The Autopsy

[S. Parker]

USC is amazing. If you read my take on this on Wildcatphreak's post then you know I am NOT surprised by how things went.

Our tackling sucks and we might need a new defensive coordinator, but given the amount of talent we were facing many of the problems were understandable.

On offense, I thought Keller played awesome, but ultimately our inability to run the football doomed him. Lucky isn't that good as a runner really, but then again our offensive line played poorly and their defense is incredibly fast.

We got blown out. The final score is irrelevant, though I was happy to see us fighting until the end, ineffective as it may have been.

Anyways, I think we are good enough to play with and defeat the rest of the teams on our schedule. I am still predicting 9-3 overall, but we can beat all the remaining teams.

As humiliating as things were at times tonight, I was proud of our team and I saw many positives. If any of you secretly cheered for us I appreciate it.

[ksudrew]

On offense, I thought Keller played awesome, but ultimately our inability to run the football doomed him. Lucky isn't that good as a runner really, but then again our offensive line played poorly and their defense is incredibly fast.

  Especially loved the two completions to usc immediately after usc had reestablished themselves; doesn't seem to be able to read DE or LB sliding out into flat coverage.  If DL gets their arms up in the air they'll knock down a lot of keller's passes - very low release for someone as tall as him

[WildCatzPhreak]

To be honest, I wanted NU to win and was cheering for them.

But I was saying the whole game "If they are gonna lose, I hope they get blown out."

Watching SC plow through NU's defense like a wrecking ball reminded me of NU's power run games in the 90's, except Nebraska wouldn't have called the dogs off in the 3rd quarter like SC did.

People can blame the players, but Callahan's brought in as good or better recruiting classes than almost every team that has beat SC over the last 5-10 years.  I think the players could have gotten the job done.

Cosgrove will be used as a scapegoat in this one.  The loss will be blamed entirely on him.  Will Callahan fire his best friend?  Probably not by choice, but I bet Pederson forces him to.  Nobody stopped to think that Callahan never once interjected and got on Cosgrove for not fixing the defensive scheme.  (and yes it was schemes, because it was linebackers being shifted out of position chasing a receiver in motion that was never once thrown the ball that was allowing SC to run right up the gut at NU and get over 10 yards per carry.)  And ultimately, the head coach is responsible for his staffs performance as he's the one that hired them, and he's the one that has to step in and fix things when they screw up.

It's pretty obvious Callahan isn't a coach that can get NU back into the national championship game.  He's a great recruiter but mediocre game coach at best.  He will probably be above average in the Big XII, winning the north every other year or so, but that will probably be the highlight of his career in Lincoln.

[catzacker]

Oddly enough, from what I saw of the game, it reminded me of NU's '02 Orange Bowl (the one they backed into) against Miami. 

[steve dave]

It's pretty obvious Callahan isn't a coach that can get NU back into the national championship game.  He's a great recruiter but mediocre game coach at best.  He will probably be above average in the Big XII, winning the north every other year or so, but that will probably be the highlight of his career in Lincoln.

How about his patented gameplanning at half.  I would like to see the break down scores in just the third quater from his tenure.  Pathetic.  Also, I haven't seen their stadium empty out like that since we put the wood to them in 2002.  I guess the two people they still owe standing ovations to are Pete Carrol and Ell Roberson.  Nubb hasn't beat a top ten team since 2001.

[tmramrod91]

I didnt get to watch the game, only saw highlights and stats. But its becoming perfectly clear that what made NU so great for so long wont ever be achieved under Callahan: Great Defense. They brought in an offensive coach (he seems capable at this) but in order to win and win big, you gotta have an awesome D (see USC)
I hope callahan is coach at NU for a long time. He is a mere step up from mangino.

[steve dave]

I hope callahan is coach at NU for a long time.

QFT

[S. Parker]

I didnt get to watch the game, only saw highlights and stats. But its becoming perfectly clear that what made NU so great for so long wont ever be achieved under Callahan: Great Defense. They brought in an offensive coach (he seems capable at this) but in order to win and win big, you gotta have an awesome D (see USC)
I hope callahan is coach at NU for a long time. He is a mere step up from mangino.

