Nebraska Fans: Stop Hypocritically Complaining About Your Offense!

You see it on blogs, message boards, articles everywhere. The offense is horrible! It is losing us games! Costing us recruits! Crisis situation! It must be fixed now! Our offensive coordinator must go, and Bo Pelini must be put on notice that he HAS to fix things!

Oh, how short memories are for Nebraska fans. Don't you recall how Frank Solich had very good (if not Tom Osborne caliber) defenses that cost him so many big games and ultimately his job? Don't you recall even under Osborne that Nebraska's defenses weren't exactly notable, and that Osborne didn't start winning national titles until that changed? And yes, don't you recall the bad defenses of the Bill Callahan era?

The latter point is the main one. When Callahan was rightfully fired, who were the top two choices (as far as it was generally considered)? Bo Pelini and Turner Gill.

Considerations of qualifications aside (which is an endless debate to begin with, as people evaluate qualifications based on differing criteria) what was the main reasoning for favoring Pelini over Gill?

Because Nebraska's biggest problem for years had been its defense, and the defensive genius—Pelini—was needed in order to bring the Blackshirts back, as well as a general sense of toughness to a program that had once defined that physical and mental trait but had gone soft under Solich and particularly Callahan.

Well, Nebraska fans. That's what you asked for, and that's what you got: a very good defense and a team that generally fights hard until the end whether it wins or loses. So what's the problem? The bad offenses?

Please. Again, Nebraska fans explicitly chose to favor offense over defense with the Pelini hire, and Pelini gave you what you asked for. That was what Pelini was selling, and you bought into it. Now you want to turn around and change the conditions of the deal?

Nebraska fans, did you want a defensive genius or didn't you? Or did you not really MEAN what you said back when you DEMANDED that Tom Osborne choose Pelini over tons of other candidates who would have gladly taken the job? Did you like Pelini based on his qualifications and traits as a coach, or did you just like the man, the personality, and gave no consideration to his abilities, limitations and the type of program that he would build?

After all, Nebraska fans had to have seen this coming. You KNEW that Nebraska was losing a lot of key players on offense after the first year.

You also KNEW that Pelini wanted Watson to alter the west coast offense, but was A) vague on the specifics and B) lacked the background—both on the offensive side on the ball specifically and experience as a head coach who has oversight over all areas of the team in general—to be able to pull off this offensive overhaul with mostly young—and perhaps pedestrian—talent in key spots so quickly.

Or then again, if you didn't know, you should have. If you didn't know that this is what to expect when you hire a career defense guy with no head coaching experience who comes into a situation with little offensive talent and tries to change the scheme, you should have. Don't blame Pelini for these results.

Instead, the issue should be your own unrealistic expectations: that Pelini could be this combination of Bill Belicheck (defense guy) and Mike Shanahan (offense guy). Again, a defense guy is what you wanted, a defense guy is what you got. Deal with it!

And this is the main issue: it is working! Nebraska is winning games with their defense! They shut down the NCAA's winningest QB ever with the highest completion percentage ever, and were "one second" away from winning the Big 12 title in his second season! Instead of celebrating that great accomplishment, about how the coach that you wanted is winning games the way that you wanted, you attack the offense? How, well, OFFENSIVE!

It would be one thing if the offense was this bad five years into the Pelini regime and he was loaded with upperclassmen highly regarded talent on that side of the ball. Neither is the case. Pelini hasn't had the opportunity to get the good athletes that he needs into his system—whatever system it is—and let them and the system mature. On offense, Nebraska doesn't have the players, and more important it doesn't have an identity.

If you wanted an identity—and maybe a couple of blue chip recruits—on offense, you should have pressured Osborne to hire an offensive coach, or an experienced head coach. But you pressured him to hire a career defensive assistant. The result: the defense has an identity already, and a good one. That is good. That is what you wanted. But the offense is going to take a little while longer. That is not a bad thing, but rather is to be expected.

