Gut Check Poll - Will Husker go to a Bowl Game in 2021

[funhusker]

With the portal I think “expect transfers “ is going to be extremely commonplace from here on out. And not just at Nebraska but everywhere 

I'm starting to think it might be a problem that solves itself.  I think next year when things are hopefully back to normal and players see how many transfer portal players end up without a home, it will make them think twice about giving up a scholarship opportunity.

Kind of like telling your kids that they can eat as much ice cream as they'd like.  Eventually they are going to get a stomach ache and realize that too much isn't always a good thing.

 

[Hooked on Huskers]

No. Young team, rugged schedule, and we lost two of our best playmakers from last year's team. Unclear running back situation, no proven WR... 

Yep

Yep

Yep

Yep

Yep

:cry :cry :cry :cry :cry

Oh well, NEXT YEAR (repeat) 

 

[Hagg]

Some of us have kids who don't understand the ruckus.  They were born in the late 90s.  The kids have seen mediocre and doo-doo season records for as long as they can remember,  They have seen several coaching and even Athletic Director changes in efforts to remedy the whole thing.  A couple of generations now see 9 win expectations as Tom Osborn "old people stuff."  

They see reality.  I don't, apparently.  I keep getting the feeling that there is energy from those old days that is embedded in the Husker spirit and is more than mere expectations.  I thus see 8 or more wins this season and beyond for the reasons that Moos was saying when he cited the new growing attitude team wide and the players who just want it more than in recent past.  So, yes, of course we're going to a bowl game.  A good one.

 

[FrantzHardySwag]

What is so upsetting to me is that they refuse to play a bowl game last season. Or I guess I should say McCaffrey and Robinson refused and then they left. 

Really should have played the bowl game I'm pretty disappointed that they didn't. it's a matter of pride and to me that just shows cowardness.

It's becoming more obvious there were guys on the offense side of the ball that did not want to be playing football at the end of the year. 

I've been watching these "through our eyes" videos put out by the team. It's crazy how different the attitudes on offense and defense are. The defense is running around like rabid hyenas, hooting and hollering. Williams, Dismuke, Rogers, CTB, JoJo, Ty, Nelson, Daniels, Chins, Fish - there is a just a lotta nasty on that side of the ball. And a whole lotta guys who will be up in your grill if you are not pulling your weight. 

On offense quiet and reserved seems to win the day. Frost, Lubick, Adrian are probably the loudest voices and they are all really reserved. I really hope AM feels comfortable holding the offense accountable this season. Making sure the guys know they need to bring it. 

 

[JJ Husker]

Yes, with ease.

West sucks

I agreed with this reasoning......until it occurred to me we are also a West team and have been a prime example of why the West does suck.

I think lots of us have discounted how valuable our reputation was to winning games. Years ago other teams (and more importantly, the Huskers themselves) knew we were going to beat them soundly before the game was even played. It’s going to take a long time to get that built back up, and we haven’t even begun repairing that aspect of things yet. We are no more than a bottom half of the West team until we start winning a lot more games. The good news is, it should not be near as difficult as we’ve made it look so far.

 

[BigRedBuster]

It's becoming more obvious there were guys on the offense side of the ball that did not want to be playing football at the end of the year. 

I've been watching these "through our eyes" videos put out by the team. It's crazy how different the attitudes on offense and defense are. The defense is running around like rabid hyenas, hooting and hollering. Williams, Dismuke, Rogers, CTB, JoJo, Ty, Nelson, Daniels, Chins, Fish - there is a just a lotta nasty on that side of the ball. And a whole lotta guys who will be up in your grill if you are not pulling your weight. 

On offense quiet and reserved seems to win the day. Frost, Lubick, Adrian are probably the loudest voices and they are all really reserved. I really hope AM feels comfortable holding the offense accountable this season. Making sure the guys know they need to bring it. 

I think, to a certain extent, that's a natural difference in personalities between an offense and defense. Offense is much more methodical and controlled.  A defense is much more flying around and making individual plays (while in the system) and playing on emotion and intensity.

 

[teachercd]

I agreed with this reasoning......until it occurred to me we are also a West team and have been a prime example of why the West does suck.

I think lots of us have discounted how valuable our reputation was to winning games. Years ago other teams (and more importantly, the Huskers themselves) knew we were going to beat them soundly before the game was even played. It’s going to take a long time to get that built back up, and we haven’t even begun repairing that aspect of things yet. We are no more than a bottom half of the West team until we start winning a lot more games. The good news is, it should not be near as difficult as we’ve made it look so far.

Yep.  I have said it for awhile now, those other teams are not "good", the Huskers have just sucked.  The Skers don't have to go beat good teams to move up, they just have to stop sucking.

It seems like that for the past 6-7 years, all the breaks have gone to other teams.  Missed FG vs a made FG, fumble out of bounds vs it being recovered, a penalty here or there.

The last "lucky" play I can remember was the hailmary vs NW.

