It's that time of year again. The air is turning cooler, the leaves are turning brown and the sound of fingers angrily clacking on keyboards fills the air. It seems to come earlier every year. Yes, it's pitchforks and torches season in Nebraska once again.
Yes, pitchforks and torches season is an annual rite here in Nebraska. Many of Nebraska's youth get their first taste of manhood hurling a proverbial javelin through the gut of the current coach or AD. Why the first one I can easily remember is the infamous Black Friday in 2001. And of course I lived through what is perhaps the greatest pitchforks and torches season there ever was in the fall of 2007.
And oh yes, I was definitely among those partaking in the great tradition last year after that hell-on-earth performance against Ohio State. In my mind I remember flipping a few cars, smashing a few windows and skewering a few fools on the edge of my pitch fork on social media last fall. Then again, my mind is probably a bit fuzzy on account of all the concussions from police batons and tear gas my body endured during all that rioting.
Then again, last year I was never calling for Mike Riley to be fired. I still believed in him to a degree no matter how many times Urban Meyer touched us inappropriately in Columbus, Ohio last year.
This is the earliest pitchforks and torches season I can ever remember and I don't believe it is warranted. Not yet, anyway.
To clarify, it's totally okay to be concerned about the current team, especially the defense. I just don't want people panicking and hitting the FIRE EVERYBODY button 2 games into a season in which the defense is transitioning and Mike Riley finally has the offensive pieces he wants. Even now it may take a year or two. A lot of those offensive pieces are young and 95% of the defensive talent wasn't recruited to run a 3-4.
And if you don't understand what it takes to learn a new defensive scheme; pre-snap calls, positioning, assignments and terminology, then you've obviously never put on a set of pads in your life.
And if you expected Tanner Lee would come in, throw for 4,000 yards, 35 TDs and 2 INTs, then you've obviously never played the sport.
I believe the offense will become more consistent. Lee will learn from last week. He's a smart and mentally tough man. The defense will improve. It has to. This baptism by fire will prove to be useful and from a match-up standpoint, the offenses of the Big Ten West play much more favorably to a 3-4 defense than the spread offenses of Arkansas State and Oregon.
At the end of the day, no matter how horrible that first half against Oregon was, it doesn't change the fact this team is still in position to accomplish all of its goals. Don't you think it's a little too soon to start marching down Stadium Drive with pitchforks and torches when this team still has everything in front of it?
I'm not saying get rid of your rioting gear, just keep it tucked away someplace safe for now!
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| Fire Everybody!!! |
And oh yes, I was definitely among those partaking in the great tradition last year after that hell-on-earth performance against Ohio State. In my mind I remember flipping a few cars, smashing a few windows and skewering a few fools on the edge of my pitch fork on social media last fall. Then again, my mind is probably a bit fuzzy on account of all the concussions from police batons and tear gas my body endured during all that rioting.
Then again, last year I was never calling for Mike Riley to be fired. I still believed in him to a degree no matter how many times Urban Meyer touched us inappropriately in Columbus, Ohio last year.
This is the earliest pitchforks and torches season I can ever remember and I don't believe it is warranted. Not yet, anyway.
To clarify, it's totally okay to be concerned about the current team, especially the defense. I just don't want people panicking and hitting the FIRE EVERYBODY button 2 games into a season in which the defense is transitioning and Mike Riley finally has the offensive pieces he wants. Even now it may take a year or two. A lot of those offensive pieces are young and 95% of the defensive talent wasn't recruited to run a 3-4.
And if you don't understand what it takes to learn a new defensive scheme; pre-snap calls, positioning, assignments and terminology, then you've obviously never put on a set of pads in your life.
And if you expected Tanner Lee would come in, throw for 4,000 yards, 35 TDs and 2 INTs, then you've obviously never played the sport.
I believe the offense will become more consistent. Lee will learn from last week. He's a smart and mentally tough man. The defense will improve. It has to. This baptism by fire will prove to be useful and from a match-up standpoint, the offenses of the Big Ten West play much more favorably to a 3-4 defense than the spread offenses of Arkansas State and Oregon.
At the end of the day, no matter how horrible that first half against Oregon was, it doesn't change the fact this team is still in position to accomplish all of its goals. Don't you think it's a little too soon to start marching down Stadium Drive with pitchforks and torches when this team still has everything in front of it?
I'm not saying get rid of your rioting gear, just keep it tucked away someplace safe for now!
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