Nebraska...not feeling Frosty anymore

[entropy]

UNL lost another DT this week. that will hurt depth

[Kapture1]

You root for good - Nebraska, who, as far as I can tell, has always played by the rules and I hold Tom Osborne in a class of CFB coaches that includes Bo Schembechler - and hope evil (osu and MSU) fall on hard times like they should for their shaddy behavior.

Pretty simple.

I can't remember, how many fouls did they have against Wisconsin?

How many flags?

Don't be so butthurt.

[Jeff Buchanan]

One good performance on the filed of play does not erase 3 years of shady behavior that casts doubt on the behavior of MSU's staff under Coach Dantonio.

Narduzzi has an ingrained belief of playing football a certain way. He demonstrated it in his post game comments and was publically reprimanded for it by MSU's President.

Dantonio has reinstated numerous players after those players broke the law (and certainly team and school rules by their conduct). I don't think any of that has a reasonable explanation although I'd be glad to hear you try.

I'm not butthurt at all about the loss to MSU. I'm concerned about what messages are being sent to young people by the kind of play that occurred on the field in EL two weeks ago and the general dismissal of the implications and the meh response to it. What ever you might offer in response to my view that tries to excuse the behavior of the miscreants that fill MSU's roster or that of the coaches on the side line, specifically Dantonio and Narduzzi, is not likely to change that view.

[entropy]

from another board..

According to Schick & Nick this morning (from contacts they have at MSU):


Michigan State is using this quote as bulletin board material. Taylor Martinez on the MSU defense limiting Denard Robinson: "I really don't think they slowed him down. The key factor was the wind..." This is being used in the Spartan locker room. Nothing like unintentional bulletin board material before a big game!


There are a few response quotes by MSU players, including Jerel Worthy in this Detroit Free Press article. All of us in Nebraska are trained to take what Taylor says with a grain of salt. The Michigan press ... not so much.

[Jeff Buchanan]

It will be interesting to watch how the refs handle the potential problems here. If they watch for it and get right on top of it, throw some early flags, asserting themselves by getting in Dantonio's or Narduzzi's face and showing them none of that is going to be tolerated, that might help.

My view of B1G ten officials is that they are timid, fear making controversial calls, fear coaches like Dantonio and basically are wimps when it comes to slowing this kind of thing down and taking control of a game.

[UMStan White]

Hear a retired ref on the radio this morning . Forgot his name but he apparently was the head NFL ref before retiring. he said he NEVER told his crew to watch for specific players whose illegal style of play wasa known factor because he was afraid his crew would be throwing a flag on almost every play. He said he never threw flags for taunting because unless fists flew it was "just part of the game".

[Jeff Buchanan]

..... so, you're implying here that the punch to Lewan's head, the twist of Denard's face mask in the pile and the body slam he was the victim of after the play should not raise the level of surveillance by the referees of these kinds of activities by MSU players in the Nebraska/MSU game because they then might throw too many flags?

[UMStan White]

That's basically what this guy said.

[Dr. Strangelove]

One good performance on the filed of play does not erase 3 years of shady behavior that casts doubt on the behavior of MSU's staff under Coach Dantonio.

Narduzzi has an ingrained belief of playing football a certain way. He demonstrated it in his post game comments and was publically reprimanded for it by MSU's President.

Dantonio has reinstated numerous players after those players broke the law (and certainly team and school rules by their conduct). I don't think any of that has a reasonable explanation although I'd be glad to hear you try.

I'm not butthurt at all about the loss to MSU. I'm concerned about what messages are being sent to young people by the kind of play that occurred on the field in EL two weeks ago and the general dismissal of the implications and the meh response to it. What ever you might offer in response to my view that tries to excuse the behavior of the miscreants that fill MSU's roster or that of the coaches on the side line, specifically Dantonio and Narduzzi, is not likely to change that view.

Depends on the severity of the law, I would say. Michigan has certainly reinstated players who ran into legal trouble.

I do understand though that every team Michigan has ever lost to is guilty of one or more of the following:

a) classlessness
b) cheap shots
c) cheating
d) lack of proper awe and respect for the Michigan Way

[Optimus Prime]

e) None Of The Above
f) Go "F" Yourself

[lineygoblue]

I think Strangelove is finally getting it ...

[UMStan White]

So Dr. what do you think is the outcome of Saturday's game? Truth be told, if you win, then you're right back in the hunt for the conference championship game (if you can beat PSU and someone else helps out on that front)

[Jeff Buchanan]

PSU has been a thorn in the side of osu for a decade.

JoePa is gunning to beat Eddie Robinson for most NCAA CFB wins if he fashions a win against the Illini in Happy Valley on Saturday (as if JoePa is actually still coaching). Every win after that will be gravy. I wonder if he deserves an asterisk by that record (**old fart propped up in the booth looking like he was still in charge).

PSU has a tough road ahead after that ..... hosts Neb then finishes @ osu and @ Wisky.

This is going to be an interesting calculation in December to determine who, from the two divisions, will play against each other in the Conference Championship game. There's going to be a log jam tie atop each division. I don't even want to start to think about it.

[WM Wolverine]

PSU hasn't been tested much, I had them at 8-1 entering the last 3 weeks of the season and eventually going 8-4 (5-3 in B10). The final 3 games look a bit easier than they did pre-season so their date with Wisky could flip the balance of power in the 'east'...

