The Real Blackshirts

Well we finally have it . . . former blackshirts speaking out about their beloved program's demise. And let me tell you, this is worth the listen. Their main points include pride and playing for your teammate next to you as well as the players that came before you . . . I couldn't agree more. Let me strap on some pads and I'll play with some passion. I can guarantee you that I will put my heart and soul into it. . . . I'm sure I'm not alone among the fan base. That is why we boo, that is why we as fans live and die with this team, that is why we watch and yell, we would give it all if only for one play. That's passion.

Do the right thing Cosgrove

In an extremely unconventional move, an overmatched and unpopular defensive coordinator in the Big 12 resigned from his job on Sunday. Sadly, for anyone reading this blog, this individual was not Kevin Cosgrove. Instead, embattled Texas Tech DC Lyle Setencich resigned on Sunday, citing personal reasons. Talk about guts. It takes a real man to step up and take the blame for failing miserably at your job. The type of failure that lands you with the 95th-ranked rushing defense in the nation (11th in the B12) and the 74th-ranked total defense in the nation (9th in the B12).

Guess which once-proud defense is worse in both categories (and also worse in scoring defense) than lowly Texas Tech's? That's right. Your Nebraska Cornhuskers Blackshirt defense, led by the severly overmatched and historically underperforming Kevin Cosgrove.

This much is true, Bill Callahan will not fire his buddy mid-season. What friend could? Cosgrove needs to accept personal responsibility and take the fall for this program. We need a scapegoat so we can put this behind us and get on with our season . Any adjustments by Cosgrove at this point would just be a band-aid before a new DC comes in next year. That last part is inevitable, nothing has ever been more inevitable since the word inevitable even became a word. We won't be able to pluck a rising DC candidate mid-season, but we need to move on and quick. Maybe there is a budding defensive coordinator-type talent in our coaching staff. Give someone else a chance.

Setencich broke the ice for you, Cosgrove. You should thank him. Besides, I hear there is an opening peddling Runza's in the student section. You'd be a natural. We all know that selling us something that looks and smells like shit is right in your wheelhouse.

Meltdown Doesn't Begin . . .

To describe what has taken place since our visit to winston-salem. The defense barely registered a pulse this past saturday. The defense(no longer will i be referring to them as the blackshirts)did a no show except for one game changing pic six, which to Bo Ruud's credit saved the day. The O played well enough but struggled to push around a D-line that included a 240lb nose tackle . . . yikes!

We are in deep doodoo my friends, but I will say for those of you struggling to come to grips with what happened against ball state that you are a week late to push the panic button, maybe even 2 weeks late. I spent a lot of pissed off moments at wake, and then shot all of my pissed bullets at USC, which left me with nothing else to be pissed at because my expectations by this week were in free fall. I for one am not in shock, pissed, upset, or struggling to come to grips. Sipple said it best, this is what mediocrity looks like. I knew where our defense stood under cosgroves watch and that was 5 yards behind the nearest rb, wr, or qb on every play. We have no defense, they are confused, a step behind the play, and now have no confidence heading into big 12 play. Look out, worse days are ahead . . . kansas days of 05 are ahead.

Everyone must now admit Callahan is immediately on the hot seat . . . he hasn't beaten an opponent ranked in the top 20, loses 90% of the games he trails at half, and in year 4 might be as bad if not worse than '05. We need help, Callhan needs help, we need bo pelini type help and fast. This season just got a whole lot tougher to swallow.

In case you weren't sold on it being cosgrove's fault I've provided his DC results below . . . enjoy!

K State - A Scary Place to Play

Well, I choose not to take last weekend's demolition with as much optimism as a couple of the displaced huskers, namely those in MN. But getting past what happened will be easier this year, I think, than it might have been any other year. Let's just say, It could always be worse.

I was embarrassed by what happened to the Huskers at home on Saturday, but there are at least three levels of embarrassment that easily exceed what I felt as a Husker fan this week. (Not counting the level felt by A&M right now, currently losing 31-0 to the high-powered Miami 'Canes)

Level 1: Michigan
Level 2: Notre Dame
Level 3: K-State

Although Notre Dame hasn't been able to muster a single offensive touchdown this season, at least they didn't hire the lowest bidder to produce the worst promotional video in college sports. In case you missed it, I've posted it below. The person who posted the video on YouTube probably said it best: "Hey KSU: 1989 called, it wants its promotional video back."
If this doesn't cheer up a solemn Husker fan, then nothing will.



