How far are we behind the top teams in Big Ten

[marko polo]

Watching the SEC and B1G games yesterday I realized just how much Alabama, Wisconsin and Penn State play with so much intensity on both sides of the ball.

Nebraska on the other hand basically patty cakes their way through games

Intensity. Desire. Killer instinct......Attitude that separates winners from losers. Can it be developed or taught? I think a guy either has it or doesn't. We need to start recruiting guys with that edge....or at least a lot more than we do now.

Agreed but it just can't be your players. It undoubtedly has to be your coaches who own those traits too.

yepper!

 

[lo country]

We lost three games this year. Clearly OSU is at another level right now yo us.

Michigan is a question mark. They can be really good but I don't see them quite at the same level as OSU yet.

I think we can play with and beat everyone else.

We lost to Wisconsin on the road in over time. I don't see why they are so much better than us.

The Iowa game was just plain pathetic. Winning that game clearly meant more to their players. On top of that, our running QB couldn't run. That's a huge problem for an offense that relies on your QB to run.

PSU lost a game early they shouldn't have just like us.

I don't think we are that far behind them.

Michigan dominated OSU for 3 quarters. They aren't a question mark. Just because they lost a game when they didn't have their starting QB doesn't put a question mark behind them, imo.

Also regarding PSU. Losing early and improving like crazy is completely different from folding late, which is what NU did. That's not even remotely comparable. NU got worse through the year. Penn State got 100x better.

So true about PSU. Not to mention coming back from 21 down against Wisky..... The ferociousness that the top tier B1G lines play with is noticeable. Not a recruitnick, but it looks like we still recruit PAC 12 kids for the black and blue league of the B1G. Not saying talent is better or worse, but maybe a different mentality i.e. Smash mouth vs finesse. Great athletes, but mentally square peg, round hole.....Just a thought.....

 

[lo country]

Watching the SEC and B1G games yesterday I realized just how much Alabama, Wisconsin and Penn State play with so much intensity on both sides of the ball.

Nebraska on the other hand basically patty cakes their way through games

Intensity. Desire. Killer instinct......Attitude that separates winners from losers. Can it be developed or taught? I think a guy either has it or doesn't. We need to start recruiting guys with that edge....or at least a lot more than we do now.

Agreed but it just can't be your players. It undoubtedly has to be your coaches who own those traits too.

yepper!

Truth

 

[84HuskerLaw]

Now that a few days have past since our last regular season game, it is easier to see more clearly and look at the season and team as a whole. In my view, we are indeed behind the top tier of the Big Ten and the top 20 nationally. We have some excellent football players on our team but we don't have nearly enough to be a real contender. Last year we finished 6-7 and played close with nearly all our opponents and this year we finished 9-3 and played 'close' in all but two. Ohio State is the premiere and most talented team in the Big Ten and I think the country (including Bama which is a very close second). Michigan is certainly within the top 7. Wisconsin and Michigan State and apparently Penn State based on this year's team are now firmly in the top 20 in talent. I put Nebraska and Iowa in the same approximately talent level (about number 30). The rest of the Big Ten would fit within the top 60 with exception of perhaps Rutgers and Purdue and they are slowly improving as well. The Big Ten is now the most talented college football conference just as it is in Volleyball and perhaps basketball as well.

Nebraska needs about 25 more 4 and 5 star level players to fill in the two deep chart and another 35 3 star guys to mix in with the rest of the team to sufficiently upgrade our overall talent level.

This didn't happen by accident. It is the result of inadequate recruiting and some poor player and roster development over the past 20 years. It cannot be fixed easily but it certainly can be done over perhaps 5 to 7 years of determined effort. We won't need 50 guys to win 11 games but it will take that many to win 11 games consistently.

 

[southernoregonhusker]

What needs to change? TALENT. Notice how their o-lines open up holes and how their backs explode out of the backfield for big gains (talking about last night's championship)? Now go back to last week and think of a time we did that against Iowa. No holes and Newby falls down the first time he's touched. See the issue? We don't have enough difference makers. Certainly not on either line. How can we compete when we don't have enough talent?

