CollegeFootballNews: Big Ten Pre-Season Power Rankings

[SuperBigFan69]

I get that we are an unknown, but behind Minnesota AND Northwestern? Come on.

Well....

http://preseason.stassen.com/consensus/2017.html

Yank.

Neither NW or Minny will beat us this year or finish ahead of us. Take that to the bank.

I don't think they will either, (or you're looking at a house cleaning), but it seems that nobody expects anything from NU this year.

Which is fine with me at this point.

I don't understand it...but...OK.

I really don't get it either. When Riley was hired all we heard was how amazing he was at Oregon State, how he did so much more with so much less.

Now, that he has so much more as far as talent, staff, support and facilities...those same "writers" seem to be turning on him or have forgotten was they said in the past or clearly did not mean what they said.

He is actually getting less respect now than he did while going 5-7 at OSU.

We won 9 games last year with a QB that was a horrible fit for the type of offense this staff wants to run and knows how to run well along with a bad DC.

Now, we have a multiple QBs in the system that are custom fit for this offense and they have been in the system for over a year......along with what everyone agrees is going to be an upgrade at DC

.......and we are going to do worse?????

Exactly, I don't get it. I am starting to think that the Riley love from the past was a bunch of BS. "Heck, he is a great guy and sometimes he upsets a really good team...we might as well say he is awesome and just needs to be at a school with tons of resources"

But it seems clear they didn't mean it

 

[Mavric]

I get that we are an unknown, but behind Minnesota AND Northwestern? Come on.

Well....

http://preseason.stassen.com/consensus/2017.html

Yank.

Neither NW or Minny will beat us this year or finish ahead of us. Take that to the bank.

I don't think they will either, (or you're looking at a house cleaning), but it seems that nobody expects anything from NU this year.

Which is fine with me at this point.

I don't understand it...but...OK.

I really don't get it either. When Riley was hired all we heard was how amazing he was at Oregon State, how he did so much more with so much less.

Now, that he has so much more as far as talent, staff, support and facilities...those same "writers" seem to be turning on him or have forgotten was they said in the past or clearly did not mean what they said.

He is actually getting less respect now than he did while going 5-7 at OSU.

We won 9 games last year with a QB that was a horrible fit for the type of offense this staff wants to run and knows how to run well along with a bad DC.

Now, we have a multiple QBs in the system that are custom fit for this offense and they have been in the system for over a year......along with what everyone agrees is going to be an upgrade at DC

.......and we are going to do worse?????

I tend to agree with you on the offense. I think our offense overall will be better. Though I think most of the national thinking is we went from a four-year starter who had decent stats (other than completion percentage) to an unknown so that is a minus in most books.

But the other side of the coin is a noticably better QB wouldn't have made much difference in two of our three (regular season) losses so it might not make much difference on the overall record.

And I can't imagine that the defense won't improve over the longer term but I'm not sure we have a great personnel fit right at the moment.

Plus, we had a few games that we just barely won last year. And trade a home game against Oregon for going to their place and (basically) Indiana for Penn State so I don't think it's that much of a stretch to think that we could be a "better" team with a worse record.

 

[BigRedBuster]

Any QB will be an improvement.

I'm assuming you are saying any QB....currently within the system.

 

[skersfan]

I think we need to see what happens this year, before we make any decisions on his ability.

Another thing that most seem to be forgetting is that other teams in the Big10, get the same 51.1 million and it appears that Minnesota and Northwestern are using it to improve their football programs. They have more natural players in their immediate area than Nebraska. As much as I hate to say it, but most likely a far easier recruiting effort for them than Nebraska. Kids don't care about history and tradition of 25 years ago, they care about today and how much you are going to do for them, and not much else. Most kids want to stay close to home and play.

The days of Nebraska getting anyone and everyone they want have been over a long time, and it is never going to happen again. We need to be the best we can be, nothing more.

 

[BigRedBuster]

I get that we are an unknown, but behind Minnesota AND Northwestern? Come on.

Well....

http://preseason.stassen.com/consensus/2017.html

Yank.

Neither NW or Minny will beat us this year or finish ahead of us. Take that to the bank.

I don't think they will either, (or you're looking at a house cleaning), but it seems that nobody expects anything from NU this year.

