FIRE COSGROVE!
The last time the Nebraska Cornhuskers looked as unprepared and inept against an opponent as they did for their 41-6 loss to Missouri last Saturday was November 13, 2003. Back in 2003, the Huskers were pounded at home by Kansas State 38-9. This embarrassing loss put the final nail in the coffin for Frank Solich's tenure as head coach for Nebraska. Now, after 4 years under a new head coach and ceaseless promises of a new era this is what we get? This is progress? Nebraska's offense couldn't even score a touchdown and not only did the defense give up 41 points, they also allowed Missouri to rack up 606 yards of total offense. 606 yards! That's two teams this year that have put up over 600 yards against Nebraska. This loss to Missouri brings the average points allowed by Cosgrove's unit up to 29 per game and the average yards given up to 441.5. In fact, the only team that was held to under 200 yards of offense so far this year was Nevada, who is now ranked #86 in the country. Are you freaking kidding me?The worst part of all of this, is from here on out things are not going to get any easier for the Huskers. Here's the rest of their schedule:
10-13 OSU 476 yards and 33 points per game
10-20 Texas A&M 416 yards and 36 points per game
10-27 Texas 420 yards and 32 points per game
11-03 Kansas 530 yards and 49 points per game
11-10 Kansas State 385 yards and 35 points per game
11-23 Colorado 380 yards and 27 points per game
It doesn't look good. Especially since the teams with the two lowest yards per game averages on that list pulled off two of the biggest upsets this year. Kansas State beat then #7 Texas 41-21 and Colorado beat then #3 Oklahoma 27-24. Even KU (whose stats have been inflated by weak opposition) looked beatable, but they just beat K-State in Manhattan for the first time since 1989! I hate to say that Nebraska is doomed, but it sure looks that way. At this point, I wouldn't be surprised if Nebraska lost all of their remaining games.
Which puts me in the weird position of wondering whether or not I want that to happen. I love the Cornhuskers. They're my favorite team, but could losing the rest of their games actually be good for the program in the long run? If Nebraska somehow manages to have a winning season this year, the likelihood of the team making any significant changes greatly decreases. But, if they have a losing record, then at the very least you'd have to hope that something would be in the way of a personnel change for the defensive staff, right?
Aw, who am I kidding? I can't root against the Huskers. I still want them to go 10-2... Not that I think that's going to happen. All I can hope for is that now that the Big XII North title looks out of reach, Athletic Director Steve Pederson will see that Nebraska needs good defense to win it. And to have good defense, you need a good defensive coordinator. And Kevin Cosgrove is not a good defensive coordinator.
Pederson's contract ends in 2013. Callahan's ends in 2011. Cosgrove's ends at the end of the season. So, we may be stuck with Pederson and Pederson may be stuck with Callahan, but no one is stuck with Cosgrove. Let's hope that both Pederson and Callahan want their contract extensions to keep coming, because nothing motivates change like the prospect of losing your job. Just ask Frank Solich.
posted by Christian at 9:56 AM
3 Comments:
I think Callahan sucks, too. But, he's better than Solich was. People love pointing towards Solich's record the year he was fired, but they forget that (a) the team was terrible but played a super-favorable schedule, and (b) Pelini put out a decent product on D. (Well, maybe they don't forget Pelini, since NU message board posters still love that guy who does do a nice job at LSU).
Pederson's horrible. The fact that the dude wanted Houston Nutt should have signaled to the world that he can't evaluate coaching skill.
Getting rid of Cosgrove might help, but I don't think Callahan's ever going to make them a top 5 team. Maybe with the right staff the team might at least be a top 15 team, but I doubt it. The dude's arguably the worst coach in the Big 12 North, although the Chizik might end being as shitty as ISU is this season. I'd put several hundred on Dan Hawkins doing some great things in the next few years and another several hundred on BC continuing to lose most of the tough games and the occasional easy game.
Although, I don't know why Huskers fans think the team has great talent. The team's recruiting class rankings seem to be based on quantity over quality and a number of kids who never matriculate or last more than a short period of time at Nebraska. This team is miles and miles away from USC, LSU, Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, Georgia, Ohio State and some other teams in terms of talent.
