Martinez's "Forward Progress" and Nebraska SB Nation - Relative Lack of Salt

Beat Stae. Oh, beat NW first. 

In 1997 my hatred of Nebraska was at an all-time high.  I didn't like the grandstanding they did, I didn't like that the coaches poll gave Tom Osborn a parting gift, I didn't like how they won against Missouri that year, and I hated Scott Frost.  

Over the years, however, as their program has fallen from the top of the sport and I got to meet a fair number of Nebraska fans....I think the reality is that I just hate Scott Frost.  If you subtracted him from the last 30 years of Nebraska history....I might almost respect their program.  

I feel like I read on here a lot that Nebraska fans are very good fans and actually extremely nice.  I was in Mexico during the game on Saturday and actually saw a guy with a Nebraska hat on so I decided to strike up a conversation.  Not only was he an extremely nice guy but he was also very reasonable with his takes on his team, Michigan and the rest of the Big 10.  I hope to be able to go to a game in Lincoln at some point because I appreciate and value good fanbases.  The horseshoe not so much. Go Blue!

A low sodium diet is a good idea, especially if you're saving up your daily salt allowance to use on some hot buttered corn.

I think a lot of the claims of forward progress being stopped were also fueled directly by the idiot crew who now does ESPN's College Football Final. 

It helps that a lot of them are not on the Frost (or Martinez) bandwagon.

As much Frost's face is punchable(very) the bad guy in 97 was Fulmer. Fulmer wasn't giving Osborne a going away present, he was sticking it to us for Woodson beating his boy.

My general experience is that the SB Nation blogs don't have the crazy fans, despite those sites being free to access.  The real yahoos are typically on 24/7, and you know they're crazy because they pay subscription fees for updates on (fill in team name) recruiting when it will be posted elsewhere a couple days later.

Good coaches teach their players to keep playing until you hear the whistle.

Initially the fans out of Nebraska were very upset about the officiating. The joint possession rule is one that you don't normally hear because the refs typically just grant possession to the offense without making an announcement. The delay of game on the defense is a rare call. A questionable pass interference call was made.

But I think after seeing that their first touchdown should have been an illegal formation, Cade's interception should have been either a false start or off sides, their late substitution touchdown shouldn't have been allowed by the refs who didn't give us time to substitute, delay of game on the defense is a real call, and the forward progress clearly wasn't stopped on the Martinez fumble, plus every review went there way, they realized that the officiating benefited them a lot more than most would care to admit.   

Nebraska fans are some of the most decent, informed, and fair-minded you will ever meet in person.  Behind the keyboard there is that faction that most every fanbase has that believe their team and coaches can do no wrong. That whiny, my -team -was -cheated faction has been out in force after this game with their conspiracy theories and bitching, and no amount of logic of facts is going to change their minds. One such fan posted the Facebook profile pic of one of the refs working a Northwestern at Michigan game.  In the foreground there is the ref, two Michigan players and a Northwestern player, and and to several of the posters, that's proof of the Michigan bias of this official.

After the initial complaining I saw a lot of takes like this one, with fans recognizing that had Martinez broken free from the pack a moment later they wouldn't have wanted the whistle blown.  Plus, Erick All had a similar play the drive earlier where the refs let him keep churning forward even when he was surrounded by players.  

And on balance, I thought the refs were bad but it was badness evenly distributed across both teams.  

I live in Omaha, so I have a first hand account of the reaction here . . . and it is exceptionally salty. 90% of people who I've talked to about the game (my neighbors/coworkers all know I'm a Michigan fan) is that they absolutely won and had the game stolen from them by a high level officiating conspiracy. 

I've brought up the offsides on Cade's interception, the illegal formation touchdown, the late substitution touchdown, the complete lack of holding calls on their LT, etc. but they are still convinced that the officiating gave us an unfair advantage. I've even heard that the B1G has fixed it for Michigan to win to this year (seriously!) and that Nebraska needs to leave the B1G to get fair officiating (ironically, they said the same thing when they left the Big 12). 

Generally, I've learned to like the Nebraska fans, and generally root for Nebraska against the rest of the conference. This week though, it's been insufferable.

I don't like Frosty but Nebraska's fanbase is highly respectable.

In years past it seems like referees were quicker to blow the whistle a signal the end of a play. Now, every play ends with a standing dog pile until the ref finally ends the play.

When did this change? Or didn't it?

Born in Nebraska, I rooted for them too, until the 1997 whining and going-away gift to Osborne.

Even after that, I was fine when they won, because of my Dad, who graduated from Nebraska and worked for the university. (Also, Nebraska became a powerhouse thanks to a guy from Michigan, Bob Devaney.) 

Now? Yeah, nice folks as fans but Whiny McPoutFace as coach means I had NO mixed feelings at all.

Go Blue! 

Whoever said it elsewhere was right- if that pile was a yard short of the line to gain and they blew the whistle in that situation, people would be apoplectic about the early whistle. Sucks to lose but it was 100% correct to not blow the whistle there

It was 3rd and 1 in a tie game, and this is lost in a lot of the discussion about this play where Martinez was stripped. The officials are not going to blow the whistle when the player is actively fighting for yards (which he was). Imagine a scenario where the officials blow the whistle early, and Martinez is  short of a first down that he eventually gains after the whistle? It was some terrible luck for Nebraska, but I don't think this is a play you can be raw over with the official. The PI was a terrible call. This whistle (or lack of timely whistle), not so much.

If he broke free and they blew the whistle, they'd whine that the refs blew it dead. There's zero chance, imo, that he decided to let the ball go because the play was basically dead. A turnover prone quarterback in his biggest game ever at the most pivotal moment? Sure. It's not even a controversy

Nebraska is a football team that has had one recruiting class crack the national top 20 in the last 4 years (2019, 17th). Regardless, they just took undefeated Michigan down to the wire in Lincoln.  That is more damning of Michigan football and coaching than it is of Nebraska.  Michigan score 4 FGs instead of touchdowns, which means they left at least 16 points on the field. 

Nebraska took other rickety ranked teams to the wire as well, like Oklahoma & MSU.   The Huskers are going to do the same thing again probably vs. Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio State, Purdue and Iowa.

Nebraska has major flaws, but is significantly improved and dangerous - both to their opponents and to themselves.  This is why Nebraska football should be dubbed the Official 2021 Commemorative Indiana BIG10 Chaos Team Award already.

As with most BIG10 chaos teams, like the Northwestern and Indiana versions of seasons' past, the Huskers too must demonstrably shoot themselves in the foot once or more times per game, but not before forcing opponent fanbases to apply a chest defibrillator. Clear!

On paper Michigan should have destroyed Nebraska decisively in that game. But they didn't. So UM fans must rationalize the narrow road win with explanations that don't make any logical sense given what the world know about llinois for example. This is why there's this squirrel scratching away at our hindbrains, frantically trying to remind us that because of not winning decisively against mediocre teams that something bad likely lies ahead on the schedule.