SI Mailbag: What Are Realistic Short-Term Expectations for Nebraska?

[MichiganDad3]

There is too much uncertainty to make an accurate prediction about next year, but below are some of my thoughts.

1. MR was beyond bad. His last few years at OSU were below average for him, and that trend did not change at Nebraska. I would expect improvement if we re-hired Billy C.
   
2. Diaco is so bad, that I am 100% certain a randomly picked person from this board would be an improvement.
   
3. Last year's special teams were horrendus with the exception of a couple extraordinary kickers.
   
4. Last year we were awful with turnovers. The defense couldn't force any, and our QB was a turnover machine. The new staff emphasizes turnovers on both sides of the ball. I expect the Huskers to be in the plus column on turnovers. If we would have been in the plus column last year we would have won 2 or 3 more games.
   
5. We will have a QB this year that defenses fear. Last year defenses had no concern about getting hurt by our QB. The QB could not run, and many of our yards came after the game was out of hand. MR was too loyal, stubborn, stupid or something to switch to a QB that could escape the pocket.
   
6. Our OL was abysmal last year. There were may reasons, but no rotation, only 5 players readied for the game, poor conditioning are reasons. All of this will change next year.
   
7. The QB was average during Frost's first year at UCF. That could be different here, but I expect it will take time to get enough players enough reps to be as fast as Frost wants. 
   
8. Frost has mentioned several times that he came here because he will be given the time required to re-build. I think he is referencing getting back in the MNC hunt.
   

In summary, I don't know what to expect, but the Huskers will be better. A mobile QB, dramatically improved turnovers, and a defense with LBs who are allowed to move should be good for 3 or 4 more wins. I don't expect the blowouts to completely go away for a couple more years, but I would not be surprised if we win the West in year one or two. And perhaps most important, no Husker coach should ever be allowed to drive a Prius! What was the AD thinking. Husker coaches should drive large trucks with gun racks in the back window loaded with ax handles. SE should have at least made MR take the streamers and the bell off of his bicycle before riding it on campus.

 

[junior4949]

I expect our team to be well coached , well prepared , physically and mentally tough,  and to put in a solid,  4 quarter effort,  every game . When facing a less talented team , especially on our home field, I expect us to win the game ! I expect us to Compete hard against teams more talented than us too . No more blowouts or giving up . 

We haven’t seen those things for a while but I think we will again next year, and the win /loss record will be much better . 

Yeah, this is where I'm at.  I am not willing to put a number on the win/loss record in year one, but I do expect much better football.  I don't know that we've been physically "soft" for the past 15 years or so, but we have been mentally "fragile" as a team.  Bo did some great things with the program, but he never could overcome the mentally "fragile" part of it which is why some of his losses were so lopsided.  Frost is going to have this team out working and hitting the teams we play.  However, it's probably going to be season two or three before we climb all of the mental hurdles along the way. 

 

[Enhance]

There is too much uncertainty to make an accurate prediction about next year, but below are some of my thoughts.

1. MR was beyond bad. His last few years at OSU were below average for him, and that trend did not change at Nebraska. I would expect improvement if we re-hired Billy C.
   
2. Diaco is so bad, that I am 100% certain a randomly picked person from this board would be an improvement.
   
3. Last year's special teams were horrendus with the exception of a couple extraordinary kickers.
   
4. Last year we were awful with turnovers. The defense couldn't force any, and our QB was a turnover machine. The new staff emphasizes turnovers on both sides of the ball. I expect the Huskers to be in the plus column on turnovers. If we would have been in the plus column last year we would have won 2 or 3 more games.
   
5. We will have a QB this year that defenses fear. Last year defenses had no concern about getting hurt by our QB. The QB could not run, and many of our yards came after the game was out of hand. MR was too loyal, stubborn, stupid or something to switch to a QB that could escape the pocket.
   
6. Our OL was abysmal last year. There were may reasons, but no rotation, only 5 players readied for the game, poor conditioning are reasons. All of this will change next year.
   
7. The QB was average during Frost's first year at UCF. That could be different here, but I expect it will take time to get enough players enough reps to be as fast as Frost wants. 
   
8. Frost has mentioned several times that he came here because he will be given the time required to re-build. I think he is referencing getting back in the MNC hunt.
   

