todospm

Cooper had blown his wad. Maintaining a juggernaut program for 5+ years is really, really hard. When he failed to win in 98, with one of the most dominant teams of the decade, and had already hit 60 (i think), the air started leaving the balloon pretty quickly. I don't think Bo has crested at all, unless his explosions get the better of him and make things untenable. He's a good but erratic, youngish coach. His kids play hard for him and have pulled out some ridiculous victories thanks to sheer force of will (maybe a bit of luck). Of course, there have been some embarrassing losses. But I doubt that Nebraska could make a net positive move right now, unless things are really toxic behind the scenes. From the outside, I think positive momentum is building at UNL, between support for Bo, sound football recruiting for 2015, and Miles and the b-ball team. But you guys definitely know more details.

I don't see the situations as analagous at all. Cooper put together 6 straight top 15 seasons, including 1996 #2 w/ Rose Bowl win and 1998 #2 w/ Sugar Bowl win, five of which were double digit win seasons (one 9 win season). During five seasons, his teams were serious MNC contenders until the final weeks of the regular season. He produced NFL guys like Orlando Pace, Terry Glenn, Joey Galloway, David Boston, Shawn Springs, Mike Vrabel, Atoine Winfield, Nate Clements, N Diggs, most of the 2002 OSU MNC team, etc. Then he started getting old and lost control of the team (a creeping culture of entitlment helped, too). Bo's situation is entirely different, imo. Young and still building.

During the past two or three years, talent in the B10 has definitely been down compared to the previous two decades. But playing through a B10 schedule is still pretty gruesome from a physical standpoint. Aside from some bad losses against the SEC and USC in the Rose, the B10 has at least been competitive in most every bowl game during the past decade, even while dropping a bunch of close contents. I think B10 teams have a certain degree of mental toughness that's unmatched by anyone but SEC teams. Nebraska certainly looked tougher than UGA yesterday. MSU ultimately tore Stanford's heart out. USC outexecuted Wiscy and LSU outlasted Iowa. But both teams came to play.

You're going to find it hard to get any sympathy here. We've been traveling to play bowls against local or nearly local teams for as long as the B10 has. Sure, we got Michigan in Phoenix once and in San Antonio another time, but those aren't close to Lincoln, NE either. True. Nebraska historically has had a geographic disadvantage in bowl games relative to most other top programs. But the B10 is the pits. Every year, besides random MACtacular battles in Detroit Auto Bailout bowls, all B10 bowl teams travel across the country to face teams in their own backyards.

Miami and FSU in the Orange Bowl all the time? The Big Ten's been playing USC, UCLA and Cal in the Rose Bowl for over half a century. In the BCS era, aside from the random one off, it's been SEC teams in Florida, B12 teams in Texas and PAC teams in California. Despite this, the almightly SEC holds a razor-thin BCS-era bowl game advantage over the B10. You'd never know that if you listened to the media, however.

i am just speaking in general. a lot of two loss teams and teams that just do not meet the eye-test. The way I would describe the B1G is that the peaks aren't as high as the other conferences but the valleys don't seem to be as low either. You guys joined the Big Ten at a 20-year nadir, imo. From the early 1990's through the late 00's there were usually 2 elite teams and 2 or 3 more clear top 25-teams: Ohio State, Michigan, PSU + two from Iowa, Wiscy, Illinois, MSU, Minny, NW, etc. During this time, the Big Ten's perception didn't match its true talent level, imo. A lot of this stemmed from a very tough bowl slate (made worse by almost always putting two teams in BCS games which moved others up a notch), inherent geographic bowl game disadvantage and unusually long wait from season's end till the high-profile bowl games. Ohio State had something like a 45 day break between Michigan '06 and the MNC game. The conference championship does something to address the last bit, at least. Overall, the B10 has a better BCS record than the B12 and the ACC despite playing tougher match ups. Everyone points to OSU's flops in the 06 and 07 title games, but they're 6-3 in BCS games. Plus, some of those PSU, Iowa and Michigan squads that got handled by USC in Los Angeles were very, very good, and just didn't look the same come early January. Not taking anything from those USC squads. They were elite. But mid-season match-ups without the extreme geography disadvantage would have been interesting. The Tatgate scandal, Rich Rod's disastrous tenure at Michigan and the Sandusky nightmare created a mammoth vacuum during your first years in the Big Ten. Only OSU seems to have recovered. Even Iowa hasn't looked anything but mediocre since the GT Orange Bowl win. Overall, the B10 is down, unquestionably, and bad bowl seasons highlighted by Wisconsin's three consecutive Rose Bowl losses (by less than 20 points combined, ouch!) have made things worse. Hoping a good bowl season performance will shake some of the negative vibes.

I really think that the Hail Mary saved your season and sparked some momentum that you sustained this week with another dramatic comeback. A loss against NW and the wheels would have fallen off, imo. In the minutes leading up to the NW trip drill, I thought you were going to lose the rest of your games. Now, aside from MSU, you're clear favorites the rest of the way. Both PSU and Iowa are physical, however. NEB will probably be beat up after this MSU game. If it's a demoralizing loss, I could see you falling to either or both of PSU and Iowa. Should be an interesting final three games.

