GOAT

I stand corrected regarding the Saban situation. At least I'm man enough to admit when I'm wrong. I'm not changing my stance on the Orgeron situation, though. I apologize for clogging up this thread; I am just very frustrated with our lack of success in recruiting on recent years, and I don't see any signs of it improving. I don't see how anyone can be excited or satisfied with a 25-35 type class.

LOL -- I like how you two "friends" get together to try to gang up. Funny how my per-post rating is average is higher than both of yours, though, and higher than that of huskerhill as well... Tell me this: do the two of you go ghost-hunting together?

Actually, I do, considering I live in BR (where he coached previously) and when he was hired at Bama it was a HUGE ordeal here and it was well-documented what a huge job it would be to get Bama back on track. Care to try again?

I had the opportunity to see this kid play multiple times in HS. I'm actually surprised he wasn't rated higher.

I've never been banned. I've never even been warned. Sorry to disappoint you.

I know what you DON'T do -- you DON'T just sit around accepting the same old stuff that hasn't been working and HOPE that everything will be OK.

Your suggestions is to cheat. Sorry, us in the midwest are above that! Your reading comprehension skills obviously need work. Please point out any instance where I said to cheat. This is exactly the type of stuff I'm referring to -- twisting things to fit your agenda. I made it very clear -- CRYSTAL, in fact -- that in my opinion the only way we'll get elite recruits is if we get an elite coach. I will back him on this one. He said "others are blatantly cheating and since the NCAA are allowing it, we need to highe a big name coach to draw recruits in to fight against it" But he refuses to give this coach a chance. I gave him a chance. 6-7, with the talent we had, was all I needed to see. You can't take a pig, give it a better environment, and turn it into a show pony. Doesn't work like that. The guy's a .500 career coach for a reason.

How do you expect it to be much better based on our recent recruiting classes? This is precisely what I'm talking about. You guys expect 9+ win seasons, but we haven't recruited the level of talent to finish with those types of seasons. You basically have one point per topic and beat it into the wood until the hammer goes through the board huh? You remind me of Carrman in the Atheiest episode. It seems like he is trolling for an argument. Not "trolling" at all; I just don't understand your collective logic. You expect great seasons with mediocre recruiting classes. Doesn't work that way.

The matter is simple. At the beginning of the recruiting year, I was told how Riley would finish with a Top 15 class due to all of these new resources he's never had before. When I questioned his recruiting abilities, I was told that I was in the "minority" and to be quiet. As the recruiting period progressed and we hit a slump, once again I questioned things and was told that everything was "fine" and that an Top 15-20 finish was imminent. I made the statement that I felt we'd finish closer to 40 than 15, and was told there was no way that would happen. So now, here we are, close to NSD. Am I wrong for being upset that everything I was told has not been true to this point? Sure I hope we finish strong and finish Top 20. Do I think it'll happen? No. Will I be happy with Top 25? No. That's what Bo did during his tenure and it got us nowhere. So unless we get extremely lucky and have an amazing year with the talent we've recruited (highly unlikely), then the excuse will continue to be that we won't get a top class until we win. And we won't win, because we won't have the level of recruits we need. And the vicious cycle repeats itself, as it has for several years now, and that's why I keep saying that it was dumb to let Orgeron get away from us, and that we need a big-name coach/recruiter to right this ship and not Mike Riley. Hopefully I'm wrong, but I said the same thing during Bo's tenure and people dogged me, and look what happened, and how people feel about Bo now. Riley's going to be no different.

How do you expect it to be much better based on our recent recruiting classes? This is precisely what I'm talking about. You guys expect 9+ win seasons, but we haven't recruited the level of talent to finish with those types of seasons.

Hardly a comparison. When Saban arrived at Bama, he had NOTHING. Let me guess: you're one of the ones who believes that Bo left the cupboard bare. LOL. Nice try, though.

No, I'm negative about the current state of affairs when we've been promised more. Hopefully you will be right and we'll finish strong. I just haven't seen any signs of that happening up to this point. And no offense, but finishing #25 and 5th or 6th in the conference sucks. What's truly sad is that you can't admit that a 6-7 record is the TRUE testament of the staff of coaches we have. Funny how you fail to overlook that. Michigan inherited just as bad of a situation as we did, and they seem to be doing just fine. Wonder why?

