Nebhawk

3 hours ago, Enhance said:

Obviously money and winning are the right combo. I never suggested otherwise.

But, it's faulty logic to associate a lack of talent or bad recruiting decisions as an indictment against Nebraska's NIL potential, particularly in the first year of a head coach with a pretty rough inherited roster and no "Deion Sanders" brand behind his name. There's no way to prove Nebraska's talent challenges right now under Rhule as being the fault or even loosely associated with a lack of NIL potential. Let's revisit the conversation in a couple of seasons before making that claim.

I just keep hearing that we have this tremendous money pool for getting players on campus, but yet I have not seen this working for us.  We bring in players like Casey Thompson, Mathis, Simms, and Palmer (Mickey brought him).  Were not gettting difference makers so to speak. I think we could or should have a huge advantage with the 1890 funds, but just haven't seen the benefits from it yet.  Do I hope we do start seeing those players come to campus?  Yes.  Until we stand behind a coaching staff and give them time to build something, I am afraid the money won't matter.  We have to commit to a staff and give it 4,5, or 6 years to see it thru. 

One other thing I learned is that I listened to two post games on the radio and 93.7 in the last hour was horrible and Big Red reaction on Froggy was to politics saying the right thing not saying anything really.  I want real reaction and real comments. 

We are miles from being a winning football team and program.  Frost left the cupboard bare and so far Rhule has not brought in elite talent.  I understand building a program brick by brick and agree thats how its done, but talent evaluation had to show we were not on par with other programs.   Did he watch game film from last season?  Can he evaluate talent?  Can everyone admit that the Big 10 west is the worst division in college football?  My biggest question is talent evaluation........where is that at ?  Prime took one look at what he was getting and said No Thanks, I take 70 other players and see what that gets me.........not saying I like that approach, but we bring in SImms?

2 minutes ago, Enhance said:

Why do you think Nebraska's current recruiting philosophy is hinged upon 25-year-old success?

Nebraska's NIL potential is definitely among the more favorable across the college football landscape. I have very little concern about them being able to come up with necessary funds if they really believe a recruit is worth their investment.

Is that NIL bringing in any Travis Hunters?  Quin Ewers?  NO.  Its bringing in players like Jeff Simms.  Come on.  Money is just money.  Money and winning is the right combo.  We have to win some games first then maybe our suitcases of cash will do someone some good, but I keep hearing our plentiful our bags are, but not seeing it bring in difference makers.  I don't care how big 1890 funds are, not until we start bringing in great portal players or 5 star Qb's.  Regardless, show me the money is a 90's thing.  EIther we bring in coaches like Prime or we build a program like Yes, like K-State has right now.  They recruit, develop, and get a few difference makes from the portal.   I think Rhule has a chance to do that, but he has to do that.  NIL money is not the same here that it is at Bama or Georgia or Texas.  Those teams are nationally relevant.

2 minutes ago, The Duke said:

Never thought I would say it, but here it goes...

 

If the Big 12 wanted Nebraska back, Nebraska should accept that invitation immediately.

 

I'll say it...I'm tired of being in the Big Ten. We don't belong.

 

I could care less about the millions in money we're getting from the Big Ten. I don't give a rip about being in a future conference where we're associated with the "big brands."

 

At this point I would rather we play in the Big 12 with a few of our old Big 8 teams win or lose and just enjoy our fall weekends again and maybe find a way to win 6-7 games a season.

Been saying that for years.  Question why we really ever moved but we did and lost our mojo and program in doing so.  MOney isn't everything, but it might have cost this program everything in doing so.  We lost our recruiting footprint, we lost our way.  Said it then and will say it now, instead of dealing with Texas being a bully, we have to deal with Ohio St and MIchigan and now upcoming USC, Oregon and UCLA.  We traded one Texas for maybe 5 Texas's.  Trev see's this coming and see's his job in doubt, thus the stadium upgrades, 2 years out.  Upgrade the fans experience is easier than providing a winning football team that would do that.  Lets spend several million more for stadium upgrades.  Future of this program is in deep trouble more than ever.  .........Joking I think we knew that Rhule would struggle this season and have to find his players.

Theres your answer.  Our 5th string former Baylor player looks faster than anything on our roster this season.  Seriously, he couldn't see the field at Baylor.  After seeing that, I do question what Rhule is doing.  That Fleeks is faster than anything we have on the field, where has he been at?

1 minute ago, TherealTomOsborne said:

Such a Harbaugh thing to do going for it on that 4th and 1.

