[Husker] Nebraska Football Inconsistency

[rczeranko at juno.com]

The lack of consistency during games is mostly attributed to the inexperience of this team. Nebraska lost its best secondary at the end of last year. Heck, Niles Paul, DeJon Gomes, and Roy Helu, Jr, and Prince Amukamara all have started their rookie seasons in the NFL. They started either on special teams or in their positions out right. Prince Amukamara is on a team heading into the play-offs.

The offensive line had one player with any real experience. The defensive line lost one of its most experienced players early in the season. The quarterback was sophomore, the running back was a junior. The kicker was new and was replacing one of the best in the nation. I could go on and on, but I believe that you get the picture.

All the lusting after national championships is unrealistic. It took the venerable Tom Osborne 23 years to win 1. Then of course he led the greatest five year period in college football history. But it took him over 20 years to 'get it right'. So why is everyone wanting to rush things? There was an old wine commercial that said, "We will sell no wine before it's time." We need to take that same approach to what Coach Pelini is trying to accomplish at Nebraska.

Nebraska does need more consistency on offense. It is unrealistic to ask the defense to play most of the game week after week and not give up big plays. Even if drives do not lead to scoring opportunities, the offense must stop the 3 and out pattern it seems to get into. It just puts too much pressure on the defense. A more mature offense line will help out a lot here. While I am little disappointed in Barney Cotton's coaching, Bo has put together a good coaching staff. He knows what he is doing.

I did not realize that there has been a lot of coaching turn over on the defensive side of the ball. A young team and new coaches will result in the inconsistency and mistakes that Nebraska has shown over the past few seasons. As the coaching staff stabilizes and there is more depth and experience in the players, Nebraska will begin to win the Legends Division on a consistent basis and will win B1G Championships. The BCS games will come.

We need to have patience in the process. Coach Pelini could treat the program as an NFL team and bring in yearly talent via JUCOs, but at what cost? Tom Osborne was able to field good to great teams consistently because he could go after a few skilled players each recruiting season and supplement the team with walk ons. Experience is gained via red shirting. Coach Pelini has had to put some young players on the field without the benefit of red shirting to ensure that Nebraska is competitive in the two different conferences that Nebraska has competed in during his short tenure as head coach.

His job is not enviable. He had to shore a weakened team that essentially scrapped what Nebraska football was and tried to make it a more pro style west coast team. I am not even sure what type defense Nebraska was during that period. And given that the walk on program was decimated, the depth has just not been there.

This will all change. It takes a while to fill the pipeline, but it is being filled.

Next year may be a lot like this year. And if it is, then I would not be that upset. Nebraska had a shot at the Legends Divs ion and thus a shot at the B1G Championship game. Not too shabby in a new conference that fundamentally played a different style of football from the Big-XII.

Go B1G Red!

Rob Czeranko 

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