Success vs Failure

s#!t, we played harder and improved last year after frost was fired. 
 

now we have a guy who isn’t coaching for a job and has real vision not just a decent enough resume to get hired 

 
Putting a number on success this year is a fool's errand, and is just going to make you disappointed.  All I want to see is individuals getting better as we go, the team learning from mistakes and showing promise for 2024. It's going to be a rough start to the season with 2 on the road most likely, no matter what any of you keep saying about CU. Winning on the road isn't easy, especially in a hostile environment.  Confidence will be built at home, later in the season to set us up for the second half of 23 and beyond.

 
Mavric said:
Exactly this.  

People look at the record and insist that we've been terrible.  The record is what matters most and it has been terrible.

But it's not a simple dichotomy.  A win doesn't mean you're great and a loss doesn't mean you're terrible.  We've done a lot of things well or at least above average.  We've been very competitive in most games.  We just haven't found enough ways to turn those close games into wins.

Prime example: all the people who were insisting that Iowa had dominated us the previous seven years (before last year).  They had absolutely done no such thing.  They had beaten us badly a couple of times but the last four games had all been one-score games that came down to the last few minutes.  Did we have to be that much better of a team to finally get a win against them?  Obviously we weren't.  But we played just enough better to come out ahead.  Nothing amazing.  Just an incremental improvement.

It won't take much to do that in a few more games.  We barely have to be any better than we've been to get into the 6-7 win range.
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I get all that. But we're thin and will have a few injuries that will derail us. We could have one of those seasons like MSU a few years ago, but that's mostly luck getting all the breaks to go our way.

 
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I agree that Nebraska can win 6 games. If Bill Busch thinks Nebraska can win 8, which is a little high in my book, then Nebraska can get to 6.

Why getting to 6 wins is important:

1 It will give more reps to the younger guys.

2 Tons of positive media coverage heading into the bowl season.

3 It will give us momentum heading into the next season. 

4 It shows Nebraska should be back- to making bowl games at least.

5 There will be buy-in from the new players as the older guys will be listening to the coaches.

6 The schedule is set up for a new coach to overachieve. 

7 The coaching has improved because that gets us to 6 wins last year. 

I am probably missing some reasons, but that about does it. If Nebraska can't get to 6 I am not going to be disappointed, however, it is certainly doable. 

 
From the outside looking in, I like what Rhule is doing, very much.  He’s setting good examples, setting standards for work and commitment to the team.  He’s been open to the players and the fans.  He has a detailed ‘game plan’ for the program. He’s done the homework and has picked up the Husker way exceptionally.  He understands, imo, the Big Ten.  
 

I really don’t think I truly know how Rhule actually handles the X & Os and it will take a season or two.  He’s blending the old with the new.  He appears to be thinking outside the box somewhat in schemes, coaching, recruiting, publicity, etc.  He is not media shy.  He appears to speak freely and honestly. He addresses difficult questions sincerely.  This is the first off season.  I’m looking fwd to watching closely as real games and actual football is played.  Will it be chess, checkers or candy land?  Can he match wits with his Big Ten peers?   
 

Can he instill faith and confidence?  Can he find ways to develop better play from his roster?  He doesn’t have Nebraska FB ( historically) talent yet but I believe he IS improving the roster.  If we were ‘close’ to the middle of the Big Ten talent wise, I feel we will surprise some people in 23.  
 

I see the range of 4-8 wins as probable IF Simms is a QB.  The rest of the team , overall, is a 6-8 win team if they avoid injuries and don’t give up.   I was wanting Casey T to stay.  Alas it didn’t happen.  Maybe that’s a sign Rhule sees the remnants in that QB race to be worthy.  I have to see them play enough first. 
 

 expecting conditioning to no longer be an issue.  The guys who play will be better conditioned.   
 

 
runningblind said:
Putting a number on success this year is a fool's errand, and is just going to make you disappointed.  All I want to see is individuals getting better as we go, the team learning from mistakes and showing promise for 2024. It's going to be a rough start to the season with 2 on the road most likely, no matter what any of you keep saying about CU. Winning on the road isn't easy, especially in a hostile environment.  Confidence will be built at home, later in the season to set us up for the second half of 23 and beyond.
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Or confidence can be built on the road with back to back wins but I do agree with you that CU won't be a joke.

