ESPN: Is Nebraska back?

[Mierin]

If Nebraska beats Wisconsin, then the answer is "Yes!".

Right now, the answer is "Could be..."

It won't mean much if we lose to Ohio State the next week, unless we can win the conference.

 

[BoNeyard]

If Nebraska beats Wisconsin, then the answer is "Yes!".

Right now, the answer is "Could be..."

It won't mean much if we lose to Ohio State the next week, unless we can win the conference.

It will definitely be a let down if we beat Wiscosnin, improve to 8-0 and then lose to Ohio State.

But if we go into the horse shoe and compete and give Ohio State a close game, although I am not one for moral victories, at the very least it shows this program and team is heading in the right direction. Why? Because for one we one a ranked non conference game, and we kept it close to one of the conference and national powerhouses which in the last 15 years we would have gotten blown out and embarrassed on national television. This then gives us hope for revenge in the CCG in a rematch.

If Nebraska comes away from this season with a 10-2, or 11-3 record I will be extremely happy. Because not only would that say we had a good year and we turned it around after a dreadful year 1 under Riley of 6-7, but it shows this program is heading in the right direction because it will only get stronger.

 

[Muck]

Things I learned in this thread...

1. Football doesn't count before 1970 (which given Nebraska's performance is an understandable bit of cherry picking).
2. The 1970 & 1997 championships don't count because of 'everybody gets a trophy' ties.

Ohio State claims 8 national championships.

Six of those are undisputed.

1961 & 1970 are the questionable ones. Each of those was selected by a single recognized 'major selector'. Those being the Football Writers Association of America & National Football Foundation respectively.

1942 - AP Champs - The coaches poll wasn't introduced until 1950
1954 - AP Champs - UCLA was #1 in the coaches poll but prohibited from playing in the Rose Bowl due to the no repeat rule. USC was the conference rep, losing to Ohio State.
1957 - UPI (coaches poll) Champs - The AP selected Auburn who was barred from participating in a bowl game due to being on probation (imagine that).
1968 - Voted #1 by all of the major selectors...AP, UPI, FWAA & NFF.

The answer to the initial question posed is "when you are once again the one being used as the benchmark in comparisons".

 

[RedDenver]

<weird unrelated history of tOSU claimed titles>

The answer to the initial question posed is "when you are once again the one being used as the benchmark in comparisons".

FIFY

 

[todd_l]

So the fact Ohio State did nothing nationally from 1980-2000 and Nebraska won 3 national championships doesn't count for either program because they were barely alive.

OSU routinely won 9-11 games a year and finished in the top 15 from 1980-2000. Pretty similar to what Nebraska did all those years minus 94-97.

And since then they've won two national championships, played for four, and had umpteen 11+ win seasons, conference championships, etc. Where we haven't had any of that.

So sure, I guess they can't match our mid-90's run, but they've got 16 years and counting of better success from 2000 onwards. When does that catch up for them?

What saunders said.
And it never catches them up. Unless they win national championships.

Also, does playing for national championships count for Nebraska too? Ok. Let's add 3.

So if we have 20 more seasons never winning conference championships, never finishing ranked in the top 15, never playing in major bowls, and they continue to do all of those things routinely but don't win any more national championships, then we'd still be the better program?

All of their all-time numbers are comparable to ours, and they've done a lot over the last 15 years that we haven't, and are poised to continue to be an elite program, whereas we either aren't, or we can't really tell one way or the other.

Why did people complain about Osborne not winning a national championship?

Because it seemed like there were many years that our team was good enough to win, but we could never win the big game at the end. Many years of 0-2 losses during the regular season, only the fail the last test.