Their offense isn't good. Their defensive is exceptionally good. In the loss @ND they had 100+ defensive penalty yards, the bulk of which were quite tacky imo, and each ND scoring drive needed at least one defensive holding / pass int. Furthermore, ND wasn't called for a single holding penalty, which I found amazing considering the pressure MSU was applying in passing situations. In short, the ND offense was utterly anemic and if not for Sparty's QB ineptitude and some bad player and coach decisions, it would have been a blow out. At the end of the day, it's a loss. But not one that would make me confident as a Husker fan, given that MSU's offense appears headed towards semi-respectability. Meanwhile, NEB's two most recent wins, while gusty, wouldn't have me too worried. I'm expecting a 17-6, 20-10 type victory for Sparty. But stranger things have happened!

If Nebraska loses today it's very possible they don't win again this season. With NU in a tail spin, I'd give Michigan a ~70% chance of winning. MSU game will be ugly and I think the Huskers get crushed and beat up whether or not they win today, and then limp to Happy Valley. Penn State and Iowa are not elite teams but they'll both show up and make Nebraska beat them. If the wheels have fallen off by that point it will be ugly. A win today and I'd give NU 50% chance against MICH. If they win that, perhaps only one more loss, to MSU. Huge game today.

I think Gordon's 200+ yards on limited carries against Nebraska in the B10 championship started building some hype. He also had a huge game against Arizona State early in the year. Plus Wisconsin running backs always seem to get a lot of pub. Along with o-lineman, it's what the team is known for. As for B10 RB rankings, I'd put Abdullah alongside Hyde at 2a and 2b. In terms of NFL potential, I think both Hyde and Gordon will be drafted pretty early when compared to Abdullah. Hyde's a legit 235 and has extremely quick feet. Gordon reminds me of Darren McFadden but without the super-elite top gear.

Ohio State definitely came out the least scathed of the three. But at the beginning of your first year in the B10, it wasn't clear who would be hired to replace interim coach Fickell. Before that, during the 2009 bowl season, the top 4 B10 teams won their bowl games and went 2-0 in season BCS games (Ohio State vs Oregon, Iowa vs Ga Tech, Penn State vs LSU, Wisconsin vs Miami) and then in 2010 the B10 went 1-1 in BCS games with Ohio State beating a sooper dominant SEC team in New Orleans and Wisconsin losing the Rose Bowl on a failed two-point conversion. Michigan did win the Sugar Bowl the next year (slipping past a frankly mediocre Va Tech team), but that team looked half as strong as many of Lloyd Carr's. The B10's other two elite programs, Ohio State and Penn State, were in turmoil. In short, I think the unprecedented situation of Michigan, Ohio State, and Penn State being in various stages of disarray added to an already low perception of the B10 nationwide, which we're still recovering from (with the public, media, recruits, etc). Here's hoping Nebraska can help right that ship.

I do feel bad that you guys entered the league at its lowest point in a long, long time. The trifecta of the Rich Rod fiasco, Tatgate fiasco, and Sandusky fiasco took the wind out of the league's top three programs simultaneously. Now if B10 states would start 1) keeping its best FB recruits at a better rate, 2) keep its best BB recruits at a MUCH better rate, 3) do more to promote spring football in HS, 4) open the pocket books for top coaches... I think the B10 is set to be, at the least, the 2cd best football conference and 1st/2cd best basketball conference. Who knows if it will happen though. Seems like tons of Illinois and Ohio kids are heading to the SEC and elsewhere outside the B10 this year in football. Meanwhile, 5 of the top 11 2014 basketball recruits are from B10 territory and it's likely that none will sign with a B10 team. That hurts.

The B10 has a better record in BCS bowl games than the B12. The B10 puts more players in the NFL than the B12. The B10 has more NFL pro bowlers than the B12. The B10 has more starting punt returners in the NFL than any other conference. In 2011 the B10 had 5 defensive linemen drafted in the first round (including reigning NFL defensive player of the year), a feat which I'm almost certain no other conference has managed and definitely not the SEC. B10 linebackers seem to lead the NFL in tackles every year, B10 linemen are always right there for sacks, and everyone from B10 safeties to linebackers to linemen have featured near the top of forced fumbles lists in the NFL in recent years. There is plenty of talent in the B10's geographical footprint. Nebraska's problem is that it's located at the fringe of that map. Compared to the B12's, it has both far more people and far more African Americans, who feature disproportionately on D1 football rosters. While the Midwest is the slowest growing part of the country in terms of population, much of the population in the South and South West is driven by Hispanic Americans, who are dramatically underreprested on D1 football rosters given their population share. Also, the popularity of basketball in B10 population centers probably keeps a lot of talented kids off B10 football rosters (It doesn't help that the B10 region sends less than 50% of its 4 and 5 star BB players to the conference, meaning Midwestern kids are winning scumbags like Calipari titles.)