 
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I think 6+ wins could get some momentum going for the program.   The perception would be Nebraska is a program on the rise, and that would only help in recruiting. 

 
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The Dude said:
I think 6+ wins could get some momentum going for the program.   The perception would be Nebraska is a program on the rise, and that would only help in recruiting. 
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It’s more than recruiting.  It’s about building a winning culture.

Yes, they need to bring in more good athletes, but they also need to get more out of the ones already here.  They need to get better while learning what winners do and how they do it.

I think they get 6 wins.  I actually think it’s 7.  I don’t see 8 though.  That being said, nothing is surprising anymore.  I feel confident they will be between 2 & 10 wins.

Edit:  and getting players drafted.  This isn’t talked about as much as it should be.  Put players in the league and they will get talent.

 
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RedDenver said:
I get all that. But we're thin and will have a few injuries that will derail us. We could have one of those seasons like MSU a few years ago, but that's mostly luck getting all the breaks to go our way.
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If you're going to argue that than you have to also point out that we had a ton of bad luck to lose all those one-score games.

 
For me a successful season is seeing the team play hard and not make stupid mistakes that cost us games. They do that and we will be better than 3-8.

 
Mavric said:
If you're going to argue that than you have to also point out that we had a ton of bad luck to lose all those one-score games.
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Bad luck can come in the form of poor preparation which leads to poor mental fortitude, and making mistakes at inopportune times.  Which really isn't luck at all.  You can chalk some of those losses to actual bad breaks but not most of them. They are on the worst coach we've ever hired, but at least he's gone now.

 
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Mavric said:
If you're going to argue that than you have to also point out that we had a ton of bad luck to lose all those one-score games.
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I don't think we actually had bad luck - just regular luck. There's always going to be things that don't go our way, and we do not yet have a team capable of overcoming things going wrong.

 
RedDenver said:
I don't think we actually had bad luck - just regular luck. There's always going to be things that don't go our way, and we do not yet have a team capable of overcoming things going wrong.
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Eh, that's pretty much going to be in the eye of the beholder.  The only difference between reasons and excuses is whether you think they're legitimate or not.

And I was mainly responding to the "good luck" comment that I replied to.

I'm not saying everything was to blame on bad luck.  But we definitely had a ton of things go against us.  I would argue more than our fair share.

 
Mavric said:
Eh, that's pretty much going to be in the eye of the beholder.  The only difference between reasons and excuses is whether you think they're legitimate or not.

And I was mainly responding to the "good luck" comment that I replied to.

I'm not saying everything was to blame on bad luck.  But we definitely had a ton of things go against us.  I would argue more than our fair share.
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It's subjective for sure, but I don't think we've had any worse luck in injuries than other teams. The starting QB gets hurt every year, so I think we should expect that to happen. A couple OL, DL, and the starting RB are typical as well. I don't think any of that is worse luck than other teams, but we're thin so we will probably struggle more due to it than other teams.

We could also get unlucky and more guys could get injured than usual, and we'll struggle even more.

Or we could get lucky with fewer injuries, and that would be a big help.

 
RedDenver said:
It's subjective for sure, but I don't think we've had any worse luck in injuries than other teams. The starting QB gets hurt every year, so I think we should expect that to happen. A couple OL, DL, and the starting RB are typical as well. I don't think any of that is worse luck than other teams, but we're thin so we will probably struggle more due to it than other teams.

We could also get unlucky and more guys could get injured than usual, and we'll struggle even more.

Or we could get lucky with fewer injuries, and that would be a big help.
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And none of those things are what I would throw into the "unlucky" category.

So, like I said, it depends on what people choose to focus on.

 
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