AksarbenHusker

Emphasis mine. Nebraska got beaten solidly last year by the Spartans, despite what the final score indicated. We were never in that game except for a couple of fluke plays that made it close at the very end after Michigan St had "checked out" from the game. Conversely, McNeese St nearly beat us. We came out sloppy, and McNeese controlled the tempo of a good portion of the game. Ultimately, we needed a miraculous finish to avoid going to OT or getting beat outright. The general wisdom states that schematic changes take a season or two to implement, meaning more Ls during those rebuilding years. Thus, 9-4 last season = 8-5 or 7-6 this season. You start from that point and then you evaluate game-by-game. I agree that getting Michigan St and Wisconsin at home will help, but we also travel to Miami and Minnesota. So I think schedule-wise, it's more or less a wash between last year and this year. I'll go with 8-5 for the season as a whole.

The East will be one of 4 teams, and most likely Ohio St or Michigan St. However, the West is completely wide open. Is there a reason there isn't a bit more love for Illinois and Iowa? I think one of those two teams will surprise this year.

I can't speak for the majority of Husker fans, but I know I would be thrilled if the Huskers would just get the occasional Top 10 season. The consensus around the CFB community seems to be that the Husker fan base is one of the most delusional, but far from thinking we should win a national championship every year, I'd just like to reach the Top 10 within the next 4 years. And that really shouldn't be that hard. During Bo's tenure, 32 different teams finished in the Top 10. A full quarter of FBS schools had Top 10 finishes. Nearly half of the Power 5 had a Top 10 finish. Nearly half of the B1G has had a Top 10 finish. So why can't the Huskers reach this bar from time to time? Here's the list of all 32 teams that reached the AP Top 10 since 2008. B1G teams in bold. Alabama Arkansas Auburn Baylor Boise State Cincinnati Clemson Florida Florida State Georgia Georgia Tech Iowa LSU Michigan Michigan State Missouri Notre Dame Ohio State Oklahoma Oklahoma State Oregon Penn State South Carolina Stanford TCU Texas Texas A&M UCLA USC Utah Virginia Tech Wisconsin

I think that sounds about right. I was going to guess maybe 44-34, with BYU pulling away late. Of course, all of this is pending news about the suspensions, and inevitably there'll be a killer injury for one or both teams in fall practice that will impact these guesses.

Is anyone else getting the feeling that the West Division winner will be something ridiculous like 4-4 or 5-3?

I'm curious as to what was meant by this. I understand the depth part, and maybe you just meant linebackers, but I have a hard time seeing MC, VV, McMullen and Gangwish be considered a "weak" unit. Also, to me, front 4 will pretty much define the 2nd level (LB's) in any defense. Whether the backers are young and lack depth, I think the front 4 will help them maximize production as defenders. I'm hoping that a lot of the line's troubles last year were related to scheme and coaching. If that's the case, then obviously my predictions about the BYU game will change dramatically. However, based on the last couple of year's of results from our defensive line--getting very few sacks and allowing opposing offenses to rush for hundreds of yards--I will remain skeptical until I see things change on the field. Let's not forget, that same unit that also had Randy Gregory allowed 281 rushing yards against Minnesota last year rushed, good enough for 5.3 yards per attempt.

Should be a great game. BYU was a Heisman-QB-candidate-injury away from a 10- (or even 11- or 12-) win season last year, and I expect they will light up a defense adjusting to a new scheme. Regardless of whether Pelini or Riley led our team onto the field, this game was going to be a challenge. Our front 7 on defense will be weak and lack depth. I'm optimistic Riley's attacking scheme will help some, but the better teams on the schedule should be able to fend off our attacks. Our lack of depth means BYU's offense will open up holes in the defense by the 2nd half, and BYU will win by 10 points. I am very optimistic for the Riley era, but this first season will not be a cake walk.

I was not around during the Solich years and only around for one year of Callahan, so my perspective comes as something of an outsider. But my perspective is that both Solich and Pelini were trending downward or flatlining while Callahan may have been trending up. Callahan lost the team and the fanbase during the 5-game losing streak in 2007, but if not for that, he may have assembled a championship contender in 2008. With enough time, the Husker history books will look back on all three coaches more or less the same way. All three received plenty of time to show that they could make Nebraska a consistent contender, and none were able to produce. Frank Keeper of old traditions, terrible recruiter, left the cupboard bare Callahan Blew up traditions, excellent recruiter, could not keep the team motivated and players had off-the-field issues Pelini Hard-hitting teams, average recruiter, clean program but fostered us-against-the-world mentality

This is a really intriguing idea. Moglia's an intelligent guy with a surprisingly solid resume, and Frost needs some more time, preferably in another system with strong leadership, where he can continue developing. At the DC spot, we just open the checkbook and get a proven winner, preferably someone later in their career with no HC ambition. Then, we build up Frost for the eventual move to HC.

I just don't get why we seemingly don't try to make any adjustments. The d-line should have been gashing downfield, safeties should have been crashing toward the line of scrimmage, and we should have made Stave throw a damn ball. Offensively, we should have tried shorter passes, hopefully set up with play-action. We should have thrown (more) screen passes. Wisconsin's defense was one of the most aggressive I've ever seen, yet I saw no offensive adjustments to counter that aggressiveness. Frankly, I question our coaches' ability to game plan, their fundamental understanding of X's and O's.

Wanted to assemble a list of media members that are calling for Bo to move on. Dirk Chatelain Lee Barfknecht Tom Shatel Also, what was with the ad running on CBS? It was a dystopian view of the Wisconsin game, ending with Bo saying "I have no idea." EDIT: This will be a running list. I'm compiling the names as well as the quotes calling for Bo's head.

And which game in the series, from a Nebraska blowout perspective, led you to this fascinating conclusion? The recent 1965 showdown? I'm actually thinking of the 2012 game at Memorial Stadium. The game was two half blowouts, one for each team: http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/recap?gameId=322730158 Nebraska was down 27-10 before scoring 20 straight points. I agree I'm stretching the definition of "blowout", but the series has been defined by long scoring droughts.

This board seems to have forgotten that all three teams have scoreboard over us, and all three beat us convincingly. Nebraska CAN win out, but it's unbelievable that there are posters looking ahead to the CCG already.

I hear this sentiment a lot, that the Huskers are very up and down, but this never seems to take into account our opponents. When we couldn't run against Michigan St, it was because Mich St's line was stronger. If Nebraska gets pushed around by Wisconsin, I don't think it'll be due to our inconsistency, I think it'll be due to Wisconsin's size and physicality. We're not going to be better than our opponents at every position in every game. That said, I agree that I have no idea what to expect. I think the game could be a blowout in either direction, based on the games thus far in the series.