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I know this is my first post, but I’ve been following the boards as a guest for around 5 years. Anyway, not the point of the post but a simple preface. Here’s the reason for posting: First off, congrats to the players on a much needed win. But, I’m not so sure I’m as impressed with the win as others from a standpoint of the coaches. As I was driving yesterday, I listed to Coatney and Taylor’s post game call in show. There are many people who feel the defensive staff has done so much better since the first half of the Oregon game. Sure the stats may show this, but I am afraid there is too much smoke in the mirror here. Oregon threw the ball far less in the second half than the first following the interception early in the 3rd Quarter. I believe it was only a handful of times actually, compared to the many passes of the first half. Oregon doesn’t let up, and that’s a much different game in my honest opinion. Sure we held it close with NIU, but it was a second string quarterback, and I’m fairly certain the atheletes and depth at Oregon are superior to those at NIU...and the same observation could be said about Rutgers. No disrespect meant to either team, but it’s reality. I know many many will say, we will see against Wisconsin. But, some of the phone in’s last night would have you believe we just beat Alabama or Clemson. Many were also quite in favor of giving MR and staff another year under a new AD saying he has not had enough time. I disagree. Considering coaches like Harbaugh, and Chryst both were hired the same year as MR and both of them have been top 10 for some time. Now, I know Wisconsin was good under Beliema and declined a bit with Anderson, but Mich was not good under Hoke. And also Franklin at PSU. How can they do it, yet we can’t expect our coach too? The reality is, MR is a lifetime .500 coach and a move from Corvallis to Lincoln isn’t going to change that. I know he is a great guy, and the personality was a welcome change from before, though I never had a huge issue with Bo I can understand why people did. So so far we have won a squeaker against ASU, came up a bit short after a horrible first half at ORE, lost to NIU (when many were certain this wouldn’t happen), and won by 10 against argueably the bottom team in the B10. I just don’t see how NU can afford to keep MR another year unless he wins out. Do a search and find out AD then a new coach. Those who say Frost isn’t ready...his UCF team just beat a very solid Maryland team who beat Texas, who then played a very close game with USC. Based on his previous year, and early games this year, I’d say he’s ready if he wants it. Hopefully, he’d love to return to UNL. Sorry for a long first post, and again, congrats to the players on a needed win. GBR!

http://www.espn.com/college-football/recap?gameId=400935362 I know this has been discussed some but this is really just incredibly stupefying in my opinion. How do you not consider making a change at QB with everything that has happened the past 3 weeks? The guy has thrown multiple interceptions in 3 straight games and pulling from another thread/poster, is responsible for half the points the team has given up the last 3 weeks BY HIMSELF. As much as I want HCMR to succeed here it is seeming like he won't get out of his own way. You have a perfect opportunity to get POB ready for a first start against Illinois this week. If he plays a half against Rutgers and a game against Illinois and plays well, then he gives you a new dynamic for the Wisconsin/tOSU games. If he doesn't play well, then what's the worst that happens? They have to prepare for 2 QB's? At least with POB there is a little more added mobility and you can bring back a few of those run concepts from last year's team with the zone reads and QB draws/powers. Damon Benning said it best. You have to be held accountable for your poor performance on the field. First it was not benching the guys in 2015 that didn't want to be coached/play for the new staff. Then it was not benching guys like Conrad/Knevel/Hahn who were clearly in over their heads last year. And Knevel and Conrad have both looked awful again this year. Ozigbo, Kieron Williams, etc. The fact that HCMR and staff have the balls to sit a guy like Kieron Williams but not Lee tells me all I need to know about the competency level of this staff. It is time to give POB a shot.

We do control our own destiny...but are we willing to shell out the necessary cash this time?

There are a few issues with this, and all of them represent a huge problem here. 1) Patrick O'Brien isn't remotely ready to go. This, after enrolling early, spending two springs, and one full season, including two summer workouts, in the program under this OC, the alleged "Quarterback Whisperer." 2) O'Brien is ready to go, but the coaches think he'll get killed behind this O Line. Which is a huge problem pointing at Cavanaugh. 3) O'Brien is ready to go, they're not that worried about the O Line, but they think Lee is really the guy to lead us this season, meaning we have another Sam Keller situation on our hands. 4) The coaches see no benefit to letting Lee view a series or two from the sideline to get his bearings. This is patently false, though.

We are 38-5 all time in night games at Memorial. Hopefully that helps *Losses to Washington 91, Texas 02, USC 07, Va Tech 08, Mizzou 08. I was at 4 of those games. I will not be at the game this weekend.

I might add that Rutgers played a pretty close game with Washington, actually ranked in the top ten. In that game Washington played at full strength, where Nebraska played with 6 or 7 starters out, possibly more. I want to give it the season before we make rash judgments. If we can succeed with out replacing a coaching staff, I would rather see that. It seems the Chancellor and President have a realistic approach.

