Resetting Expectations for the Nebraska Cornhuskers

Stop panicking. Relax. Breathe.

Mizzou has a great team this year. Not good, but a special team.

They came in under hostile conditions and kicked our ass. This game wasn’t a bye week in the making—it was a couple of years in the making. It was Mizzou consistently improving and upgrading their team, while Nebraska was getting worse year after year.

And yes, I think Mizzou and Nebraska fans would agree that the time has come to make this game a "red-letter" game for both teams.

Nebraska has the past, while Mizzou has the present, and we both are going to be fighting like dogs for the future.

Also, for all the Husker fans who say, "well, we had too many penalties," I agree. But please remember that penalties also come when you are out-classed and out-manned by your opponent.

For example, if you're are an offensive tackle and getting beat by the DE every play, of course you are going to have a couple of false start penalties to get the advantage.

First off, Husker fans need to get that Top 15 ranking we had early last year out of our collective memories.

That never happened. We don’t have Top 15 talent. Bill Callahan’s recruiting was way overrated by his buddy Tom Lemming and created false expectations. Also, a lot of highly recruited players left the Huskers program without contributing.

So we don’t have Top 15 talent.

Now, where do the Huskers go from here?

We aren’t even close to Mizzou, but remember, Mizzou might win the national title. This isn’t your older brother's Mizzou—this is one of the greatest offenses the Big 12 will ever see.

We were close to Virginia Tech, and VT today sits in the Top 20.

OK, so the sky isn’t falling.

If the Huskers can regroup mentally, and that’s a big if, we can be competitive with Texas Tech. Texas Tech has the capacity for a blowout, but they are not Mizzou.

But let's be honest—Texas Tech and Oklahoma are going to be tough games for the Huskers.

So we aren’t going to win the Big 12. Big surprise.

But what we can do is go to a bowl game and end the season with some momentum.

How do we do that? Beat Baylor and Iowa State, and find a win among Kansas, Kansas State, or Colorado.

This is a test the Huskers failed two of the last four years. While the bowl game won’t be the Orange Bowl, a bowl game signifies that you are doing something right and that you get an extra couple of weeks to practice. Plus, it helps with recruiting.

In essence, bowl games are the first game of the 2009 season.

Can this happen? It ain’t going to be easy. But with this team and a first-year coaching staff, it is a realistic, yet challenging goal for the rest of the season.

But please reset your expectations. You can’t undo over four years of sliding toward mediocrity in five weeks. It’s going to take some time.

Also, please forgive us for over-inflating expectations.

We are used to the “N” doing some great things out on the field.

Finally, Bo Pelini got his ass kicked, and that's a good thing in the long-term. I don’t want Bo to start off successful. I want him to earn success.

HG will support Bo every step of the way.

Bo has been a winner on the college and pro level. You can bet he does not want to experience this again.