Which is fine with me at this point.

I don't understand it...but...OK.

I really don't get it either. When Riley was hired all we heard was how amazing he was at Oregon State, how he did so much more with so much less.

Now, that he has so much more as far as talent, staff, support and facilities...those same "writers" seem to be turning on him or have forgotten was they said in the past or clearly did not mean what they said.

He is actually getting less respect now than he did while going 5-7 at OSU.

We won 9 games last year with a QB that was a horrible fit for the type of offense this staff wants to run and knows how to run well along with a bad DC.

Now, we have a multiple QBs in the system that are custom fit for this offense and they have been in the system for over a year......along with what everyone agrees is going to be an upgrade at DC

.......and we are going to do worse?????

Exactly, I don't get it. I am starting to think that the Riley love from the past was a bunch of BS. "Heck, he is a great guy and sometimes he upsets a really good team...we might as well say he is awesome and just needs to be at a school with tons of resources"

But it seems clear they didn't mean it

I don't really care if they "meant it" or not.

It's clear that a couple years ago he was the new kid on the block so they didn't know what to write. Now, he's been here for two years and it's like we have been forgotten. They are too lazy to actually do some digging on what is actually going on in the system so it's easy to just say some random team like Northwestern is going to be better than us.

It's typical off season crap reporting. That's why I said I really don't care right now that they put us there.

 

[BigRedBuster]

I think we need to see what happens this year, before we make any decisions on his ability.

Another thing that most seem to be forgetting is that other teams in the Big10, get the same 51.1 million and it appears that Minnesota and Northwestern are using it to improve their football programs. They have more natural players in their immediate area than Nebraska. As much as I hate to say it, but most likely a far easier recruiting effort for them than Nebraska. Kids don't care about history and tradition of 25 years ago, they care about today and how much you are going to do for them, and not much else. Most kids want to stay close to home and play.

The days of Nebraska getting anyone and everyone they want have been over a long time, and it is never going to happen again. We need to be the best we can be, nothing more.

Are you saying Nebraska hasn't spent money to improve their program? Look at the assistants we have brought in and what we are paying them compared to before.

 

[skersfan]

Tommy was an athlete, not a QB. So anyone we have on the roster currently should be a better choice for the offense, as they were recruited to run this offense. Tommy was not, great Husker, but barely adequate as a Division 1 QB.

 

[skersfan]

I am not saying anything of the such. But some Nebraska fans seem to think that this is the only program that wants to improve.

If you lived in Minnesota, 4* athlete, being recruited by your home team and Nebraska, what would be the draw to Nebraska? Most of them were not alive the last time we won anything of importance.

 

[Caliborn72]

I am not saying anything of the such. But some Nebraska fans seem to think that this is the only program that wants to improve.

If you lived in Minnesota, 4* athlete, being recruited by your home team and Nebraska, what would be the draw to Nebraska? Most of them were not alive the last time we won anything of importance.

I agree with the general premise - the conference is improving rapidly, and some teams that should be lower on the totem pole might have made better hires at HC than Riley. That's a big might however, as I believe Riley still has a chance to prove himself and that someone like Fleck still has to prove himself at this level.
Where I don't agree is in recruiting. This staff has flown by all of the teams they should be flying by in recruiting and even though guys like Fleck and Brohm might be very good coaches, I'm not sure they will ever recruit as top 15 programs like we are doing now. It's the tradition that leads to incredible amounts of fans at the spring game which leads to recruits being excited about playing in Lincoln. This staff is capitalizing on it and hopefully will be competing for conference titles.

Now we just need to make it through '17 and '18 with relative success so that this ridiculous class can start dominating. I have my concerns on whether or not Riley makes it out alive though.

 

[HuskerFanatic1]

I am not saying anything of the such. But some Nebraska fans seem to think that this is the only program that wants to improve.

If you lived in Minnesota, 4* athlete, being recruited by your home team and Nebraska, what would be the draw to Nebraska? Most of them were not alive the last time we won anything of importance.

Yes Minnesota may be improving their commitment to football with the revenue but that doesn't mean they are jumping ahead of us in recruiting rankings just because they are closer to some higher talent. We have a few more down years and they keep improving, then yes this could change, but the fact of the argument is, it hasn't.