In summary, I don't know what to expect, but the Huskers will be better. A mobile QB, dramatically improved turnovers, and a defense with LBs who are allowed to move should be good for 3 or 4 more wins. I don't expect the blowouts to completely go away for a couple more years, but I would not be surprised if we win the West in year one or two. And perhaps most important, no Husker coach should ever be allowed to drive a Prius! What was the AD thinking. Husker coaches should drive large trucks with gun racks in the back window loaded with ax handles. SE should have at least made MR take the streamers and the bell off of his bicycle before riding it on campus.

Agree with several of these thoughts.

Number five does feel a bit wonky to me, though. I have confidence Frost will identify and help develop the best player at that position for 2018, but 'best at the position' and a 'QB this year that defenses fear' may not go hand-in-hand. Assuming we have someone who could eventually play to or beyond the level of Milton (a serious assumption in and of itself) he was pretty 'meh' his freshman year. It took until his sophomore year for him to throw at 67 percent and generate a 37:9 TD/INT ratio. And, realistically speaking right now, there's a 66 percent chance our starting QB will have never played a college game before.

 

[MichiganDad3]

Agree with several of these thoughts.

Number five does feel a bit wonky to me, though. I have confidence Frost will identify and help develop the best player at that position for 2018, but 'best at the position' and a 'QB this year that defenses fear' may not go hand-in-hand. Assuming we have someone who could eventually play to or beyond the level of Milton (a serious assumption in and of itself) he was pretty 'meh' his freshman year. It took until his sophomore year for him to throw at 67 percent and generate a 37:9 TD/INT ratio. And, realistically speaking right now, there's a 66 percent chance our starting QB will have never played a college game before.

I am guessing that our QB next year will be at least as good as a healthy TA, which is head and shoulders above what we had last year. I do think it will take a couple of years to get a great QB. As you said, MM was nothing special his freshman year. On the other hand, MM did not have a staff that had been together for two years. Will that help our QB develop faster? I hope so.

 

[MichiganDad3]

I think Bill Moos will be worth one or two wins next year. MR may have been world class bad, but I can't imagine trying to coach a major college football team with the AD telling me to fire my assistant coaches, and which assistant coaches to hire, and having some admin telling me I can't recruit Jucos.

 

[Scarlet Overkill]

Well, hang on to your butts, kids, because by all accounts, Scott Frost very closely resembled Mike Riley in his first year.  (Found ways to lose, rather than finding ways to win). I expect about the same this year for our guys, with some improvement coming maybe in year 2 or 3.  

One of UCF Fan's biggest complaints in year one, is one of our biggest complaints ... OLine getting pushed around.

Oh, and a side note, according to them, Milton was in no way shape or form a D1 QB and their criticisms were like ours of Martinez, TA, and TLee, times two, all wrapped into one.  So, patience will be a virtue, but i believe it will be rewarded.

 

[skersfan]

I am just going and wait to see what happens.  Flapping my jaw making statements about who or how we beat another team, means about as much as bird droppings.  Will Nebraska be better next year.  I truly think so.  But there are no guarantees in life.  Play the games.  See what happens.

And again, Coach Frost did a great job at UCF, no question.  But he did not start with a bunch of losers, he had talent on the team, they had won 12 games two years before and played in the Fiesta Bowl I think.  Had to be some talent left.  Most likely kids with a better attitude about winning.  They had been past over by most big programs.  Wanted to prove themselves with their new hotshot coach.  

 

[Big Red 40]

I am just going and wait to see what happens.  Flapping my jaw making statements about who or how we beat another team, means about as much as bird droppings.  Will Nebraska be better next year.  I truly think so.  But there are no guarantees in life.  Play the games.  See what happens.

And again, Coach Frost did a great job at UCF, no question.  But he did not start with a bunch of losers, he had talent on the team, they had won 12 games two years before and played in the Fiesta Bowl I think.  Had to be some talent left.  Most likely kids with a better attitude about winning.  They had been past over by most big programs.  Wanted to prove themselves with their new hotshot coach.  

Meh its a message board discussion to get us through a cold crappy winter with no football. If our predictions actually mattered we'd all predict undefeated national champions, and that would be that.

One bold prediction I will make with 100 percent certainty though  is that Scott Frost will not stand there clueless,  kicking imaginary rocks, as the Huskers get beat on their home field by a lousy team like Northern Illinois ! That was an absolute travesty that should never happen again, and i'm fully confident it wont. 

 

[The Dude]

But he did not start with a bunch of losers, he had talent on the team, they had won 12 games two years before and played in the Fiesta Bowl I think.