Part of the problem is that they don't chain their runs off each other, nor do they run PA out of their most common or successful run plays. For example, we had some early success with the counter O, but we don't run anything off of the same look. That is, with a guard and TE pulling towards the 'backside' of the play, we don't run anything where those guys pull and the RB goes towards the frontside. Maybe if we ran a trap or a dive where those guys both pull and block towards the middle? It would give, initially at least, the same look, but they would be two different plays. If the defense starts biting hard on one play, run the other and watch your RB pull in 15-20 yards a pop. An A-gap dive or a variation on an inside zone split would work wonderfully. Add in a play action off the same look, and that's another possibility for a big play. Right now, there's no real continuity or connection between the plays being run. It's about as random as pulling plays from a hat. It also ties into identity. Right now, we don't have an identity, we don't have a core group of plays we can point to and say 'this is what we like to do'. A good offense starts with a core group of plays. For example, inside zone, outside zone, bubble screen, slant bubbles, levels, corner curls. From there, plays are added that, initially, look identical to the core plays, but go different directions. Like a zone counter split, read option, inverted veer, fake bubble fade, corner post (with an underneath out route) and so on. Finally, a smart OC will add in situational plays, meant to beat specific fronts and coverages based on who they play any particular week. And if you've got a good enough QB or an excellent communication system (signs or signals from the sidelines) you can put in hot routes and audibles to beat particular blitzes, especially ones your opponents like to run. Anything else on top of that is just style. The core principles remain the same, regardless of what 'system' an offense runs. West Coast, pro style, spread, even being 'multiple', whatever, doesn't matter. Establishing an identity by having and running a core group of plays makes everything an offense does easier. A defense will tool itself to try to stop your core plays, but by running a play that directly exploits a defense expecting something else, and you'll have huge, backbreaking explosive plays. And if they don't adjust to stopping your core plays, since they're the plays your offense is the most familiar with and (hopefully) the best at running, you'll still be able to drive down the field. Osborne's teams did this. The counter trey was specifically designed to exploit defenses that were over committing to stop the power O. The read option was specifically designed to take advantage of overly aggressive 'contain' defenders. Right now, our offense doesn't seem to have any 'core' plays, let alone any counters to our core plays. They're not chaining plays together, and many times it seems like each new look only has one play that's ever run out of it. It's a poorly designed offense. While they have some well designed individual plays (at times), there's no continuity between plays, nothing that really links them together. That's why defenses are able to key in and stop up seemingly at will. At least, that's my opinion anyway.

I 100% agree with this. People posting on message boards are the reason for this teams fall. If it wasn't for people being so damn negative after Arkansas state game we would be 4-0 now. You damn negative people should be ashamed of yourselves.

His grandpa screwed my grandpa out of some prime Louisiana swamp land back in the day and we had to relocate to Nebraska.

If Coach Riley is fired, I really have no problem with it. He will have had his chance. But I think all things should be considered before such action is taken. I will put my faith in the administration. I really have no concern with what a group of loudmouth internet coaches have to say. I seriously doubt any of you are, but you claim to be, so will go with that. But as coaches you have gone against the primary rule in coaching. So your credibility to me is very questionable. As some have said, we have fired 9 win coaches, all though both were deserved, do we really want to add a mid season firing to our resume? Stability and playing on a high level is what the administration has said. To accomplish that, they are going to have to spend money, and that is something this program does not normally do. We look for the budget way out. If this happens, especially mid season, it is going to take a lot more money than Nebraska has ever considered paying. I have endorsed and supported every coach Nebraska has had other than Mr. Pelini. I am sure whom ever or if Coach Riley continues I will support them. But running around screaming the ship is sinking, wolf or fire does not seem like the right thing to be doing.

I think the number of fans who think Riley has much of a chance of staying is very small. But I also think lots of people ignore the conditional part of conditional statements so they can call people crazy and/or foolish. If I were to say "If Riley wins the next 9 games," it doesn't mean I think he'll win the next 9 games. It might mean I think there is a 0.0001% chance he'll win the next 9 games. But I'm still allowed to say "If Riley wins the next 9 games" and make whatever my next statement is, without it making me a crazy optimist. It's like... thinking about winning $200 million and what you'd do with the money. It's not going to happen, but that doesn't mean you were a nutjob to think of what you would do with $200 million. It also doesn't mean you're going to be devastated when it doesn't happen. So that said, if Riley wins 9 games this season (pre-Bowl) that would mean he beat at least 3 of the following 4 teams: Wisconsin, Ohio State, Iowa, Penn State. I really can't see him getting fired this season if he does that. What I can see is the AD preparing to fire him next year if he doesn't improve in 2018. That means beating those types of teams again, and not starting out so horribly.

The land is indeed, barren. It could really use a good, hard frost. (I'm aware that makes zero sense from an agricultural standpoint).

This can't be a serious post, can it? Rutgers is the worst team we will play all season and we BARELY got past them at home. I don't see how you can feel the entire team is getting better. I guess you didn't watch the game yesterday...

