Fru

In 2010 Helu and TMart both had 1000+ rushing yards, and Rex had 990. Essentially three 1000 yard rushers, and I remember reading on a different Neb message board about how terrible Shawn Watson was and how much better Tim Beck was going to be.

This thought has crossed my mind. It’s way down the line, but I can very well see a scenario where Rhule gets to 7 or 8 wins pretty quickly and the fan base is starting to feel confident, and then things just kind of plateau and the grumbling begins.

I know it was just the spring game, but Sherman had a couple “Whoa” moments. Hopefully he can be that pass rush presence we’ve desperately needed. OL is going to have to take a step forward this year if the running game is going to be a threat. I wasn’t thrilled about DR being retained, but I also realize OL cannot be fixed overnight. If there was one improvement from last year, I feel like they at least played more disciplined. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but I feel like there were fewer drive killing false starts and holdings. 2021 felt like we were good for one or two of those at the worst possible moment. 2022 seemed like those were cut back.

Saw this topic on the Huskers Reddit and thought it was a good topic for peak off season. Succeed - Stating the obvious. Rhule has a track record of builds and improvement. - Rhule’s energy. Kind of an intangible, but Rhule has a vibe about him that I think is important for the situation he’s in. This program needs some positive energy and he has that in spades. - Rhule’s vision sounds like the right fit. Run the ball. Play solid defense. I think we’ve had a string of coaches that have to show everyone they’re the smartest guy in the stadium and ultimately end up overthinking themselves. Winning in the B1G (and college football in general) isn’t exactly rocket science. Being a physical team that plays good defense and can run the ball should net a respectable amount of W’s. - The AD seems to be in a good place with Trev. Can’t exactly say that was the case with Eichorst and Moos. - Rhule wants to be here. Rhule has publicly noted that he’s making as much money right now as he would be if he was sitting at home unemployed. He doesn’t have to be here. Rhule seems to have a reverence for college football and Neb. Does anyone really believe Callahan or Riley were dying to be here? Bo was looking to bail as early as 2011. Despite all the “Golden Boy” headlines about Frost, he always had a bit of a tenuous relationship with Neb. I can’t say for certain, but I think Frost liked the idea of coming home to coach more than the reality of it. Of all those guys, Rhule seems to be the most N. Fail - His staff’s inexperience. This is my biggest and only real concern at this point. Rhule and his staff have a combined 1 year of experience coaching in the B1G. That 1 year belongs to Donovan Raiola from last year. 6 of his assistants have zero Power 5 experience. One assistant has never coached at the college level and one has never coached at any level. Maybe this truly is the group of guys to get things on track. But I’m not going to hold my breath. - The 3-3-5. Perhaps it’ll work. But I cant say I’m completely sold on it. I believe White has also said they won’t run it exclusively.

Maybe it’s my Neb bias… but if these schools are refusing to play night games in November, why do I suddenly get the feeling Neb is going to have to pick up the slack? As bad as we’ve been lately, we are still a TV draw.

Was channel surfing last night and stumbled upon the 30 for 30 about Bill McCartney. I’d never heard of it before, but opted to give it a watch. I know I see everything through my rose colored glasses, but good lord, what a jacka**. Hard to believe that clown got his own documentary.

I answered Independent because I wouldn’t necessarily call myself a liberal. There’s a lot under the Dem umbrella that I admittedly don’t always have the bandwidth for. I’d say my core issues are climate change, healthcare, gun control, tax reform and affordable education. Dems are the only ones that offer a semblance of an answer to these so I vote that way as more of a default rather than hard-lined, cultish allegiance. Question for the “I used to be R but can’t vote for them anymore” folks. Were there specific instances, candidates or events that made you feel that way?

Good God. I mean… guys… this is f*****g bananas. How is this even possible?

I hope that’s the case. If there was ever a program that needed to be knocked down a peg or two.

Agreed. There’s no reason we can’t be as competitive as Wisconsin or Penn St in the B1G. At our worst we’ve still always out recruited the B1G West and most of the East. If this program can find some relative success in the NIL era, recruiting should absolutely take off and elevate us to B1G Title Game appearances.

Ehh I think in Spring of 2018, everyone thought Scott was doing an excellent job.

I think they were there. Lots of games were within the grasp. 2018 - CU, Troy, NW, and Iowa 2019 - CU, Indiana, Purdue, Iowa 2020 - NW, Iowa, Minn 2021 - Take your pick I don’t think Rhule is doing a lousy job either, but I’m really trying to maintain some healthy and fair skepticism. He was not in the top 5 on my wishlist. I’ve bought into every regime, and was convinced each one was going to save us. Not anymore. It’s funny you mention the adoration of Scott causing people to overlook his shortcomings, because I feel like that’s kind of happening with Rhule to a degree too. It seems the entire fan base is bought in and saying “Pass the Kool Aid!” Never mind that 6 coaches on Rhule’s staff have never coached at the Power 5 level. None have coached in the B1G. At Baylor, Rhule never beat a ranked team, and had 5 total wins against FBS teams with a winning record. The last ranked opponent he beat was #19 Navy in 2016. These are just a few things that give me pause on fully buying in. And for the record, I am not rooting for Rhule to fail. I am praying that they are the ones to return us to relevance. I just can’t fully buy in and believe that at this point.

