gossamorharpy

We won't have to wait too long to see where this team really stands... Take care of business this week and Michigan St will be the first true gauge for the year. Media overreacted to the sparty game against oregon as usual, that was a back and forth game until the last quarter in Eugene. How we show up and play in east Lansing in a game that's bound to get national coverage and broadcast against an established, quality team will be telling.

Not sure where else I should post this... but whats the consensus on color to sport? I'll be making the trip from the bay area and would usually rock the red... With Fresno sT being red and all, are ppl planning on rocking white or black to stand out a bit?

Various family members and buddies that are still undergrads in Lincoln gripe about the actual time of the game more than anything else. The abundance of mid afternoon games the past few seasons and lack of night games does not sit well with youngins who would rather spend their afternoon boozin it up with buddies and then hit up the game at night. This has nothing to do with actual buying of tickets but certainly plays a role in the student section being somewhat empty towards the tops.

That is pretty exciting to think about. I love how much experience these young kids have and their potential for the future. Now, add in some guys who are redshirting this year and JUCO players committed and it gets even more exciting.

 

Based SOLELY on the two-deep roster from the Gator Bowl, this is a projection of players/positions we could have next year. This doesn't take into account incoming Freshmen/JUCO, nor does it take into account players on the roster (like Johnny Stanton) who may contend for a starting spot, nor does it account for guys changing positions on the O Line. This is just a straight-up move from backup to starter after the seniors move on. If the starter wasn't a senior I left them in their position.

 

Years listed are what they WILL BE next season.

 

 

 

OFFENSE

 

QB

Tommy Armstrong, Jr. - SO

Johny Stanton

 

RB

Ameer Abdullah - SR

Imani Cross - JR

Terrell Newby - SO

Adam Taylor

 

FB

Andy Janovich - SO

 

Offensive Line

LT - Matt Finnin - SR

LG - Jake Cotton - SR / Ryne Reeves - JR

C - Mark Pelini - SR/David Knevel

RG - Mike Moudy - SR /Chongo Kondolo

RT - Zach Sterup - JR /Cory Whitiker

 

Wide Receiver

X - Kenny Bell - SR / Brandon Reilly - Sr /Robert Lockhart

A - Jamal Turner - SR / Jordan Westerkamp - SO

Z - Alonzo Moore - SO / Taariq Allen - JR

 

Tight End

TE - Cethan Carter - SO

 

 

DEFENSE

 

Defensive Line

DE - Greg McMullen - SO/AJ Natter/Joe Keels

DT - Vincent Valentine - SO/Terrell Clinkscales

DT - Aaron Curry - JR / Maliek Collins - SO

DE - Randy Gregory - SR JR / Avery Moss - SO

 

Linebackers

BUCK - David Santos - JR / Nathan Gerry - Sr/Marcus Newby

MIKE - Michael Rose - SO / Josh Banderas - SO

WILL - Zaire Anderson - SR /Courtney Love

 

Secondary

CB - Josh Mitchell - SR/Boaz Joseph

S - Corey Cooper - SR / LeRoy Alexander - SO/Drake Martinez

S - Harvey Jackson - SR / Charles Jackson - JR

CB - Jonathon Rose - JR /DJ Singlton

 

 

The only guy missing from Special Teams is Pat Smith, otherwise it's an intact group:

 

PK - Mauro Bondi - JR

P - Sam Foltz - SO

LS - Gabriel Miller - FR / Joseph Rotherham - JR

H - Sam Foltz - SO

KO - Mauro Bondi - JR

KOR - Bell - SR; Abdullah - SR; Newby - SO; Moore - SO

PR - Westerkamp - SO; Terrell Newby - SO

 

Fourteen of the 36 guys listed here are Sophomores next year. That's a pretty young group. Still, quite a good-looking team.

 

Stop it you two, you're giving me a BOner. Kind of exciting when you look at those names isn't it? Why do I do this to myself? I feel hope and expectations creeping up inside me already and the season only ended yesterday. I'm an idiot and I never learn.

