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.
posted by G-Money at 11:21 AM
2 Comments:
I completely understand the reaction, and I agree with some of your points. However, it is a long season and while there are enough games to see trends with Cosgrove, I want to hold out some hope that this team will be able to field a competitive defense. That and it's not all coaching. The players have to show up as well and know their assignments and where they're supposed to be. Let us not forget that this is a USC dynasty that has rolled over good opponents for 5 years now. It hurts, nonetheless, but we lost to the #1 team in the country. We should be competitive in all of our remaining games. Go Big Red.
I don't like making shock and awe conclusions from this one game. Perhaps, where we went wrong was thinking that we actually had a chance against USC. The game more or less played out as it should've, considering USC has amazing talent right now and the confidence of a true living and breathing dynasty. Much like we had 10 years ago.
I thought we'd be able to move the ball through the air with a more aggressive gameplan and a great QB. We did that. But defense was always going to be the x-factor. We had to play a flawless game to have a chance and we did anything but. The reason it was a blowout is because we didn't even play okay, we flat out sucked. Coaching, schemes, execution, everything was terrible.
So how should we react to this game. First off, we should always remember that this was #1, not Kansas. Secondly, we should remember how good we honestly think Nebraska is this year. Good enough to beat #1? Maybe, but with a couple breaks and a good game from all sides. That didn't happen, and we lost. Does that justify firing a coach, benching a player? I'm saying no. Should it concern us. Absolutely. We had a tremendous oppurtunity and weren't ready for it.
Before we start collecting resumes from D-Coordinators, I want to see how this team does against our true defining games this season: @ Mizzou, @ Texas, Texas A&M, Big 12 Championship and the bowl game, assuming a quality opponet. I didn't put USC in this because I don't think we are to the point that we can expect to beat #1. All these other games we should win or should be very competitive in and be in them right to the end. In last year's definers, we went 1-4. Bad...yes. But they were all competitive. I expect us to be competitive in these 4 definers of 2007 and because I expect progress, I expect a couple wins. If we can't meet that goal, then I start talking about coaching staff moves. Not until.
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