Here is where I am at. Riley has improved the temperament of the program, improved the face of the program and recruiting seems to be improving. (losing 3 at the end hurt 2017 IMO). 2018 is shaping up nicely, but again, not signed. After last night, I think Micah Parsons is salivating to be here. BUT can Riley get the monkey off his back and prove he is a winner? Only time will tell. Some guys have "it" and some don't.... This is based off a career of Riley, not a few seasons as HC. Hoping I'm wrong.
Living in the south, I get a lot of Sunbelt football. Watch it as I like the offenses many run. ASU is a good football team. Defensively (last year) led the nation in TFL and were 6th in sacks.... There DE, Rolland-Jones needs 13.5 sacks to get the FBS record. Regardless of conference, thats pretty solid D. I truly thought this would be a great test for our OL. Really, one of the better DL we will see. What shocked me, disappointed me, concerned me was the inability of our D to stop their O. They replaced all their starters on the OL....that averaged about 250 yards/game last year... and made our D look slow, unsure and lost. I am hoping that this game was/is the kick in the nuts the team needed. Nor do I believe that we played "vanilla". You don't let a team like ASU hang around smelling blood and "hope" the D that allowed them almost 500 yards continues to hold. That's wishful thinking.
Oregon will really let us know where we are. We keep the base 3-4, don't run a nickel or dime, we get boat raced. We eat the clock, let Tanner make them pay if they crowd the box and emulate how teams completely negate our screen game we win....We continue to bend and not break, we will see the break against a team with equal depth and athletes in Oregon....
Regardless of folks views, those on this board are all diehard Husker fans....wanting the same thing. Wins and a return to the elite levels. sadly, a lot of fans remember those days through youtube and google searches....