I have seen many people criticizing Pelini for playing "too many walk-ons from Nebraska". I wonder how many forgot that the last National Championship Nebraska won we had 9 guys from Nebraska starting on offense? We all have to remember that Callahan completely decimated the tradition, walk-on program, and the system that was in place that made Nebraska so successful. Pelini isn't going to be able to completely rebuild this in only 4 years, but he has made a ton of progress. Scott Frost's "thoughts" were relevant in 2005 and still offer valuable insight for Nebraska fans today. 11/10/05 Scott's Thoughts by Scott Frost Sometimes I think that I care too much. I was in Lawrence on Saturday and I saw our guys go down in defeat at the hands of a team that we had beaten every year for almost four decades. I can’t tell you how hard it was to watch. Seeing Jayhawk fans yelling and jeering and storming the field made my stomach turn. Now in the wake of that loss I have been hearing all sorts of opinions about what is going wrong and what should be changed. Some of them make some sense and some are ridiculous. People everywhere I go are asking me for my views on the program. I certainly don’t have all of the answers, but I can offer you some of my feelings as a former player who has bled, sweat, thrown-up, cried, fought, been criticized, been vindicated, and been a part of a champion while wearing Husker red. I have concerns and a few problems with some of the things that have happened surrounding our beloved program. I have talked to a lot of other players and they have the same concerns. I cannot speak for any of them or for anyone else, but I think people would like to know how ex-players feel, and I think that my opinions probably reflect those of most of the guys who have been a part of Husker football. Let me begin by reiterating that the reason so many of us are so frustrated is that we care so much. That concern is what sets Nebraska apart. I started my career at another institution where it is not nearly as rare to go five and six, and I’ve seen first hand how much more passion there is surrounding Husker football than almost every other program in the country. Sometimes I don’t think that some of the people in the program right now knew what they were getting themselves into when they signed up to come here. That leads me to my first major concern about what is happening at Memorial Stadium- the complete and intentional departure and detachment from anything that had to do with the way it was. Let’s start with the people. We didn’t just get a new coaching staff two years ago, there was basically a house cleaning. So many of the people in South stadium who made Nebraska what it was either left or were forced to leave that many of us as former players do not even feel comfortable coming around the campus anymore. That’s a shame. It was commonplace when I was playing to have ex-players like Cory Schlessinger, Tyrone Williams, and Will Shields come to meetings or compete against us in passing league. Now, most guys don’t even know who to call if they want to watch a practice. I know they kept Coach Gill around when they brought in the new staff and he was a link to the past, but he moved on. Jimmy Williams and Marvin Sanders weren’t asked to return. Their excellent coaching abilities aside, it sure would be nice to have someone like them on the staff that is familiar with the traditions of Nebraska football. It isn’t just university employees either, it’s also the players. When we won the national championship in 1997, nine out of our eleven starters on offense were from the state of Nebraska. We had a system in place that was able to organize and develop more athletes, therefore there were more players on a Nebraska practice field than most schools normally have. A great number of those players were walk-ons from the state of Nebraska who would give their heart and soul for the football team. Not only did that create a team that cared more about winning, it also made for a huge amount of caring and involvement throughout the state. When you live in a town like Funk, Nebraska, and you know Kyle Larson personally, it generates a sense of pride in our state for a program that could take boys from our own hometowns and develop them into players who could compete with and beat anyone. I’m all for going to California and Florida to recruit great players. Heaven knows we need guys like Marlon Lucky and Harrison Beck to make us better, but I also wish we wouldn’t stop making the effort to bring home-grown athletes along as Huskers. If you want more proof about the complete overhaul of Nebraska football, look at some of the small things. Why after so many years did “Husker Power” fail to be a worthy slogan for our team? Now it’s “the power of red”. Why did the program where the coaches went to Lincoln, Omaha, and a town out west to show loyal fans the game film end? Talk about a way to help keep fans interested and loyal (fundraising!). Even Herbie Husker got an overhaul from blonde to brunette. It almost feels like anything that symbolizes or relates to the Huskers of Devaney, Osborne, and Solich was simply not good enough anymore. That leads me to the next major concern that I have right now-its character. I’m not making this point to attack or demean anyone. I just know the kind of character that people throughout the program used to have. It all started with Tom Osborne. The man simply has more honor and integrity than anyone I have ever known. When he knew something was right, he did it. When he knew something was wrong, he always stayed away. I never once got cursed at by a Nebraska coach on the football field. Our coaches had a biblical devotional every morning before they started their meetings. Tom would never promise a recruit playing time, he would simply tell them that they would get a fair opportunity to show what they could do. The best complement that you could get from him is that you were “a pretty good player”. He’s the kind of guy that could lead a group of people to accomplish the absolute most that they were capable of accomplishing. The character didn’t just end with Tom either. Ron Brown and Turner Gill are two of the best people I know. Milt Tenopir was like a father to most of the guys who played for him. The relationship that Charlie had with most of his guys, while slightly different, was wonderful. It was like a big family, and that environment made us all want to work harder and succeed that much more. We simply did things better and cleaner at the University of Nebraska than they did it anywhere else. There was an element of class about the program that was the envy of every other college football team. I want to become a college football coach, and I plan on looking for a place to start a career in that field after this season is over. A few months ago I told Ron Brown that I wanted to coach. His advice to me was that if I was getting into coaching just to try to win games and be around football, then it wasn’t worth it. It would drive me crazy and the hours wouldn’t be justified. If I was going to coach on the other hand, with my primary goal being to try and impact the lives of the guys that you work with than the job could be more rewarding than almost anything else I could do. I’m paraphrasing a little bit, but you get the point. I really think that for most of the staff, winning was a goal that was secondary to shaping us as players into good men. I’m not saying things are different now, I don’t know. I would just hate to see us become like everybody else in college football. We have always been special, and I hope we always will be. Building on that point, I would like to add this. It is not fair to be calling for the firing of any of our coaches right now. Everyone is entitled to their opinions about how things are going on the field, but we owe these guys a fair chance to get things turned around. If I was a coach that took over a program like Nebraska I would feel like I deserved at least three or four years to fully integrate my philosophies and tactics as a coach and leader. Granted there probably needs to be signs of improvement along the way, but it’s not fair to be talking about a change right now. It also doesn’t make sense to be firing so many arrows at the staff in the middle of the season. These guys have a job to do, and the fewer distractions they have, the better they will perform. On top of that, we don’t want the players feeling like they are in the midst of a firestorm. We don’t want them worried that they might have a new coach in a year or two or three. I have heard rumors that some of our vaunted freshmen are kicking around the idea of transferring. We can’t lose these kids. Whoever is coaching needs talented players. There is a time and a place for everything. If things haven’t improved by the end of the ’06 season then maybe people should voice their opinions on who is the right person to lead our program, but not right now. Now is the time that we should be supporting our team and our players so that they understand that they are a part of something special. People always ask me what I think about the West Coast Offense. I simply say this. They are going to have to prove to me that it is the best way to win in Lincoln, Nebraska before I believe it. I’m not saying it can’t work. There are all sorts of different kinds of offensive systems that work in college football; everything from Utah’s spread offense to USC’s west coast, to Air Force’s option attack. If you have the right players and you coach your system well, most offenses can be successful. You can’t argue with the success that the WCO has had at both the collegiate and professional levels. It can work, but the jury is still out as to whether it will work here. On the other hand, I hear people arguing that a running and or option attack like the one we used to run is outdated and won’t work anymore. Let me tell you something- not that much has changed since the mid-nineties. The athletes are not that much bigger and stronger. Einstein didn’t come back to life and invent a defense that can stop a properly run belly option. Like I said, any system can work if you teach the right players the right way. That being said, there were reasons why Tom Osborne ran the system that he did (reference my blog from 9/14). You don’t have to throw the ball every down to win. You don’t have to run it every down either, but some kind of running game sure would help. Finally, my biggest frustration as a former player is the way in which some decisions have been made by the administration as well as the way some things have been handled. It is hard for me to comment on some of these situations because I have heard most of the stories second and third hand, but there are a few things I feel alright talking about. The first is the dismissal of the old coaching staff. I’m not sure exactly what happened, but I know that some of those people were not treated very well and not given a fair chance. There were a lot of Nebraskans who wanted to see a change in the coaching staff when Frank was in charge. Whether you wanted a change or not, you have to agree that those guys deserved to be treated with respect and they deserved to have the administration be up front with them. From letters slipped under doors to pointless and insincere interviews, the whole process seemed to be devious and harmful to a lot of people that many of us as former players are loyal to. After the firing of these people, the search for a new coach began. It was this process that left many of us confused and agitated, because it was done solely and completely by one man. Most major programs, when they hire a new coach, will put together a search committee. There are people who are loyal to our program who would have been tremendous resources in the selection process. I would have loved to have seen a committee made up of gentlemen such as Tom Osborne, Charlie McBride, Monte Kiffin, Ahman Green, Grant Wistrom, Mike Minter, Barry Alvarez, and Al Papik help identify the best candidate to take over our program. I guarantee that when Notre Dame picked a new head coach last year, more than one person was in on the decision. It’s just hard for me to believe that someone who probably couldn’t draw up an over front or and under front is the best person to pick a football coach. I actually think that things could have ended up worse, especially when you consider some of the other coaches that were rumored to have planes waiting at their local airports. The decision was made; our program is headed in a completely new direction. Now we all have to deal with it. All of us, including the administration. If those guys get things turned around and we start winning games and championships than everyone will look like a genius. If things don’t turn around, then we all know where the majority of the criticism will be directed. I know as a quarterback that when the team did well, I got a lot more praise than I deserved. When the team didn’t do well, far more than my rightful share of the blame fell on my shoulders. It goes with the territory. Steve Pedersen brought that on himself when he was so cavalier in making these tough decisions. Right or wrong, hero or villain, he took a big risk and painted himself into a tight corner. Time will tell how everyone is viewed in the history of our program. I know I am not the only one who feels this way about all of these issues. Most of the guys that I played with are more vocal than I am about many of these things. It isn’t just former players either. I know the stadium project hasn’t raised all of the money that they need yet. There are several people, and most of us know who they are, who could write a check tomorrow to have the whole facility finished. They’re not doing it because they are not happy with the state of affairs at South Stadium. I love Nebraska football. I love the state of Nebraska. I long for the days when the characteristics of the team we put on the field on Saturdays exemplified the characteristics of the hard working people of our state. We used to have the Taj mahal of college football programs. Now it feels like someone took 40 tons of dynamite to our proud and noble masterpiece and built a three bedroom ranch in its place. I’m not saying all of these things to be malicious or overly critical of anyone, but when it comes to a state institution, people have the right to be judgmental. I just want to share my opinions with all of the Husker fans out there who care as much about the program as I do.