Every time I see this I wonder if anyone who played on that 2013 team also played on the 2017 team.  If anyone was left, wouldn't it just be guys who were redshirting in 2013?

On the other hand, a lot of the guys from the 0-12 2015 team were still around.

 

[DrunkOffPunch]

Every time I see this I wonder if anyone who played on that 2013 team also played on the 2017 team.  If anyone was left, wouldn't it just be guys who were redshirting in 2013?

On the other hand, a lot of the guys from the 0-12 2015 team were still around.

To add on to that, UCF had 17 kids on their 2 deep that were true sophomores or younger. I.E. Frost's recruits. That doesn't include JUCO guys like Mike Hughes. They only started 6 seniors.

 

[skersfan]

The point being he did not take over a historic losing program.  Do I think anyone else could have done the job he did.  Most likely there are a few, but not many.  I think there were kids there that wanted to win, and he lit a fire under the ones that were just coming along.  I am very happy we got Coach Frost, think he is one of the best college coaches around.  I just don't compare it to what Snyder did at Kansas State.  I think he has a lot of work to do to be on the same curve as the last two years.  He has shown he is capable, the question is, is there enough talent on the shelves to compete with the top of the Big every week.  

I already know the answers that are coming, I was here when we were going to run right thru the Big 10, show Wisconsin who the real Big Red was.  I would much rather see results, and personally wait for them to happen.  

 

[Making Chimichangas]

Well, hang on to your butts, kids, because by all accounts, Scott Frost very closely resembled Mike Riley in his first year.  (Found ways to lose, rather than finding ways to win). I expect about the same this year for our guys, with some improvement coming maybe in year 2 or 3.  

One of UCF Fan's biggest complaints in year one, is one of our biggest complaints ... OLine getting pushed around.

Oh, and a side note, according to them, Milton was in no way shape or form a D1 QB and their criticisms were like ours of Martinez, TA, and TLee, times two, all wrapped into one.  So, patience will be a virtue, but i believe it will be rewarded.

The difference is (I hope anyway) that Nebraska has much better talent starting off than UCF.  And plus with Adrian Martinez coming in, we should be much farther advanced in year one than UCF was.  I'm saying this team has the potential to go 12-0.  Will they?  Realistically I don't think so but anything is possible.  But I do think 8-4 or 9-3 is an extremely achievable goal.  Been saying this for a LONG time: Nebraska has far better talent than they've shown.  It comes down to effort and want.  Can Coach Frost get that great effort out of them in year one?  We're going to find out.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

If there's one thing we've learned with the Omaha World Herald and other articles, it's that Frost and Moos genuinely think the rebuild will take time. They're not very subtly trying to tell the fans that it's going to take awhile. 

With that schedule next year, passion from the players and a bowl game would be a huge improvement. Continue momentum on the recruiting trail and I'll be happy. 

 

[MichiganDad3]

Well, hang on to your butts, kids, because by all accounts, Scott Frost very closely resembled Mike Riley in his first year.  (Found ways to lose, rather than finding ways to win). I expect about the same this year for our guys, with some improvement coming maybe in year 2 or 3.  

One of UCF Fan's biggest complaints in year one, is one of our biggest complaints ... OLine getting pushed around.

Oh, and a side note, according to them, Milton was in no way shape or form a D1 QB and their criticisms were like ours of Martinez, TA, and TLee, times two, all wrapped into one.  So, patience will be a virtue, but i believe it will be rewarded.

Yikes! I understand your point, but please never put Frost on the same level as MR. Frost inherited a 0-12 team, and was a first time HC. Winning 6 games was very good. MR would have found a way to have a record worse than 0-12. I believe it will take time to recover from the mess MR, SE and their accomplices left behind, maybe all we get is six wins this year, but it will be a momentum building year ... I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

 

[Scarlet Overkill]

Yikes! I understand your point, but please never put Frost on the same level as MR. Frost inherited a 0-12 team, and was a first time HC. Winning 6 games was very good. MR would have found a way to have a record worse than 0-12. I believe it will take time to recover from the mess MR, SE and their accomplices left behind, maybe all we get is six wins this year, but it will be a momentum building year ... I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Trust me when i say i hated to make the comparison, but -- their gripes about SF were our exact same gripes about MR.  The thing i think going for SF now is that HE has learned from some bad decisions early on, whereas I think MR never did and likely never will.  (His first year at UCF, could have easily been a 9 win season - they got 6)