beorach

I thought there was a story that TO had a gentleman's agreement with FS as to his planned retirement date. Anyone remember the billboard ahead of Frank's first season at the helm? I remember seeing one (or "it" if there was only one) by the 120th Street tunnel under the railroad between Center and "L" streets. Anyway, the thing had a picture of Frank and read:

"Shirt size: Medium

Expectations: Extra-Large"

Benning and Sharp were also saying he didn't weigh in on the coaching change because he didn't want people to know if he was for/against it. I'm glad for that. I wouldn't want TO to be reduced to a Boliever/Boleaver.

Get the program its first win against U$C and I'll always speak well of you, sir. Thanks for your service regardless.

Here are some facts I thought might add something to the discussion of what Riley achieved at Oregon State. Considering just the past ten complete regular Pac-10/12 seasons, the Beavers averaged a fifth-place finish in terms of their W-L records (sometimes tied). Five of those seasons saw them finish in the top three but, of course, they never won the title. Their average recruiting class rank in the conference for that period was 9th, per Rivals.

2006-2009 was easily the best phase for Mike Riley's team as they finished 2nd or 3rd in each of those seasons. Since then, I think most of us can recognize that the Pac-# has improved overall. The conference can boast four teams with at least nine wins from the 2012 season on... The 2013 season featured six teams that reached that lofty precipice Bo's Nebraska teams treaded for seven years. Depending on how the bowls go, the Pac-12 may wind up with seven when the current season is in the books.

The way I see it, Nebraska wasn't going to be able to wrest a big name from a P5 program currently enjoying great success. I had hoped Dan Mullen might be receptive from the standpoint that his program's not likely to stay up top in the SEC, given historical recruiting rankings, but that was about as far as I could dream. Even then, I figured a team like Michigan could have a better shot at getting him. I'm a little pessimistic, I hope, but I figured Michigan's recruiting has traditionally beaten ours regardless of what's going on now.

That left me thinking of what FBS teams were doing outside the P5. The coaches at programs like Marshall, Memphis, and Louisiana Tech were on my list in a more realistic dream session. Not one of those guys had so long a history as Mike Riley, though, nor had any proven so much as our current HC (and I think it's fair to count player development in addition to W-L records here). I approve of the calculated risk, then, from a relative standpoint. My approval's hardly necessary for me to get on board with my favorite college football team anyway, though.

TL;DR - Imma let you finish, Barney, and just let fly with my usual on game day: GO BIG RED!

Didn't Bo talk a mean game w/r/t this issue, too, though? Don't all coaches? A coaching change means everyone gets another look, of course, but I don't know that we can fairly assume anything about Riley based on talk. Maybe you found some good information elsewhere, though?

Sean Callahan is saying that Banker is the new DC.

 

Sean Callahan (@Sean_Callahan) tweeted at 9:41 PM on Mon, Dec 08, 2014:

 

Those questioning the Mark Banker DC hire...he held Wisconsin 2012 offense to 7 points and 207 yards - 35 total rushing yards.

 

(https://twitter.com/Sean_Callahan/status/542162163859615744)

Sean Callahan also said Riley ran an offense like Wisconsin's (and specifically mentioned the power running game) last Thursday.

I like Michigan State best for a wager myself. I suppose that's a lot of points for a talented Buckeye team but that QB spot is still a big wild card.

The audio was terrible for that segment of Benning and Sharp. I'm sure folks are aware they can hear those recorded podcasts at the 1620 site, though.

The toughest running game the Trojans have faced this season was BC's back in mid-September and the Eagles went off for 450+ (so that's a reason for hope) - they didn't play Oregon. U$C doesn't appear to have a strong running game either so that's more good news. Their turnover margin is better than ours by far but that's not uncommon and we've still managed 9 wins with this coaching staff +1 per season yadda yadda...