This, my friend, is why college football is the greatest sport around.

Texas A&M went 8-4 with one of the worst defenses in the nation. They have JF and that's it. Without him, they would have lost more than four games this season.

 

Missouri got blown out in the CCG. They were also terrible their first year in the new conference.

Yep, they have JF and that's it... nothin but the first freshman heisman winner in history, no biggie. What a sham and mockery, such a scam to have them listed above us.

Is this to suggest that deep in the bowels of their Connecticut headquarters, several muckety-mucks at Espn were chomping on their cigars, saying:

 

"We've got to get our chokehold back on this tv deal! The B1G network is inching closer!"

ESPN is likely quite aware of reasons for adding Rutgers and Maryland to the B10.

 

 

Hmmm...let's see, how much coverage does the Big Ten Network get? How much did they spend on Bevo Network? How many people watch that?

 

Hmmmm...you think maybe they would like to take our network down a notch?

 

Yes and that scathing article in the OP is just the first missile. Good freaking God. Espn writing an article accurately saying Nebraska hasn't exactly set the conference on fire when they were picked to win it the first year they joined, or kinda isn't once the program it once was on the whole isn't some sort of grand conspiracy to kill the Big Ten Network. If any was going 11-2 and they wrote that, maybe you'd have something. But all that article is at the moment is accurate.

I'm not sure I'd use "accurately" or "accurate" when referring to ESPN. Ratings and accuracy have different definitions.

The dude was referring to ESPN being accurate within the article....

Lot of ppl sure are griping on here about this list yet no one can seem to provide justification as to why we should be ranked any higher.

Hard to argue against the idea that we lost out in realignment. It sounded great at the time (and still is from a non-football standpoint), but did anyone expect in 2010 that our 2014 conference football schedule would be: Wisconsin, Iowa, Purdue, Illinois, Northwestern, Rutgers, Minnesota, Michigan State. Or that we would go 5 years between match-ups with Michigan? Pre-Maryland and Rutgers, I think we did better. After their additions, however, it's not difficult to say we lost out.

 

When it was first announced we were moving I absolutely expected to be paired with Iowa and Wiscy and Minny and Purplecats. My buddy called me all excited and I said "Big 12 North 2.0". Then they gave us a good division with a sh**ty name and I was surprised. Well they fixed the name but we ended up with 2.0 anyway. At least Wiscy is consistently competetive.

Can't we view this though as an opportunity for us? Florida ST, almost ohio state this year, notre dame last year and countless others have proven that if you go undefeated or 1 loss in a "power" conference that you have a great shot at the title game- without needing a signature win to get there.

Frankly I agree with you and would match rather have us get at least 3 quality games a year against the likes of the OSUs, Mich/Penn sts of the conference. But this is also a great opportunity to consistently be in the conference title game.

I just glanced over the list. Lost any credebility it had whn placing Nebraska behind Pitt.

 

Oh.......what a shocker....A&M and Mizzou take top 2 spots......

 

How would you have ranked this list if its such an issue having A&M and Missou 1 and 2? Both of those programs have made leaps and bounds recently. What have we done that would allow you to continue to read the article?

 

 

A&M beat Bama once, we beat Ohio State once. Mizzou lost a title game , we lost a title game. In terms of success overall, were quite paralell. The only true difference is the logo on their fields say SEC.

 

Ok yeah we beat a poorly coached tOSU and got embarassed in our title game. But really overall conference records are probably similar considering Mizzous sad 2012. Im simply guessing here.

Haha, touche, was about to counter you with comparing the actual games but you beat me to it. You somewhat alluded to this but there's more to it then just the lettering of the league on the field... A&M and Missou get the press because it wasn't just a poorly coached team and title game loss they were in, it was having a heisman winner- beating Nick Saban and Bama (eventual champ) @ Bama and then missouri being one of the top 5 teams in the country in terms of consistency this past year.

I just glanced over the list. Lost any credebility it had whn placing Nebraska behind Pitt.

 

Oh.......what a shocker....A&M and Mizzou take top 2 spots......

