HuskerinSunDiego

Bingo. That is precisely what worried me.

I hope Banker will not be our DC. My only hope is that Riley hasn't yet announced that Banker is the new DC. I know it's a long shot, but I hope he has a different roll for Banker. I don't want him as DC simply because he is buddies with Riley. That never works out well. I once coached a men's softball team. Invited a good friend to play on the team. As time went on, it was apparent that he was overmatched. I swallowed hard and removed him from the team at season's end even though he didn't want to be removed. It was a tough decision, but I knew I had to make the move for the team. If I could do it at such a small level, then Riley should have the courage to give Banker a different roll rather than letting friendship keep him at DC when Riley knows Banker isn't a very good DC (Yes, this is a pipe dream, but here's to hoping). If Banker is named as DC, it won't be quite like learning when Cosgrove became DC, but not too far from it. I'm worried that Banker gave up 69 points to Washington last year! Scary stuff, since Washington wasn't that good last year.

Cross and Newby have been generic. Nothing great. I was actually totally impressed the one time that Nelson played. The guy was amazing. I presume he's a crappy blocker, which can be the only reason why he hasn't played much. I don't know anything about Taylor. I know he's highly rated. It would be nice if he bolted to the front of the pack.

Strange that we have never beaten USC. It's a down year for both of us, but it would be nice to beat them. I expect the bowl game to be much more fun, and more unpredictable, now that Bo is gone. Not saying that Bo was the cause of all of our problems, but I think the coordinators might actually perform better without Bo chewing their ears off. Also, this staff knows that this is a last hurrah. I expect them to pull out all the stops. We'll almost surely see a lot more blitzing. I doubt Papuchis sticks to the dry, boring 4-man rush. It's his last game as a DC. He's going to go banzai. As for Beck, I expect to see one or two double reverse, half-back passes. Why not take some chances? Plenty of people don't like Beck, but I think he's alright. He'll probably call a much more colorful game than we have seen with Bo sitting on his shoulder. Also, might see the backup if TA stumbles. In short, it's going to be fun. This is one of the few opponents that could have made our bowl game interesting. I wish we could be in Wisconsin's place, and be playing Georgia for a third year, but I'll take USC!

It's confirmed. I'm glad I didn't blow this one. Sorry about the early jump on this.

Go to collegefootballpoll.com//bowl_games_bowl_schedule.html

Here it is: http://www.collegefootballpoll.com/bowl_games_bowl_schedule.html

94 - NU v. PSU 97 - NU v. MIchigan

Yeah, let's make it 8 games so the entire season can be watered down. What good is a season if 2 losses virtually qualifies you for the playoffs?

Do you recall that WSU game, where we fumbled on the five yard line twice. If no fumbles, we win by 24. If that happens, the closest a team came to us that season was a loss by 23 points!

When I sat down and made my goofy formula, I lined up the schedules of FSU, tOSU, TCU, and Baylor. When you scrutinize their schedules side-by-side, you suddenly see that there is some difference between their schedules. tOSU had the weakest schedule, by far.

Bama and Oregon are locks. Ohio State, FSU, TCU, and Baylor are fighting for the last two spots. I have come up with a points system: 5, 4, 3, 2, or 1 points for each category. Highest score gets the nod. TCU 3.5 Toughness of conference (TC); 1.5 Toughness of nonconference schedule (NonCon); (Includes how tough opponents were AND how tough they appeared before season started) 3.5 Caliber of loss suffered (Loss) (i.e. Caliber of opponent and caliber of circumstances of loss); 2.5 Margin of victory for road conference games (Margin); 3.9 Ugly victories (UG); (More points awarded if fewer ugly victories) 3.2 Points given up in conference (ConDef); (Teams with stronger defenses are rewarded) 2.8 Points scored in conference (Most points allowed for this category is 3 points) 1.6 Momentum in last four games of season (MO) (Hot teams rewarded over stumbling teams) (Most points allowed in this category is 2 points) 3.0 Walkover Opponents (WO) (Percentage of schedule that consisted of virtually automatic wins. Higher points for fewer walkovers). 0 Head-to-head victory over other possible playoff teams (Highest points are 2 points. Location of game and closeness of score factor into mix) Total 25.5 Baylor 3.5 Tough Conf. 1.1 NonCon 3.3 Loss 2.4 Margin Victory in Conf 3.4 Ugly 2.9 ConDef 2.6 Points Scored Conf. 1.6 Momentum in Last 4 2.7 Walkover 1.0 Head-to-head Total 23.5 (Note: the head-to-head points only count against TCU. They don't get them against OSU and FSU. As against TCU, Baylor gets the bonus 1.0, giving them 24.5 versus TCU) FSU 2.8 Tough Conf. 2.8 NonCon 4.0 No losses (However, since victories were many high wire type, not a perfect 5) 2.0 Margin Vict. in Conf. 3.1 Ugly 2.9 Conf. Defense 2.4 Points Scored Conf 1.6 Momentum in last 4 2.9 Walkover 0 Head-to-head Total 24.5 Ohio S. 2.6 Tough Conf. 1.5 NonCon 2.3 Loss 2. 3 Margin Vict. in Conf. 3.6 Ugly 3.1 Conf. Defense 2.7 Points Scored Conf 1.4 Momentum in last 4 1.9 Walkover 0 Head-to-head Total 21.5 Based on this model, TCU and FSU will be invited to the playoffs. As such, Alabama v. FSU in game #1; Oregon v. TCU in game #2. When I looked at tOSU's schedule closely, a huge part of it was filled with automatic wins. What they did wasn't nearly as impressive as it seemed when not closely scrutinized. tOSU was #6, not even coming close to #5.

