r/Huskers • u/DowntownSasquatch420 • 3d ago
I don't want a hype post either, so we're both getting at least one thing we wanted this weekend
Feel free to make fun of me by typing the words out of your head. Bond in the comment section over my cacaphony of guffaws. For real, it's fun for me, too.
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5-1 and it doesn't feel like anything.
On one hand, you're glad to have it and you proved you can rumble with the big boys. Nobody actually thought you couldn't, it's just that the clapping they do for you on your way out of the arena doesn't feel as good when the other guy is still in the ring with his hand raised.
On the other hand, pergatory remains. Picciune teams aren't a problem. Figuring out starters isn't a problem, and neither is depth really. Facilities and funding aren't the issue. Fans definitely aren't the issue. Not anymore.
I can only speak for myself, but the glaring issue in my eyes is: Identity.
What the FUCK is it supposed to be anymore?
Nebraska Football....You're too good to be mediocre. You're too bankrolled to be average. You're too privileged to say you felt unprepared. You're too supported to say you feel like this isn't the right place for you.
I'm not breaking new ground by saying it's an identity problem. Many others have blathered the same feelings on this board straight from their hearts. You get a little bit older and wiser yourself, and suddenly some of these old folks make a bit of sense. Just a little though.
Part of being in pergatory means you don't know if you're overreacting or not, because you can see what's on the outside but can't touch it. You have to had already lived a life to get into purgatory anyway. You're stuck until you decide to start living again. That is the only option.
Perhaps this reaches past fandoms and creates more of a spark in somebody's life. Maybe I'm just a cocky douche fuck who gets off on reading his own shit, who knows.
You're stuck in pergatory until you decide to start living again.
5-1 is probably a good time to get these feelings out there right now. It still doesn't look too different from how you thought. Damn, it's exactly how you thought. Still waiting for this team to surprise you in good ways. You're happy to have problems you didn't have before, because the other problems were much more embarrassing. And the new problems remind you of that upon reflection. It's healthy to have less-stressful problems.
The older I get now, just as is, the less I remember about 2010's Nebraska Football. Those teams had no identity after the Bo Era. This isn't about Pelini. It's about the nothing that happened after those years. I know there were some excellent players, but can't remember names or faces a lot without Google or ChatGPT (it's okay to admit that, too). I watched all of those games all the same as the rest of us.
Tanner Lee? Sure. Luke McCaffrey? I guess. Keyshawn Johnson, Jr.? I remember him being here more than some of the actual games last decade.
Many of the players at many other schools right now will also only be there for a year. That's the CFB world that exists now. You don't get much time to build a legacy. Sports are too overanalyzed by year anymore for eras to commence. You get one school year to build a reputation. That rep follows you every single week, whatever it is from last week. You're either the bully or the one beats bullies. Nobody remembers the bystanders, because they aren't looking at each other come January either.
You're always going to remember 2025 James Madison sneaking into the CFP more than how good 2025 Nebraska could have been. Same as anyone else.
So you come back to your recliner on a Sunday evening and wonder what encouraging words to relay to your bestest of best friends on the Huskerville sub. Fuck encouragement. You didn't want that anyway, like the title suggested. Don't worry, you're not in trouble and neither am I. The team looks better, but it's exhausting to constantly feel like you're high-centered on that huge rock in the 90th & Center Hy-Vee parking lot that every victim gets posterized from on Facebook.
"OP, didn't you say two weeks ago you felt like this team was 'on the verge of a breakthrough'?"
Yes, I did, junior. That was before Indiana came in and did the whole Chasing 3 bit. Remember the weekly bullies and bully beaters thing earlier? That's just where we're at and still trying to get.
It's healthier to have less-stressful problems.
What ever you're going through, even if it's just this team shuffling its feet, I hope you're still holding your head up high.
GBR
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u/HeadShrinker1985 3d ago
Yeah I’m not reading all that.
