[NU Sports] Temple - no Bowl bid

[Mike Nolan]

> Agreed. While I'm frustrated with some of the coaching decisions, I'm not 
> advocating dumping anyone. And I think the Pelini/Fitz comparison is a good one, 
> in that Pelini will continue to grow as a head coach--it's still early days for 
> him in that role. 

What people forget (even Husker fans) is that in 1978 and again in the late 80's 
there were NUMEROUS calls in Nebraska for the Huskers to dump Tom Osborne because 
he 'couldn't win the big one', or even a bowl game.  

Osborne interviewed at Colorado after the 1978 season when they were searching for 
a new coach, and was offered the job, but finally decided Nebraska was a better 
fit.  CU hired Chuck Fairbanks instead, he was replaced in 1981 by Bill McCartney, 
who went on to win their only national championship.  

Pelini still has a lot of maturing to do, especially his conduct during the game,
he needs to learn when to go ballistic and and when to be a calming influence on 
his players.  (Bob Stoops has that down fairly well at Oklahoma.)

Fitz still has to learn how to get his team to finish games strong, but that's
a whole lot easier to say than it is to do.  Part of it may be to continue to
upgrade the overall talent level of his teams, so the Cats aren't one or two
injuries away from a collapse.  (But even well-stocked teams can become mediocre
ones via injury, see the 2009 Sooners and the 2010 Martinez-less Huskers.)
--
Mike Nolan