So, rather than all the angry or complaining talk and demanding accountability and changes, I say back off Pelini. Give him—and his offensive coordinator—time to work together to decide what they are doing and implement it. Since he was the guy the Nebraska nation wanted, you owe it to him.

Plus, since he has been successful the first two seasons (you guys are like three plays away from being 12-1 and playing TCU in the Fiesta Bowl for a top five ranking) he has earned it.

Also, the Pelini treatment stinks on another level. Suppose Nebraska had gone 9-4 winning games 35-31, with great offenses and bad defenses instead of the other way around. Would everybody be so angry and uptight? Of course not.

People would say "gee, a couple more players on defense and we will really be contenders! Maybe we will get them in the next couple of recruiting classes! But until then, boy are we 'fun to watch' and is the future bright!"

In other words, a clear double standard. Why is a shootout filled with bad defense like that Texas-Texas A&M game "fun to watch" but a defensive struggle like Texas-Nebraska "boring"? Why do we assume that problems on offense are SO MUCH HARDER to fix than those on defense? Why do we assume that programs with great offenses are headed for the next level but programs with great defenses are going to be stuck in mediocrity?

It is a bad assumption, and the best example of why is the Big 12, especially the Big 12 North. Texas Tech, Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma State, Colorado etc. have been doing the flag football thing for years and what has it gotten them? Kansas completely failed to capitalize on their BCS bowl victory over Virginia Tech, and now they are looking for a new coach.

Missouri had that string of bridesmaid seasons (no Big 12 titles or major bowl bids) and now this year they have fallen back to the pack, and the same happened to Texas Tech. And Oklahoma State? They had a clear path to the BCS, but loses to Texas, Houston and was humiliated by Oklahoma.

The flag football thing doesn't work. Pelini and Nebraska will go much farther—especially in the Big 12 North—by emphasizing defense. This is even the case with the mid-majors. Hasn't anyone noticed that the best mid-major programs—TCU, Utah, Boise—are the ones who have the best defenses, and not the flag football programs like Houston and BYU?

If Pelini was just another offense guy, he'd be no different from most of the other midwestern teams, not only in the Big 12 but also in the Big 10 and the mid-majors. But emphasizing defense will set the Cornhuskers apart, and help Pelini maintain and build on his success while everyone else in the midwest is trying to "spread-offense" each other to victory.

Case in point: Ohio State. They have basically stuck with a program based on playing defense and running the football. As a result, everybody hates them, everybody calls them boring, and so on.

But look at the results: they are in the BCS virtually every year, usually as Big 10 champions, winning out while all of the "high scoring teams" (or at least they are until they play a good defense like Ohio State's, then they don't score nearly so much!) beat each other up. Maybe they've lost their share of BCS games the past few years, but at least they've been there.

But even there, it is hypocritical to talk about the BCS bowls that Ohio State and Virginia Tech lose when "shotgun-spread" Oklahoma has lost just as many. The only reason why Stoops is still referred to as "Big Game Bob" is because the media loves his offense. Well, Nebraska doesn't want to be like Oklahoma, they want to be BETTER than Oklahoma, and having a top defensive coach will help them.

Maybe it will take a little while. If it does, so what?

Nebraska doesn't have the advantage of being right in the middle of those huge California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Virginia-DC, or southeastern recruiting markets, and it (regrettably) no longer runs the veer (which, considering Georgia Tech's success with a triple-option attack that everyone insisted would fail at the major college level, may have been abandoned too hastily to begin with), so it may take a year or two.

The thing that Nebraska fans need to remember that with Pelini, it actually has a chance to happen, so they should give it a chance to let it happen.

Because, as stated before, Pelini was the guy that you wanted. You got him, and he is doing a great job. So, step back, stop venting about the offense, and let Pelini do his job. If you wanted a great offense, you should have demanded Tom Osborne hire the next Charlie Weis.

But you wanted to contend for and win national titles, and it looks like the guy you wanted has you on the right track.