How would you have ranked this list if its such an issue having A&M and Missou 1 and 2? Both of those programs have made leaps and bounds recently. What have we done that would allow you to continue to read the article?

The way this topic is worded is somewhat off-basis. No where in the article does it say Nebraska lost out in realignment. Its more of a summary and look back at how various teams have performed and how it has affected that team. Just because we haven't lived up to the lofty standards we assumed we could achieve with the move, doesn't necessarily mean we lost out in realignment. A boost in national perception, competitive standing and future outlook were placed right on the table for our taking and we fell flat on our faces. Whether you want to attribute that to crap recruiting for Bo in the early years, an inordinate amount of injuries, bad play calling, etc. This seems to be more of a reflective piece as opposed to we lost out and made a bad choice making the move

Like some here, I don't see how the visibility has been reduced. More often than not, the team is on ABC/ESPN, even if the times aren't everyone's favorite. That is an order of magnitude better than ppv's or the depths if FOX sports. And the Big Ten channel is a huge plus as well.

 

Nebraska getting gored on national tv, and the program "going stale" (I would say regressing) is only the fault of the man the OP named.

 

And judging by our "outlook" grade, they don't buy the ridiculous "Bo needs more time" excuse.

 

Who gives a rat's posterior what ESPN "says"?

Hmmmm- well, I can think of a few reasons. Maybe because they are the only sports outlet that provides around the clock coverage, whether that be actual sports or BS side stories, no other network comes close to their offering. As much as you may disagree with ESPN's style, you're being rather ignorant if you think no one cares what ESPN says. There coverage, power and influence they have in sports is unmatched and is often the reason why they can spin up and run with stories with no basing because the masses will pay attention. Not to mention that probably 99% of High school sports fans will say ESPN is their go to network for sports coverage- so what ESPN has to say about Nebraska football does have some affect on our affairs.

I would say quite a bit of people care what ESPN has to say.

Dont' know how you can give those poor of grades when we weren't any better the last several years in the Big XII

I think that's exactly why we received those grades, nothing but average in most categories. We haven't done anything to move the needle to greatly improve in any of these areas since our move- makes sense to receive a C-B- as a result.

Can't say I disagree with this list, only have ourselves to blame.

I would, however, disagree with the improved visibility only being a C+. This past year didn't have many games on National TV, but the 2 years prior we had a good run of ABC games between the Wisconsin, Mich st, ohio st, penn st match ups. This was not always the case in the Big 12. Living out here in CA, any knock on visibility can only be blamed on our lackluster performances- not necessarily due to BIG 10 reasons.

Also- I wouldn't say that we have almost been reduced to 2nd tier status behind the likes of Ohio St; sadly we're already there.

...that's a pretty easy question. The ones with the most people in them.

 

However...

Take a look at a map where they look at how many per capita...

 

 

Yep, Texas, Florida, and California lag behind Nebraska and Iowa.

 

So much for the vaunted "Texas pipeline" that was supposedly severed for every team that left a conference that contained Texas University.

 

http://thedailyviz.c...yers-come-from/

Except that this vaunted Texas pipeline also includes hundreds of players that are quality college players that don't make the NFL, when the stats you've posted are only NFL players. There's more to a quality college team than just future NFL players. Takes a high # of quality players to be great, not necessarily just those who go on to play in the NFL.

I would put Texas ahead of Alabama. Texas is the only school in the country where you can walk out your back door and accidentally bump into division one football athletes every few feet. Obvious exaggeration, but not even Alabama or other schools in the south are like that. There's so just so many kids and so many good football teams in Texas. That, coupled with the money they have, put them #1 in my eyes.

i agree with this and this is what i was getting at. texas should be no.1. is bama no.1 just because of recent history and the machine saban has built during his tenure?

Very hard to argue against Texas as #1... they can pretty much recruit their whole class year after year instate... Not to mention the $$ pull and Longhorn network. CFB as we know it could be over if these Saban to Texas rumors ever pan out.