 

[jaws]

I am not saying anything of the such. But some Nebraska fans seem to think that this is the only program that wants to improve.

If you lived in Minnesota, 4* athlete, being recruited by your home team and Nebraska, what would be the draw to Nebraska? Most of them were not alive the last time we won anything of importance.

I agree with the general premise - the conference is improving rapidly, and some teams that should be lower on the totem pole might have made better hires at HC than Riley. That's a big might however, as I believe Riley still has a chance to prove himself and that someone like Fleck still has to prove himself at this level.
Where I don't agree is in recruiting. This staff has flown by all of the teams they should be flying by in recruiting and even though guys like Fleck and Brohm might be very good coaches, I'm not sure they will ever recruit as top 15 programs like we are doing now. It's the tradition that leads to incredible amounts of fans at the spring game which leads to recruits being excited about playing in Lincoln. This staff is capitalizing on it and hopefully will be competing for conference titles.

Now we just need to make it through '17 and '18 with relative success so that this ridiculous class can start dominating. I have my concerns on whether or not Riley makes it out alive though.

Which class are you calling the "ridiculous class"? The 2018 class that hasn't signed yet or the 2017 class that is just getting to campus?

 

[Toe]

It's pretty simple. New defensive system, new QB, no proven go-to WR, no bellcow RB, and questions on both lines. Even the vegas numbers were low too.

Probably the biggest difference between us and outside observers is that deservedly or not, we're putting a whole lot of faith in Lee being a big upgrade over Armstrong. Stronger QB play can make the WRs look better, and hopefully open things up more for the RBs as well. (I suspect that the depth charts for WR and RB will be tentative, though.) But yeah, the biggest question on this team has gotta be the o-line. A group that's had a lot of problems and doesn't have Armstrong's legs to bail them out anymore? Yikes. Will getting a couple guys back from injury and a few redshirt freshman be enough to save Cavanaugh's job?

 

[BigRedBuster]

In what realm of reality do people pull information that would convince them that Minnesota is a better football program than Nebraska right now.

Since joining the Big Ten, We are 4-2 against them. We have won the last two.

Nebraska recruiting rankings last 4 years:

23

24

30

36

Minnesota recruiting rankings last 4 years:

58

46

63

57

For the 2018 class, our average player rating is closer to OSU (highest in the country) than to Minnesota's.

Nebraska's record last 4 years:

9-4

6-7

9-4

9-4

Minnesota's record last 4 years:

9-4

6-7

8-5

8-5

We replaced our DC. They replaced their entire staff.

People talk about kids now days weren't alive the last time Nebraska won anything of significance. Well, how old were they the last time Minnesota did?

Minnesota average attendance last 4 years = 47,960.

People claiming that all of a sudden they are a better program than Nebraska now or that they know they will be better than Nebraska this year are doing nothing but pulling crap out of their asses and throwing it against the wall.

 

[lo country]

It's based on what we have been for the past 15 years..... A program on the verge of being great or being horrible. We have flashed moments of brilliance to only be destroyed in prime time on national tv.

We can talk, new system, coach, staff, etc, but the reality is we have shown nothing to deserve better. Start making the west a two horse show year in and year out (NU and Wisky) and have the rest fighting for scraps and we will start to get some love. Quit losing in embracing fashion and we will get to where we need to be.

Riley has the facilities, the staff, the QB's and the stars. Now he just needs to win.......

 

[Landlord]

I don't think anyone is claiming Minnesota is a better program than we are. I think there is room for a claim that, over the last few years, they've been getting more out of their respective resources and talent than we have.

Regardless, it's not unreasonable to think we will end up worse in the W-L column for no other reason than the schedule. Compare it to last year:

@ Oregon with Willie Taggert and Jim Leavitt as opposed to Helfrich/Hoke will presumably a much harder win

Northwestern and Minnesota were both mostly comfortable wins last year, but both teams have a very good possibility of being improved from last season

Illinois should be an easy enough game but they should also definitely be better than the last 2 seasons

Top 10 Penn State with a bona fide stud at QB will be much tougher than playing Indiana

Ohio State is at home but they also beat us by 59 points last year

Same with Iowa