It seems like the last two seasons a crappy Husker team should have beat a "good" Iowa team but they find ways to lose.  Same with NW.  s#!t just needs to get cleaned up. 

 

[JJ Husker]

Yep.  I have said it for awhile now, those other teams are not "good", the Huskers have just sucked.  The Skers don't have to go beat good teams to move up, they just have to stop sucking.

It seems like that for the past 6-7 years, all the breaks have gone to other teams.  Missed FG vs a made FG, fumble out of bounds vs it being recovered, a penalty here or there.

The last "lucky" play I can remember was the hailmary vs NW.

It seems like the last two seasons a crappy Husker team should have beat a "good" Iowa team but they find ways to lose.  Same with NW.  s#!t just needs to get cleaned up. 

Exactly. It isn't and hasn't been other teams keeping us from getting there. It's our own damn fault. I guess that just makes it all the more frustrating. It's not like we're playing tOSU 12 times per year.

 

[teachercd]

Exactly. It isn't and hasn't been other teams keeping us from getting there. It's our own damn fault. I guess that just makes it all the more frustrating. It's not like we're playing tOSU 12 times per year.

There are 3 teams in the conference that out-recruit the huskers.

All 3 are in the East.  

If you look at the west teams, these are teams that we (rightfully) made fun of for years as the typical 11am Big Ten teams.  You know, the ones that played right as ESPN college game day ended and you would pretty much miss the kickoff of the game.

 

[gossamorharpy]

Exactly. It isn't and hasn't been other teams keeping us from getting there. It's our own damn fault. I guess that just makes it all the more frustrating. It's not like we're playing tOSU 12 times per year.

This take seems to be a bit unfair to other teams who have beaten us, consistently, in recent years.

You're telling me iowa emabrassing us for 6 years straight after Thanksgiving is all due to our incompetence and nothing to do with them?  The fact that they've placed far more players in the NFL, a pretty strong correlation of team success in college, than we have has nothing do with this drought against them?  

You're telling me Northwestern, who continually plays sound football against everyone most years, and has gotten the better end of the deal against us is because of self inflicted wounds and nothing they do?  I guess them having stud OL drafted in the 1st round is really meaningless, meanwhile we're celebrating finally having an O line drafted in the 5th round- naw us losing close games has nothing to do with them rather what we didnt do.

You're telling me Wisconsin, who does the same thing year and year out, yet we're unable to overcome it, year in and year out, is because we shoot ourselves in the foot and nothing they do?

You're also telling me that we've out recruited other teams- yet fail to acknowledge that many of our top recruits have left for various reasons, still means we have a talent advantage?  

You're telling me minnesota running right over us, in consecutive years has nothing do with them having stud at RB and a better defined identity, rather, we just didnt show up and theyre lucky we didnt run up 50 on them?

I think there's a fine balance between controlling what you can control and taking ownership at the self inflicted pitfalls, which there are many... but to say that other progrums in the west in particular dont deserve credit for kicking our a$$ these past 5 years is just disrespectful and goes right back to our s#!tty perception in this conference that we think we're better than most and holding on to the glory days.

Frankly, im over the whole they're lucky we shoot ourselves in the foot take- its a f'n weak a$$ excuse that belittles the teams that have consistently beaten us.  At some point you look in the mirror and have to realize, maybe its not just us shooting ourselves in the foot is to blame- rather we've been a progrum devoid of game changing talent for quite some time now and other progrums are simply putting better products on the field year in and year out.

 

[LumberJackSker]

.

 

[JJ Husker]

This take seems to be a bit unfair to other teams who have beaten us, consistently, in recent years.

You're telling me iowa emabrassing us for 6 years straight after Thanksgiving is all due to our incompetence and nothing to do with them?  The fact that they've placed far more players in the NFL, a pretty strong correlation of team success in college, than we have has nothing do with this drought against them?  

You're telling me Northwestern, who continually plays sound football against everyone most years, and has gotten the better end of the deal against us is because of self inflicted wounds and nothing they do?  I guess them having stud OL drafted in the 1st round is really meaningless, meanwhile we're celebrating finally having an O line drafted in the 5th round- naw us losing close games has nothing to do with them rather what we didnt do.

You're telling me Wisconsin, who does the same thing year and year out, yet we're unable to overcome it, year in and year out, is because we shoot ourselves in the foot and nothing they do?

You're also telling me that we've out recruited other teams- yet fail to acknowledge that many of our top recruits have left for various reasons, still means we have a talent advantage?  

You're telling me minnesota running right over us, in consecutive years has nothing do with them having stud at RB and a better defined identity, rather, we just didnt show up and theyre lucky we didnt run up 50 on them?

I think there's a fine balance between controlling what you can control and taking ownership at the self inflicted pitfalls, which there are many... but to say that other progrums in the west in particular dont deserve credit for kicking our a$$ these past 5 years is just disrespectful and goes right back to our s#!tty perception in this conference that we think we're better than most and holding on to the glory days.