The 'west' is much less clear, right now its MSU's to lose. Their game this Saturday against Nebraska will have a lot at stake. (1 game in standings plus tiebreaker) If MSU wins that, not much will stand in their way as their final four B10 games are against Minnesota, Indiana, NW & Iowa... Looking at Sparty's schedule (they are lucky they got OSU at half strength), its tough to see them losing a 3rd B10 game...

Nebraska beating Sparty would make the 'west' messier, Nebraska would be out in front of everyone but have a pretty rough schedule left of: PSU, Iowa, M & NW. MSU would still be in it but it would help our Wolverines and Iowa.

[entropy]

Lansing State Journal

The first time Peter McPherson came at him, Tom Osborne was flattered, intrigued by the proposed pay increase and impressed with McPherson. But he didn't seriously consider it.

McPherson, then MSU's president, eventually settled on Nick Saban to replace George Perles as head coach - and in the first outing for Saban and a staff that included assistant coach Mark Dantonio, Osborne's Nebraska Cornhuskers flattened MSU 50-10 to start the 1995 season.

The second time, Osborne really thought about it. He had just watched his second college football season from the sidelines, after 25 legendary seasons and a 1997 retirement from Nebraska. Saban had just left MSU for Louisiana State.

McPherson was pushing hard.

"I was really tempted this time," Osborne told the State Journal in a Wednesday interview. "I missed coaching a lot. But the problem was, we had all our family here in Nebraska and I didn't want to be in a situation where I wasn't going to see my grandkids. I just couldn't do it."

McPherson went with the MSU players' choice, interim coach Bobby Williams. Osborne embarked on a political career, elected in 2000 to the U.S. House of Representatives and serving three two-year terms - before he was lured back to become Nebraska's athletic director and fix its football program.

"You might call it somewhat of a battlefield promotion," he said.

The program is fixed, the 74-year-old Osborne remains as athletic director and the school's move to the Big Ten has been a success so far. It can be much more successful with a home win Saturday over Michigan State, which would strengthen Nebraska's chances of playing in the first Big Ten football title game in its first year of league play.
Made from scratch

The Big Ten's interest can be attributed largely to Osborne's quarter century of excellence as head coach - following up on mentor and former MSU assistant coach Bob Devaney's 11-year build to national prominence.

Nebraska is the fourth-winningest program in college football history, with one of the largest followings and glitziest names, thanks to their 356 combined wins and five combined national championships.

Devaney, a Saginaw native who coached at MSU under Biggie Munn in 1953 and under Duffy Daugherty from 1954-56, inherited a flailing Nebraska program. He went 101-20-2 from 1962-72, winning the 1970 and '71 national titles.

He hired a grad assistant in 1964, paying him in free meals from the team's training table. That assistant became offensive coordinator in 1969, installing the I-formation attack that would help win those championships.

When Devaney moved to athletic director after the 1972 season, he picked that offensive coordinator to take over. Osborne kept winning - but not against Oklahoma, losing his first five to Nebraska's chief rival.

"It was not easy," Osborne said.

But he straightened that out, switched to the wishbone in 1980 and kept winning. Nebraska was known for running the ball and defending fiercely. The "Blackshirts" were (and still are) so called because of the practice jerseys worn by the starting defense.

Like Devaney, Osborne went out at the top of his profession.

Devaney was 33-2-2 in his final three seasons. Osborne went on an astounding 60-3 run in his final five seasons, winning the national title in 1994 and '95 and splitting it with Michigan in his final season of 1997 - the year before the BCS arrived.
Bold moves

Then came the MSU temptation, the six-year stint in Washington, an unsuccessful gubernatorial run in his home state, and a return to the University of Nebraska to teach for a year in the business school.

That ended when Nebraska chancellor Harvey Perlman asked Osborne to take over as athletic director. Perlman fired Steve Pederson after Pederson's choice for head football coach - the ill-fitting Bill Callahan - finished 5-7 in 2007, his fourth season.

Osborne fired Callahan. He eventually picked Bo Pelini, a former defensive coordinator and interim head coach in Lincoln, to revive the program.

"I didn't know Bo well (before the search), I had only met him once," Osborne said.

"But I knew and talked to a lot of coaches and players who knew him, and they all believed he was the right man for the job. I soon found that out for myself. And I knew the first fix had to be the defense."

It improved almost immediately, and the Cornhuskers are 35-13 in their fourth season under Pelini.

And now they're in the Big Ten, fighting with MSU to win the first Legends Division race and take on the winner of the Leaders Division on Dec. 3 in Indianapolis.

Regardless of that result, Osborne has been pleased with the switch from the Big 12 and its inequitable distribution of revenue. Nebraska left in a rather public feud with Texas.

"Now the Cornhuskers get what they wanted," Kevin Sherrington wrote in the Dallas Morning News when Nebraska accepted the Big Ten's offer in June of 2010. "Only if they think Texas and the league office treated them like second-class citizens, wait until they get a load of bluebloods like Ohio State and Michigan."

So far, the new arrangement is all hugs and back pats.

"I like the stability of the Big Ten," Osborne said. "I like the tradition of the Big Ten, even though we're not really part of it yet. I like the Big Ten Network and the academic credibility of the Big Ten. You realize you're in a much better place."

And getting away from Texas?

"It hasn't been a negative," Osborne said, "let's put it that way."