Talent is the obvious answer. Who watched the championship games yesterday and thought we had the same talent those other teams had? Anybody? Even our strength and conditioning guru has said we're a few years away from the big boys. Did you watch Alabama? Who cracks their two deep from our team? Nobody. Who cracks the two deep on Clemson from our team? Nobody. Washington? Ohio State?

Now I'm reading posts saying we better compete next year for the West title. With what? With our brand new, lights out defensive ends? Our new linebacking corp? How about our "Lockdown U" secondary that got torched by OSU? Our brand new QB? The same bums on the o-line? Who are these difference makers who weren't good enough to see the field this season? On paper, we're a 6 win team next season with a bunch of new/young players. We need to be patient while Riley brings us some horses and coaches them up.

During the Iowa game, I heard the announcer say that we were the best fourth quarter team in the country. Then Bellotti, the color guy said this, "Yeah, if it's still a game by then." Who else heard that? Even the announcers know we're not very good. We hear the digs every week, but there are a lot of us who are blind to this. We are a middle Big Ten team who hasn't won a conference championship since 2001. Let that reality sink in. Temper your unrealistic expectations. When you do, you'll be less frustrated.

Now let's get behind Riley and this staff because the alternative is firing him and setting the program back even further.

 

[lo country]

What needs to change? TALENT. Notice how their o-lines open up holes and how their backs explode out of the backfield for big gains (talking about last night's championship)? Now go back to last week and think of a time we did that against Iowa. No holes and Newby falls down the first time he's touched. See the issue? We don't have enough difference makers. Certainly not on either line. How can we compete when we don't have enough talent?

Talent is the obvious answer. Who watched the championship games yesterday and thought we had the same talent those other teams had? Anybody? Even our strength and conditioning guru has said we're a few years away from the big boys. Did you watch Alabama? Who cracks their two deep from our team? Nobody. Who cracks the two deep on Clemson from our team? Nobody. Washington? Ohio State?

Now I'm reading posts saying we better compete next year for the West title. With what? With our brand new, lights out defensive ends? Our new linebacking corp? How about our "Lockdown U" secondary that got torched by OSU? Our brand new QB? The same bums on the o-line? Who are these difference makers who weren't good enough to see the field this season? On paper, we're a 6 win team next season with a bunch of new/young players. We need to be patient while Riley brings us some horses and coaches them up.

During the Iowa game, I heard the announcer say that we were the best fourth quarter team in the country. Then Bellotti, the color guy said this, "Yeah, if it's still a game by then." Who else heard that? Even the announcers know we're not very good. We hear the digs every week, but there are a lot of us who are blind to this. We are a middle Big Ten team who hasn't won a conference championship since 2001. Let that reality sink in. Temper your unrealistic expectations. When you do, you'll be less frustrated.

Now let's get behind Riley and this staff because the alternative is firing him and setting the program back even further.

They also bagged on our offensive play calling.....no disagreeing with you at all. We have several issues. Talent, coaching, lack of development......Cav and his "chemistry" theory over making a good OL...... works unless we have injuries, or no depth or lack of talent....Langs and his play calling.....

 

[RunMickeyRun02]

Well we did lose @ Wiscy in overtime. tOsu and Michigan are on a seperate tier, and PSU is inbetween them and wisconsin. We are just behind Wisconsin basically even with Iowa

Farther than we'd like but closer than we think what with all the negativity and pessimism flying around post-Iowa.

for some, it is a bit of a realization, how to change that is another story

These three posts some up my feelings, even how I'd have things ranked.

 

[Red_Payne]

We are a strong O-line away; I can't speak on QB, as I don't honestly know how well Tommy could have played behind a Wisc or Mich, O-line. Maybe he would have been a heisman candidate, maybe he would have been considerably worse than their QBs, I just don't know. I do know that the top teams in our conference seem to have a really strong line.

 

[RunMickeyRun02]

We are a strong O-line away; I can't speak on QB, as I don't honestly know how well Tommy could have played behind a Wisc or Mich, O-line. Maybe he would have been a heisman candidate, maybe he would have been considerably worse than their QBs, I just don't know. I do know that the top teams in our conference seem to have a really strong line.