I know its been a hectic last few weeks since losing to Northern Illinois, and I've contributed to threads regarding the replacement of Riley and Co, but I feel the need to point this out: We control our own destiny. The team overcame a lot to win last week, irregardless of the opponent. AD being fired, rumors the coach could be too, top 5 loss in the history of the program before all that, without our best offensive weapon and top 2 defensive players in addition to multiple other injuries. And then get into the game- Rutgers scores first possession, Lee throws a pick 6, and we're losing in the 3rd quarter. But you know what? The team found a way. And as horrible as it might be to watch the rest of the season, if they can keep finding ways to win then they still have all their goals in front of them. This week is at Illinois. If we are able to win on Friday we have an extra day of rest for Wisconsin in Lincoln under the lights. A place Nebraska hasn't lost at night since 2008. A place that Nebraska is 38-5 in all time at night. You win that one and all of a sudden you're 3-0. Atop the West alone. And your mindset changes. You get back your #1 safety. You get back your #1 WR. You get back your #1 corner. You can afford to lose a game to Ohio State and still control your destiny in the West. This team is talented. We need to get healthy. Clean a few things up and there is no reason this team can't still achieve their goals and win the West. One game at a time, find a way. This team has shown resolve in multiple games this year (Ark State, Oregon, Rutgers). If the team can come together and show resolve in these games and conditions, the fanbase can too. Support the boys and maybe lets drop the "who will replace Mike Riley" talk and cross that bridge when we get to it.