What concerns me about CU isn’t so much about what Deion is doing. It’s that they have always played a stupid brand of football. Doesn’t matter the era, the roster, the coach. They’re the kind of team that makes one or two games a year into their Super Bowl, then phone it in the rest of the year. I would not be surprised at all if they come out with their hair on fire and boat race us, then end up going 3-9 or 4-8.

- We lose some pretty significant pieces from last years team. - There’ll be even more attrition in the next month or so when we trim down scholarship players. - The trenches concern me. - New coaches, new schemes can cause growing pains. - I’m not entirely convinced that Rhule’s staff is an overall upgrade. - Almost all of our B1G opponents have years of program building on us and are more equipped to reload. - This program has been mentally fragile for years now and I don’t think that gets solved in less than a year. All that said, looking at the schedule, the only game that I see as an automatic L is Michigan. 6+ wins are absolutely there for the taking. They were there with Scott too. The question is, will they be able to get over the hump and take them. As of now I don’t think it’s too likely in year 1.

I think the potential problem is that they’ll get bailed out thru some kind of taxpayer assistance, they won’t learn anything or gain any kind of useful perspective or insight, and they will continue to vote for the people that created the problem in the first place. All while decrying the evils of socialism. Reminds me of all the farmers that voted for Trump. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-farmers-aid/trumps-payments-to-farmers-hit-all-time-high-ahead-of-election-idUSKBN2741D4

This is where I’m at too. The NU Ministry of Propaganda tweets out a bunch of well edited hype videos and everyone starts taking the bait again. Rhule and Co have done some nice things thus far, but we’ve all been down this road too many times.

I’m guessing Gifford pulled up a bit or didn’t fully expect contact since Haarberg is in a green jersey.

It’s always interesting to hear the “20 years” trope from Neb fans, B1G fans, and CFB fans at large. And yeah it’s no secret that the past 20 years hasn’t yielded the kind of results Neb fans would hope for. But since I had the time this morning, I thought I’d take a deeper look. So here we go. Last 20 seasons. 2003-2022. Neb - 141-109 record for a .56 winning pct. - 6-6 in Bowls. Iowa - 164 - 89 record for a .65 winning pct. - 9-8 in Bowls, with a 2020 Bowl cancelled due to Covid. Safe to say this is Iowa’s best 20 year modern day stretch. 1 Co-B1G title with two B1G title game appearances. This yielded a 9% better winning percentage and 6 more bowl appearances/invites than Neb’s worst 20 year modern day stretch. Now, the last 6 years have obviously been the worst stretch of Nebraska football since the moon landing. So for the sake of conversation, and since it’s peak off season, let’s look at how these various B1G programs fared between 2003-2016. Neb - 118-64. - Bowls 6-6. No Major Bowls. - 7 top 25 finishes. 0 Top Ten. Iowa - 115-66. - Bowls 5-7. Major Bowls: 1 Orange win. 1 Rose loss. - 5 top 25 finishes, 4 in the top 10. Penn St - 114-63. - Bowls 5-5. Major Bowls: 1 Orange win. 2 Rose losses. - 6 Top 25 finishes, 4 in the top 10. (2007 finished 25 in Coaches, unranked in AP). Mich - 112-65. - Bowls 3-8. Major Bowls: 1 Sugar win. 3 Rose losses and 1 Orange loss. - 8 top 25 finishes (2012 they finished 24th in AP, unranked in Coaches). 3 in the top 10. (2011 they finished 9th in the coaches poll and 12th in the AP.) So from 2003-2016 Neb kept pace for wins and losses, bowl appearances and ranked finishes. The biggest areas they lagged were top 10 finishes and Major Bowls. However… I think it’s worth noting that between 2003 and 2010, Neb played in 3 Big 12 title games. The B1G did not play a title game in that span and had 4 years with co champions. Both Conferences played an 8 conference game schedule. Michigan received a Rose Bowl invite as a co champ and Penn St received Rose and Orange Bowl invites as co champs. If Neb did not have to play a Big 12 Championship Game, they’d have been co-champs in 2010. Which could have potentially landed them a Major Bowl. So in all, yes the last 20 years have not been great and the last 6 years has been the roughest. But for the other 14 of this infamous 20 year stretch, it seems we generally kept pace with other B1G schools.

Excluding 2022, this is how Scott’s offenses fared in the B1G https://www.espn.com/college-football/stats/team/_/season/2015/group/5 2018 2nd 2019 5th 2020 4th 2021 2nd All the other teams in those years that finished in the top 5 within the conference were bowl eligible… except Neb. Scott’s offenses were able rack up a lot of yards, but struggled in the red zone. Like others have said, attention to detail likely doomed him. One less drive killing false start here, one less turnover there. I’d also throw in a lack of focus on special teams as well. Having a reliable kicking game or getting better field position off a KO or Punt would’ve certainly helped. I don’t have the numbers in front of me, but man it seemed like every drive started at our own 15.

Dude folded like a lawn chair.

This seems pretty dystopian to me

Being able to shrug off children routinely getting slaughtered in a classroom over a bastardized interpretation of a 200+ year old law is the true moral decay of this country.

Have seen these two pop up consistently over the years, and both have always seemed kinda haunting to me. Michigan St - The final hours before the lives of multiple people are altered forever. Seeing someone at their absolute peak, only to know what inevitable tragedy happens just hours after this photo is snapped. TO and Ron Brown - Two coaches facing one way while Lawrence faces the other, symbolizing the path he took in life. TO with his hand on his back, guiding him. The cameraman a couple feet away representing the scrutiny both would face as they'll be mentioned together forever.