Your suggestions is to cheat. Sorry, us in the midwest are above that! Your reading comprehension skills obviously need work. Please point out any instance where I said to cheat. This is exactly the type of stuff I'm referring to -- twisting things to fit your agenda. I made it very clear -- CRYSTAL, in fact -- that in my opinion the only way we'll get elite recruits is if we get an elite coach.

I've seen Jefferson play; he is a very good player.

I'm always happy when we get a LA player, because there's so much talent here that LSU can't get em all. Alonzo Moore and Stanley Morgan are two examples.

"and stop pretending that Nebraska is in a position to draw a class that competes with the SEC or tOSU/UM crowd right now?" And why exactly is that? UM was arguably in a worse position than we were in heading in to this past season, and yet they're the 4th odds-on-favorite to win it all next year. Why is that? It's because they went out and hired a big-name coach, while we went out and hired Mike F'n Riley.

I think you also forget that a lot of teams above us have full classes already. They don't move and we can leapfrog above them. Let's concentrate on the positive side of things eh? Unless you just love wallowing in despair all the time? Wallowing in despair? No. Living in reality and not just the land of wishful thinking? Yes. Wayyyy too many Kool-Aid drinkers here who set themselves up for failure, yet complain when the outcome isn't what they hoped for. Average recruiting class ranking usually is equivalent to final poll ranking. Bama finishes #1 in recruiting class year-in year-out, and look who's winning the championships. We barely crack the Top 25 in recruiting, and look where we generally wind up.

Well said, sir. When Riley was hired we were led to believe that with all of these new resources at his disposal that we'd land a great class. Now, it's "oh we're laying the groundwork for a great class next year..." Some people are still in denial about star ratings, even though it's been proven time and time again that they DO matter. If they didn't, teams wouldn't bother with recruiting services.

I'm done. You're right. Let's see how it ends. I stand by my original statement that we finish closer to 40 than 15 and I'll eat crow if I'm wrong. Too bad these other hypocrites don't have the guys to do the same. I see why 1995Redux gets in so many arguments -- in his mind his opinion is the only one worth listening to, and he has no respect for the opinions of others. Living in SEC country has absolutely zero to do with judging a recruiting class. Like I said earlier, I knew it was just a matter of time before you played the SEC card. I leave the recruiting rankings up to the experts, and our class is currently ranked in the 30s/40s for a reason.

I live in the heart of SEC country. Do they give gifts of cars and money to recruits in order to lure them? Absolutely. I've seen it first-hand! What I'm saying is, if the NCAA isn't going to do anything about it then you've gotta find ways to compete. The SEC schools are going to get their talent regardless because they're smack-dab in the middle of the talent pool. But what about the non-SEC schools, including many B1G schools, that are ahead of us? I guess they're cheating as well? The only way to compete is to hire a big-name coach who these 4 and 5-star kids want to play for. That's what Bama did, that's what Ohio State did, that's what Michigan did. If we want to act like we're on the same level as them then that's what we're going to have to do. Sorry but elite kids just aren't going to flock to Lincoln to play for Mike Riley.

Exactly. We were told that with all of the resources (that he didn't have at OSU) now at his disposal, and his ability to assemble a top-notch staff since money was no longer an issue (which in the end turned put to be a total joke), that recruiting would improve. Instead, this class is no better than any of Bo's; in fact it may be worse... and yet the excuses continue, the losses mount, the complaints come, and the ugly cycle repeats itself. We had the chance to hire one of the nation's elite recruiters -- which is exactly what a school like Nebraska, which is geographically disadvantaged and isn't in a hotbed of talent, needs -- and we made zero effort to get him. Poor decisions like that are what sets a program back even further.

Eichorst will. A record of 7 wins or more will be regarded as "marked improvement" and will be said and played over and over again in an attempt to convince fans that we're headed in the right direction.

All I'm hearing are a bunch of played-put excuses, as usual. Funny how you're so certain that SEC schools are "buying" Top 10 classes, yet the NCAA doesn't seem to know or care. Oh, but that's right, that's just because they favor the SEC.

The thing many folks aren't realizing is that we aren't the only team adding recruits. Just because we gain some commitments doesn't mean our ranking is going to improve. In fact it can still go down if other teams behind us acquire better recruits than us.

That was too easyAt proving your ignorance? Yes, it was. But that's nothing new If you would've read the thread, another poster is the one who pointed out the fact about Top 15 classes, and even more specifically, the importance of Top 10. So you might want to direct your failing attempts at wit and humor towards him.