Miami 26 VA Tech 24 Miami 18 Boston College 7 No way we lose to this team. We win in the end, 38-21.

Let's be fair. He was asked on Monday. He knew it was a great job and should take it. He had not time to think of it. Had to jump and figure out later. The guy has to be in some shock. And let's be realistic: He couldn't say, "I had no idea anybody was interested in me."

My first thought was to tell the OP to "shut up." However, I read his whole post and found it to be fair. He's not dissing on Riley, rather, he's just objectively airing his concerns. I did agree with his comment that I don't want to be a pass happy school (that's how I interpreted it). I agree. I don't want to go back to being a team that throws the ball all over the field.

If he's making $700k a year, he's not coming here to be LBs coach.

My feeling is that if a guy looks elsewhere, let him go.

youre the only one in the state of nebraska who doesnt want orgeron. So just stop please. All that I am saying is that we need to look at a guy's character, first. Yeah, he's a great coach, but what about his character?

No chance. The guy has a salty past. One guy at USC said that Orgeron went f-bomb crazy on him when he said he had to leave one practice a week, 20 minutes early, to attend a class (http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/06/10/ex-usc-football-player-how-my-coach-called-me-a-m-r-for-going-to-class/). I seem to remember there being some other legal problem he had, as well. I know it was a long time ago, but in 1991 a lady got a restraining order against him for attacking her. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Orgeron Anybody who attacks a woman has character problems. Sorry, I'd take a pass on this one.

Or hopefully Ed Orgeron Not Orgeron. The guy is not cool. Here's a quote from a USC player: In order to show up on time for a required statistics course one semester, he says he had to leave spring practice twenty minutes early, once a week. His defensive line coach, Ed Orgeron, wasn’t happy. You motherf—-r, DeMars remembers Orgeron, who went on to become head coach at Ole Miss from 2005 to 2007, and is now back at USC as assistant head coach, shouting at him. “He M-F’d me all over the place,” says DeMars. “He made me feel like a bad person for going to class.” DeMars says playing for USC was a “dream come true.” But it came at a cost. “You get brainwashed by your coaches,” says DeMars. “You don’t want to let anyone down.” According to DeMars, in practice Orgeron would unleash verbal assaults on him, calling him every curse in the book. “He would push his brow into my head while he was screaming at me with his fist balled up,” says DeMars. “How am I not supposed to think this is a coach yelling at me and not someone trying to fight me?” http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2013/06/10/ex-usc-football-player-how-my-coach-called-me-a-m-r-for-going-to-class/ This is the character of a jerk. I also remember there being an assault charge, or something strange against Orgeron. Leave him be.

Good point. I forgot about that. If USC and Alabama wanted Riley, he clearly has skills.

He had major ethical issues at USC. If SC thought he had ethical issues, then we shouldn't touch him.

Pete Carroll was the third option for USC when they hired him. The locals in Los Angeles went ballistic, calling it a joke of a hire. We all know how that ended. Mike Riley has coached at the equivalent of Kansas for his entire college career. He has never had an ounce of talent at his disposal, but his teams have always played well. He is the classic coach who could do wonders if he actually had talent. Now he does. I am just happy that our fourth straight head coach won't be learning how to be a head coach from the first day on the job. It's nice to have a guy who knows his way around being a head coach. Also, it's nice to have a guy who didn't graduate from high school two weeks ago. Also, don't forget that Bill Bellichick sucked as a coach at Cleveland. Amazing what an influx of talent can do to the right coach. Welcome to Lincoln, coach. We are glad to have you as our head coach!

I didn't think I'd say this a few days ago, but I really, really like this hire.

No way Tressel comes. If he was the man, then what is the wait? Why wouldn't he be here by now?