[Husker] failure? Hard to say

[Derek Ryter]

My money is on Tom Osborne knowing a helluva lot more than anyone on this
list or the bars on O st. and will keep Bill Callahan for another year—if he
wants to stay.  This is reminding me of the 80s when TO was considering
leaving UNL for Colorado.  He, according to the interview I saw, was ready
to go except that he felt a loyalty to the players he recruited.  He knows
how the team can have down times, and he knows how the players think.  And,
he cares more about the players than pleasing you or me.  I think that the
defense got down, hurt particularly because Suh and Steinkuhler were not
100%, even missing games, and Dixon wasn’t coming through.  It was apparent
that the lack of a strong D-line was killing them.  They had at any one time
several true freshmen, and eventually lost Brandenburg for the season.  Bo
is not Barrett.  The D got mentally down, and couldn’t get out of it.
Coaching?  A problem, but not all of it.  They didn’t give up 76 points last
year to anyone.  The defensive sieve put tremendous pressure on the offense,
and the opposing defenses knew it.  Sam Keller knew that if the offense didn
’t score, the other team would.  The result: forcing throws, holding on to
the ball too long, etc.  This can break a team’s season.  Another critical
factor was Cody Glenn’s absence.  Marlon Lucky has been very important that
he stayed healthy while bringing on freshmen Castille and Helu.

My take on Callahan is that he faced a very bad situation when the season
started to fall apart.  He could have pulled a Steve Spurier and blamed the
QB.  But as far as I’ve heard there hasn’t been a mutiny or transfers or
public statements against the coaching staff.  Watching the KSU game the
players appeared to be playing hard and having a good time.  Sam Keller was
on the sideline cheering them on.  Interesting.

Some times it just happens, and even though we have such high standards here
in Nebraska, there will be times when we’re going to suck.  Hard to avoid.
In my opinion, all the Jim Romes of the world don’t matter, but the players
do, and they care about the program and the state and playing well.