Nah, Osborne took some really ugly losses early in his career too, and he inherited a team coming off two national titles. Callahan is doing fine, but we might need a new defensive coordinator. I'll wait until the end of the season though.

[S. Parker]

It's pretty obvious Callahan isn't a coach that can get NU back into the national championship game.  He's a great recruiter but mediocre game coach at best.  He will probably be above average in the Big XII, winning the north every other year or so, but that will probably be the highlight of his career in Lincoln.

How about his patented gameplanning at half.  I would like to see the break down scores in just the third quater from his tenure.  Pathetic.  Also, I haven't seen their stadium empty out like that since we put the wood to them in 2002.  I guess the two people they still owe standing ovations to are Pete Carrol and Ell Roberson.  Nubb hasn't beat a top ten team since 2001.

No offense, but we could have played Missouri State last night and looked awesome too.

You guys really don't have any basis for ripping on us this morning. If you just hate our team, fine, just admit it. The trash talk I have been hearing though from you guys is really baseless. 

We aren't a bad team, and USC, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Notre Dame have all taken longer absences than us from being a major power.

[ew2x4]

It's pretty obvious Callahan isn't a coach that can get NU back into the national championship game.  He's a great recruiter but mediocre game coach at best.  He will probably be above average in the Big XII, winning the north every other year or so, but that will probably be the highlight of his career in Lincoln.

How about his patented gameplanning at half.  I would like to see the break down scores in just the third quater from his tenure.  Pathetic.  Also, I haven't seen their stadium empty out like that since we put the wood to them in 2002.  I guess the two people they still owe standing ovations to are Pete Carrol and Ell Roberson.  Nubb hasn't beat a top ten team since 2001.

No offense, but we could have played Missouri State last night and looked awesome too.

You guys really don't have any basis for ripping on us this morning. If you just hate our team, fine, just admit it. The trash talk I have been hearing though from you guys is really baseless. 

We aren't a bad team, and USC, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Notre Dame have all taken longer absences than us from being a major power.

Are you new to the forums?

[Bookcat]

You guys really don't have any basis for ripping on us this morning. If you just hate our team, fine, just admit it. The trash talk I have been hearing though from you guys is really baseless.

but when the opposing argument is that Callahan can compete with the big dogs of college football...and we say 'nuh -huh' ...and then we watch USC grudge hump your team 42-10 IN LINCOLN before USC lets' NU score some junk touchdowns....



....I think that wouldn't be considered 'baseless'.

[S. Parker]

You guys really don't have any basis for ripping on us this morning. If you just hate our team, fine, just admit it. The trash talk I have been hearing though from you guys is really baseless.

but when the opposing argument is that Callahan can compete with the big dogs of college football...and we say 'nuh -huh' ...and then we watch USC grudge hump your team 42-10 IN LINCOLN before USC lets' NU score some junk touchdowns....



....I think that wouldn't be considered 'baseless'.

You've never heard me say we were ready for a team like this, and any trash talk from you on this matter IS baseless.

[CatsNChiefs]

You guys really don't have any basis for ripping on us this morning. If you just hate our team, fine, just admit it. The trash talk I have been hearing though from you guys is really baseless.

but when the opposing argument is that Callahan can compete with the big dogs of college football...and we say 'nuh -huh' ...and then we watch USC grudge hump your team 42-10 IN LINCOLN before USC lets' NU score some junk touchdowns....



....I think that wouldn't be considered 'baseless'.

You've never heard me say we were ready for a team like this, and any trash talk from you on this matter IS baseless.

KSU beats title contender at home.

NU loses to title contender at home.

But trash talk is Baseless?  Whatever you say guy, normally you're on point but you're drowning in this topic.

[PurpleReign]

USC is amazing. If you read my take on this on Wildcatphreak's post then you know I am NOT surprised by how things went.

Our tackling sucks and we might need a new defensive coordinator, but given the amount of talent we were facing many of the problems were understandable.

On offense, I thought Keller played awesome, but ultimately our inability to run the football doomed him. Lucky isn't that good as a runner really, but then again our offensive line played poorly and their defense is incredibly fast.

We got blown out. The final score is irrelevant, though I was happy to see us fighting until the end, ineffective as it may have been.

Anyways, I think we are good enough to play with and defeat the rest of the teams on our schedule. I am still predicting 9-3 overall, but we can beat all the remaining teams.