Should they have taken a near with 8 minutes left?  If they kick a FG we b!^@h...........they just ran the ball down our thoat- like 80's Huskers did............how our memories have become well, just skewed thoughts?  Remember when our 3rd stringers would run downhill and score touchdowns on sorry sap opponents?

Please, were not charity case yet........maybe next season, but were not that team yet......We are close to 1985 KSU, but not there yet.

Thank You Harbaugh.  This could have been a 63-0 nothing game, but he is developing his team!

The answer is developing talent whether in the weight room or in the portal.  Most are portal developers right now, but MIchigan, Georgia, Bama are still developing who they recruit.  Clemson doesn't believe in the portal, but I think that will change after this season.  If we don't start winning, the portal is going to be the only answer.  I wouldn't stay here if I could start elsewhere for a p-5 team.  Why would you stay for this right now?  Go to a different school that might be bowl bound.............theres alot to blame for this program becoming this bad, but Rhule is not one of those yet.  He inherited this mess, and instead of dumping this program and its players, he kept those players here to give them a chance to go to a bowl game.  Right or wrong.  I believe he made the right decision. 

Bunch of narrowed minded fools on this board.  Rhule is coaching Frost players.  Wouldn't have been for Trey Palmer last season, a Mickey guy, we don't win those 4 games we did.  This team has no talent, most on Frost.  Sure, we could have done what Prime did, but Rhule wouldn't bring in 20 players the caliber of what Prime did.  Thats why Rhule didn't go that route.  Most coaches can;t bring in 70 players and meld them together like Prime, but Prime is getting beat by elite talented teams as well.  Figure it out fellas, until we figure out that our program is not a program anymore, we might start doing something.  Just because we are Nebraska, doesn't mean we have gotten talent.  Sean Callaham is also a big fraud.  He ballyhoos these recruits, rates them with alot of stars and they are failures, year after year.  We suck.  We might get better next season, we might not. 

Frost might end up being a bigger fraud than Mike Riley.  Frost left this program in worse shape than anybody ever.  Wouldn't have been for Adrian, we might have not won the game we did.

I would be ok with losing if we were playing freshmen and newcomers more.  I would take that.  This is with our best players available?

Just now, PaulCrewe said:

I just want to see a Malachi YOLO bomb, you know just to see if the kid exists.  Like a welfare check

He will be Colorado bound if he doesn;t see the field this season.  We are saying he is not ready, but is anyone on this team.  Get him some expererience now.

I think Rhule is a decent coach.  If he can't pull off an upset like this game would be soon, this program will never again be relevant.  USC, UCLA, Washington and Oregon are all in better shape and will not be getting worse anytime soon. 

We act desperate.  Kick the FG, take the points.

I pointed out two weeks ago, we don't get pressure with our D unless we bring heat.  A few on here said that was not right, but we can't get pressure unless we bring 6.  Flawed defense scheme.  Play more 4 man fronts, and then bring some heat. 

We have not had elite talent on this roster now for 18 years or so.  Callahan was the last coach who brought in some elite offensive talent. Hell he brought in most of Bo's talent he coached for his first 3 years. First off we have to get with the times and get more vertical talent, down field talent.  Qb who can throw and run.  Tired of watching this scheme with limited talent.  Were playing to our talent level folks. 

Being honest and fair with my take so don't think i am a hater.  We have not played a really good offensive attack that can run the ball like Michigan can.  Sure Colorado was a good offense, but couldn't run for a lick.  Minnesota is a shell of what Minnesota has been in the past few years running the ball.  So what we will find out is if our defense is legit and if our offense can do anything positive to help out our defense.  I think we are still a year away from being a solid team on both sides of the ball.  I think the defense right now is solid, but i think we will see it get better with more recruits and coaching.  Question is right now, will we keep gaining ground on the Big 10 or will we lose ground going forward.  Wisky is improving each week, and Purdue is not as bad as I thought.  Illinois is still not a good team, but not bad.  MInnesota is like I thought, not good and barely might get bowl bound.  Northwestern is awful, but willing to stay scrappy.  Iowa is Iowa once again.  So can we keep improving to win some of these winnable games?  Thats what I want to see.  This game against Michigan is what it is right now, but after this game, we should have a 50/50 shot to win alot of those games.  Can we ?

I will say one thing that struck me last night:  We saw HH throw the same ball into double coverage as Simms has done.  To me, this is a coaching thing.  Same exact play over the middle 15 yards down middle of the field.  As far as who is better...........we still don't have enough info.  NIU was a very poor team on offense and sub par on defense, undersized.