We may have delusions of beating the Number 1 team in the country, but Ron Prince has delusions of making Manhattan the toughest place to play by using a towel and an electric guitar. Don't forget to bring a towel!

Veni, Vidi, Vici

The Trojans rolled into Huskerland on saturday night and obliterated what was once an ipenetrable fortress of football gods. They trojan horsed us, dominated us, and no not through the air which is the norm around these parts but on the ground . . . the nebraska way. Gaping holes to which mike alstott, and orlando pace could have ran through were gashed on nearly every running play. Only did we get back in the game when USC decided to ditch the gaping hole run game in favor of style passing points. Then midway through the 2nd quarter USC had had enough. 'Let's stop playing around, and end this thing before it gets interesting.'

Run after Run we had no answer, our linebackers, our d-line, our DC had no answer . . . Novemeber circa 2001 suddenly arrived in lincoln. We once again were being coached by incompetence. All USC had to do in order to ruin our run defense was send a flanker in motion. . . they never once handed the ball to the wr . . . they didn't have to. Our linebackers ran out of position all night, the D-line got destroyed, in fact there isn't even a word for what happened to them. Suddenly what had once looked so promising looks . . . um . . . futureless.

Yes USC has great players, Yes they've blown very good teams out of the water on the road to start the season (Auburn 2003 23-0, Ark 50-14), and Yes we can bounce back. But it wasn't USC being unbelievably great, it was mostly Nebraska being just that bad. We are not a good football team, we haven't been one for a number of years, probably since the last century. No longer does the ball bounce our way, fumble, oh just go ahead and pick it up for a 30 yard gain no biggie. This team has talent, and we could end up having a decent year, but no matter what happens we all know the truth. Cosgrove and his defense will never get it done, even with all the talent in the world, he won't be good. Our Defense has been middle of the pack against a horrendous Big 12 north, and when they start to get good again . . . look out. It won't only be USC droping atom bombs in lincoln. This has to be answered this year or it will forever hold callahan's fate as nebraska's coach. Cosgrove goes or you both do . . . make the choice.

College Gameday Signs

The guys at the No Option Blog got me thinking about signs for College Gameday this Saturday, which led me these gems I found on Al Gore's Internet. God I love it.




How about this one: "Hey Brent! How 'bout a beer?"

OK, so Herbstreit hates Nebraska

You can tell by his smug reactions and comments made during the ESPN Classic Greatest College Football Teams of all-time show.

I urge anyone going to Gameday to bring a sign bashing Herbstreit.

I have a greater appreciation for Lou Holtz since he was the only one backing us up.

Whew

Every Husker fan has to admit that we had no business winning that game. If you look at every key performance indicator in a game, turnover margin (-1), third down conversions (3 for 15) and the ability to run the football (34 rushes for 115 yards), we should have not only lost, but lost handily. For me, this felt like a loss. Somehow we pulled it out. Thank you, Zack Bowman. But after acknowledging that Nebraska played poorly, it still counts as a win. We played a good opponent on the road. This team won the ACC last year, which included the championship game.

I think this is actually a good thing for a number of reasons. An easy win probably wouldn't have accomplished anything other than gaining false confidence and further escalating next week's ticket prices (still looking for a couple, by the way). We needed a jolt of reality, which is this - we have a LOT to work on. Our inexperience and lack of depth on the defensive line really hurt us today. The D-Line was getting dominated by the Wake O-Line, which allowed them to get into the second level and execute their blocking, which is why they were able to gash us with all of their outside and delayed runs. I think we have good linebackers, but they were being blocked on all of those plays and could not establish themselves. Everything on the outside was going for 10+ yards for them. Why they even ran running plays between the tackles is beyond me because Suh was a force. He made some big plays.

On the offensive side of the ball, I was a Keller supporter through the first fumble and some bad throws because I thought he was really hurt by the dropped balls. His second fumble is inexcusable. Thank god for Zack Bowman. Player of the week. We lose without that play.

Looking ahead, we will be home underdogs next week (probably around +6) I'm not sure we are to the point in the season when the team is playing like we will need to next week to win the game. An above average performance will get us beat by 14. We need to play extremely well to stay in the game, which will be critical early. USC will take advantage of every mistake. Bill better have a handful of tricks up his sleeve and have this team very well prepared to use them.

Go Big Red.

Red Alert: Mangino on a rampage

Warning: If you are a Kansas Jayhawk, do not showboat as you go into the endzone or risk this....