[Husker] Field Goals

[Steve Reichenbach]

Some here have suggested that posters should not question the coaches'
decisions because the coaches know more than those posing the
questions.

My first response is that expertise is not a sufficient condition for
correctness and that assertions based on "appeal to authority" are a
recognized fallacy.  The reality is that coaches, players, and yes even
posters make mistakes, despite whatever level of expertise they
possess.  Coaching choices are correctly judged on their own merits,
not validated simply because an expert made them, and discussions
of those choices are certainly a principal purpose for this list.

My second response is that the coaches engage in the same critiques
of their own performance and the performance of the players.  If they
didn't do so, they would not be capable of making much improvement.
I find it refreshing that Callahan implicitly admitted such questions
in his response to a question about the timeouts (something that
posters have been criticized here for questioning):

  Callahan gave a general response of "we can always be better" when
  asked about Nebraska's use of timeouts in the final minute of the
  Texas game....  "We can coach it better, we can play it better.
  We can do a lot of things better...."

On another point of criticism, Callahan similarly admitted the problem
of not fielding punts:

  "You've got to be prepared to handle the bad ball," Callahan said.
  "There are some balls that get hot and you just can't get to.  And
  there are some other ones you've got to make a confident decision
  on and go get it. We left a lot of yardage on the field Saturday."

On to the Oklahoma State game, I was worried after the Texas game
when players seemingly were proudly recounting how the Texas players
had told them: "They would see us in Kansas City."  I was trying
to imagine Christian Peter's feelings about being encouraged by
opposing players after a loss --- I think it would have pissed him
off and that's what made him such a ferocious player.  I think
being happy with being "back" after a close loss is a recipe for
losing in Stillwater.  Since then, it seems that the team has taken
to heart the task at hand.  Even in the 7-7 season of Jamal Lord's
first year as QB, NU played Texas to the end of the game and should
have won.  Winning the the next four regular season games (getting
to 10 wins as NU did in Jamal Lord's second year as QB) will be a
much better indicator of improvement over the last couple of years
than losing at home to Texas.