Frankly, im over the whole they're lucky we shoot ourselves in the foot take- its a f'n weak a$$ excuse that belittles the teams that have consistently beaten us.  At some point you look in the mirror and have to realize, maybe its not just us shooting ourselves in the foot is to blame- rather we've been a progrum devoid of game changing talent for quite some time now and other progrums are simply putting better products on the field year in and year out.

Where did I say these teams deserve no credit or that they haven’t been significantly better than us? They deserve all the credit. Kudos to them.
 

But in a sense you are right, I am not and will not give these mediocre teams a bunch of credit for beating us year in and year out. They’ve definitely and simply done what it’s taken to beat Nebraska which frankly is not all that impressive.  I think that has a lot more to do with Nebraska being bad than it does with Iowa or NW or really anyone in the West being all that great. My point is, the West is there for the taking. It’s Nebraska’s own fault they haven’t risen to the challenge. Those teams have done a whole bunch of things way better than we have. That doesn’t diminish anything they’ve accomplished vs Nebraska. It also doesn’t indicate they are particularly good teams. It has nothing to do with holding on to any glory days or living in the past. They’ve simply been better than Nebraska. In case you haven’t been paying attention, that hasn’t been a difficult feat.

 

[RedSavage]

Where did I say these teams deserve no credit or that they haven’t been significantly better than us? They deserve all the credit. Kudos to them.
 

But in a sense you are right, I am not and will not give these mediocre teams a bunch of credit for beating us year in and year out. They’ve definitely and simply done what it’s taken to beat Nebraska which frankly is not all that impressive.  I think that has a lot more to do with Nebraska being bad than it does with Iowa or NW or really anyone in the West being all that great. My point is, the West is there for the taking. It’s Nebraska’s own fault they haven’t risen to the challenge. Those teams have done a whole bunch of things way better than we have. That doesn’t diminish anything they’ve accomplished vs Nebraska. It also doesn’t indicate they are particularly good teams. It has nothing to do with holding on to any glory days or living in the past. They’ve simply been better than Nebraska. In case you haven’t been paying attention, that hasn’t been a difficult feat.

They can all have credit...except Iowa...and Wisconsin.  Bc f#&% them.

 

[JJ Husker]

They can all have credit...except Iowa...and Wisconsin.  Bc f#&% them.

That’s kinda what I thought but “somebody” felt they weren’t getting enough credit for Nebraska sucking. Whatcha gon do.....  :lol:

 

[J-MAGIC]

This take seems to be a bit unfair to other teams who have beaten us, consistently, in recent years.

You're telling me iowa emabrassing us for 6 years straight after Thanksgiving is all due to our incompetence and nothing to do with them?  The fact that they've placed far more players in the NFL, a pretty strong correlation of team success in college, than we have has nothing do with this drought against them?  

You're telling me Northwestern, who continually plays sound football against everyone most years, and has gotten the better end of the deal against us is because of self inflicted wounds and nothing they do?  I guess them having stud OL drafted in the 1st round is really meaningless, meanwhile we're celebrating finally having an O line drafted in the 5th round- naw us losing close games has nothing to do with them rather what we didnt do.

You're telling me Wisconsin, who does the same thing year and year out, yet we're unable to overcome it, year in and year out, is because we shoot ourselves in the foot and nothing they do?

You're also telling me that we've out recruited other teams- yet fail to acknowledge that many of our top recruits have left for various reasons, still means we have a talent advantage?  

You're telling me minnesota running right over us, in consecutive years has nothing do with them having stud at RB and a better defined identity, rather, we just didnt show up and theyre lucky we didnt run up 50 on them?

I think there's a fine balance between controlling what you can control and taking ownership at the self inflicted pitfalls, which there are many... but to say that other progrums in the west in particular dont deserve credit for kicking our a$$ these past 5 years is just disrespectful and goes right back to our s#!tty perception in this conference that we think we're better than most and holding on to the glory days.

Frankly, im over the whole they're lucky we shoot ourselves in the foot take- its a f'n weak a$$ excuse that belittles the teams that have consistently beaten us.  At some point you look in the mirror and have to realize, maybe its not just us shooting ourselves in the foot is to blame- rather we've been a progrum devoid of game changing talent for quite some time now and other progrums are simply putting better products on the field year in and year out.

People who think the West is bad are basing that on historical assumptions and narratives and not how good the programs currently are. The West was the fourth-toughest division in football last year behind only the two SEC divisions and the B1G East. Wisconsin, Iowa, and Northwestern are in the midst of the best five-year eras in their programs' histories. Purdue and Minnesota have nationally renowned coaches. Illinois had a guy who took the Bears to a Super Bowl.

Nebraska is the best HISTORIC program in this division and long-term we shouldn't be consistently losing to anyone in this division, but right now this also isn't the Darrell Hazel-Bill Cubit-Gary Anderson-Tracy Claeys version of this division either. These are good coaches hitting these programs' ceilings at the same time while we're picking ourselves up off the program's floor. It won't be like this forever.