Then the Skies Cleared . . .

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Appa23 · #1 Post by **Appa23** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 8:49 am

After an "eternity" of black clouds hovering over the State of Nebraska, the sun has come out, and today truly is a new day.

mrkelley23 · #2 Post by **mrkelley23** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:16 am

Isn't that what y'all said after you fired the other guy, who "only" went 9-3?

We IU fans would kill for 9-3.

I know that Tom Osborne is a better man than a lot, but I still believe allowing a legend to pick his replacement is a bad idea.

Appa23 · #3 Post by **Appa23** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 10:51 am

mrkelley23 wrote:Isn't that what y'all said after you fired the other guy, who "only" went 9-3?

We IU fans would kill for 9-3.

Hence, the wink.

If you did not see the live press conference on ESPN, it provided some good insight into the Nebraska football program.

Osborne told this story (which I do not recall him telliing before).

He went 9-2-1 in 1973, winning the Cotton Bowl.

He went 9-3 in 1974, winning the Sugar Bowl.

He went 10-2 in 1975, losing in the Fiesta Bowl.

Then, he went 9-3-1 in 1976, winning the AstroBluebonnet Bowl.

As he walked off the field in the Astrodome, a Regent told him that he was glad that they won the game, because they were going to have to fire him if they had lost.

Osborne said that he never, in 25 years, felt that he would survive a losing season. Keep in mind, he was the offensive architect for the schools first two national championships.

It will be telling who has interest in assuming a head coaching position with so little room for failure.

Since he cam eon as AD, I have thought that Osborne might look to hire "himself": a young coach who helped build a program to a level of greatness as an offensive genius/architect.

If Chris Peterson wants to jump to the bigtime, he might just get the chance.

This much is clear. Each interviewee must be ready to explain how they will right the defensive ship, explain their offensive philosophy/schemes, and explain what they know about Nebraska.

We know that Pelini and Gill are being considered.

There is talk of Jim Grobe.

Jim Leavitt of South Florida "idolized" Osborne as a younger coach, and this might be the rare job that he was willing to take and leave behind the program that he built.

Another interesting name is Brent Venables from OU.

Keep in mind that Osborne is very partial to the Spread offense of WVU and Florida, as it reminds him of the offense that he ran in the late 1990s, although Nebraska worked in more power running inside the tackles.

DadofTwins · #4 Post by **DadofTwins** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 11:12 am

The ability to run with power up the middle seems to be the difference between good and great spread teams.

Tommie Frasier and Lawrence Phillips were good, but what made that offense great was that fact that defenses had to respect the Makovicka brothers between the tackles.

Appa23 · #5 Post by **Appa23** » Mon Nov 26, 2007 11:27 am

DadofTwins wrote:The ability to run with power up the middle seems to be the difference between good and great spread teams.

Tommie Frasier and Lawrence Phillips were good, but what made that offense great was that fact that defenses had to respect the Makovicka brothers between the tackles.

Phillips, Ahman Green, and the other running backs did a great deal of inside running, as well.

Is Osborne was still coaching today, the Nebraska offense would look a great deal like West Virginia's run-oriented spread offense. (Their fullback even reminds me of Cory Schlesinger and the Mackovickas.)