Final game thoughts.</SPAN>
I don’t know what to say other than I am absolutely sick to my stomach.</SPAN>
I don’t think I have ever been as disappointed in a football team as I am tonight.</SPAN>
Our program took a huge step back tonight. A huge step backwards.</SPAN>
What an embarrassing lack of performance. The football world was laughing at us tonight.</SPAN>
This team did not come ready to play. That was obvious. But what is so stunning, is that absolutely no one showed up ready to play.</SPAN>
Someone once said, winners find a way to win, and losers find ways to lose. Tonight these guys played like losers from start to finish.</SPAN>
Now, I am not happy with our coaching staff right now. But I am going to put that aside for the moment. These guys did not come ready to compete tonight. That is on the players.</SPAN>
Right off the bat, Wisconsin scores on a ridiculously easy TD drive that featured unbelievable missed tackles and just plain “vacating” of entire areas of the field by NU defenders.</SPAN>
Senior Damian Stafford mightily whiffs on his first two tackle attempts. Am I to believe that Pelini is such a bad coach that Stafford forgot how to tackle during the last week?</SPAN>
Stafford’s eyes were doing pinwheels as he floundered to the ground and let his responsibility run past him. But that’s okay, let someone else do it. Of course, another missed tackle later, there was no one else there. Easy-peezy, TD Wiscy.</SPAN>
Wisconsin ran the same basic sweep play and there was never anyone there. Okay, our coaches stink. But am I to believe that our defensive gameplan consisted of absolutely no one to be on the outside on any play?</SPAN>
I think it is more probable that someone was supposed to be there but for some reason, the moment was too big for them. So play after play, they allowed themselves to get sucked inside and ah shucks, no one else come over to bail them out.</SPAN>
This game could have been 170-32. It was easy for Wisconsin. A High School team couldn’t have been any easier to run on.</SPAN>
Now, we missed Baker Steinkuhler. We missed him more than most Husker fans understand. But perhaps, we missed his leadership as much as his talents.</SPAN>
I could go on and on, but honestly that would show more effort than I saw from our players out there.</SPAN>
A couple of years ago, I warned about some bad habits we showed early in the year. I warned that those habits don’t just go away. They will come back to bite us later on. Not rocket science of course, but for some fans, they just didn’t understand the negativity at the time. I remember that conversation so well even a few years later.</SPAN>
Well our bad habits bit us tonight. Yet another rematch where our players failed to show up for round 2.</SPAN>
Yet another moment where the other team took it to us and we looked shocked and surprised (remember UCLA?).</SPAN>
Laying down against Washington a couple of years ago in the Bowl Game still lingers in my mind. You have to play every down and every game. You cannot pick and choose when you play hard.</SPAN>
I guess we could fire all of our coaches . . . again. That is what many fans want to see happen. After a performance like this, I have to admit they have valid concerns. But I just wonder what the magic formula is to get our players to understand that coming out of the lockerroom in a daze and expecting it to be easy, or expecting your teammate to pick you up when you take the easy way out just is not exceptable.</SPAN>
Thank goodness no one got hurt in that sloppy fourth quarter or that there wasn’t an embarrassing fight or major incident.</SPAN>
Small victories.</SPAN>
I worry about the Bowl Game. Is anyone going? Are any fans going to be excited? Will the players pull a Washington and just sit this one out. Do they have any fight left?</SPAN>
The program took a mighty step back tonight.</SPAN>
Where do we go from here?</SPAN>
I’m at a loss.</SPAN>
Take care all.</SPAN>