As humiliating as things were at times tonight, I was proud of our team and I saw many positives. If any of you secretly cheered for us I appreciate it.

It's good to know that for every bad thing you saw last night, you took at least one moral victory away from it.

[THRICE]

There is absolutely No moral victory from that game. NONE. NU was outplayed, out coached and just plain out matched. NU had a great drive for a score in the first half and then totally went away from what was somewhat working. But even if NU could drive up and down the field like that drive, the NU D was NO match for USC's speed. NO match. I am an NU fan and was at the game and I saw nothing that showed any type of moral victory. NU had a decent gameplan on offense for the first quarter, but went away from what was working. And the D, well, just didn't show up. Linebackers were phantoms. I have never seen linebackers get washed as much as I did last night. They were no where to be found. NU played a decent game the first quarter. After that....pfft.

Ugly game. very ugly. USC has got a swagger to them, but I honestly don't see them doing anything special this year. But they are DAMN fast! Scary fast.

Moral victory...your moral victory against 1-2 Auburn was more of one than what I saw last night.

[tmramrod91]

Sarkisian was just toying with 'Coz last night. I DVR'ed it and watched it today. USC is fast, but unbelievable physical (compared to the 'skers). NU may have talent on D, but they were not put in any kind of position to succeed. Schemes were pretty bad.
USC has a championship D, but dont have the playmakers on O like they have had. Running game was good bc of OL, not the rbs. They'll lose at some point this year (see Oregon game)

[Bookcat]

You guys really don't have any basis for ripping on us this morning. If you just hate our team, fine, just admit it. The trash talk I have been hearing though from you guys is really baseless.

but when the opposing argument is that Callahan can compete with the big dogs of college football...and we say 'nuh -huh' ...and then we watch USC grudge hump your team 42-10 IN LINCOLN before USC lets' NU score some junk touchdowns....



....I think that wouldn't be considered 'baseless'.

You've never heard me say we were ready for a team like this, and any trash talk from you on this matter IS baseless.

lol

Really? even if I predicted it would happen? Mmmmmkay. Here's your hankerchief.

[thedot]

I didnt get to watch the game, only saw highlights and stats. But its becoming perfectly clear that what made NU so great for so long wont ever be achieved under Callahan: Great Defense. They brought in an offensive coach (he seems capable at this) but in order to win and win big, you gotta have an awesome D (see USC)
I hope callahan is coach at NU for a long time. He is a mere step up from mangino.

I would say however, Mangino, can certainly field a D.

disagree?

[WildCatzPhreak]

I didnt get to watch the game, only saw highlights and stats. But its becoming perfectly clear that what made NU so great for so long wont ever be achieved under Callahan: Great Defense. They brought in an offensive coach (he seems capable at this) but in order to win and win big, you gotta have an awesome D (see USC)
I hope callahan is coach at NU for a long time. He is a mere step up from mangino.

I would say however, Mangino, can certainly field a D.

disagree?

ku actually has a good D coordinator.  Mangino has little to do with it, other than the fact that he made a very good hire.

[steve dave]

New point of discussion for this thread:  Marlon Lucky suXXXXXXX!  That guy falls down more then me after 20 beers and a few shots of SoCo (a lot, I fall down a lot).  I have never seen him break a tackle or hit the hole hard.  Brandon Jackson was good fwiw.

A word of advice to Corn fans:  If you find him foaming at the mouth with a needle in his arm (again) just let him go. 

[KSU4ME]

Mandel's college football blog

2) That Nebraska’s still got a long ways to go. For the most part, my first trip to Lincoln in six years was highly enjoyable, but it also left me a tad bit sad. After a weekend of talking to Huskers fans (especially "DarthHusker" and the others who came out for my book signing Saturday morning) and listening to them on sports radio, it’s amazing how Bill Callahan has managed to singlehandedly lower the expectations of one of the proudest fan bases in the country. Hardly a single one believed Nebraska could upset USC, with many just hoping the home team would keep it close. Obviously, that didn’t happen. And while I’ve gone on record numerous times as to how impractical it is for a college program to run a full-blown, NFL West Coast offense, that wasn’t the Huskers’ problem Saturday night. The problem was the Trojans walked on to their home field and absolutely manhandled their defense. It was reminiscent of Nebraska’s infamous 62-36 loss to Colorado in 2001, with the obvious caveat that No. 1 USC was a more formidable opponent.