Oh, and the O and D lines are pathetic. The team just doesn't beat anyone up, and that's inexcusable for the 'Skers.
Nathan-
[I'm going to apologize in advance if this response come across a bit vitriolic. It's not intended to, but sometimes nuance and whatnot is lost when typed up on the web. So, first and foremost I want to thank you for commenting, as there's nothing I appreciate more, and I hope a little friendly arguing will not disuade you from continuing to do so.]
I wasn't saying that Solich was a good coach. He wasn't. Solich not only ushered in mediocrity at Nebraska, but effectively killed the Option as well, by making it one-dimensional. I think getting rid of Solich was a necessary move, so all I was trying to say was that he made significant changes to his staff when he was under the gun (like bringing in Bo Pelini, Barney Cotton, etc.) and that I hope Callahan is forced to do the same.
Besides that, I wanted to point out that things were supposed to improve with Solich gone. Solich never had a losing season. Callahan's already had one, and this year just might be his second. Not only that, but I'm now pretty sure that Solich's 2003 Huskers would soundly defeat Callahan's 2007 squad. It's tough to tell at this juncture, though, just how much of the blame falls on the offense and how much falls on the defense. In the end, Callahan is the head coach, so the success, or lack thereof, ultimately rests with him. So, while I agree that Solich had to go, I'm not willing to say Callahan is better.
I also totally disagree that Nebraska lacks talent on the defensive side of the ball. Frankly, I'm tired of hearing it. 9 four star recruits and 2 five star recruits means you've got talent, sorry. How many Suh's and Octavien's and Bowman's does a team have to have before they have a good defense? If they "never matriculate" as you said, that's coaching. It's the coaching staff's job to get that talent to make plays.
Which brings it all back to Bohl vs Pelini vs Cosgrove. Bohl's defense got shredded because, despite the fact that they weren't athletic enough to do it, he insisted on playing man coverage. Pelini ("favorable schedule" or not) got the most out his defensive unit through schemes and a lot of zone coverage. So what does Cosgrove do when he comes in? He goes back to man, and even though it doesn't seem to be working AT ALL, he's stuck with it. Which makes me wonder, how many of Cosgrove's players know he's worthless? Have you ever seen a less enthusiastic group of players on defense at Nebraska? It's like they've already resigned themselves to the fact that they're going to get shown up. Lack of talent my ass. That's lack of leadership. That's lack of coaching.
However, you might be right in saying that Callahan may not have what it takes to be a head coach. But Nebraska is stuck with him, so all I can hope is that changing defensive coordinators will be enough to make the Huskers a team that can compete.
And this is a little off-topic, but since you brought him up, why is everybody hating on Houston Nutt? Sure, he's been caught in a bit of strange controversy this year, but if I remember correctly so were a couple of coaches at Colorado, once upon a time (Rick Neuheisel and Gary Barnett, I'm looking in your direction). Houston Nutt is a coach who won 10 games last season, had the same conference record as national champions Florida (7-1), who has led the Hogs to bowl games in seven of nine seasons, who is second on the school's all-time wins list, and who has done it all in a tough conference where he battles both in recruiting and on the field with the likes of LSU, Florida, and Tennessee. I'm sorry, but he's a good coach. And one that might have been a better fit for Nebraska, to boot.
Finally, you said:
Oh, and the O and D lines are pathetic. The team just doesn't beat anyone up, and that's inexcusable for the 'Skers.
To which I sadly agree, except that you should never refer to Nebraska as the 'Skers.
Good news for the 'Skers. It looks like their 2008 class has several 4 and 5 star guys (including a couple of good LBs, I think). If most of them ever suit up for Callahan, the fans who are convinced that Nebraska has more talent than anyone else in the Big 12 besides Oklahoma or Texas will have more ammunition when Nebraska gets beat up by supposed inferior teams.
I think a favorable schedule and McFadden probably did more for the 2006 Razorbacks than coaching did, but Mr. Nutt is probably a better coach than I give him credit for being.
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