Honestly, this game is hard to form any kind of opinon on.  Glad we did win and win convincingly.  I do have a question:  Can our base defense contain anyone, or do we have to blitz or apply pressure to get things done?  What I mean is it seems as if we have to bring some heat to make things happen.  That concerns me to a point.  We now have game film on us and our defense.  Will stronger opposing teams have all they need to scheme against us knowing our defense is a one trick pony.  As long as our D can make the pressure work, its no big deal.  We will find out against Michigan.

We are not hiring the right guys for this job.  I have watched KU and KSU over the last few seasons.  There is better talent, and better overall play right now on both of those teams.  Sure KU is battlling lack of defense, but we would take there offense or many of there offensive players on our roster.  KSU has always had better QB play for the most part in the last 20 years.  Better skill players overall during the last 20 years.  Point is Kleiman and Leipold are program builders and player developers.  I am sure we thought we were getting that with Rhule, but nothing yet has shown me he is the same coach who got Temple and Baylor going.  I think the $40 mill he received from Carolina has maybe him less hungry and more fat and happy.  Were an easy payday, simple.

I tend to agree with the not hiring a black HC, in theory you are correct.  I also think that Prime was never going to be the first either.  He is more about himself than about any team he has ever played for or coached.  He is a winner though.  He was on winning teams in every stop along his path.  That does count for something. 

As far as how long he remains with Colorado...........until a better job in warmer climate presents itself.  Credit Colorado for hiring him.  Most won't because he is Prime.  Now because of just two games, he is the hottest name in the market.  I don't see him leaving now until his boys are in the NFL.  Florida St would be the obvious answer when Norvell implodes.

I think your post has some points of interest.  I would have taken a different angle on this.  I think our future is rather bland because we are adding 4 new teams next season who will come in better than us and most of the Big 10.  UCLA, USC, Washington, and Oregon are more talented and are just better football teams right now. 

I would rank the current Big 10 schools, including those 4 like this: 

1. Michigan

2 USC

3 Penn ST

4. Ohio ST

5.  Washington

6.  UCLA

7. Oregon

8.  Iowa

9.  Maryland

10. Minnesota

11.  Michigan St

12.  Wisconsin

13.  Purdue

14.  Nebraska

15   Indiana

16, .  Northwestern

I dont care what order you rank each team, but everyone knows that those 4 new teams are better than anything in the West division.

1 hour ago, BigRedRig said:

So far, really nothing.  I think 3 wins are possible and 4 are likely the best they can do this season..  I did enjoy watching the defense.  They kept it a game that was inexcusable to lose.  
 

The offense is a complete mess.  Nothing dynamic, nothing special, nothing to see as promising.  Predictable passing game without the arm or the receivers to move the ball.   This was not a case of first game jitters, mental mistakes or lack of team cohesion.  They look like they are running in sand.  This will take a few years, maybe only 2 with the portal but will stud players want to transfer to Lincoln?.   That sure is a familiar thought pattern, but no blame for Rhule at this point.  Not enough pieces to compete.  Watching many other games this weekends made watching us even worse.  

I think this is a good post.  The fact that I see so many trying to justify that the Gophers are an elite team really cause me concern.  That was a bad football team compared to what they have had in recent years.  That team might have the same issues we do- no down field passing threats or a QB who can throw it.

We still have mostly Frost recruits yet playing.  We still have core group of players who don't know what winning is.  We brought in a QB who came from a losing situation.  Hell our coaches were canned at Carolina last season.  I think everyone is trying to correct the process, but until they see some wins and see that this process is working, its uphill.

We have fired too many coaches, blamed too many players for losing.  Watched KU, KSU, and other teams this weekend.  Coaches that are in year 3 or more, but not long time veterans.  KSU and KU have skill players on both sides of the ball.  KSU has all o-line players returning with some decent skill players all around.  Point is they are building rosters piece by piece.  Players are going there and playing and performing at high levels against good P-5 competition.  Frost has been the biggest disappointment in all of this.  He didn't get out and recruit.  He did not develop a roster.  Rhule has to almost restart from stratch, almost.  We do have enough pieces to win at least 5 this season, but we are not going to blow anyone out.

1 hour ago, Mavric said:

 

"Might struggle to" is quite a ways from a "pipe dream."

1 hour ago, FrantzHardySwag said:

17/10 in the ACC, but not being a homer - the secondary’s in the ACC are not the same as the B1G. ACC has had 4 4000 yrd passers the last 2 years. Good QBs pick that league apart. Maybe slightly dramatic, but he might struggle reaching that 1:1 ratio playing a full B1G schedule. 

