NowSimplyAHusk

 

 

Another crap thread about something that will not happen and should not happen. The team improved from start to finish. The coaching is good. The recruiting is better than it has been in years.

 

Riley will be here for a long time.

The team did not improve, and with the start they had it should have been easy to improve.

 

The coaching is not good.

 

We'll see with the recruiting, it's a claim we've heard every year since 2008.

 

We'll see about Riley. If we aren't in the running for a CCG Riley better not be back.

 

Everything you said is wrong, but you can spell it out if you like.

 

Are you Mike Riley... No really I'm being serious, you're Mike Riley aren't you?

BS.

 

That's where, as has been said, you are pulling this out of your ass.

 

Not one person is sitting back perfectly happy with this season. Nobody is claiming this season as a whole is a great success.

 

We are so sorry, however, that we all don't wallow in the misery that must be your fandom. Sorry we choose to not sit around and think nothing but doom and gloom and we actually find ways to enjoy the games see something positive.

 

Again.....so sorry you are so embarrassed to be a part of the same fan base as us.

Alright man, I've got better things to do today than argue with someone who has such a clear misunderstanding of what I'm saying here. Enjoy your day and go give them a B in the grade thread, the season has been pretty decent I guess, what more could I hope for, right, LOL!!!

 

 

Great. Now you're not embarrassed to be a Husker fan. You are embarrassed that you have to stoop so low as to be in the same group as fans who are happy we beat a top ten team and have a chance to beat another one tomorrow.

 

I feel so sorry for you.

I don't think your quite grasping what I'm saying here, a win on Friday will be a ton of fun, and if all you're concerned with is partying at the bars Friday night, then it will be perfect for you... I'm complaining about the sentiment of the board regarding this season as a whole. If a poll were created asking "with a win over Iowa, will you be satisfied with the 2015 season?", a significant portion of this board answers yes, IMHO... I've certainly enjoyed all of the wins, but the program is abysmal, right now, ranks with some of the worst seasons of the past 30 years or more, I'm not sure how that apparently isn't concerning to you, or how people can possibly state that we are close to relevancy again. If you have missed this point of view somehow, please refer to the grading this season thread, it is particularly disturbing.

Why don't you go ahead and make that poll instead of making stuff up.

I can read the board just fine, I don't need the poll. Feel free to create it if you think the results will be contrary to what the recent discussions on this board have shown me.

 

 

 

I'm not embarrassed to be a Husker fan, I'm embarrassed for my fellow Husker fans. The views expressed on this board will contribute to a further slide in my opinion... It is very clear on this board that we are becoming increasingly comfortable with a .500 season, as long as we can upset a couple of teams. The mood did a 180 on this board after a TWO WIN STREAK, and I see posts that we are on our way back to relevancy now if we can beat Iowa, LOL! We're on our way to obscurity if you ask me, and it looks like we hired the right guy to take us there. We look like a fanbase who is happy to win half their games, as long as they can get a quality win or two, that's MRs specialty.

 

Not sure where the Missouri comment came in, neither of us are in the Big 12 anymore. I know a lot of our fans are Mizzousessed, but just forget about them, that's embarrassing too...

What a load of BS.

 

You are now embarrassed for us. You are such a sympathetic human being.

 

Pardon me but there is no need for you to be embarrassed got me because I choose to see beating top ten teams as not just good for the team but....psssstttt.....it's even fun as a fan. You should try having fun as a fan sometime. I think you will like it. I think it would help with the horrible misery you must live with.

Sorry, I misworded that a bit didn't I, not embarrased for you, embarrassed to have fans who are satisfied by this mediocrity. Embarrased OF them is probably a better way to word it...

Again, those fans don't exist. You're pulling this out of your ass.

Sounds like you haven't seen the grading this season thread. In my opinion, if you give this season anything more than a D, you are contributing to the further mediocrity of this program, through clear complacency with a .500 season. To give it a C, implies that you think this was an average season, that is really a poor view to have of Nebraska, to me .500 will never be an average year, it's quite poor when compared to what we strive to be.

