For the First Time in Ages...

[Doc Fumble]

Our Beloved Program FINALLY has some real momentum!!!

Seriously, you have to go all the way back to Mike Riley's second season with Tommy Armstrong to see any semblance of program momentum. (And for the record, the national pundits scoffed at the time and said we hadn't played anybody---uh, and they were right.) The closest thing I can recall to program momentum during the Frost era was a big night game win...over Northwestern. But that was dashed after the next game...and the next...and the next...

We've now won 3 of our last 4. Part of the problem (besides talent and development) has been that we fans have often been the team's worst enemy. With any struggling program, it takes time developing a winning mindset. When you've gotten used to being beaten down, it takes a whole bunch self-confidence to get over the proverbial hump, especially in this in-your-face, social media age. That's where our tradition -- and our lofty expectations -- have worked against us. Whenever we had those rare instances of something good happening under Frost, we'd all rush to 'Okay, NOW we're BACK, BABY!!!" At a time when our players have needed our patience and continued encouragement, they'd find themselves compared to their old National Champion counterparts and found wanting.

You'll notice that Coach Rhule is doing his darnest to remind us that this team HASN'T won much. Instead of taking a "You'd better catch us now" approach, he's embracing this team for who they are, warts and all. And, importantly, he's emphasizing to us fans that we're a work-in-progress that needs to take 'one game at a time' baby steps. We've now got two weeks to recoup and get ready for the second half of the season.

As Coach essentially said in his post-game presser last night, we fans need to set aside our lofty "standards" and rally around the team we've got, the good stuff and the bad. His advice to us fans? Enjoy the ride.

This is what rebuilding a program looks like.

 

[MRJFB]

Can someone explain to me what constitutes a rebuild? As opposed to switching coaches because one is underperforming.
The only rebuild I can think of was at Marshall in the 1970's. It's an over used, unnecessarily dramatic term imo.

The defense played well for the most part, but our offense was pretty bad. I don't know that beating an awful Illinois team was a program changer.

 

[SUHnami]

Our Beloved Program FINALLY has some real momentum!!!

Seriously, you have to go all the way back to Mike Riley's second season with Tommy Armstrong to see any semblance of program momentum. (And for the record, the national pundits scoffed at the time and said we hadn't played anybody---uh, and they were right.) The closest thing I can recall to program momentum during the Frost era was a big night game win...over Northwestern. But that was dashed after the next game...and the next...and the next...

We've now won 3 of our last 4. Part of the problem (besides talent and development) has been that we fans have often been the team's worst enemy. With any struggling program, it takes time developing a winning mindset. When you've gotten used to being beaten down, it takes a whole bunch self-confidence to get over the proverbial hump, especially in this in-your-face, social media age. That's where our tradition -- and our lofty expectations -- have worked against us. Whenever we had those rare instances of something good happening under Frost, we'd all rush to 'Okay, NOW we're BACK, BABY!!!" At a time when our players have needed our patience and continued encouragement, they'd find themselves compared to their old National Champion counterparts and found wanting.

You'll notice that Coach Rhule is doing his darnest to remind us that this team HASN'T won much. Instead of taking a "You'd better catch us now" approach, he's embracing this team for who they are, warts and all. And, importantly, he's emphasizing to us fans that we're a work-in-progress that needs to take 'one game at a time' baby steps. We've now got two weeks to recoup and get ready for the second half of the season.

As Coach essentially said in his post-game presser last night, we fans need to set aside our lofty "standards" and rally around the team we've got, the good stuff and the bad. His advice to us fans? Enjoy the ride.

This is what rebuilding a program looks like.

We fans can be hard on this team because we know what they are capable of. I said after last week's loss to Michigan that every remaining game on our schedule is winnable. And they are.

And losing mindsets come from recruiting good talent from losing programs. When you've done nothing but lose in H.S. College, etc, it's tough to change that mindset.

As bad as the offense was last night in the 4th quarter this is exactly the game we needed to show these guys that they can win close games or games they should've put away early and still win. This win only builds confidence that they can do it. That being said, they have a shot at winning all their remaining games. Will they? Probably not but going into the BYE week at 3-3 instead of 2-4 is a HUGE boost in confidence.

 

[Chris]

Can someone explain to me what constitutes a rebuild? As opposed to switching coaches because one is underperforming.
The only rebuild I can think of was at Marshall in the 1970's. It's an over used, unnecessarily dramatic term imo.

The defense played well for the most part, but our offense was pretty bad. I don't know that beating an awful Illinois team was a program changer.

You can rebuild the mentality between your ears. Go from a loser mentality to a winner mentality. Like changing one's view from pessimism to optimism.
That's the most important rebuild this program is undertaking right now.

 

[SUHnami]

You can rebuild the mentality between your ears. Go from a loser mentality to a winner mentality. Like changing one's view from pessimism to optimism.
That's the most important rebuild this program is undertaking right now.

And it's not easy to change that mentality. A game like yesterday does go a long way to flipping that mentality.

 

[innmc]

I don't know what I was expecting out of this season. I was hoping for steady improvement.
I was hoping to see a change as good as Kansas say for an example.

