Hans Gruber

Agreed, but Eichorst will be fired before Riley. Boosters, the BOR etc. won't let the guy that hired Mike Riley screw up another football hire.

I don't want to definitively say yes or no, and I reserve the right to change my mind later based on results. It looks like he's going to be fired though. If you can't beat NIU at home when they play their backup QB, how are you going to beat Minnesota, Iowa or Northwestern, let alone the really good teams on the schedule.

I'm not disputing that. You said potential. I'm just saying we say Nebraska at its absolute best under Bo. Potential implies it could be even better. I don't want Bo or Riley. I want someone that consistently wins 9-10 games like Bo, but also has years better than that occasionally. I'm fine with a few 7-8 win seasons if they are balanced out by 11 or 12 win seasons.

To be fair, I think we saw the ceiling with Bo at Nebraska. It was 9-10 wins per season.

Realistically? Nothing. If they won 9 or 10 games this year with no blowouts, that would put Riley in my good graces. But there's absolutely zero evidence that will happen. I don't think they could win more than 6-7 games and that seems like a stretch at this point. They excel at nothing and are boring to watch. Those two factors combined are tough to overcome.

Welp, since he's dealing with a whole bunch of heat for having a convicted rapist on his team, that would seem like a bad hire.

The most important question on who Nebraska should hire next is not at head coach, but at athletic director. I don't have an answer for who the next AD should be, I wish I did. I know this though, Les Miles would be a terrible hire for Nebraska. After initial success, he screwed up a great situation at LSU. He won't do better at Nebraska when he isn't getting top 5 recruiting classes each year.

Agreed. Plenty of teams run "pro style" but takes elements from the "spread" or "air raid." Nebraska seems to be running the 1999 New York Giants offense but doesn't have the right pieces. That's why they continue to run screens to the running back, even though it's worked about three times since Riley got here.

A lot of people seem to want Mike Riley fired. The first step though would be firing Shawn Eichorst. Nebraska won't fire Riley without also firing Eichorst. So if you're looking for the dominoes to fall, that would be the first one. ADs rarely get to replace more than one fired football coach.

I think it can work, but you need more pieces and more things to go right for it to be successful. Like you mentioned, that's why only teams like USC, Michigan and Florida State run it.

Hopefully the books ends better for me ...

The funniest thing is that it barely means anything. Virtually every FBS head coach is on a 4-5 year contract, or longer. It's just so coaches can tell recruits they'll be there for a kid's whole career. If a coach does get fired, their buyout is more. That's the only other difference. To summarize: If you love Riley, it doesn't really mean he will be at Nebraska any longer. If you hate Riley, it doesn't really mean he will be at Nebraska any shorter.

Incoming hot take: I get the sense that Micah Parsons is a very good football player and would make Nebraska's defense better if he signed with the Huskers.

Revenant? Now seems like an inopportune time for a bear attack.

103.5. Don't forget to factor in home-field advantage.

I'm not a gambling man, but I'm more interested in what the over/under is.

That's also true. A coaching staff that frequently struggles in its first year. Willie Taggart went 2-10 in his first season as the head coach at both Western Kentucky and South Florida. It seems to be the whole take one step back to take three steps forward idea. Either way, I expect next week to be a high-scoring affair.

True. Oregon is also playing at home this year instead of on the road. Plus, their sophomore QB now is way better than the transfer QB that played in Lincoln last year.

I think this is a bit overblown. Sure, I would prefer that he talk to reporters after the game. It isn't a big deal to me though. Some head coaches don't allow the coordinators to ever speak to the media. If it was the head coach refusing to do media I would have a completely different opinion.

You'll never have a problem getting Nebraska fans to cheer against Miami.

Agreed. I don't know what kind of offense everyone on Nebraska's schedule plays, but it's possible they only line up in a 3-4 against Wisconsin and Iowa. There's a strong chance they don't play a single snap of 3-4 against Oregon or Purdue.

I'm taking out a large life insurance policy on Larry, hiring someone to "make it look like an accident", then celebrating the death of an awful fictional character by purchasing something from Armani.

Bob Diaco doesn't use the 3-4 at all against Arkansas State. Tennessee has almost 500 yards of total offense ... and still loses to Georgia Tech. LSU beats BYU on a Hail Mary. Dr. Pepper fires Larry Culpepper at halftime of the Alabama vs. Florida State game.

Early in Die Hard, Hans Gruber sees a mockup of a building or bridge and mentions that he loved building models as a boy.

Work:What is your current occupation? I'm a thief. What has been your best job ever? The summer I worked at Burlington Coat Factory before university. Worst job? McDonald's Dream job? Successfully pulling off a heist where I convince the LAPD and FBI I'm a terrorist, then blow up the building and make them think I'm dead. I’ll blow up the roof, they’ll spend a month sifting through rubble, and by the time they work out what went wrong, I’ll be sitting on a beach, earning twenty percent. Hobbies:What do you enjoy doing in your free time? Watch American Westerns, build models and read Time Magazine. Strangest/most interesting hobby, skill or personal anecdote? Paintball.