Great. Now you're not embarrassed to be a Husker fan. You are embarrassed that you have to stoop so low as to be in the same group as fans who are happy we beat a top ten team and have a chance to beat another one tomorrow.

 

I feel so sorry for you.

I don't think your quite grasping what I'm saying here, a win on Friday will be a ton of fun, and if all you're concerned with is partying at the bars Friday night, then it will be perfect for you... I'm complaining about the sentiment of the board regarding this season as a whole. If a poll were created asking "with a win over Iowa, will you be satisfied with the 2015 season?", a significant portion of this board answers yes, IMHO... I've certainly enjoyed all of the wins, but the program is abysmal, right now, ranks with some of the worst seasons of the past 30 years or more, I'm not sure how that apparently isn't concerning to you, or how people can possibly state that we are close to relevancy again. If you have missed this point of view somehow, please refer to the grading this season thread, it is particularly disturbing.

 

I'm not embarrassed to be a Husker fan, I'm embarrassed for my fellow Husker fans. The views expressed on this board will contribute to a further slide in my opinion... It is very clear on this board that we are becoming increasingly comfortable with a .500 season, as long as we can upset a couple of teams. The mood did a 180 on this board after a TWO WIN STREAK, and I see posts that we are on our way back to relevancy now if we can beat Iowa, LOL! We're on our way to obscurity if you ask me, and it looks like we hired the right guy to take us there. We look like a fanbase who is happy to win half their games, as long as they can get a quality win or two, that's MRs specialty.

 

Not sure where the Missouri comment came in, neither of us are in the Big 12 anymore. I know a lot of our fans are Mizzousessed, but just forget about them, that's embarrassing too...

What a load of BS.

 

You are now embarrassed for us. You are such a sympathetic human being.

 

Pardon me but there is no need for you to be embarrassed got me because I choose to see beating top ten teams as not just good for the team but....psssstttt.....it's even fun as a fan. You should try having fun as a fan sometime. I think you will like it. I think it would help with the horrible misery you must live with.

Sorry, I misworded that a bit didn't I, not embarrased for you, embarrassed to have fans who are satisfied by this mediocrity. Embarrased OF them is probably a better way to word it...

 

 

This thread makes me embarrassed of the view that my fellow Huskers have of this team... We are completely irrelevant on a national level and have been for years, there is nothing that can be done this year to improve this... And it sounds to me from the climate on this board, that since our 2 win streak began (Yes I seriously see people here touting that like it's the greatest thing on earth, LOL!!!), many people on this board sound like they are thrilled to death to be in a position to be a spoiler... This is a sad day for Husker football, relevant teams don't have fanbases who are happy JUST to have a shot at spoiling someone else's season...

We have been irrelevant nationally for a while. I hate how this season has gone, but regardless of the results, knocking off the #3 ranked team is huge. Not since TO have we beaten a team ranked this high. 1st 11-0 team to ever come to Lincoln. Even if we were also 11-0, knocking off an undefeated team is a role I always want NU to be in regardless of our record.

 

For me its not a "shot at spoiling a season". It's sending the seniors out with a win at home. 15 extra practices. Spring board for next season. Recruiting help. Making the talking heads take notice. Giving the team confidence in themselves and the "system" etc....

I agree with pretty much everything you have said here, I'm all for getting a huge win, and especially giving the seniors something special to go out on. That is not the average view of this board though. Just look at the thread about grading this season, it is filled with people giving this team Cs if we lose to Iowa, and B+s if we beat them. This has been a D level season regardless, IMHO. Our one quality win came courtesy of a bad call, and everyone and their mom knows it. It appears though that the average Husker fan is fairly satisfied with a season like this at this point.

 

Just to be clear I'm in the same boat as you, I'm not disagreeing with you in my post, simply expounding my view in my response.

I'm not embarrassed to be a Husker fan, I'm embarrassed for my fellow Husker fans. The views expressed on this board will contribute to a further slide in my opinion... It is very clear on this board that we are becoming increasingly comfortable with a .500 season, as long as we can upset a couple of teams. The mood did a 180 on this board after a TWO WIN STREAK, and I see posts that we are on our way back to relevancy now if we can beat Iowa, LOL! We're on our way to obscurity if you ask me, and it looks like we hired the right guy to take us there. We look like a fanbase who is happy to win half their games, as long as they can get a quality win or two, that's MRs specialty.