 

[kmillz]

We’ve been rebuilding for 10 years. I thought we looked undisciplined and at times poorly coached last night. Despite a two possession lead everyone was on the edge of their seats until the end against a really, really bad team. The only positive I see is we didn’t lose to those guys. I see progress on defense, but against bad competition. I’d like to see the same progress on offense against the same bad competition. Then we’ll know we’re seeing real team progress at least against the cup cakes.

 

[Hunchback Johnny]

Rome wasn't built in a day boys. Ten years sounds about right if yer gonna do it the right way. I don't want no splash in the fan CUBuff stuff. This needs to be everlasting. Mike and Scott started the ball rolling, now Matt is gonna avalanche the college football world.

 

[justino52]

Can someone explain to me what constitutes a rebuild? As opposed to switching coaches because one is underperforming.
The only rebuild I can think of was at Marshall in the 1970's. It's an over used, unnecessarily dramatic term imo.

The defense played well for the most part, but our offense was pretty bad. I don't know that beating an awful Illinois team was a program changer.

Just look back at last season. How many games did Nebraska have a halftime or 4th quarter lead only to lose the game? Last season, Nebraska lost to awful teams they should have beaten.
They did the same thing game one this season. Game six, they don't.
For me that that is progress. There has been progress from game 1 to game 6.
Is the offense bad? Yea, absolutely. Is the team better than last season? I would say yes as well.

 

[Removed Spleen of Jordan]

Tony White is going to get head coaching offers after this season and needs a raise. Marcus Satterfield is I believe the 6th highest paid OC in college football at $1.4M and is overpaid. The defense is buttoned up and even the true freshman look like they know what they are doing and where they are supposed to be. The offense is sloppy and discombobulated most of the time.

 

[innmc]

Tony White is going to get head coaching offers after this season and needs a raise. Marcus Satterfield is I believe the 6th highest paid OC in college football at $1.4M and is overpaid. The defense is buttoned up and even the true freshman look like they know what they are doing and where they are supposed to be. The offense is sloppy and discombobulated most of the time.

Yes, I would prefer the OC at Kansas or the OC at Air Force Both have their teams humming.

 

[Doc Fumble]

Can someone explain to me what constitutes a rebuild? As opposed to switching coaches because one is underperforming.

Yikes, I'm already a long-winded blowhard as it is. I could write a frickin' novel responding to this question, Mrjfb.

Short answer, a program "rebuild" whether you're a new coach -- or a new office manager or program director or CEO -- is about more than getting new people. Heck, most new managers of underperforming programs don't have the luxury of bringing in their own people. They have to show better performance stats from the get-go with the exact, same folks who've been underperforming.

How do you do that? A whole bunch of posters here could give you scores of examples of how it's done. Me? I'm going to focus on one little part: Changing a program's losing mentality. How does Coach Rhule begin changing the losing mindset that's been firmly established over six seasons?

Last Sunday Coach ran the team through an aggressive, full-pads, slobberknocker of a practice in response to the previous day's lackluster performance. Guess what? According to George Darlington, he'd never heard of such a thing in all of CFB before. Rhule did it to emphasize the team cannot be successful playing 'not to lose.' They cannot be tentative. To win, they have to play with their hair on fire. He told them they needed to stop worrying about what the fans think about them and buckle up the chin strap and play aggressive, smash-mouth football--mistakes and all, Period. End of Story.

Last night the players saw the results of that approach. Did they play perfect football? OH, HELL NO---in fact, far from it. But they played together with a single-minded purpose and they played with fire in their bellies. In my opinion, Illinois may turn out to be a significant 'breakthrough' in Coach Rhule's efforts to change the culture that got established over the Riley and Frost years.

Scott Frost was famous for his "No Fear of Failure" line but, truthfully, his own actions, decisions, and overall demeanor told us all that he wasn't practicing what he was preaching. When the players were hit with adversity -- as usually happens in games -- they thought, "Oh crap, here we go again! That's when a group of young players look to their head coach. Instead of a steely resolve, they saw someone as flustered as they were.

Similar to the criticisms directed at players, it wasn't that Frost didn't care, it's that he cared SO MUCH that it began creeping into the way he coached. Like Rhule's criticism of our players after the Michigan game, the longer Frost coached at Nebraska, the more he coached not to lose. So, it's no wonder we saw it reflected back in the way our players played.

I've been really impressed by the way Coach Rhule has been trying to change this mental impediment to our team's development.

 

[HuskerVotary]

Our Beloved Program FINALLY has some real momentum!!!

Seriously, you have to go all the way back to Mike Riley's second season with Tommy Armstrong to see any semblance of program momentum. (And for the record, the national pundits scoffed at the time and said we hadn't played anybody---uh, and they were right.) The closest thing I can recall to program momentum during the Frost era was a big night game win...over Northwestern. But that was dashed after the next game...and the next...and the next...

