Cornhusker Crossroad

[corn train]

Dick Shitlean sums up how I feel about where we're at as a whole program. Make no mistake, we are indeed at an intersection


Chatelain: Gophers reverse roles on once-vaunted Nebraska - Omaha.com

MINNEAPOLIS — Just because it was doesn't mean it will be.

Sounds like something Vince Lombardi or Knute Rockne would say from a dark and dungy locker room. They aren't the legends I was thinking of Saturday.

Ever heard of Henry Williams and Bernie Bierman? In the first half of the 20th century, they coached Minnesota football for 38 combined years. They won 75 percent of their games — and combined for six national championships.

In 1960, the Gophers beat Nebraska in Lincoln and went on to win another national championship, their seventh. Then the damnedest thing happened.

A new football king emerged on the Great Plains. Devaney and Osborne became the new Williams and Bierman.

And for 36 years — from Los Angeles to South Bend, Ind., from Norman, Okla., to the Canadian border — there wasn't a program that could hang with Nebraska. The Huskers built an empire, winning 83 percent of their games and five national titles.

That's the era in which I was born — maybe you, too. Had you told me growing up in the '80s and '90s that Minnesota dominated college football during my grandfather's time, I would've thought you were talking about Hayden Fox's Screaming Eagles.

After 1960, the Gophers lost their way, momentarily at first, then permanently. Coach after coach (including Lou Holtz) tried to find the path back to the glory years until everybody just kind of forgot about 'em.

Just because it was doesn't mean it will be.

Minnesota and Nebraska met again Saturday. And for the first time in 53 years, the Gophers prevailed. The last 3½ quarters, they made NU look like the worst 5-2 team in the country. They stole Wisconsin's Big Ten championship game plan and pounded Nebraska's chin straps all day. NU looked like a program that believed it could show up, put on the uniform and win by default.

We can critique Tim Beck's play-calling* or Rick Kaczenski's defensive line. We can break down the offense's alarming lack of poise or the defense's stunning lack of backbone. We can study Taylor Martinez's tender toes and ask how a team coming off a bye week looked so embarrassingly underprepared. All are issues worthy of analysis.

(*The fact that Nebraska tailbacks had 21 carries versus Martinez's 30-plus dropbacks defies logic. Yes, Minnesota was playing NU receivers one-on-one, daring Beck to throw. But when Martinez is off target and Ameer Abdullah is averaging 8.7 yards per carry, give No. 8 the ball.)

But at the end of the day, I come back to this truth: If I had put Nebraska and Minnesota in shirts and skins, you wouldn't have known which one has decades of tradition and which one doesn't.

More coverage

Staff writer Dirk Chatelain takes a quick look at the key moments in the Nebraska-Minnesota game.
Click here »

Match up the same teams next Saturday and there's no reason to think the same thing wouldn't happen. The Gophers were better. More intelligent. More disciplined. More focused. More intense. Better.

And you know what? It came as no surprise (after Wisconsin and UCLA, it's gonna take a lot to shock me). It felt normal. Way, way, way too normal.

The players' faces on the sideline looked the same. Bo Pelini's postgame press conference sounded the same.

“I thought they out-physicaled us,” Pelini said. “That's the most disappointing thing that I saw.”

Out-physicaled? By Minnesota. Let that sink in.

Just because it was doesn't mean it will be.

Let's play a little game called “Name that Program.” These are notable accomplishments for three programs from August 2002 to present:

Record:

Program A: 94-53
Program B: 93-55
Program C: 97-54

BCS bowls:

Program A: 2
Program B: 0
Program C: 0

Top-10 finishes:

Program A: 4
Program B: 1
Program C: 0

If you were going to rank those three, you'd probably say A, then B, then C, right?

Program A is Iowa. Program B is Missouri, which is likely headed for another Top-10 finish. Program C is Nebraska.

This isn't the '80s and '90s. There is no rule saying Nebraska will be Nebraska again. The pendulum doesn't always swing back.

You know how old Ameer Abdullah was in 1994? One. Josh Banderas and Nate Gerry weren't even born.

Video: Postgame analysis

The World-Herald's Sam McKewon offers his instant reaction the NU's 34-23 loss to Minnesota.
Click here »

Now Oregon and Baylor are the coolest programs in college football. Now the Huskers are closer to Minnesota than Alabama. At least on the field.

What's it mean?

Shawn Eichorst had better be ready for big decisions. Because the stakes couldn't be higher for his football program, for his university, for the identity of his state.

Big Red can endure one wrong turn, maybe two. But if Pelini fails, too? Suddenly the road back to the glory years feels like a corn maze.

This is not Texas or USC. This is not Ohio State or Florida.

At Nebraska, you have to earn your empire. You have to find coaches who not only recruit with vigor and draw up solid schemes, but teach the fundamentals better than their competitors. You have to find visionaries who can step back, recognize a problem and identify an answer.

You have to recruit prospects who possess not only talent, but passion. You have to develop leaders who don't let a day like Saturday happen.

Just because it was doesn't mean it will be.

After the Gophers had clinched victory and celebrated at midfield with their fans, Minnesota acting coach Tracy Claeys addressed his team's confidence level. How do you upset an opponent that you haven't beaten since 1960?

“The past,” Claeys said, “has nothing to do with how we play today.”

In Nebraska, that's a hard lesson to learn.

 

[blkflagmafia]

Your move Shawn

don't waste another easy Big Ten year to see if Bo improves

 

[Red_Alert]

" I wish I knew"
"You tell Me, you saw It"
"They didn't execute"

Bo Pelini

 

[antone112]

What's funny, is that I see and hear a lot of things he wrote, in the past, being said now by husker fans who've ripped him for what he said.