I've shared details on what I'm posting here and, from this point on, the only difference is games against lower division opponents will no longer be counted. There have been enough games played between FBS teams now. Eventually, I might share stats from games played only between P5 teams as well. I'm using cfbstats.com and teamrankings.com. ***UPDATE: See a response from me below (because it's tough to edit after you've pasted so much for me) if you want to see all the individual percentile rankings for stats within these categories.*** Nebraska Cornhuskers by percentile (relative to national averages across the listed categories from 4 games played) Pass D: 42.7 Pass O: 26.6 Rush D: 73.3 Rush O: 46.8 Scoring D: 46.3 Scoring O: 57.6 Total D: 62.2 Total O: 45.2 Turnover Margin: 38.4 OVERALL Percentile Average: 48.8 DEFENSIVE Percentile Average: 56.1 OFFENSIVE Percentile Average: 44.1 Here are the B1G rankings for all these categories and SOS (strength of schedule) for information only and no ranking adjustment was made per SOS: PD 1 Michigan 2 Michigan State 3 Penn State 4 Minnesota 5 Rutgers 6 Iowa 7 Northwestern 8 Ohio State 9 Wisconsin 10 Purdue 11 Illinois 12 Indiana 13 Nebraska 14 Maryland PO 1 Ohio State 2 Wisconsin 3 Penn State 4 Iowa 5 Northwestern 6 Purdue 7 Michigan State 8 Indiana 9 Minnesota 10 Maryland 11 Michigan 12 Nebraska 13 Illinois 14 Rutgers RD 1 Michigan 2 Minnesota 3 Wisconsin 4 Penn State 5 Rutgers 6 Michigan State 7 Nebraska 8 Ohio State 9 Purdue 10 Iowa 11 Northwestern 12 Illinois 13 Indiana 14 Maryland RO 1 Wisconsin 2 Penn State 3 Ohio State 4 Minnesota 5 Michigan State 6 Northwestern 7 Michigan 8 Nebraska 9 Maryland 10 Iowa 11 Purdue 12 Indiana 13 Illinois 14 Rutgers SD 1 Penn State 2 Minnesota 3 Purdue 4 Ohio State 5 Wisconsin 6 Michigan 7 Illinois 8 Iowa 9 Indiana 10 Maryland 11 Nebraska 12 Northwestern 13 Rutgers 14 Michigan State SO 1 Wisconsin 2 Penn State 3 Ohio State 4 Indiana 5 Northwestern 6 Minnesota 7 Maryland 8 Iowa 9 Nebraska 10 Purdue 11 Michigan 12 Michigan State 13 Illinois 14 Rutgers TD 1 Michigan 2 Minnesota 3 Wisconsin 4 Michigan State 5 Penn State 6 Rutgers 7 Nebraska 8 Ohio State 9 Purdue 10 Iowa 11 Northwestern 12 Indiana 13 Illinois 14 Maryland TO 1 Ohio State 2 Wisconsin 3 Penn State 4 Michigan State 5 Northwestern 6 Indiana 7 Michigan 8 Minnesota 9 Purdue 10 Nebraska 11 Iowa 12 Maryland 13 Illinois 14 Rutgers Turnovers 1 Penn State 2 Minnesota 3 Purdue 4 Ohio State 5 Wisconsin 6 Michigan 7 Illinois 8 Iowa 9 Indiana 10 Maryland 11 Nebraska 12 Northwestern 13 Rutgers 14 Michigan State SOS 1 Ohio State 2 Indiana 3 Purdue 4 Michigan 5 Maryland 6 Iowa 7 Penn State 8 Michigan State 9 Nebraska 10 Northwestern 11 Illinois 12 Rutgers 13 Wisconsin 14 Minnesota Here are the national rankings, without any consideration having been given to SOS: Rank Team Overall % 1 South Florida 86.17 2 UCF 86.13 3 Alabama 85.28 4 Penn State 83.93 5 Virginia Tech 83.46 6 Wisconsin 81.24 7 Clemson 80.73 8 Oklahoma 78.74 9 UTSA 77.29 10 Minnesota 75.04 11 Duke 74.45 12 Ohio State 73.29 13 Washington 72.70 14 Auburn 72.69 15 Oregon 72.29 16 Kansas State 72.09 17 Washington State 71.42 18 Utah 71.22 19 Wake Forest 70.93 20 Oklahoma State 70.89 21 Michigan 69.85 22 Miami (Florida) 69.72 23 TCU 69.32 24 USC 68.54 25 Notre Dame 68.43 26 Michigan State 65.80 27 Arizona 65.72 28 West Virginia 65.27 29 Navy 65.00 30 Georgia 64.44 31 Louisville 63.80 32 Mississippi State 63.79 33 Texas 63.68 34 Virginia 63.56 35 North Carolina State 63.49 36 San Diego State 62.89 37 New Mexico State 62.52 38 Iowa State 62.49 39 Georgia Tech 62.01 40 LSU 60.13 41 Houston 59.73 42 Stanford 59.62 43 Miami (Ohio) 59.45 44 Texas A&M 59.11 45 Southern Mississippi 58.90 46 Texas Tech 58.89 47 Eastern Michigan 58.22 48 Northwestern 58.21 49 Purdue 57.22 50 Iowa 55.70 51 Troy 55.16 52 Syracuse 55.06 53 Colorado 54.56 54 SMU 54.48 55 Mississippi 54.37 56 Memphis 53.16 57 Ball State 52.56 58 Kentucky 52.33 59 Boise State 52.25 60 South Carolina 51.59 61 Western Kentucky 50.75 62 Northern Illinois 50.61 63 Appalachian State 50.38 64 Coastal Carolina 49.90 65 Indiana 49.78 66 UAB 49.27 67 North Carolina 48.91 68 Nebraska 48.79 69 California 48.22 70 Colorado State 47.64 71 UCLA 47.34 72 Marshall 47.18 73 Toledo 46.60 74 Hawai'i 46.57 75 Louisiana-Monroe 46.51 76 Ohio 45.82 77 New Mexico 45.81 78 Arizona State 45.61 79 North Texas 45.49 80 Florida 45.29 81 UNLV 45.27 82 Tennessee 45.17 83 Massachusetts 44.79 84 Buffalo 44.42 85 Middle Tennessee 44.18 86 Tulsa 44.07 87 Idaho 42.43 88 Rutgers 41.57 89 Central Michigan 41.40 90 Connecticut 40.94 91 Arkansas 40.57 92 Florida State 39.99 93 Utah State 39.67 94 Tulane 38.89 95 Air Force 38.15 96 Maryland 38.10 97 Illinois 37.82 98 Vanderbilt 37.61 99 Louisiana-Lafayette 37.44 100 Army 36.79 101 Western Michigan 36.74 102 Georgia State 35.80 103 Kansas 35.70 104 Cincinnati 34.05 105 Louisiana Tech 33.70 106 Arkansas State 33.38 107 Wyoming 33.24 108 Florida Atlantic 33.03 109 Baylor 30.82 110 Florida International 30.63 111 Rice 30.43 112 South Alabama 30.07 113 Boston College 28.95 114 Texas State 28.42 115 East Carolina 26.79 116 Oregon State 25.01 117 Old Dominion 24.96 118 Pittsburgh 24.82 119 Nevada 24.69 120 Bowling Green 23.16 121 Temple 22.40 122 Fresno State 21.45 123 Charlotte 20.65 124 Missouri 20.07 125 BYU 19.75 126 Georgia Southern 19.54 127 Kent State 16.71 128 Akron 15.41 129 UTEP 11.40 130 San Jose State 10.55