On the tunnel from the visitor’s locker room to the playing field at Memorial Stadium, one walks over "stars" (like the Hollywood Walk of Fame) commemorating the Huskers’ five national titles. Those glory years are starting to become more and more of a distant memory -- just as the possibility of a sixth under Callahan now seems ever-more distant.

USC is amazing. If you read my take on this on Wildcatphreak's post then you know I am NOT surprised by how things went.

[Legore]

It's pretty obvious Callahan isn't a coach that can get NU back into the national championship game.  He's a great recruiter but mediocre game coach at best.  He will probably be above average in the Big XII, winning the north every other year or so, but that will probably be the highlight of his career in Lincoln.

How about his patented gameplanning at half.  I would like to see the break down scores in just the third quater from his tenure.  Pathetic.  Also, I haven't seen their stadium empty out like that since we put the wood to them in 2002.  I guess the two people they still owe standing ovations to are Pete Carrol and Ell Roberson.  Nubb hasn't beat a top ten team since 2001.

No offense, but we could have played Missouri State last night and looked awesome too.

You guys really don't have any basis for ripping on us this morning. If you just hate our team, fine, just admit it. The trash talk I have been hearing though from you guys is really baseless. 

We aren't a bad team, and USC, Alabama, Oklahoma, and Notre Dame have all taken longer absences than us from being a major power.

I think some of your fans (not you) bring this on yourself by coming on here and talking about all your NFL talent and how great you are all the time.  I remember after the Nevada game NU fans were here talking smack about how great you were and how great Marlon Lucky was etc. 

There are some delusional NU fans out there and some of them post on this board.  Also it doesn't help that your own radio guy Jim Rose an employee of the University is out there talking smack on the radio all the time and saying things like he feels sorry for Josh Freeman because if he would have come to NU he would have been a part of two national titles.  I've never heard a radio guy from another school say the stuff that idiot does.  Say yeah I personally do take enjoyment when NU gets put in their place. 

[KSUTOMMY]

Parker and Thrice, I equate your situation with UT and MU... both with all the talent you would want and a couple of idiots driving the train. Yeah, I know, UT and the NC - but I have asked, how much of that was Mack Brown and how much was VY? Does anyone actually think that anything VY did (spectactular plays) had anything to do with Brown? I think he allowed VY to do "his thing". I am SURE that you can agree that MU will be much better when Pinkel leaves. Trying to make Brad Smith a passing qb was moronic. Anyway, I wasn't rooting for USC or NU as I am also a UCLA fan... but you all need to get Calafraud out. It seems that he does well and makes good decisions when he is the better team, but when his back is against the wall, he seemingly pees down his leg. It happened in the Superbowl and it is happening at NU.

[THRICE]

There is nothing the fans can really do about this. The decision has been made and that's it. If the AD wants a coach that can't win the "big" game, than that's on him. But as fans, we are stuck in limbo. The only thing to do is just support the team. Remember, here are young kids on these teams and the last thing they need is the fans turning on them. I wish there was an easy fix, but being a fan, you got to grin and bear it.

[steve dave]

I wish there was an easy fix, but being a fan, you got to grin and bear it.

You are a Nebraska fan for f**k sakes!  Solich was an easy fix wasn't he?  No fanbase in the nation has the kind of power you wield in getting kind-of-good (Solich) coaches fired.  Hell, Callahan has no ties to the past greatness so he should be easier to send down river. 

[THRICE]

Yeah, but last I checked, I don't make the desicion of who stays and who goes. I believe that's the AD's job. And last I checked I don't sign the checks.

Peterson has his own agenda. And Nebraskans are just along for the ride. They try and stay positive and act like nothings wrong because they hate seeing their program in disaray. But the writing is on the wall. I think they should have gotten rid of Solich, but that's another discussion. The new blood is in and NU is in shambles. Turner Gill, you want a job? Go Buffalo!

[steve dave]

The new blood is in and NU is in shambles. Turner Gill, you want a job? Go Buffalo!

Good post.