My issue with all of these posts that refer to Big 10 as this juggernaut conference and comparing to other conferences is bothersome.  Sure Ohio St, Penn St, and Michigan are Top 15 caliber teams, but the rest are well below those.  WE as fans assemble all these reasons why and why not players can or can not perform here.  It has been a talent issue, and will continue to be a talent issue.  I watched so many games this weekend, and honestly KU, KSU, Colorado, TCU , USC, UCLA, and ETC all have 2nd team WR that are better than anything we have.  Simple.  Pelini, Riley, and Frost couldn't bring in enought skill position talent here to compete week in and week out.  Rhule has his work ahead of him to build a full roster with skill players and linemen.  This all starts with bringing in a capable QB who can throw the ball, and WR's will follow.  We keep bringing in someone else's QB who has a book wrote about them already.  Most of those chapters are telling us what they are before they arrive. 

Key stretch in this season, and a stretch that will define this years team is coming : October 6 thru November 4.  Illinois, Northwestern, Purdue, and Michigan ST.  WE have to win 3 out of those 4, if not all 4.  Those programs right now are not good, and ripe for the taking, but in one month who improves more, them or us?

Watching several games today, some games are good to watch, some are rather boring.  There is one thing that stands out.  There are a few really good teams that will dominate and all the rest.  I think we will see alot of average football in the midwest with Big 10 and Big 12 while SEC will have more firepower.  Michigan looks pretty good.  Rest of the Big 10 looks really suspect.  We might win 6 games this season, but its going to be more about the rest of the Big 10 falling backwards some and us improving a little.  Its early, most teams do improve the most from game one to game two, I think we get a better understand where we are, and where the other teams are after the next round of games.  I so far don't like what I am seeing in the league as a whole so far.

1 hour ago, M.A. said:

 

We have played 1 game against a decent opponent on the road and lost by 3. YES, there were some awful moments offensively. Criticisms are fair. More than the performance though, I think that we're just SICK of losing and while having been patient, it's wearing thin. We want RESULTS.

 

As for Colorado, kudos to them. While TCU probably isn't near the same team, it was a solid win on the road for the Buffaloes no less. 

 

We talk a lot about culture and how integral that is to success. For many of us we simply can't comprehend the piling on of the team in relation to their performance Thursday night. The disparaging commentaries toward players and all the rest of it that wouldn't be a part of a winning locker room. Yet, many do it quite loosely and pridefully no shame in it whatsoever. Don't think for a moment that it'll cease. It will only worsen. Those things always get exposed during hard times.

 

This is a quitters mentality. They have quit on the team after one game, given up truly powerless to exhibit any degree of poise. A minimum of self regulation. A minimum of reflection or self awareness.  Agreed, their opinions are't mine and perhaps not yours either. 

 

My friends, we have weaknesses. Various issues that aren't going to be resolved instantaneously. We should be *EXCITED* to play a worthy opponent in Colorado or any other. The more challenging, the better we'll be as a consequence. It's best we focus on our strengths and do what we can to win and, in the process go about the business of addressing our weaknesses, improving as much as we can. Break everything down. Channel the attention toward improving each individual segment. Make what *seems* impossible toward being probable. 

 

We've played one game and our road to greatness will require courage.

 

Finally a word on Jeff Sims. Maybe he's not your son or nephew or brother or friend or student or teammate. Perhaps your fine dragging him through the mud and projecting hate through his errors. All of the anger must be exacted on him for all of our hardship and failures over the course of the last many years and, perhaps even some of your own inadequacies. You don't want him to improve upon his vision, focus or making better decisions! You want to be right. You're willing to do anything in your power to not see him or anyone else that struggles succeed but fail. 

 

He's a young man that wants to do is best and to help deliver results that translate into wins. He's owned up to what he did wrong. Condemn him? No, you get to work on improving and encouraging each other as a TEAM with a winner's mindset does.  Keep your chin up son. Put your trust in the process not the critics. Lean on each other and your coaches. Bit by bit discover your best and demonstrate it. 

 

To those that object, whatever...There's nothing that can be done to change your outlook. I'm absolutely cool with that. 

While I would agree with much of what you said, these kids are tougher today because of social media and being scrutinized more often for bad play.  Your right the culture is not good, but its up to the athletic dept, coaching staff and players to change that narrative, not the fans who invest money, time and frankly livelyhood on Big Red football.  Its unfortunate that the fans care more about the program than some of our leaders in the past with some very bad hires and some even worse firings.  We are what we are right now.  Current landscape of college football, I think we are here for some time.  We missed out on chances to improve and get back, now we are battling more teams with winning in the current state, and our past history really means less and less each and every season that passes.