 

Not sure where the Missouri comment came in, neither of us are in the Big 12 anymore. I know a lot of our fans are Mizzousessed, but just forget about them, that's embarrassing too...

This thread makes me embarrassed of the view that my fellow Huskers have of this team... We are completely irrelevant on a national level and have been for years, there is nothing that can be done this year to improve this... And it sounds to me from the climate on this board, that since our 2 win streak began (Yes I seriously see people here touting that like it's the greatest thing on earth, LOL!!!), many people on this board sound like they are thrilled to death to be in a position to be a spoiler... This is a sad day for Husker football, relevant teams don't have fanbases who are happy JUST to have a shot at spoiling someone else's season...

Their stats won't look so good after Friday. They have played nobody.

Nobody except that beast of a Purdue team that took us to the woodshed...

Purdue has more conference wins than we do or will. I, for one, am going to give them credit of being the better team yesterday and not simply assume that we should win because of what we used to do.

 

Helluva game Boilers!

 

You are one of the more reasonable people here... What I noticed last week is that everyone on this board acted like this game was a gimme... Every prediction from the media in the preview thread, picked us to win... I knew this was going to end badly, it had all of the epic setup needed to end in complete disaster.

 

I told a friend before the season that I thought we would be lucky to go 6 - 6 this year. I now feel bad for getting his hopes up...

 

 

 

 

 

 

But who was coaching the chicken Nebraska team... That's the question we should all be asking here...

 

Also how can we get him to human Nebraska...

 

 

 

Almost losing to South Dakota State one year, Wyoming another year, and McNeese State last year. You cannot possibly tell me that those are more talented teams than Nebraska.

 

 

 

In case you missed it, Riley actually did lose to Illinois.

 

Illinois.

Who's to say that Pelini wouldn't have?

Harold the old man that hangs out over by Joe's crab shack told me he traveled to our Earth from a dimension where Pelini was still head coach and he said we didn't lose to Illinois. He also said before he got to this dimension he stopped off at a world where chickens evolved as the dominant species. They played football still and Nebraska's chicken team did not lose to Illinois.

yawn......Chancellors and AD's really only care about academics.

 

We lost our AAU status a few years back, so they're not doing a very good job there either...

Iowa likely to be undefeated when they leave Lincoln

 

There FIFY, OP must have been drunk when he posted this

Berts fat, LOL!

 

 

 

 

I've said it before, I'll say it again, and I will keep saying it until I am red in the face:

 

Nebraska needs to stop worrying about 'out-recruiting' other schools who really don't need to work as hard at it as we would.

 

It is a fool's game (for us). It is a game Nebraska will never win and shouldn't worry about winning.

 

We need to dump this silly generic copycat impersonation shtick, and as fast as possible.

 

I am not saying we shouldn't recruit at all, we need to recruit, but not in the same way most everyone else does.

 

We should be recruiting to supplement and augment the talent available to us, what we HAVE.

 

Nebraska has ignored what IT HAS for far, far too long.

 

We should be deriving our identity as a team from what we have available to us, and add the pieces we need to be whole from there.

 

The University should be doing everything in its power with all that money they make from us fans to try to foster, re-ignite, and encourage the competition of our local football teams and improve the quality of our local talent. Clinics, camps, setting expectations, offering conditioning guidelines and scheme plans, you name it. Whatever it takes.

 

Look at all of the 7-on-7 leagues and intensive off-season programs and resources/activities Texas has for football. Being a football player is like a full-time deal. Do you see anything at all even remotely on this level occuring in Nebraska or the surrounding area?

 

As another example, I'm a huge advocate for trying to implement rugby at a greater degree at the high school level in the state of Nebraska. Don't you think that would toughen the hell out of some kids and get them accustomed to playing the kind of physical football we all love and expect to see (and miss dearly)?

 

Find a way to improve your local talent and encourage competitiveness! Investing some of that big money the program makes back into the local area in this manner would pay dividends.