The more you step back and look at this the more it looks like it’s Scott’s job if he wants it. 1.) Firing Eichorst gets any hurdles to firing Riley out of the way. If this year goes as bad as it appears Bounds and Green will be justified with their decision and it’s on its way. This decision was made because of Riley and Riley alone. 2.) Bounds and Green are being influenced by the money behind the program, and that money has a high level of support to get Scott to Lincoln. 3.) Frost started the season on many up and coming coaching lists, Bounds and Green see that if they don’t act this year Nebraska may be too late to the party. His stock will only grow as they win more games, possibly end the year in a New Years 6 as the Group of 5 rep. Hence the, “We want to get started” quote in the presser. 4.) Not by mistake that they mentioned the mid 90’s in the presser. 5.) The word compete keeps coming up. You see Scott on the sideline, that dude competes. His team follows suit. The writing is on the wall, the only thing that is left is for the season to play out like most think it will. Money would think this means that the AD is Trev. I must say I am not crazy about that hire, but it seems the only plausible way we get someone who agrees to hire Frost. Unless someone like Joe Parker tells us in the search that Frost would be on the top of his list, then you hire that guy that will also hire the football coach the administration wants. Hiring Frost is a safe way to go with big upside. If he fails, not too many fans will be upset because he is a Husker legend and that route is worth the try to many. I believe that not only Scott gets Nebraska, understands the type of players it takes to win here, and the type of program it takes to win, but he is a good football coach that would be on the radar of major Power 5 jobs in the near future.