Am I the only one that could care less about where someone is sitting in draft status? As long as he's great here, I could care less about the NFL. Then again, I don't watch NFL at all.

The NFL is a good barometer for judging the skill level of players on your team. While it is by no means the end all be all, look at who Nebraska sent to the NFL after the 2009/2010 seasons and who they send after the 2012/2013 seasons. That 2009 team was loaded with NFL talent and it correlated to having one of the best defense in Nebraska football history. Compare that to last year where there was almost no NFL talent and our defense, outside of pass defense, was pretty average at best.

 

Again, who gets drafted in the NFL is certainly not the only measuring stick for how good a player/team is, but I think there's something to be said for the idea that when there's a really good football team, you usually see quite a few players head to the NFL. When a team is average/bad, not as many players make the next step.

I'd agree with this... If Nebraska is to ever get back to the level of competition and success we all expect from a national and league title contender, you better believe it needs to coincide with us putting some top picks in the draft (first couple of rounds, not necessarily top 10). It's not hard to find a correlation that the teams who are consistently top 10 are usually the schools with multiple top 4 round picks. Look at who's doing their thing for us in the NFL, Suh, David, Dennard, Prince- All guys who were top round picks (barring dennard's run in with the cops) and guys who led our team and consistently made plays for shut down defenses.

Remains to be seen if this staff has the recruiting and development skills to finally send an offensive player early in the draft.

I looked at all the bowl games, and there are very few match ups that excite me.

It's a very lack luster line up to say the least. Oregon Texas is the only matchup that somewhat peaks my interest after the first look at the games. Would have enjoyed an Oregon Ohio st matchup as opposed to Clemson gettin in after doing jack all year.

Had an "interesting" conversation with my boss and coworkers today at lunch, boss went to school at Wisconsin and the others are die hard college football fans... He brought up an interesting point that as much as he despises Ohio State and there fans, that this may be the first time in his life he's pulling for an Ohio State win. His rationale is that it would benefit the Big 10 greatly if Ohio St were to win tomorrow and then go on and potentially win the title. I know a buckeye title doesn't redeem an overall poor season by the Big 10 in general but interested to see what other people think on this? I would never pull for a Texas squad but do remember pulling for Stoops and the OU teams in their various title games as it would seem to benefit the conference as a whole having the champ hail from your league. Not to mention help bring an end to the ESPN perceived SEC domination.

On the flip side to this... Interested to see how Husker fans on this board will respond to the SEC title game tomorrow. Always enjoyed the Nebraska/Missouri games, specially the years right before the break up of the original Big12 as Missouri finally became a formidable program from a consistency and success stand point. That being said, which would you prefer? To see Auburn stick it to Missouri or for Mizzou to go in their and prove something to the so called "SEC Elite?"

Figure this would be a great topic to see where people stand that doesn't fall under the topic of Bo stays or Bo goes.

Being on NFL watchlists doesnt make you a great College QB. Tebow, McCoyboth carried their teams to greatness. Both sucked in the League.

 

Martinez was most definitely the catalyst for alot of those wins. Taylor may have not been a great vocal leader but dammit his on the field management was nothing to sneeze at.

You had me at dammit, I'm convinced

The only thing I didn't understand was how shocked they were that the administration didn't fire Pelini. I don't think he has done anything worth termination. Has he toed the line? Absolutely! But it would have to be egregious, in my opinion, in order to let a coach that wins 9-10 games every year go.

At the same time though, you gotta realize national media like these guys are only going to see the best and worst of what Bo brings to the table. Unfortunately the only relevant Nebraska story in 2+ years has been blow outs, losing games late, and Bo Pelini antics.

Bigger question, for him anyway: will Taylor be healthy/ready for NU pro day?

 

And please don't argue about whether he's good enough or not, cuz that's not the question.

Yeah I am going to argue about whether if he is good or not because he is not. Oh yeah NFL teams are just going nuts of this guy that cant throw has great speed in the college game but so-so speed in the NFL!!! Give me a break I bet you thought Eric Crouch was going to be a hell of an NFL QB to!! He EC couldn't even win the starting QB job for a semi-pro team. What a joke statement

If shoelace can get drafted, so can Martinez.

