[Husker] Game Thoughts

[gzimmerman at everestkc.net]

Apparently the Husker List does not exist to discuss the events of the previous game. We are all to just sit back and shut up because the "coaches know more than we do"?


Greg Zimmerman, UNL '75
Overland Park, Kansas

----- Original Message -----
From: Steve Stone <sstone at pvtnetworks.net>
Date: Monday, October 23, 2006 7:46 pm
Subject: [Husker] Game Thoughts

> I must confess mild disappointment in the HuskerList's general 
> reaction to some of the ramifications of the UT game. In my 
> never-so-humble opinion, the expressed concern about time-outs, 
> placekicking, fumbling, and such amount to diversionary tactics. 
> So 
> I'll try to say something else about something else.
> 
> 1) Playing the Horns that close on near-national TV (followed by 
> Instant Classic) has got to be a major boon recruiting, 
> particularly 
> in Texas and Florida since the game wasn't shown on the West 
> Coast. 
> Not necessarily today or this week or even this month, but it's a 
> definite recruiting asset.
> 
> 2) I was astonished to see how well the O-Line played and held up 
> (except for the second quarter) against a big, experienced smart, 
> fast, and aggressive UT front seven that has DEPTH to burn. (Why 
> else 
> would the running attack struggle?) To my way of thinking, UT 
> defensive line is better than USC's and two of the three 
> linebackers 
> are better than the Trojans'.
> 
> 3) Given that point, the Huskers have shown remarkable improvement 
> since losing to USC.
> 
> 4) The Huskers made many more small mistakes than the Horns, not 
> to 
> mention a couple of really big ones, yet they hung in there. This 
> is 
> typical of a young team that is playing "uphill" and has yet to 
> develop the full-blown confidence evident in both the Trojans' and 
> Horns' on-field play.
> 
> 5) College football fans around the whole country, especially 
> those 
> exiled Texans here in New Mexico, have suddenly developed a new-
> found 
> respect for Nebraska . . in some ways not unlike that created by 
> Dr. 
> Tom's decision to go for two points against Miami in the Orange 
> Bowl 
> a couple of decades ago when Nebraska lost a National Championship 
> but gained a respect that it had never had before.
> 
> 6) This loss seems to have caused the Husker players more pain 
> than 
> even the USC loss did. If so, it will also teach them more . . . 
> which will stand them in good stead for the balance of the season 
> and, probably, next year.
> 
> 7) A word of advice to HuskerListers who think they know more 
> about 
> this team, these players, and football strategy than the coaches: 
> "You don't." (And neither do I.) As a son of a former coach, I 
> tell 
> you this with some authority. Coaches are human. They make 
> mistakes 
> and learn from them. Those of who contend that Callahan should 
> have 
> done this or Busch should have taught the kids that seem all too 
> keen 
> on sharing their ignorance with the rest of the world. All of us 
> agonize over the game and especially the last few minutes, but 
> none 
> of us hurts one-twentieth as much as the players (and coaches) 
> themselves, so it might be a good idea not to sound as though WE 
> have 
> been singled out by a pitiless Fate.
> 
> 8) The Texas are. quite justifiably, proud of their team. I'm 
> proud of mine.
> 
> Steve Stone
> 
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