Maybe I'm a masochist, but this was kinda fun to put together. Here are the nine games NU lost by five or more touchdowns under Fitz. Was Nebraska the worst?
Was Saturday the worst beatdown of the Fitz Era?
- Thread starter lou v
- Start date
Great article. It would be interesting to compare the # blowouts to other coaches at power 5s with 15+ years of tenure
I think the reasoning is correct here, what's egregious is that Nebraska is probably right around the middle of the Big Ten this year.
We didn't get beaten down by a juggernaut that's going to the CFP or Rose Bowl; we gotten beaten down by a program that's missed bowl games the past 4 years and was 2-3 coming into this game.
Maybe we'll see them differently after their season finishes (upcoming game against Michigan for them is a good test), but just feels like the bottom is falling out under the program defensively right now.
We didn't get beaten down by a juggernaut that's going to the CFP or Rose Bowl; we gotten beaten down by a program that's missed bowl games the past 4 years and was 2-3 coming into this game.
Maybe we'll see them differently after their season finishes (upcoming game against Michigan for them is a good test), but just feels like the bottom is falling out under the program defensively right now.
We know how bad we suck and we embrace it, but most college football fans see that Nebraska rolled over a decent Wildcat team that won a division last year. Thus, the line is coming down and Nebraska is ONLY a 3 pt dog against a top 10 team this week. Martinez has had SERIOUS problems against good defenses. My money is on Michigan winning by more than 3.
Either way, yeah, I think this blowout was the worst because there is no way out of this. The Problem of Fitz is that his loyalty to JON isn't a virtue. So the whole program will tank and that simply is not fair to the players. If I was a player, I'd get the hell out of this madness. In 2 years, Fitz will figure it out and JON will be politely asked to leave with a package. But this buddy-hire also suggest that Fitz couldn't get a good DC to replace Hank and that few Top renown DC's would bother coming here. I think we are done. I think, in fact I'm convinced, that Hankwirtz should get full credit for all of our wins. He is the HOF coach. Fitz is a pretender and knows it so he does all of the rah rah stuff. Now he is getting exposed and he doesn't know what to do. Sad.
I had previously thought that Fitz deserved a lot of the credit, both for hiring Hankwitz and giving him time and also for creating a culture that put a huge value on defense and funneled talent to the defensive side (e.g., Bajakian trying to convert Brandon Joseph to offense, Igwebuike choosing DB).
Now, I'm not so sure. I think Fitz was trying to elevate the program by creating this whole "NFL coach, NFL style defense will get you to the NFL" pitch to recruits and forgot that the program was built on finding under-recruited talent, mastering fundamentals, and avoiding costly mistakes.
Either way, it's obvious Hank deserved a LOT of credit.
Few wanted to work under Fitz since he is a control freak. He ruined McCall who was a decent OC under a spread system, but when Fitz ordered him to try the "Power rushing offense" McCall failed.
It was Gary Barnett who apparently settled Fitz down and told him to trust hank and don't F with his system, and told him to hire Hank. Gary played a part in it. So hank was hired Thank you Gary Barnett.
Last edited:
BTW, this whole idea that we can match up with far superior talented teams and not play on a wide field is bozo. With a SERIOUS lack of speed in this program, we need to spread the field to equalize things. Having 3 TE's in there is mind boggling. With a huge speed gap, even when an opponent doesn't recognize a play, he can adapt since the field is not spread out. Coach Walker was right
Coach Walker +1
Fitz -1
Coach Walker +1
Fitz -1
I think Fitz has become a solid "head of the program/gameday head coach" over the years. The last 5 years shows that as well as all the close wins and comebacks that we've seen.
The biggest issue here is "why allow JON to make changes to the defense?"
That's the part that I don't get, the red flags went up when JON said to the effect that the defense is changed 75% schematically. Why? We have a bunch of assistants that served under Hank, the players played under Hank. There's no reason to change the scheme. Just use the same playbook and learn it.
JON's defenses in the NFL were about aggressively forcing turnovers; the problem is that the cost of that became players out of position/giving up big plays/confusion about who had what assignments/losing lopsided games often.
It's not at all clear that we could ever have the players to make that work; if he's looking to try to implement a system that requires a team speed advantage, we only have that 2 or 3 games a year against the FCS/MAC programs and maybe a Duke.
Hank's defense was all about fundamentals, assignments, understanding responsibilities and limiting big plays. That works when we're often at a deficit in terms of raw team speed. It's at least a recipe for staying in the game against the big programs and gives us a good shot at winning against everyone else.
