Perhaps the BEST B1G Forum anywhere, here at College Football Fan Site, CFB51!!!

Brad Banks was awesome.

Husker's worst season

2007
Won 5, Lost 7
Big 12: Won 2, Lost 6, tie fifth place North
Coach Bill Callahan


11/03  #Kansas        Lawrence    L 39-76

remarkably, that team managed to score 73 points the very next week (73-31 vs KSU).  I still think that's the only time that's happened in I-A history.   Of course they lost 65-51 to close out the season.   I still put 2004 and '15 as the worst.     Billy C's arrogance and total cluelessness was so obnoxious.    His gameplans, specifically @ Lubbock, and his attitude towards OU were enough,  he should've been sent packing immediately.    Riley's '15 season was bewildering.    The lowest moment of them all since the Bill Jennings era, the Ryker Fyfe game @ Purdue giving up double nickel on a dreary, sleepy gathering of about 10,000 people, coupled with some mind numbing games (@ Ill in particular, throwing deep balls in blowing wind, clock mgmt disasters all year).

Oof.  I really envy some of you, at least you've had some great seasons mixed in with bad ones, maybe if if you're lucky a NC or two.  Dang it must be easy to be a fan of a certain school. 

i know this is directed at bama fans and i understand why. no denying this is an incredible run and certainly easy to be a fan right now.

but it hasn't always been this way. there was a time i wasn't sure we'd ever compete for a title, much less win a title again.

growing up in the 80's, i never got to experience the "glory days" of bryant. but you can bet your ass i knew all about it. grew up expecting to get back there one day and as a pre-teen got to see one first hand.

but after that, there was what can best be described as turmoil. serious infractions kept us out of bowls and off tv for a few years, cost us a good coach, and when it seems we've come through it about 5 years later, BAM... all over again.

another solid coach left us (for your ags, wtf happened to him there btw?) high and dry, can't really blame him, we got mike price who disgraced us and himself before even coaching a game, and we had to scramble literally in the summer before the season to hire shula. unheard of time to hire a coach. and one with no experience, no spring practice, biggest thing going for him was his last name. and while i think alabama and it's fans really aught to appreciate shula and what he did far FAR more than we do, he wasn't ever going to take us to the heights we aspired. He took over when no one wanted it, and rightfully so. got us through some of the harshest penalties in ncaa history, brought at least a modicum of respectability back to bama, kept us clean and laid a foundation for a future. we really do owe him a wealth of gratitude that he doesn't get.

during his reign, i wasn't sure we'd ever recover. i remember thinking and saying that we shouldn't have fired him. not because he was a great coach, but because i thought he was the best we could do right then. i said if we could get a coach like saban (lsu saban which was still a huge step up and one of best in cfb, but not juggernaut bama saban) then we should, but i really didn't think we could. we had the same problem it seems texas is dealing with now. and probably most of the big time schools. too many powers that want to call the shots and have unreasonable control on the program. no way i thought any coach in saban's caliber would take that on with the baggage that we had at the time.

and i was at least partially right. saban demanded full control and not meddling from anyone. and to the powers at bama's credit, they stepped aside and gave him that. hoefully we've learned our lesson and won't revert back when he's gone.

long winded way to say there was a long section of my life, roughly half at this point, in which bama was in utter disarray with no sign of coming out of it, just digging deeper. it hasn't always been easy. was in fact quite hard for a long while.

i had to have this convo with my 10yo son just yesterday actually. said something about should have won the title or something, we're the best ever, how could they beat us they haven't won one in forever, etc, i told him to appreciate being there and appreciate this run, because it's extremely unlikely to happen again and it most certainly hasn't always been that way. bama is probably/arguably the best program all time, but that doesn't mean we're always the best program/team. in fact, until quite recently (which happens to be his entire life) we were far from the best even in our own state, much less the sec or cfb as a whole. so enjoys the wins, the titles, even the close losses, because too soon for us and not soon enough for everyone else, we will drop back to at least just another good team with the chance. in fact, we should hope that's as far as we fall.

I wasn't necessarily calling out Bama fans, just fans of certain schools that have to think real hard about best season in your lifetime because there are some good ones and the result is either a NC or close NC.  Bama, tOSU, Clemson, OU.  They're all in there.  

For Texas fans, the Mack Brown era culminated with the 2005 MNC, OU fans would could probably draw from 2000 or even ?86.  But either way they've been very, very successful.  Obviously Georgia has been really successful over the last ~10 years but even then someone born in the 70's could pick from either the 1980 championship or this years.  

Nebraska, while not highly successful in the last 20 years still have a lot to hang their hat on during the 90's.  LSU has been lucky enough to win a MNC under three different consecutive coaches, and one was with two losses to boot to add insult to injury.  Can you imagine how many teams that had one or two losses that could not play for a title while LSU did it with two losses?  A&M's 2012 team lost early to Florida in the first game with a new coach, beat #1 Bama, beat everyone else except a talented LSU team and could have very easily won that game.  IIRC we missed a few easy field goals that would have won the game or at least changed the outcome. 

For A&M, it would have to go back 82 years.  1939.  That my friend is a very long time.  

Always next year I guess!  

I really thought Franchione was going to do well at Texas A&M.  He had great connections within the state, some solid coaching history, and plenty of swagger.

My ag FIL tells me that Fran probably had TOO MUCH swagger, came off as arrogant and aloof.  My FIL was a pretty generous donor back around that time and rubbed shoulders with the coaching staff and administration, so he'd know a lot better than I would.

If Florida is hot shit, then UCF must be scorching. 

My attitude is in direct correlation of my age and when Spurrier got it going for the Gators.  In my viewing lifetime, Florida is 4th in win% (not counting Boise), has 3 NCs and reached a #1 ranking in 7 different seasons.
So yeah, I think we're hot shit.  There's a reason.

The frustration of being a fan of Ohio State is the amazing consistency of the Buckeyes.  Without knowing when exactly your "viewing lifetime" began, I already know that Ohio State is one of the three programs ahead of yours in winning percentage.  I do take pride in that, but note that UF has three NC's (1996, 2006, 2008) while tOSU only has two (2002, 2014).  

Depending on exactly when your "viewing lifetime" started Ohio State is almost certainly #1 in winning percentage but I would guess that the majority of the teams in that top group each have more NC's than Ohio State.  

It is a good and a bad thing.  Ohio State has had very few bad seasons and they haven't strung together a decade or more of them in about a century.  No other program has accomplished anywhere close to that level of consistent performance.  That is the good part.  The bad part is that Ohio State hasn't peaked as high as most of the other programs in Ohio State's universe and "only" has two NC's in the last 50 years.