Exactly. Many look at what Pelini hasn't done an access judgement on him. But I like to look at what he has done and see that he has the ability to do anything that any of these other coaches whom have won the games we would like to be winning has done. Did Watson all of a sudden become a better coordinator when he left Lincoln or did he get a gift athlete to execute his scheme on the field.
Pelini took a unit that looked like a scout team in 2007 and turned it into a strong unit in 2008, a dominant unit in 2009, and a unit that made NFL prospects look like redshirt freshmen in 2010. That's when he had the athletes to accomplish what he need to be done on the field. Look at the two down years when it came to the over all talent. 2011, 3 preseason AAs but only 1 (L.David) played the entire season and stayed healthy. We lost Crick after I think 4 or 5 games. Denard came in during the 3rd or 4th game but was never 100%. 2012 we didn't even have the luxury of those 3, yet we still had one of the best pass defenses in the nation and able to win 10 games. Think about what could have been with a playmaking QB on any of the seasons Pelini was here. (for the sake of putting a name on the playmaker I'll use
GFCF for Gill/Frazier/Crouch/Frost....
)
2008, Ganz was exactly what we needed to help the defense get use to a new staff. But a
GFCF like player could have beat VT & TTU that season. Maybe put more pressure or beat Mizzou/OU......that would have been a BCS bowl season.
2009, So many excuses for Lee, but point is, he just wasn't that good. With
GFCF, this season has 1 loss......maybe. VT is ours, Iowa St is ours, TTU, if a true freshman C.Green can come in and score right away, I believe
GFCF would have had the second team in the game by the start of the 4th. And the .01 vs Texas would have never existed. 09's defense was wasted so much and IMO, we still don't realize how great that unit was.
2010, Healthy Martinez comes in with raw ability but exposed early by SDSU and it became the formula most used throughout his career to keep him from excelling. With
GFCF, we are undefeated. We didn't face not one dominant defense to keep us in check on offense. We beat ourselves in each of the 4 losses. The first disappointing offseason for Bo.
2011, Martinez is back and so is his flaws, with a new conference. With
GFCF, we may have still lost @Wisc and @Mich, but the games would have been much more competitive. We beat NwU hands down and SoCarolina never see the Huskers because we replace Michigan in a BCS bowl.
2012,
GFCF lead regardless passed UCLA in Pasadena. OSU may still be a loss given the defense we fielded that season, but we still make it to the Rose Bowl. Beating Wisconsin because we don't shoot our selfs in the foot out the gate.
2013, With
GFCF we keep the lead at home vs UCLA. We don't turn the ball over 5 times to a team that we otherwise outplayed 4 qtrs in Michigan St. Minnesota's defense would not have contained Gill and we don't start getting desperate vs Iowa.
Again, this is not a diss to any of the QBs who played during these games in any of these seasons, but a Gill/Frazier/Crouch/Frost changes those seasons to make Pelini look elite. Look what he did without one.