How about we don't turn this into another Bo vs Riley thread. K?

I just heard this on a The Bottom Line podcast from earlier today. Nebraska is averaging 17.5 incompletions per game, which ranks 116th in college football. Based on NU's average of 75.8 plays per game, that's 23% of the offensive plays that are getting no yards production. It's no wonder why the offense is struggling.

Eh I'm gonna call fake news on this one.

For a minute there, I really thought maybe, just maybe, Trump hadn't contradicted himself in regards to telling the NFL what to do. And then I found this gem...

Riley and Langs look at more mobility as a negative.

Per espn. Always good to be referenced with power programs such as: UNLV, Army, Rutgers and Maryland

It doesn't sound insane. It's just effectively a meaningless statement since virtually every team controls their own destinies this early in the year, every year.

Lamest thing I hear..."wait for Riley to get his guys" Like..the players that Bo recruited at DB or WR or Guard were playing soccer or cricket instead of football. With that said...NU better cover on Friday night...I just put my house on that bet.

N!

Apparently 95% of the board

Mike Riley is not the caliber of coach to restore excellence at Nebraska and he never was. His record at NU , as well as before NU a combined 175-168. His teams fail to impress the eye, as well as the record book. And all blind supporters of Mike Riley are complicit in his bringing the Nebraska football team to the point of pure mediocrity. And his failure is shameful. He has failed our athletes, and our fans. We have 30 games to base our opinion, that is enough for a tiger to show his stripes, or to tuck his tail. Actions speak louder than words. He cannot grasp or does not care about the tradition of NU. The tradition of being the most physical, most well trained and highest motivated team in the country. NU, where we have more combined Outland/ Lombardi award winners than any other school. NU where the Rimington Trophy is named after a Husker. To Riley and supporters Husker Pride, Traditions and Excellence are cliche' To the rest of us these are the things that make a HUSKER.

Truthfully? I'm just as on the fence about Mike as everyone else here is. But I listen to his pressers and I listen to him talk and since he's been here I think he really has had a vision on what he wants the team and program to look like. I want him to do well. Things I've liked: Probably the biggest thing I've liked since he's been here: he's been willing to make staff changes when it was evident things were not working. Sure, you can spin zone it and say "he never should've brought those guys to begin with", but how many years in the FHCBP era did we unsuccessfully beg for changes in assistant coaches? While the recruiting numbers look the same in terms of overall team ranking, the class average player rating has risen since HCMR is here. The recruiting machine has modernized, were much better on twitter and social media and we're swinging for the fences there. There really hasn't been any excuses since he's taken over. The fans have made them, but Mike has owned everything- good and bad- since he's been here. You can tell he senses the urgency listening to his press conferences. Things I Don't Like: Danny Langsdorf is not a good offensive coordinator nor is he a good play caller. The playbook was actually better with Tommy behind center, as it incorporated more spread looks and plays. Abandoning these plays has hurt us tremendously this year IMO. OCDL is a good quarterbacks coach, and I don't think you can really dispute that. You don't put 3 QB's in the NFL and get hired by a NFL team as QB's coach if you aren't a good QB's coach. If HCMR stays on, I would like to move OCDL to a QB's coach position and bring in an OC this offseason that will run a more spread based system. I don't think you necessarily need a true "dual threat" to run these systems. The passing concepts and options just seem to mesh better with college athletes in a spread playbook than the pro style formations and plays. I'm still not sold on Mike Cavanaugh. I've seen almost no development from the players on the line, Nick Gates has been very disappointing for the hype he's received. Cav has struck out on the recruiting trail for the most part and this year has been especially bad. Lastly, I think the unwillingness to try new players at spots is frustrating. This ties in with the "accountability" stuff Damon Benning has been talking about recently. You hear things about younger players potentially being better than older players, yet older players are still seeing the field despite struggling. Why is that? If Jaylin Bradley gives us the best chance to win, play him. If Tanner Lee leads the country in interceptions, it might be time to give POB a look. Marcus Newby has been downright atrocious out there, yet it took an injury for him to be replaced. At tight end, both Ketter and Hoppes IMO have been disappointments. We don't want to give Snyder or Stoll a look? Englehaupt looked very athletic and had a few nice plays in the spring game, where has he been? Part of the reason our O has looked terribly the past few games is TE drops and missed blocks by the TE's in space. Conclusion: As of now, my positive statements are more supporting the team/players/coaches than a full fledged belief that this group is the right group to lead UNL going forward. HCMR is still the coach of this current group and I think that the players believe in him and the team. As long as he's the coach at NU I'll continue to support him. I think us coming on here and talking like he's already been fired does nothing but negative things for the program. Until the day comes he's let go, I'm going to refrain from the threads talking about replacement coaches and such and try to be positive. Doesn't mean I can't point out negative things when I see them- like how I can call whether were going to run or pass based off the formation- but I'm done with the "who can we hire" saga until that time comes. Hopefully others get on board with that concept as well as we win more games going forward. I hope this answers your question.

