This well-written piece summarizes the state of Nebraska football under Bo Pelini. The author is a Cornhusker fan and posted it on his blog after last Saturday's loss to Wisconsin. Numerous media sources picked up on it. I thought it was worth sharing...
This was my biggest problem Saturday. And that's saying a lot because there were so many problems.
I actually think one play in the first quarter sums up the entire Bo Pelini era.
Pre-game, Wiscy determined there were (at least) two tendencies they could exploit on our defense: 220 lb Gregory and/or Anderson would struggle with edge contain. And our LB's over-commit to the middle and aren't athletic enough to avoid the wash and never get to the edge.
We've seen this before. Against lots of teams. Against the same team.
So, after watching our D sell out on the up the middle stuff, Wiscy OC/OL coach made a minor adjustment. They put a guy in motion - either a TE or WR - and then ran off tackle. I may be miss-explaining some nuance, but that's mostly it. My shitty HS coach would do it all the time. After the first quarter he'd take a white board and show my position group (WR) that he wanted us to crack the WILL instead of going to look for the FS, or he'd drag us across the field pre-snap to kick out (or in my case) get in front of the free man on the playside.
Pelini era signature 1: Opponent gameplan was designed to exploit our worst athletes by using their best athletes. Our strategy was to outsmart our opponent with "scheme" and [insert word for coaches outsmarting other coaches].
Pelini era signature 2: A competent coordinator added a wrinkle to the scheme early in the game to adjust for what the other team was doing. The assistant's coached up their position groups, and the players executed the change, which resulted in success... except it happened to Nebraska. Meanwhile, Nebraska's coordinators (DC and OC) stuck to the "gameplan" and continued to try the same stuff. With the same players.
Pelini era signature 3 (and the reason I hate this guy so much): The first time the effects of one teams changing was in the middle of the first quarter when Davie got pushed out by a TE that started the play on the opposite side of the backfield. Both LB's were crashing the middle on the snap (coaching), got caught in the wash (talent), and then Davie got blocked by a TE he never saw coming, and BOOM, Gordon goes for 42 yards.
There was all sorts of execution bad on this play. Pelini, true to form, screamed at Davie on the sideline long enough for ESPN to pick it up (and time it). But - and this is the KEY SIGNATURE OF BO PELINI - "make sure everyone in the world knows it was the player's fault" and "Don't teach him how to fix it. Don't coach him up. Just embarrass him."
Wiscy ran the same play, or a derivative of it, over and over and over and over again for about 340 more yards in the next 15 plays and two quarters.
At first, Bo was furious with the players that were in the wrong position and not making plays. But nobody - not Bo, not Puppetchis - nobody changed anything. Bo went from furious to despondent. And the kids on the field kept doing the same thing...on both sides of the ball, over and over again.
It was like the early days of Nintendo (Madden or Tecmo Bowl) when you figured out where the idiot computer programmers that knew nothing about football made an error in the game design, and you could run one play over and over and it would always work because the program wasn't dynamic enough to adjust. That was this game. And it's not the first time. It's not even the fourth time.
I can only imagine the dialogue between the Wiscy booth and the Wiscy coach on the field at the beginning of the second quarter.
Coach on field: Let me know how wide the LB's are starting, or XXX or XXX (anything showing NU defensive alignment was adjusting after what had just happened).
Booth: You're not going to believe this, but they're in the same set.
Coach: What?
Booth: Yah, I mean, exactly the same set.
Coach: Huh, really? Well, okay (calls same play).
[start of 3rd quarter]
Booth: same set. Again.
Coach: You're **** kidding me.
Booth: I know, I mean, I suppose we could call our next adjustment, just to practice it, but...it won't really work until they change what they're doing.
Coach: Well, I guess we should just try to get Melvin the Heisman today.
And THAT is the Pelini era.
That one play exposed the worst and darkest aspects of Bo Pelini:
- Gameplan was not designed based on personnel, it was designed based on the scheme that Bo and Beck wanted to run.
- When opponent made adjustments in game, Nebraska's coordinators didn't know how to adjust, or the "yes man" assistant coaches didn't know how to convey the change to their players...regardless of the reason: the poor pre-snap alignment, poor over-pursuit... it didn't change.
- Offense: make no changes even after opponent adjusts and is stopping everything that was working in the 1st quarter. Call plays that show how brilliant you are as a coach, even if you don't have a quarterback than can make the throw, and even if they play is not designed for one of your good players (much less, one of your best players).
- When it starts to go bad, berate the players.
- Then berate the refs.
- Then berate your assistant coaches.
- Change nothing. Teach nothing. COACH no one.
- Then quit. Quit on your players. Quit on your coaches. Say nothing to no one. Stand there, despondent, waiting for the game to end.
- At the press conference, make it clear that this is not your fault, it's a failure of execution. By everyone (except, by definition, the guy telling them to execute).
Chatelain writes: "But here’s the catch: In seven of the eight lopsided losses, the Huskers were ahead or tied in the second quarter. Often they led by multiple scores."
The obvious takeaway is that Bo and his barely Division 2 qualified coaching staff gets out coached once the game starts.
But Pelini's failure is SO much bigger than merely "poor at making in-game adjustments." That's just a symptom of the REAL problem, which is that he is arrogant and incapable of self-evaluation. It's why he can't make adjustments. But it's also why he's never altered his failed recruiting strategy (which is to not have one). He doesn't care about recruiting because any decent athlete can execute his system. It's why he blames his players/coaches for anything and everything that goes wrong. It's why he quits when things go bad. And it's why his teams quit and get blown out.
The values of a football program are reflected in the head coach. Those that think Nebraska has become the butt of ESPN jokes because of the epic blowouts are overstating what the brand has become. It's become a name invoking paper champions, tons of bravado, lots of Tweets, with no fight, no backbone, no personal responsibility, whose coach embarrasses its student athletes as publicly as possible (for making mistakes that are often the result of bad coaching), and plays hurt players - every year - with no regard for their personal futures. And they're quitters. Like they were taught to be. That is the Bo Pelini Nebraska Football program.
One play. You get the entire Pelini era in one play.
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:11880507