 

Practically every high school in the state played a brand of football similar to what NU did during its glory years (not all with the same success, obviously, but with similar styles of play, unless the team had a QB who could really sling it). This functioned as a veritable 'farm system' for the Huskers during its best years.

 

Start with what you HAVE, start with your foundation, then look at what you NEED to supplement that to get what we all WANT (wins, championships).

 

This was our identity and what made us unique. This is what made Nebraska NEBRASKA.

 

You want to know why so many of these kids on the team today probably seem so erratic and anxious and on-edge? Besides the high expectations?

 

Because they have no place of refuge. They have no sanctuary besides each other. They are strangers in a strange land far from home where the expectations are super high and when they don't meet those expectations, it makes them feel commodified and dehumanized. They have nowhere else to turn. Although they are getting a lot from the university, a free education, a chance to wear the 'N' on the helmet (things most of us would have killed for), let's face it, it's not the same thing to most of them as it was to us, and this can lead to them understandably feeling used on some levels.

 

Having a team made up of largely local guys offers a built-in sanctuary as well as a litmus for what the expectations at Nebraska are. They know what the expectations are. They are used to the expectations here and how are fanbase is. They would be friends and family with them, and fans themselves for crying out loud! They could function as buffer between the fanbase and the out of area kids and make those kids from far away feel more at home. They can help them understand and appreciate what the red 'N' is all about and help them to become as passionate about it as they are. This is builds more camaraderie, unity, vision, and purpose, and most of all, an identity!

 

This is of all things is what has been sorely lacking with Nebraska for the past 10 years plus.

 

Until we get staff and administration in place that understands and appreciates this (in addition to the big money people), and can cultivate it and appropriately translate it all onto the field, I don't see Nebraska ever being truly great again for any sustained amount of time. I think that is the way it needs to be done here, they 'key to success' at Nebraska, if you will. It all starts with what you have.

 

This plan is fundamentally flawed, simply put you are comparing a state with over 26 million residents to one with less than 2 million... Nebraska as a state will never produce enough talented football players to fill even half of a team (at least not one that our fans would be satisfied with). In fact if we were going to go one way or the other, we would be best off not recruiting in NE at all vs. you're plan of trying to recruit most of our guys from here... No amount of high school practices will change this, we rank 37th in the country in population, if we try to do most of our recruiting from NE, our football program will be comparable to Kansas, who by the way has over 1 million more residents than we do...

 

The 1997 National Championship Cornhuskers football team begs to differ.

 

It's 2015, get with the times...

 

Oh, believe me, I am with the times. Have you been paying attention to Husker football in 2015?

 

And I never said we would produce as many talented kids as Texas.

 

Good, because we won't

 

Obviously.

 

What I am saying is we should be doing everything possible and looking at everything possible to maximize our local talent, and used what teams do in Texas as an example of ways we can be creative and proactive about doing that.

 

Waste of money for a state with only 2 "decently" sized cities, and I use the term "decent" very liberally...

 

We used to do things like this. It wouldn't really cost a lot or any extra money, it would be more a matter of allocation.

 

Nor did I ever say we should be recruiting solely Nebraska kids or fielding a team of just Nebraska kids.

 

Actually you did insinuate that right here, "We should be recruiting to supplement and augment the talent available to us, what we HAVE. Nebraska has ignored what IT HAS for far, far too long.

 

You start with what you have. You start in your backyard, obviously. But Nebraska didn't limit nor shouldn't limit its backyard to only the state of Nebraska. Nice Straw Man, though.

 

We should be deriving our identity as a team from what we have available to us, and add the pieces we need to be whole from there." That seems to indicate that we would supplement what "we HAVE" with talent from outside NE, unfortunately what "we HAVE" is virtually nothing from a football talent perspective. The rest of your argument confirmed this sentiment by suggesting that UN would somehow have a much better recruiting pool if they would contribute money in order to run football programs year round in the state of NE...

 

When I say local, I don't mean just Nebraska, I mean Missouri, Colorado, Kansas, Iowa, Wyoming, The Dakotas, etc.