Shoelace actually has lateral moves, speed and quickness... Martinez great straight line runner, but lateral movements, deception, shiftiness, etc- not so much.

 

he played in what, 45 games during his career here...and you managed to list 11. Yup, that's about right...

 

The distinguishing characteristic given was 'big games', not all games. Not exactly a scientific metric for determining what is or isn't big, but I looked mostly at games in hostile environments, primetime national matchups and against ranked teams.

 

 

Please, if you go back and actually look at the box scores Martinez did jack in a lot of those games. If I recall, 2010 missouri was Helu's 300 yard rushing performance and a lot of these games you mention coincide with a huge performance from one of our backs or timely play by our defense. People seem to be real quick to forget games where he single handily threw us out of games by throwing horrible picks without a nebraska receiver within 5-10 yards of the ball.

 

I'm going to echo Knapp and say, yes, please, come back at me with statistics to prove your point.

 

But even if you do, you're having it both ways. You can't simultaneously discredit him for single-handedly losing us games while also discrediting him for not single-handedly winning us games.

 

Actually you know nevermind, I'll do the statistics myself thanks:

 

2010 Washington (First ever game against BCS competition in the loudest stadium in the country)

150 yards passing, 1 TD, 0 picks - 137 yards rushing, 3 TD

 

2010 Kansas State (Thursday night conference opener on national primetime television)

128 yards passing, 1 TD, 0 picks - 241 yards rushing, 4 TD

 

2010 Oklahoma State (Away game against #14 ranked team)

323 yards passing, 5 TD, 0 INT - 112 yards rushing

 

2010 Missouri (Against #6 ranked team)

115 yards passing, 1 TD, 0 INT - 16 yards rushing (was injured in the 3rd quarter)

 

2011 Ohio State (Primetime national game against a bad OSU team that still had elite talent)

191 yards passing, 2 TD, 1 INT - 102 yards rushing, 1 TD

 

2011 Michigan State (Against #9 ranked team)

80 yards passing, 1 TD, 1 INT - 23 yards rushing

 

2011 Penn State (Away game against #12 ranked team)

143 yarsd passing, 0 TD, 0 INT - 56 yards rushing

 

2012 Wisconsin (Primetime national game)

181 yards passing, 2 TD, 0 INT - 107 yards rushing, 1 TD

 

2012 Northwestern (Away game against the team that finished the season #16)

342 yards passing, 3 TD, 0 INT - 65 yards rushing, 1 TD

 

2012 Michigan (Against #20 ranked team)

166 yards passing, 1 TD, 1 INT - 58 yards rushing

 

2012 Michigan State (Away game, quasi night/primetime game. Debatable on 'big game' metrics I suppose)

160 yards passing, 2 TD, 3 INT - 205 yards rushing, 2 TD

Thank you for showing the individual game stats for I was too lazy to click on each game. I'll be the first to agree that Taylor had monster performances at times but in no way did he "carry" the team or was the reason for some of those victories. Look at the flip side to some of those games you cites- 2012 Wisconsin win, great comeback win on national TV against a team we were favored to beat and then get smoked 2 1/2 months later on national TV by the same team.

2011 Ohio state? That's a reach, considering they went 6-7, fresh off the Tressel story and was a mess in every facet that year,.

I know our QB situation is not something to be desired this year and Taylor should start the bowl game if healthy as he does give our team the best chance to win, but he has also been guilty of not showing up on big stages. When I recall Taylor's career for what he is responsible for (not how atrocious our defense has been, although this does affect him too) I will remember a guy who had some great games here and there, sprinkled in with some real duds and just average overall play. For someone who was always mentioned as a dark horse heisman candidate to start the year, never once did he live up to those expecations (barring injury(

I've never been a TM fan. The guy had guts, but almost always under performed in big games. However, I'll admit that TM gives us a chance to score more points than does TA. If he's fit, let's use him. However, let's bring TA in for a few series, too.