Conference play has started so I'd say we're there...... Also, we are fans. We can look ahead, predict, and call our shots all we want. It doesn't matter what the hell we're thinking/talking about. We're not the ones playing the game (Just a pet-peeve of fandom I have).

Before the season coach took him north of the stadium, pointed to Brook Berlinger and said "I want you to be like this young man." He didn't expect Lee to take him literally.

Keeping in mind that the coach who called the AD mean names also told Nebraska fans to f#*k off and kiss his ass on the way out the door, because they demanded too much of him. fwiw...the AD back in 2011when Bo Pelini said he wanted out of the Nebraska pressure cooker was Tom Osborne. If Mike Riley is used to rehabilitate Bo Pelini, then the terrorists win.

Again, I don't see undue celebration over the Rutgers win. I don't know a single fan who considers the current state of the program acceptable. They are the same people who didn't consider Bo Pelini's 7th season acceptable. At worst, there are some people wondering if the turnaround and recruits might still be another season away and if holding out that hope is worse than firing a coach without a clear replacement in mind. It would be weird if there weren't fans like that. It hardly means accepting mediocrity. It actually is toxic to rip on fans who might spend the rest of the season looking for positives. It's a game. Games can still be fun. They don't all have to be referendums on the state's sense of self-worth. Besides, Shawn Eichorst was fired for the football team's on-field production. It's almost impossible that doesn't turn into Mike Riley's firing as well. We all know where this is going. So let's show some class.

I learned that this win might have exposed the team even more than the two losses. Rutgers was set up for Nebraska to right the ship, but even given a modest 26 passing attempts and generally solid run support, Tanner Lee was terribly inefficient. Going three and out to end the first half and start the second half was inexcusable, given what this team needs to prove. Diaco seems to be making the right adjustments. We're complaining about which of three pretty solid running backs deserves more carries. Those are things to build on. But you know....Rutgers. The ceiling for this team appears to be low. I'm not sure why they'd be the favorite in any game left on the schedule. But then I saw the team wildly celebrating on the sideline in the fourth quarter. Players congratulating players who made good plays to lock up a 10 point win against a Big 10 doormat. And I realized I could and would root for the Huskers like I always do.

3 years ago: Any monkey could win 9 games at NU...9 wins are pretty much built into the schedule! Current times: The Big Ten is a meat grinder, winning 8 games is tough enough, if Riley gets to 7 wins I say he should get another year...maybe even 6-6

Pretty sure the ruining of streaks and records began in 2002, but carry on.

I wouldn't make the change until after the season - it serves no purpose at this point. But given all the issues we're still seeing in year three, there doesn't seem to be much reason to think that anything will improve in year four, especially against a pretty tough schedule. So I would much rather have a new staff taking some lumps in a year that probably isn't going anywhere anyway than hope against hope that the current staff will be somehow able to turn it around given another year.

I'm keeping an open mind. let's see how this season shakes out before going wild.

The guy who oversees our great basketball program? Hopefully Boehm is one of the new ADs first cuts.

how could this be? Have they not seen Cav's unique and heartfelt tweets to each individual recruit?!

I'm not entirely sure why, but that article from Lee rubs me the wrong way. I know a lot of people are talking about the Nebraska position and who could be the next head coach, but it seems a bit premature to be having this discussion in that medium. Maybe I just feel guilty for Riley even though his team is struggling. Seems like it's one thing to talk about it in private or a message board, but to then have a prominent writer basically say 'Frost is ready to lead Nebraska.' I don't know, maybe I'm being too soft. I'm still largely unconvinced Frost would be interested in coaching here, but I have nothing to back up that claim.

Mike'l Severe tweeted these stats this morning. Lee's passer rating in his college career. 2014-RS Freshman-107.6 2015-RS Sophomore-109.8 2017-5th year Junior-107.2 Lee is who he is. It doesn't matter about the talent around him, he's a very average to poor QB. He's shown it his entire college career.

The guy who hired Riley got fired for hiring Riley. He gone.

"This is a whole lot of projecting." Hmmmmm...

Because that's TOTALLY an apples to apples comparison, right? I mean, it's not like you just compared their performance against two different teams or anything! Oh wait...

The Theory of Relativity Communism Riley Apologists That is only going to happen if the Golden State Warriors hire him.