 

Unless you plan to get 100% of the quality recruits from every state that you listed there, this plan will never produce a Nebraska team that our fans would be satisfied with.

 

The state with 26 million also happens to have 12 FBS programs, or about 1 per 2 million or so.

 

Only 5 of these teams, MAYBE, are getting the quality of recruits that NE fans expect us to have...

 

Which is why you supplement/augment/compliment what you have with out of state/national talent. Like I'm pretty sure I said.

 

Half of those teams could probably beat Nebraska right now.

 

Be honest, on their best day and probably not even our worst, every team on that list would have a 50/50 shot at beating NE, along with probably every FBS team in the nation, we suck, like seriously...

 

It is not impossible nor impractical to field a team with rosters composed with a majority of local talent. Nebraska did this for years. Good and great teams (that aren't in talent hotbeds) continue to do this today.

 

Again, please join me in 2015, this is no longer a viable option for Nebraska Football...

 

Once again, I'm right here with you in 2015 seeing Nebraska doing things that obviously are not successful and have not worked, rather than following a blueprint (although admittedly one that would need to be somewhat altered compared to the 90s) that it had success with for decades.

 

 

My replies in blue

 

I guess my final take from all of this is that if I ever end up having kids, and they decide they want to pursue athletics, I'm going to have to relocate to Texas, California, or UTAH instead of Nebraska so they don't grow up destined to be un-athletic pansies.

 

 

Look man, I can see your points, I was pretty irritated last night. I just think the college football landscape has changed too much to recruit significantly in the mid-west anymore. Something has to change with recruiting (as well as a multitude of other things), I'm sure I don't have the absolute answer, otherwise I'd go propose it and try to get a sweet coaching gig, haha. I just know somethings got to change, and I'd rather move forward than try to relive what we once were, I'm sure some disagree, maybe their right, I just hope whatever comes next ends up being the right move for this program...

 

 

I've said it before, I'll say it again, and I will keep saying it until I am red in the face:

 

Nebraska needs to stop worrying about 'out-recruiting' other schools who really don't need to work as hard at it as we would.

 

It is a fool's game (for us). It is a game Nebraska will never win and shouldn't worry about winning.

 

We need to dump this silly generic copycat impersonation shtick, and as fast as possible.

 

I am not saying we shouldn't recruit at all, we need to recruit, but not in the same way most everyone else does.

 

We should be recruiting to supplement and augment the talent available to us, what we HAVE.

 

Nebraska has ignored what IT HAS for far, far too long.

 

We should be deriving our identity as a team from what we have available to us, and add the pieces we need to be whole from there.

 

The University should be doing everything in its power with all that money they make from us fans to try to foster, re-ignite, and encourage the competition of our local football teams and improve the quality of our local talent. Clinics, camps, setting expectations, offering conditioning guidelines and scheme plans, you name it. Whatever it takes.

 

Look at all of the 7-on-7 leagues and intensive off-season programs and resources/activities Texas has for football. Being a football player is like a full-time deal. Do you see anything at all even remotely on this level occuring in Nebraska or the surrounding area?

 

As another example, I'm a huge advocate for trying to implement rugby at a greater degree at the high school level in the state of Nebraska. Don't you think that would toughen the hell out of some kids and get them accustomed to playing the kind of physical football we all love and expect to see (and miss dearly)?

 

Find a way to improve your local talent and encourage competitiveness! Investing some of that big money the program makes back into the local area in this manner would pay dividends.

 

Practically every high school in the state played a brand of football similar to what NU did during its glory years (not all with the same success, obviously, but with similar styles of play, unless the team had a QB who could really sling it). This functioned as a veritable 'farm system' for the Huskers during its best years.

 

Start with what you HAVE, start with your foundation, then look at what you NEED to supplement that to get what we all WANT (wins, championships).

 

This was our identity and what made us unique. This is what made Nebraska NEBRASKA.

 

You want to know why so many of these kids on the team today probably seem so erratic and anxious and on-edge? Besides the high expectations?