But yeah Hank deserves a ton of credit for the successes of the last 15 years; he's definitely on a short list of GOAT defensive coordinators.
Last edited:
6 of the 9 were against ranked teams. a seventh team (TN) became ranked after beating us. The outliers were Iowa 2014 (blocked punt and no offense for the Cats), and Nebraska.
I don't believe anyone is saying this is our worst overall game of the Fitz era. I vote for 2010 Wisconsin but some of the OSU ones were bad. I feel it is our worst defensive performance of the Fitz era, and, collectively, you could also say it is the worst 3 game P5 stretch, rivaling the 2010 team after Persa broke down from carrying the entire team on his back.
I don't believe anyone is saying this is our worst overall game of the Fitz era. I vote for 2010 Wisconsin but some of the OSU ones were bad. I feel it is our worst defensive performance of the Fitz era, and, collectively, you could also say it is the worst 3 game P5 stretch, rivaling the 2010 team after Persa broke down from carrying the entire team on his back.
Well Lou, thanks for this trip down memory lane.
I vividly remember that 2007 game in Columbus, I was at a bar in Lincoln Park and they were carting guys off the field, we were getting obliterated...it was dehumanizing (a Hayden Frye quote comes to mind...), but it was by Ohio State - you just take that as expected now and again.
I also remember the emotional pain of when Wisconsin hung 70 on us at Camp Randall en route to one of their three consecutive Rose Bowl bids (which is still mind-blowing when you think about it...I actually just went back to confirm that really happened).
And then there was the Outback Bowl...which I as I'm sure others here remember closing with an Oliver interception in garbage time.
Wounds are too fresh from this weekend and history needs to age this one a bit...but I'm certain it won't age well. This is a middling Nebraska team - probably better than they've gotten credit for so far this season - but they feasted on us and for however long Scott Frost lasts in Lincoln - he owes one of his lives to Fitz, head coach of the Homecoming Opponent.
I vividly remember that 2007 game in Columbus, I was at a bar in Lincoln Park and they were carting guys off the field, we were getting obliterated...it was dehumanizing (a Hayden Frye quote comes to mind...), but it was by Ohio State - you just take that as expected now and again.
I also remember the emotional pain of when Wisconsin hung 70 on us at Camp Randall en route to one of their three consecutive Rose Bowl bids (which is still mind-blowing when you think about it...I actually just went back to confirm that really happened).
And then there was the Outback Bowl...which I as I'm sure others here remember closing with an Oliver interception in garbage time.
Wounds are too fresh from this weekend and history needs to age this one a bit...but I'm certain it won't age well. This is a middling Nebraska team - probably better than they've gotten credit for so far this season - but they feasted on us and for however long Scott Frost lasts in Lincoln - he owes one of his lives to Fitz, head coach of the Homecoming Opponent.
Were you at Lion's Head pub in Lincoln Park? I remember when that was a Cats "home" bar for a few years around 2007
Last edited:
As bad as it is, Fitz is still somehow having a better year than Urban Meyer, so we got that going for us.
That's really an Urban Shocker. You'd think he'd have had better Urban Planning. Perhaps he can still have an Urban Renewal. that's all I got right now. Gotta get the Urban puns in there while he's still employed.
Yup...it was either there or Kendall's...I couldn't remember which year they "switched over" so wanted to be vague
I’d thought that kind of behavior was beneath him, but I guess he’s become suburban.
Ahhh, the good old days. I used to switch off between Kendall's and Kincade's depending on who had the better wing specials that day.Yup...it was either there or Kendall's...I couldn't remember which year they "switched over" so wanted to be vague
We all gave him a lot of credit. I try to never judge a situation when something goes wrong but wait until we see what they do about it. This is just such a situation. But we have two people to see what they do. First JON to see if he can get a hold of things and then to see what Fitz does if JON cannot. For Fitz'z actions, we likely have to wait for the end of the season. for anything official. Some things might be done behind the scenes but hard to know if we will be informed. Let's just wait and see
This pretty much sums it up. The way the defense has just fallen apart is what's particularly problematic this year.
All we can hope is we don't add more games to this list this year.
We all gave him a lot of credit. I try to never judge a situation when something goes wrong but wait until we see what they do about it. This is just such a situation. But we have two people to see what they do. First JON to see if he can get a hold of things and then to see what Fitz does if JON cannot. For Fitz'z actions, we likely have to wait for the end of the season. for anything official. Some things might be done behind the scenes but hard to know if we will be informed. Let's just wait and see
In the college game, while at FL and dOSU he was always able to have a significant talent advantage. That is very hard to do in the pro game. What makes a top college coach and what makes a top pro coach are often not the same