 

[corn train]

What's funny, is that I see and hear a lot of things he wrote, in the past, being said now by husker fans who've ripped him for what he said.

I agree with this

However not with everything this guy writes, spot on with this one

 

[jedburks]

What's funny, is that I see and hear a lot of things he wrote, in the past, being said now by husker fans who've ripped him for what he said.

I can't even count the amount of times I have defended Dirk. I couldn't agree more with what you said.

 

[AHFox]

It couldn't have been said any better. Tim Beck trying to get cute with this offense. It doesn't matter what the defense tries to get you to do. Can the Nebraska oline dominate the defensive fronts and allow the backs to get 4 to 7 yards on every down. If they do run the fuckin ball. Play action passes once in awhile. TM IMO should not be throwing the ball more then 25 times a game. Beck IMO is just a much of an issues as Nebraska's front seven being extremely young.

 

[bigred472]

“The past,” Claeys said, “has nothing to do with how we play today.”

In Nebraska, that's a hard lesson to learn.
-------
It took ND over two decades to finally clean up it's act, I just hope we don't have to wait that long.

GBR

 

[Exorbitant]

"After the Gophers had clinched victory and celebrated at midfield with their fans, Minnesota acting coach Tracy Claeys addressed his team's confidence level. How do you upset an opponent that you haven't beaten since 1960"?


With GREAT coaching!

 

[Exorbitant]

I had a dream the other night that Nebraska beat the Oregon Beavers! I realized right away that it was a dream and nothing more because Oregon's nickname is the Ducks!

 

[FNG]

Your move Shawn

don't waste another easy Big Ten year to see if Bo improves

Who is this Shawn guy. Oh yeah that the A.D. of of the Huskers.

The man that you NEVER hear or see from.

 

[Red_Alert]

Who is this Shawn guy. Oh yeah that the A.D. of of the Huskers.

The man that you NEVER hear or see from.

We've heard from him. He's said all he's capable of saying as an AD who's in the process of evaluating the head coach of football which is the life-blood of his entire department. When asked months ago his thoughts on Pelini and the football program, his answer was "No comment". A sufficient answer imo.

We only learned later that T.O. had a sit down with HWSNBN and gave him a list of expectations he needed to fulfill or be fired. He did not address his convo until after HWSNBN was shown the door.

There isn't a doubt in my mind Eichorst is in discussions with folks that have a great deal of pull in this program. The fans will be the last to know and rightly so.

 

[iruletheskool]

Shawn is shaping up to be a fantastic AD.

 

[Red_Alert]

There is nothing to indicate that Eichorst has any reason to have an inkling of loyalty to Bo. If anything that would be contrary. Bo has a strained relationship with the fans and the media, he's flat out refused to make changes out of loyalty to his inexperienced/unproven lackeys, and continues to embarrass the program on and off the field. Nebraska football and the people that support it is no longer a family. That's what got Stevie P fired and ultimately HWSNBN who continued telling those critical of the product how "stupid" they were and incapable of evaluating what they were seeing. The statement "I haven't forgotten how to stop the run" was Pelini speak for "my system doesn't stop the run". That is not a recipe for success at any level.

 

[AHFox]

Shawn is shaping up to be a fantastic AD.

Jury to me is still out on this guy. I thought the same with Steve Pedersen. Look how that turned out. Hopefully Shawn will not fuck it up.

 

[Red_Alert]

Add into that, Eichorst didn't hire Pelini. There will be no pride to swallow.

 

[iruletheskool]

Jury to me is still out on this guy. I thought the same with Steve Pedersen. Look how that turned out. Hopefully Shawn will not fuck it up.

Oh for sure. No annointments yet..

Just like the way hes handled this so far

 

[Red_Alert]

Jury to me is still out on this guy. I thought the same with Steve Pedersen. Look how that turned out. Hopefully Shawn will not fuck it up.

I agree with you. Not sure where irule gets that. Eichorst hasn't been around long enough to give an impression one way or another.

This is his first opportunity (at NU) to see what kind of AD he'll be.

"No comment" simply tells me he was on the fence and evaluating at the time. Bo's certainly not done himself any favors since then.

 

[AHFox]

There is nothing to indicate that Eichorst has any reason to have an inkling of loyalty to Bo. If anything that would be contrary. Bo has a strained relationship with the fans and the media, he's flat out refused to make changes out of loyalty to his inexperienced/unproven lackeys, and continues to embarrass the program on and off the field. Nebraska football and the people that support it is no longer a family. That's what got Stevie P fired and ultimately HWSNBN who continued telling those critical of the product how "stupid" they were and incapable of evaluating what they were seeing. The statement "I haven't forgotten how to stop the run" was Pelini speak for "my system doesn't stop the run". That is not a recipe for success at any level.

Well I don't really give a shit about Bo's strained relation ship with fans or the media. The only fans IMO that should have any hurt feelings are fair weather fucks out there, and for the media IMO most of them can piss up a rope. All I want is for Nebraska to be in every football game not to get embarrassed and play for and win a conference championships. I don't really give a fuck about NC because if Nebraska is winning conference championship the NC's will take care of themselves. If Shawn Eichorst fires Bo then Shawn will need to make a grand slam home run hire. Because if he doesn't the boosters will run him out faster than they ran out Steve Pedersen.

 

[AHFox]

Oh for sure. No annointments yet..

Just like the way hes handled this so far

Well to me he hasn't handled a thing yet. He's spoke like any AD would do with the media. The media and us fans don't need to know shit.