 

Because they have no place of refuge. They have no sanctuary besides each other. They are strangers in a strange land far from home where the expectations are super high and when they don't meet those expectations, it makes them feel commodified and dehumanized. They have nowhere else to turn. Although they are getting a lot from the university, a free education, a chance to wear the 'N' on the helmet (things most of us would have killed for), let's face it, it's not the same thing to most of them as it was to us, and this can lead to them understandably feeling used on some levels.

 

Having a team made up of largely local guys offers a built-in sanctuary as well as a litmus for what the expectations at Nebraska are. They know what the expectations are. They are used to the expectations here and how are fanbase is. They would be friends and family with them, and fans themselves for crying out loud! They could function as buffer between the fanbase and the out of area kids and make those kids from far away feel more at home. They can help them understand and appreciate what the red 'N' is all about and help them to become as passionate about it as they are. This is builds more camaraderie, unity, vision, and purpose, and most of all, an identity!

 

This is of all things is what has been sorely lacking with Nebraska for the past 10 years plus.

 

Until we get staff and administration in place that understands and appreciates this (in addition to the big money people), and can cultivate it and appropriately translate it all onto the field, I don't see Nebraska ever being truly great again for any sustained amount of time. I think that is the way it needs to be done here, they 'key to success' at Nebraska, if you will. It all starts with what you have.

 

This plan is fundamentally flawed, simply put you are comparing a state with over 26 million residents to one with less than 2 million... Nebraska as a state will never produce enough talented football players to fill even half of a team (at least not one that our fans would be satisfied with). In fact if we were going to go one way or the other, we would be best off not recruiting in NE at all vs. you're plan of trying to recruit most of our guys from here... No amount of high school practices will change this, we rank 37th in the country in population, if we try to do most of our recruiting from NE, our football program will be comparable to Kansas, who by the way has over 1 million more residents than we do...

 

The 1997 National Championship Cornhuskers football team begs to differ.

 

It's 2015, get with the times...

 

And I never said we would produce as many talented kids as Texas.

 

Good, because we won't

 

What I am saying is we should be doing everything possible and looking at everything possible to maximize our local talent, and used what teams do in Texas as an example of ways we can be creative and proactive about doing that.

 

Waste of money for a state with only 2 "decently" sized cities, and I use the term "decent" very liberally...

 

Nor did I ever say we should be recruiting solely Nebraska kids or fielding a team of just Nebraska kids.

 

Actually you did insinuate that right here, "We should be recruiting to supplement and augment the talent available to us, what we HAVE. Nebraska has ignored what IT HAS for far, far too long. We should be deriving our identity as a team from what we have available to us, and add the pieces we need to be whole from there." That seems to indicate that we would supplement what "we HAVE" with talent from outside NE, unfortunately what "we HAVE" is virtually nothing from a football talent perspective. The rest of your argument confirmed this sentiment by suggesting that UN would somehow have a much better recruiting pool if they would contribute money in order to run football programs year round in the state of NE...

 

When I say local, I don't mean just Nebraska, I mean Missouri, Colorado, Kansas, Iowa, Wyoming, The Dakotas, etc.

 

Unless you plan to get 100% of the quality recruits from every state that you listed there, this plan will never produce a Nebraska team that our fans would be satisfied with.

 

The state with 26 million also happens to have 12 FBS programs, or about 1 per 2 million or so.

 

Only 5 of these teams, MAYBE, are getting the quality of recruits that NE fans expect us to have...

 

Half of those teams could probably beat Nebraska right now.

 

Be honest, on their best day and probably not even our worst, every team on that list would have a 50/50 shot at beating NE, along with probably every FBS team in the nation, we suck, like seriously...

 

It is not impossible nor impractical to field a team with rosters composed with a majority of local talent. Nebraska did this for years. Good and great teams (that aren't in talent hotbeds) continue to do this today.

 

Again, please join me in 2015, this is no longer a viable option for Nebraska Football...

Putting Cross in for the last series was odd.

 

C'mon man, Mike Riley is a nice guy, he's like a little league coach, everyone gets to see the field, he wouldn't want one of his players to be upset now would he. I heard he already ordered some participation trophies to hand out to the guys at the end of the year. Maybe if we're lucky he'll get a big one for our trophy room, so all of us can be rewarded for participating this season too!