We've now won 3 of our last 4. Part of the problem (besides talent and development) has been that we fans have often been the team's worst enemy. With any struggling program, it takes time developing a winning mindset. When you've gotten used to being beaten down, it takes a whole bunch self-confidence to get over the proverbial hump, especially in this in-your-face, social media age. That's where our tradition -- and our lofty expectations -- have worked against us. Whenever we had those rare instances of something good happening under Frost, we'd all rush to 'Okay, NOW we're BACK, BABY!!!" At a time when our players have needed our patience and continued encouragement, they'd find themselves compared to their old National Champion counterparts and found wanting.

You'll notice that Coach Rhule is doing his darnest to remind us that this team HASN'T won much. Instead of taking a "You'd better catch us now" approach, he's embracing this team for who they are, warts and all. And, importantly, he's emphasizing to us fans that we're a work-in-progress that needs to take 'one game at a time' baby steps. We've now got two weeks to recoup and get ready for the second half of the season.

As Coach essentially said in his post-game presser last night, we fans need to set aside our lofty "standards" and rally around the team we've got, the good stuff and the bad. His advice to us fans? Enjoy the ride.

This is what rebuilding a program looks like.

I hope you're correct, Dr.

You said "hump"...

 

[MRJFB]

Yikes, I'm already a long-winded blowhard as it is. I could write a frickin' novel responding to this question, Mrjfb.

Short answer, a program "rebuild" whether you're a new coach -- or a new office manager or program director or CEO -- is about more than getting new people. Heck, most new managers of underperforming programs don't have the luxury of bringing in their own people. They have to show better performance stats from the get-go with the exact, same folks who've been underperforming.

How do you do that? A whole bunch of posters here could give you scores of examples of how it's done. Me? I'm going to focus on one little part: Changing a program's losing mentality. How does Coach Rhule begin changing the losing mindset that's been firmly established over six seasons?

Last Sunday Coach ran the team through an aggressive, full-pads, slobberknocker of a practice in response to the previous day's lackluster performance. Guess what? According to George Darlington, he'd never heard of such a thing in all of CFB before. Rhule did it to emphasize the team cannot be successful playing 'not to lose.' They cannot be tentative. To win, they have to play with their hair on fire. He told them they needed to stop worrying about what the fans think about them and buckle up the chin strap and play aggressive, smash-mouth football--mistakes and all, Period. End of Story.

Last night the players saw the results of that approach. Did they play perfect football? OH, HELL NO---in fact, far from it. But they played together with a single-minded purpose and they played with fire in their bellies. In my opinion, Illinois may turn out to be a significant 'breakthrough' in Coach Rhule's efforts to change the culture that got established over the Riley and Frost years.

Scott Frost was famous for his "No Fear of Failure" line but, truthfully, his own actions, decisions, and overall demeanor told us all that he wasn't practicing what he was preaching. When the players were hit with adversity -- as usually happens in games -- they thought, "Oh crap, here we go again! That's when a group of young players look to their head coach. Instead of a steely resolve, they saw someone as flustered as they were.

Similar to the criticisms directed at players, it wasn't that Frost didn't care, it's that he cared SO MUCH that it began creeping into the way he coached. Like Rhule's criticism of our players after the Michigan game, the longer Frost coached at Nebraska, the more he coached not to lose. So, it's no wonder we saw it reflected back in the way our players played.

I've been really impressed by the way Coach Rhule has been trying to change this mental impediment to our team's development.

Point taken. But I still think rebuild is a silly way to label this.

 

[Doc Fumble]

I hope you're correct, Dr.

Thanks, Votary. College football is SUCH a game of momentum. One of the things that I found so frustrating is Frost NEVER caught a break. Not once during his tenure did the program build any type of positive momentum. We were always under the gun.

Whether its stays or fades, it feels like the program has some real, tangible momentum right now. That's important not only for the games ahead but also for recruiting during our bye week.

 

[Jimbosc]

We certainly had calls and plays go our way Friday night - for what seemed like the first time in years. Some of that was effort paying off. This was a game that felt different - but also the same in terms of penalties and turnovers.

This comment about White is spot on - he's going to get offers to go elsewhere - dude can coach his ass off. Completely different level of play on D this season outside of the Michigan game - and they are going to blow Minny off the field today..

 

[Uenth]

Just look back at last season. How many games did Nebraska have a halftime or 4th quarter lead only to lose the game? Last season, Nebraska lost to awful teams they should have beaten.
They did the same thing game one this season. Game six, they don't.
For me that that is progress. There has been progress from game 1 to game 6.
Is the offense bad? Yea, absolutely. Is the team better than last season? I would say yes as well.

Damn right. This is progress, albeit slower than we all want. However, I'd rather slow and steady progress that rights the ship than a couple of splashy victories followed by tanking spectacularly.

 

[innmc]

This was a game that felt different - but also the same in terms of penalties and turnovers.

 

[MRJFB]

White making less than our OC is a cosmic injustice.
Then again, we are kind of expecting gold from straw but thats why these guys are paid.
White didn't walk into a refined, talent wonderland either.

 

[MRJFB]

I'll say this.
Fidone is a bomb. Can you imagine a team full of that kind of talent?
Pray to God he can remain healthy the rest of the way.