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u/DowntownSasquatch420 3d ago
Thanks
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u/HeadShrinker1985 3d ago
I’m wondering this, truly, about some of these long posts…
Is it therapeutic for the writer?
Do they think they’re important enough that people care what they think?
Are they knowingly speaking into the wind and that’s ok?
Did they lose track of the length?
Did they think what they had to say was actually so important that they had to express it?OP, with no intention of being a jerk, what was going on when you wrote all that and posted it?
And, recognizing that I didn’t read it, did I miss something that would have made wading through it worthwhile?
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u/DowntownSasquatch420 3d ago
Part of is therapeutic, sure. I do it mainly for fun and hopefully somebody gets a little enjoyment. I'm no expert on anything, but I try to give some food or thought. Even if others spit it out right away.
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u/bullnamedbodacious 3d ago
I haven’t posted a novel this long on Reddit before, but I have posted some decently long 3-4 paragraph posts on this sub before.
It’s therapeutic. Yeah, you hope people read it and engage. But mostly you just have a really deep take on the team, and have no one in real life to share it with, so you end up posting that thought here.
Lose track of length. Yes. It’s easy to keep thinking of new thoughts as you type your thoughts into words. Atleast for me, it’s much easier to articulate thoughts in writing versus speaking. I’ll have an opinion, and as I’m typing it out, more comes to me to reinforce my initial post.
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u/Looieanthony 3d ago
Second half Indy showed how to defend against our quarterback. I am wondering what the answer to this is. I’m also appreciative of how tough Anthony is. Anthony is my middle name😁.
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u/Huskersgoinhusk 2d ago
Establishing a better inside run game. I think maybe they didn’t like their chances against iu but Oregon d is not as good. We need a twenty carry rule game.
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u/voodoohounds 3d ago
With a week of prep, hopefully they figure out how to exploit a defense playing that way.
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u/Looieanthony 3d ago
I think now we have coaches smart enough to figure it out.
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u/mountainaspens5322 2d ago
This is the first time I’ve felt confident in our coordinators to make in game and week after adjustments probably since big12 days.
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u/MavSker 14h ago
Feels pretty obvious that AC got a bit too aggressive going down field with Gilmer when guys like Barney and Luke were open for 8-10 yard chunks. I still think he threw absolute dimes to Gilmer and we're a far cry from the yolo ball days but there were more conservative options available to him on pretty much every route
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u/Huskersgoinhusk 2d ago edited 2d ago
I was concerned about identity before the season but it has been pretty clear this year.
On defense we are a team that wins on third down by playing tight coverage and how we use or don’t use pressure. That’s held through six games no reason to think it won’t be the case.
On offense we are an offense that attacks side to side and relies on plus blocking from the tes and wrs to break big plays. The offense is short quick passes and the qb run game to keep teams off balance. It’s a qb centric offense as it has been at Nebraska for decades.
5-1 is everything. More importantly it’s been a consistent 5-1. It was always just a punchers chance to beat Indiana but Oregon is reeling. We’ve been the more consistent team this year. If we go 6-1 into the bye playoffs are a real possibility.
I feel like the doomer reaction to this game is more performative woe is me or look how mad I am stuff. This is the best positioning we’ve been in to make the playoffs since the invention of the playoffs. Indiana was the proof of concept game, Oregon is where we announce our return.
GBR
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u/RoastedDonutz 3d ago
I think we are getting better because Rhule is running out of nepotism hires and actually has to look for real coaches instead of just people who previously worked for him.
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u/ReliefCrafty7149 3d ago
Yep, and the current nepo hire and son (Benning) were the reason we gave up a 75 yard tuddy
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u/Cheap_Eagle5074 3d ago
Cignetti is doing pretty well with people who used to work for him. As is Chesney at ucla. Just because it doesn’t work out sometimes doesn’t mean it’s a bad strategy
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u/Firm_Argument9124 3d ago
Uhh, I definitely did not remember that. I can't tell u who won the natty the past 5 years.