I don't know. Without Tebow will pry get to watch Purdue-Northwestern on ESPN and ESPN2 at the same time next year. :sarcasm" :espnsucks: ..."
Oh c'mon. You really think our mid 90's teams had awesome playmakers at receiver? I don't remember any Fryer's. Competent sure....but "difference makers"? Nope.Yeah but as I mentioned, Suh was a big part of that (along with OU having their biggest down year in nearly a decade). Suhs don't come along very often. I can't know for sure what Griffin meant, and maybe he could have worded it better, but I think his point was just that, without playmakers (particularly at receiver) we won't be very successful in the long run (thus, "consistently") against stacked teams like OU and Texas. That doesn't mean we can't win from time to time, but not as much as we want and (most of us) expect to.No one will argue that a lack of playmakers hurts the team. However, Griffin doesn't say that. He says Nebraska desperately needs big-time receivers to even challenge Texas and Oklahoma. He is wrong as we beat one and should have beaten the other. No one can say that we didn't challenge those two teams despite the lack of a big-time receiver.I think he's right on. And most of us would agree that, aside from a few great moments from Paul, a lack of real playmaking threats at receiver hurt us last year. Granted, lots of things hurt our offense last year, but if we want to (key word here) consistently be able to hang with major powers like OU and Texas, we need dangerous receivers. Because 99% of seasons we will not have have a player like Suh to keep us in every game despite an incompetent offense.
And I'm reiterating here, but I also agree (or, Griffin agrees with me) about Owa. Bo and Carl can turn a three star into a Barry Turner, but not into a Grant Wistrom. Special players like Wistrom have a certain quality that can't be coached. I don't wanna harp on Owa specifically too much, but I definitely believe Bo needs true difference makers on both sides of the ball to take us to a national title game. Five-star recruits have a much better chance to turn out difference makers at the college level, even though certainly four-stars can as well (Suh, obviously).
+1 - Over the last year, Griffin has gotten worse and worse. I remember his first video post and just about laughed the entire time.carlfense said:This is from Griffin's chat today:
"Jason Lewis from Kansas City, Mo., writes: Tim, I know recruiting is subjective but I'm wondering why you ranked Nebraska as the seventh-best class in the Big 12. You ranked them behind Baylor, when Nebraska's class was ranked 23rd overall and Baylor's was ranked 39th overall by Rivals. Can you explain your ranking for the Huskers? Thanks.
Tim Griffin: Jason, those were not my rankings but those of ESPNU’s talent evaluators. But I think I can speak for them that the biggest question is the lack of offensive skill players and the inability to land Owamagbe Odighizuwa, who instead accepted the offer at UCLA.
Nebraska desperately needs those big-time receivers to consistently challenge Texas and Oklahoma.
And I know I’ve heard from many Nebraska fans who claim they don’t need Odighizuwa because Bo and Carl Pelini will develop a lesser recruit into as good a player as Odighizuwa would have been.
But remember, he’s a special five-star talent. It always hurts when you lose a chance to get those difference makers. And for anybody to say that the Cornhuskers couldn't have used him don't understand the reality of how the big defensive end could have developed after working with the Pelinis."
ESPN Blog
So let me get this straight. The Nebraska team who just beat OU this year . . . and beat UT before a second was added to the clock . . . desperately needs big-time receivers to even challenge those same teams? Griffin . . . I knew you were a tool after your article about why you voted for McCoy for Heisman . . . but let me reiterate. You are a TOOL. :espnsucks:
:yeahI think Tim's been a responsible reporter. Everyone has biases and nobody's perfect, but Tim's always struck a even tone and done a good job of covering Big 12 Football, frequently linking good articles on all the different teams.