outs all on passes, using little time off the clock), then our opponents won’t have as many scoring chances, and they will score less points. See how that works?
Kansas should not have had 11 opportunities to drive down the field and score at will.
Don’t get me wrong - I am not claiming we’ll be in the BCS (which I *may* have last season, LOL). But this will be a much, much improved team.
Exhibit A: We have much of the same offense, and if you look at it, we had an explosive scoring offense. We just couldn’t keep up with the 50 and 70 points we were giving up. But they can score. If the O-line lives up to half its billing, we can run the ball, chew up some yards, and maintain a stronger time of possession.
Exhibit B: We should go into every game this year equal to, or a strong advantage, in the special teams area. We run at near 100% on PAT’s, high % on FG’s, and have a kicker than can give us touchbacks. Ron Brown seems ready to unleash the hounds and actually let the return men return the ball. Field position is important, and we were not good at it the last couple of years.
Exhibit C: Turnovers (now called takeaways) are huge. Last year there were about 11. This year, I think we’ll see that many by the time we start the Big 12 season.
All of those will help. The fanbase being someone healed will help. Don’t discount attitude. This thing is moving in the right direction. It will take 3-5 years to be among the elite programs, but I think the pieces are falling in place to get it done.
Exhibit D: Did I mention coaches?
Gene says RE: Seeing as how this is August 28, 2008 at 2:59pm
Did you see how we couldn’t pursue and couldn’t tackle in the open field last year? I want to believe that we can do those things this year, but if W. Mich’s spread offense puts up 400 yards passing and 150 yards rushing, ugh.