Enhance

Something I feel like is getting conveniently overlooked by some people in the whole Columbia University thing. According to my research, Columbia (along with most universities) have clearly stated policies surrounding protests or demonstrations, where they can happen, how long they can happen for, etc. The policies seem quite fair and reasonable, allowing for demonstrations while still not interfering with other students or the going-ons of the university. So, if my facts are right, the Columbia students began a multi-day encampment that violated several university policies and wouldn't disperse, so they were arrested on Apr. 18. Then it all escalates into the building takeover that ended in more arrests last night. Now, someone can certainly tell me if my facts are wrong, but all these people screaming about how Columbia is in the wrong and mishandled this whole thing... seems a lot like the pot calling the kettle black. Shouldn't the responsibility be on the demonstrators to do things the right way? Free speech without infringing on the rights of others yeah?

I didn't get to watch the game yesterday but caught some of the highlight reels later in the evening - seemed like a fun time! I never really take much from spring games, for good or for bad, but it was nice to see DR looking pretty comfortable in the backfield. I liked his touch on a several throws. This was my first time really watching him and I couldn't help but notice the Patrick Mahomes influence on his movements that everyone has talked about before - the dude sometimes even walks around the way PM does lol. I thought most of the quarterbacks had some nice throws, but you can definitely tell the difference between the touch/vision of DR vs. Haarberg, in my opinion. Saw some of the things out of HH yesterday that drove us mad in games last season.

For what it's worth, I don't fully disagree with your perspective on the matter. I just think a 2-min. warning is a low-hanging fruit change, which is perhaps partially to explain why it's getting talked about vs. changing something major like the overtime rules. Obviously there are financial angles to everything. That said, CFB implemented three new rules in 2023, none of which scream 'we did this for the money,' at least not to me: 1) Running clock after first downs (except for in last 2 min. of half) - early data showed this resulted in 5+ fewer players per game and shortened the average game by 5 min. 2) No more back-to-back timeouts 3) No quarter extensions on defensive penalties Money obviously talks but college football also loves its tradition. I don't know if their goal is to be "more like the NFL" but I don't think they're necessarily adverse to making changes they feel are better for the game even if there isn't an abundantly clear financial angle to it.

I don't know if "focus" is necessarily the right word. I wager a lot of these things are probably already being looked at (or have been looked at) but some are more complicated than others to analyze and implement. For example, you mention overtime rules. IMO that's a far more controversial topic in comparison to whether or not there's a 2-min. warning because there are a lot of strong opinions as to which one is better, and 'better' is wildly subjective depending on what someone values.

The two-minute warning doesn't even serve it's intended purpose anymore and has primarily become just another extended commercial break (obviously the teams benefit too from the extra clock stoppage), so I would not really be a fan of it being in college.

I agree, which makes it HUGE that the playoff is expanding to 12 teams next year. We're probably going to start seeing a lot of one and probably even two loss conference champs with insane SOS. That is one thing that 'could' bode well for the Huskers. A playoff berth would be amazing and ABSOLUTELY achievable at a place like Nebraska, based on their talent acquisition capabilities and resources. And it wouldn't require a conference title. With the way CFB is currently set up that's actually probably a best case scenario season for a place like Nebraska - a playoff berth.

Since 'greatness' is somewhat subjective, I tend to focus more on what the actual results could be. Similar to @Red Five, I don't think Nebraska will ever win another national title. Or, at the very least, the chances are incredibly unlikely. (Maybe they could catch a hot streak like Washington but I also don't expect Washington to regularly be in the spot they're in now.) There are a lot of reasons for this but they mostly boil down to talent and just how college football is currently structured. But, I do think that consistently winning 9-10 games, a couple conference championship appearances each decade, and maybe a conference title win once every 10-15 seasons is certainly within the realms of realism. And a lot of that boils down to resources and talent acquisition. Nebraska has (on paper, at least) recruited better overall talent than a lot of other B1G programs that win 10 games and compete for conference titles. And they've been just a couple of plays away from beating some insanely talented teams in recent years. So, success is certainly achievable. It's just going to take the right staff and support system to pull it off. I'm really hopeful Rhule is the guy to at least make Nebraska an occasional conference title contender.

I'd tell those recruits life isn't fair and welcome to modern college football. Do your job, if not for your team, for yourself.

I saw that headline in my email inbox yesterday and had the most involuntary, BOMBASTIC eye roll of my life. Almost gagged. IMO though the media is often an extension of the fan base. If we're going to blame them for anything then we need to be able to look inward. There are tons of high pressure, over-scrutinized, crazed sports media markets in this country. Programs and franchises in those places still find ways to win at high levels.

Yeah absolutely. It's kind of like having a one or two man life raft - it's tough to stay afloat when you have 9 or 10 people in the water trying to get on it with you. The injuries they sustained this year are a real challenge that I think shouldn't be under-valued, but, it's also pretty clear there's a lot of growing up that needs to happen (growing up i.e. improvement) along the offense. It really all starts up front and at the QB position. I mean the #1 job of any offensive staff each year is to identify, develop and prepare QB1 and I can't think of a more cataclysmic failure that I've personally seen at that position. We're probably looking at a 7-8 win team with a quarterback that could've at least been a B average.

Turnovers are typically the result of inexperience and poor fundamentals. Talent naturally plays a role, too, but I don't necessarily think that's the bigger issue. I think the turnovers are just a microcosm of overall problems that have been plaguing the program for awhile. It's going to take fixing a lot of little things before we start to see improvements in areas like turnovers.

I admittedly used the term coaching a bit loosely here, but yes that's what I think it largely boils down to. I don't really buy the systemic argument (at least in terms of stuff going on for 20+ years. I don't think anything that happened more than a couple years ago is very relevant to today. If you get the right people and systems in place, you can turn most any program or franchise around.) The Adidas thing... I don't know enough about that to know whether or not to take that seriously, but I have seen other people mention it. Back on coaching though, turnovers tend to happen when players have poor fundamentals, don't understand what they're supposed to be doing, and/or are trying to do too much. A lot of that comes down to how they're being instructed and being set up for success, which is directly under the coach's purview. It's not always 100% the coach's fault, though. Players have to execute. And we've heard Rhule allude to this in some of his press conferences.

The turnovers are largely a microcosm of coaching and confidence. Something obviously isn't clicking somewhere. I don't know exactly how much fault to put on Satt but he bears a majority of it. As the OC and QB coach, it is a tremendously awful look when all three of your QB's can't execute the offense you installed and make awful decisions with the football. I don't always think some of the issues are explicitly the QB's fault (it did look like the WR held up on the end zone INT) but still it all goes back to what's the play call, what are the most important things to execute on the call, and how do you ensure you protect the football. Even with all the injuries, It's baffling that they're in week 10 and some of the simplest elements of what needs to be executed just... aren't there.

Interesting how you didn't post once during all of October when Nebraska was winning, and then when they lose two in a row, you return. That's now two threads from you talking about Rhule needing to be fired. We didn't need a second, nor does every thought need to be turned into its own thread. Locking this thread.

Good context on the first play. Perhaps it was a play call misunderstanding? Either way, it's incredible how they seem to find new ways to screw up those moments. I didn't get to see the game at all, but if it was a corner route, I again just question why even call a pass play there with an inexperienced QB and WR. I just don't trust that offense or any of the QB's to make that play consistently.