 

 

2010 Washington, 2010 Kansas State, 2010 Missouri, 2010 Oklahoma State, 2011 Ohio State, 2011 Michigan State, 2011 Penn State, 2012 Wisconsin, 2012 Northwestern, 2012 Michigan and 2012 Michigan State disagree with your assessment that he almost always under performed.

 

Please, if you go back and actually look at the box scores Martinez did jack in a lot of those games. If I recall, 2010 missouri was Helu's 300 yard rushing performance and a lot of these games you mention coincide with a huge performance from one of our backs or timely play by our defense. People seem to be real quick to forget games where he single handily threw us out of games by throwing horrible picks without a nebraska receiver within 5-10 yards of the ball.

 

Not sure how confident I'd feel having him in there when he hasn't been able to suit up, much less run normally since September.

 

By all means, debunk Landlord's list with stats to back up your claims.

 

And please provide a list of games, with stats supporting your claim, that Taylor "single-handedly threw us out of games." You could cite 2011 Wisconsin and 2011 Michigan, but you'd also have to throw in (to meet your standard of how Taylor didn't help us win those games because another player's big performance coincided with the win) the defense's utter meltdowns in those games as well.

Also, how bout 2012 ohio state. Prime time national TV and martinez chucks 3 Ints as both our offense and defense get embarrassed on national TV

I've never been a TM fan. The guy had guts, but almost always under performed in big games. However, I'll admit that TM gives us a chance to score more points than does TA. If he's fit, let's use him. However, let's bring TA in for a few series, too.

 

 

2010 Washington, 2010 Kansas State, 2010 Missouri, 2010 Oklahoma State, 2011 Ohio State, 2011 Michigan State, 2011 Penn State, 2012 Wisconsin, 2012 Northwestern, 2012 Michigan and 2012 Michigan State disagree with your assessment that he almost always under performed.

 

Please, if you go back and actually look at the box scores Martinez did jack in a lot of those games. If I recall, 2010 missouri was Helu's 300 yard rushing performance and a lot of these games you mention coincide with a huge performance from one of our backs or timely play by our defense. People seem to be real quick to forget games where he single handily threw us out of games by throwing horrible picks without a nebraska receiver within 5-10 yards of the ball.

 

Not sure how confident I'd feel having him in there when he hasn't been able to suit up, much less run normally since September.

 

By all means, debunk Landlord's list with stats to back up your claims.

 

And please provide a list of games, with stats supporting your claim, that Taylor "single-handedly threw us out of games." You could cite 2011 Wisconsin and 2011 Michigan, but you'd also have to throw in (to meet your standard of how Taylor didn't help us win those games because another player's big performance coincided with the win) the defense's utter meltdowns in those games as well.

Gladly, here's a link that breaks down his statistical performance against every team he played, scroll to the bottom, also provides info for home/road, conference records etc.

http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/taylor-martinez-1/splits/

Very apparent he racked up the bulk of his stats against inferior competition (as do all players) but then dipped dramatically when facing opponents that did not consistently give up 80 yard runs right up the middle to him

I've never been a TM fan. The guy had guts, but almost always under performed in big games. However, I'll admit that TM gives us a chance to score more points than does TA. If he's fit, let's use him. However, let's bring TA in for a few series, too.

 

 

2010 Washington, 2010 Kansas State, 2010 Missouri, 2010 Oklahoma State, 2011 Ohio State, 2011 Michigan State, 2011 Penn State, 2012 Wisconsin, 2012 Northwestern, 2012 Michigan and 2012 Michigan State disagree with your assessment that he almost always under performed.

Please, if you go back and actually look at the box scores Martinez did jack in a lot of those games. If I recall, 2010 missouri was Helu's 300 yard rushing performance and a lot of these games you mention coincide with a huge performance from one of our backs or timely play by our defense. People seem to be real quick to forget games where he single handily threw us out of games by throwing horrible picks without a nebraska receiver within 5-10 yards of the ball.

Not sure how confident I'd feel having him in there when he hasn't been able to suit up, much less run normally since September.