The production from the running game has been well below average for Riley's Beaver teams going back at least a few seasons is my Nebraska concern. The amount of points the Beavers' defense has given up this past season, especially, is a general football one.

Thanks seconded - that was a good read for many reasons.

I think SE's speech last Sunday got our hopes up higher than they should have been. I'd be interested in knowing what went down but am trying to focus on the positives now. The latest Beaver QB set passing records in the Pac 12 and is headed to the NFL. This guy's used to doing more with less and that's part of the Nebraska job (especially until we start winning championships again). He has the respect of his peers if that "most underrated coach" poll that had him a close second to Cutcliffe's to be believed.

If you were arguing with a Boliever last week, what did you tell them? I can recall an argument for keeping Bo was, "What name could you reasonably expect to get for Bo's salary?" I wasn't sure it was a matter of getting an established name but rolling the dice, at least. This is working from the understanding that Bo's ceiling was known and not a match for the expectations of Husker fans. We rolled the dice but not on a guy who has proven nothing with a Power 5 team. Would you be that much more excited with Fuente? McNeill? Holliday? It's tough to really know how appealing the Nebraska job is to people given the success potential hires are enjoying now.

 

At first, I was all like

 

 

 

 

But now, I'm all like

this is quite good and actually how I feel

 

Ditto!

-provincial putz

Zaire and Cooper are gone after this season, I think, so you'd think you could safely figure the issue's not as simple as playing time. When it comes to Love, I expect the heart wants what it wants...

 

asl?

All sluts loitering

 

Where? /likes to watch

I see now I should have saved my first post for this thread, sorry. Based on little more than stats (from this season only w/o any adjustment for strength of schedule), here are my qualified lists...

P5 Wish List (unrealistic): Dantonio, Patterson, Briles

P5 Wish List (slightly less unrealistic): Andersen, Mullen, Addazio, Freeze, Johnson

Non-P5 Wish List: Holliday, Fuente, Holtz, McNeill, Harsin

p.s. - I think some of you need to cheer up considering what Utah State and Northern Illinois coaches have done in our division recently (and in a very limited amount of time).

Hi HB folks,

I've been on a few Husker message boards in the past but took a hiatus recently and started lurking here even more recently (if that made any sense). I want to say I've enjoyed reading what you all have been posting. Thanks for the free therapy as we ride the emotional roller coaster that is Nebraska football!

I like to dabble in stats without doing any real heavy lifting. My latest rough calculations were focused on determining which good FBS teams had the best rushing defense, rushing offense, and turnover margin figures. All I really did was take the list of teams that had better overall figures than Nebraska in those categories and then ranked those teams according to all the other stats I usually consider (pass defense and offense; scoring defense and offense; & total defense and offense). I.e., I'm pruning the list of teams and then "double-counting" the figures (or, technically, the rankings of those figures I deemed as making these teams seem mentally and physically tougher than our team has seemed to be) from those aforementioned categories. I understand stats aren't everything (or I wouldn't have to pay my bookie so often) but here's the list, in descending order of greatest overall performance in 2014:

Teams by toughness w/o SOS* adjustment

Michigan State

TCU

Baylor

Wisconsin

Mississippi State

Georgia

Oklahoma

Ohio State

Marshall

Alabama

Memphis

Louisiana Tech

East Carolina

Boise State

Oregon

Boston College

Kansas State

Mississippi

Florida

Georgia Tech

Auburn

Georgia Southern

Toledo

San Diego State

Arkansas

Washington

Missouri

Louisiana-Lafayette

Nevada

What do people think about Doc Holliday? I know I hear about Justin Fuente on 1620 enough... Skip Holtz seems to have the most highly-ranked recruiting class of the non-P5 teams listed above to date (though I wonder how Husker fans feel about that family in light of the one story we likely all know). Ruffin McNeill's a name you might recall from Texas Tech. Bryan Harsin mentored Kellen Moore, the winningest quarterback in college football history.

* - Strength of Schedule