I've said it before, I'll say it again, and I will keep saying it until I am red in the face:

 

Nebraska needs to stop worrying about 'out-recruiting' other schools who really don't need to work as hard at it as we would.

 

It is a fool's game (for us). It is a game Nebraska will never win and shouldn't worry about winning.

 

We need to dump this silly generic copycat impersonation shtick, and as fast as possible.

 

I am not saying we shouldn't recruit at all, we need to recruit, but not in the same way most everyone else does.

 

We should be recruiting to supplement and augment the talent available to us, what we HAVE.

 

Nebraska has ignored what IT HAS for far, far too long.

 

We should be deriving our identity as a team from what we have available to us, and add the pieces we need to be whole from there.

 

The University should be doing everything in its power with all that money they make from us fans to try to foster, re-ignite, and encourage the competition of our local football teams and improve the quality of our local talent. Clinics, camps, setting expectations, offering conditioning guidelines and scheme plans, you name it. Whatever it takes.

 

Look at all of the 7-on-7 leagues and intensive off-season programs and resources/activities Texas has for football. Being a football player is like a full-time deal. Do you see anything at all even remotely on this level occuring in Nebraska or the surrounding area?

 

As another example, I'm a huge advocate for trying to implement rugby at a greater degree at the high school level in the state of Nebraska. Don't you think that would toughen the hell out of some kids and get them accustomed to playing the kind of physical football we all love and expect to see (and miss dearly)?

 

Find a way to improve your local talent and encourage competitiveness! Investing some of that big money the program makes back into the local area in this manner would pay dividends.

 

Practically every high school in the state played a brand of football similar to what NU did during its glory years (not all with the same success, obviously, but with similar styles of play, unless the team had a QB who could really sling it). This functioned as a veritable 'farm system' for the Huskers during its best years.

 

Start with what you HAVE, start with your foundation, then look at what you NEED to supplement that to get what we all WANT (wins, championships).

 

This was our identity and what made us unique. This is what made Nebraska NEBRASKA.

 

You want to know why so many of these kids on the team today probably seem so erratic and anxious and on-edge? Besides the high expectations?

 

Because they have no place of refuge. They have no sanctuary besides each other. They are strangers in a strange land far from home where the expectations are super high and when they don't meet those expectations, it makes them feel commodified and dehumanized. They have nowhere else to turn. Although they are getting a lot from the university, a free education, a chance to wear the 'N' on the helmet (things most of us would have killed for), let's face it, it's not the same thing to most of them as it was to us, and this can lead to them understandably feeling used on some levels.

 

Having a team made up of largely local guys offers a built-in sanctuary as well as a litmus for what the expectations at Nebraska are. They know what the expectations are. They are used to the expectations here and how are fanbase is. They would be friends and family with them, and fans themselves for crying out loud! They could function as buffer between the fanbase and the out of area kids and make those kids from far away feel more at home. They can help them understand and appreciate what the red 'N' is all about and help them to become as passionate about it as they are. This is builds more camaraderie, unity, vision, and purpose, and most of all, an identity!

 

This is of all things is what has been sorely lacking with Nebraska for the past 10 years plus.

 

Until we get staff and administration in place that understands and appreciates this (in addition to the big money people), and can cultivate it and appropriately translate it all onto the field, I don't see Nebraska ever being truly great again for any sustained amount of time. I think that is the way it needs to be done here, they 'key to success' at Nebraska, if you will. It all starts with what you have.

 

This plan is fundamentally flawed, simply put you are comparing a state with over 26 million residents to one with less than 2 million... Nebraska as a state will never produce enough talented football players to fill even half of a team (at least not one that our fans would be satisfied with). In fact if we were going to go one way or the other, we would be best off not recruiting in NE at all vs. you're plan of trying to recruit most of our guys from here... No amount of high school practices will change this, we rank 37th in the country in population, if we try to do most of our recruiting from NE, our football program will be comparable to Kansas, who by the way has over 1 million more residents than we do...