Interesting thought, i hadn't thought about it like that before.

I agree about the o-line but the difference for me is depth in general. Might explain some of our ST issues this year too.

 

[swmohusker]

To win the west the improvements must come on the offensve side of the ball. With the defense we have right now we can win iur divisio. Wiscy and Iowa are built to stop the run. We need to either get more physical up front which I don't think we are close to doing, or be able to push the ball down field and hit open wrs. I think if we have an accurate qb and keep bringing in talented wr then we can finally use out perimeter athletes to our advantage. Once we get that going then our run game will find success. That is the way it looks like Riley teams are built. We get better in the pass game we will be able to win the west with about the same team we have right now.

To win the B1G championship the defensive improvements are a must. We will need to get some type of edge players that can help get the ball out and make plays to get teams off schedule in the run game. Our DT looks to be trending the right way and our LB are getting better but need to get a little more athletic at that position for the scheme we run. Many times this year our guys couldn't make the play. If we could combine Jones and Kalu into 1 player we would have a Ohio St caliber DB. We have a ways to go on the back end but it seems like we have some young talented guys but it will be huge if D. Williams can upgrade our secondary talent to hang with the likes of Ohio St and Penn states offenses.

 

[alwayshusking]

Shore up the lines and get some good QB play and we could make a big jump, like PSU did this year.

Need more NFL caliber guys throughout the roster. We have maybe 10 NFL guys right now and half of those are too young to be that type of player this year. Need more like 20. Those mid 90s NU teams had 30.

 

[GBRFAN]

We lost three games this year. Clearly OSU is at another level right now yo us.

Michigan is a question mark. They can be really good but I don't see them quite at the same level as OSU yet.

I think we can play with and beat everyone else.

We lost to Wisconsin on the road in over time. I don't see why they are so much better than us.

The Iowa game was just plain pathetic. Winning that game clearly meant more to their players. On top of that, our running QB couldn't run. That's a huge problem for an offense that relies on your QB to run.

PSU lost a game early they shouldn't have just like us.

I don't think we are that far behind them.

Michigan dominated OSU for 3 quarters. They aren't a question mark. Just because they lost a game when they didn't have their starting QB doesn't put a question mark behind them, imo.

Also regarding PSU. Losing early and improving like crazy is completely different from folding late, which is what NU did. That's not even remotely comparable. NU got worse through the year. Penn State got 100x better.

It's called injuries and it's what happens when smaller/younger guys go up against bigger/older guys - overtime the body wears down.

 

[speedtoburn]

I watched the Big Ten Championship game last night after Volleyball was over and I kept thinking to my self wow we are no where close to Penn St or WI at this point in the year and we are even further behind MI and Ohio State. We are a middle of the road team in the Big Ten.

WI will dominate the West the next few years and we seem to have no clue?

I never was sold on Riley and I am still not, he is a great guy but wow I cant help but wonder if we can ever really compete with him as Coach?

We will never compete at the level people so desperately crave with Mike Riley as head coach.

Eichorst's hiring of Riley is the apex of the trend our program has of completely blundering every opportunity they've had to hire a coach. A trend that defies all odd's and now inexplicably spans multiple AD's.

Statistics don't lie, Riley has been an average to below average coach everywhere he's been....this is what our current AD has now saddled us with, it is disgustingly mind boggling. We will now be stuck in the mire of 7-9 win seasons and no appreciable achievements for the next 3-5 years. Riley will get at least 3 more years regardless, and probably closer to 5 would be my guess.

We will remain largely irrelevant until he is canned or decides to leave at which point we'll get another shot, and most likely bungle that hire as well.

The leadership of our University has allowed our football program to essentially become "Minnesota", and every person who has played a part in allowing that to happen should be ashamed of themselves.

 

[SuperBigFan69]

The thing holding NU back might be the thing that will be hardest to change.

 

[hskrfan4life]

The thing holding NU back might be the thing that will be hardest to change.

Being stuck in the past?