Well, other than the fact that NU beat the team that won the B10E... And don't get me started on an average Florida team playing for an SEC championship.
NU has a talented roster.
If some on the board could drop their irrational dislike for the current staff, the answer is kinda simple. The roster is talented and deep in some positions (interior defensive players, wide receivers) and thin and less talented in others (QB, DE, LB). The roster is good in some spots and not so good in others. Does that make it talented or not talented, and how the hell do you decide?
According to some Nostradomi on this board roster depth and quality is the fault solely and exclusively of the current staff. I would include the intellectual giant who, in another thread, predicted the current staff will be gone next year.
Pretty simple: with similarly talented rosters, a fired coach won north of .700 of his games here.
Only when a coach comes in and lays an egg against a very easy schedule do we hear that the talent isn't there to continue 9+ win seasons. Of course, that's not what was said at the time of the firing last year. And it's not the case today, either.
The roster isn't perfect, but it's far better than the results that were wrung out of it.
Now cue: we only won last year because of a single player arguments.